Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Ramadan/Eid Lantern Project

Alright So here it is! My Ramadan/Eid lantern project (Thanks to my friend Maysem who inspired me with her wonderful lantern project.. Check it out!! "Ode To Inspiration").. A different twist to making Ramadan lanterns. When all 30 candles for 30 days of Ramadan are lit, it has the most beautiful effect. I made 30 lanterns representing each day we fasted and my intention is to hang all 30 around the house on EID day for completing the entire month.. It would have been nicer to hang one up each day until the last day, but unfortunately I just finished the project :( Anyway, here's the final look of it...





Im going to show you the way I did them and the products I used.. (there are a lot of ways out there to do this project, the trick is to find the one that you will be able to pull off with the supplies you have at hand)..
The supplies I used are:
- Modge Podge
- Food coloring (any colors you want! I used in this project: blue, green, red, purple)
- Candle holder or small mason jars (Maysem from "Ode to Inspiration" used baby food jars, which I think is super clever!!!)
- Plastic cup
- Chopstick
- Dimensional Paint (you can use regular glitter paint but it won't give that nice dimensional effect that dimensional paint gives.. obviously!)
- Cardboard (I used a cereal box, but you can also use paper bag, whatever you have..)





First, put about half an inch of Modge Podge in the plastic cup (increase the amount if you're making more than one candle).





Second, you add the food coloring and mix together with the chopstick.








Pour the mixture in the candle and start moving it around until the mixture fully covers the candle, after that you place it upside down on the cardboard box and leave it to dry for about 30 minutes (try to move it around every couple of minutes).






After you feel like the candle is dry from the inside, you bake it in the oven (under a warm temperature) for 20 minutes, flip the candle side up and bake it again for another 20 minutes. Baking the candle gives it that nice tint so it would look cool when you light the candle inside.. They should look like this...






They cool pretty fast so after 15-20 minutes you can start decorating them and making your own designs on the candle with the dimensional paint. Let the paint dry for about 4-5 hours..



 And that's it :) the next time I do a similar project, i'll try a different method.. I wanna try glass paint instead of Modge Podge and food coloring for tinting and compare the results.. And of course you can do these for any occasion or even as house decor :) 

I hope I have inspired you to do something similarly awesome and unique. Enjoy making it as I have :)



Salam :)

Happy EID!!!

Happy Eid to all my Muslim friends and family and the rest of the community. This is a time to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Alhamdulelah it went by quick but like always it reminded us of all the good things we are capable of doing :) I wanted to write this post before Thursday and it looks like i made it by 10 minutes lol.. I have been busy all week working on Eid candles/lanterns.. I know what you're thinking! same old traditional lanterns?! Nope not really! So stay Tuned...



Salam :)

Monday, August 5, 2013

Salam Everyone!!

Salam Everyone!! This is my first post on my very own blog.. yay!! And perfect timing too! because Ramadan is almost over and EID is right around the corner.. It's either on a thursday or Friday, we'll find out for sure on Wednesday.. It's always sad to see ramadan end but the excitement for EID definitely makes up for it!! Normally we would just bake cookies, cookies, and more cookies. But this year I plan on making some crafts to celebrate. I'll post soon my finished Eid project IsA :)



 Salam :)