Arabic Christmas Pallet {Tutorial}

This Arabic Christmas pallet decor was so easy and took so little time to construct.
Eid Milad Majid {عيد ميلاد مجيد} is how to say Merry Christmas in Arabic. Eid means holiday, Milad means birthday & Majid means glorious, loosely translated to stand for Festival of the Glorious Birth. Christmas is celebrated by roughly 64% of Arab Americans in the US who are Christian.
I took advantage of this Plaid Enterprises, Inc. pallet’s wood sign having four boards to stack the words, adding a star to the top, to create the shape of a Christmas tree.
I made this sign today and gave my daughters a day off to catch up on tests. If you want your kids to get involved in the sign construction, you can Xacto out the words from the paper to turn them into stencils. This frames the letters nicely for them to sponge paint, rather than hand stencil.
I cut and paste عيد ميلاد مجيد into a Word document & played around with sizes so that the Majid at the bottom was much larger in size than the Eid at the top.
Supplies
Paintbrush – Large for cover, small for writing
Paint – aqua, cardinal red, daffodil yellow, wicker white
عيد ميلاد مجيد – printed & cut

The first step is to paint the background colors. I picked the aqua and cardinal red as complimentary colors, alternating them.

After waiting a few hours for everything to dry, I taped my word down, placing the carbon paper under it, before tracing the letters.

Then I removed the word and the carbon paper, to start painting with the white.

For the final touch, I added a star to the top. I just cut out an eight point star, called a khatam in Arabic, from a piece of paper. I cut out the bottom longer, then traced it with the carbon paper, before painting it yellow.

Once everything was painted, I left everything flat for a few hours to dry.

That is it. Super easy, correct? I will want to add a cover of Mod Podge to help seal in the colors, but tomorrow to make sure everything is dry for 24 hours.
To see other ways we have discussed Christmas, please visit:
Arabic Christmas Card {Printable}
Arabic Christmas Ornament {Tutorial}
Stop by A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to check out other tutorials that teach about the Arab world.
