Magazine clips

I was going through my blog thinking of what to write in my next post and realised that I've not made any entry on works being published in the magazines. I did make a few (subjective really) shout outs of my magazine clips on my facebook wall and Made by Rozi Rahman fanpage. 

I'm honoured and grateful that my work has been chosen to grace the pages of 2 digital camera magazines and 1 women magazine. Hang on a minute! So, what has photography got to do with my needlework? Well, my needlework has led me to blogging and blogging has led me to wanting to take better pictures for my posts and that has led me to take up photography. Not so much of turning into a professional photographer (duh! it ain't easy you know!) but just being able to take nice pictures.

Anyway, back to the topic, my first appearance was the May 2012 issue of Digital Camera magazine. My hot air balloons trio came out in the HotSHOTS column, at #10. It was my maiden attempt to submit my photography work to a publication. The shot was taken in March during Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon festival. I first submitted it to pixoto.com and it got the #10 best of the day award (10 seems to be the lucky number here), top 10% of the week award and subsequently top 10% of the month award (for the month of March 2012). 

Oh! I recalled my entry about my excitement getting my first pixoto award here. 

May was the month that I received an email from Malaysian Women's Weekly magazine asking for HiRes picture of my chalk banner. I was in Hong Kong when I received the email. The deadline given was a day before I was due back to homeground. I thought I missed out on a good exposure stunt. I came back home and forgot about it only to get a reminder the following week repeating the request. Opportunities do knock twice! So, I jumped on it and the did a short write up on my blog and products in May 2012 issue. Thank you, thank you, thank you Malaysian Women's Weekly for singling me out of hundreds if not thousands of local craft blogs out there. 

I did my chicken dance, and felt on top of the world! My heart swelled with pride to see my name in bold prints along with the names of other websites that I used to browse in my early years of blogging. How cool is that? The feeling is just indescribable. 

My third magazine appearance was in August 2012 issue of Aperture; another digital camera magazine.  WooHoo!!!!! Another chicken dance moment. 

This shot was shared on my wall by a fellow picture taker in a photography group I belong to. I didn't realized about this until he mentioned it to me. Even then, I thought he was pulling my leg; hence, the need for proof. (Don't mind the picture quality)

The next day, I made a quick dash to my local bookshop after sending Arwen to her playgroup session and get me a copy of the magazine.

Typo on the shutter speed

The prize

This will mark the first time I've ever won anything from my photography hobby. While my sewing and crafting hobby is now a self financing and income generating hobby, (They even pay for my camera and lens and what have you) I still have a long way to go with photography. Yet, it's not really the monetary rewards that I'm after. Money, after all is not an end itself but serve as a means to an end. These recognitions serve as pleasant highlights in my journey in the world of sewing, crafting and photography. With that, I'm signing off and wishing you a great weekend ahead. 

Masterchefs

I sent Danial to his Da Vinci Art class yesterday morning and was reminded by him of my promise to make him an apron. It's already his 8th class. After sending him to his class, I wondered at IOI Mall and made my way to Daiso. I was so tempted to get him the ready-made kid's apron as it's only RM5.00 and with my lost mojo, I don't know when I'll get around to make him one. At the rate I'm going, there's a big possiblity that we'll be buying our baju raya this year. I picked it up, and put it back. I just couldn't bring myself to buy what I can easily make. What more, now is the time my kids want to wear stuff that I make for them. There will come a day when they no longer want to.

So yesterday afternoon, I made these two aprons. I made Danial's first and I know Arwen would be asking for hers and to save her breath nagging me to make her one, I made another. I used some leftover IKEA laminated fabric and finish the edges with bias tape that I made earlier (Thank goodness for that, otherwise, I'd ditch this project too). The kids love it. Arwen wore it the entire evening even when we went out to McDonald's. That is just priceless don't you think, when your little ones simply adore the things you make for them.

