Another project checked off my list!

Yes I feel creative these days mashallah !
I am trying to finish half-way there projects before I tackle new ones, and this one was amongst the top 10 on my list.

I wanted a nice door mat, the cutest ( and goes somehow well with my theme) I found was this one..

Not bad, but try to compare it to what I want and you will see a big difference..(pictures from the net, sorry can't remember the sources)

Anyways, since ordering a doormat from the net is out of the question , I tried to do the second best thing, make one.
Starting with a cheap brown ,weird looking kind of mats from Ikea

Using a bit of spray painting (not in the color I wanted, again no large amount of choices) , some stenciling..

And alot of free hand painting (it's very hard to paint on this kind of mats , the fibers are all rough and showing, but I did best I can )

The end result in it's place..

Not bad for a door mat, right? and it only cost me 19 ryals for the mat.. well not counting the paints, cuz I will be using those in a lot of other things.
What do you think?

I'm trying something new, linking this post to one of my favorite blogs to check out, remodelaholic

I finished my big project!!

Finally , after what seemed like million days, I am done with my big project. I remember mentioning it some time ago, can't remember when though.

So I had this dream of transforming a dead place between the rooms into a work of art, it's a very small area, which in only used to get from one room to the other, so I thought I can really go wild with it.

First I wallpapered 2 thirds of the walls with pages from 3 different novels, i had to pick the pages because I didn't want to give the kiddo something steamy to read once her english is good enough :P

After that I waited forever to decide what do I want to do with the rest of the wall. I tried on some different colors, but I finally settled on using hot pink, it was called hibiscus on the paint chip and I liked it.

After two coats, came the desicion about a border. I initialy had in mind to stick some roses cut from napkins on the pages wall. but then I thought it would look nicer being used as a border , and I love the results.

Then I hung some artwork , and I still need a rug and then be done with it.

So tell me what do you think of this big project? I feel I need to paint the doors and door frames white, I don't like the brown at all, but I guess this have to wait for another time, I want to do some other nagging projects before.

When I didn't know what to do

I have a problem, I get bored easily. And a lot of the times I can get bored even when I have things to do, like I can finish reading the book I enjoyed, or cross stitching the purse I loved or watch the movie I downloaded and was eager to see and still get bored.

The only reason is that I already finished a few books, watched a few movies and cross stitched lots of things before, and I needed a new activity.

We don't have cinemas, museums, theater, zoos, good weather to go out , clubs, bowling or billiards places ( for women at least) or even scrapbooking shop to hang in it.. And if you want to go out it's either to eat ( which I have to stop doing much of) or shop ( I should stop that too cuz my place is already resembling a small shop itself!)

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about my city, there are many things in there I still like , specially when the weather is good, it can be one of the nicest cities to live in. But I only wish there were different things to do! like seeing a musical, playing bowling and watching a movie, flying in an air balloon or visiting an old castle ( things I did before and don't mind doing again)

I was talking to mom about that, and she suggested we go visit the Aramco summer cultural activities. It was a mainly kids thing but I was really in need to do something different that I agreed to that.

When we got there , it was in the afternoon and the weather was strangely not that bad, we walked a lot in open areas and didn't find it uncomfortable. Songs for kids was playing loud and the whole are was filled with cartoons painted on every wall or fence.

There were a few areas to see, one for science, one for general kids crafts and activities with a show from sesame street characters , but we didn't catch that from the start. There was also a theater which had different plays for different days, a huge food court , a heritage village tent which was greatly decorated and a tent with an exhibition of some great national geographic pictures.

All in all it was nice for a change 7amdillah, the kiddo played a bit, we walked a lot and saw people having fun and greatly organized activities I just wish I had some of that yummy smelling food :P


So I hope we can have lots of other interesting days with new things to experience in the future.

Finished purse

I finished my free Cath Kidston purse tonight, the cross stitching didn't take that long, and the sewing part was a bit hard since it's been a long time I sewed anything, I decided to add a lining to it, and I hand stitched the part attatched to the zipper cuz I don't have a zipper foot in my machine.

I like the look of it, I just don't know what am I going to use it for lol

I discovered to day a new to me show, it's called Mike and Molly and I read about it from a blog where the lady was talking about how some people reacted to the show by disliking it since it shows a full figured couples starting a relationship. That got my attention and I decided to google it, then watched the pilot and got hooked.

I personaly found the show - so far- a bit funny and a lot inspiring , gives someone hope for the future, that regardless of your shape or looks there is someone right for you, and you for them..
But I have to finish the season to see if I am still going to like it when it is over... Something to do :P

Cath Kidston books

As most of you can tell by now, I am a big Cath Kidston fan. And as much as I can , I like to have things from her line, or anything that resembles it.

So I was happy to hear about her books and the free kits they contain, I know they are not new, but to me they are, and I found out about them after I came back from England so it was too late for me .

