Guest Post: DIY journal

Hi lovelies, I'm introducing a new thing around this blog today. Guest posts!

I'm sure by now you know of my baby sister, the awesome-ly talented Waliya Najib of Waliya Najib Photography. She is pretty crafty too, and I cant wait for you all to see her room. Hopefully we'll do a post on that soon. But for today, I asked her to share this easy little DIY she did recently for our first guest post. A photography journal! This is where she keeps all her inspirations and ideas and also a track of all the work she does. Here's what she wrote about it.
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Had been wanting to get a journal for my photography, but couldn't find one like I was looking for. So i decided to make one on my own.  

This was super easy and suppper fun to make.

  

All I needed to do was to draw something cute (these adorable cameras inspired by Elsie from A Beautiful Mess) on different little pieces of paper, color them, glue them on to the journal and just add a final coat of modpodge and its done! Its even more exciting to be working in a self made journal♥


all photos by Waliya Najib


Thanks so much Waliya for sharing this with us. Hope you all enjoyed it. Check back for more in this series:)

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{I love you like the stars above}

Hey you all, some more collages I never shared earlier!









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{we may not understand but we must try}

Hello lovelies, I’ve been getting a lot of comments about the collages I used to post earlier. I realized that even though I haven’t made these in around two years, I still love looking at the ones I made. I also realized I hadn’t shared many because I went into a blogging hiatus!

Thought I’d share some today!

 

I will also be posting about the inspiration and process behind making these next week. Check back:)

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DIY: handmade gift for a little guy’s room

This little gift was made for a friend’s little guy last summer. He turned one, and my friend asked not to bring any gifts for the party. But you cant go to a first birthday party without a gift, right? Perfect occasion for a handmade gift, I thought.

This project that I had found via Pinterest, had been on my board for a while and I thought it might be a good idea to try. Specially because little Ibraheem was making the transition from his mommy daddy’s room to his own:) 

All I needed was a found branch, templates for the letters that I printed out in a bold font, some scrapbooking paper, and twine. After I tied the twine to the letters and the branch, I put some glue on my fingers and went over it just to make sure it wont untie itself. Initially I tried hanging using wire. That didn’t turn out well at all so I ended up using twine instead. Much better, right?

I quite loved how it turned out. Would be a beautiful wall hanging above the crib or a door hanger for that matter!

If you would like to give this project a try, click the link above. It was good fun.

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DIY: (Last) Summer Wreath

I have this simple twig wreath that hangs on the front door and I challenge myself to change it every season! So far its on its 3rd look, in the 3 years its been up there so looks like changing every season? hasn’t really been happening! Hehe, but anyways.

This was last summer’s look for it.

Started with a little felt bunting

and the wreath.

and up it went!

An easy DIY and a quick dose of color.

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Dear Baby: ‘these are the moments we live for’

Sharing another letter from my Dear Baby journal.

Oct 20th, 2011

dear baby, this new life? Its busy. And sometimes we're always in a rush, running between nap times and diaper changes and shopping trips, grocery, laundry etc etc and then suddenly in the midst of the craziness comes a moment that hits me all over again. That you are growing so fast, that one day you'll be an independent little person with your own little life (iA). And suddenly time slows down as i tell my brain to forget about everything and memorize the now. This moment forces all the lists to just disappear because this moment is now, and this moment is life. And these are the moments we live for and this is what life is all about. Sometimes in the craziness of life we forget what it is really about, and sometimes its good to be reminded. Even if it means sitting in the middle of a messy house, only to stare at you as you sleep :)

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For my daddy

I wrote this on father’s day for my father but never posted it.



My dearest Papa,

How ironic, that this father's day coincides with the exact day you left us five months ago. Just like you would've wanted us to do, we are trying to move on, but your absence is felt every single day. I miss your warm concerned voice, always wanting to know if we are okay. I miss your gift of words, your beautiful emails, always motivating us to be better, telling us always that we can be do whatever we set our eyes on. I miss knowing that I can always call your number and be sure that if no one else is picking up their phone, you definitely will. I will miss your presence in the house you were building for us, the house you kept talking about, the house you said we can always come to, our children can always come to. Never could've imagined that when this dream of yours will be fulfilled, you wont be around to enjoy it and to welcome us when we come to visit you in it.

