reading the tarot reader

after all these years, i do still read my tarot cards. and after all these years, my Fantastical tarot cards still haven’t failed me. (to read about my background in this whole tarot thing, click here.)

i still love seeing tarot card decks whenever i see them on display.

last time i went to Stockholm, i went to my fave clothing store, & Other Stories, with a mission. they were having summer sale at the time, and days before we left for our holiday i already noted down the things i wanted to get. it was for my own birthday present, you see. so while we were waiting to check-in to our hotel room there, my husband said we should just go to that store, “to get it over and done with” (= his exact words. men and shopping really don’t go hand-in-hand, do they?). but whatever. i wouldn’t want that to get me down, because i had actually been waiting for these items to go to the sale rack for exactly half a year.

the bag is always colour-coordinated with the items inside ❤

they asked if i wanted them to be wrapped in silk paper. yes, please!

and luck was on my side, because they actually still had these things i wanted to get.

the first one is a blouse… with tarot card print! can you imagine this tarot reader’s excitement when she first saw it online? it was quite expensive for my taste in its original price, so i decided to forget it. but i guess it was meant to be that they finally marked this down and there was still my size left in the store (there were only 2 pieces left, one was 3 sizes too big for me, and the other was just my size). it’s made of viscose crepe, very comfortable to be worn even in the summer. 45€ was the original price, and i got it for 22.50€.

the second item i got was from the same collection.

it’s a 100% silk scarf, with the size of approximately 80 x 80 cm. this was also on sale from 35€ to 17.50€ (i just checked, now it’s even cheaper at 11€). you probably know me well enough to know why i wanted to get this scarf, but i’m still going to spell it out.

because i wanted to turn it into this.

self-made shirt, Benetton shorts, MercuryDuo bag, leftover from silk scarf worn as headband.

i combined it with another fabric for the whole back side, neckline, & hem, and voila! i got another piece of clothing with tarot card print. 🙂

a close-up of the lovely print

there was even a small piece left unused, so i use it as a hairband. i didn’t use any pattern for this. since i love, love, LOVE the print, i didn’t want to add too much detail to the front side of this shirt. but for the back side, i decided to add a bit of a twist.

yep, i painstakingly did braids on the back side’s upper part. first i cut the part that i wanted to have braids in vertical fringe (like when you make fringe for a Native American costume), and only cut the bottom part of that area without cutting the left most and right most of the fringe (because they’re for the sleeves). and then i made braids for every 3 strands, and sew the braid ends onto the bottom part of that area. it was tiring, but i kind of like the hippie-feel of the outcome. my husband summed this shirt best: the front side is a Gypsy, and the back side is a hippie. 😀

 

the fabric i used for the back side is cotton jersey. i found it on the sale box of a fabric store, full of dirt and discolour here and there… it was only for 2.60€ for a big piece of it! after washing it in hot temperature, the dirt and discolour disappeared. 🙂

the bag that i used for the photo shoot was a free gift from a Japanese magazine called Cutie. it was another find from our last trip to Stockholm, when we were walking aimlessly in the Old Town and stumbled upon a bookstore called Science Fiction Book Shop. it has manga, novels, anime dvds & blu-rays, kits & models, and to my pleasure, a section of Japanese fashion magazines.

so you see? my cards never fail me. ❤

first and latest

the first post of the year took me 22 days. well, i’ve been busy. so what’s the latest news?

nothing much, really. as i said, i’ve been quite busy at work up till last week… and then it was time for my winter holiday. from the 1,5 weeks of it, i’ve now used 1 full week for:

-tracing a sewing pattern. that’s right, ‘a’, as in, singular. it doesn’t usually take that long for me to trace a sewing pattern (from the paper to the fabric, in this case), but this particular project has quite a lot of pieces that i’m not even sure now if i’ll ever finish sewing it. in fact, the tracing made me so tired already that i haven’t even started sewing it after that. har har.

-cleaning our apartment, as well as doing other house chores. no lazying around here! that also serves as my excuse as to why i haven’t started sewing yet. :p

-having TV Series/movie-marathons on Netflix. don’t you just love Netflix?

-attempting to write more… but ended up merely editing the typos and stuffs on my latest writing.

