Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy HalloEid Pumpkin Tutorial

What a crazybusy weekend this was for our family.  Friday was Eid al-Adha and then on Wednesday it was Halloween.   My brother came into town from the east coast for a quick two day visit.  He was not able to leave however, due to Hurrican Sandy.  But that worked out for us anyway, since really, who comes to Seattle for two days?  So we spent part of the weekend going to Eid parties and the other part carving pumpkins.  I thought it might be fun to combine the two so I make a Eid Mubarak pumpkin!  Here is how I did it.

Happy HalloEid Pumpkin Tutorial A Crafty Arab


You'll need
Pumpkin
Eid Mubarak Templete
Poking tool
Clay carving tool
Xacto
Scraping tool

1) Find a nice big font for your words Eid Mubarak.  Since I wanted bold letters, the CK Pumpkin font was the perfect one for me.  I ignored all the lines inbetween and the stems on top and just did the outline of the letters.  A very important tip: make sure you also mark the inside(holes) of the letters.  My brother learned that lesson the hard way.  Head over to Bing, take a moment to enjoy the photo today, and do a search on a clip art Islamic crescent moon and star.   Print everything out and tape it to your pumpkin.



2) With your poker tool, go around and poke holes all the way around and inside each letter.  Take off your paper and use your Xacto knife to cut lines.  This part was fun, it was like being in school again and playing connect the dotes!

3) Once your lines are cut out with the Xacto knife, go around with a small scrapping took to cut out between the lines.

Side note: I used to be a potter in my pre-kids life.  It was a sad day for me when I had to send my potter wheel to a new home found on Craig's list.  But I did keep my tools, in hopes that I'd use them again...and now I have!

Since my brother did not know that I had tools left over from my clay days he used a knife for his pumpkin and got very similar results.

4) Once your letters are carved out from the outside about a quarter of an inch deep, you'll need to carve out the inside of your pumpkin.  I used this nifty pumpkin carving tool that came with our pumpkin set, but you can also use a spoon.  Try experimenting with a candle to see how much light is coming through your letters before you stop carving.  Let's much say my very thick walled pumpkin took a ton of heavy lifting trips to the compost pile.

5) By the time I got done with all the letters (all 10 of them!), I was tired of the carving and the dots.  So I went ahead and just carved out my crescent moon and star.  You call it lazy, I call it texture.

Place a candle in your HalloEid pumpkin and watch how many neighbors ask you about Eid.  It's a great conversation starter, and a lovely way to let those around you know that there are many faiths in our great country (and their own back yard!).  Here was our HalloEid porch with all our decorations.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Top 20 Reasons you know you're Libyan

My brothers and parents go to the annual AMAL camp almost every year in Ohio.   Every year at this gathering the younger adults come up with a t-shirt design.

Since I can never seem to make it, they always send me the t-shirts.  I had forgotten all about these t-shirts until today when I was cleaning out a closet.  I had to share this one as it is the funniest thing I've ever seen.  It is from the 2004 AMAL camp.

The front has a outline of Libya and says "You Know You're Libya If..."

and the back has "Top 20 Reasons"
20. Your social existence consists of gurma over shahee
19. You feel 9 months pregnant--you know its bazeen
18. You constantly reply "te bahyyyy....digeega"
17. A wedding isn't complete without playing foonsha and zamzamat
16. Your family is going through depression when they're low on tin and hareesa
15. Your ears perk when you hear the words tamam, meeya meeya, and kharaf
14. You are somehow related to or know every other libyan
13. You do something wrong, the first thing that comes to your mind is
taya7 sa3dek
12. You're on vacation, you cook macaroona jarya in your hotel room
11. Couscous and macaroona are common meals in your home
10. You've had more than your share of inharak aswid
9. You do something wrong, your parents threaten that they'll send you back to libya
8. You're always found with your trusty darbooka (or turn everything
into one)
7. You know what a felga is
6. You're talking to libya and the whole street heard your conversation...aloooo libya
5. Everything you do is classified as 3abe
4. You say ga3miz for sit
3. You're traumatized everytime you see a 3asaa, shibshib, or tubu
2. Your mother can throw a shibshib farther than troy aikman can throw a football
1. You're wearing this shirt....saga3 3alaik!
"It's a Libyan thing, you wouldn't understand!"


Monday, August 20, 2012

30 days of Ramadan Crafty challenge roundup (2012)

The 30 days of Ramadan Crafty Challenge started back in July 2011 to give my three daughters a fun creative outlet for making Islamic crafts.  I had hoped that these crafts would occupy their new days of fasting. 

As I wasn't able to find any Arabic, North African or Islamic craft books at our local library or online, we've just made up our own creations, using other holiday crafts as inspiration. 

It was our hope to inspire others to celebrate the month of Ramadan with their own children. 

We are looking forward to Ramadan 2013 to create more crafts!

Here are the 2012 crafts in alphabetical order:

1.    A Nesting Islamic 8 Point Star Mobile
2.    Arabic Newspaper Gift Bag
3.    Arabic Newspaper Hairclip
4.    Arabic Newspaper Star
5.    Eid Blue and Yellow Paper Garland
6.    Eid Candles
7.    Eid Countdown Chain
8.    Eid Goodie Gift Basket
9.    Eid Lambs
10.  Eid Metallic Star Tutorial
11.  Eid Mubarak 2012 puzzle
12.  Eid Saeed Table Runner
13.  Eid Spraypainted Lanterns
14.  Egyptian Fez Party Hat
15.  Glittered Glue Garland
15b. Glittered Glue Garland - part two
16.  Hanging Vellum Ramadan Lantern
17.  I Love Allah This Much Card
18.  Kaab'a Paper Clip Bookmark
19.  Lebanese Cedar Bead Tree
20.  Mosque Banner
21.  Mosque Night Light
22.  Our Islamic World Word Search - free download
23.  Palestinian Heartbreak T-shirt
24.  Peace Cork Coaster
25.  Ramadan Moon & Star
26.  Recycle Can Eid Lamp
27.  Recycled Zakāt box
28.  Quilled Eid Mubarak Card
29.  Ramadan Good Deeds Sticker Book
30.  Syria is in My Heart Necklace

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