Thursday, January 10, 2013

Back from Limbo!

Yep .. the madcrafter is baaaaack!  Hope you miss me ... ;)

I wanted to start the new year with something worth sharing, and I think the following story would fit just nicely.

It all began when I found a stack of old baby wraps in the storage, belonging to Nafisa, my youngest.  Now a toddler, she hardly uses these wraps - they're still in good condition and actually were leftovers from others I had donated. Then, the idea hit me ... why not make them into something she could still use at her current age? 

Ooookay, so first, I thought about the stuff she loves the most --> soft toys, so one possible 'future' outcome of these wraps could be one of these. 

Second, she loves bunnies.  Aside from our real bunny 'Olaf' that she adores so much, she has this tiny, rather lumpy 18 cm bunny softy that big sister Zadia gave her (it was Zadia's many years ago). And here she is ..


I thought it would be great if I could make her a bigger huggable bunny to play/sleep with from the old wrap, as it is very soft and nice to the touch. Perfect!

So I scoured the internet to look for a cute, whimsical bunny pattern on the internet and voila!  Found it! Check it out: a Modern Folksy Bunny by Gingercake at Fairy Tale Frocks and Lollipops! 


Isn't she a cutie? And the best thing was, the e-pattern was 'oh so simple' and ON SALE! Hurrah!

With my (very) limited sewing skills (I have a machine that I hardly touched), I dared myself to make the bunny doll. It was a 'now or never' situation, so with a small prayer I went on and start cutting the old wrap. 

And, tadaaaa ... the green bunny from Naf's most favorite wrap (or so I thought)!  Not too bad, eh?


[I modified the look a little bit by eliminating the pompom tail (simply because I don't have a thick yarn) and simplify the bow piece.  I had this stash of flower embellishments that I bought many months ago that I hadn't use (and now I had an excuse! Yay!) So I sew together a string of velvet pink ribbon and attached the shabby chiffon flower. For the tail I stitched on another part of the wrap which I filled with polyfil / dacron.]

When the bunny was finished, I proudly presented it to Naf, told her I did something to her green wrap as a surprise.

She took one look at it and said, 'No, Mom .. not green .. PURPLE ...!'  And then she left me, unimpressed, totting her little old bunny with her.

DANG.  Completely forgot that her favorite wrap was the purple one, NOT green!  Arrghhh ... felt like my heart just got torpedoed and started to sink. [Blup blubup blup blup ..]

"Can I have it, Mom?" 

Suddenly her big sister Zadia asked me out of the blue.

"Of course!", I nodded (a bit surprised because I didn't think she would want it).

She then happily adopted the green bunny and gave it a loving squeeze - which made Zadia's bigger sister, Dinda, a bit envious ... and wanted another one made for her too! Du'oh!  

It was then that I realised, when they were younger, I NEVER had a chance to make anything for my older girls, I spent too much time at the office.  Every toys I bought for my girls were all factory made. Now, as a stay at home mom, I have all the time in my hands to remedy all that ... no wonder they were so enthusiastic about the homemade stuffed bunnies! 

To make the story short, I gladly repeated everything and made a blue bunny for Dinda, and on this second try, I think my sewing skill is getting better (well, maybe just a tiny bit, heh heh)!  Here it is ...


And now my house is full of bunnies - stuffed ones, real ones - hamsters, cats, and of course, kids. Lol! 

My  slice of heaven .... ;)

Thanks for reading friends, hope your day is as lovely as mine (or even better!)! ^_^

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Confession of an IC Workshop Addict ...

On Saturday, May 26, 2012, the Indonesian Crafter FB group had a double treat for its members - an exclusive members only 'Oshibana Workshop' (the art of making pictures with pressed flowers and plants) with Sri Alderina [founder of Oshibana Indonesia],  


and a free for all 'Matryoshka Key Chain & Key Cover Mini Workshop' with Indah Apsari Indryastuti - YAYY \(^o^)/ 


These free workshops took place at the FX Mall Senayan, where the Indonesian Crafter also participated in the Nirmana Award, an appreciation for the young Indonesian designers  ..

Nirmana Award
Chesiria Tattia, our  IC founder together with Indah Apsari Indryastuti, IC member slash tutor for the mini workshop later on that day, presented at the Nirmana Award
[courtesy of: Wildasari Hoste]
And let me tell you, both workshops were very interesting, enjoyable and most of all FUN, FUN, FUN!

Well, enough talk, just enjoy  the pics below:

Having a friendly chitchat among the IC members
[courtesy of: Wildasari Hoste]
Sri Alderina gave a short introduction into the Japanese art of pressed flowers, attending were Sheshe Suhendrio, Epie Santoso, Mega Dewi Chang, Windy Dhanutirto, Chesiria Tattia, Indah Apsari Indryastuti, myself, Wildasari Hoste and Enno Hayano Handmade
1. Sri Alderina, founder of  the Oshibana Indonesia  Community, 2. the basic 'ingredients' for making an oshibana bookmark,  3. Sri Alderina with Mega Dewi Chang, the winner with the best creation, 4. Enno from Hayano Handmade concentrating on her bookmark design




This is me with Naf, the youngest workshop participant ^^
[courtesy of: Wildasari Hoste]

And here are the results!  Sigh, aren't they lovely!!
After having a short lunch together with my family (yep, every IC workshop is a family affair for the Subastians :P), we continued downstairs to visit the IC Booth at the Nirmana Award:
Chesiria Tattia decorated this booth in early morning (2 -4 pm) while most of us were still asleep, such dedication is not to be dismissed easily, thumbs up for Miss Chesie!

Indonesian Crafter Booth

The Matryoshka key cover and key chain workshop
[courtesy of: Wildasari Hoste/Indah Apsari Indryastuti]
Me and Naf, doing workshop together^^
[courtesy of: Wildasari Hoste]
There were a lot of interesting things to see, and the kids and their dad went bonkers when they saw these, paper replicas from Peri Kertas:
 
Amazing, aren't they? Optimus Prime and Gundam made from paper replicas!
At about 4 pm we left FX Mall since the kids and hubby were dead tired, and this was the after-workshop scenes that I wanted to share with you:
Naf, tired but happy!
Zadia asleep with her Foxy Mask on [made by a fellow crafter,  Enno Hayano Handmade]
Me holding the Oshibana bookmark in front of my favorite hobo bag [made by teh Santhy from Raisy Tasthy]
Ahh, what a productive day it was .. so, don't blame me for being an IC Workshop Addict, cuz' you bet I'd do this again .. and again .. and again ..  ^_^

Thank you Indonesian Crafter, love you much!

PS: err ... maybe some of you were wondering why I wore such a bright outfit (it's ORANGE for heaven's sake!), well the dresscode for the workshops were 'bright and flowery', turned out I wore the brightest and have the most flowers on :P)


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Buttons .. Buttons .. oh Glorious Buttons :)


'A picture is worth a thousand words ...'


So I need not write anything for this post ... :P

(What can I say? It already got 2000 words on it! Lol!)