Purple Tableware From Tunisia

Hey all. Hope you are all ready for the new year! I was surprised by a visit from a good friend from LA and we decided to hit up the Global Village. It's my second time this year and I came across very cute handmade tableware from Tunisia. What a coincidence that the set was inline with Pantone's color of the year- Radiant Orchid. Enjoy the inspiration!

Round soup tureen

  Tajine, (aka Tagen) used to keep foods such as rice warm.

DIY Clothespin Turned Scarf Pin

Hello all! Hope you all are in the best of health and happiness. If not, maybe clothespin's will cheer you up. I don't know what it is about clothespins, but I love them. They are so cute and even cuter when they are miniature.

Some how a mini clothespin ended up in my home. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it fell off a craft project the kids brought home from school, maybe it was a piece of decoration on a gift my kids from school. I have no idea. All that mattered was that I stumbled upon it and wanted to make something cute with it. I fired up my glue gun, grabbed a sewing needle and made myself a pin to secure my scarf with.

Experimenting With Scotch Tape Expressions:Part 1

Hello Debdoozlers! Hope you are all well on your end of town. We had wonderful cool and crisp weather today in Dubai thank God.

A few weeks back I stopped by Ace Hardware and came across a large display for Scotch Tape products. It was a rainbow convention of stickiness. There were all sorts of adhesives and they were on sale. It was a sign. It was also obvious they were competing with the oh so popular  Washi Tape. I've been wanting to try Washi Tape, but haven't come across it out here. A lot of bloggers have used Washi Tape and I haven't seen negative reviews. I figured Scotch Tape has always had a good reputation, might as well give it a try. I picked up two small roles and experimented with my old black vinyl business card folder. It turned out ok, but I expected better results. Check it out...

A Tale of New Chairs Part 2 (FINALLY) Plus Fabrico Review

Hey all! This revamp should probably get the world record for longest time between before and after pics to be revealed lol. I posted the before pics in 2012 and we are almost in 2014 and I finally have the after lol. At least I am late with style ha!

If you remember, I bought two wingback chairs off Dubizzle a long while ago for my dining area. I was trying out something new because the chairs we had were not so comfortable. In the end I abandoned the original idea and just used them as extra seating in my living area. I don't actually have rooms in this house. It's just one giant floor space melted together. Sections are divided by furniture arrangements which then leave me with "areas" as opposed to rooms. Now that I think about it, I've never lived in any place that had separate dining room, living room and family room. It's always been one giant melted floor plan.

Anyway, I really wanted to use them at the head of the dining table, but the hubster felt they were too low and with the kids it just wasn't logical to have fabric chairs combined with food :o). They were a steel so it didn't matter that the original plan didn't workout. One of them had broken springs and they both needed new upholstery ASAP. Here they are before....

DIY Papier-Mâché (Paper Mache) Anubis/Jackal Mask

WOW, I can't believe a week passed without a post. What can I say- life happens ;-). So back to last week which brings me to this week. It was the last week of school before the "winter" holiday and everything, I mean EVERYTHING was happening last week. My youngest started preschool on the other side of Dubai, all three kids were having holiday parties at school annnnd of course the entire first grade year was celebrating the end of term with Egyptian day. Did I mention I was just starting to get over a nasty cold? I didn't think so.

Aside from making fruit kababs, (don't say kabob, trust me, it's kabab) mini sandwiches, and hotdog rolls (we don't have "pigs in a blanket" in the UAE lol) I still had to make Z2 a pharaoh costume. I remembered 4 nights before it was due. I still had time, so I thought. After sharing some modest ideas with Z2 I realized it couldn't just be any pharaoh costume, noooooo, this was serious business. It had to be a jackal. For crying out loud! I'm Egyptian, and honestly had no idea what a jackal was. No worries though, google saved the day, and then I wanted to cry. Anubis?!?! My son wanted to be the protector of the dead and embalming? For real? I guess King Tut is so 1999. Well, since the first night was officially wasted in research and negotiating an easier costume, I now had 3 days to make this...

I did a lot of praying, head scratching and sweating, a lot of SWEATING. Who was I kidding, this was impossible. Then an idea sparked. I could do a papier-mâché (paper mache) mask. My idea materialized  into this...

Potty Chart For My Littlest Munchkin

Ok. Before you get all grossed-out, I just have to say this was a very exciting craft and even more exciting that my littlest munchkin, Z3, is FINALLY pooping in the potty. If you find little amusement in this you either A: don't have toddlers, or B: your toddler's been pooping in the potty for ages and by ages I mean like a month and you're so over it now.

So back to my toddler. I have three boys. Z1, Z2 and Z3 and they were all SOOOOO different when it came to potty training. Z3 was, by far, the hardest to train. It took a long time to get him to pee in the potty, but once he did it was golden! We've been smooth sailing for months now. When I "encouraged" him to poop in the potty, however, he would hold it in out of fear for at least 2 days claiming he didn't have to go. NOT GOOD. So, I followed the doctors orders and let Z3 decide when he was ready to poop in the potty. It came to a point though that enough was enough and I really had to do something to make the playdate with nature fun and appealing so he would go in the potty and stop holding it in. What better than a chart? A POOP CHART.

Toddlers and kids alike love, LOVE charts. They love charts to death and you know what they love even more than charts? STICKERS! Better yet, stickers on charts! Now we've hit the jackpot. Toddlers and kids love seeing their accomplishments materialize visually. Seriously, as soon as this chart came straight out the printer my toddler ran to the potty to poop so he could stick a sticker on his steaming hot fresh-out-the-oven poop chart!

