Thursday, August 25, 2016

I Miss Those Moments

Ada masa-masa ketika saya males banget keluar rumah dan lebih senang untuk berbelanja online barang-barang kebutuhan. Akibatnya, banyak kardus-kardus packaging yang menumpuk dirumah. Membuang sampah kertas dan kardus di Jepang engga bisa dilakukan setiap hari, saya hanya dapat melakukannya sekali dalam seminggu. Untuk area ditempat saya tinggal, sampah jenis ini baru bisa dibuang setiap hari Selasa sekitar jam 9 pagi. Kalo jamnya udah kelewat, nasib saya harus menumpuknya di rumah dan menunggu sampai Selasa depan.  

Kalo isengnya lagi kumat, berdua sama Siti kita suka bikin-bikin sesuatu dari kardus-kardus ini. sebelumnya Kita pernah bikin rumah-rumahan kardus yang kita warnai bersama, lalu kita juga sempat bikin bis kecil yang kemudian ditumpangi bersama teman-temannya sampai hancur, it was really fun!
Kali ini kita iseng bikin  living room miniature.


Siti ketika masih umur 5 tahun

Lemarinya kita buat dan di-cover dengan selotip coklat, standing lamp terbuat dari bottle cap yang dilapis felt, lace lalu dihias beads. Sofa dan footstool, framenya berasal dari kardus yang ditumpuk dan dilapis kain. Decorative cushions saya gunakan felt, crochet, dan sulam tangan.



Saya suka sekali dengan prosesnya, dan sangat enjoy setiap momen yang saya luangkan bersama Siti. Sekarang Siti semakin besar, dia sedang masa transisi dari anak- anak menuju abege dan sudah lebih asik bermain degnan gadget.
Ah...saya sangat merindukan masa- masa seperti ini ;'). 

DIY Felt Cat Necklace for Little Girl

A birthday invitation from my friend shown up on my email. I rushed to the store and buy a gift and some felt. Why felt? I was planning to make accessories that could match with her dress. and this necklace came up into my mind.




Here are some materials that need to be prepared;
2 mm felt, 1 mm felt to cover th back side, old t-shirt/ cotton jersey, needles, embroidery floss, glue, beads, jump rings, pencil, plier, scissor.




This project is easy, but at some point you might need to know how to use needle and thread. If it's still too difficult, you can use felt and glue to create the cat's face details instead. 











It's done! Now, I need to find a cute gift wrapping paper ;).





Thursday, August 11, 2016

My Crafting Moment

I always have a passion for craft. I remembered when I was in a third grade, my first project was making roses from a tissue box. I used all my mum's tissue supplies and decorated every corner of her house with tissue roses. Since then I like to make myself busy making crafty things and I've never felt bored at home anymore. 




I stopped crafting when my daughter was born and we need to live overseas. It took some time for us to adjust our life in a new place so I decided to become a full-time mum. Five years later we moved to Japan and finally I had a chance started crafting again. Luckily our place is near to my favourite craft shop, it took about 15 minutes by bicycle. I was so excited because that place has many choices of craft tools, materials, books and even many small workshops were held there. It took me days to explore the place, it feels like heaven for a crafter like me.





After I tried crochet, paper cutting, miniature, hand embroidery and clay making, I felt hand embroidery that suits me best because I found the stitching process was so relaxing. I could feel the excitement every time I start to hold the embroidery hoop, enjoy every moment when the needle slips through the fabric, filling the design with colourful threads, the whole process feels like a meditation for me. 






Whenever anxiety hits me, I grab my embroidery tool then stitching with slower mode and listening to my favourite music. It really helps me to calm down and make me happier ;).         














Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Craft Swap Experienced



Have you ever heard about craft swap before ? Honestly, I've never heard about it until I experienced it. A craft swap is an exchange of handmade items or craft supplies between strangers who has an interest in beautiful handcrafted things. You can find craft swaps event online, among members of crafter group , friends or strangers.

These darling handcrafted items I got it from an Indonesian crafter friend who currently living in Australia. We'd met on Instagram and we love to discuss about our passion for handcrafted goods and anything related.




Last year CYLcollective and makers movement hosted swap event on Instagram using hashtag #wearethemakersswap. Every people who participated need to register on their website and each of us submitted a photo an item that we would like to send and share the image on Instagram. The hosts choose who would be my partner to swap.
On that event, I was paired with Rose Newton, a very talented illustrator from New Zealand. I'm so lucky to have her beautiful works at home.




In return, I made by myself several hand embroidery items and send it to them.