Sale #4 - Soy Candles for Kalagi Uganda

Another lucky day. These cute candelina jar soy candles were bought today by a very good friend of Dress A Girl Australia who shall remain nameless for the simple reason that these candles were bought to give as Christmas presents to recipients who could possibly be likers of Dress A Girl Australia. It would destroy the excitement of opening a gift at Christmas day if the recipients happen to read this posting and find out it is for them. It is better to be safe. :-)

Thank you so much for helping provide a clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda through your purchase of these soy candles. It is 'soy' very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you still are looking for christmas presents for that someone special in your life, please drop by Dress A Girl Australia's e-shop. Please make a purchase if there is anything you like. It is going to a very good cause. Thank you.

Packing #2 for the children of Australia

This is the second batch of soft toys for the children of the Riverina/Murray playgroup. These softies have been donated by several donors from work namely Candace Quach, Haesook Jo and Jenny Fegredo and from myself too. I have a few more to bring home on Monday as not everything could be accommodated on the bag that I had.

What a wonderful Christmas it would be for the 40 kiddies of the Riverina/Murray Group. To Candace, Jo and Jenny, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for the gifts. It is so much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/12 #170 - 31 dresses from Jill, Elaine, Haze & Vicky

First parcel for the month of December and number 170 on the list is from a group of friends Jill, Elaine, Haze and Vicky of South Australia. They made 31 dresses and had lots of fun making them for 31 deserving little girls around the world.
Here are the 31 dresses which I received today -

and here are Jill, Elaine, Haze and Vicky -

From the picture above, they do look like they are having fun which is really great to see and know as everyone sewing dresses is supposed to be having fun while sewing and at the same time making a difference in this world. To Jill, Elaine, Haze and Vicky, thank you so much for the time and effort you spent making these 31 dresses. Thank you for helping make this world a better place especially for the 31 disadvantaged children around the world. Thank you. Much appreciated.

New Zealand sewing day

About three weeks ago this group from New Zealand and I made contact. They wrote about their desire to make dresses and planned a sewing day on the 13th of December. Today I received an email from Jo Dixey on how they went with their sewing which happened today. They made 29 dresses. Here is the email she sent.

I am not sure where this group is based in New Zealand. I probably would know when they have sent their parcel but I noticed Jo mentions that the school have agreed for them to have a sewing day once a term so I think they are a group of teachers again.

Well done, Jo and the group. Looking forward to receiving your dresses. Thank you.

For a larger and more readable version of the email, please click here.

My flowering yucca on Friday the 13th

This article has nothing to do with Dress A Girl Australia but might help bring luck to my world. When I came home today, the first thing I saw in my frontyard was my flowering yucca on a Friday the 13th. Am sure the flowers were not there early this week as I usually watch them so I can take another snapshot.  Also I read somewhere that if yuccas grow  a bunch of flowers it means luck so I never miss checking them out in case I do get really lucky. :-)  
(By the way, before I started Dress A Girl Australia I used to blog about my garden and my yuccas and succulents. I hope to go back and continue to blog about the living creatures in my front and backyard as it is the only way I can have another chance of a well-maintained garden. It has really been neglected for more than a year now. Besides I enjoy watching my plants grow and then die when I dont bother about them. take pictures when they are very much alive and when they have wilted.)
Hopefully this flowering yucca will bring me good luck in the next few months until it starts to grow flowers again. Usually the flowers last for about 2 weeks only and then it withers.

And since I stopped blogging about my garden (almost a year now) look at how a section of my frontyard garden now looks like. To think that I want to put up solar christmas lights in the next few days I need to have it cleaned and dead grass removed or is it too late. The other-half of this picture is even worst. Two months ago my brother made a remark of 'what happened to your garden. you used to have a nice little garden.' LOL!

I think this is the only nice part of my frontyard now which lights up at night especially if the sun really shines during the day as it charges my christmas solar lights.

Well, I hope by this time some of you are starting to know who I really am based on my blog postings, what my likes and dislikes are, start to know the person behind Dress A Girl Australia after almost 2 years of running the campaign through images of my garden. I think these pictures are a good start of getting to know the real me. :-)

Toys for a Toy Appeal project at work

It probably is just my imagination that the box for the toy appeal at work is always empty that I decided to bring a toy today and another one tomorrow.  The box is located right next to the lift and everytime I get in and/or out of the lift I would look at the box and I dont see anything on it. My friend would ask 'where are the donations?'. LOL! I was thinking maybe the person in charge is just too efficient and gets the donated items every hour before the box gets filled up but I really dont think so because there was a day this week where I took the lift almost 8 times and I did not see any item inside the box. Perhaps  the people still can not feel the Christmas atmosphere at work? Still cannot feel the Christmas spirit of sharing? Or just cannot be bothered.

Someone saw me put the toy in the box at lunchtime today (the toy in front of the picture) and she said to me 'What a nice thing to do.' I wanted to say to her, how about putting one too. :-) These 2 toys are not really new. They belong to my nephews who are way too old to play with these items these days and I dont think they really played with it as they still look brand new. I collected them for a second chance toy project at work a couple of years ago but did not make it to the cut-off. 