But my dear friend, who has been in London for the last year and half, was coming for a visit on her way to Korea, and I asked her to get me the books.

When we met on saturday she gave me not only the two books I asked for, but a third one too

I was very happy with them, and as soon as I got the chance I started working on the free purse that was included in the stitch book, I am in love!

So far I loved all the projects in all three books, thanx my friend for such a precious gift
It seems like I might make a few of those projects for Eid gifts ;)

for sale

I was working on a craft project when I heard my little princess calling out for an opening of a new shop in the mall.. in case you didn't get it, we were home..

So I went to the "shop" to check it out, armed with my (fake) money ready to buy me some stuff.

Cute shop with the cutest shop owner mashallah. And this girl could really sell! good convincing logic she has mashallah, one day I will have to open a real shop-which she kept insisting we do since she was very little- and make her sell people our stuff ;)

Our friend from Jeddah is here for the weekend and we are having a great time with her, and inshallah two other friends will come soon , I like visits from friends :)

New craft

New to me, I've seen people doing this craft everywhere on the net for quite some time, but I never had the oppurtunity to try it, since I couldn't find the tools here.

So recently I went on a trip to Dubai ( one of my top favorite cities in the world) and ofcource I had to pay a visit to the scrapbooking shop that I went to before and loved " paper lane" , and next to it there was a crafting shop filled with materials for sewing , embroidering and knitting. And there it was, all I needed to start trying :
NEEDLE FELTING.. sorry I didn't mean to shout , I am just so excited lol

So I got the basic stuff, needles and an assortment of wool in yummy colors.
And today I made my first attempt..

First I did the base.. stabbing the piece of wool repetedly , being carefull not to stab my finger :P

then adding the other colors layer by layer...

till u get the look u want...which , in my case a babushka : D

a tiny little one..

So what do u think?

Playing with barbie

When I was young, I loved Barbie dolls, I got the house of Barbie ( the big three pieces one ) on Eid one year, and I kept growing my collections of dolls, furniture and clothes till I ended up with a box full of them. I enjoyed playing with them, alone or with a friend, I kept making up stories and dressing them up in a way I would love to dress when I get older. I played with my toys till i was around 14 maybe, and then gave them up to my then young cousins to play with when they visited, but unfortunatley they were all ruined.

When my little princess got old enough to hold a barbie doll, she started getting them, and other brands too. she had fulla, brats ,HSM dolls and some un identified dolls. she didn't know how to play yet, but I enjoyed the look of them in her room.

And now since she is nearly 8 , she is starting to really get into Barbie. she didn't really like playing with the other dolls that much.
So I joined in, and in times seem like I took over that project, and made it a mission to collect as many furniture and clothes as we can manage , it seems like they are not the fashion anymore, we can only find limited choices and those we find are very expensive.

I bought original barbie furniture, and ones made cheaply for similar dolls, and mixed and matched. Still planning on making whatever is missing.

The princess loved playing with them, and I join her sometimes. so far we are having the house in the bottom shelves of my living room expidit units. good place, good room-size and cheap rent lol

 she had a ken and toy story Barbie engagement party one day

Then arranged and designed the wedding herself..Mom and I had to sew her the wedding dress and the "Thobe" for ken since it was a saudi wedding ( not cuz it was easier to sew :P ) it was amazing mashallah, but he looked kinda funny lol ( those arm chairs were mine since I was young, I got them from my cousin)

We are still looking for more fun things to buy.. But for now, we are loving what we have.

So do you enjoy playing with Barbie dolls?

pirate party .. Arrrghhh

I had a lot of fun preparing for this party, I honestly have lots of fun preparing for any themed party!

First of all the invitations.. printed mini treasure maps , stained and hand written the invites on the back, scrolled and tied with red embroidery floss, printed skull pirate , punched out and made as stickers , filled a bit of a small glass tube with sand (from the kiddos school art project!) the assembled.

The decorations.. store -bought skeleton pirate, the barrel was made using two plastic waste baskets, taped and painted. I put a white bed sheet on the window to hide as much as possible of the flowery curtains, and cut the black skull from a sheet of cardstock. made the banner using printed images from the net.

The little pirates costumes..they were asked to come wearing only dark pants and striped shirts, I provided the rest for them.. treasure chest, eye patch,scarf and hat, sword, telescope, vest and even a mini parrot.

the food.. we had broasted chicken and coleslaw, and lots of soft drinks and suspicious looking bottles :P ,and I decorated a strange looking cake !

the games.. We had fishing game, sinking ship game , throwing cannonballs on objects game(dunno what u call it) we walked the plank and fired some colorful bombs and gathered treasures , and danced on pirate music all day long

the goody bags....for big and little pirates

Magical day, I just wish I can share the grownup costumes, very creative mashallah ;)