handmade beginnings

A bed for Dolly

2013-05-22T18:11:00.000-04:00

I found this sweet wooden doll crib at the thrift store and knew it would be a great imaginary play toy for my girls. When I brought it home, LittleA said it was missing bedding, so I let her go through my sewing supplies and pick out some fabrics she liked. I used foam to make the mattress and pillow and covered them both in fabric. I like how she picked all coordinating colours. Ever since

Big Sister

2013-05-06T13:54:00.000-04:00

Big News! My daughter A, has become a big sister, Alhumdulillah! In preparation for the big day we made a 'big sister' shirt for her to wear when the baby came home. She is smitten with little sister S, and she can't wait for her to become a not so sleepy newborn and play with her.

Raglan Tee

2013-04-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

Today I made this Raglan Tee for my daughter while she was away at Tae Kwan Do class. I am waiting for her to come home so I can show it to her and have her try it on. I really hope she likes it! I will try and take some better pictures tomorrow of the tee when the sun is out inshaAllah. To make this tee I followed the tutorial on the 'Craftiness is not Optional' blog, here. I really like how

Handmade Stamps

2013-04-20T13:48:00.003-04:00

I remember making stamps in high school and how much fun it was to do print making. My favourite stamp was a large one I made of a collage of masjids to make a really cool architectural night time scene. Today I introduced this craft to my daughter and she really enjoyed it. We even got her Baba involved in the stamp making! My daughter simply drew her design on the rubber with a pencil and

Beaded Bubble Wands

2013-04-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

With the weather getting nicer we are spending a lot more time outside. This week we decided to make some new bubble wands using wire and beads! The last time we made some we used wire and wooden dowels. This was a fun way to use up some random stray beads we had from broken bracelets and things. We also bent the tops of our wands into different shapes like circle and heart. Blowing

Clothespin dolls

2013-04-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

My daughter made some dolls out of wooden clothespins after seeing this on pinterest. She has been making them non stop and even gifting some to others. I allowed her to use my fabric scraps for the skirts and I really like her choices :).

Art Corner

2013-04-15T19:02:00.001-04:00

If you haven't already guessed from my blog, my daughter and I love to create! I find that kids create the best when they are given access to a variety of materials and the activity is left open ended. It is amazing what their little minds think up! In the past I use to have materials stored in shoe boxes but I found it cumbersome to always try and take a box out from the bottom of a pile

Loom Knitting

2013-04-13T05:51:00.002-04:00

I recently purchased a knitting loom kit for my daughter, a great find from the thrift store! She has plans on making a baby hat for her new baby cousin. So far she is really enjoying the process. I remember doing something similar using a smaller spool version as a child and making a long chain that I coiled into a rug. Her looms come in different sizes perfect for making hats for the whole

Self watering plant

2013-04-13T05:44:00.001-04:00

The other day my daughter and I attended an Eco Festival and she made a self-watering plant using a recycled water bottle. All she had to do was cut the bottle in half, thread a piece of cut tshirt through a hole already drilled in the cap and knot it, place some soil and grass seed in the top portion of the bottle and sit the top of the bottle on the bottom portion of the bottle which holds

Healthy Lunch

2013-03-31T11:47:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've prepared a meal in a muffin tin for my daughter. It is a good idea though since it ensures that she has a variety of healthy foods for a balanced lunch. For today's meal she had: cucumbers, cheese, crackers, apple slices, pb & j sandwich, and a glass of milk. Her verdict: "mmmm this is soooo yummy, I feel like having another dinner like this tomorrow!"

Marionette Puppet

2013-03-31T11:09:00.002-04:00

I was browsing the crafty crow for craft ideas for my daughter and we came across this post, on how to turn a stuffed animal into a marionette puppet, and thought we'd give it a try. I remember as a kid having a handmade one that I got from a vendor on a street and how much fun it was. For our puppet, instead of drilling holes into our dowels like the tutorial called for we just took the easy

Clothespin Catapult

2013-03-30T15:17:00.001-04:00

Today we made a clothespin catapult and my daughter is having a lot of fun catapulting pom poms around the house. We saw this idea on Almost Unschoolers, here. All you need is a hot glue gun, a clothespin, a plastic cap, a popsicle stick, a base (we used an old protractor kit container), and pom poms! She had fun at first using one pom pom but she also experimented catapulting a few pom