A long silence and a new interest

Whoa! this would be the longest time for me to not post any entry on my blog. The last post was 6 July 2012. Almost a whole month of silence. What happened?! I was ill a few weeks back, suffered from viral fever. In fact, the whole household was infected. After that, I just seem to lost my mojo. After Supplies Surprise Bazaar, I've not cleared my room at all. It's extra messy as I just pushed everything on the table down onto the floor and took the table to the bazaar. If it hadn't been for Azrai putting it back in the room, it would still be lying infront of the door.

A friend who is also a doctor said it's probably a post viral fever recovery symptoms. I hope so but it's stretching a bit long even to my liking. I'm just avoiding the sewing room. One BIG reason is the loathing of clearing up. If I can't clear up, I can't sew. Fortunately, I've posted on my facebook page that I'm taking a break from accepting orders.

OK moving on... While gathering courage to tackle my sewing room, I've started something new. I ordered a pair of jumbo hooks over the internet and started using them with some tarn (t'shirt yarn I have lying around). Picture below was taken with my iphone and the small basket is the first project with these hooks.

My 2nd project was a rag rug. I followed this video on preparing some old bedsheets and turning them into yarn for my rag rugs.

And this video on making a simple oval shaped ragrug. Some good tips on how to add yarn when you reached the end of your working yarn, what to do if there's too much or too little stitches. I just love her rugs. They are so rustic 'ala Little House On The Prairie' like.

This is my first rag rug:

The one on top now is laid nicely outside the bathroom downstairs. I quickly made a second one which goes to Danial's room, just outside the adjoining bathroom.

These projects are super fast! I can make a small bath rug with one single fitted sheet in a couple of hours. I'm really hooked on this and got Azrai to ask for some old bedsheets from my mom inlaw and I asked my mom when I went to break fast at her house last Sunday.

Here's one rug made with MIL's old bedsheets:

And I made this from my mom's retro bedsheets. I used to see them since forever. They're probably and most likely older than I am. I love the retro batik prints and decided to combine 2 colours. Love how they turned out, don't you?

I caught the interest of some of my craft buddies and they asked me to organize a group buy. So, here's my poster for the group buy. If you're interested to jump on to the bandwagon, drop me an email at rozirahman@gmail.com. 

While typing this post, I found out that I've maxed out my Picasa pictures storage for the blog. The whole 1GB of it. Now my pictures are stored in Flickr (Thank God for Pro Account). 

Having said that, I think it's not too late to wish all Muslims wherever you are a blessed Ramadhan. 

Signing off for now. Time to pick Danial up from school. 

Bazaar # 9: Supplies Surprise! 6 Bazaar

A quick shout out for my next bazaar appearance. It’s a supplies bazaar this time. I’ll be de-stashing my designer cotton at RM33 per meter!!!!! Only during the bazaar. These are some of the stash from Micheal Miller’s Sanctuary collection.

I also have 2 yards of chalk cloth available at RM75.00 per yard (36” x 47”). I’ve made chalk mats and chalk cloth party banners with these. (see here)

Jumbo ric-racs at RM2.50 per meter and a meter bundle of 8 colours @ RM18.00 only. 

I’ve got hold of some Fabric Mod Podge too. Only 5 bottles available at RM30.00 for 8oz bottle.

I have the Classic Mod Podge too (yellow label) but only the 4oz one at RM15.00.

I’ll be rummaging my things tonight to see what else I can bring to the bazaar. They say "one crafter’s junk is another’s treasure”... I wonder what other treasures I’ll be taking home with me from the bazaar... Cringe to think how am I ever going to fit all my stuff in my over-stuffed sewing room...

Shout Out: Bazaar #8 - Fuyoh Art Bazaar 4

If you’ve been following my updates on my bazaar appearance, you’d be wondering where’s bazaar #7. I kinda missed out on that. It was last month at Subang Parade (3 June 2012). Nothing much to report. Business was a bit slow that day. Had to do a solo act as my partner couldn’t make it. Survived the long hours, yada, yada, yada.  Lets move on to my shout out, shall we?

