Tag Archives: DIY

Sep18

Paper Mache

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Paper Mache

There is something fascinating about getting your hands dirty and being messy while doing some craft or arts project. I’m not talking about just for kids but also as an adult.

Maybe it’s the feeling like you’re a kid again and reliving your childhood but I never realized how thrilling it was until I actually got my hands dirty.

Part of planning my girls’ birthdays is making the piñata. An easy yet long process because of drying time, especially if you want to make it into a specific shape.

The key to making a good piñata isn’t just the design but also having a really good Paper Mache recipe.

I would love to use professional Modge podge but unfortunately it’s not sold in bulk and isn’t cost effective for big destroyable projects.

Many recipes use Elmer’s or white glue as an adhesive which also falls into the same category as my former statement.

I’m all for saving a Fils (or more) in everything I do and I would rather save the money for something that’s more lasting than a piñata that’s going to be beaten to death and thrown into the recycle bin.

Hence I present to you a fabulous Paper Mache recipe that’s easy to make and fantastic to handle.
Paper Mache
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mix the following ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
4 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons Salt (optional, prevents rotting)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

All you need now are newspaper strips, dip each strip into the Paper Mache paste and get dirty!!!
paper
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Have fun Making Life Memorable extra messy!!

See hoe you can use this recipe in my LadyBug Piñata Post!

Sep13

Fun @ Art Space

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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.

cats

 
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gpainting
 
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.

Girls
 
 
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….
 
 
anchor

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.
 
 
 
 

me
 
 
 
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.
myanchor

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

Sep6

LadyBug Photo Booth

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LadyBug Photo Booth

One of my favorite parts of planning the girls’ birthdays is getting creative with a photo Booth. The more I do them the more I begin to elaborate.

Last year Zeenah chose to have a Ladybird birthday. I had made everything black and red with whatever I can make. From table cloths to paper pompoms. It also made my life easier in thinking of ideas for the photo props.
PhotoTable-LB
 
 
I made callout signs that said “No bugging allowed” and “Happy Birthday Zeenah!”

I also got red sunglasses from the 100fils store and added googly eyes and antennas using black pipe cleaners.

Conveniently I also found Red Happy Birthday sunglasses and a Glittery red cowboy hat that I didn’t have to add anything too!
 
 

Next came the actual photo Booth. We are very lucky to have a great big olive tree with amazing branches to hang things on. My decorating engineer (AKA my husband) had the task of implementing my visualization.

We had a great red vintage looking frame that we hung on our Olive tree and a collection of home made red pompoms. Off course the first picture to be taken in the booth has to be a CUTE sister picture before we bring out the sillies!!
girls

Zeenah insisted that I buy the same dress for Jennah because according to her she wanted to be “twins”
 

Then off course it was photo time for the kids with the props With friends and family. It was so enjoyable seeing all the kids grabbing props and posing for the camera. It became a form of entertainment for the kids.

JOJO

aya
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I hope this has inspired a few ideas for your net birthday even and helps in Making Life Memorable for you!

Aug31

Personalize it!

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Personalize it!

Some of the best gifts are those that are personalized. I love having things made specifically for myself or my children.

As much as I love making things myself I sometimes resort to online shopping (AKA online Therapy) It gives me more choices and great value for money.

Tiny Prints is one of those one stop shop that you can get anything from labels to weekly planners, mugs and more that are completely personalized to you.

In our busy schedule it’s sometimes a perfect idea to buy birthday gifts in advance and have them on hand once the birthday rolls in… A real no fuss meaningful gift.

Oh!! Don’t forget to check out their Back to school collection. So much to choose from and will surely play a big role in Making Life Memorable for your kids.

Aug27

Back to school Countdown

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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.

Back
 
 
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…

Girls Coloring

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”

countdown

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

Aug23

Recipe Binder

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Recipe Binder

One of the hardest things as we grow older is buying a meaningful birthday gift. I was recently challenged with that with one of my friend’s birthdays.