I kept them in my garage all this time. I was thinking of donating them to a day care centre as that was what the second chance toy project was all about but didnt have the time to look for a daycare centre worth giving it to. So now it is time for them to be given away. Tomorrow I will be carrying with me the school box you can also see on the picture. There are 3 more of these type of toys but I think they need batteries so unless I am able to secure new batteries I cannot donate them. Am sure these 2 will bring joy to 2 kids anywhere in the world as the toy appeal is for a project of the group around the world.

Email addresses removed

Good Thursday morning everyone! Just wanted everyone to know that the feedback emails that I receive from very thankful recipients of parcels that i send to different locations around the world which I post here in my blog every now and then or whenever I receive one to share with everyone are 'copy and paste' of the original emails I receive. I have the original emails in my inbox in case anyone wants to see them just send me a request. I remove the email addresses on the copy I post in the blog for privacy reasons. Thank you for your understanding.

Another one for the Dress a Girl well

One of my all-time favourites (i have one for my own) i wished i had bought more of this panel is the Angel Doll advent calendar which i sold last Monday to Heather Harris.

Thank you Heather! Much appreciated. I hope you will like it or whoever is going to be the lucky recipient. Thank you for helping provide clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda.

Another 'thank you' for the quilts from Romania

Tonight I received another 'thank you' email from Lavinia of the Romanian relief organization for the 2 parcels of quilts I sent to them in September this year. Sharing with everyone this note from Lavinia especially to those who donated the quilts -

I hope the donors are happy of this feedback the same way I feel so happy that the quilts have arrived safely. Thank you once again.

Soy Candles for Charity

Since I will not be busy with sorting and packing for the next 3-4 months although I still would be doing my regular task of acknowledging dress donations whenever I receive parcels , I will be writing about the products I will be selling in 2014 to help raise money for postage, boxes and boxes to use for packing, packing tapes and sometimes even customs fees and..... if someone makes a purchase, how much I have raise. It will be an open book even though there is no need for it. What I would do is whoever makes a purchase will be given the option to specify where they want the proceeds of the items they purchased to go to. Whether they want it to go to the postage fund or to the Dress A Girl well although the Dress A Girl well is temporary until such time that the money needed to raise a well has been reached. I think it makes me feel more comfortable if I sell items to raise funds. At least for some they get something out of their money and at the same time help disadvantaged children around the world. It is a win-win for all and does not cause any inconveniences. Selling more of my handmade products is part of my 2014 plans and activities for Dress A Girl Australia.

Soy candles will be my main product next year to raise money for postage as they are easy to make. If you are into candle burning or if you know of anyone who is into candle burning, please check my soy candle products.  If you are wondering if I know how to make candles, yes I know how to make candles but only made of soy. I have been making and selling candles for 2 years about 6 years ago and stopped when I went back to full time job. Also I was able to save enough money to buy a table top kiln my time then got deviated to playing around with my kiln and making small pendants. I even used to sell soy candle kits. Specialty of the house were the candelina jar candles, tealights and travel tins. My sister helped in making them she also used to help make soy melts.

Check out these products especially if you are not familiar yet with candles made of soy. These are handpoured from my kitchen and very environmentally friendly. 

When you buy products from my shop you are actually always hitting at least 2 birds with one stone. For soy candles, you are helping save the environment and also making disadvantaged children happy by providing them with handmade dresses they can call their own. Except for the big soy jar candles I call the soy biggies, the sizes of the candelina jars are small enough to take anywhere with you especially for those who can't seem to go anywhere without bringing a candle to light with them. Soy travel tins are so soy-convenient to carry around too.

Soy candles…..soy-convenient…soy.. why not check them out and if you are into candle lighting make a purchase. It is for a very good cause. Please click here to check them out. And please help spread the word around. From the soy candles page, you can also learn a lot about soy candles, burning times and burning guide. Remember, burning a candle is a responsibility....so be safe!

Second sale for Dress A Girl Australia well

I think if I really focus on this project (which I am going to do in the first 3 months of the new year 2014) there is a big chance that I will be able to raise the amount of money needed to build a well in Kalagi Uganda in 2014. And I have not approached any of my work colleagues yet. They still do not know.

Last week, I had my second sale and proceeds of the sale will be going to Dress A Girl Australia' well to provide clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda. Here is what I sold last week -

and always at a time when I dont expect to sell anything. Out of the blue I get a notification that a payment has been made for an item. I just have to be careful though as donations has to be made in US dollars and I sell in Australian dollar. I need to do some conversion before I process the donation. So another AUD$45.00 (about $40USD) going to the fund and thank you so much to Nelly Kremko for the purchase. Much appreciated.

Packing #1 for the children of Australia

Less than 24 hours after I made my statement that there will be no more dress distributions for the year, I am about to start packing for around 40 children under the age of 3 for the Riverina/Murray playgroup. I am always excited when what I do is for the children of this community. Took me almost 2 years of making contacts with different groups of people when I finally got a chance to make a difference with the kiddies of Wilcannia. Now am about to provide gifts to the kiddies of Riverina/Murray. So happy that I found someone who is such a great help. 

