Green Eid: Ideas for Handmade Eid Cards

Don't buy new - make it!

Eid-ul-Fitr is the annual celebration that marks the end of Ramadan. Usually in Muslim cultures, it's tradition to go with 'new'. 

Allah says He loves to see 'the effects of His blessings' (Hadith, At Tirmidhi) on people and I personally think, more often than not, we allow ourselves to indulge on Eid without thinking of the clean-up after.

After 30 days of "less", we make new foods, buy new clothes, gift new things. That's all beautiful and fine Alhamdulillah. But not everyone is in a position to buy new gifts. 

Sometimes, it's better to give second hand or make your own Eid cards. It adds a personal DIY touch.

That's what I'm doing this year! Believe me when I say, making your own presents isn't a cheat, but it is cheaper!

It was well over ten years ago when I shared how to make your own Eid cards. Here's a few more ideas for you to try with materials you may have at home.

MATERIALS: Everything with a pattern or colour you would have thrown away. Glue, scissors, thin card for your greeting card, envelopes, craft supplies like coloured pens, glitter, beads, tassles etc. 

1. Silk Painting/Salt Painting 

Method: using watercolours or silk inks, paint a rectangle of dense colour, keeping it wet. Sprinkle any salt over it and allow it to dry. The salt with absorb some colour, leaving a beautiful speckle effect.

EXTRA IDEAS: Salt painting is great for kids as it's a messy art: glue a pattern on your card in the shape of a mosque, crescent, little people maybe. Sprinkle fine grain salt over the glue, tap off the excess and allow to dry. Then paint the salt with dense colour for a raised textured effect. 

2. Gift Wrap/Wallpaper Card 

Method: Cut out shapes from any leftover wrapping paper, wallpaper samples or magazines with geometric, modern images and arrange them into your desired layout. Glue down and add your message. I had Eid Mubarak stickers which I ordered from a craft catalogue but a handwritten message will look just as fab. 

EXTRA IDEAS: Use old photos which you don't mind cutting up, to make a fun family collage of faces or places you know. This is a great alternative to buying custom-photo prints. 

3. Abstract Collages 

Method: For this collate the colour pallette of random papers, card, old book covers and crafty bits. Things like foil, postcards, torn children's books all make cool pieces of art to rip into strips and glue in layers. Finish the collage with a black ink drawing or attach a few stickers. Done!  

4. Glass Painting 

Method: Imitate the effect of glass painting by drawing a neat square on acetate (or unwanted plastic wallet). For my mosque landscape I drew this on paper then traced onto laminated pouches using a permament marker. Paint with inks, glass paints or acrylic mixed with glue (it won't spread without glue). You could also use silver and gold pens to colour in, or glue in a section at a time and shake glitter over it, before moving to the next. 

5. 3D Art 

Method: Rummage through any art supplies you have at home and check your children's things too! Beads that fell off, coloured thread, coloured pens and textured card are the perfect items to make an abstract piece of art. I like to centre mine but you could fill the entire card with any design. 

EXTRA IDEAS: For an architectural touch, repurpose any old Eid cards sent to you in previous years. Cut out mosque shapes, the Kaba or calligraphy text and layer this in the background of your art. 

6. Gift Tag 

Method: For this I used a large gift tag as the background to my design. I did use more products here - a mosque stamp and red ink, coloured paper, wire with beads strung on it and ribbon.

As you can see the stamped mosque was coloured in, then wire was wrapped around the bottom. I also used alphabet stamps to write 'eid mubarak' at the bottom but again, a neat handwritten greeting works fine. Go through your old gift bags and cut out a large rectangle to fit on your card. Snip off the top corners to make it look like a tag and decorate however you wish. 

7. Scrapbooking Landscapes 

Method: I took advantage of some mosque sticker sheets I found from when I did crafting more "seriously" (!) I used textured mulberry papers which is a fancy craft and you could substitute them for old fabrics in your house. Old clothes that are worn out, printed scraps that you would have binned and are ideal to be incorporated. 

EXTRA IDEAS: Make a little family celebrating Eid by drawing out Russian-style wooden doll outlines on blank paper. Use your patterned fabrics to fill in their 'clothes' and draw little smiley faces. Cut these out and glue onto the card front. 

I hope that helps. Would love to see what your Green Eid ideas are. Salaam!