So many things to tell

A quick update. I made these beauties for Siti Hajjar, proud owner of Smokin’ Salma. She gave me October 14 as a deadline but at the same time invited us for Smokin’ Salma’s 1st anniversary on October 10, 2011. Since I’m already set to see her that monday, I rushed these handbag organizers and made all three in one day! That’s a personal record created!

Notice how my pictures are now seamless with the background. I’ve always wanted to do this and finally managed to do so just recently. Sheila of Nice Craft by Sheila Wahid gave a link in my favorite group on facebook, GMJ Club on how Jaja Craft editted her pictures in her blog; JajaKraft. I tried and tweaked it in my Photoshop. I checked out other tutorials on YouTube too and learned how to use the dodge tool. It worked out ok but the amount of time I spent to edit the pictures made me search for an easier solution. Then, Yatie Manan gave me the answer. She shared with me how she edited her pictures by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool to crop her pictures and layer it on a white background and add shadows to it. I tried it and simply love it! Now I can even touch up the pictures with the dodge tool. My eternal thanks to those who generously share their tips on how to edit pictures. 

OK, Back to my craft story. I made a few of these camera bag inserts too. Made adjustments on the steps to finish the inserts. I prefer to call it a camera cube. I like the neater finishing on the top edge compared to the top stitching I did on mine but this means I have to struggle and wrestle the foam through a small opening compared to the initial process. Still, that’s a small price to pay for the end result.

Last Sunday, October 16; I went to  GMJ Gathering in Shah Alam. It was a blast! Having a bunch of ladies with common interest under one roof. Even though it’s the first real life meeting for most of us, but we bond almost immediately. We instantly connect and talking and sharing like old friends. Crafting and sewing bridge the gap between us. It was a great fun. What was supposed to end at 12pm, lasted till much-much later for some of us (you ladies know who you are :)) Thank you Sheila for car pooling. 

And this is a picture of me with Jueleha Sakiman; my asrama mate. We were in Asrama Puteri Seremban. She went to Convent and I KGV. Imagine how cool it is for us to meet after 20 years. She’s still the same ever. Unlike me, I’ve expanded exponentially :P

Wednesday, October 19; I got these stuff I ordered on amazon.com. I actually just wanted the Micro four thirds puffer from Gary Fong but since I’m shopping, I added a snap pliers kit, eyelet pliers and printable fabric sheets. For the love of me, I have no idea what I’d do with them yet but I know when the time comes, all these will come in handy. 

Last night, I scrap busted and made these luggage tags to sell at Azzah’s booth in Etsy’s Craft Market this coming October 29 in JayaOne. Again, this is the birth of a combination of ideas. Below is the version 1.0 with the fabric strap. For the new version 1.1, I used elastic band for the strap. Yatie Manan, the tutorial diva in GMJ Club shared a link on scrap busting and I saw and adapted the elastic band idea to my luggage tag. This is the magic of putting your heads together with like-minded people; creativity mode grows exponentially too :)

More on the craft market, check out Azzah’s post in her blog here.  I better start cracking on my Saturday; Fabric hunting, birthday present shopping, birthday party and more items to make for the craft market. Have a great weekend folks!