Here are some stuff that will be going to them in addition to some clothes and tomorrow I will be making my rounds at work to get some support from them. It is Christmas and we are into the season of giving. This will be my intro. :-)  I always like it when they respond with 'Yeah right Gigi'. Then the question of 'Will you do the shopping for us?' How can I say no. Lucky me I live about 8 minutes away from K-mart. :-)

Another 40 kiddies having a special Christmas thru the kindness and generosity of everyone. By the way, I bought these mini teddy bear softies at $2.00 each at K-mart using my flybuys points. I specifically went to K-mart to ask how many points I have collected and this is what I got after I converted them into dollars. Before I used to snub my flybuys. Whenever they asked me at the counter if I had a flybuys card I would say no even if I had one as I could not be bothered taking it out from my wallet but now I am the biggest fan. I used it all the time for charity. I activate every offer they send where you get more points when you shop on weekends even if I dont have plans to go shopping. Sometimes you get 500 points just for shopping on weekends at Coles. It benefits me because I do my shopping on weekends.
Thanks to flybuys, I get to give 10 mini teddybear softies to 10 kiddies in Riverina/Murray playgroup.

Personalised Letters from Santa

If the number of likers of a facebook page is a genuine indication that people really like your page and what you are doing, then I think Dress A Girl Australia is in trouble. Since I posted the article on no more distributions for this year and posting articles on stuff that I sell, a few likers have dropped out and I expect more to drop out after this posting. :-)

I dont think anyone knows that I have an online shop called Soft Treasures since 2005. The money I earned from the shop I used to finance my craft hobbies and my travelling to acquire and learn new craft stuff. It still exist as an on-line shop but since I went back to full-time job after taking a couple of years off I have not been very actively updating it but it does have lots and lots of good stuff some you cannot easily find here in Australia. I have a lot of boxes in my garage of unsold supplies which I sell every now and then when I need money for Dress A Girl Australia. 

Dress A Girl Australia is a self-funded charity work. I do not ask for cash donations from anyone although there are a few very generous donors who sincerely find it in their hearts to help financially and do not ask for receipts and I am very grateful to these few people. I keep all my postage receipts to give to them in case they needed it. Since I started Dress A Girl Australia, all the money I earned from selling supplies I have donated all of it to fund the cost of distributing dresses to different locations around the world. I use the supplies to handmake things to sell in my online store or whenever Dreamers Markets have a scheduled market day. I get provided with a free stall which really helps a lot. I do not ask for money from people who donate dresses that is why sometimes I feel very upset if I receive emails with uncalled for comments. These people do not know what I do to make a difference and help other people make a difference. Am glad I am very well trained to handle pressure and how to manage strange people from the corporate world I am able to deal with these in running Dress A Girl Australia. I will keep on doing what I am doing and not bother whether people approve of it or not.

Anyway, I have come up with another product which I used to do and sell at Christmas time. A personalized letter of Santa for that special little boy or girl in your life. Each letter contains personalized information based upon any first name, age, gender, address and best friend. Each Christmas letter comes with an envelope with a North Pole postmark. You can have them framed, put them in a special personalised can or roll them and put inside a test-tube bottle...lots of possibilities to make it a perfect keepsake.

It is not too late to order yet. All you have to do is provide me with a child's name, age, gender, address, best friend's name or if you prefer the child's brothers and/or sisters name if applicable by filling up the Personalised letter information form. I can addressed the envelope to your child directly or can put the child's letter and envelope inside an envelope addressed to you for you to give to the child. Any purchase of this item will in a small way help a child own at least one dress.

The personalised letter sells for $5.00 plus postage of $1.80. To purchase, please click here. To fill up the form for details of personalisation, please click here. To see samples of letters, please click here for style 1, click here for style 2 and click here for style 3. You also have 6 choices for the background of the letter.

For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com

More info on dress distributions

I just want to be clear in what I said about not distributing dresses anymore (in response to an email) in 2013 and would like to be as honest as possible. The reason why I am not scheduling any dress distributions anymore in 2013 and for the first 3 months of 2014 is because I have no more money to allocate to pay for the cost of sending dresses to different locations. I need time to be able to replenish my funds and this is what I will be doing in the next few months before April. If you happen to know of anyone who would be willing to handcarry dresses to distribute, then please ask them to get in touch with me and I will do whatever I can to provide them with dresses but I will not be distributing if it will involve cost. Hope this is clear enough. Thanks!

Imagine the possibilities

Ok I am sure a lot of you would be annoyed with what I will be doing in the next few weeks to help raise funds for Dress A Girl Australia. 2013 is done and I am now starting my plans and activities for 2014 so you probably will be seeing a lot of postings of items that I want to sell to raise money for postage and also for the Dress A Girl Australia well. If I raise a lot of money, it will not be to benefit myself but will benefit everyone who donates dresses to make a difference and the children who will be receiving the dresses.

