My Little Life
I’m Amnah, a Muslim mom blogger from the San Francisco Bay Area. Here you’ll find crafts and projects for kids and moms alike, sweet and savory recipes, and random ramblings about raising three little girls.Connect
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Category Archives: DIY
Pine Cone Bird Feeder
One of my favorite things about our old house – I swear I’ll eventually stop bringing it up – was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying my breakfast and watching the birds outside. I can’t help it, I’m an animal lover. Especially when the animal is more afraid of me than I am of it. And not having to clean up after them is another bonus. I often referred to them as “my birds”. At one point I tried to name them (omg, I’m more like my mom than I thought). (Love you Mama!!!) So here at our new place, I wanted to get on the good side of our new feathery neighbors. The girls and I found some pine … Continue reading
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Posted in Kids Crafts
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Housewarming Gift in a Jar
- Welcome Pinners, glad to have you here! Hope you benefit from this post! – Moving sucks. Don’t get me wrong, a new place and a fresh start are great. But it’s the packing and unpacking, transporting, furniture getting damaged, fragile items breaking, and things getting lost that are annoying. Am I right? A dear friend of mine recently moved a couple of weeks ago. But wait, she just moved into this new place a few months ago. There’s more, she’s moving again after four months. Why all the moves? Their current apartment needed to be renovated so management had to ask them to leave temporarily. I hope the postal service doesn’t think all their mail forwarding requests are pranks. … Continue reading
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Apple Stamp Bookmarks
I’ve lived in this rental home for over 5 years. We have an apple tree and a lemon tree. The lemon tree isn’t worth a single overpriced lemon from the grocery store. All the lemons grow at the very top of the large tree. Even with a ladder, long metal pole, and a prayer, it’s almost impossible to reach them. The apple tree blossoms and bears a billion a million a thousand hundreds of apples each year. They fall to the ground every time. The squirrels love it. Me, not so much. It’s only this past fall that I’ve tapped into this treasure of a resource that I’ve had sitting in my backyard. Not sure what suddenly clicked inside, but … Continue reading
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Posted in Handmade, Kids Crafts
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Artsy Eid Gift Set
I love giving gifts. To me, it’s the thrill of the hunt for the perfect gift and the reaction to said perfect gift that makes it so much fun for me. However, when you take that experience and multiply it by 10+, it becomes stressful and overwhelming instead. I mentioned that we had an abundance of kids from our family in town for Eid il Fitr. In the past, we would purchase a gift for each kid. This year, that idea wasn’t going to fly. Instead, we all drew names and only had to purchase a Eid gift for as many names as we put in. The point was for us to put more thought into the gift and to … Continue reading
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DIY Crescent Moon Pinata
So I guess I can check “make a pinata” off of my life’s to-do list. The fact that it was ever on my list I can entirely attribute to my hero Jordan Ferney. Looking back I can’t remember whose idea it was to make one for our family Eid barbeque. In the midst of assembling the pinata, I’m certain it wasn’t mine. Once it was complete and filled, I took total credit for the idea. Of course. It’s true, I can be obnoxious like that. Sometimes. So, if you feel so inclined to ever make one yourself, here you go: You’ll need: Cardboard. I found pizza boxes to be the perfect strength. Box cutter. Scissors aren’t going to cut it. … Continue reading
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Pom Pom Fringe Topped Bags
Part of the fun of preparing Eid Treat Bags, is selecting the bag and presentation. I had a pack of paper bags that I scooped up a while back on clearance from Target that I put to use. Even though they were cute, they weren’t festive enough for the Eid. Enter pom pom fringe. When I hear the word “pom pom” I either think super spunky cheerleader or the infamous Martha Stewart party decoration. And let’s be honest, either one will make you feel a little cheerful. Take a long strip of tissue paper. Cut halfway up the width at 1/2 inch – 1 inch intervals (please don’t measure, just cut!). Roll the strip up and staple to the back … Continue reading
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Posted in Tutorials
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Decorating With Tape
I’m the kind of person that loves to learn as much as I can from any given person I meet. Everyone has something to offer. Amazing recipes, decorating skills, spiritual knowledge, quality toys for kids, what shoes to wear in spring with straight leg jeans… whatever it is, I’m soaking it in. Since J has started school last year, I’ve met an amazing number of new moms that all have great talents. I’m pretty excited to have picked up tips here and there during the past two years. I just only hope I’ve given back as much as I’ve taken! When Artistic Mom (I think that’ll be her name here from now on if I ever need to reference her) … Continue reading
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Posted in DIY
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Ribbon Tied Holiday Lights
We all have them. Those loooong strings of lights that we picked up on clearance (or perhaps you paid full price, silly you). Colored or plain white. LED or traditional energy gulping bulbs. We string them up for Ramadan and Eid to make our homes more festive for our kids (okay and for us). They’re magical and twinkly and just plain fun. But once those lights are unplugged during daylight hours, they’re loooong strings of lights draped around our mantels, wrapped around our banisters, and hung across our ceilings begin looking like spiderwebs on steroids. I saw this idea months ago and knew this was the way to go to make the strings look festive all day and night. Tying … Continue reading
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Mosque Portraits
Prior to and during the course of Ramadan, I have been engaging the girls in some crafts to help them take on qualities that embody the spirit of Ramadan. This particular craft was simply to get them out of my hair for a while so that I could make dinner. True story. Supplies: Thin cardboard, thick card stock, or another sturdy base for the project. Paints Patterned paper Stickers, markers, scissors, glue – you know, craft stuff Pictures of mosques to give a general idea of shapes and designs Directions: 1. Tell the kids to create a mosque. Ready, set, go. That’s it. I told you, I had things to do. They’re smart kids, they could figure it out. … Continue reading
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Crafty Prayer Mats
Every Muslim knows the importance of prayer. The reward for increased prayer during Ramadan draws in the adults without problem. But what about the kids? I wanted my girls to really get excited about adding prayers with me, instead of hearing “we’re going to pray again?!” Inspired by a craft a friend had created and posted last year during Ramadan, I decided to create little decorative prayer mats with my daughters. I didn’t intend for the girls to use them to pray on. Rather it was just a little wall hanging to remind them that increased prayer will be a part of our daily schedule during Ramadan (and beyond?). While we were crafting away, I asked the girls what they … Continue reading
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