T-Shirts for South Africa

I was thinking today (I should not be allowed to think, it is dangerous) that it might be a good idea to include t-shirts on the South Africa parcel to match some of the pairs of shorts. I wanted to close and tape the parcel of shorts but I was not really feeling comfortable closing it because there were no t-shirts. I have a tin where I usually put all the coins that makes my bag heavy. When I came home I opened the tin and check if I had enough coins to buy t-shirts. And it was my lucky day and more lucky because Kmart had the t-shirts still on sale. I counted and I had about $25 of gold and fifty-cent coins. Drove to K-mart and was able to buy 10 t-shirts. Just added a gold coin from my pocket. 

Here is my lucky tin again and still has some coins left -

and these are the 10 t-shirts I bought for South Africa - 3 of them were $2.00 each and the rest were $3.00 each.

Went home, packed them up and happy to close the parcel. Just had to have t-shirts inside the parcel. And isnt it great to have a "save for a rainy day" tin that can help grant your wish when needed. :-)

Parcels on Hold

I actually do not like the idea of re-arranging schedules or tasks as it takes a while for me to go back and do it but unfortunately this re-arranging of schedules is a necessity. 

This week is my schedule to send a parcel to Thailand and Mbale Uganda. They are all packed and ready to go just waiting for me to put the parcels at the back of my car to take to the postoffice, dresses and shorts for the kiddies in Thailand and quilts for the grandmas in Mbale Uganda. I have decided to put these 2 parcels on hold and instead send the money i have saved up and allocated for postage to a friend, an elementary/high school classmate) who i found is a victim of typhoon haiyan. They lost everything but thankful that they were saved. She is now in Manila with the rest of her family staying with her daughter and planning to go back to Tacloban to check up what is left for them over there, her friends and neighbours (who were less fortunate) and try to help them. A victim who has nothing in mind but to help her co-victims. I have offered some help and some dresses and shorts to bring back with her so i will be using the money allocated for these parcels to give to her. The amount is not that big compared to what other people are donating but it is heartily being given to her and I know it will go a long way for the victims who urgently need food and water. Perhaps food and water being made available to them will make them forget a little about what has happened to them. 

It's a bit sad to know that the parcels cannot be sent when I was looking forward to sending it but sometimes one has to be flexible, practical and sensible to make this world a better place. When I have save up enough money again from my selling of handmade items to pay for the postage of these two parcels, everyone will be notified. Thank you!

Soy Candles for Charity (Dress A Girl Australia)

About 5 years ago I used to candlemake and sell soy candles made of the environmentally friendly soy wax. I even sold books on candlemaking. Then I noticed that I was starting to become short-tempered maybe because I was starting to get bored (inspite of all the crafty things I was doing) so I decided to go back to full-time job after 2 years of not working. On the day that I decided I was going back to work, a week after I got a full-time job and this led me to becoming lax on my small home business which was by then starting to flourish. I stopped selling candles but I still kept on my hobby of making anything out of fabrics and sell one at a time.

Then my sister started making candles to fill the ceramic and porcelain bowls she was making and selling. This made me think why dont I start to sell soy candles again.. Soy candles for charity which will help me raise money for postage and most especially for the Dress A Girl well. I am not sure if I still have hours in a day left to allow me to make soy candles but there is no harm in trying. My motto is if there is a will...there is a way and it is for a very good cause. I really have no plans of making it big time selling candles. Just enough to meet the needs of Dress A Girl Australia.

So the past week I have been lighting candles again making sure they are lighting perfectly well and have now a small stock of small jar candles to sell. My first product for fundraising. I also hope I will be able to make tealights soon.

The candle with the lamp is only for a very short time while supplies last. These soy candles will be available for purchase in my e-shop in the next few days. They will make great christmas presents so I hope if you like soy candles you will make a purchase. 

Just to let everyone know that everything am handmaking and selling goes to Dress A GIrl Australia's petty cash fund. I am not trying to make money for myself. But selling items like this will help me sustain my Dress A Girl activities so I hope you will like some of my new products and make a purchase. Thank you.

Award from Threading My Way

I want to write about something different from what I normally blog about here in Dress A Girl Australia. I received an award from Pam of Threading my way. It is called the Sunshine Award, a blogger-to-blogger award for blogs that inspire and bring sunshine into people's lives. It will be so rude of me if I dont even mention it here in my blog nor give even just a little bit of acknowledgement. So I want to say a wholehearted thank you to Pam for the nomination. I never thought for a moment not even in my wildest dreams that I would be doing what I am doing now and that I would be inspiring and bringing sunshine into people's lives. Thank you so much Pam.