Anyway, when I saw these charms two years ago I was not really sure on what to do with it but knowing me I bought a few sets. Something might pop up in the future on how to make use of it. Now under a bit of pressure to raise funds for the Dress A Girl well as I really want this project to be a success in 2014, I did come up with something. A sewing pin. A charm bracelet could have been good but I could not find a bracelet that can easily match the golden colours of the charms (golden colours not reflected on the picture) but I found a tape measure charm with holes to hang charms. So here is what I ended up with.  Imagine the possibilities of a spool of thread or yarn, a pincushion, a thimble, a pair of scissors, a tape measure and a sewing machine. Imagine the possibilities of creations coming from the heart symbolized by these charms and limited only by one's imagination. Imagine the number of dresses that one can make just by looking at this pin.

A great gift for someone who seems to have everything and can be pass on to generations. I made six sets and only 2 are left and the chances that I would be able to make more is kind of nil at this stage as all 5 charms seems to be difficult to source but I have not lost hope. I am still looking. I am making another type of pin but only with 3 charms not the 5 as displayed above.

The sewing pin comes in a tin with dotted cover unfortunately. It sells for $20.00 + postage of $5.25 (total $25.25). So if anyone is interested, please contact me at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com or you can purchase the item directly from dress a girl shop here. You can wear it (there is a pin solidly adhered at the back), you can keep it in your cabinet, you can carry it with you in your bag, the possibilities are endless. You have a choice of donating the proceeds of this item to either Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund or Dress A Girl Australia well to provide clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda. Just let me know by stating your preference in the comment section upon checkout.

I hope you will like it and make a purchase. Proceeds from the sale of the item is going to a very worthwhile cause. No admin fees, no misc fees. If you find it too expensive you do not have to buy. I cannot issue receipts for cash donations so perhaps buying items from my shop will help. At least you get something back for the money you are donating. In this case, you get a rare and unique sewing pin in exchange for a $20 dollar donation. No one is put at a disadvantaged. Well I might be paying tax for the $20 income but it does not matter. Check it out here. 

Thanks guys! Please help spread the word around.

Christmas Countdown

My Christmas countdown starts today....

and I hope to start my Christmas shopping too!

Dress Distributions Update

Good Morning everyone! With just 17 days away from Christmas day and barely 3 weeks for another new year, dress distributions have officially ended for the year 2013. This will allow me to have a rest from sorting and packing, plan my 2014 activities, be able to focus on my fund raising campaign for a Dress A Girl Australia well to provide clean water to the people of Kalagi Uganda in the next 3 months and most importantly be able to clean the spare room in the house which I have been using for the piles of dresses received this year. Please take note of the following important information -

1) Dress Distributions will resume in April of next year (Easter weekend). 
2) Dresses received between now and April will still be acknowledged but will not be going anywhere until April (unless someone is willing to handcarry and distribute).

All the parcels I have now especially for Christmas distribution will be leaving soon or picked up from my place. The South Africa parcels I have to bring myself to the freight terminal in the International Airport. 

2 more parcels full of quilts and/or blankets to keep more children warm left for Romania and I have about 6 more parcels to send for Mbale Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. They are on schedule to be sent off once I have sorted my funds. Unfortunately they are not going to make it for Christmas but based on schedule they will get to their destinations early next year. At least I have made more children happy at the beginning of the new year 2014. 

I hope to be able to provide more details on the parcels when I will be off for 3-days during the Christmas week. 

If you have not completed your christmas shopping yet, try to drop by my dress a girl shop and see if there is anything you like and make a purchase. I know I keep saying I will be posting more items soon but time does not seem to agree with me. Thank you.

Again, thank you for all the dresses and pairs of shorts in 2013. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

Last but not the least, I wish to thank everyone who provided financial support and helped made the send-off of all parcels this year so much more possible. Thank you so much. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Plan well and consider the cost of posting

I think I have a few new groups joining this campaign of dressing the less fortunate kiddies around the world next year. As I have individually responded to your emails, be sure you do a little bit of planning and consider the cost of posting the dresses to me as I am not in a position to provide assistance. 

Consider hotdog sizzles, dress sponsorships, raffles as these are good ways to raise money for postage. Getting something in return for a dollar or 2 (like getting a hotdog in exchange for a gold coin) is better than directly asking for money donations. Remember I cannot issue a receipt for donations as this is purely a volunteer work which I am doing as an individual to make a difference. So be wise guys. Thanks!

Postage in my Dress a girl e-shop

Just to let future customers and/or buyers from my Dress A Girl e-shop to know that the selling price of the items will now include postage. No more postage charged when checking out. The price + postage is indicated in the description of the item. The change is due to the fact that I have actually been giving away some of the items for free because postage has not been calculating correctly (except for the Christmas stockings). I have been selling quite a few items the past week but there was not much money in my moneycan but only a few coins. When I started to account for the sale, that is when I noticed that I was actually paying for the postage from my own pocket (from the moneycan). 

