From Christine

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Christine Traub from Germany sent me her triangular purse, sewn based on my Triangular Pouch Tutorial. It is amazing how my triangular pouch has traveled around the world (unfortunately, I haven't). Visit Christine's facebook photo page

Image credit : Triangular purse photos are taken by Christine, edited in Photoshop CS3 by Citra, using Blog-bling Fashion Photo Frames (premium download) Font : MTF Colleen Cursive by Miss Tina

Hooks, Needles & Brushes

Go to Seema's blog : Hook, Needles & Brushes for Craft Book Review & Giveaway, Pattern Giveaway. She also has some cute amigurumi patterns in her Etsy shop and SSK Craft Shop. Thank you Seema for being my March's spotlight ^^

Note : Calling for new sponsors for April !! Please read my new sponsorship term

Arte and Prosa

Hi Brazil !
This post is dedicated for this March's monthly spotlight, Arte and Prosa blog from Brazil. It is owned and written by my generous friend, Helck Souza. The blog is written in Portuguese, but translating is easy, just go to Google translate. Formerly a chemical engineer and a writer, Helck now reinvent herself and feel her home at her sewing corner

Image credit : First row : Patchwork cushion for Nicole Second Row Left : Patchwork & Embroidered Cushion Middle : School Bag Right : Jewellery Pouch

p.s : Four free spaces are still available for next April's monthly spotlight. If you want to be featured, please read my sponsorship terms and ask me any question by email

Postcard for Dija

front (source) edited using Pixlr

"me+mother=endless bond" is original quote by me


back

Link PDF Postcard for Dija

This post is dedicated to Baby Dija who just turns one today. I pretend if she had grown as a mature woman who just had a baby. I hope she can read this postcard when the time she become a mother. I want to encourage her and cherish her motherhood

Note for Ola Elsa : Please print the PDF and cut the front and the back separately, and glue them together, so they turn as postcard

p.s : This post has been linked up to some of these fabulous link parties

Splurges & Freebies

source : Pink Bike by Firstlightphoto

There's a famous quote :

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

by Benjamin Franklin

SPLURGES, here means "something valuable, that make you pay some or huge amounts of money to have it"

Sewing Supplies :

• Bernina 820 sewing machine
• Huskylock™ s25 - from Huqsvarna Viking
• Cotton Thread Set 26 Set 1000 m

E-course

• "Art of Action" e-course with Tara Gentile : ongoing
• Website Kick Start Course with Tara Gentile starts at April 11, 2011
• Unravelling : Ways of Seeing Myself, with Susannah Conway
  

Blog / Website Makeover

• Blog redesign, Banner design & many more by Tabitha Emma
• Powered by Pastries Blog Designer Directory
• The Darling Tree
• S.JoyStudios with Sarah J Bray

Books :

• The Creative Advantage Book by Guillaume Wolf
• Getting Unstuck, an audiobook by Pema Chodron
  

E-book

• 31 Days to Build A Better Blog e-book
• The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle Laporte
• Blog Post Engineering-UnSEO for Creatives by Dave Doolin
• 52 More Weeks of Blogging Your Passion by Tara Gentile

FREEBIES :

• Makin' Cute Blogs April Showers on blogging tutorial
• Pluggy Pixels on blog design
• Mellow Mint ==> textures and web design resources
• So-Ghislaine ==> free textures, PSD, Photoshop Brushes
  
• Tackorama ==> free font
• HG Designs Digital freebies for photographers, scrapbookers and designers
• Pixels and Cream => Photoshop brushes, vectors : some free, some not
• The Graphics Fairy ==> free vintage images
• Sugar and Spice Textures Vintage Book Texture Elements
• dafont.com ==> free fonts
• Kevin and Amanda ==> fonts, fonts, fonts !
• Miss Tina ==> fonts

This list can grow & I need your help. Do you know any good splurge or freebies ? Please tell me, by leaving a comment beneath this post

Sweet Batik Winners

Above photo is from Handmade Julz

All of you are awesome ! I received 39 entries for Sweet Batik Giveaway. Sweet batik's batik collections are so darn cute, I would be hard to choose if I could enter this giveaway.

