Angpow Purse

 It’s the time of the year where I dig up the pattern for these simple angpow purse by ImazzPattern. Here’s the link to the pattern and it’s FREE!  I’m trying to go use up my fabric stash instead of organizing them. I’ve been very good with not buying anymore fabric and using up what I have. Trying to reduce my stash if that is ever possible.

I made them last year for my kids, my mom and my late grandmother. My kids later use it to keep their hari raya money collection so they don’t get mixed up.

I use my pearl snap buttons because I have lots of them and I have the best tool to fix them onto the purse. Read about it here.

How’s your Raya so far?

Arwen’s Kimono Kurung

Ramadan is usually the month that I reserve for some personal sewing and that means sewing for myself and kids or more Arwen. Danial is grown up already and he prefers Jubah which I don’t know how to sew so we buy one for him. For Arwen, she’s not into the traditional baju kurung so I had to come out with something avant garde. OK, something edgy for the little missy.

While browsing my instagram feed, I came across a paper article posted by @asphodelstudio about her kimono kurung for kids being featured in the papers. I thought they look nice and something I can wing on my own. I sold the idea to Arwen and she agreed.

So, I drafted the pattern and long story short, Arwen’s Kimono Kurung came into existence. I had some plain pink cotton material enough for the kimono top to match the batik skirt. I purchased a bundle of Nor Arfa’s Pastel batik from @anisbatikcotton a couple of months ago and she chose one for her batik skirt. I love the pastel pink and turqoise combination.

Before I pen off, I would like to wish to all Muslim,

Finding my bag-making mojo back: Large Boxy Bag

 Arwen has been stuffing her telekung inside her school bag and when I asked her why, she said she can’t leave her telekung at school because it doesn’t have a bag. A sneaky way of getting me to make a bag for her. And in the process of moving my things from home to RRCraftHub, I’ve found materials I’ve forgotten I had them. One of which is this sweet pink floral material.

Originally, I set out to make a large boxy bag for her telekung. It finishes 12” length by 10” height by 4” depth; too big to fit in her cubbie. so I made a smaller tote with pink cotton webbing.

In the meanwhile, I finished the large boxy bag with leather handles. I’m going to make a few more prototypes with different dimensions just because.... 

Product Review: Hand Press and Snap Button Dies

I purchased my hand press from Zila Kasim (instagram: @zilakasim) some time last year. I was so pleased at how smooth and effortless to operate it that I sold off my Kam press lock stock and barrel with the resin snaps. After all my baby cloth diapering days are over and I have lots of metal snap press that I can use. 

The press comes with rivet dies and you can add on different dies if you wish. I was making angpow pouches and knew I needed the snap button dies. I’ve been using the snap setter tool which has it’s own issue of noise pollution. What more now I work in an apartment, I don’t want the neighbours to complain of the noise I make knocking the snap buttons in. 

So, check out the video. It is a one shot video where I shoot with one hand and use the other hand to press down the hand press to fix the snap button. That’s how smooth and effortless it is. I can never do that on my Kam Press. 

An added bonus, I can use the dies with my pearl base too! Check out my angpow purse:

Malaysia’s 14th General Election

Wednesday, 9 May 2018, Malaysians performed their duty as citizens of Malaysia and casted their votes for the 14th General Election. I don’t want to make it a political post but this GE is a game changer and changed the political scene of Malaysia and I am truly humbled and blessed to witness history in the making. I wanted to document it in this blog on how the rakyat has spoken and how we stand united to choose the leaders of Malaysia. 

Thank goodness my line moved in a steady pace

I queued for 1.5 hours

DONE!

At the time this blog is written, it has only been 3 weeks since the PH coalition took over and form the new government. I’m happy to report that one of the positive outcomes that came out of it is the abolition of GST. That means prices are reduced, to remove the GST from the price. I am happy to report that I had a good busy; busy updating the price after receiving a note from my supplier of the price adjustments for Silhouette products. For more info, do check my website, www.madebyrozirahman.com

First Workshop at RRCraftHub: Hot Air Balloon Bouquet

I was preoccupied with Learning Oasis sewing workshop in the first week of May but I want to kick off a class at RRCraftHub. So, I made arrangement with Atie aka MekBungo to run a Hot Air Balloon Workshop. I helped her with the poster and we blasted the social media. It ran less than 1 week and we managed to gather 3 students for MekBungo’s maiden class.