I miss being received by you every time I reached Pakistan and most of all being seen off by you at the airport. I will never forget that sight of you standing there and waving at me long after we had said our goodbyes and I was in the queue to go inside the departures lounge. Till the last glance was possible, I could turn around and see your face through the crowd, waving at me from above the people, and your eyes, your eyes said it all even if you didn't say much. I will miss you asking me every time I'd come how long i was there for, and then when i told you, smiling and saying 'Nahin bas hum rukwa leinge aur, flight postpone kara leinge'. And trying to convince me to postpone my flight till the last day. I will miss those endless cups of tea we would have every time I was over. I will miss seeing you sitting with your laptop in your bed surrounded by all those files of yours. I will miss knowing you are always there, knowing that if anything doesn't turn out right, you are always going to be there for us. I will miss having you visit us, like you had planned to, but which never happened. I will miss all of that and so much more.

And most of all I will miss seeing you with Anya, seeing the relationship I know you would've had with her. For all of my life i will wish that you had more time with us, if for nothing else but to meet your grand daughter properly, to hug her to love her to play with her to enjoy her, to laugh and smile with her. I will miss her having a nana jan to talk to and to talk about. It will not be the same without you. Your quiet, steady presence in our lives will be missed every single day of our lives.

May you be blessed in that next life and may Allah taala reward you for the great presence you were in so many lives and for raising your daughters in the best possible way. Ameen. Don't worry about us because you taught us well Papa, you prepared us for this day. We will be strong, we will get through this. We will make sure our losses turn us into better human beings iA. Happy Fathers Day Daddy, We will meet again inshAllah! May Allah bless you!

Your own,
Taiya.

DIY: Bird mobile

I’m in the process of doing up my daughter’s room these days and before I share the final result of that I thought I would share a bit from her old room. One of my first DIY’s for her room was this bird mobile.



I made it one late night with my husband, when I was pregnant. He gave me ideas for the colors etc. and I cut papers as we watched TV.



It hung over Anya’s changing area and when she was a couple months old, it kept her entertained for long stretches. She stared at it and kicked her tiny little legs when it turned around. Of course my husband had to sit on the rocking chair and blow at it to make it move:p.

Recently, it kept Anya distracted as she tried to blow at it, as I changed her diaper.



Hope you enjoyed this little peek. More to follow:)

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This painting my mom made, used to be in my room at my parents’ house and I brought it with me when I moved. The crochet sweater was made with love by my mom too:)

Note: The idea for the mobile came from Martha Stewart here found via Pinterest. It is made using a wire picture hanger and cut out birds!

Across the miles: A corner of my home

 

Week 5: Where memories lie in Islamabad (left) and one where memories are made in Duvall, WA(right)

To view all the posts in this series go here.

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Toddler Activity: Homemade pull toy

My sister-in-law gave me this idea when she was visiting last week. Since we are on a mission to try out some activities, we decided to give it a try.



All you need is an empty shoebox (we tried to find the better looking one from the ones we had:p), tied to some ribbon, and you get a little homemade pull toy.

We let Elmo ride in the little thing and Anya had a good time giving him a ride around the house :)

Check it out!







Go here to see previous posts in this series.

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Dear Baby : one from today and one from last September

9th July 2012:

Dear baby, another visit from loved ones is over. And we’re left with lots of happy memories to cherish and a house that feels so quiet once again. Your Haroon taya, Uzma tayi and Danyal bhai left yesterday after a full week of exploring, shopping and many memories in a house that seems happiest when full of people. And now when they have left and we are a bit sad, I remind myself to be thankful that we have loved ones to miss. And I silently say a prayer for all our family. As long as I know that they’re healthy, I will ask for nothing more. That if given the choice, I would rather they be happy, healthy and settled in their own lives, than closer but hurting in any kind of way! And I pray that until we meet again, they are safe in God's best care. And that whenever we meet next, it is in good times. But I also pray that if and when bad times do come, we are able to get through them with our loved ones next to us. And through it all I pray for my daddy who had been planning to visit us soon, but never could. I will always wish he had been able to, one last time. May he rest in peace. Ameen.





22nd Sep 2011:

Dear little Baby, your Haroon taya left today and the house is all quiet. Its funny how the same place feels different every time visits from family are over. How their perfumes still linger, how little pieces of theirs are sometimes left behind, a sock, a scribbled note; all evidences of their cozy presence in our home. The things, the scents remain but the people we love are somewhere on an airplane, heading away from us with every passing minute. My mom says that on these days one should leave the cleaning etc. for later and just get out of the house, and she's right. Today we did exactly that, you and me went out shopping for sales, and got back home to find a lovely email from your taya thanking us for his pleasant visit. I read it out to you and you smiled. Even if the goodbyes are hard, even if the house feels more quiet than before, even if it takes some days of random loitering to feel better once they're gone, its all worth it. Because every second that we spend with our parents, our sisters, our brothers, our grandparents, our nieces, our nephews, all the people we love, is a gift. And even when we say goodbye to them with tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats, we are thankful.





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Across the miles: This Summer!

Week 4 in this project. Love how it’s coming up!