Nu further talk, the first winner of is :

Congratulation to Jesy :


Jesy will receive her favorite batik that is #120 from Sweet Batik

And the second winner is :

Entry no 14 ==> Andriani Retno, congratulation dear. You will receive a jewellery set from Sweet Batik

Jesy and Andriani, please send me your full names and addresses via email to : mama.rafif@gmail.com within 3 days. I will also try to contact you and wait until March 17,2011. If you don't contact me within those days, I will pick another winner

Ladybug Bag : A Baby Top Refashion

This is my latest re-fashion project, Ladybug Bag. You know me for some re-fashioning projects, usually from adult clothes into toddler clothes. Few days ago, I wanted to try different re-fashion. I tried to repurpose a baby top/shirt into a mini tote bag.

Above was how the baby top looked like. It was once Zakiyya's top. Its size was 9-12 months, and of course it didn't fit her anymore. It has cute pink-yellow-green ladybug pattern, and I could not stand to change it into a cute mini tote bag

What you need :
- An unused baby top (a cotton top is better)
- Batting (if needed)
- Cotton fabric for lining and handle
- Matching threads

How to make :

1.If your baby top has any back button, take it off and sew together the button placket

2. Trace the baby top front and back into a batting or fusible batting (if needed). You can make the bodice without batting. It is totally up to you. I prefer using batting because it will give my bag more shape and structure that I need

3. Lining :

- Trace the pattern of front and back bodice into pattern paper. Use the pattern to make the bag's lining. I made the lining's side seams and bottom seams smaller than the bag bodice. I add a 3/8 seam allowance at neckline

- With wrong side together, sew the lining at shoulder seams, side seams and bottom seam. Leave the sleeves un-stitched, zigzag raw edge

4. Join the lining and bodice :
- Insert the lining into the bag's bodice, wrong side together.

- Make sure the lining's seam allowance is folded inside, and then pin the bodice and lining together at neckline. At this point, I still leave the sleeves unstitched

- Topstitch along the neckline



5. Bag Handles
- Cut two strips of fabric, each measurement is 6 x 44 cm

- Fold the strip at half lengthwise, then fold its seam allowance 1 cm. Meet them at wrong side. Topstitch along the edge. Do the same with another strip of fabric

- Pin each edge of a bag handle at 5 cm from shoulder seam, right beside the front neckline. Do the same method with another bag handle

Off you go, mini tote bag ! I used it to bring my prayer set to office, and got many compliments. Everyone did not believe that it was made from my daughter's baby top.

p.s I link this post into some of these famous link parties

Sweet Batik Interview & Giveaway CLOSED

I proudly presents my interview with my dearest duo, Dina & Nissa from "Sweet Batik". They're Indonesians and they make cute things with batik ! I'm glad that they want to answer my questions, despite their busy life and tight schedule as moms. Read more and you will find some good business and batik tips. And further more, they will host a giveaway for Innocentia readers, and that's what I call super exciting !!

For an intro, let me introduce them thru' their company profile :

"We at Sweet Batik commit to bring you the best materials we can find and offer you a great craftsmanship on our products. We offer fresh & modern products using Indonesian Batik fabrics as the main materials, especially for kids, women/mothers, accessories & home decor. We do our best to go directly to the source whenever possible, bypassing middleman so we can deliver the best value to our customers.

With a big dream to spread the beauty Indonesian Batik worldwide, we also have another big dream which is to create as much as working opportunities for women in small villages where we live. We really honor good work ethic; include Fair Trade practice for our workers. We trained and hired low-income women (especially mothers) who live around our workshop, so that they can be independent and have extra income to support their family. Finding decent jobs are sometimes hard in Indonesia especially that offer flexible hours for mothers, so we’re so happy that we can give this opportunity for them. Besides, we’re also a WAHM moms too anyway ^_^

We're happy to offer you a unique collections which most of them are available in limited designs, include many one-of-a-kind (OOAK) items, because we understand that you're a unique & special person.

We also believe that it is very necessary to support our earth by using recycled materials,include finding promotional & packaging materials that are Eco-friendly. We’d like to work together with non-profit organizations, through auctions, sales, etc. And we try our best to educate & share buyers on the importance of reuse & green healthy living. "

I knew what they say it's true, especially about the difficulties to find decent jobs for low educated/low income SAHMs in Indonesia, so I bet they are not kidding when they declare their motto : "handmade.moms-owned.social responsible.fair trade wages.earth care"

I am also in love with them because they use "Batik", in sweet and cute ways (that's why they called themself as "Sweet Batik"). Just look at their photo ! They make sweet things using the sweetest batik combinations I've ever seen :

No further talk, here is my (not so) long-distance interview with Dina & Nissa :

{Me} You two are great friends and great partners. Can you tell us when and how did you two meet ?
{Sweet Batik = SB} We met online in the year of 2007 at one of Indonesian business Yahoogroup
{Me} Why did you decide to start a business ?
{SB} Beside being full time moms, we also wish to do other positive activities which we can express ourselves, be independent, and off course something that can give extra income too. And the most important part is to create jobs for others, especially for mothers like us.

