Ramadan 2013: A Little Decor Around the Home - Part 1

Hello folks! If you haven't gotten your Ramadan decorations up, it's never too late. A little goes a long way and changing up your home even a little bit really makes the spirit of Ramadan that much more lively! I wanted to share some of the things I did around my house this year. I still have couple more ideas in store so keep an eye out while I wrap up those posts.

Let's start with something "old" and move on to something new.

You might remember these Diy ornaments from last year. Unfortunately, my two year old broke obliterated them. Luckily I was able to fix them with minor scars. I decided to hang them over my foyer mirror. 

The mirror gave it a nice reflective flare plus, I didn't have to worry about the kids flinging them every time they walked trough the walkway.

Then, I gathered up some of the lanterns I've collected over time, threw on a runner for an Islamic theme. I also included a traditional Emirati tea pot. They are so cute! Arabs are known for lighting up lanterns in celebration for Ramadan. This is a cultural tradition and not an Islamic requirement, just so there is no confusion. 

Of course we cannot forget the lovely banners made with love and generously shared by Pik over at Sakin Designs. I had this banner up last year, but for the life of me cannot find the post I did on it. Sorry.

These banners were provided by Sakina Design for you to print, for free! Thanks so much and jazakom Allah khair for your making Ramadan special for us! They have new prints this year that I just got printed. I'm putting them together and will have them up for you to enjoy in the next post. 

I (daringly) tried something new this year. I say daring because I was worried my 2 year old would shred the books! Luckily he just hoards them and sticks them back in the book case lol. I found these cute Quran stands at Panda Hyper Market. My kids have been asking me to buy them their own for a while, but they were out of stock up until Ramadan started. I bought one for each kid and a mini one for Z3 as well. I placed Quran's in them and an Islamic themed book for Z3 so as to encourage them to read during this holly month. Obviously Z3 cannot read, but he loves to be read to. 

I also filled a beautiful glass bowl with my jar of incense powder surrounded by prayer beads. These beads are perfect for making spaghetti and ice cream, in Z3's world that is and under adult supervision of course :o) Actually, I'll be honest, this bowl was removed after one day. I know I don't have to explain. Don't judge me, it's Ramadan! You can't blame me for trying to decorate my home ;o) 

I also got a Quran stand for me just to motivate and make reading the Quran easily accessible, and because it's pretty, of course! 

I found these beautifully hand crafted star and crescent ornaments at a store that, aside from these ornament, has nothing else affordable in it lol. 

Hope you liked part one of my decorating this year. I 'll be sharing a couple more posts on things I did around the house. Now enough of a distraction, LET'S GO take a nap READ QURAN!

-Debora

Date Season

Just a quick post here. Wanted to share some pics of the lovely Date Palm trees in my neighborhood. Every year just before Ramadan, the Palm's are prepped for the dates that will soon be growing. I thought it was cool to see how big and plentiful the dates are. Check it out.

Still in their young phase. 

A branch prematurely broke off. 

Workers protecting the dates from being eaten by the wildlife. 

This was a couple months back. The dates have all ripened and most have been taken down. It's so nice to have these right in front of our home. Have you visited a date plantation? It's quiet the sight to see this all over Dubai this time of year. Thanks for stopping by! 

-Debora

Ramadan 2013: Fasting Calendar

Hello! Goodness, where have I been? In the world of priorities and no time, that's where. What better time to start than now? With two days into Ramadan, I have got to share with you my latest project.

I made my kid's a fasting calendar/tracker since last years calendar really motivated them to fast. This year they are even more hyped than before. Maybe it's the calendar, or maybe it's the mood and excitement that we are all fasting as a family. What ever the motivation, they love keeping track of how many days they've fasted, even if it's a few hours between breakfast and lunch :oP.

I got the idea a couple months back while making spaghetti sauce. I usually buy tomatoe sauce in tin cans and I love those little cans; there are so many projects you could make with them. So, I started saving them up. Thirty to be exact.

Thirty Cans

I debated spray painting them or covering them up. Then I remembered this Crayola travel pack of patterns to color in. The hubster got it for the kids from one of his business trips. I snagged a pattern I liked before the kids ruined beautifully colored it in. 

The pattern on the right seemed the closest to an Islamic theme. 

I the original sheets come in 3in x 4in sized paper. To be more efficient, I made duplicate copies on the same sheet so the pattern could fill up an 8x10 sheet of paper. Then I colored it in and made copies. 

Photo copies of the original I had colored in. 

I cut the sheets down to the exact size of the can and wrapped them around. When I peeled off the original label, there was still glue from the manufacturers glueing process. This helped a lot in sticking my sheets on. Then I added a little of my own glue to secure the other end. It went fairly quickly once I got into a rhythm. 

I used clothes pins to clip the cans to the string and painted them red. 

I also thought it would be cute to use Arabic numerals vs. Latin numerals for the dates. I even marked the cans from right to left instead of left to right. 

I stuffed the cans to give the popsicle sticks some height.

I kept the rules simple, since I am still teaching them to value fasting as opposed to hating and resenting it. If you fast half day, which is not eating until about 12 or 1, you get a red stick (half day). Anything after 1 is a full day (blue stick) in my book. In some cases, half days consist of no eating between breakfast and lunch :o) It's the intentions that count really. Since there is only one can per day, each kid writes their initials on the stick so they can tell who fasted half/full day on each day. 

Two days into fasting and we have two full days and two half days. So proud of them Masha'allah!! 

They both helped with the coloring. 

And the final product! 

Simple, fun to make, plus very encouraging and rewarding. Kids need visuals all the time and this really helps them visualize the time length of Ramadan. Some times they worry that there are too many cans, then I remind them that 30 days is a small amount of time compared to a year for example and the worry is gone. 

As for rewards, I didn't fill the cans with frivolous gifts because I don't want them to loose purpose of fasting and the meaning of this month. When I lived back in the States, I felt this constant pressure to one-up Ramadan and make it a halal (lawful) Christmas. These are two totally different holidays. If I want to teach my kids to appreciate what they have, learn to sacrifice and remember the poor I can't overwhelm them with 30 days of gifts, even if they are small. On days that I find they have struggled with fasting or days that they bickered less, prayed their prayers etc, etc, I give them a sweet treat or something they deserve.  As for the valuable gifts, they can wait until Eid. 

Hope you enjoyed this craft, and a blessed Ramadan to those of you who observe! Thanks for stopping by! 

-Debora

Rast Hack #1,982 With Special Help From Sakina Design

Hello everyone! I don't know about your neck of the woods, but it's getting hot-ter over here and the excessive heat has already taken a toll on me. :o( booo! With that said let me cool your hearts with a bright a fresh project. I know, I know. Rast hacks are a dime a dozen, but they are the only projects that  never get old. I mean people have done amazing things with their hacks, and here I am to add my own.

After! 

Before

I bought two rast dressers to create an entertainment center. I was lucky to get help from Pik at Sakina Design for the art work.

She was so gracious to let me use the original design from this Attarine wall art. She mailed me an image that I printed and colored in with a gold leaf pen.