Eid Mubarak 2016

• May the day delight and the moments measure all the special joys for all of you to treasure. May the year ahead be fruitful too, for your home and family and especially for you. Happy Eid Mubarak To You!

Ramadan 30 Days of Inspirational Posters 21-30

This Ramadan I wanted to do something different for each day and I decided on sharing an inspirational poster for each day of Ramadan using my own photographs. I will share all 30 photographs into 3 posts during this month. These are the last batch of photographs, 21-30.

Poster 21 - The only time you should ever look back, is to see how far you've come.

Poster 22 - Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have.

Poster 23 - Your beliefs don't make you a better person, your behaviour does.

Poster 24 - To admit you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before.

Poster 25 - Never get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life.

Poster 26 - Rather than aiming to be perfect, just aim to be a little better today than you were yesterday.

Poster 27 - Don't change so that people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

Poster 28 - Stop thinking of what could go wrong and start thinking of what could go right.

Poster 29 - Don't give up because of one bad chapter in your life. Keep going, your story doesn't end here.

Poster 30 - To be rich is not what you have in your bank account, but what you have in your heart.

Previous posts are:
Posters 1-10
Posters 11-20

Ramadan 30 Days of Inspirational Posters 11-20

This Ramadan I wanted to do something different for each day and I decided on sharing an inspirational poster for each day of Ramadan using my own photographs. I will share all 30 photographs into 3 posts during this month. These are the second batch of photographs, 11-20.

Poster 11 - It can be hard to move on and never look back. But once you do, you'll realise it was the best decision you ever made.

Poster 12 - You can't be good enough for everybody, but you will always be the best for the one who deserves you.

Poster 13 - When you feel like quitting think about why you started.

Poster 14 - The biggest challenge in life is to be yourself in a world that is trying to make you like everyone else.

Poster 15 - Somewhere someone else is happy with less than you have.

 Poster 16 - Being strong doesn't always mean you have to fight the battle.  True strength is being adult enough to walk away from the nonsense with your head held high.

Poster 17 - It is important to know when to stop arguing with people and just let them be wrong!

Poster 18 - Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.

Poster 19 - I am thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn't have stumbled across my strength.

Poster 20 - Mistakes are proof you are trying.


If you want to see the first 10 posters I designed, here is the link: http://www.karimascrafts.com/2016/06/ramadan-30-days-of-inspirational.html

Ramadan 30 Days of Inspirational Posters 1-10

This ramadan I wanted to do something different for each day and I decided on sharing an inspirational poster for each day of Ramadan using my own photographs. I will share all 30 photographs into 3 posts during this month. These are the first 10 photographs.

Poster 1 - Don't give up, the beginning is always the hardest.

Poster 2 - The struggle you're in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don't give up.

Poster 3 - The moment when you want to quit, is the moment when you need to keep pushing!

Poster 4 - Take pride in how far you have come and have faith in how far you can go.

Poster 5 - When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top!

Poster 6 - Sometimes the people around you won't understand your journey. They don't need to, it's not for them.

Poster 7 - Starting today, I need to forget what's gone, appreciate what still remains and look forward to what's coming next.

Poster 8 - Sometimes the strength within you is not a big fiery flame that all can see, it is just a tiny spark that whispers ever so softly, "You got this, keep going".

Poster 9 - Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.

Poster 10 - Life is about moments. Don't wait for them, create them!

Best Arts and Crafts Blog Award Winner

This month I was nominated for a Muslimah Bloggers Award. I am pleased to say that I won in the 'Best Arts and Crafts Blog' Award category.  See below for all the nominations and other winners categories.

http://muslimahbloggers.com/muslimah-bloggers-2016-award-winners/

Ramadan Mubarak 2016

Wishing everyone Ramadan Mubarak.  I hope everyone gets to spend time with their family and friends in this blessed month. In our house I always try and get my children to feel involved and we normally always do something craft related to Ramadan.  If you haven't already seen my link to my '30 Days of Ramadan Crafts' project I did a couple of years back then please go and have a visit as there are so many different ideas of crafts you can do with your young children with a Ramadan theme. The link below will take you to my post which shows you all 30 crafts.

http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/08/30-days-of-ramadan-crafts-roundup.html

Review #Alhamdulillah For Series

Another Blogger Friend of mine kindly sent me a copy of her latest book. #Alhamdulillah For Series (A Muslim's Mini Gratitude Journal) for me to review for her. Of course I was very pleased to be able to help.   Ayeina.com is actually the work of two sisters.

I have followed their series from when it first started and love seeing their posters online, whether that is via facebook or their instagram account.  The passage below is from the website explaining briefly what the ~Alhamdulillah Series is about.

'When you say Alhamdulillah, you accept all the baggage that comes along with it. You praise Allah and thank Him with all your heart. Because the more the attitude of gratitude you develop, the more the blessings shower on you – or maybe it’s just that you’ll start seeing the blessings in so many places you never saw before.