Long story short, the students’ commented that the intro price of RM250 for the class is really value for money. MekBungo shared her tips and tricks on making the hot air balloons like

• various types of clear balloons, price range, quality and where to get them
• how to get the smaller balloons in the bigger balloon
• how to make simple arrangement of a combination flowers and chocolates
• how to finish the bouquet with sticker vinyl personalization and ribbon
• and lots more!

Atie going through various types of balloons

Mother’s day hot air balloon bouquets

loving the red and pink combo by Scila of @scraft malaysia

Arwen gets a bouquet as the workshop falls on her birthday

I received a lot of request for the workshop but in view of Ramadan and the coming Syawal, I guess the earlier dates we can organize one will be end of July or early August. If you’re interested to attend the workshop, Please fill up this form and we will contact you to confirm your attendance. That is so we don’t miss out anybody.

Knitting & Crochet Open Session

Another throwback post. My ACG (Arts & Crafts Guild Malaysia) buddies decided to meet up before Ramadan and do a Knit and Crochet Open Session. Spotlight Mytown has generously allowed us to use hold our session at their venue. I prefer the unofficial term of “knit and b*tch” but then it may be scorn upon by others who might not see the funny side of it. 

Anyway, Mastura of @rimaumanja turned up; Liza @crafthappyliza, Fid @misfydkrafts and Kak Jon @tatarenda.my turned up. We had a lovely chitchat session while our hands are knitting and crocheting. Oh! Adam and Adam Junior came by to stop and chat as well. 

Photo credit: Misfyd

Photo credit: Mastura rimaumanja

Photo cretid: Mastura rimaumanja

We later adjourned for late lunch at a Thai restaurant. I can’t recall the name but who cares when we are enjoying the company. Abby @sarangcraftbyabby and daughter stopped by and joined in for dessert.

New Prices for Silhouette Items

Good news! I’ve updated the new prices minus GST for all Silhouette products available in www.madebyrozirahman.com. These prices is effective 1 June 2018 until further notice. So grab the opportunity to shop while we’re on ‘tax holiday’ before SST starts in September 2018. 

Happy shopping!

Sewing Workshop at Learning Oasis

My association with Learning Oasis goes back since 2015. Fast forward to 2018, this is my second year teaching sewing for primary children age 11-13 for their vocational week. This year, their coordinator requested that I do an Up-Cycle Project. I had 3 boys and 2 girls in class and I’m pleasantly suprised to find the boys were enjoying the class more and successfully finished all the projects that I’ve set up for them. 

They had to bring unused jeans from home and for the next 4 days we use the jeans and upcycle them to make various items.

This is Muhammad’s first time behind the sewing machine

Azman is back for the second year

Check out the focus

 Day 1, 2nd May 2018. Project: Simple reversible sling bag

Day 2, 3 May 2018. Project: Reversible Sunhat

Day 3, 4 May 2018. Project: Simple Pencil Pouch

Day 4: 5 May 2018; Project: Faux Midori aka Zidori.

Thank you Learning Oasis Principal; Puan Muthla, coordinator; Hamizatun, primary teachers, Teacher Nurul and Teacher Ain and the primary children, Muhammad, Azman, Eric, Batrisya and Aqilah for making my time at Learning Oasis an enjoyable one.

A milestone; RoziRahmanCraftHub

On Tuesday, 1 May 2018, I’ve achieved a huge milestone in my profession as a full time crafter. I’ve taken the plunge and went on to open my own craft studio and dub it RoziRahmanCraftHub. It’s a rented apartment turned into my craft studio. My husband and I rented this unit for my mother inlaw initially. But due to some turn of events, the apartment is vacant and we have a year contract that terminates in December 2018. I proposed to my husband that I take up half of the rental and make it into my studio at least until the end of the contract. A sort of trial period for me. If I can sustain the studio, we might continue the lease.

I’m truly and eternally grateful for Zila Kasim of LamanseniZilakasim and Abby of Craftsical for letting me use their studio for my classes and build up my confidence to actually start up my own studio. 

