Art has always been part of Redmond resident Koloud Tarapolsi’s life.

From creating handmade crafts and greeting cards to giving her home decor a personal touch and serving on Redmond’s Arts Commission, she has always been in touch with her creative side.

And now the Arab American has combined that creativity with her heritage to design an Arabic alphabet poster that can be hung in nurseries, classrooms and other locations.

The idea for the poster came when Tarapolsi was pregnant with her first child about nine years ago. The mother of three received a poster each for the English alphabet, numbers and colors as a baby shower gift.

“It was so gorgeous,” she said about the alphabet poster in particular.

Tarapolsi said the posters got her thinking about how she had never seen a kid-friendly equivalent for the Arabic alphabet. This was very important to her because she wanted her children to see and learn the letters and language of their heritage.

So Tarapolsi talked to Jill Schmidt — the woman who drew, designed and gave her the three baby shower posters — about creating an Arabic poster.

“(Tarapolsi) really wanted (her children) to have exposure to the Arab alphabet,” Schmidt, a longtime Redmond resident, said.

She jumped on board with the project even though she hadn’t been exposed to the Arabic alphabet.

Although the two women struck up their partnership almost a decade ago, life got in the way and they didn’t begin the poster project until the summer of 2009. Schmidt did the artwork for the poster and said it was a lengthy process. She and Tarapolsi had to pick animals to go with each of the 28 Arabic letters, make sure they had a variety of animal types (mammals, reptiles, birds, sea life, insects, etc.) and make sure the same types of animals weren’t too close together.

Tarapolsi said when choosing animals, they wanted to include both Arabic and American animals. For the animals with no Arabic name such as the raccoon, their names are spelled out phonetically.

Throughout the process, Tarapolsi and Schmidt asked for feedback from friends, schools and other focus groups. They met with both Arabic and non-Arabic speakers.

“The kids that came really responded well to the poster,” Schmidt said.

While working on the poster, Schmidt said since she wasn’t familiar with the Arabic alphabet, she treated the letters as art objects. The poster was finalized late fall and early winter of 2010 and Schmidt said she has learned from the experience.

“I know the letters really well now when they stand alone,” she said, adding that she also associates the letters with their animals.

Once the poster was completed, Tarapolsi began looking at businesses and venues that would carry the poster. The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich. — just outside of Detroit, an area that boasts the second-largest Arab American population in the country after Los Angeles — now sells the alphabet poster in its gift shop.

Tarapolsi also sells the poster online at Zibbet.com, a website that specializes in handmade artisan products. Her other products — including handmade greeting cards, pins, clocks and jewlery — are also available for purchase on the website. Tarapolsi said one of the things she appreciates about Zibbet is that they list Eid, an Islamic holiday, as a holiday. This means customers can find products and gifts that are specifically for Eid just as they can find items specifically for Christmas or Valentine’s Day.

Zibbet is where the poster sells the best and Tarapolsi said people all over, from Texas to Canada, are ordering it.

“People are just finding it,” Tarapolsi said. “It’s nice that the posters sell all over. Everyone’s really excited about it.”