Please understand that the reason why I am selling items is because I want to raise money for postage so I cannot afford to give free postage. Sometimes the cost of the postage is higher than the price of the item. I am not trying to take advantage of anyone by selling items. The money that I received from any sale goes directly to the postage fund. Well, if you think about it, it should go to me but instead I donate everything in order for this campaign to keep going. Thank you for your understanding.

More Dresses from the Women's Shed

There are more dresses coming from the members of the Women's Shed of Tamworth. And another group in town called The Australian Sewing Guild of Tamworth also committed to doing some. Both groups see this campaign as a very worthwhile project and are happy to assist according to Betty Priest. Most of the materials have been donated by the sewers themselves and the craft shed and they have dedicated sewers in the group. Recently I made suggestions on how they can raise money for postage to lessen the financial burden of the cost of sending the dresses to Sydney. Here are a couple of dresses on their way to Sydney -

And here is a picture of the Craft Shed of Tamworth.

The craft shed is various craft enthusiasts coming together sharing the costs of power, rates etc. via membership fees and commission from sales of members work.  

If you happen to go to Tamworth, dont forget to drop by the Craft Shed. There might be something that will catch your eye. 

Craft Shed
109 Peel Street
Tamworth NSW 2340
Open 6 days a week from 9am to 5pm
Tel 6761-2779

Christmas Brads for Sale

Lately I have been re-opening a few parcels in my garage to check out what I can sell for next year's funds. In addition to my weekend market adventures I used to sell arts and craft supplies to fund my craft hobbies. Or picked up a few items and stashed them away in case I would need it.

One of the parcels I re-opened are for people who are into scrapbooking and/or cardmaking. I liked these brads so much that I bought a few boxes during my cardmaking days. I still have a few left and am selling them hoping that I will be able to raise a few dollars to help with the printing of labels and stamps for the new year 2014. Am selling the first packet of 1 santa brad and 1 candy cane for $2.70 which already includes $1.20 for the stamp to send the items and the second packet with 2 santa brads and 1 candy cane for $3.20 also including postage.

On the image below you will find a sample of how I made use of the brads. These will make great christmas photo cards or a page in a scrapbook you are making for Christmas.

Have a look and a think and for interested parties, please let me know by sending an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com so I can give you the details for payment. I hope to post these items in the dress a girl shop this weekend. Help spread these items around to your family and/or friends who are cards and scrapbook enthusiasts. Thanks everyone.

Feedback on quilts sent to Romania #2

They sure are getting there slowly but surely which is great and excellent news. An email or a letter is all I need to make my day. Received this message this morning from Romania that the 2 parcels of quilts/blankets I sent has been received.

Thank you to all the donors who made these packages possible. To read the article again and check out the list of donors, please click here. 

Feedback on dresses from QCCT

The cabin crew team is back from their successful working trip in Valenzuela Bulacan Phils and this is a copy of the email I received from David H today who together with other members of the QCCT delivered 25 dresses to the children of Valenzuela -

Thank you to everyone whose donated dresses were included on this parcel. To see the list of donors again, please click here.

Dress A Girl New Zealand

Great news for ladies from New Zealand especially to those who got in touch with me. I have made contact with the group who organizes the New Zealand chapter of Dress A Girl NZ. They are still active and planning a sewing day sometime soon as summertime is here. An excellent time to do sewing as they are on a break from their fulltime teaching jobs. The group is based in Auckland(i think). I mentioned to Cathy that there are a few ladies who would like to sew dresses and wants to make contact with the group. 

Please click here if you want to make contact with the New Zealand group. A contact form is also available here or you can select the special 'Contact Me' tab which you can find at the top of this page. You can either click on the 'Dress A Girl New Zealand' link to send the group an email or fill up the 'Contact Form - Dress A Girl Around the World' and make sure you select 'New Zealand' as the location you are after. These links are also available on the left navigation pane.

A dress, an elephant and a song

I just had to take a picture of these fabric elephants that Sandra Turnbull donated for the Christmas bags before each of them gets inside a bag. In my first job, I used to travel a lot around the Asia-Pacific region and one time when I was in Singapore I saw this ad on TV. An old IBM ad of a mother and a baby elephant walking and the message it conveyed was something like 'good to have someone beside you who you can rely to and go for IBM all the way'. What really caught my attention to the ad was the background music of  'He aint heavy, he's my brother'. It is an old song (though am not that old LOL!)). I thought that was the best ad I have watched on TV so far and the best music. It was a perfect combination of the business message, song and the elephant. It was a short ad but so full of meaning. 

When I saw Sandra's elephants it triggered my memory of the ad, how relevant it is - the elephants, the music 'He aint heavy, he's my brother' and what some of us are doing. Making dresses for the less fortunate children around the world some of whom may not even have one which they can call their own. Sewing even just one dress is not so heavy for one child to enjoy. We are sisters to these less fortunate children and their families and one dress will make a lot of difference to their world.  

I looked for the complete lyrics of the song on the internet and here it is. For some they attribute the song to war stories - but for us sewing dresses, they aint that heavy to sew dresses for... even for just one dress.