{Me} What made you choose partnership ? Why not became a solo ?
{SB} By having a partner, we can feel the difference to do things much better & faster. Each of us has different talents, so each of us can "cover" things that we don't know about.

{Me} Is there any separation of function between you and your partner ?
{SB} Yes, we have different function doing the business at Sweet Batik . Basically, we both have the same hobby, which are crafting and looking at beautiful things over the internet. At Sweet Batik, Dina is working manage and design the website/blog, design the promotion needs (business card, tags, etc.), international corresmarketing, promotion, and also help out doing a small production. Meanwhile, Nissa is mainly dealing with production (from buying the fabrics, accessories, etc.), help to manage Multiply site, and handle payment & shipping. Even we both have different tasks, we always manage to consult each others before we make any final decisions.

{Me} You two are so enviable ! You have a great business and at the same time each of you has a great family. How can you do that ? How do you manage your life ?
{SB} To be honest, it's not that easy. Unlike most people in Indonesia, we both don't have a maid and/or both maid & babysitter. What we do basically is to make every minute that available to work (mostly after put the kids to sleep and finish household chores). Sometimes we have to work while the kids are still awake, for example when they're busy coloring, we can check our Facebook Page or make a couple accessories. There are so much work that we'd like to accomplish, but we just have to accept what we did at the end of the day.

{Me} Now about you label "Sweet Batik" I love your products ! And I'm glad that you use Indonesia's famous traditional fabrics, "Batik". Instead of using other fabrics, why you use batik in your products ?
{SB} Because we're very proud with the richness of Indonesian Batik fabrics and we also wish to make Indonesian Batik widely known worldwide. The kind of Batik that we use is hand-stamped and hand-dyed, which means in its process using men labor, not machine, in this case more jobs are being created from Batik industry itself.

{Me} There are many kinds of batik in Indonesia. What is your most favorite batik pattern ?
{SB} We're pretty much like pastel & bright colors on Batik fabrics. Most of the Batik fabrics that we use made in West Java.

{Me} Can you give us any suggestion how to choose a high quality batik ?
{SB} Everyone has different taste on choosing "high quality" on Batik fabric. Some people prefer the design & color on the Batik itself over the the type of cotton fabric that they use. Some people prefer on one method/process over the other, such as hand-drawned or hand-stamped, or even machine printed. For us, we prefer more modern look design on bright & pastel colors made with high quality cotton fabric. In our case, we chose hand-stamped Batik process.

{Me} I'm not a batik collector, but if I want to be a collector, can you give suggestion about the best way to take care of my batik ?
{SB} People in the old days using Soap Nut to wash their Batik fabrics. The good thing is, Soap Nut is actually "the new" green natural detergent product, so is now widely available outside Indonesia. But, you can always use regular soap/detergent to wash Batik fabric. It always best to soak them before first use; and hand-washed are prefereable.

Thank you so much Dina & Nissa for the inspiration. I know it's hard to be both mom & business owner, they're though and they are kind of my girl. If you would like to know more about them & to see their new designs that will be coming or other options that are available you can follow their blog at: http://blog.sweetbatik.com/ or follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sweetbatiks

Now about the giveaway, first lucky reader will win their Batik Collection (cotton, size: 210 x 115 cm or 86.614 x 45.275 inch / 2.405 x 1.257 yard), and second winner will win their jewellery set (a set of ring, scrunchie and brooch)

Sweet Batik has 187 batik collections, and here are 12 (twelve) of them :

How to win ? Just Like Sweet Batik on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling me that you like them and stating what is your favorite batik pattern (stated by number). Don't forget to leave me your email address

Extra entries :

- Follow Sweet Batik's Blog (+1 extra entry)
- Follow Sweet Batik on Twitter (+1 extra entry)
(don't forget to leave me a comment after you do each of them)

This giveaway is open internationally, from today until Monday, March 14, 2011 ==> The Giveaway is now closed. The winner will be drawn tomorrow morning. Thank your for whom has participated

Be My Sponsor

Dear my fellow readers,

I have some empty spaces in my sidebar. From my older post, you will now that I had them from my previous de-cluttering project. I love simplicity, but I hate emptiness. So I invite you, bloggers, etsy shops, businesses, handmade artisans, designers and more, to fill up my empty sponsor space

For your info, my blog traffic is currently around 350-450 hits on my blog a day, with 600 - 850 pageviews a day, with a high of 2,716 views in one day last January. I received 25,084 pageviews only on February. I gain readers from around the world, especially North America and Europe.

