May 30, 2010

Invitation for Indonesian scrapbooker's gathering


For the first time,
I will be soooo honored to host
this most wanted event
that will gather all scrappers
from beginners to advanced,
in one bucket.

No class, no instruction....
only celebrating the project well done,
celebrating the laughter,
celebrating the crazy community that
hoard papers and photos more than anything....
(well, nothing's wrong with that for sure....)
so you will be most disappointed
if you miss this event!
(I am sure for that too.)

I'll confirm now if I were you. *wink
You really don't want to miss the fun....
See you all there!

May 26, 2010

One thing that scares me on : MAY


The sign said,
"Keep this door to remain closed
at all times."
Correct me if I'm wrong
But doesn't that defeat the purpose
of a 'door'?
Danny McCrossan


What is a door means to you?
As a life artist,
me and you would probably answer this question easily.
Door mean opportunities
Door mean hopes
Door mean a way for wonderful journey

Well,

Have you ever think your blog as a door?

Think about that.

Such a simple comparison
but sounds realistic to me to assume
that my blog IS my door.
Whenever I want someone to know me better,
I invite her to my door.
Whenever I want to know someone else better,
I go to her door.

Next month,
I'll be celebrating 3 years of making this door.
3 years of an awesome journey
that change me and my world completely.
I have many plans in hands to celebrate that....
(Does the word 'celebrate' means cakes,
parties, give aways, goody bags, to you?
Then keep thinking about those nice things
when you come back here next month...LOL)
but that will be another story for another post. *wink

Now, what you read at the title of this post is true.
Something scares me this month,
but I want to do it anyway.

I want to give you some tips on blogging.
There.
I said it.

Oh, I am certainly not the expert of this.
And you can get much much better tips out there.
And I am still bitting my nail while I type this.

But,
there are some who asked me, How can you create
such a nice blog?
And for this month, while I am still shivering inside
(WHO do you think you are, girl?)
I try to give you some tips that I personally learns
from 3 years being on blogging world.

  • Blogging is a social activity, so the same basic principals that govern any social interaction should apply. Be thoughtful (Leave comment on other person's post to let her know that you came to visit her. No bloggers who don't love getting comments, trust me. Besides, when you are not leaving any comment, it's like you stalking someone's home and do not want to be caught. Imagine that in real life. You come to someone's home, take a look around, take pictures as your own record later - that would be clicking 'save as' in the blogging world - then leave without saying anything to the owner. Uh, scary.) Be kind (You only want to hanging out with kind people, right?) Be courteous (When people leave comment on your blog, imagine that someone who is very nice is giving you a nice cake and put it in front of your door. Then, you thought you are being a polite person, and give her other cake back (another comment), but you are just too lazy to go to her home to give it, you just put it in front of your own door and hope some day she will come again to get it. Not quite right, eh? So, since this is a social activity, to get as many cakes as you like, you should go around to your neighborhood-which is spread until US and Australia if I must say) and deliver your cakes personally to their door. Sound fair enough?) You may skip this tips only after you are as famous as Ali Edwards or Donna Downey.
  • By now, the tips above should eliminate your thinking "Why should I blog? No one is coming to see my post, anyway." You know what's wrong now, I hope. And just for your information, no one leave comments on my blog until about a year after I start it. But I keep posting. And posting. And posting.
  • You should be able to answer the question, why you need your blog. You cannot do it just because other people do it as a trend. It must become your voice, your main necessity. It is like building your own company profile, but now, the company is yourself. When you can say to someone who ask, "What do you do right now?" , just go to my blog and find out....then it will be right. You are on the right track of recording your own life in your blog.
  • Your blog becomes attractive to people not only because the design of it. You can change the design weekly and still you wonder why not many people come. It must have a soul. An attractive story. A breathtaking image. A tip on parenthood. A recipe. A step by step project. An honest perspective. Anything you think will be useful for the reader. What you expect from the blogs you see all the times, those are exactly what you should have in your blog.
  • How many hours in a day could you spend blog-hopping?(Sometimes being on facebook for several hours a day is already enough for us, right? LOL) Let's say, you can have one hour each day to do the blog-hopping. How many blogs do you wish to visit in that precious time spread? As many as you can, of course. And what happen to a blog, that once you click open, (imagine you are opening a door), you still looking at three months away's post on the top. Not interesting, eh? You can't even imagine looking at last night's dinner that being left on the table for two days! And no matter you like and adore that blog person, slowly, but sure, you are not going to open that particular door anymore. You only have such little time! So.....my tips is simple.....post regularly. Twice in a month's post is certainly not enough (that's me on the first year, by the way). Every day's post is certainly driving you nuts. So, choose in between, and you will be alright.
  • In the click of a mouse, you can open a door far far away, London, Melbourne, knock..knock....in a click. When you don't like being judged on the first meeting, sadly, your blog will be judged in a few minutes time by the guest who stop at the door. In order to keep the guest staying a little bit more (hip hip horray if they decide to bookmark your blog so they can come back later), the guest should be able to : find your profile easily and informative (Explain what you do or what your interest in couple of lines, so they know what to expect in your posts), know what you talk about mostly in a single post (I like to keep my post short. I don't like reading other people's post about the parties, or vacation, or their today's menu if that post is taking me more than 5 minutes to read. So I assume they will not have that much time to read my rambling either- except for this particular post, sorry -, so again, keep it short), know that your blog is an artful blog (How? By having an artful image. I hardly post a story without an image now. And learning how to make a beautiful images is already an art itself. So, learn about that, and many people will stop at your blog longer, I promise).
  • As frustrated as you, that's how I feel about HTML code. My blog is even harder to be modified since it is a personal design, not a template. A single comma accidentally deleted will change the entire look of my blog and I didn't know how to turn it back cause I didn't know what the hell was I deleting just now. Don't get me wrong. After 3 years, I still experience that kind of situation even though my knowledge in this blogging thing is already make my husband proud. So my tips is, get someone who knows it better than you. And no, for me it is not my husband, since blogging is alien to him. Ask question. Ask other bloggers. It certainly takes times, months, years, but don't let the obstacles of this unknown code world make you reluctant to post.

