Introducing...

...a new blog feature! I have that nice book called Caffeine for the Creative Mind in which you find 250 exercices to wake up your brain. They all involve fun and creativity. I decide to suggest one exercice per week or so to make you profit - and will of course do the exercice myself.

Here's a quick one to start.

What day is it?

The week of seven days was adopted in Rome somewhere about 400 AD and spread into Europe, but it had been recognized long before that in the East. The names of each of the days are generally associated with Roman mythology. It's time they received and updated, contemporary change. Your task is to rename the days of the week to be modern. They can all be associated with a theme, or they can all have different meanings. They can be as long or as short as you like, but they all must en with the suffix "-day", like they do now.

My week would be : Yawnday, Insignificantday, Middleday, Letshavebreakfastwithfriendsday, Shoppingday, Dealwithkidswhowanttomakespecialactivitiesday, Sleepuntiltenday.

What about you week? I'd love to know what you would come up with!! And stay tuned for more fun and creativity stretching exercices.

2012 Calendar by Gingiber

And some more

I made this simple bracelet inspired by different ideas seen on Etsy and Pinterest. I also made a lantern with a jam jar and some purple lace from an old t-shirt (glued on the jar with Mod Podge).

Simple things that change my mind and make me relax. I cannot go with long and complicated projects these days, so... Easy peasy, funny bunny!

Craft Crazy

While I'm at it, while not continue to endlessly create stuff! Every free minute that I have I feel like trying something new and lately I've been making so many things I cannot even list them.

I'm particularly happy with my oil bottle, with the name 'oil' written in different languages, including korean, arabic, greek and hebrew! I also made some coasters - well I covered some bamboo coasters from dollar shop with nice paper and dimensional Mod Podge. They both make nice gifts ideas - just sayin'.

 

Henna in the park

A lovely summer day, a nice breeze, a quiet park.

A friend with daughters, fun between girls.

And a little henna.

5 days, 4 friends, 11 kids, 1 chalet

I don't have to mention it wasn't restful holidays. But it sure was fun. Especially at night, when all the kids were sleeping and we could finally have a good laugh, play tricks on each other and feel like we were 16 again :).

We have options!

Did you know that Blogger offers dynamic viewing options? If you want to see an example, try the mosaic view for Zamzam Garden, it's pretty cool! You just have to click on a photo to read the whole post. You can change the view by clicking the drop-down menu in the top right corner.

I love images and being a visual person, I think from now on I will choose the mosaic, snapshop or flipcard viewing options for my favorite blogs!

Hooked... continued!

I'm spending most of my time crocheting these days. Completely addicted! The fantastic thing about crochet is that it's so easy, I'm just following videos and was able to make things I thought were for experts only.

I had some material left from my baby blanket and tried making a hat and baby booties with it. For a first try I'm quite happy with the final result.

Now working on more hats for the kids, a baby sweater and a cardigan for me. I'm having so much fun!

Nadia Blili

is our winner!

The draft was conducted under the supervision of my son Ismael, a trustable and impartial party ;).

I have to say I was very happy when I saw Nadia's name because she deserves it. She's helping a lot passing the word about Zamzam's jewelry, sharing with her contacts about my new stuff and making great comments.

Congrats Nadia - think about what you'd like to get and I'll create it just for you in the next days!

Thanks to everyone else for participating.

Summer Giveaway!!

Finally, finally!

I've been talking and thinking about it for a while, now here it is, your chance to win a custom seaglass ring or pendant from Zamzam Design!

How to enter

- Leave a comment about your favorite item from my Etsy shop

- Link back to your own blog (+1 entry) - please email me if you link back (zamzamdesign at sympatico dot ca)

- Earn an extra chance to win by talking about this giveaway on Facebook - and let me know if you do so by leaving a comment on Zamzam's Facebook page (+1 entry).

The Rules

- Please only 1 comment entry / person (please enter a valid email address or link to your blog so you can be reached easily if you win).

- The winner will receive a pendant or ring of his/her favorite color (available colors: green, brown, white, cobalt blue, aqua).

Have fun!! You have until July 9 to enter. Winner will be announced July 10.

Journal Diali*

Never had a chance to show photos of my altered journal as promised. I started it some time ago, using an old encyclopedic book. I'm painting inner pages and writing/drawing over the old stuff, adding images, photos, stickers, etc.

I wish I could play with it more, and more often but it's a lot of work to make just one page look nice (ever told you I'm such a perfectionnist?)...

Here are some photos anyway. I really like the cover collage (first photo) and the bookmark (see last one).

*Diali means mine in Darija (Moroccan Arabic).

Everyday People Cartoons

are very funny

Eastern Boho

I took a test to find out what was my interior style and I am "Eastern (why not western?) boho". Eclectic and authentic. "Your home is a gallery - every wall tells a story." Well maybe not every wall, but it's true, I like to collect and display objects. I have many pieces from Morocco that I cherish, lots of images, photos, paintings...

Wanna know what's your style? http://iscd.edu.au/personal-style-quiz/

I always knew I was a bohemian - a gypsy, like Maude would say. :)

Treasuries

I came back from my trip in Gaspésie with a huge basket of beach treasuries. Sand, stones, stars, urchins, wood, sea glass, weeds, feathers, shells... I sorted them and filled nice glass jars with them. Some stones will be used to make new magnets. I'll probably use sea glass to make a new line of jewelry. Also want to try some kind of glass window frames. Sea wood will be used as canvases. The rest of my treasuries were made into small beaches. I put them all over the house! I made some in glass plates, wine cups, wooden bowls... I also use some nice pieces of wood to display special finds.

