{project thursday: fabric and floral}

Fabric covered boxes

Country Living is unarguably one of my favorite places to hunt for crafty ideas. Just like today, and I am very very happy to find some fresh, bright, and doable projects - exactly what I had been thinking for today's Project Thursday: I have a stack of boxes, pinboard, journals with tattered covers, and guess what, a collection of vintage fabric I haven't used! Sounds perfect. The instructions are clear and simple, too. All these pictures in this entry are from Country Living and each linked to its original page (some are with intructions). I selected those who are doable for me today, with the exception of the peony wreath...I just love it very much, so even if I won't make one today, I label it as 'bright idea', I keep it in mind :-)


Colored pencil vase


Fabric covered journals


Bandana table runner


Message board


Peony wreath

{welcome 2009}

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I've been thinking and thinking what would be the best for my first entry to this blog in 2009. I was re-arranging my graphic site too this morning, so I came to see this quote by Cate Blanchett that I put on the 'about me' page. I like this saying, it rings really true to me. I like it I like it, so much. So why don't I gather some dreams for 2009, and a little bit of re-introduction perhaps?



First when I made this blog, I wanted to use this to post updates on my graphic site, Amreta's Graphics. But then I use it to post just about anything that I had in mind. I'm a dreamer and love to get inspired by what I see and meet on travels (and often it means 'armchair travel' through books, magazines and the internet), which I think is necessary as I live in a hectic, crowded big city like Jakarta, with a schedule that goes from full time job, to practicing the violin, playing with the amateur chamber music ensemble, drawing graphics, crafting, hunting for second hand magazines, fabrics and papers, to attending cultural activities, family gatherings, going to book stores, etc etc...so much to do, so little time! But I heard loving all that you're doing is a sign of an exciting life so I have no complain :o)



There are times I got so lucky that I have the chance to travel (real travel) and it is my favorite time to get inspired. Back to Cate Blanchett's words: my first trip was at age 9 to Bali, joining my dad's art class in a study tour, discovering the work and life of Balinese artists. My first time abroad was as an exchange student for a year in France, living with a french family, 'forced' to speak french, went to high school, simply lived like the french. Those first experiences really set my idea about travels. And somehow the next thing I know, similar 'arrangements' just fall into place with the other trips. I love it. There has been a big number of synchronicities playing around. In 2009 I wish that it will continue :o)



My dream? Traveling to Bhutan. It's intriguing. I heard about their Gross National Happiness concept. I saw articles about traveling to Bhutan, with focus on the art and design such as in Elle and Vogue, on the culture in National Geographic, and on the well-being in Yoga Journal and Yoga Plus.



Oh yes, they are some of my favorite magazines. Let me tell you about my another 'hobby' when it comes to magazine. Imported magazines are quite expensive in Jakarta, so I opt for buying second hand magazines. Old magazines, sometimes only a few months old, but recently I found Elle Decor that dates back in 1996! And much to my surprise it doesn't look old at all. And for some new ones, I subscribe to digital magazine through Zinio. It's worth it, good price and I can 'bring' the magazine everywhere in my laptop, very practical especially when traveling.



And though I live in a big city, I love the countryside and country style. Country Living has been my favorite magazine ever since I knew about it. My host families in France and Sweden all live either in a very small town or in the countryside, in their lovely homes surrounded by beautiful nature. And during my stays with these families I learned for the first time about decorating and entertaining 'the country style'.



And you know what? I love decorating 'the country style', though in practice what I do is 'decorating with what you have'. But I think, that's also what country style or junk-market style is all about. Currently I attempt to reorganize and redecorate my 3x3m2 bedroom cum work room. It was a necessity so I decided to blog about it, to be able to track the progress - and to motivate myself. I found the internet and my collection of decorating magazines to be very useful. Inspiration is everywhere!



When it comes to photography, I'm mad about taking pictures of flowers. I'm not a pro and am only armed with my 6.1 MP Kodak digital camera, but I have had so much fun with it.



The violin has been my passion since I was 13 year old, when I saw on TV Maestro Henryk Szerying play the Beethoven violin concerto, and then locked myself in the bathroom until my parents agreed to buy me a (cheap) violin and to send me to a violin teacher :o) I've been listening to classical music since far longer than I can remember, but am also really drawn into folk music recently. So don't be surprised if there are some posts about music as well.



I'm also a fan of flea markets and traditional markets. And hey, I'm an Indonesian and still deeply impressed by my Javanese childhood. When I have the chance I would also like to post entries about folksy things from Indonesia. Folksy things make me feel at home somehow. And it reminds me of the cultural richness of the world we live in.



So, basically, this blog is about my artwork, hobbies and things that inspire me. I love getting inspired. I hope you, too. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog, I've been enjoying putting together my thoughts in my entries and I appreciate all your comments and support. Let's hope for the better in 2009 :o)

[.my.deco.tool.]

Newsletter from Domino Magazine came in my mailbox with a notice about the new decorating tool, My Deco File – a kind of online inspiration book to save decorating ideas and images we like.

Oh, that’s what I always wanted to have!

I just signed-up and started to create my first deco-book. This weekend my priority will be re-arranging and re-organising my bedroom cum craft and study room. I love cute boxes for storage, fabrics with nice prints, and of course as I just realised – I can’t live without colours!

Idea books are the perfect place for me to store images that inspire and catch my attention. In the real life, one has to deal with limited resources and to make the best out of what is available. But ideals, as quoted by Carl Schurz, are like stars: we may not be able to reach them, but like the seafaring men on the sea, we can use them as our guides.

How practical it is now with the internet! Thank you, Domino :-)

[.memories.on.display.]

