We are still here

Trying to catch up with the never ending , ever growing pile of laundry..

Even my girl had the urge to "wash" and hang her clothes to dry in our first clothes line that we set in the entrance of my crafts room, with kid sized wooden clips (dunno what's the right name for them) .. She even ironed every piece and hung them in her small plastic hangers in her wardrobe.

I guess we make a cute couple working together, me on my table and she on hers.
ok see you next month inshallah (August is tomorrow hehehe)

See the state of the room? it gets this way at least 3 times a day in between trying to tidy things up. Sometimes I think of turning this room into a play room since all the toys are here already.
But then I'll need another room for me. Maybe I'll take hers..!

My flower girl

Yesterday I was cleaning my stuff to get more shelf space for my new toys, I found a bag full of fake flowers , and of course my girl wanted to play with them.



She loves to pose this little girl mashallah, I wanted to take one picture, she wanted millions.



So I tried my die cuts and boy are they great.. I can't wait to start a project with them, but first I need to finish sewing my pj bottom.

The post with all the new things

We have an Arabic song for kids that goes something like " mommy is on her way, she will be coming soon bringing with her toys and stuff.."

Well my mommy went on a 10 day trip to London, and what better person than the lady who taught me everything about being crafty to ask for some craft supplies?
Well I asked mainly for scrap booking supplies since we don't have a decent scrap booking shop here, and I can't find die cuts anywhere..

So mom came back on Thursday.. How much stuff do you think she can fit in this bag?



Well the answer is, that much..



I have to have a picture for every category of the things she got me, so here goes.. First of all....Cath Kidston.. The most famous name I've heard all over the blog land and never really had the chance to know what's it all about, I wanted to visit it myself, but having my mom do that for me and bring me something from there is as good as it gets for now.. she got me nice fabrics, tissues with nice roses and paper plates which I intended to use in my room..



Then I have to mention the die cuts, I already got the sizzix machine but can't find good and fun die cuts, so mom got me what I asked for.. And some more



I don't really use stamps much in my projects, but it's growing on me.. And now I have a collection..



With the ink..



And the embossing powders with every color I can think of..



You can't forget of course ribbons..



And good old fashioned stickers..



And a sticker maker with refill..



Some paper and tools for quilling ( I always wanted to try that)



And this one is a favorite of mine, for the kitchen which I love..!


( it reads " I only have kitchen because it comes with the house" I add " and because I like to decorate a kitchen" )

And guess what..! I have to pay extra for all the goodies I asked for and got.. but mommy will forgive me some extra Ryals won't u mommy.. I love you , you're the best.

So forgive me if I don't post anything for a few days, I have toys to play with , you have many pictures to look at..! Have a nice week.

Window visitors

I've been observing this big bird ( dunno what it's called but it looks like a pigeon only prettier, not sesame street's big bird for sure) sitting there on the smallest nest ever over two tiny eggs for quite some time on our bedroom window sill, it was a very very quiet bird , and just patiently sat there waiting for her eggs to hatch ( is that the right word??)

So one day I was looking and I saw this..



The two baby birds (which don't look like babies!) waiting for their mom to return.. very cute I called my little girl - who shared my waiting - to see them and she was all " oooh nice birdies mommy" "can we play with them?" of course we didn't..

You just must notice that it's very hot in here , around 50 C degrees in the noon , and still the bird was warming the eggs..! I thought the heat was enough for them as it is..

Pink + blue

I always thought of these two colors as enemies, but now I really like them together.



Right now I think that they are the best combination, that's why I have it in the best room in the house, my crafts room..



Here are a few pink and blue things I don't have in case you need to get me something , hehehe, all from the net, can't remember where from as usual.

kids

two cousins posing for my camera, I had to take their picture this way so they both can show in it, they were fighting for the solo picture..



How about that look on the face, he fought with his cousin to be alone in the picture.. that's him posing for me..



she just loves having her picture taken, what a girly girl..



May Allah keep them safe and happy.. Kids, you just gotta love them.

My third class

I will be starting it in less than an hour inshallah, I spent yesterday preparing for it by cutting felt and flowers and thread to make the 8 kits..



It will look like this, which I also did yesterday, it's been a while since I last worked with felt, I like that it's so easy to handle and colorful.



Which reminds me.. It's almost a year since I started blogging, boy how time flies, it seemed like yesterday I first discovered all the lovely blogs in blog land, and here I am on my way to finish my first year of contribution to this lovely community.. What a year it was.. But that's another post!

So I thought I'd share a picture of the Aramco compound area which I love and wish to live in, this isn't the loveliest house there, but it's one of the ones on my way outside, which is where I remember that I want to take a picture..

What am I up to now?

I have lots of these to do...

And I have to get prepared for my third class which starts tomorrow inshallah, it's going to be bag making with felts.. I just don't know how are the kids going to do with that..

I started to sew a pj bottom after I finished all the bags, but I couldn't go far beyond cutting it, I feel a bit tired these days, maybe I'm catching the cold that my little one had for the last three days. Plus I feel that I'm losing my balance again, I have to get that ear checked properly some time soon inshallah.

Have a nice week.

( I miss my mommy.... she's on vacation)

My second class

Was about frame making, I had 8 kids 4 of them were boys, and surprising for me boy kids aren't that bad to deal with, I thought they would be a bit annoying since it was a crafts class not a sports one, but seems that boys too love crafts, at least some of them.



We did three kinds of frames, one a papier mache decoupaged with mosaic like paper,



the second is a small wooden one covered with paper and embellishment..



The last one was made by using Popsicle sticks and some paint.. didn't take a picture because it was in the last day and time was running so fast we couldn't even finish decorating it, but I let the kids take some embellishments home and some just went wild..!