The road is long, with many a winding turn 
That leads us to who knows where, who knows where
But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him 
He ain't heavy, he's my brother 

So on we go, his welfare is my concern
No burden is he to bare, we'll get there
For I know he would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all, I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart isn't filled 
With gladness of love for one another

It's a long long road from which there is no return 
While we're on our way to there, why not share
And the load, it doesn't weigh me down at all 
He ain't heavy, he's my brother 
He ain't heavy, he's my brother, 
He's my brother, he's my brother 

And if you want to listen to the song - please click here for the link. hope the link works.

Christmas Bags #6 to #10 - Christmas Bags and assorted goodies from various donors

I think this is the highlight of the day. Christmas bags and softies #6 to #10 from various donors. I would tend to think that the christmas goodies below would be the last goodies for Christmas or with a christmas motive. And that next week I will be back focusing on my task of completing the sorting and the packing and send off the parcels.

And a wholehearted thank you to the following donors for helping make Dress A Girl Australia's christmas bags for the children of CDO Philippines really possible. Here are the last individual donations for 2013 Christmas bags -

From Monika Osvald - 34 bags and assortment of goodies (sorry, Monika, some of these items I have packed last night and I forgot to count. Well, I did start to count but didnt write down where/when I stopped)

Kay Innes - 6 bags,  9 softies and a pack of toy koalas

Elaine Klein - 19 bags and 2 pencil rolls

Carolyn Watson - 20 bags and 7 'eager to go' softies

and Sarah Tanmahapran - 4 bags

Thank you so much everyone including those who donated earlier. Thank you for making Christmas a very positive experience for the children of CDO Philippines. Heaps of thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #169 - From the two bettys

A parcel of 22 dresses, 5 pairs of shorts, 13 hairties, 2 little stickers and 17 mini bags is number 169 on the list and the last parcel donated for the month of November from the two bettys namely Betty Barrett and Betty Paull. Two unstoppable ladies when it comes to helping the less fortunate children around the world.

To dear Betty and Betty, thank you so much for the unwavering support you have always provided Dress A Girl Australia in its campaign to dress the less fortunate children around the world. A wholehearted thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is so much appreciated. And keep on walking Ladies.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #168 - Shirts, shorts and undies from Carolyn

Number 168 on the list is an assortment of 2 pairs of shorts, 2 t-shirts and 6 shirts and a pack of undies from Carolyn Watson. Carolyn looks forward to helping make a difference in this world.

To Carolyn, thank you for supporting the dress a girl around the world campaign. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #167 - 5 dresses and 7 t-shirts from Kay

Number 167 on the list are 5 dresses and 7 t-shirts from Kay Innes. And here is Kay with her sewing machine. She is one of the 4 golden girls 2 who finds making dresses personally rewarding. 

To Kay, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate children. It is so much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #166 - 2 shorts & 1 pants and 17 dresses from Elaine +2 others

If anyone has noticed my postings are only on dresses, pairs of shorts and other accessories it is because I want to acknowledge donations of Christmas bags and/or softies separately. I like giving myself more work. :-)

For number 166 on the list, it is a parcel of 2 pairs of shorts, 1 long pants and 17 dresses from Elaine Klein and 2 other donors Brenda and Glenyl (did I get that right? :-)). I have put aside the long pants as I want to include this in my collection for the Clothing Sponsorship program (Winter edition) for South Africa. A great wear for winter.

Thank you so much Elaine and please extend my heartfelt thanks as well to Brenda and Glenyl for their contribution. Thank you so much for supporting this cause. It is very much appreciated. 

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #165 - From the Womens' Shed of Tamworth Regional Craft Centre

Number 165 is a parcel of 12 dresses from a newly formed group in Tamworth. The group called Womens Shed is involved in various art and craft and social events for women in the Tamworth area and the group is within the Tamworth Regional Craft Centre. Betty Priest on behalf of the Womens' Shed members wrote that the Dress A Girl around the world project has been seen by them as one with a genuine wish to assist our sisters and their families in areas that are not as affluent as Australia so they will try to keep sewing for this project and send more as they are completed.  Here are the 12 dresses they sent -

To Betty, thank you so much and please extend my wholehearted thank you to all the members of the Womens Shed. Thank you for your support. It is so much appreciated.

The Tamworth Regional Craft Centre Inc. is located on 109 Peel Street, Tamworth NSW 2340. The centre can be contacted at 6761-2779. They have a craft shop that is open 6 days a week from 9an to 5pm. The centre does all kinds of creative craft such as Art, Blacksmithing, Bonsai, embroidery, felting, knittong, lacemaking, patchwork, quilting to name a few. So if you happen to be around the area, please feel free to drop them a visit.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #164 - From Sarah

Number 164 on the list is a parcel of  dress, 2 pairs of shorts, skirt and a fabric headband from Sarah Tanmahapran, another lady who is living the year 2013 making a difference and this donation also completes her commitment to the program. It has been a speedy and enjoyable journey for Sarah to help make a difference for the less fortunate children for the year 2013.

