Category Archives: Kids Crafts

Sep29

Bubbles Kids Entertainment

Posted on September 29, 2014 by samoorstuff

I took the girls to Discovery Mall the other day to play in their play area. A time that they can spend hours on end and it’s never enough.

As I was walking around trying to entertain myself I passed by a little Kiosk called “Bubbles”

The area is a little heaven for little girls. They can act like hairdressers and style doll’s hair, there’s an area that they can color and paint pottery and even take pictures with a life size Elsa cutout.

They also have the option of hosting a kids birthday party. Unfortunately it’s only for weekday birthdays but it would be cute to take the closest friends and have a small birthday on the “real” day.

Now that Birthday season has started I hope this helps and gives you an option in Making Life Memorable for your little princess.

For more information about Bubbles Kids Entertainment call 97900381

Sep27

Birthday Games

Posted on September 27, 2014 by samoorstuff

Birthday Games

When planning my girls’ birthdays I always like to have at least 2 or 3 games for the kids. I’ve come to realize that all they want to do is just run around and have fun but I still do it anyway!!

One thing I always like to make sure of is choosing a game where everyone is a winner and no hard feelings. There’s nothing worse than making a kid cry on your child’s birthday. So musical chairs is OUT! Too rough and just our mean of a game for me!

The way I avoid any losers is by actually having the kids that are out choose a gift from a huge box of 100fils toys, stickers, bubbles, stationary, colors, play dough….etc Soon some of the kids wanted to loose just to be able to choose a gift from the box.

Off course the games I choose are always theme related.

For example, Zeenah’s 3rd birthday was a monkey theme. So instead of the traditional pass the parcel I had pass the monkey.

I used a stuffed monkey that they passed around. Whenever the music stopped the person that had the monkey got to leave the circle and choose a gift from the “Box”.

Last person got to keep the stuffed monkey as their prize.

I take every opportunity I get to get artistic and crafty.

The minute I found these cute little plush bananas I had a light bulb moment…..

A Banana toss would be a perfect “Monkey Themed” game.

First on the agenda was to get a big cardboard box.

Perfect, conveniently I have a gift shop that I always save some shipping boxes just for occasions such as these!

I took the box and outlines the monkey I wanted.

I then cut out the “mouth” intended for the banana’s to be tossed into.

Off course after that was my favorite part which is painting!!!

It was even better than the way I imagined… The girls were super excited after I had finished it that they played with it constantly before the big debut on the birthday.

For a 3 year old birthday I figured 2 games was just enough and I was right!!!

We had the singing of the birthday shortly after and a chance in Making Life Memorable for everyone involved.

Sep21

Tooth Fairy Door

Posted on September 21, 2014 by samoorstuff

Tooth Fairy Door

The wonderful world of make believe is such an amazing place to be, I remember as a child when you thought EVERYTHING was real… Call it the Disney syndrome or perhaps it’s the Peter Pan? Whatever the name it’s all the same a world where everything is magical that’s where I want to live.

If any of you out there is like me with “issues” about being a grown up I’m sure you’d agree. Life was so simple when the worst thing was your mom not letting you go to a friend’s house and you’d feel like it’s the end of the world.

If we only knew what was REALLY in store:) Well moving right along before it turns into a therapy session…….

The world of make believe. Santa, Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are those things that make you tingle and feel young.

I had to make the experience of Jennah’s wiggly tooth and the much awaited Tooth fairy visit extremely special.

I decided to make a little tooth fairy door for that occasion. I debated for a while if it should be a surprise or make Jennah involved but I figured it would make it all that more special if Jennah made it.

So here’s your inspiration and How to…..

You’ll need:
Ruler
Cardboard (about 18cm x 11cm, 7inchx4.5inch)
3 Popsicle sticks
Glue
Pencil
Glitter
Beads
Paint
Pipe cleaner
PomPom
Any cutting tool (scissors, razor blade..)

Directions:
Measuring and cutting the door.

Place 2 of the popsicle sticks on the sides of the cardboard from the bottom to make and the third on the top to attach the other two making a rectangle.

Mark the inside of the sticks with a pencil.

With your cutting tool, I suggest a razor blade, cut the left marking and top all the way through. Slightly shear the right marking to enable you to bend it easily.

Cut the top of the door as to resemble a rooftop.

Paint the cardboard white or any color your child prefers.

Other ideas would be to either use white cardboard or cover it with tissue or construction paper…

We went with painting because it’s just more fun for the kids!

Off course the challenge is to keep them occupied with something else while the paint dries.

My suggestion is stick to the Tooth Fairy theme and either makeup or read a tooth fairy story or find cute facts online about Tooth Fairies.

Glue the popsicle sticks on the sides and top of the cut/ folded edged of the cardboard.

Now the real fun begins….