-going on a cruise to Stockholm… again! it’s just such a handy solution for a quick getaway, especially since it’s winter & nobody usually wants to go on a cruise in winter, which means the cruising tickets are on super cheap sale. 😀 it was my husband’s turn to choose where to go there in Stockholm, so we went to the Maritime Museum. it was quite a nice museum with lots of ship models & their histories, and for my husband it was kind of nostalgic as he used to go there when he was a kid. the fact that his great granddad was a sailor also played a great deal in his interest to ships. 🙂 plus, it’s completely free! (how Indonesian of me, we LOVE anything that’s free, LOL.)

these were taken near the museum area. didn’t get as much pictures this time as it was cold, but actually, this was the first time that we went to Stockholm when the temperature was warmer than in our place in Finland… -3C in Stockholm versus our -13C. yep, we’ll take it! after the museum & lunch, we still had a wee bit time to see the good ol’ Old Town.

that was about it. now i’m gonna enjoy the half of the week left of my holiday, but not before throwing in a bit of fun & excitement.

Moody Monday, a UK based home decor design brand which specializes in contemporary hand-printed wallpaper, fabrics,  & other home accessories, is holding their first ever competition!

the person behind this brand is an old friend of mine, Eliza Kesuma, a super talented & crafty Indonesian living in Scotland. i once posted one of her older products, and before you get confused, let me remind you that the brand Moody Monday no longer has clothing/accessory products for sale. but if you haven’t already, you should check out their home decor products! they’re as quirky & one-of-a-kind as those earrings i posted, so if you’re like me who likes her things to be unique, you’ll definitely love Moody Monday!

my personal fave is the Black Keys pattern from the Secret Music collection, and the Silver on White colour would look JUST PERFECT for my work space! it goes well with my internet alias too, don’t you think? Silverain, Silver on White? 😉 i would looooove to have it as a wallpaper, or even as placemats, but just like the other home decor products on my wishlist, the prices are just a bit too much for my ever-so-thin wallet. i can understand why, though. they’re hand-printed, remember? not to mention the high quality of their products. so of course they cost a lot.

i can assure you that i’m not getting paid by her or her company to promote this competition they’re having, just doing this because i’m a true Indonesian who loves freebies. (who doesn’t??) and this one is a freebie that’s worth your time, because as the winner, you’ll get a roll of their handmade wallpaper plus a matching cushion cover (worth a total of £195). as a 2nd winner, you’ll get a set of 4 placemats (worth £40). this competition applies worldwide, so no matter where you are, if you win the competition, you’ll get these goodies!

to enter, all you have to do is ‘like’ their FB page, and then go to the competition page to fill in your details. do all this before Jan 31st, and then just wait for the good news! yes, it’s that easy. 🙂

good luck for the competition and hope you’ll all have a great last week of January!

pindahan & durian

hihihi…judul entry ini emg rada menjerumuskan…
yg pindahan bukan gue, dan durian pun cuma kata perumpamaan (though i wish beneran ada durian murah & enak di sini).

well, minggu ini mulailah kerja bakti buat pindahan toko kain tempat gue kerja…mereka pindah ke tempat baru yg jauh lebih besar & bakal gabung sama cabang lainnya yg tadinya jual khusus kain2 buat baju..jadi di tempat baru nanti, bakal lengkap deh smua kain, baik kain2 interior maupun kain2 baju.

sbenernya kmaren (Minggu) gue udh rada ga enak badan..badan rada anget, tenggorokan sakit & idung gatel..
tapi tetep aja gue kuat2in buat pergi kerja hari ini, walopun masuk jam 8 pagi.

ternyata cukup berat kerjaan hari ini…as in, literally . karna kita tiba2 udh mesti ngosongin smua meja hari ini juga, tadinya kita kira hari ini masih bisa rada nyantai..hmm, tau2 para pemindah barang dateng aja gitu jam stengah 10, alhasil ngebut lah kita smua nurunin gulungan2 kain, mindahin sebagian ke trolley, dan lain2..

berhubung ni toko udh lama bgt di tempat yg skarang ini, di bagian2 atas rak2 pita/benang udh bersemayam lah debu2. gue yg udh ga enak tenggorokan makin batuk aja jadinya, hix..