This is the reason why we started the #AlhamdulillahForSeries. So we could show praise and gratitude towards Allah in tiny little things even. Things that we sometimes don’t even associate with Allah. It’s a fun series that could be used as great reminders on how important positivity is in our lives.'

The book itself is divided into 4 main categories.
1) Alhamdulillah For Basic Necessities
2) Alhamdulillah For Ties that Bind
3) Alhamdulillah For Islam
4) Alhamdulillah For Everything

The journal covers a calendar month and I personally think this would be ideal for the month of Ramadan, or of course any month. There is a lovely watercolour painting for each day which would appeal to both adults and young children. I really like the layout and the designs in this book and would definitely recommend you having a look at this book.

The book is available to purchase as an E-Book and a paperback version should be coming soon.  If you want to read more about this wonderful book, here is a link to their website. http://ayeina.com/muslims-mini-gratitude-journal/

To purchase this E-book, here is the link: http://ayeina.com/product/alhamdulillahforseries-ebook/

The Muslim Sticker Company Review

I was recently sent some products from The Muslim Sticker Company to review. I asked if they could send something suitable for my youngest daughter aged 9 so that it would be a suitable review. It is good to find Islamic products aimed at children.

When the package arrived my daughter was so excited to see what was sent. She wasn't disappointed.

There was a 'My Islamic Behaviour Chart' which comes with a Gloss Wall Chart, 9 Reusable Activity Stickers, 9 Blank reusable Activity Stickers, 94 reusable reward stickers and a drywipe pen.  You are given an A4 Instruction sheet explaining how you can use this chart.  If your child loves stickers or rewards this will be perfect for you.

We were also sent the 'Ramadan Chart' This pack includes 1 reward chart, 66 Fun stickers and instructions and tips.  My daughter is excited to start using this in Ramadan, which isn't far away now!

The last thing my daughter was sent was the 'My Daily Dua Sticker Activity Book'.  She liked this one in particular as she got to colour in, and as most of you know, my daughter is very arty! The book has stickers inside and also a 'Dua Star Chart'.  My daughter has already started working on this book.  She colours in one of the colouring pages and then after learning about the dua she receives a sticker.  My daughter still loves 'stickers'.  There are 26 Dua Pages so plenty to keep young children interested.

I was very happy and pleased with these products and I would highly recommend them for parents of young children.  These would be a perfect Ramadan Gift for children.  And of course perfect gifts all year round.

Disclaimer: I was sent these to review. The opinions on these products though are my honest thoughts.

These products and many others can be found at: http://muslimstickers.com/

Fitra Journal Review

I feel very honoured to have been chosen to have an article I wrote to be printed in the brand new magazine 'Fitra Journal - The Muslim Homeschool Quarterly'.  There are so many other brilliant articles in the magazine that I decided I needed to do a review on this brilliant new homeschooling resource.

If you are already homeschooling or just interested in homeschooling then I would suggest having a look at this magazine to give you some ideas of how homeschooling works for other families.

I wrote about my own personal journey to homeschooling which involved getting my husband on my side as he really wasn't interested in homeschooling at all. He originally thought that schooling can only be done in a school and it took a while to convince him otherwise.

Getting My Husband To Agree To Homeschooling - By Karima Heraoua

This is my story about how I managed to get my husband to agree to homeschooling our children - something I had wanted to do for many years. He was firmly against me homeschooling due to how he saw schooling.  We come from different backgrounds. Schools in his native North Africa were very strict and he had to pass yearly tests before he moved up to the next class.  It was very regimental.  In the school system I was brought up with in the United Kingdom we were always in the same class as those of the same age no matter the ability..........................................

The above is a sneak peak to the first paragraph of my article. If you want to read the rest of the article I will post links to where you can purchase the magazine which is available to buy from Amazon.

One of my best friends, Samar, also has her article in this first edition.

Single-Parent Homeschooling - Samar Asamoah
Samar does a brilliant job as a single parent who homeschools and also works self employed. She talks about how her journey started and how she has adapted to the changes.  She is a brilliant artist and you can find her designs at www.yezarck.com/shop

Some other favourites of mine from this edition are:

Do You Have A Homeschooling Mission Statement? - By Priscilla Martinez
She talks about how important it was for her family to have a 'Mission Statement' even though it has changed many times over the years. She also talks about making sure you are flexible, which may sound contradictory but it works well.

Why I Still Homeschool In A Muslim Country - By Brooke Benoit
Brooke is a homeschooling mum to seven and is the Editor of this magazine and I think her article is quite an important one for many Muslims.  We seem to think that if we move to a Muslim country that the schools there will be better than the ones in our current country so we don't need to homeschool.  She explains some of the issues with expats relocating to Muslim countries.


The Useful Links for this post below:

Fitra Magazine Main website: http://www.fitrajournal.com/

Fitra Magazine Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Fitra-Journal

Link to buy Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530930995

Link to buy Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1530930995