To Sarah, thank you for the time and effort you spent supporting the program and for your unwavering support of helping make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate children around the world. What a fantastic effort and very well done. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #163 - 4 dresses from Sian and 2 from Sue

Number 163 on the list is a parcel of 6 dresses. 4 of them from Sian McIntosh and 2 from her friend Sue Nash. A few months ago they had a sewing bee with another friend Judy. Sian is living the year 2013 making a difference with one dress at a time and the 4 dresses are actually her monthly dress contribution  to the program.  These 4 dresses completes her commitment to make a difference. What a fantastic effort. Very well done. Also with the parcel came a postage donation from her book club friends Annie, Florence, Judy and Sue in lieu of their Christmas presents.
Here are the dresses from Sian and Sue -

To Sian, thank you so much for participating in the 'living the year 2013 making a difference' program. It is so much appreciated. To Sue, thank you for the dresses. To Annie, Florence, Judy and Sue, thank you for the postage donation. Thank you all so much for your kindness and generosity and for supporting this campaign in 2013. Lots of thanks to all!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #162 - 18 pairs of shorts from Monika

Number 162 on the list is from Katoomba NSW. 18 pairs of black shorts from Monika Osvald which am thinking of donating as part of their school uniform for the next school year in Mukono Uganda. At this stage, am not quite sure if I would be able to raise the quantity required but if I can just go back to my sewing, I think I would be able to help meet the number required which by the way, I need to find the email so I can refresh my memory as to how many is needed. :-)

To Monika, thank you so much for your wholehearted consistency and unwavering support of Dress  A Girl Australia's activities' helping make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children around the world. The time and effort you spend on this campaign is so much appreciated. A wholehearted thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #161 - 5 dresses from Hiroko

Number 161 on the list is a parcel of 5 dresses from Hiroko Price. This is Hiroko's second batch of dress donations.

To Hiroko, thank you for supporting Dress  A Girl Australia's campaign to dress girls from the less fortunate locations around the world. Your kindness and generosity is so much appreciated. Thank you!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #160 - 27 dresses from the golden girls 2

The task I assigned myself to do yesterday was to make sure that I finished opening all the parcels and after a lot of bending and taking pictures I finally completed the task. So now it is time to acknowledge all those donations received and close the month of November.

Number 160 on the list is from a group of friends who call themselves the golden girls 2. Kay, Pauline, Betty and Julie from Endeavour Hills Victoria. They were able to come up with 27 dresses, 1 skirt and also sent 6 pairs of knickers. Inspite of their being new to sewing, they were able to come up with 27 and made each dress with love and care to help children around the world to have something pretty. They sure are all very pretty by these ladies who also are busy but feels personally rewarded making these gifts and making a difference in the life of the little girls who gets to wear them.  

To the golden girls Kay, Pauline, Betty and Julie, thank you so much for the time and effort you all spent making this collection. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

Christmas Bags #5 - Christmas bags and softies from Sandra

In addition to the 24 dresses and 12 pairs of shorts, also in the parcel were 15 fabric elephants and 16 christmas bags.

15 big smiles this coming Christmas made possible by Sandra's 15 fabric elephants. What a great way to end the year 2013. Again, my heartfelt thanks to Sandra. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #159 - 24 dresses/12 pairs of shorts from Sandra

Number 159 on the list is a parcel of 24 dresses and 12 pairs of shorts from Sandra Turnbull. Sandra has been experimenting with t-shirt dresses and look at how many she ended up with.

To Sandra, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. You do make this world a better place. Thank you.

Christmas Bags #4 - From Dress A Girl Australia

Too late in the night to acknowledge donations. Number 4 on the list is from me (Dress A Girl Australia) with these 6 hand puppets and 5 big-eyed monsters which are owls really. 

Eleven more kiddies will be hugging a softie soon.

Thank You and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

To everyone who supported Dress A Girl Australia in 2013, thank you so much and happy thanksgiving day!

Parcels Received

Good Morning everyone! I really am flat out these days with sorting and packing so all my parcels can leave Australia before the 10th of December. I am also busy making handmades to sell to take advantage of the buying season so need your patience in acknowledging donations received. Unless parcels received are for Christmas distribution (i.e. christmas bags and soft toys) all parcels will be taken cared of as soon as I am done with the packing or when i can find a spare time. Thank you.

Iron-on Labels no longer available

Just to let everyone know that iron-on labels are no longer available as I find them more expensive than the sew-on labels. Those who requested for iron-on the past week will now be receiving the sew-on labels instead. If you do not want to attach the sew-on labels because you have already finish sewing your dresses, when you send over your dresses, can you please send back as well the sew-on labels and I will try to find someone to sew the labels to your dresses. Sewing labels to finish dresses is not really such a big task and it will be a big help on my part if you  could use the sew-on labels but if it is too much to ask and you do not want to do it then just return the labels please.

Thank you.

Information on Clothing Sponsorship Program

Good Morning everyone. Lately I have been receiving emails enquiring about the Clothing Sponsorship program for South Africa. I will be releasing guidelines about this campaign in early January just to make sure that donated items are meeting the requirements of what the foundation needs. And because I will be limited in the number of kilos of clothing that I can send, donations have to meet the guidelines if anyone wants to donate. 