Hope you find those tips help you in a way or two.
And to anyone who read these incredible long post,
please, please, PLEASE.....
don't take any of these tips as a personal critique
for your blog.
I am not capable for that
and certainly not my intention too.

If you know me from the beginning,
I have only listed 4 friends as Indonesian scrappers
that have blog of their own.
Now as the community is growing fast,
there are more than 15 scrappers I put here,
(imagine my joy)
and these tips hopefully will make that number
moving faster.

Now,
if you excuse me,
I should really come back to my project in hand,
week in the life's album.
And preparing the 'celebrate' word
as I mention before,
is taking most of my time too.*chuckle

But I'll be back soon.
Post regularly, remember?
*hugs


I have become my own version of an optimist.
If I can't make it through one door,
I'll go through another door -
or I'll make a door.
Rabindranath Tagore


May 24, 2010

Girls' weekend.


Make sure
you are only carrying today's burdens.

Too often we carry
far more than necessary.

Reduce your load by dropping
tomorrow's worries,
and yesterday baggage.

Present pressures and problems
are usually enough.

Leave tomorrow's until later.



Thank you to you two,
Alice and Isur,
for such an unforgettable trip.
Sending hugs your way.

May 19, 2010

Making your own embellishment


You can get inspiration
from everywhere,right?

Right.

Well, in my case,
since my world is continuously
circling around ribbon, yarn, thread.....
my inspirations are continuously
starting from those.

Here, I bought a roll of ribbon
months ago,before my exhibition.
When you see it as only
a pretty lacy ribbon,
I cut it and see it like this.


A bird?
Oh, you are good.
Yeeees, a bird.
Let's make something with this bird!


I pull out my
swear-until-death-do-us-part
Gel Medium Matt
(sometimes I used Talens,
sometimes Amsterdam)
which is my secret recipes
to attach anything.
And I mean ANYTHING.

So, go....
attach as many birds
as your heart desire to the
pattern papers using that gel medium,
and you'll have a clear, cute, crisp
bunch of birds like these in no time.


What do you think?


Next step, you need to prepare :
pattern papers, some lace, Stazon,
tags, and black pen
(mine is uni-ball Signo broad-1.0-
I love it...whenever I find these,
I'll grab them for stock
in my full hand.)


Tadaaaa......
the bird finally have a home.


Don't forget to slip a foam tape
or glue dot behind the bird,
to add an 'umph' factor.
(I just made up that word, I know)


Stick it to your next journal
or mini album, then add your tittle...
Voila,
consider yourself done.

See?
making your own embellishment
is good for your hand, your pocket,
and your album.

May 18, 2010

last night's report

This is what I found last night
on my table
after I cleared up the papers.

Cute, eh?

That boy was playing in my room
all night
and waiting eagerly
for Toy Story 3.

I couldn't continue my album
since I had to prepare for today's class,
private beginner class in Bandung.

The class was successful and fun!
Looking forward to see you all
becoming wonderful scrappers someday.

May 16, 2010

The photos are here.


Looking at freshly printed photos
always brings me some kind of glee inside.
You can compare it with
a shoe-fetish when looking at
new shoes on the window display.

This is
much more than that.

So today, the photos are all here,
on my desk,
waiting and grinning.

I sorted them by day one till seven.
(if you do the uploading every night
and separate them in daily folder,
this job will be easy peasy)
Then I tried to put some to the
separate post cards folder
to decide which go where.


