Outodbox Quiz #6

What two days you should not worry in order for you to live happily ever after? You can only answer one time. The first one to give the correct answer will get Sky Blue, an A5 journal that I made. Brown paper, 208 pages, print of my doodles on cardboard for its front and back cover, side stitch binding, and an elastic band with a blue button. Send to you wherever you are. Free of charge.  

Outodbox Quiz #3

Can you find me? You can only answer one time. I will send you this journal I made. Sent to you where ever you are. Free of charge. Size h18cm x w11.5cm. Cover and page divider made from a recycled box of my first running shoes. Side stitch binding. 190 pages filled with hand written running quotes. Guaranteed to motivate you to run! You are exempted from the quiz if you are 1. My daughter, 2. Participated in INAMaster's open water swimming in pulau Putri in April 2015. ;-)

Photo courtesy of INAMaster

Outodbox Quiz #2

Guess what picture is this? If you know the answer you are truly a little prince by heart. You can only answer one time. I will give you this A5 journal I made. Length 15cm x width 21.5cm, about 100 pages of white paper, Japanese side stitch binding, printed double brown paper front cover with a mouse in Chinese embroidery, recycled cardboard for back cover, and 6 yellow papers with my favorite quotes. Send to you wherever you are in the world. Free of charge. Seriously.

Outodbox Quiz

Guess why Dena, my daughter who is 8289 miles away from me, look so happy in this picture? You can only answer one time. I will give you this A5 journal I made with brown paper, hand made stitched binding and recycled cover. Send to wherever you are.

Good Question

Q: Do animals have souls?
A: Of course they do.
Q: So what happen to dogs when they die since they don't have any religion?
A: Errr....dog heaven?

Dog photo by Frank Agustinus

Horsing Around

Happy blessed Chinese New Year. I've been through four full cycles! Yes, you get it straight from the horses mouth. That's how old I am. I won't say the number, figure it out yourself. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. When you get to my age diet is like beating a dead horse. That's why I run. So I can eat like a horse and be strong as a horse. Once I run, wild horses can't drag me away from it. Speaking of running I have an early morning running date with a friend tomorrow. Well I better get on my horse then. Horse sense tells me I should stop blogging and sleep like a horse. (Okay, I just made the last one up. There isn't such a phrase.) How do horses sleep?

Outodbox

I'm fascinated by cardboard boxes. I love the info graphics on it. I love the print of numbers  and letters on it that indicates a serial number of a product. I love its construction: paperboard-corrugated paper-paperboard sandwich. I love that they are available abundantly and practically cost nothing. I love that I can make about four A5 journals from a medium size box and none of them are identical. What else can I make?

With Flying Colours

A box covered with left over pencils! An awesome gift from an awesome friend who knows I'm crazy about recycling. So inspiring! The trouble is I already threw away my left over pencils and I am not patient enough to wait for my pencils to get short. So I used my good pencil in my least favorite color to make a journal. What do you think Cianti?

Book #2: Chinese Zodiac

It's already February and I'm suppose to move on to the next bookbinding method in Making Handmade Book but I'm still loving the Sidebound binding. My sister & I were cleaning up my Dad's room when I found these beautiful ornaments that represent the year of a Chinese zodiac. I wonder why did the Chinese pick these particular animals of all the animals in the world?  Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Which one are you?

Monkey See Monkey Do

Unreasonable. Fun. Love to talk. Sociable. Deceptive. Fast learner. Problem solver. Playful. Witty. Love challenges. Wear one's heart on one's sleeve. Indifferent. Thrill seeker. Does these traits of monkey's birth year fit you Ferra? Or have you evolved to something else over the years? I think there is a tiny bit of monkey in me :-)
 

Hold Your Horses!

According to Chinese horoscope as a person who was born in the year of horse, I'm a type of person who is sociable & loves being in a crowd (so not true), extrovert (doubt it), loud (seriously?!), adventurous (kind of), impatient (so true), hardheaded (why is this a negative trait?), love the outdoors (very true), cunning (really?). I don't believe there are thousands or even million people who were born in the years of horse who have the same characters like described above. I think every individual is unique just like there is no finger print alike. In my opinion a person's traits are determined by two things. DNA to a small extent and life experience to a great extent. I may be born in the year of horse and has some of the characters imprinted on me for life but it's possible that over the years I evolve to the year of rabbit, or dragon, or dog, or all of the years combined. Change is good. Change is mandatory to grow your soul. 
  

Prompt Me

The other day I was packing all my stuff I found this handmade book I made for Dena when she was in high school. I didn't know she used it for some sort of time table. 
I remember I often bugged her about the importance of using agenda to be organized. 
I depend on my agenda to be organized with time & work. I need to see the dates to set goals & plans. Dena has her own system which I don't quite understand. She can do without dates. But somehow it worked for her. I'm keeping this. A little reminder that my way or my standard of doing things is not the only way. It may work for me but not for other people. I should never enforce my standard on other people. 

Book #1: IES Divers

I'm glad I am a visual learner so I don't have to read the instruction on page 92 of Making Handmade Book. I can just look at the picture and figure things out. A Sidebound binding or also known as Japanese Side stitch is easy. It takes less time to make than a Coptic binding. I love it! If you are not a visual learner and learn better by reading text click here.

Diagram from Making Handmade Book by Alisa Golden

Color My World

My first color pencil set had only six colors: red, orange, yellow, blue, green and purple. Dena's first color pencil set had sixty four colors: vermillion, ocher, emerald, azure, magenta, lilac and more. I remember she loved playing with the pencils when she was small. She would take out all pencils from the box, mixed them all up, and sorted them by colors. She would be absorbed in the hues of the colors and forgot the rest of the world. 
I'm naming my handmade journals after those beautiful colors.

Cadmium Orange

Red Blue

Sea Green

Baby Pink

Frank's Best Friends

I finally finish the dog book! The trouble of doing a complimentary project with no time restrictions for a friend who never complains or reminds me about it is the time itself. I managed to steal time between grieving, getting accustom to a new long distance relationship, adapting & adjusting to empty nest, daydreaming, running, forgiving, breathing & laughing. I hope he likes shades of green. 

Stampede

Day1 | Rummaging through my dad's old stuff I found a stamp album. Love those drawings and graphics! Got dizzy with recycling ideas.
Day2 | Over Skype learned that there is a story behind most stamps & first day covers. Some commemorate certain events or heroes, other depict a political era, and the rest showcase the best & the proud of a country. They are tiny ambassadors of a country.  
I think I saw twinkling in his eyes. Love it!
Day3 | @Dialogue's art market. Found old envelopes with stamps. I wonder what people put in those mini envelopes. Saw blank journals with scanned vintage Indonesian stamps on the cover. The nice lady mesmerized me with stamp stories. I think I saw twinkling in her eyes too! I'm sold. Bought 3 journals.