Now on to the rules for accepting the award -
1) Thank the blogger who nominated you which I have done above.
2) Post the award image in your blog which I have also done above.
3) Tell 7 facts about yourself - now this is the hard part but I think I can spare at least about 7 adjectives about myself
             1) easy-going
             2) very observant
             3) love to create
             4) live for the moment (this is the real me!)
             5) love to eat but dont cook
             6) practical
             7) loves travelling (dont suffer from jetlag at all)
4) Nominate 5-10 other blogs and let them know about their nominations. Now this is where I stop. Unfortunately I cannot comply with it as for the past few months I havent really had the chance to read other people's blogs. I follow a lot of blogs (more than 50 I think) but they all are unread whether it is on my iphone, my ipad or my desktop. LOL!

Once again, thank you Pam for the nomination. It is so much appreciated. I actually enjoyed writing this post. :-)

If you want to read more about Pam's creativity, please click here. Believe me when I say there are a lot of great things to read in her blog.

Parcel Acknowledgements

Good Sunday morning everyone! I think I have about 10 parcels to acknowledge which I have received in the last 2 weeks. Just so no one starts to worry if the parcels they have sent have been received or not, my priority task at the moment is sorting and packing my Christmas and South Africa parcels. I will be acknowledging first those that have items inside the parcel that will help quicken up my sorting/packing(i.e.Christmas). Once I have done my packing then I will go back to acknowledge the rest of the parcels. 

If anyone wants to know if their parcels have been received, please click here or click on the special 'News/Newsletters' tab found at the top of this page. Or you can click on the globe (Parcel Updates! Want to know whose parcels have been received?) which you can find on the right navigation pane.

Although I have not really been updating this page yet for the latest parcels sent or about to send, for updates on dress distributions and any feedback received, please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distributions' tab found at the top of this page. There will be more updates made on this page soon.

Thank you!

We can do it.....We can make this happen !!

Hello everyone !  It is finally here and I hope you will support Dress A Girl Australia in its mission to raise money to build a well and provide clean water for the people in Kalagi, Uganda. The fundraising page is now active and accepting donations. To access the page, please click on the image below -. Same image is also available on the right navigation pane.

All donations go directly to the Water-4-Kids program of the Water-4-kids International who is working in partnership with the Dress a Girl Well project of Dress A Girl around the World and all donations made using the fundraising page will be earmarked for Friends of Dress A Girl Australia. The goal is to raise the amount of $10,500 US (approximately $11,200 AUD at today's exchange rate). The village information on Kalagi Uganda is available on the fundraising page which you can share to all your family and friends who may want to give towards the well. Donors can leave a message with the amount of their donations or donate anonymously on the page. A receipt is issued for your donations. **

Please help spread the word around. Through everyone's kindness and generosity we will be able to give hope and make good health, safety and abundant life become a reality for the families of this village. What better time to help and make a difference and aim to reach the goal this Christmas season. Let us spread good cheer not only to our dear family and friends but share the holiday spirit we always have and enjoy with a village in need and celebrate Christmas in the most wonderful way possible...hope through clean water for the people of Kalagi, Uganda in the very near future.

Spread the word around! We can do it!  We can make this happen! 

Thank you in advance!

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** Highly recommend anyone making a donation to talk to their accountants for advise regarding donations you make and the receipt issued for the donations.
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Feedback on quilts sent to Romania

This was the biggest surprise this morning which made my day. I never expected to receive pictures of Romanian kiddies with some of the quilts I sent from the first parcel I think. Here are a few of the kiddies and the quilts -

Monica Tabarac of Humanitas Charity said that the pictures shows how much the blankets I sent were very well appreciated and sends her thanks for the support. Thank you to all the donors who made these wonderful gifts to the children of Romania possible.

To see individual images, please click here . For more information on Dress Distributions, click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab located at the top of this page.

Dress A Girl Well....is almost here!

WooHoo!!  The fundraising page for the Dress A Girl Well is almost here. Might be available in a day or two. Just a minor question regarding the page and once this is cleared, the page will be made active and will be capable of accepting donations. 

For more information on the Dress A Girl Australia well, please click here.