Thank you and thank you to those who have shown interest to the program.

Christmas Bags #3 - from Vanya

Number 3 on the list of Christmas Bags and 10 of them from Vanya Bryant. And about 2 months ago I received these cute creatures from her so these are definitely going inside each of these bags. Here are the christmas bags -

and here are the cute creatures sent about 2 months ago -

Thank you so much Vanya for supporting Dress A Girl Australia's Christmas Charity Drive for the kids of CDO Philippines. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/11 #158 - From Vanya

Number 158 on the list is a parcel of assorted goodies from Vanya Bryant. Looks like Vanya has been keeping herself busy with 'hot stuff'. 'Hot stuff' great for Dress A Girl Australia's upcoming winter collection for South Africa. I just love creating names and creating slogans for my charity drive campaigns. I think it makes it more attractive to get some kind of support and mobilizes 'like-minded' people. :-)

Anyway, here are the contents of Vanya's parcel this time - I will be writing a separate acknowledgement for the christmas bags.

And I also had a surprise inside the parcel - a handmade christmas ornament -

To Vanya, thank you so much for your support in 2013. Thank you for your kindness and generosity, for helping make this world a better place. It is so much appreciated. Have a very lovely Christmas and a heartfelt thank you for the pretty Christmas ornament.

Christmas Bags #2 - From Jamie and daughter Amelia

Christmas bags are starting to arrive in Sydney and number 2 on the list are ten bags with cute softies inside from Jamie Gwiazda and her daughter Amelia. Another 10 girls with big smiles on their faces when they get to receive the Christmas bags with simple contents of a dress, an undie, perhaps a headscarf, a small softie and a lolly but full of love.

A wholehearted thank you to Jamie and her daughter Amelia. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

A little bit of this...a little bit of that...Updates for the week 23-Nov-2013

I know how communication as a tool is very important in perhaps everything that we do. It can either make you or break you. Sometimes I do postings directly in Dress A Girl Australia's facebook page with the intention of posting it here in my blog as well.....if I can remember to do it which I think I should so everyone would know. :-)
Anyway, here is a summary of the FB postings I did this week to keep you updated - 

23-Nov-2013 -
             #1 - Dec 3, Tuesday has been designated as 'Giving Day' in the US, Canada and 
                other parts of the world. I would like to think that we here in Australia can also
                make this day as a 'Giving Day' and make this an opportunity to give back 
                something to the world...help make a difference to lots of disadvantaged 
                people. A good day to start the giving season of Christmas. So how about we 
                all start to think on what to do and what to give on Tuesday.

          #2 - Delivery services to Tacloban Philippines from Australia have not been 
                restored yet so I cant send my parcels. Deliveries are only up to Manila which
                will not do any good since the parcels need to end up in Tacloban. I will wait 
                until things get back to normal a little bit and my contact hopefully settled back
                to normal routines then I send the parcels and hopefully before Christmas. And
                I also plan to make a collection from work (some have offered to help) which I
                can use or ask my contact to buy some food and distribute to families on 
                Christmas day. Fingers crossed.

22-Nov-2013 -
          Thinking that I might exceed the 45 kilos for my South Africa parcel, I decided to             request for another concession authority form last Tuesday and I received the form           today.

21-Nov-2013 - 
          #1 - For those who are making Christmas bags, please make sure I get to receive
                them by the last week of Nov or first week of Dec max to give me ample time 
                to sort and pack. Thank you

          #2 - We can do it !! We can make it happen !!
                 If you want to help build a well in Kiriga Uganda and give hope through clean                    water, please click  on the link below -

            #3 - Due to the number of undies I am getting and have sorted them by sizes to                       help quicken the packing of a dress with an undie, am no longer able to                           identify which undies have been donated by whom. For everyone's info.                           Thanks!

20-Nov-2013 -
           Good Morning everyone! In reply to the emails i have been getting lately, want to
           reiterate that there is no need to rush sewing dresses and sending them over to
           me. I have an ample supply of both dresses and shorts and what is needed for the
           rest of the year is fully allocated. Nothing to do with the cost of sending as i have 
           already budgeted for these parcels but i do still have quite a supply. Besides, it is 
           difficult to send over the Christmas period. I will start scheduling again
           distributions in April of next year so please hold on to your donations until next
           year to avoid inconveniences at the post office. No new donations received
           (excluding the christmas bags and toys) will also allow me to clean my spare room
           that i have been using for the dresses. Thank you.

19-Nov-2013 -
          yes never give up even when am running low on funds -

          "If we are demoralized, sad and only complain, we’ll not solve our problems. If we
           only pray for a solution, we’ll not solve our problems. We need to face them, to
           deal with them without violence, but with confidence - and never give up. If you
           adopt a non-violent approach, but are also hesitant within, you’ll not succeed. You
           have to have confidence and keep up your efforts - in other words, never give up.
                                                          ~ Dalai Lama