This Sunday, 24 June 2012, I’ll be at Publika for Fuyoh Art Bazaar #4. The theme is traditional so I’ll be coming in my traditional costume. Nothing fancy, baju kurung for me :) unless I decide to be adventurous and comes in a sari? who knows? *wink*

Don’t miss my booth. It’ll be at #66, my lucky number this round :)

What’s new? My last four pieces of Ipad cosies knitted in Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fasset. I like the mouthful description, don’t you? They’re my last four as I’ve run out of my Colourscape Chunky stash, after almost 2 years keeping them in my knitting yarn stash. I’m glad they’ve received a good response as Ipad cosies after I first premier them at Markets@JayaOne (Read about it here). 

I’ve also have a fresh shipment of Jumbo Ric-Racs which just arrived after 1 month! They’ll be retailing at RM2.50 per meter and a 8 meter bundle at RM18.00 (a discount of 10%). They’re made of polyester and suitable as embellishment on dresses (low heat iron possible) as well as for scrapbooking, or other crafts. I have 8 colours. Come and see how yummy they are :)

It measures approximately 5/8” from peak to peak:

Compare between the jumbo ric-rac and the normal ric-rac commonly found:

Anything else? I’m trying to perform miracles and R&D new chalk cloth party banner.... Nothing is cut, my sewing machine is cold... What am I doing here?!!!!!!  See you tomorrow folks!!!!

Addition (as at 3.30pm, Saturday 23 June 2012)

Instead of doing another entry, I’m just adding on the new stuff I’m going to bring to FAB:

Reusable Chalk Cloth Party Banner ver.2.0

Fresh from the sewing machine.

They measure approximately 7” width and 10” height.

I’ll be selling them loosely ie per pieces:

1-4 pieces = RM10.00 each piece
5 pieces onwards = RM8.00 each piece

It comes with the cotton rope (12” for every banner piece).

So come and visit my booth and string up your own party banner!

The May that was - Part 2: 3 more Bazaars

Earlier this year, I made a goal to do one bazaar a month; which gives me a total of 12 bazaars for the year. The goal still remains but with a small twist; I’m looking at the total of 12 only, regardless of how many bazaars I take part in a particular month. I took a break in April, only to come back with not 1 bazaar in May but 3!!! I’ve chalked up bazaar #4: Little Red Market 3, bazaar #5: Markets@JayaOne and bazaar #6: Fuyoh Art Bazaar @ Publika. Stretching myself a bit far this time.

Bazaar #4: Little Red Market 3

I’ve been looking forward for Little Red Market 3 ever since Little Red Market 2 (read about it here). I had so much fun in the last LRM and this one is even better. They had it in White Box, Publika. A bigger place and more vendors and a bigger crowd too. Having just came back from our short break in Hong Kong (read about it here), I had little time to prepare for the market. I didn’t even get to do a blog entry for a shout out. My chalk mats was the best seller of the day. I was so busy at my booth, and without help, I couldn’t go around rest of the bazaars to take more pictures. However, Melissa and Sally has lovely pictures of the event on LRM fanpage and Flickr. Team Etsy Malaysia has a blog post on it too :) read all about it here.

p/s: Thank you to my photobuds: Mirsham and family, Dezz and new bride, Pak Long and entourage and Rick for coming down to Publika to show their support for my small enterprise. I couldn’t find the group picture. I’ll post it here if I can locate it.

Thank you Nadiah and Liza for making the bazaar a pleasant experience meeting the likes of you :)


Bazaar #5: Markets@JayaOne

Teaming up with SewFabby again for this market. We had a very good location, right smack in the middle where the registration counter is. There was a long queue for registration and we had quite a good traffic. For the record, Aishah Sinclair stopped by our booth to say hello. Azzah was pre-occupied with arranging her goods and I was just not thinking, totally forgot to ask her for a picture, DUHH!!!!