Let your child paint and design the door the way they like. In my world that’s really hard to ust let them do it “their” way.

If you have a younger child that’s continuously getting into the older child’s work keep them involved tooo….

I gave Zeenah a big piece of cardboard to paint. That really kept her busy and away from her sister’s project.

After the paint has completely dried it’s time for the Fairy Décor!

Jennah added the beads, glitter, pompom for the door knob and the pipe cleaner for the door knocker.

Now you have a gorgeous Tooth Fairy Door that can be placed anywhere the night of the lost tooth allowing her to enter and surprise your child with something in the morning.

Here’s Making Life Memorable one lost tooth at a time!

Sep13

Fun @ Art Space

Posted on September 13, 2014 by samoorstuff

Fun @ Art Space

I hope that yesterdays post made you even more curious and intrigued to learn more about Art Space in Galleria 2000-Salmiya.

Between my busy schedule and the girls its been really difficult to make it out to Art Space and enjoy the full experience until last week everything changed!

The perfect date, time and artwork!! My husband, two girls and I head to Galleria 2000 and live it up.

The kids workshop we went to was 5pm-7pm with Mr. Salem, A man full of life and enthusiasm and the ability to captivate the children to follow his step-by-step tutorial of what seemed like a difficult painting at the time.

The girls sat eagerly with their cute Art Space aprons on watching Mr. Salem’s every movement as he began to set everything up for them from paints, canvases and brushes. It was hard for me to resist not going into the studio to join in the fun!!

Then the fun began as he started to explain to the children every step, his interaction with the children made it even more fun as they also stated their opinions and choices. With occasional one on one help, especially for Zeenah (she is after all only 4!) every child felt his special touch and assistance.

Every child had added their own version of what they wanted and cam out with an amazing canvas that’s going to go up on our wall. You can actually see the girls personality in each paining.

I am extremely impressed with their capabilities and with their capacity of following instructions. All this while my husband sat comfortably in the café enjoying the girls enthusiasm from behind the window and sipping our coffee.

Needless to say we ALL went home happy.

But this was not enough for me!!! I wanted in on the fun too, for days all I can think of is “They have adult classes!!”, “this is my kinda place”, “I need to go again”

While talking to my best friend and how much I love the place it suddenly dawns on me!! “WE HAVE TO GO!!” So we set it our next “Date night” is going to be at Art Space….

We found the perfect time to join the class and our Painting conveniently had my favorite quote of all time

Off course as soon as I walk in I’m greeted by the gorgeous Sarah and Salem, immediately feel like I’ve known them for years. My best friend walks in and she feels the same way!!

We make our way into the art studio Apron and all and meet our Instructor Lamia. A truly adorable lady that made painting seem like it was a piece of cake!! Oh which we were served by one of the other instructors, just because.

As I’m sitting there painting my background all I keep thinking too myself is “I can live here and how are they going to keep me away!”

Sure enough as we follow Lamia’s steps, instructions and techniques while choosing our own little changes and tweaks the painting starts to look more and more presentable than ever expected.

This all wouldn’t have been remotely possible without Lamia (our instructor) and the Art Space team’s continuous support, encouragement and cheering.

To that I have great honor in presenting my “first” work of art without complete embarrassment.

Here I am proud by Making Life Memorable one canvas at a time. Surely not the last of them!

Sep12

Art & Culture

Posted on September 12, 2014 by samoorstuff

Art & Culture

There are so many things we can do with our children when it comes to activities yet I favor those things that are most meaningful and everlasting.

Jumping up and down in a bouncy castle does have it’s benefits but still there’s no real culture.

In my quest for art and culture I stumbled upon an amazing instagram account called @artspaceQ8 and that’s when the stalking began!!

“Artspace Café” is a unique and amazing concept. The concept is simple yet so unique at the same time! It’s a Café fused into an art studio.

They host daily workshops in a casual and authentic atmosphere. Their vast range of times is perfect for everyone schedule with 4 different sessions a day for all levels: 11am-1pm, 3pm-5pm, 5pm-7pm and finally 7pm-9pm.

In addition they have kids sessions during the weekends Thursday, Friday and Saturday from either 4pm-6pm or 5pm-7pm.

With a café attached you can also enjoy a cup of coffee, relax on the couch, listen to music or even grab a book to read.

Look around and I’m sure you’re going to find lots of artwork that you’re going to fall in love with. Surprise Surprise all artwork around the café and studio are also for sale!

And even better if you’re feeling artistic and inspired you can pick up a canvas and have an artistic session of their own using all the tools, paints and facilities they have available.

An art studio that has a life of it’s own. Amazing set of people that are so friendly that you actually feel like you’ve known them for years and you’re just hanging out in their living room.