Get ready everyone to help this village for once get clean water through your kindness and generosity. Make it the best Christmas ever for the 700 children and 300 adults including the people from five surrounding villages, four schools and five churches. Please help spread good cheer not only to our dear family and friends but share the holiday spirit we always have and enjoy with a village in need and celebrate Christmas in the most wonderful way possible....giving hope through water.

For more information, please feel free to send an email todressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Parcels for South Africa

I finally was able to confirm that I can send unaccompanied baggages and/or parcels with my concession form up to 45 kilos. I bought these boxes today and each of these boxes can hold 10 kilos worth of dresses and pairs of shorts. That is roughly between 75 to 80 dresses depending on size. 

So that means for 4 boxes I am able to send about 350 dresses or a combination of dresses and shorts to Johannesburg South Africa and will only take between 3-5 days to get there. WooHoo!! Even if I packed them first week of Dec it still will get there before Christmas. Another Woohooo!!! I better start sorting for South Africa!

Sewing for Charity in Sydney

Something that I always wanted to do but could not find the time to do it. Happy to announce that finally we are going to have a sewing for charity here in Sydney. These workshops have been organized by Natascha Wettmarshausen of Make and Learn. Natascha wrote that she has been very impressed with the work of Dress A Girl Australia and has arranged for these workshops to benefit this charity work. She has listed two class dates so far (13th of December and 24th of January 2014) and is going to be held in Kingsford NSW and is hoping it will get a good response. 

There is a workshop fee of $15.00/person which will be used to cover posting of the dresses and to donate to Dress A Girl Australia to help cover postage of distribution of dresses to the different countries. Venue, use of sewing machines if you do not have one (or you can bring your own sewing machine) and lovely cups of tea and coffee and biscuits will be provided to make this event possible. Please see below for more details -

When: Friday, 13. December 2013 or Friday, 24. January 2014

What time: 6.30pm - 9.30pm (It's OK if you can only get here at 7pm or need to leave a little earlier, just let us know in advance)

Where: Our beautiful lightfilled shopfront studio at 243 Botany Street, Kingsford NSW

How much: $15 (all proceeds go towards the charitable cause)

For more details on what is required or what to bring to the workshop and if you are interested to enroll and join in the fun, please click on the image below -

As Natascha has advertised it in her 'Make and Learn' website, it is a great opportunity to pick up a new skill on simple garment construction, a chance to meet some interesting people, perhaps polish your sewing skills and at the same time contribute to a great cause! A great opportunity to have a very fun evening with like-minded people and together make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children around the world. 

So if you have been looking for an opportunity to make a difference before saying goodbye to the year 2013 which Dress A Girl Australia has chosen to be a 'year of living making a difference', then this is your chance to accomplish that wish. This is also for anyone who is looking for something different to do on a Friday night, make a difference for at least 3 hours and help make this world a better place.

Please come along!!! Bring along family and friends!!! Help spread the word around!!!

Thank you Natascha for supporting this campaign. Much appreciated.

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*** Please contact Natascha if you do not know how to sew and would like to learn. Contact number is 0410-510828 or please click here to fill up a contact form.
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Be Kind everyone!

This week is World Kindness Week and today is World Kindness Day.  Although being kind is supposed to be a part of our everyday life, today why not make it more special. It is not an expensive thing to do. 

Be kind everyone! Make it a habit! You will be surprised how it makes you feel good everyday and contribute to making this world a better place. :-)

Christmas Bags and Soft Toys

I have been sorting and packing for my Christmas Bags and I think I need more stuff to complete them. If there is anyone who would like to donate string bags or similar to library bags about the size of an A4 paper that I can use as Christmas bags (does not have to be fancy) and some small soft toys it will be much appreciated. Soft toys will have to be small enough to fit the bag as these items will be posted and not handcarried and need to fit as many items in the box. Will be accepting contributions until the end of November and as usual please post to the address below –

Dress A Girl Australia

P.O. Box 240
Casula Mall Casula
NSW 2170

Am actually doing more packing these days just to be ready if and when a parcel is needed then I don’t have to cram when something comes up.

To all those who will be donating to my Christmas bags,  thank you so much in advance. Your contributions are very much appreciated.

Last day of the 'More than a mile' with thongs charity drive

Today is the last day of the 'More than a mile' with thongs' Christmas charity drive for the children of Wilcannia NSW. The final number of thongs received is 104 which is 4 more than what I wanted to raise. I am not expecting more thongs so am closing the charity drive today so I can start packing them up, seal the box, add it in the queue and ready to be sent when its schedule to be sent comes up on the list in the next couple of weeks.

