Fabric Covered Buttons

Aren't they the sweetest? While I was browsing at Etsy today, I found this wonderful shop that offers fabric covered buttons, and only them, seriously. BlueManatee Button specialized on one thing and one thing only to be craved about. Well, the owner seems to have another shops selling craft supplies, gifts, and even tutorials, but the button shop is one very special dedication, I must say. Just take a peek at these babies, and oh, I love the fairy tale set.

They're not expensive either!! Well, if you're a big cheapskate or have an abundant pile of scrap fabrics lying around, you can always rely on our favorite bloggers for your own DIY fabric covered buttons.

from the always resourceful HowAboutOrange.

from the entertaining crafter, Lollychops.

from (hey, have you checked out her hand carved stamps?) CraftPudding.

Happy button covering.

Room I am currently obsessed about.

If you thought it was Cath Kidston's wallpapers, guess again, because it's PiP Studio's, an Amsterdam based home products store. I spent my whole day browsing their beautiful site.

I thank ishandchi big time for showing me Helena's girls' rooms.

I wish I were Helena's girl.

Hello, Blogosphere!

Seriously, why does baby has to be sick on national holidays? The reason of my prolonged absent was of course, Baby G needed my full attention again, she had diarrhea, lost of appetite, and fever. I felt extremely worried and exhausted at the same time. I am currently suffering a flu. sigh. so...

What national holiday, you asked? It's Ied 'ul Fitr day!! I'm not a moslem so I can't give you any trustworthy information about the origin of the celebration but I'm sure Wiki can. :) It's huge in Indonesia (where the majority of the people are moslems), almost like Christmas and Thanksgiving rolled into one.

I don't know much about the philosophy, but like all non-Christians living in US and other Chrsitian inhabited countries, I do know a lot about the culture and the festivities. You can't
ignore all those gorgeous Christmas decorations and songs and foods, can you? Same here, I'm carried away too. Basically it's about the joy of loving and forgiving. So people, after the annually fasting duty (yes, they do fast the whole month before!!) naturally reunite with their families and loved ones, asking for forgiveness and forgive those who may have hurt them all year round. But none was done without good food, merry singing, and gifts. Sound familiar? We're not that different at all, aren't we? :)

Yes, that Ied card is free to download and print, give it to someone you know celebrating (although a little bit late). I just think that veiled moslem girls look a lot like matryoshkas.

My first Wordless Wednesday

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Ok. I can't help it. It's officially not wordless. I try to keep up with the blog trend but I think I failed. It's Baby G, with a headband, in case you were wondering. Shhheeesh, now can this post go back to wordless again?

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All About Rice Babbies.

No, I'm not encouraging you to be a cannibal eating rice with babies (uugh) nor I'll be talking about farming, because I believe that's not my expertise either. But I do enjoy rice in my every meal as much as I enjoy ...dolls! Yep, that's what I'm talking about. Rice Babies is a name of a blog and an etsy shop of Kellie, an art teacher by day, doll maker by night, and a 24/7 mom of two boys. What? Do the boys play with pretty dolls? Relax, ladies, she has a lot of nieces and other customers, so her boys are doing just fine with dinasours and superheroes.

Kellie started out the business by, being an art teacher, she saw plenty of blond hair with blue eyes images coming up now and then from the hands of litte girls who don't possess those quality. (As a matter of fact, my mother in law just bought Baby G a doll that looks like Sherly Temple, and I let her play with it, so this issue knows no boundaries! I even experienced this!) Kellie then determines to have all girls growing up seeing more of themselves, so she started to make custom dolls under the name of Rice Babies. She's so nice to let me bother her with (silly) questions, so I'll let you know her and Rice Babies better. Here go..

If you have to choose (say, I put a really sharp knife on your most expensive fabric), which one will it be, being a full time mom, a doll-maker or a teacher?
I would have to choose being a full time mom over anything, because with my kids I am actually all three mom, teacher and they help me stay creative. My kids inspire me to create and also to be the best me I can be everyday.


What is the best part of being a mom-trepreneur?
The best part of having your own business is having creative control and also flexible working hours.

What's the most challenging thing you have to face in this business?
The most challenging obstacle I face, is the same reason I made my dolls, there weren't enough choices for Asian dolls. My market is small and so it can be hard to reach people looking for what I offer. I have made dolls for halfies and a few other non Asian dolls, and its always fun, but I would like people to know my dark haired beauties are out there.