I’m equally impressed by the artistic level displayed by everyone at ArtSpace. The willingness to assist and help you is uncanny. They are actually so vocal in cheering you on that you feel like you’re Picasso! The positive energy and love in their humble space makes you want to jump for joy, a rare feeling these days. Maybe it’s the youthfulness of everyone but it sure made feel good and that’s all that matters.

Be sure to follow @artspaceQ8 on instagram and visit them in the basement of Galleria 2000 in Salmiya,

Here’s to you visiting an authentic space and Making Life Memorable!

Read more about our artistic debut at Artspace.

Aug27

Back to school Countdown

Posted on August 27, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Back to school Countdown

To say that I’m excited that we have less than 2 weeks away for the girls to go back to school is an understatement.

Even though I have managed to keep a very good routine between the 2 hour homework morning sessions, free play, going out, crafts, seeing friends and swimming lessons it’s a lot of effort. Doesn’t leave much time for me and work.

With the girls back to school I think I’m most excited that I get MY routine back a good stretch of time in the morning to go to work and dedicate time to the things I love.

So because of that my excitement I was inspired to do a School countdown craft.

The first thing I did was make print out cut outs for the girls to color.

I decided to do a 10 day countdown to “Blast off”

I then cut them out using a ZigZag scissors for fun…

The girls then colored each day and the big “Back To School”

After organizing them in order we found a nice place on the wall to hang it in (it was a challenge finding an empty wall in the playroom). We used a ribbon and hung the paper with mini clothespins I had in my magical craft cabinet of “I’m going to need this one day”

And Now we have a countdown that at the end of each day we take down one paper in anticipation of School.

I hope that this gives you inspiration to do something in Making Life Memorable

Aug17

Things to do Indoors with Kids.

Posted on August 17, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Things to do Indoors with Kids.

Having kids and keeping them entertained and busy is always a challenge for parents. When you have issues like weather to worry about be it dust, heat, rain or for the lucky ones snow the challenge seems to be bigger.

I have came up with a list of things for myself that I would like to share and hopefully assist parents & their kids. This is in no way a static list!! I keep adding but it’s a start for you….. Mind you I have 2 girls so you’re probably going to notice that many of the suggestions are girl oriented (Sorry Boys!)

1. Bake
2. Play with blocks
3. Color
4. Paint
5. Make homemade Play dough.
6. Play with Play Dough.
7. Build a fort with pillows, bed sheets, chairs and
8. Read and let the kids act out the story
9. Dance
10. Dress up and create a play
11. Play Tea party
12. Do Puzzles
13. Play Board games
14. Play Uno or cards
15. Take a bubble bath and play with bathroom toys & crayons
16. Have a spa day with lots of lotions, hair curlers and nail polish
17. Play with Barbies or Action Men.
18. Build lego or happyland village
19. Make an obstacle course
20. Make Sock Puppets and create a puppet show.
21. Design a T-Shirt with Fabric Markers
22. Make Popsicles.
23. Make Paper Airplanes
24. Play with Chalboard and Chalk or Whiteboard
25. Play with Bubbles
26. Prepare a dinner buffet… we usually make fresh burgers and put all the fixens on the table.
27. Make cookies
28. Read
29. Make an Experiment
30. Organize the playroom.
31. Craft
32. Finger & Foot Paint
33. Make your own treasure hunt
34. Have an indoor picnic
35. Play hide and seek
36. Paint rocks or shells
37. Play hairdresser
38. Wash all the barbies
39. Make fruit salad
40. Movie night with popcorn
41. Make bead Jewlery
42. Make pizza
43. Create an architecture project using marshmallows & toothpicks
44. Plant fruit seeds into indoor pots
45. Skip rope and hula hoop
46. Choose an interesting topic and research on google
47. Have a fashion show
48. Make a volcano
49. Make paper mâché
50. Have friend & cousins over

Feb19

Photo Booth

Posted on February 19, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Photo Booth

One of my favorite things to prepare for the girls’ birthdays are props for our DIY photobooth. There are companies out there that set it up for you but I like to do it myself and people nowadays are all photographers with their smart phones so they get to play and have fun on their own without a professional “probing”

We always have a theme for our birthdays so I always have to make sure that the props I make are related. Then I just add the usual things like funky sunglasses, Boas, decorative items that can be used as props.

For Zeenah’s 3rd birthday she wanted a monkey theme so I had printed out a template of a monkey mask.

I then cut out the outline of the mask on brown cardstock. The details of the face and ears with off-white paper.

The step of cutting out the eye holes evenly was a challenge but I managed to do it.

I added a little flower on the monkey’s ear and a little detail on the nose.

Off course the last step is adding the stick for kids to hold the mask up. I use craft sticks that have rounded tips (if I have them available or can find them) I have used the wooden skewers in the past but made sure I taped the sharp ends.

