The Muslim month Ramadan is almost here! It starts next week! Yikes, I better hurry up and start getting things ready. First on the agenda is a countdown calendar.
For those that may not be very familiar with Ramadan, here’s a little bit of information about this special month. Ramadan is the ninth month on the lunar Islamic calender. It’s a time of spiritual reflection, and a time of purifying your heart. A time when extra charity and actions of generosity are encouraged. Ramadan is known to be the month of fasting for Muslims from dawn to sunset. Yes, fasting involves no food or liquids for that time period of the day, but it also means making a conscious effort to refrain from idle talk, backbiting, fighting, etc. Fasting from food and liquids teaches empathy for those that are less fortunate. A lunar month can be 29 or 30 days. Each month begins with the birth of the new moon. The Islamic tradition is that the moon must be sighted, so that’s why we don’t know when the actual month begins and ends until the night before. Is there a 30th day in the month or is it the first day of the new month? Can you imagine the anticipation on that 29th night! On that first day of the new month is the start of the celebrations… Eid! This year’s Ramadan is estimated to begin on July 20th. Since the lunar calendar does not run with the solar calendar, it appears as if Muslim holidays are traveling holidays. Since the world does run on the solar calendar, Muslim holidays are at different times of the year.
As you can see, little time is left, so I need to get a move on!
This is the first countdown calendar I make for Ramadan. After much and much brainstorming and much and much inspiration, I came up with the idea of using lanterns and allowing them to hang from my mantel. At first, I thought to look for mini lanterns, but boy would that be one expensive countdown calendar if I took the route of purchasing mini lanterns. After more brainstorming, I recalled a link to a tutorial that my friend Sahar had sent me a year or two ago. The tutorial was for making your own Moroccan lanterns using jars. That was it! I would make my own lanterns using baby food jars! I called on to Sahar to come join me in making my 30 jars, and without hesitation she did!
This is what you will need: 4 oz baby food jars, dimensional paint, translucent glass paint (like Pebeo Vitrea 160), spray paint, and vinyl.
First thing you will need to do is paint the inside of your jars. Some of the jars we used a paint brush and others we did the drip method. Brush strokes were more visible with some colors, so we did the drip method for those colors. The drip method is just pouring paint into the jar, swirling it until the jar is coated with the paint, and then allowing the access paint to drip out of the jar as it lays upside down.
You can bake your jars before decorating them if you would like, but we didn’t due to time. You have to allow your painted jars to sit for 24 hours before baking. If you do decide to bake them, just follow the instructions on the glass paint bottle.
Next is decorating your jars with the dimensional paint.
Since glass is non-porous, it will take a long time for the dimensional paint to dry. I gave my jars until the next day before touching them. Be careful when moving them around in the meantime.
Last thing to do are the caps. I spray painted them with gold paint, and after they dried, I applied vinyl numbers. I made my numbers with my Silhouette. For those that don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut, you can always hand cut your numbers (which may be difficult due to size), use punchers (easier), or even buy pre-made numbers (easiest!) from a craft store (ex. stickers).
Now, just place tea candles in each jar and display them anywhere you would like. Each day of Ramadan (after sunset), remove the cap and light your candle. Use the cap as a pedestal for your lantern. With each day, light the previous days’ candles along with the current day. On the last day of Ramadan, watch as all of your beautiful lanterns are lit up indicating that the next day is going to be a wonderful celebration!
Due to the number of jars, I chose not to hang my lanterns along my mantel as I originally planned. Next week, I’ll show you how I displayed them along with my Ramadan mantel.
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. For those that don’t celebrate Ramadan, these lanterns would be cute to make for any occasion as well as make nice gifts.
Have a wonderful weekend ya’ll!
I LOVE THESE!!! Wish I had made some for Zubair's wedding!
They are beautiful!
these are beautiful. what a lovely way to mark each night of ramadan!
Slam dear!
Great post with awesome tutorial :) I am also waiting for holy month Ramadan..and Eid...the great festival..I hope you will have a blessed month with lots of happiness..
Fi Amaan Allah...
Thanks
Wow mA that's so amazing I totally want to spend Ramadan in your home now! :p
Love the idea and I love how they turned out! mashaAllah.. awesome job :)
SO PRETTY....This totally makes Ramadan that much more exciting.....I can't wait to take a jab at these myself ;)
These are so beautiful! I love the designs you painted on them. Will you light just the candle of the day, or is it like on day two you light candles 1 and 2, day three candles 1,2 and 3, etc? I'm looking forward to the post showing your whole mantle!
Maysem, these are BEAUTIFUL. You did such a wonderful job transforming something so ordinary to something so extraordinary. I can't get over how lovely they are. I appreciate your explanation concerning Ramadan, a holiday I am totally unfamiliar with. It sounds like a beautiful holiday, one that helps you focus on the positive and let go of the negative. I loved every single word of this post.
Sounds like your religion teaches some pretty wise ideas. When people don't know or understand something about a religion then I think they have hesitation to respect it. Your little lanterns are so beautiful.How did you think up all those gorgeous patterns you painted on them? The lanterns would be gorgeous lined up on a deck or anywhere somebody wanted to showcase them. You sure have inspired me.
wow.. I am super loving this idea.. I have baby food jars but not so many.. I better start hunting for some. I love the decoration on each too. So unique and beautiful.. I am pinning this tomorrow morning. :)
They are so beautiful! I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
MashaAllah beautiful! can u please reveal the finale couple days before Ramadan so it inspires us even more :) :)
ayesha :)
Oh, these are beautiful! Please share them tomorrow at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com Also thank you for the visit and sweet comment. It means the world. Wishing you a grand week. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
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Your mantle is beautiful! Thanks for the little lesson on Ramadan. My kids love learning about other cultures and traditions.
Excellent idea and very beautifully executed :)
-Tanya
http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.in/
Your jars turned out so beautifully! You definitely have a way with the paint :-D Thanks for sharing!
Your jars are so beautiful and colourful. Love the idea. Definetly have to hunt for small jars.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing this at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
LOVE IT!
MashaAllah, these are spectacular!
Lovely idea!! Thanks!
These look just lovely...so colourful and festive...I had one question though...do the glass colours melt with the heat from the tea candle at all??
Mashallah that is such a nice idea! Thans!
I really like these, they're so fun and inviting!
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MashAllah these are spectacular. Loved all your ideas. I wondering if you can give me any ideas for my kids Ameen(Khatum-al-Quran) party favors. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
hi thank you for visiting and commenting to bayty mamlakty blog , hope you do not mind my sharing for this post , if you wanted me to remove it just let me know , by the way this is an amazing project i really liked thank you for your tutorial :)
Oh gosh, I just love these. They definitely are a must try.
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