dan tentu saja kita jadi keringetan juga karna mesti lari sana lari sini & ngangkut2 gulungan kain itu..huuu, padahal klo lagi rada demam sbenernya sangat tidak disarankan buat “olahraga” (dalam artian gerak sedemikian hingga menghasilkan keringat)..tadinya gue rencana mo ambil stengah jam waktu istirahat gue di esplanade park buat mandi matahari, akhirnya kyaknya ga kuat & cuma duduk aja di pojokan yg masih ada kursinya sambil ngisi sudoku.

di jam2 terakhir sbelom waktunya pulang, akhirnya smua gulungan kain udh berada di trolley masing2..nyaris semua meja udh bersih (tepatnya, kosong…karna ga bersih deng, masih banyak debunya, uhuk!!). tau2 gue ngeliat satu kotak di deket kasir yg masih berisi potongan2 pita (apa sih bhs Indo-nya bias tape? pokonya itu pita yg biasa buat dijait di bagian kerung lengan & leher baju biar rapih), macem2 tassel, dll..baru aja mau gue tanyakan, mesti diangkut ke manakah mereka, tau2 temen kerja gue dateng bawa kantong plastik sampah item..katanya, “iya, mereka semua bakalan dibuang..ambil aja klo ada yg mau kamu ambil.”

hahahaha, dasar org Indonesia, tentu saja dgn riang gue ambilin itu pita2…lumayan, masih panjang bgt buat ngelapisin kerung lengan & leher bbrp baju. dan stelah gue korek2, dapet juga pita karet, lagi2 masih cukup panjang buat jadi karet pinggangnya rok/celana.

stelah slesai ngorek2, jalan lah gue ke loker..tau2 kok gue liat yg lain lagi pada ngerumunin sesuatu..tnyata lagi2 ada barang gratisan . kali ini ada smacem kotak rotan, pernak-pernik gorden (gantungan/cantolan itu tuh, entah namanya apaan di bhs Indonesia)…dan, hmm…ada amplop2 warna-warni.

berhubung kita selalu butuh amplop buat kirim kartu (lebaran, natal, ultah, you name it!), so i decided to take some of those envelopes, hihihi..

abis itu, gue bermaksut ke ruang makan buat nulis jadwal kerja besok…tau2 (lagi) gue liat temen kerja gue yg lain lagi ngorek2 (again) tumpukan majalah…dan huaaa..ternyata majalah2 itu juga boleh diambilin .

kenapa gue begitu bersemangat? karna majalah2 yg ada di toko itu, selain majalah interior design, adalah majalah jahit-menjahit yg selalu ada bonus polanya .
huahahaha…langsung aja gue ambilin (nyaris) semua majalah yg ada polanya…plus satu majalah yg ada pola2 baju anak (buat Freya!!).

dan pas lagi ngambil2in majalah itu, tau2 dateng lagi temen kerja gue yg lain..& ngasitau gue, klo masih ada satu lagi box yg isinya macem2 pernak-pernik gorden yg boleh kita ambilin..hihihi, jadi dari situ gue ambil semacem penjepit gorden khusus buat natal, bentuk snowman & pohon natal.

slesai ngambilin sgala macem yg bisa gue ambil, boss gue tau2 ngumumin, klo kita udh bisa berenti kerja dulu buat hari ini, besok diterusin lagi. wah, tnyata kita bisa pulang stengah jam lebih cepet dari yg dijadwalin (tadinya dijadwalin jam 5 pulang).

so, pulang lah gue dgn tas super beratttt tapi hati riang karna berasa abis ketiban durian runtuh .

sayangnya malem ini rasanya badan gue bener2 rontok…udh mulai menggigil ga jelas, tenggorokan makin sakit..walopun makan malem kita sop daging pake cilantro yg enak & anget, trus gue sempet berbaring bentar abis makan malem, tapi tetep aja rasanya ga enak..kepala berat, yah, dan lain sebagainya lah.

hmm, we’ll see how i’ll feel tomorrow. klo akhirnya masih ga enak badan juga, gue mesti langsung ke dokter & minta surat sakit, karna untuk kerjaan gue ini, walopun cuma sehari ga masuk karna sakit kita tetep butuh surat sakit (klo nggak kita ga digaji hari itu).

huhuhu, i hate feeling like this, tapi ya sudahlah..mungkin emg badan gue udh kecapean dari kmaren2, akhirnya tibalah saatnya dia tumbang.

at least ga sia2 gue kerja hari ini, hihihi…