Another 30 second DIY. I scanned Google for animated poop images. There was, of course, nothing to work with. Take my word for it. :o) Untill I came across this very cute graphic.

Tell me that isn't the cutest most kid-friendly poop pic you've ever seen!

It was perfect! Naturally, I emailed the hubster and ordered kindly asked him :o) to put together a simple chart with the days of the week surrounding the image. 

Pens In Disguise

Hey there friends. I realized that when I posted my charging station, my roses made a little guest appearance. I thought I should fill you in on a little secret. I think it's obvious that they are silk roses, and frankly I find nothing more ghetto than silk plants in home decor. Nothing beats the real deal. These, however, are not your ordinary ghetto flowers :o).

Decoupaged Charging Station With Marbled Paper

Hello all. The weather out here right now is amazing. I think I need to start a blogging graveyard shift so I can soak up the warm sun during the day. :o)))

Any way, you may have heard that Pantone announced Radiant Orchid as the 2014 color of the year. For those who are wondering what exactly is "Radiant Orchid" it's a shade of purple. :o) I know, color names have come along way since the prehistoric days of red, orange, yellow,green blue and purple lol.  And we thought indigo and violet were exotic names ha!

Back to my point. I was happy to hear they announced that color because I've been really feeling purple these days and wanted to bring more of it in my home. Aside from this quilt, I didn't have any other purple. I also wanted to do something with marble print. When I found this beautiful marble print in shades of purple I thought it would be perfect to use it on an old charging station we had laying around. I could finally bring in a dose of purple and setup one spot for us to charge all our phones. Woohoo! The supplies were just a few. Mod Podge, paint brush, paper slicer, marble prints, pencil.

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Originally I got this print from PapeirRoyal, at their etsy shop, but not sure if this exact print is still available.

Charging station before.. So drab.

After! SO MUCH character! 

Using Paper Clips to Hang Lightweight Objects

On one of my last visits to the thrift store just before we moved to Dubai, I dropped by the Salvation Army and was surprised to find they accepted Islam! Islamic goods, that is :-) For those of you who are not aware of the popular thrift store in the States, they are a Christian non-profit organization that uses the money they make from selling used items to sponsor programs helping those in need and on the side try to convert people to Christianity. So I was surprised to find this little beauty...

Transcribed in the plate is a verse from the Quran. Not sure the exact chapter it's from, but will update the post once I find out.

Soapstone and Wood Bowls from Kenya

Hey Debdoozlers! Hope you are all well. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had stopped by the Global Village. While I was there I checked out the Africa booth. As if Africa was a single country (it's not). Did you know it's comprised of more than 50 countries? Fun fact for the day.  When I entered the stall, or what I like to call the market since it's much bigger than a stall, I checked out different booths and came upon one with products from Kenya. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but the temptation of the the cute stuff combined with pressuring salesmen left me with two new bowls to bring home. 

The first bowl that caught my eye was sea green in color, small, about about 3 inches in diameter, and ICE COLD to the touch. The hubster and I were really fascinated by its smooth cold texture. We found out it was made of soapstone. It's dug from underground and is a fascinating material. I wish my floors were made of it, then maybe my house would be cool in the summer. :o)) I also love that it has black in it which I've been trying to incorporate more into our home. 

Haute Hijab Inspired Box

Hello Debdoozlers! Happy December and happy project! Seriously, I love todays project. I think out of all the things I've done this project is my favorite. It's simple, really, a wooden box painted in polkadots. The inspiration came from a beautiful scarf designed and sold by Haute Hijab. Before I even thought about a DIY project featuring this signature look, I just wanted the scarf, but living in Dubai causes a lot of shipping issues. You see, we don't really have zip codes out here, shoot, we don't even  have mail boxes! Unless you have a private P.O. box, you'll end up facing companies who cannot ship to your front door, because your front door doesn't have a proper address. While most people can figure out where your home is because you're in between Choithrums and a cell tower, most companies need a real physical address. 

So after thinking about where I could get this scarf shipped to in the US and then have it later shipped to me in the UAE, It was SOLD OUT! ARRRRRRG! Someway, somehow I still had to have it though. 

The Grace Kelly Wrap

I got to thinking and a lightbulb in the form of a wooden box popped up! How about I just paint a box I already have in the pattern of the Grace Kelly Wrap? Sounds like a great idea to me. Off I went collecting my supplies which were: 

A wooden box

Sanding block (medium grade)

Tack cloth or towel to wipe off dust

Painters tape (to tape off hinges)

Primer

Base color plus another color for the dots

Paintbrush for dots

Sealant spray to protect the final coat

Krylon Caramel Latte Brushed Metal in Satan (I could eat that color it's that yummy)

Apple Barrel Antique White.

I taped off the hinges. They were in perfect shape and I didn't want to ruin them with spray paint. 

Storage Baskets From Ikea

Hello all. Hope you have all awakened from your Thanksgiving food coma :o) Well, a couple of weeks ago I was at Ikea and came across a wonderful selection of baskets. I needed a couple in hopes of controlling the flood of balls and flip-slops that were consuming the hallway.

Yes, we live in the land of sand-als :o), and despite having an organized shoe cupboard, the sandals/ flip-flops were just always all over the place. Aside from that issue, we also had balls everywhere. Since it's usually so hot outside, we have to keep most of the balls indoors otherwise the heat just pulverizes them.  The rubber balls and other synthetic materials literally disintegrate from the heat without even being in direct sunlight. Even though the weather is cooler now, it's still better to keep them inside.

Exhibit A and B. FlIp FLoP DrAmA and that embarrassment of a ball basket. :-/ Don't judge.