I’m still mentally in an extended part of my previous trip to Sweden and France… Somehow I believe that life is a trip, in any case, and at the moment I’m in a stage where I can’t stop wondering what would be the best way to keep the ‘being inspired’ feeling I got while traveling on in my everyday life. Ah, displaying those memories captured by my camera. And I found that Domino has fresh ideas that would answer my wonderings. You see, my friends, I think I know what I’m going to do this weekend now…










Images from Domino

[.small.room.decorating.]

Times’s up. No more excuses. This weekend, too, will be a very busy one. A trip to prepare, projects to finish, but first of all, a room to rearrange and redecorate.

Yesterday my magazine collection has found a happy solution through Benita’s blog :-) Now it’s so great that Domino Magazine has some pretty ideas that may work well for my icy-blue painted little room. Let’s see these:

The two pictures below are from Lili Diallo’s loft, I love the comfortably creative style, I love the mix of colors. And I love it that there are a lot of books and magazines inside, too :-)






Steven Gambrell’s desk below is just perfect to illustrate mine when done with the rearrangement. The same wall paint color, the same vernished wooden desk located on the right corner of the room. Perfect.



All pictures above from Domino Magazine

[.a.crafty.talk.]

Let’s face it. I live in Jakarta. Anthropologie, IKEA, Habitat, Tracy Porter…they are all inspirations that make me hooked on the internet. Anyway so far that’s the only way I could give a feast to my eyes and a little consolation for not having these stores here. And I counted my blessings as I rearranged stacks of old magazines and clipping books that occupied so much space in my room. They are my inspiration banks. And thanks God, again, for keeping them safe from the flood last February. For they are the sweet candies to my craving soul…

My daydream was interrupted by the laughing voice of my youngest sister on the phone. “I’ve finished my latest project” she said. “Now preparing a second line, to be sold in the traditional market”

“Traditional market? (in our hometown, the cultural city of Yogyakarta)”

“Yes” her laugh was louder. “the market has this special space for selling crafts. I should give it a try”

“Well, give it a go!”

My crafty sister laughed again.

“You see, we’re both crazy about traditional crafts. You should really try to fit them in your ‘imaginary lifestyle’”

“Which means…?”

“Euh, those high stacks of magazines in your room” she pointed, “they are all international magazines, which is nice for inspiration, and that is your imaginary lifestyle”

“And….?”

“That’s the problem, It’s all imaginary and you can’t find the goods here. Why don’t you try to ‘replace’ the details with locally found crafts to create your own folkloric-influenced style?”

“Well, sister, necessity is the mother of invention”

“So?”

“I still don’t have time to come home, if you mean that I should start there in our hometown. But I can go to Chicmart and Pasaraya (a home decoration shop, and the latter is a department store with a huge section of Indonesian crafts that occupies their entire fifth floor) and start training my eyes….”

“Or to the junk market”

Hmm. I think this time I have been caught by inspiration. Through my crafty little sister. Thanks, little muffin.

My little sister Nataya aka Chacha in our childhood home, our first inspiration, where it all started...







my two sisters and a few cousins in the living room of our Javanese house



Nataya's artworks "Chachalotta"





Baby Nataya in mid 80s, already crafty



images from Chachalotta

[.going.tartan.]

Wew! I love tartans. And I got inspired by my youngest sister, a crafter by profession, she was here last week, and crafts and crafting seemed to be the main subjects of our endless conversations. It seems like I still need a lot of practice. But hey, it's fun! I covered an 'ordinary' plastic folder with fabric - oh, tartan - that I found earlier while exploring the 'junk market' in central Jakarta. So you see, it's one of a kind! :-)

[.friday.finds.]

I always love-love-love cute ceramic tablewares and just to my delight I saw these 20%-50% discounts for Top Choice at Centro Dept. Store in Jakarta. Wouldn't want to miss it, I love breakfast-ware with illustrations that make me smile...*heart*




Passing by the hyper market to buy some chocolate (*can't survive without some...*) I saw these doormats, made of fabric leftovers from some garment manufacturers. They are woven without precision, none of them has the same color-coordination, but I found that some of them would be nice to be at my home for a cheap-chic look :-)

[.junk.market.chic.]

At the junk market of Senen in central Jakarta, you’ll never know what you can find there. Mostly old clothes and second hand bags, but with a little luck, even if it means you have to walk around the crowded and noisy market, you can spot some stalls selling soft furnishings for the home, at real ’junkie’ prices.

But again, you’ll never know what you may find, that’s the interesting part of going there. Two weeks ago the stalls had piles of table cloths, and last weekend I got lots of duvet covers. Certainly I won’t use them as intended (the guy at the stall wondered if I had a dorm!) but as usual I looked for fabrics with nice prints & patterns and I will think about what I will transform them into later. When I have time *sigh*. Let’s see what inspiration says…

[.weekend.crafting.]

When it’s Sunday afternoon and raining so hard outside, you can make sure I’d be sitting nicely in my desk working with papers :-) I love reading books but sometimes inspiration strikes and all I want to do is cutting nice pictures from old magazines and sticking them to papers, making small collages.

I like using A5 loose-leaf papers and put them in one folder, and the size makes it easy enough to carry. I call this folder 'idea notebook'. I also have big folders to accomodate bigger pictures (sometimes they are so nice I just can't cut them!) But more often the big ones only stay on my bookshelves, for comfy time at home, while the small ones travel alot!

This weekend I covered two folders with fabrics: one with purple vintage cotton that I 'inherited' from my grandma, and the other with Chinese fabrics. I run out of nice papers to cover the inner side of the folder covers, so I decided to cut-and-stick pretty small pictures from an ad in an old Ariadne at Home magazine. After several trial-and-errors, finally they turned out to be really nice :-)












The images for collages shown below are from
Country Living UK edition, October 2004