Every time I pass by them, it reminds me of my dream...

Giant!

Inspired by the Family Summer Center, I decided to try making a huge calendar to help with planification and also for the kids to have an idea of what's going on this summer. 

Of course my summer calendar has nothing to do with the Craftzine version but I had fun and the guys are very excited about it. I used an old vinyl blind. We wrote on different post-its everything we wanted to do and when we decide to do an activity, we put the post-it on the right date. I used different colors for people we will see - either home or elsewhere (yellow), special event/activity (pink), others - like garage sale (orange) and Mommy's events (pale yellow). 

At least they don't ask me 1000 times a day anymore when we're going camping or which night there's a soccer game. Everything is there. I'm also reminded every time I look at it that summer is short, so let's profit!

Kids Holidays - and what it means for a Mom

Haven't find time in the last week to write even one line. Holidays are here, for the kids, I mean - so mine are over! I'm trying to keep them busy so they don't fight (the favorite activity of two boys that don't have something constructive to do). That means I'm also quite busy and don't find the time to blog/write/twit/list on Etsy/paint.

Weather was nice last week so that was kind of easy. Playing outside is an activity in itself so I don't have to be too creative. But rain came during the week-end so we had to find something to do inside...

I bought this 'carnival' kit a while ago and thought it was a good time to take it out. Little One (4 y.o.) took 2 minutes to finish his 2 masks. Big Brother (6 y.o.) took ages. I was so proud of him. He was taking his time, choosing carefully his colors, he was so into it, reminded me of me - that was a good feeling. I really enjoyed watching him (I secretly hope my kids will be artists!). 

So! My summer will be like this, a break from my usual occupations, quality time with my little guys, playing, watching, taking too many uninteresting photos and trying to enjoy some time away from the computer...

I'll try to post as much as possible but I already know I will not be able to be as active as I use to.

Have a nice summer!

Meet the Stiff Family

I bought last week some wooden naked peggies and wanted to try to create a family for my kids to play with something else than plastic superheroes figures.  They look a bit uptight though, and I think I should try to make funnier figures next time! 

Still, they were fun to make and I think I could start to create some more to offer for baby showers and gifts - instead of buying clothes, like everybody else does anyway. Don't you think it can make an original present? I could even try to create look-alike figures that represent real families! Should be nice to make. 

Now the Stiff Family is staying with us, kids have already adopted them and I think they don't care too much about their apperance - they make them do whatever they feel like, anyway. Papa Stiff can still be a pirate and Mama Stiff can fight dragons while kids discover a treasure!

Happy Pins

My friend Dikra who owns N-ti, the nicest muslima shop in the world, asked me to make some pin cushions to put in the shop's dressing rooms, as hijabis keep loosing their pins while changing. I made her 2, and kept one for myself. 

Now I, too, will have a place to keep all my pins - they are so happy :) !

Finally!

Here they are, my brand new magnet sets!

I painted over 25 pebbles, added to the ones I already had, to create 13 different sets of magnets. I started to list them on Etsy, and will put more in the next days.

Beach pebbles are so fun to make, I just love to paint them. I'm running out of nice ones to use, I guess that will be a good excuse to plan a trip to the nearest beach (which is actually not near!).

Tagged

I was tagged by Camille from Set Carré.

The rules are:
1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention. 

2. Tag six other un-tagged people. Change the rules if you wish.

What is your current obsession?
To find some kind of inner peace.

What are you wearing right now?
Flared jeans and grey hoodie.

Do you nap a lot?
No.

Who was the last person you hugged?
My sons before they went to bed

What is you current favorite song?
Magic of politics by Micheal Darius.

What’s for dinner?
We had some sandwiches bought by my husband (no cooking tonight, yeah!).

What was the last thing you bought?
This afternoon I went to Viva Éco Marché and bought toothpaste, shampoo, lotion (all organic), homeopathic remedy for nausea and peppermint tea (and yes, the total of the bill hurts!) .

What are you listening to right now?
My current favorite song :).

What is your favourite weather?
Hot, dry and sunny weather.

What’s on your beside table?
Islam, réforme radicale by Tariq Ramadan.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you.
Merci Camille, ça me fait plaisir de savoir que tu penses à moi ;)

What was the last play you saw?
I never did!

Favourite vacation spot?
Sidi Bouzid, Morocco (where I'm going to next week!!!).

A book you're currently reading?
Introduction à la communication non-violente de Marshall Rosenberg

What is your favourite sound?
The sound of ocean waves.

What would you like to get rid of?
My student loan.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
In Mecca.

What did you want to become as a child?
An artist.

Your favorite movie?
I rarely watch movies - I cannot say, really!

What is your plan for tomorrow?
I'll finish a contract (Thika), make the ads I have to do for Pentaèdre and try to go out with kids (no school tomorrow...)

I'm so tired now, I just don't feel like tagging and telling each and every one... Maybe later on! We have the right to chage rules, right?

I tried.... making my own boxes

Making our own custom cards and boxes can be very easy when we have a template at hand. I just discovered, some time ago, a site where you can find all kinds of original boxes, envelopes and cards templates.

The author recommend to use a special tool (bone folder) to score fold lines. For thick paper and cardboard I simply use a pizza cutter, it’s very effective and avoid damaging cardboard and leaving marks.

If you want to increase or decrease the size of templates, you just need to use a photocopier and resize them as you wish.

I personally tried a couple of the available templates and the result was very satisfying. On the photo you can see a puffy box, made from a page of vintage children book.

A nice way to personalize our gifts and reduce our consumption!