I think I'm starting to like teaching more, maybe it just need some getting used to.

Family visit

The last two days my dad and sis came to visit from Riyadh, (my sis from London) it was a very nice visit, we had lots of good times, and I really enjoyed having them..



We watched a movie (premonition) , we had taco for dinner, we went out for Italian food another day , we watched the finals of the copa America ( I slept through the final 10 minutes!) and they played a lot with my daughter which enjoyed their visit more than every one.

It's nice having family visits, I just wished it can be more often and that the rest of the family ( my baby sis and step mom) would come too, inshallah one day I will go back to visit them in London, it's been six years since I've last been there, and they've been inviting me all the time.

My sister invited me to join face book, and it's nice, at least this way I can keep in touch with my so very busy sisters.. I love the internet.

Baby boy

My cousin gave birth on Wednesday to a very sweet baby boy mashallah, they named him Bilal.. Did I say he was sweet? mashallah he is so cute and tiny and babyishly adorable ( I think someone wants a baby..!just don't say that to my husband or he will have a panic attack)

So my aunt asked me to make something to put chocolates in and give to their visitors, I had to wait for the last minute to know if it was a boy or a girl, and that's what it looks like



Still no chocolates in them I have to go buy some, these days are super crazy busy for me and my husband doesn't like it much when we have to go places to get things ( you see women don't drive here and that's what we get most of the times we need things that are not important in their opinion..)

Anyways I made around forty of them and I had to use what I got because again, my husband wasn't really in the mood to take me.



So I just hope they like it, and I hope I can finish the one hundred and two things I have for these coming days without me losing my head..!

The attack of the bags

Or in other words..

I FINALLY FINISHED..YIPPEEEEE!



Well I had to shout it out because it took me much more than it had to, but I won't be hard on myself the most important thing is that mashallah they are finished ( all 11 of them) and inshallah they will be on their way to my friend in Jeddah soon inshallah..

I just hope they would all sell, they ordered 10 pieces but didn't order certain colors, so I'm hoping they will like what I chose.
If they don't I can use them all myself, it's been good doing them.

So I did some familiar colors and some new one, these are some of the new ones ( I took the pictures while standing above the bags thats why they look kind of,umm, small..







My guess is, they don't picture well, the colors aren't that accurate. But you got the idea.

ًWacko, Yacko and their little cute sister dot..!

Well I have something with dots, suddenly I love everything that is dotted.. Fabric with polka dots, shower curtain with polka dots, bags, plates, clothes, accesories.. You name it, if it has dots I have to have it.

And thats what I did when I was visiting AlZamil crafts store yesterday. I went there with mom and I had to look at the nice fabrics, I got these two at the pre- cut discounted area, I love the way they look together, maybe a project for the kitchen..



Then I happened to be near the bias tape areas and I "spotted" these..



Who can Ignore such beauties? not me for sure I have a weak "spot" for dots...! I looked hard for other colors but those were the only ones, I've been looking for polka dots ribbons but unfortunately I can't find any here, so these were almost as good.

All I have to do now is look for a project that involves bias tape.. or maybe just enjoy their look.

How cute is that?

Soo cute.. I just love kittens, and all small animals.. I like their pictures the most because this way I don't have to take care of them hehehe..



Anyways we always had kittens and cats in our house when I was small, usually coming from the streets, small and hungry, and we always take care of them..



Now I wish I have a fluffy kitten that is so quiet and sits in her place sleeping all day ( mom tells me it's better to get a stuffed toy cat if I want it to be this quiet!) .. I hate it when they jump on my feet , it happened a lot to me when I was a kid that I hate it that much.



So , these cute pictures of little animals are all from around the net.

Almost done

For the first time I have a toilet with only a half tiled walls..! I was wishing for that for a long time (strange I know!) because I always wanted to do some decorative painting in a toilet.

Well I started with a gallon of purple paint I had from the first house that never has been used, and What was supposed to be a day's work of painting a small area , took me about a month! well of course I was working day on two weeks off, but finally it was done!

Then I found a very nice stencil template in a magazine (do it yourself for better homes and gardens) I liked that look and always wanted to do it, so I cut the shape on a stiff piece of plastic sheet and it was a pain! my fingers were so sore from pushing hard on the crafts knife to try to cut precisely all these tine delicate next to each other shapes.. But it was worth it..



I only did one shape to use on all the walls, I couldn't make another one because it was so hard.. so I had to work on the walls one by one.. and to my luck it was the only area in our central air conditioned that had no ac opening in it, so it is a hot and humid place in this hot and humid weather..!

I did the first three rows then decided it looked a bit crowded ( and it wasn't finishing fast enough for me!) so I changed the pattern a bit the next three rows..



I like what it became now, I still need to add a few more things and I want to age the look a bit with a blackish color wash..

One day soon inshallah..! Usually it takes me a lot less time than that to finish such a small project, but maybe I'm getting older!!

More pictures when the toilet is completely finished and accessoried.

A weekend of shopping

Or window gazing..! some of this and some of that..
First we went to moonface's house for our ladies/kids gathering and there she showed me this jcpenny catalog with the most adorable pink tableware.. Yumm i want it so badly.. but the cost of shipping... Ah...



Then on Friday we went to Bahrain and I found some nice things.. A new addition to my growing collection mashallah..



And this i just love for my shower in the crafts room's bath..



For art supplies or my magical beans? I still haven't decided yet..



I saw this, but didn't buy it, but don't you just love pastel colors and polka dots ?



So, it's nice to shop even if you don't come back home with everything you liked.