I had no idea what I could possibly get her that was worth her friendship and wouldn’t dent my budget… We are very similar in some of our hobbies and one thing she always came back to me about was some of my recipes.

So I came up with making her a personalized Recipe Binder. Thankfully there were so many samples that I found on pinetrest to help me get my creative juices flowing. I wanted to go simple and meaningful and my design had to be just that.

The first thing I did was buy a regular Binder and separators from the bookstore.
 

BinderLabel
 

I Chose to go with a chevron design for the labels so I made those for the cover, the separators and separator sides.

Then printed out a few of my favorite recipes to put inside the binder as a quick start.

 

Binder1
 
 
 
Viola a meaningful, personalized birthday gift.

I was actually very please and the objective of meaningful was spot on when I saw my friend’s reaction when she unwrapped her gift. It left the exact impression I had intended and that Making Life Memorable!

Aug17

Blog Rehab

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Blog Rehab

I’ve been so overwhelmed with “living” that I haven’t had time to dedicate to my blog.

To my followers I truly apologize for being too busy, but I hope that you follow me on Instagram (@samoorstuff) to stay tuned. To all new readers I hope to bring you into my life through my blog.

I’m hoping that today will be the day that I get my groove back and I’m calling it BLOG REHAB.

So stay tuned for more inspiration, fun stuff, DIY projects and more ways to Make Life Memorable!

Mar31

Zeenah’s 4th Birthday

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Zeenah’s 4th Birthday

I sometimes feel like March is the end of celebration season for me. We go from the high of October through September with a break in January. Then the Rush of February and March then comes SILENCE! Until the cycle returns.

If you’ve been following me this past almost year then you know how serious I am about celebrations. If this is your first read you need to know that almost every “Occasion” post comes in many parts so stay tuned because I usually have A LOT to say and share.

I take pride in almost every planning detail of every event I host. No matter how small or big I must have something special. Thankfully I have instilled that same trait in my children and it has also rubbed off on my husband. The First step in my birthday planning process for the girls is to ask them what Theme they would like. Off course many times I “veto” and “probe” but many times I like the suggestion they come up with.
 

Zee4th
Zeenah declared her 4th birthday as a “Lady Bug” theme and I was oh too eager to oblige! So much I can work with I was over the moon!! As you can see I also managed to dress her up in theme (which she insisted on having her sister have the same dress too.) Over and above that she asked me to make her a ladybug crown because according to her the guests won’t know who the birthday girl is…. not sure why she would think that since everyone was coming because it was HER birthday….not that I minded off course!

The most exciting thought was the Piñata…. I used to dream about it!!! And oooohhhhh the use of paper Mache, Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned mess??

So stay tuned on all my DIYs, Pictures and fun of Making Life Memorable!

Feb19

Photo Booth

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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.

MonkeyPhotoProp
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.
monkeymask

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.

monkeyFrame

table
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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.
PHOTOBOOTH
 
 

HeartsProps
 
 
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!!

Feb17

Yarn Scrap

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Yarn Scrap

My girls Love to play with yarn. Yes it’s a random thing we have in our household but give them a ball of yarn and they’re like little kitties thinking of what to do with them.

After many yarn crafting sessions, scissors and just cutting for no reason I end up with all sort of lengths of yarn.

YarnIn an effort to keep everything organized I collect all the scraps of yarn and into the Yarn box they go. Well one fine Friday morning while thinking of a crafting session with the girls I decided its time to get “yarny”.

I had the girls sort out all the different colors and try to unknot as much as they can. Off course some were just unknot-able and we had to cut them leaving us with odd lengths and that’s when I had a moment. Lets just do Yarn pompoms. A great way to recycle all this little pieces!

 
 
 
 
 

First we placed a large loop of orange yarn as the base of the pompom. Loop
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next it was placing all the different colors and stacking them up over the looped yarn. placement

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The last step was weavng the loose end of the looped yarn into the loop and tightening it. looping

Viola!! A Yarn pomom was made 

 
 
 Pompom
 
 
 
 
And more importantly the yarn box is nice and neat…..for now!
organize