Clay Bowl

2013-03-30T14:49:00.002-04:00

My daughter has been really enjoying her clay class. Here is one of the coil bowls she made and gifted to me. I am using it right now to put my hijab pins in. :)

Spring Handprint Flowers

2013-03-30T14:42:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I've visited this space. Friends and family have been telling me that they have been missing my updates so I thought I'd stop in today to show you the craft my daughter did. Spring handprint flowers that we hung above her shelf to brighten up her play area. :) Her play area is in a little corner of our living room. She also made one for my mother-in-law. Art

Story Blocks

2013-02-18T14:55:00.002-05:00

I made some story starter blocks for my daughter today using 1 inch wooden blocks and some clip art. We had a lot of fun taking turns tossing the blocks and using the 3 images to make up stories together. Once her turn was done, I'd roll the blocks and continue the story using the images I got. I plan on adding more blocks in the future to encourage more creative story telling. I really

Pajama Pants

2013-02-18T11:00:00.001-05:00

My daughter has outgrown a lot of her pajamas so I made her some pajama pants using a flannel fabric remnant that I purchased from Fabricland on sale. Since they were just a bit short, I added some material to the bottoms as cuffs. To make these pants I followed the instructions on this tutorial.

Slouchy Hat

2013-02-17T14:59:00.001-05:00

My husband's aunt asked me to help her with her crochet the other day so we simultaneously made hats together and I helped her out whenever she got stuck. My hat came out a little bigger than I expected, so I call it the slouchy hat. I gave this to my little sister as a gift.

Crochet Hook Holder

2013-02-17T14:55:00.001-05:00

I finally made myself a crochet hook holder for all my crochet hooks! This project has been on my to do list for quite a few years now. It feels like it has been a long time since I've made anything for myself. I was trying to use up some of my fabric scraps so the colours don't really match exactly, but I really like how it turned out, and it's easy to see and find all my hooks now :).

No Slip Socks

2013-02-17T14:44:00.005-05:00

This is a project we've done in the past and decided to do again now that she has grown and has new socks. Our apartment has all wooden floors with no carpeting so it can a little slippery sometimes. Adding a little fabric paint to the bottoms of my daughters socks will help her stick in place now :). I like how she made planets on one of the pairs, she is really into Space things right now.

I Thank Allah For...

2013-02-17T14:31:00.001-05:00

My daughter made a really neat craft a while ago where she cut out a sun and on each sun ray she wrote something she is thankful to Allah for. I got this idea from here. I really like how it turned out. We bought a cheap frame from the second hand store to place it in and hung it up in her room.

Milo Hearts

2013-02-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

I did a little bit of knitting last month and made my daughter another Milo vest, this time in pink with a heart design on the side. I think it turned out better this time since it was my second try at the pattern. :)

Arabic Alphabet Letter Toss

2013-01-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

Today I set up an Arabic Alphabet Letter Toss game using a muffin tray. My daughter has to toss a glass pebble into the muffin tray and say the letter name and sound where the pebble lands. I tried to pick some of the more difficult letters she sometimes forgets.

Caterpillar Skip Counting

2013-01-10T16:44:00.003-05:00

To make a fun skip counting game for my daughter I cut apart an egg carton and labelled each section with a number counting by 2's. I then mixed up the pieces and had my daughter put them in the right order.

Arabic Alphabet Paint Bag Writing

2013-01-09T11:24:00.001-05:00

For a fun sensory activity, I put paint in a bag and had my daughter write an Arabic Alphabet letter that I called out with a q-tip. We taped our bag to the table so it would stay in one spot. I saw this idea on Let's Explore here.

Endangered Animals

2013-01-08T13:17:00.001-05:00

Today at playgroup one of the moms had the kids pick out an endangered animal before hand and bring it into playgroup for show and tell. We had a koala, polar bear, panda bear, cheetah, buffalo, and elephant. They then talked about where they were in the world, why they are endangered, and what we can do to help them. Some of the kids had very good ideas like conserving energy, planting trees for