How do you juggle your time and thoughts between your princes and doll-making?
I juggle everything by putting my kids first, when they are happy and healthy, I have more time to create. I daydream and sketch ALL the time. I sew and design as I lay in bed at night, if I need to I get up and make it when all are asleep. Like most moms, I am a so called "mid night crafter", when the kids are asleep, I get to sew, and design.

As a child, what doll do you spend a lot of time with?
As a child, I had a prized doll, a My Friend Mandy, I recently saw one one the Wee Wonderfuls site.


What's the most funny/embarrassing moment as an art teacher?
One of the funniest moments as an art teacher was a day when I was teaching my students to make dino bones out of clay. It was close to end of school so all the kids were excited and talking a lot. I told them to raise their hands but I wouldn't answer any question until after the demo. I answered the question of a boy who had his hand up for the longest. He said, "how come sometimes when you talk , you sound like a cowgirl?" I laughed, and replied , "because I am originally from Texas".

What's the best reaction you have ever received from satisfied customer?
So far I have been touched by all my reactions, but a comment one lady made, was the point where I decided that however slowly, people will find my dolls when they need them. She said "I would have loved to have had a doll I could play with that looked like me as a child. Not dressed in a kimono or cheongsam, either, just a little girl doll wearing every day clothes that happened to be Asian or half Asian like me."
It was an awesome feeling.

I agree with the cheongsam thing, it's a really big misunderstanding, really. So, thank you Kellie for your time and passion!! I hope more Rice Babies are in the hands of tiny little girls of any races anywhere in the world. Want on yourself? Your welcome to take a look around the shop!

drip. drop.

April has long gone, but there's always an excuse to get lost in the melancholy of rain. You can always tell that I'm a big sucker for rain (no, not the Korean artist, the water-y thing falls from the sky, he's fine, but..oh well, you know what I mean). Yes, you can tell I'm a fan from the blog header, even if you're a reader from the very first babalisme's post, here's my header back then..

Rainy, eh? So, if you're in the mood of some shower, I just found this great site with a huge dedication to melody, Lullatone . Shawn, the owner, is a very nice young man (now I sound like an old granny) and he has this very cute little baby, Niko! You should drop by sometimes. Also recommended is Lullatone's raindrop melody maker game, trust me, you wouldn't stop!! I think it's a good game to play on rainy day (or not) with the kids too! I play and listen to this all day.

here.

Am I not getting you in the mood enough? Well, let's feast ourselves into these raindrop beauties.. and a little shopping of rain related stuffs doesn't hurt either!

mobile rain in various colors by leptitpapillon
raincloud print by GollyBard

how cute is this little raindrop felt from CocolocosFeltDesign?

Raindrop girl, anyone? What a doll! by thepoppytree

Phew.

I'm so much exhausted (and excited as well) after Baby G's birthday party I caught a flu, yes, now I'm a TB positive mom who also have a flu. Great. I wear mask everyday worrying if I can pass those horrible things to Baby G. So, I'm still processing photos of the party, you guys might want to be patient for a while.

And I just came to realize that, Baby G's, technically, graduated to toddler stage!! Yaaay!
She has taken her first steps, been toilet trained (poo only, pee still misses occasionally), and babbled her first words (bab-bab for balloons and mamam for makan, Indonesian for "eat"), but I must admit there are some things I miss from her baby stage. That's life, afterall.

Being a mom, successfully (hey, at least she grows taller!) over the baby phase, I'd like to conclude 5 things I love the most from little babies;

1. Their smiles, and the fact that it takes an effort to make them smile, it just make the smiles much much more precious.
2. Their smell. Have you ever wonder, even if you use the same baby products on toddlers and older children, they don't smell the same way again. mm...
   
3. Their dependencies to you. Someone's life solely depends on you and you only, at least for the first months. I never feel this much important in my life.
4. Their faces. I'm not against adoption, it's a very important option to save many children's lives, but nothing beats a resemblance. You look at a face and how much it looks like you and/or your spouse. It's so magical!
5. Their chubby arms and legs and tiny little fingers.
   

If you have one or two, or even three, you'll know what I am talking about. If you haven't got any, please consider having one after reading this. :)

Baby G's Invitation sent out!

Finally!


The material used are heavy stock paper to print the invitation, double sided, and pink colored tissue paper for the envelope. I'm not very good in writing a process, so I hope you'll get the equation helpful.


This is what I made with the tissue paper leftover. Full tutorial here. The party itself will be held on Sunday, so I'll be back with more photos. Busy, busy, busy.

PS. My brother has just welcomed the newest member of the family, exactly 1 year apart from Baby G. I am so full of joy!