Baba

My father passed away yesterday at the young age of 69.

Since 2003 he has been fighting cancer that started in his lungs, moved on to his brain, and returned to stay in his lungs. He was funny, loving, caring and I will miss him dearly. While I am sad that he is gone, I can take solace in knowing he got to visit his beloved Libya after being away from it for more then 30 years. And for all his fighting in the revolution, I am happy he got to see the removal of Gaddafi while he was in Libya. I am so proud to be his daughter.

As my brother lovely said the other day: If I was twice as awesome as I am, I still wouldn't be half as awesome as dad!

Please make du'a for my family to pass this difficult time.

New Arabic Alphabet Magnets

Today I listed my Arabic alphabet magnets in my Zibbet shop. I had hoped that my next product in my Arabic Animal Alphabet line was going to be the flashcards, but I've been having a heck of a time finding a printer for the type of paper I want. It needs to be sturdy so the kids can't tear them and durable enough for toddler's mouths.

While I'm still doing the reasearch, I went ahead and made these Arabic alpahbet magnets out of the letters from the alphabet poster. I took the five primary colours of the poster and used those as my palette so that the overall line would still stay in coheasion with the rest of the products.

I'd love to hear feedback on these magnets.

QasiMadHandicrafts Interview

Tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi. I am Mohammed Salahkar, a person who has been surrounded by wonderful art works since his childhood. Currently I am a business student and running a small handicrafts business on Etsy.

Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?
I love to travel, eat, hangout and enjoy every moment I am bestowed with.


What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?
Its all about spreading happiness and beauty around the globe...

Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?
I look towards my father, my biggest support and inspiration.

What other passions do you have in your life?
I plan to expand my handicraft business and amaze the entire world with the extraordinary handicraft products Pakistani artisans excel in.

How do you promote your work?
I promote my work through online and offline marketing channels. I don't follow any specific framework in doing so. Currently I am looking forward towards buyers who are willing to work as partners in Handicrafts business.

In the future I’d like to be… Businessman

Do you Pinterest?

Recently I've discovered Pinterest and now I can't seem to stop. Pinterest is a website that lets you pin boards of your favorite things online. Think of it as a bulletin board that is online.

I kept hearing that it is addicting, but I didn't listen. I thought I could control it. I thought I could handle it. I even started a Pinterest group over in the Zibbet Community. Now I might have to join PA (Pinterest Anonymous). "Hello my name is A Crafty Arab and I'm addicted to Pinterest. It has been two minutes from my last Pin It."

Here is my link in case you'd like to be my enabler:
A Crafty Arab's Pinterest Hub

And here are my favorite boards:
Children’s Books about/for Arab Children
Ramadan Tutorial Crafts

My friend, Helen Zughaib

This past weekend I took my oldest daughter to Washington DC to visit my ailing father. While there we had lunch with one of my favorite people in the world, Helen Zughaib. Helen is a Lebanese American painter who lives in a beautiful condo close to George Washington University, with stunning sweeping views of the Potomac River.

Needless to say my daughter was awe struck by Helen, especially since she found out that President Barack Obama presented Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's a gift of one of Helen's paintings during his visit to the White House last year. The painting is called "Midnight Prayers" and it is an imaginative interpreation of her idea of tranquility and peace. Despite all that is going on in the piece, there is a sense of calm and contentment to it.

Helen's rendition of the Washington Monument was also presented as a gift to King of Morocco Mohammed V1 from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her work is in major collections all over the world, including the Library of Congress, the US Embassy in the Republic of Mauritius and the University of Bern in Switzerland. Right now she is working on a series called Arab Spring and while I don't have any photos to share, all I can say is that it is astoundingly spectacular. Her use of bright colours in her artwork makes it pleasurable to look at and brightens up any room or mood. I should know, I own three of her pieces and could fill a whole house with more. Every time I see her work, it evolves into something that is even more exquisite then the previous series. Just when I think I have a favorite piece, another pops up to happily replace it.

Helen had just returned from a trip to Beirut for an exhibit and was busy working on another upcoming show. We were very lucky to catch a little of her time to share stories and amusing political gossip. She even let us in on a local tourist attraction that wasn’t very well known. She told us to go to the Kennedy Center for the Arts and head to the rooftop for panoramic views. It was very beautiful and on our way down we meet members of the Tunisian Symphonic Orchestra that had just left a rehearsal for a Monday concert in honor of the one year anniversary of the Tunisian uprisings. We walked along the Hall of Nations, noticed the Libyan flag was not yet corrected and named off as many countries as we could.

It was a wonderful afternoon and a lovely break from the emotional drain of going home for a few days to see my father. It made me wish I had spent some time getting his stories of his life leaving Libya and coming to America too. I'll be heading back to DC soon to see my father again, this time armed with a recorder and inspired by Helen's series to capture the history of my own family.

My daughters' work is for sale

My three daughters are entering the Art Challange for the Kids over on Zibbet. They spent the winter break making artwork and decided to submit these three pieces. All three are for sale on my Zibbet shop. Here are the submissions:

My almost 10 year old's first Bottlecap Magnet

My 8 year old's first Friendship Bracelet

My 4 year old's very first Papercraft Flower Bracelet

If you like them and would like to be their first online sale, feel free to purchase them. I promised to pay their paypal transation fee so they can keep all their money. They hope to spend it at McDonald's book exchange!