While the major focus of my studio is for my Cameo training, I do welcome and entertain sewing classes as that’s how I got started anyway. I’m open for those who wants to learn to knit too.

My command centre

Start with Bismillah

A cosy section for a casual knit session?

I welcome any craft instructors who’s interested to rent my crafthub to run their classes. We can discuss the rates.

Till then, looking forward to your visit to RoziRahmanCraftHub.

Kursus EUsahawan at KPTM Bangi

Saturday, 21 April 2018, I attended a free course on ECommerce or EUsahawan. It was not my first time attending such course. I attended the same one about 2 years ago. Overall, the content is to expose entrepreneurs the online platform to promote their business. I enjoyed the course this time because we had it in a computer lab so there’s no problem of internet connection. Above all, I enjoyed the company. A bunch of lady crafters sign up for the course on the same day so the day went on like a breeze. A picture is worth a thousand words so let the pictures tell the story.

Focus because the instructor is breathing down my neck

Membawang when we get the chance.

Catch me on Borak Kopitiam, TV3 this Saturday, 25 May 2018, 7.30am

I haven’t  blog for a while. My last entry was on YoungLiving’s Live Your Passion Rally. Many things has happened since then. One reason I slacked was I was ill after the rally and had so many things to do while being sick like attending a seminar the following week and another session of Intensive Silhouette Training.  I’m going to list them down and it will be my masterlist of my next blog posts.

• 21 April 2018 - Attended Kursus EUsahawan (read about it here)
• 1 May 2018 - RoziRahmanCraftHub open its doors (read about it here)
• 2-4 May 2018 - Sewing Workshop with Learning Oasis’ Primary children (read about it here)
• 5 May 2018 - Knitting and Crochet Open Session at Spotlight Mytown. (read about it here)
• 6 May 2018 - First Class at RoziRahmanCraftHub; Hot Air Balloon
• 9 May 2018 - 14th General Election
• 12-13 May 2018 - Intensive Silhouette Training

Wow! Not short of topics to blog about there. 

Anyway, another shout out! I’ll be going on air this Saturday, 26 May 2018 at 7.30am on Borak Kopitiam, TV3 showing some of my wire wrapped jewelry. I hope I don’t get the jitters. Here’s the promo:

Later...

Post Rally and A Melt & Pour Aloe Vera Soap Recipe

Last Saturday, I was at JomOiling Young Living Live Your Passion Rally at Dewan DUN Hulu Klang, AU2. I did 2 demos. One is a basic salve/balm recipe and the other is Aloe Vera Soap. I didn’t have the recipe print outs to give away so I promised that I will post the recipe on my social media.

Ingredients:

• 150g Soap Base also known as Melt & Pour soap base
• 1 teaspoon Shea butter (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Aloe Vera powder
• 8 drops of Lemon Essential oil
• 7 drops of Peppermint Essential oil

Note: I use Young Living Essential Oils.

Method:

1. Melt soap base and shea butter in a double boiler
2. Once melted, remove from heat and add in Aloe Vera powder
3. Add the essential oils
4. Pour into soap moulds

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! If you don’t have time to make them, check out my estore. I sell this soap for RM20 per 70g bar and RM50 for 3 x 70g bars.

I make small batches at a time so they are fresh and I don’t keep them on the shelf for long.

Here are some pictures during the rally:

Thank you Aishah for the picture. Me in action with shaky hands. Getting too old to do these stuff.

Group photo with JomOiling Team. Great job you guys!

I’ve also made some lavarock diffuser bracelet for the Rally. I’ll be putting them up in the Estore for sale soon.

Signing off.

Rozi out!

NaturallyRozi at JomOiling's Live Your Passion Rally on Saturday, 7 April 2018

I stumbled into essential oils purely by accident. I had a date with my friend, Mastura one day and she let me sample YoungLiving’s Tranquil Roll On. I generously rolled it onto my wrist and fell in love with the scent. On my way home, I was stuck in a traffic jam but I notice I was not stressed and in fact was enjoying the ride as the Tranquil scent linger in the car. I knew I found something worth researching.