If you ask me about my pricing. I will say "zero" dollar. Yes, because of my love with handmade world and regarding the fact that my blog is now accounted to be "small" blog, I offer you a "free spot" for a whole month ! I will start a new set at the beginning of a new month. Each set contains 8 (eight) sponsor space, 125 x 125 pixels each. "A new set" here means a previously listed sponsor can not be listed at next month's sponsorship list. It's a rolling list, so I can make sure that everyone have an equal chance. What you should pay me then ? Nothing ! It's free. I never know when I change my mind, so you should better hurry.

So you've been listed. And you got many hits from my blog. And you want to be my sponsor again`..
I happily support and promote handmade artists and handmade suppliers from around the world, so I welcome any sponsorship trades for blogs/sites which have a comparable volume of readership. I also welcome any blog swap / guest post.

Now you want to be forever in my sidebar ...
I happily appreciate any request to host a giveaway, as long as what you will give away is still handmade and design-related... and you will stay forever in my sidebar. I try to give a time spare time from one giveaway to another, so I will keep up my giveaway post into maximum two giveaways each month.

If you have any question, feel free to email me at mama.rafif@gmail.com

Ready, Set... Priorities

One day my colleague asked me some questions, "Citra, how could you do that ? Being a busy worker and a blogger at the same time ?" That time, I answered "Well....", I had not even have another word came out of my mouth when he asked more, "Why did you choose to blog about sewing ? Why didn't you blog about taxes or audit practice, which had been your expertise for years?" I was speechless. I only said "I like auditing but I'm in love with sewing". That was all I said, *gee..* I wish I can turn back that time and provide a better answer for him

If I meet him again, I will say "No, I am not a worker and a blogger "at the same time"."

We are surrounded by "multi-tasking" jargon. A computer that can hold more tasks than other computers is considered to be the best computer. Media sends us images that a modern woman is a multi-tasker. I'm not agree with that. I, and many other women, have three major functions, as a mom, a wife and a worker. In my opinion, I can not do these functions at the same time. I must prioritize. If I try to do them at the same time, I will surely feel being pulled out in three directions. And that won't be good for my physical body and my inner self.

Here is a sample of my daily routine :

I usually wake up early in 2 a.m in early morning. I do some of my office projects (if there any) or sew if I want to sew, write or blog if I have nothing to do. I finish at 4.30 a.m, take a shower, and pray. My daughter usually wakes up at 5 a.m. While paying her my attention, I continue to tidy up my bag and clothes, cook if I want to cook, open all the doors and windows. My son accompanies me at 5.30 and asks his milk.

What else? Hm.. my house cleaner comes at 6 a.m. and I must ask my husband to take a shower quickly, or we must be late. My nanny comes at 6.15, and she will be busy keeping my kids for not crying when I and my husband go. Then we both go to office at 6.30 a.m.
Our office hour start at 7.30 a.m. let me tell you that I must not be late, or they (my bosses, of course) will cut my salary. Not much, I think, but I hate being cut XD

I work in my office until 5 p.m. I get my 60 minutes break at noon. That time I can continue my blogging world. And when the time to work has come, I must be disconnected T_T

I know I must prioritize. Everytime I have an idea to be realized, I always set my schedule and prepare the supplies. When everything have been prepared, and suddenly my daughter calls, I know I must set them aside for a while. I love my family and I won't let them go because of my egos.

This is a photo of my dearest son and daughter, taken at my latest maternity leave, January 2009. My babies has grown up as toddlers. My oldest son is preparing to take his kindergarten this July, and my 2 years old daughter can sing "Indonesia Raya" (our national song). When we're together, I want to spend my precious time with them only, and doesn't want to be disturbed



How about you ? I always put my envious and jealous face when I see a SAHM blog, especially craft blog. I always ask myself "how can she make so many crafts" ? But I know my priorities, and I'm glad I have my own way

ps : This post was written in an afternoon break. I stole a minute for myself LOL