The next on my list was to make a sign to put on the Prop table. I was lucky to find funky frames at one of the local 100fils stores (the Kuwaiti equivalent of the dollar store) so I bought all the colors they had. I knew they would come in handy some day.

Lastly was the setup of the actual booth. We’re lucky to have a big garden that hosts our birthdays. We have an olive tree that provides the best branches to hang an empty frame border, balloons, paper chains and whatever else I can think of. Here’s me posing with my monkey sunglasses during Zeenah’s 3rd Birthday.

Jennah’s 7th birthday she had chosen a queen of hearts theme.
I absolutely and utterly enjoyed planning and decorating for it.
It was so hard to actually make decisions to STOP.
I had made lots of props for that. Queen of hearts hair & Crown, Heart lips, Cheshire cat smile, Mini Golden crown and Teedle Dee/Dum cap.

An Now it’s time to plan Zeenah’s 4th Birthday coming in March!!!

Its all about making life memorable!!

Oct22

It’s Costume Season

Posted on October 22, 2013 by samarhajjaj

It’s Costume Season

After the rush of “Back to School” is all over and I ever so gladly welcome the routine of a so-called organized life (HAH! made myself laugh) the fun begins!

Yes I’m intentionally going to ignore the endless drives back and forth, school drop-offs and pick-ups, homework and extra-curricular activities and I’m going to talk about FUN stuff like Halloweeeeeen!!

What a fabulous holiday that lets me get dressed up all crazy!! Oh and the kids too….

Every year I keep thinking how am I going to outdo myself this time?? Especially now that I have to think of not just myself (as a couple) but also for the girls!

I take events very seriously and try to be really creative.

It’s a mix of wanting to be unique and the lack of variety when it comes to shopping for costumes in Kuwait.

I mean so seriously that last year I couldn’t find the right wig for my costume so I went and chopped my hair!

I was really happy about last year’s couple costume.

It took me a while to figure out and off course I resorted to ordering it from amazon which made me spend more on shipping than the costume itself. But what’s a girl gonna do?!

We were Neo & Trinity from The Matrix granted I didn’t have Trinity’s long sleek legs but I believe we pulled it off… Not bad Yeh!

I wasn’t that lucky to have enough time to order Jennah’s costume when I got the note from school about the Halloween event stating to “Dress up as a book character” only 4 days prior.

Needless to say I was frazzled and frantic. Halloween comes the same time every year, why would they tell us a few days before?

I know why….. to torture ME!

Off course my child of reading age says “I want to be Dorothy” Why oh why did she read the note?? Then I thought I love the idea. Off to the stores I go…..

NO Dorothy costume to be found. 3 days in search and still no luck.

Finally I thought I’m wasting time! Valuable Samoor time.

It’s time to take actions in my own hands. Off to the Fabric Souq I go.

Oh Wow! What fun, rows and rows & columns and columns of fabric from every color of the rainbow.

I stood there wanting to buy it all while thinking “Why didn’t I do this to begin with?”

I found the blue checkered fabric that’s Soooooo Dorothy, an elastic band and two buttons is all I needed.

A quick run to centerpoint for cheap red glitter shoes and I’m halfway set!!

Jennah was smart in digging through her stuffed animals and finding Toto. I guess the obsession of getting it perfect is contagious!

I quickly put the girls in bed and started designing and cutting the dress pattern. I spent the whole night hand stitching Jennah’s Dorothy costume, hoping that the measurements fit.

Now that I think of it I had no back up plan if it didn’t fit in the morning what would I have done? Yikes! Just thinking of that made me quiver.

Morning came and it was a PERFECT PERFECT fit!

I made Jeenah wear one of her white tutus under the dress to give it that extra fluff it needed.

Two braids, white shirt & socks and lets not forget Toto! The whole outfit made complete sense.

I felt such accomplishment and relief that she got what she wanted and “Made Life Memorable” for the both of us.

On the other hand I’ve set myself up without realizing it. The girls are invited to 2 Halloween parties and have already decided on costumes (that I’m not exactly happy about!) but I have to let them have it…..

I’m having a really hard time adjusting to not having control.

Off course the search begins with no results as expected so I told Jennah I can’t find the costume she chose she barely looked my way then chuckled and said “Just make it mama” as a matter of fact….

I guess I’m heading to the Fabric souq and getting my needle and thread ready! Let’s see if I can pull it off this time too.

Sep14

Labels & Tags

Posted on September 14, 2013 by samarhajjaj

Labels & Tags

I’ve had many requests asking about the labels and tags that I’ve made for the girls.

I’m posting here the popcorn tags I made for the girls’ first day of school. I’ll add more eventually but I thought I’d try out this way and get your feedback on printing quality as I’m adding them as images….

I left the “from” part blank so you can make it your own.

Let me know if it works!! If not I’ll keep investigating for better “downloading” options.