Heaps and heaps of heartfelt thanks to all who made this charity drive so much a success, for allowing these kids to hop, run, skip, walk and jump for more than a mile without feeling so much heat on the ground. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you everyone for your kindness and generosity.

More details of the charity drive from beginning to end can be found here.

Christmas Items for Fundraising

Wow! Day 4 of November and 51 days before Christmas. There will be a few items for sale which I hope will be good enough to purchase for your love ones or family and friends. As usual, Christmas cards will be available to purchase as well. Proceeds from any purchase will go directly to Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund for next year. Christmas season is always the best time to promote items for sale as most of us will be buying something for family and friends and since I will not be having any market stalls anymore for the rest of the year (next market will be sometime in April 2014) I thought I would put up the items I made especially for Christmas in my Dress A Girl online shop. I might even put them up in Etsy. This way I feel a little bit relax in selling and raising funds as anyone can buy them from the shop anytime. The great thing about the online shop is I dont have to wake up as early as 5am to setup my market stall.

Most of the items if not all will be made available in the next few days so watch out for it and if there is anything you like, please make a purchase. It is going to a very good cause.  Thank you!

Reminder on Dresses

I think it is time once again to remind anyone who is contemplating to make dresses to donate to Dress A Girl Australia on the guidelines on how to make dresses, what is acceptable and not acceptable for distribution. Please bear in mind that the dresses you make and given out to these children could only be the dress they will get to own for a long time so it will be great if they are made with care and quality. Please also remember that we are all volunteers on this campaign, we all volunteer to make dresses to make these children own dresses.  Some of us are working people too but happy to find the time to make dresses. There is no one in the group whose time is focused on making repairs or improvements on the dresses so PLEASE be considerate. 

Materials should be thick enough to withstand washing in rivers and good enough to last for a long period of time. Thin and flimsy materials should not be used. If you can see the outline of your hand through the fabric, then you should not make it into a dress at all.

Pockets are great in dresses but please make sure that they are sturdy enough just like the dresses.

Make sure bias tapes and/or strong ribbons are long enough and washable especially for those who use ribbons.

When making a longer dress, make a kick pleat or slit at the bottom and reinforce the top of the kick pleat inside of dress. 

Make these dresses special especially because you made them with your own two hands.

Also, please note that I do not accept used dresses. There are requirements for sending used dresses overseas and requires time and money which I cannot spare. 

I want everyone to feel happy making dresses and feel more happy when they see the dresses made being worn by the children so please be guided accordingly.

Donors of dresses which I deem as not acceptable and requires repairs will be contacted and advised. Unfortunately you are dealing with someone(and that is me of course :-)) who likes beautiful things and want to make sure that what goes to the children are beautifully made so am a bit strict on quality. This is the reason why I like handmades because they are supposed to be beautiful and done with great care. 

Let us all make a difference by making these dresses with much love, care and quality and not just for the sake of making a difference.

Please help me spend whatever time, money and effort I have more productively by not sending me used dresses and following guidelines accordingly. I hardly have time to go to the postoffice (have to wake up early on Saturdays just to be able to pick and send parcels)so please help by not letting me do an extra errand of dropping used dresses in opshops which by the way there is none near my place of residence.

For questions, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/10 #154 - Another bundle of dresses from the Gawler Community

Dress donations' acknowledgement this time and number 154 on the list is a bundle of dresses from the Gawler Community of South Australia. Dresses by Julieann Bolton and the 84 year-old Norma Schubert who loves sewing dresses for children.

To Julieann and Norma, thank you for the dresses. Thank you for supporting this campaign of dressing the less fortunate children around the world. You do help make this world a better place...with one small dress at a time. Heaps of thanks!

Important Reminder on Parcels

Just want to remind anyone who is planning to send parcels in December, please delay them till Jan next year to avoid inconveniences. As we all know December is a very busy month for parcels especially at the postoffice. Thank you.

More than a mile #15 - 15 pairs from Kaylee and Kate

Have not had the chance to continue on my acknowledging the past week so today am focusing on donation acknowledgements again and the first on the list is from a mother and daughter team of Kaylee and Kate Healy and happy to help with 15 pairs of thongs, their contribution to the 'More than a mile' with thongs charity drive for the children of Wilcannia. These pairs brings my total to 104.

To Kaylee and Kate, thank you so much for bringing 15 more happy faces to this great world of ours, 15 feet that will not be feeling any heat on the ground from hopping, walking, jumping and running around for more than a mile. Thank you so much.