I was raving about Tranquil on my social media network and publicly announce my wishlist of getting one for myself. A friend who is also an Independent Distributor for YoungLiving saw my posts and she sent me a 5ml Lavender essential oil and her own blends of Pain Relief and Focus Blend. I totally loved them and I started to quiz her on YoungLiving and essential oils and what have you. Long story short, I signed up as an Independent Distributor in November 2017 and embark on this wonderful journey of many discoveries with essential oils. (Thank you Aishah! You can’t imagine what door you’ve opened for me!)

Me being the curious cat cannot settle with just diffusing and applying essential oils topically. I begin to look up on other ways people use essential oils in their day to day life and I’ve made my own blends, detox deodorant and facial soaps to name a few. That led to the birth of ‘NaturallyRozi’; apt don’t you think?

Anyway, my NaturallyRozi is going to have it’s first maiden booth appearance at JomOiling’s Live Your Passion Rally this Saturday, 7 April 2018 at Dewan DUN Hulu Kelang, Jalan AU2A, Taman Seri Keramat, Kuala Lumpur. There will be lots of activities and awareness on how to incorporate essential oils in your daily live and I will be doing a demo on making basic salve and a simple melt and pour soap. Check out the the information on the poster on how to obtain the tickets for the event. If you want to learn more about essential oils do mark your calendar and get your tickets. 

See you there!

Editting Overlapped Designs in Silhouette Studio for Cameo/Portrait

I’m a bit late with publishing this post because it took me forever to publish it to Youtube. So, without further ado, here’s the video.

I had an enquiry on how to cut overlapped design sometime back by one of my course participants so I made this video to explain better. The narration in the video is a mix of English and Malay so fellow Malaysians won’t find it strange. 

I am pressed for time so I might go back to the video later and add subtitles if I ever get the time.

So, I hope this video would help the newbies with Silhouette Studio to design and work better with the software.

A few announcements:

1. My telekung class will be on tomorrow, 31 March 2018 at LamanSeni Zilakasim. Details about it here.
2. I have been invited to take part in Jomoiling’s Live Your Passion Rally on 7 April 2018 at Lake Gardens. I will be bringing my NaturallyRozi’s products for sale on that day. Stay tune for more news.
3. April’s Intensive Silhouette Training (read about it here)will be on Sunday, 15 April 2018 at The Craftsical. If you’re interested to join the class, please contact drop me a line in my contact form on my estore here.

OK, that’s all folks!

Kutu Cameo3 Batch 5 and Kutu Heat Press

My first kutu group started last March 2017 and ended December 2017. Since then, I’ve launched the second group which is due to complete in May 2018 and Group 3 and 4 is running simultaneously since January 2018 and expected to complete by October 2018. Suffice to say I have ample experience in handling kutu groups with 4 kutu group in the past 1 year.

The rule is simple. 10 people form a group and collectively pay RM160 a month for 10 months and every month, one of the member in the group will receive a Cameo3 unit and gets to attend my Silhouette training (read about it here). There would be no problem if 

1. everybody COOPERATES
2. everybody PAYS their dues ON TIME EVERY MONTH

My selection to determines who gets the machine every month is via first come first served basis. That is, I follow the sequence of registration from my online form. Payment deadline is before or on the 10th of every month. 

Registration for Group 5 is still open and I’m hoping to start the group in April. So, if you’re interested to take part, click here and fill up the registration form and I will contact you via WhatsApp and add you in Kutu Cameo3 Batch 5 group.

In addition to my Cameo3 Kutu group, I’m launching another kutu group; Kutu Heat Press. The heat press is a highly recommended piece of machinery for those who wants to press Heat Transfer Vinyl to make custom T’shirts. You can also press HTV onto tote bags, pouches, etc. And it’s getting to be a favorite amongst crafters or bagineers where they use it to press the interfacing with Heat Press. It definitely speeds up the ironing process. Here’s some HTV projects done by some of my training participants:

Custom bandana by Jenny Phong

DIY Cameo dust cover by @jahitbynadia

Handsome men with custom t’shirts made by Rosnah Mani

Personalised backpack by Siti Ayu Liyana

Simple Drawstring Pouch by @nizana18

Back to the story; Registration for Kutu Heat Press is open. I’m looking for 6 paxs only with a monthly commitment of RM200. Kick off date for this group is also April 2018 so if you want to join, click here to register.

For any enquiries, feel free to drop me a line here. (This will take you to my WhatApp number)