Nadiah of Team Etsy has nice pictures and a good write up of the market here.

It’s my 4th appearance here and again the response has always been good. Worth sticking to this bazaar for a few more rounds at least.

New items I brought to this market were the Knitted Ipad Cozies. It was a long shot. I have a few skeins of Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fasset that I don’t know what to do with so, I knitted a few cozies for the Ipad. I was pleasantly surprised that they were well received. Hmmm... maybe I should have more knitted goods for my future bazaars.

I also made the circular pod or the round pouch. I just thought they’re cute and since I just bought a circular cutter, cutting circles on fabric is a cinch!

I’ve also figured a new way to display my baby bibs instead of just lying them flat on the table. I use a plastic garbage holder I bought at Daiso and some plastic hanger. They do the trick just nice.

A special mention: Thank you to Kak Faizon and friend, Zarina, Melissa, Jan, Kak Roza, Nadia and Ida Sumie for stopping by at the booth and showed your support. Nadiah and co were there too :) I feel loved :)


Bazaar #6: Fuyoh Art Bazaar

It’s a back to back bazaar for me. Saturday in JayaOne and Sunday in Publika. My table was a bit bare and the arrangement became very predictable. Then, Nani came along and revolutionized my way of arranging things. I followed her way and yes, although the traffic where I was located was poor, but the sales were not too bad either. I love her energy, buzzing here and there, stopping at booths and asking how we’re doing. Michelle aka Mamasan too is a big help. Keep up the good work gals!

Thank you to Rosie Echlin and family for dropping by, Nadiah and Liza for a fun chat, Alice and Faudzi for keeping my hydrated with a bottle of coke, and Ida Sumie for keeping me company till closing time.

I mustn’t forget, a great big thank you for all who have purchased my handmade products. You are my shareholders in making it possible for me to send Danial to school and pay for his TaeKwondo lessons and Kumon classes. I need to fill another piggy bank for Arwen soon :)

The May that was; Hong Kong Trip

I would like to say I’ve been busy but the honesty of the matter is I’ve been hit by a lazy bug when it comes to my blog updates. I guess the true culprit would be PROCRASTINATION and as things started to pile up, the P word just got bigger and bigger. 

OK, lets start. Going back in time to May 2012. I’ve decided to take a breather from bazaars for the whole month of April with the intention on working on Mother’s Day and Teacher’s Day promotion. That kept me quite busy when orders for my handbag organizers came in. Thank you Dr. Zeti Hussein and Teacher Ila Abdul for your orders. I hope your friends and colleagues enjoyed them as much as I had fun making them. 

Next Stop: Hong Kong

This is an unscheduled trip. Azrai was going for a trade exhibition and I asked if the kids and I could tag along. Long story short, we packed our bags and flew to Hong Kong on Arwen’s birthday. So it’s like a big 2 year old birthday present for Arwen; Celebrating it in Hong Kong Disneyland. Here’s some  pictures on our first day in Hong Kong at Avenue of Stars:

Day 2 in Hong Kong lead us to Hong Kong Memory Chest. I’ve been researching for a cutter just before we left for Hong Kong and had my mind set on Sizzix Big Shot. A quick check on the store locator in Sizzix website gave me an email address for HK Memory Chest and I send a quick email asking if they have one in stock. The reply came promptly from Angela and what luck, they are running a promotion for their birthday celebration. We went there and the very friendly and ever so helpful Erika showed us the Big Shot and a quick demo. I’m just sold not only because the price was right, but also the excellent customer service given by Erika. I just love spending time there. I wish I could have a studio like that. Check out the pictures, you’ll know what I mean :)

I have a quick video of Danial with the Big Shot :)

And since I’m already at it, here’s some more pictures of us in Hong Kong Disneyland:

The kids (and both Azrai and I) had a great time there despite of the heat. We stayed until the end where they had the firework display. The kids kept talking about it for weeks after we got home. I’m just happy that they have this beautiful memory of their childhood when they grow up :)