Monthly Archives: July 2014

Acrylic Painting – Sunflower Step by Step

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I know there was a lot of sewing recently that is why I have decided to put this short tutorial for Sunflower painting in acrylic.

You can follow these simple steps by step and complete your own artwork in a day.

1. Prepare your canvas, a set of paints (for a more interesting result I have used metallic acrylic paints), brushes, water in a cup, drying cloth and the most important, a picture of sunflower which you really, really like. You can find plenty of photos on the net or in  magazines and books. I have a little “future projects folder” and obviously one sunflower was sitting right there.

Sunflower step by step

2. Draw on canvas from the picture. This may be tricky if you have a hard time to keep right scale or shape but don’t worry you don’t have to be exact with your copy. Another tip could be to print a picture of the same like size, of your canvas and copy flower with copping paper, but then you will not have much space left for your own creativity.

sunflower1

3. Cover canvas with under painting. Make sure to not to leave any white spots. Acrylic paints dry very fast so you can put next layers every 10-20 minutes. Tip: we always paint from outside of canvas to the inside of it. Make sure all of the external edges are painted as well, this will allow you to hang the painting without framing it. Also try to take your tile with details, it may be hard to correct mistakes later on as paints may not cover it well.

sunflower2

4. Second layer of paint should manage most of shades and underline basic colors. You will have to go over full canvas again. This will also manage to smooth out some lighter and darker sections from under painting.

5. Last layer will complete all of the details which you would like to highlight and make more bold. Sunflower doesn’t have to look exactly like what is on the picture. This is all about your own creativity and artistic expression so don’t be afraid of it. Acrylic sunflower looks radiant and fresh.

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If you would like to have more details on this project or would like to see other step by step painting tutorials please let me know.

 

Big Mystery Box

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Hi Friends!

I have something surprising to share 🙂 I have called it The Big Mystery Box.

It will be my new fresh addition to the fantastic list of interests, tutorials and projects.

We will be able to discover all of the items and learn how to use them to create fashionable style, gift items and the best part we are going to have so much fun!

Let’s open our Big Mystery Box now…

box 2You have probably guessed. It is a box full of beaded jewellery items. I just love it!

In this new section I’m going to introduce basics of jewellery making.box 3Simple step by step tutorials where you will be able to discover all necessary items, tools, different types of jewellery fashion.

We are going to work on multiple projects and you will be able to find some of them in my on line shop which is going to come to life very soon.

You just can’t imagine how fantastic jewellery box we are going to create together.box 4

 

 

Home Made Playdough

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My biggest challenge of this summer is how to entertain kids.

I have decided to make some home made playdough which hopefully keep them busy for a while.

home made playdough

There is plenty of fantastic playdowgh recipes in the net. Grab one or use below one.

You need:

  • 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
  • Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
  • food colouring (optional)
  • few drops glycerine (optional- adds more shine!)

Method:

  • Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
  • Add food colouring TO the boiling water then into the dry ingredients (colour optional)
  • Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
  • Add the glycerine (optional)
  • Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone.

Once it has cool down give your kids a “cooking” assignment. You can prepare pictures of food for younger once and thru some ideas on the older so they can get creative. Then you can wait for results. I had 2 hours free for myself while kids were “cooking” 🙂

home made playdough

Have fun with your own home made playdough.

Nursery – Part 6: Baby Crib Quilt and Pillow

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Recently we got the bassinet ready but the baby will not be sleeping in the bassinet for more than 2-3 months, so we have to think about the baby crib.

I have put together short instructions for a quilt and a matching pillow.

I always thought that it would take a lot of time but it turned out to be easy and fast to make.

First I cut multiple squares from different fabrics, all of them 20 cm square. Then I put them in a chess pattern and started sewing the sides of it one by one. When all of the lines were ready I sewed them together. The whole procedure didn’t take more than 30 minutes! I know –  shocking! It was very fast!

quilt and pillow 1

quilt and pillow

I had to add a white “frame” on each side to get the right size and shape.

Then I pinned it to the cotton batting and sewed vertically and horizontally along the seems on the squares.

quilt and pillow 3

quilt and pillow 4quilt and pillow 5After that I added  purple fleece underneath and finished the edges all around with soft satin.