And for the opening of each day,
I put an 8R photo of the day
in the front page.
To make it easily recognized as
an opening of the day,
I make them on the same papers
and using the same setting.
Later, I'll put the title :
"Today is Day 1"
on the right bottom corner of each page.


You may notice too,
I did some sewing for the borders.
*wink

May 15, 2010

The week is over, the album begins.


The "Week in the Life" shooting period
is over.

Did you enjoy it?

I did.
I enjoyed taking pictures
as much as collecting the ephemera
of my life right here and now.
My previous two albums of WITL's project
mostly filled with photos.
Not that it is a wrong thing,
but for this year
I want to focus more on
the bits&pieces
of my every day life,
letters, tickets, tags, brochure, ads,
that I sometimes not take notice of.
I believe,
in times,
they will tell some good stories too.

So, for that goal,
I need this kind of album
where I can slip in all those bits&pieces.


So basically, my album will be
a mix of 12x12 papers,
and post cards (4R photo) size.
And I choose to use two colors,
chocolate and turquoise,
to make the album seems cohesive.

Oh,
please don't be confused
by that color choice!
You can surely use as many colors
as you wish for your album!

That's just me,
a girl who is colors concern....
(many ladies from my classes
probably will notice about this
from me already by now. LOL)

And for now,
I am digging in my stash to sort out
as many papers as I could find
in that two colors tone.
And to make my later's job easier,
I cut some of them in post cards size.
No matter where I am going to slip
them later, I just cut them.
May not all be used
or may it be not enough,
I can deal with it later.


And because this year
I could successfully fight my laziness
in editing and uploading the photos
every night,
I already have them all
ready to print today!
Sooo excited
to see all the photos tomorrow!

Hope you already making
some progress too, scrappers!

Back to you tomorrow
with another baby steps for the album.

About me

  • I am a woman who fell in love with papers and words long enough before with boys. Therefore, scrapbooking, writing, reading, and art journaling are just things that complete me. I live happily in Bandung, Indonesia, with my husband, Audy Kusnadjaja, and 2 adorable kids adore me. Isn't life sweet?
My profile

About this home

Be careful while going inside my home here. Your clothes may gets stain if you happen to walk by my still wet canvas, or stumbled upon our piles of books everywhere, and come out with a scrap paper sticking to your shoes. But I promise you, you'll enjoy the time spending here. Tea or coffee?
  • The beginning
  • Last preparation
  • Artsy Girl's scrapper bag
  • Artsy Girl's mini album
  • Back to school
  • You rock!
  • Doilies for memories
  • Becoming an artist
  • Scrap my heart away
  • Too much of good things
  • Yellow sometimes
  • Double pages
  • Some layouts
  • Don't reinvent the wheel
  • Tips for dividing scrap time
  • Back to school album
  • Christmas album 2009
  • A month to play, a month to learn
  • 'Life happens' album
  • My girl's b'day album
  • Recycling the baby book
  • My boy's b'day album
  • About stranger
  • Make something every day
  • 2009 Art journals - bounded
  • Art journals - begin
  • 2009 Daily Journal
  • 2008 Daily Journal
  • Cracked
  • Parade
  • Hierarchy
  • Fleeting
  • Legendary
  • Time
  • Voices
  • Balloon
  • Wise
  • Repair
  • String
  • First painting
  • Life of two girls-treasure box
  • Box of memories
  • Making your own embellishment
  • A month to play and learn
  • Art journal album cover
  • Week in The Life - 2011
  • Week in The Life - 2010
  • Week in The Life - 2009
  • Week in The Life - 2008
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the class - click here
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the class - click here
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the class - click here
  • To see the layouts - click here
  • To see the class - click here
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the class-group 1 - click here
  • To see the class-group 2 - click here
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the class - click here
  • To see the album - click here
  • To see the Jkt's class - click here
  • To see the Bdg's class - click here

  • The story - click here

  • The story - click here

  • See inside - click here

  • See inside - click here
  • See inside - click here
  • See inside - click here
  • See inside - click here
  • Other article - click here
  • My Artist Papers

  • Wings in The Cage - series
  • Where is it ? - click here
  • New place - click here
  • Eat&Eat Kelapa Gading
  • Eat&Eat - part 2
  • Kartika Sari-kebon jukut
  • Warung Talaga-PVJ
  • Sagoo restaurant Bogor
  • Eat&Eat 2 - Gandaria City
  • Goela Merah - foodcourt
  • Ba-koel - foodcourt
  • MariSini - food stall
  • Eat&Eat 3 - Surabaya
  • Warung Talaga Ciwalk - new place
  • Wajan restaurant
  • Warung Talaga - Serpong
  • Eat&Eat 4 - Serpong
  • Lekker Bekker