If there is one thing that never changes, ever since I first started my career is ... the feeling when I saw my work being published. weather it is on national TV ( I started my career making TV commercials), magazines, street signs (like this one) or even just flyers ... i still have those same butterflies in my stomach. So today ... I am excited  when the receptionist called me and told me that my magazine order featuring an adveorial that i designed has just arrived. The magazine were actually published last months but i missed it :D so i have it ordered directly from the publisher. 

Now  I can say that i have found the key to happiness ... :) 

image found here but author remained unknown

Last week Rachel from Swell and Stylish nominated me for Liebster Award. 

Liebster Award turnsout to be an award given to a small and up coming blog.  Well … I am a new blogger . Only been actively  blogging for less then a year, and I am so happy that people are starting to notice this blog. This blog is a great way to share. 

So in the spirit of Liebster Award, I also would like to nominate other blogs that truly inspires me too:

1. Chuzai Living 

Kaho truly inspires me big way through her blog. She is a Japanese expatriate who currently lives in the same city with me (Jakarta), and her blog told story about her lifestyle with her American hubby, 2 cute girls and an additional newborn.She shows me Jakarta from a different perspective, and she also shows me that starting a family isn’t as scary. So this blog inspires me to start my blog and starts a new life.  

2. The Passionate Bookworm 

Michelle is an artist and a bookworm like me. I found new and up coming YA novels from her blog and her twitter (@YA_BookWorm07) . We sometimes discuss a book and she connects me to the authors too. I usually browse her blog, before I browse amazon.com. and you should give it a try too. 

3. Happy Interior Blog 

Igor Josif is a sunshine, and his blog is my source to get inspired when it comes to interior designs. This blog made interior designs looked easy and less intimidating, the kind that made you said "phew ... i think i can do that!". enough said, you should see it for yourself :) 

image source : eyelike and annixen.blogspot.com

Inspired by Instagram, I would like to share this easy photoshop tutorial to make a dreamy instagram with bokeh effect. Hope you'll enjoy it :D

STEP 1 : Using gradient tool (G), make a gradient layer – put it on top of your image, set blending mode to soft light. This will create vintage effect.

STEP 2: Now we’re making the bokeh effect, using simple brush, you can just dot it manually till it looks something similar like this. Put it on top of the gradient layer and set layer opacity 80% and blending mode to lighten

STEP 3: To add toy camera effect, I made a large red dot using large round brush. Put this layer on top of the bokeh layer, set blending mode to lighten

DONE! Preety simple rite!? Good luck and have fun with your pics. 

I'm back on my feet ... literally (yay!)

There is no greater feeling then being healthy ... now i can say that! :D For some of you that follow me at twitter @silke3d might know that I was hospitalized and could not get off bed for nearly 5 days following my surgery. I was constantly in pain, nausea and headache days after the surgery. Turns out ...  waking up from general anesthesia isn't fun at all! It was like in a movie,  "Jumper" starring Hayden Christensen, watched that? I am jumping from operation table to a freezing war zone in Alaska.

But now those days has gone, I am off the meds and back to work :) 

Thank you for all the get well soon wishes :) i really appreciate it. And special thanks for some friends who visited (and sorry for the inconvenience of having to see me vomits) ... but in this situation, it helps to enlighten who my true friends are, the people who really care and it gave me such a warm feeling :)  oh ...  and here's an extra bonus: I lost 2 kgs within 1 week. Woohoo ... 

image source : gabba gabba gorgeous on tumblr  editted by me ( il'll upload the tutorial of making this instagram effect soon) 

Do you still remember this deck of inspiring card? the WATUDU Card?

This super inspiring decks of cards  was a promotional gift from PT. Paperina Dwijaya, an importer and distributor of fancy papers when they join a Indonesian graphic design exhibition - Forum Grafika Digital Indonesia (FGDI) few years back.I don't really remember the year, but i already have this deck of 52 cards since 4 years ago, and i kept it in good condition and it came really handy in my job. 

WATUDU (slank from "What To Do"), consist of 52 inspiring things to do : like try new cooking, get a meni pedi, donate blood, kareoke, etc. The rule is to shuffle the cards and just take any random card out from the stack and do whatever it suggested. Good for one of those days when inspirations are none.

To make it much more interesting is, each suggestion were designed and printed on a various fancy paper with various finishing like emboss, spot UV, or even laser cutting. So it is really handy when i need design inspiration / material inspiration or even better, i bring it as sample to my client. "This kind of paper, with that kind of finishing will looked like this ..." They can even touch the paper and feel the texture and thickness. 

So ... if you're lucky enough to have this, since this card isn't sold in public and were printed only in limited quantity, i suggest you keep it in good condition and have fun with it.

You can click here to see the making of this WATUDU Cards: from brainstorming to design process 

Instagram : the addictive photosharing apps which were only available for Apple products, now available for androids too :D! woohoo how cool is that!  New apps to boost your creativity!  

Visit http://www.androidinstagram.com/ now! :D  And let's get connected! mine at @silke3d

Sometimes ... i sit in from of my computer and ideas just won't poped in ... I don't know what to blog or what to make for my clients, while deadlines are looming over my head.

So in that kind of situation, this is what I like to do ... play with my pets/toys ... that's why I always have some pet's/toy on my desk. I guess that's why many designer's has toys on their desk as well ...Some of my former co workers collects Dunny, some collects Transformers and Mori Chack's gloomy bear.

Well ... I am not that sophisticated yet ... since designer's toy cost quite a lot, especially the limited edition one. I have Tokidoki ... but I have McDonald's happy meal toys even more :) ha ha ... they're cute and free with meals. Sometimes i dont even bother eating the meal ... I only took the toys ... they made me happy ... who said money cant buy happiness, huh!?