The pillow was the same – simple and fast. I filled it with pillow stuffing and closed it all up so I can wash it all together when needed.

quilt and pillow 2quilt and pillow 6

Once we have a crib we will also need some fitted bed sheets and crib lining around the sides so we will come back to it in another post.

 The quilt and pillow are super and I still can’t believe how easy it was.

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Let’s think what else do we need in our nursery?

Muslim Fest 2011 and 2012

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Due to the new upcoming event in Mississauga this year I have decided to share some memories of two Muslim Fests.

I had the pleasure of participating in both of them and showing my art.

Muslim Fest 2011 aThe Muslim Fest has a long tradition in Canada and it has an average of 25 thousand visitors during the 2-day event.

The Art Exhibition is one of many attractions among live music, stand-up comedy shows, camel rides, a bazaar and Middle Eastern food.

These were my first public presentations. I’m sure you can recognize same paintings I have already presented on this website but stay tuned: the new Muslim Fest 2014 is coming up in a few weeks and I will have some new paintings to show. Muslim Fest 2012

 

Nursery – Part 5: Bassinet Make-Over

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Dear Friends!

This time we are going to work on the Bassinet for our Nursery room.

I have checked in many baby stores in my area but unfortunately there was nothing available in purple, so I have no choice but to re-decorate something I believe is functional and good looking already. bassnet make over 1

This is a 5-in-1 Bassinet. It has a rocker, multiple levels of height, obviously a basket, music player, a night light, and when you lift the basket the remaining part is a changing table. There is also a spacious fabric bag below for some diapers, baby cosmetics and clothes. bassinet make over 10

I started with the external frill. I made it a bit longer to cover both the original frills of the bassinet and I used elastic band for easy on and off use.

Then I sewed two new fitted bed sheets. It was totally simple so don’t spend money for original bed sheets! They are far too expensive for very little work required to make one.

bassinet make over 7

I cut an oval shape, like the matress of the bassinet with an additional 10-15 cm in size. I tucked in the edges all over and then I used the technique known as shirring. Just sew a curvy part along the edge on the both sides and use elastic stitching to pull it together.

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It fits perfectly fine! bassinet make over 8

The next step is a flat pillow and a small blanket. I used a quilting technique to finish them off. You will not get those in the store. Bassinets don’t come with this kind of accessories specialists are not recommending pillows or blankets for small babies, however, the pillow if is flat and the blanket only half size, so it will not have any impact on the development of your baby. bassinet make over 9

Now we should take care of the hood. This was the most difficult part as there was no access to remove the old one. I had to sew fabric on it. It took some time as you can’t use a machine for it and then it will take some time to remove it later when you want to maybe adapt the bassinet againbut I didn’t see any simpler way to deal with it.

bassinet make over 11bassinet make over 12

Now some stuffed toys to hang on and voila! The bassinet make-over is completed!

bassinet make over 13bassinet make over 14bassinet make over 15

And the basics of the Nursery are almost ready.

bassinet make over 16

Nursery – Part 4: Baby Bath Towels

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Probably many of you have tried to buy good quality Baby Towels for your newborns. I was so surprised when I couldn’t find anything soft and thick enough, not mentioning rocket high prices and we definitely need this item in out Nursery so I had to do something about it.

Thankfully we have two hands which can manage anything so I have put this new sewing project together and I hope you will like it too.

I have purchased one super big size of batch towel and one small one in the same color – light purple obviously 🙂towel 1

I cut the big one in the half, then the small one across diagonally so we have two triangles for hoods from the small one. Yes we will have two Baby Bath Towels out of it.

I used some decorative embroidery on the front and sewed it together at the corner. Make sure these pieces are attached well. When the baby is born you may not have time to get it fixed 🙂 towel 3

You can sew on a soft piece of fabric on the inside part of hood to make the touch even softer as this part will be on the forehead of your baby. towel 2

Then I use the same color of fabric at the edges to cover all those nasty pills of fabric all around.

towel 4

towel 5

towel 6

This is it! Now we have two beautiful, extra soft and thick Baby Bath Towels! The total cost was half the price of “ready” shop towels and double the final quality product.

If you need more, go ahead it took me about 45 minutes to finish one.

towel 7