More cards for Sale

Not sure why I keep on making new cards when sale is not that good but I know that there is still a lot of work to be done as far as dressing girls in unfortunate locations around the world. Any sale I make, even how small it is makes a lot of difference. 

Here is a new card I made today of a snowman using recycled buttons, fabric scraps and felt using kraft paper. Inside panel is blank for any personal message and comes with a matching kraft brown envelope for easy gift-giving. Sells for $4.25 at my handmade cards e-shop. A sale of this card can pay for the postage of at least 2 dresses to any location around the world.

To purchase this handmade card, please click on the image above or click here. Proceeds goes to a very worthwhile cause. Please help spread the word around. Thank you.

Lavender Bags from Lynn

Her parcels are always filled with heart stickers and the one I picked up last Saturday was no exception. Inside the small box were a dozen lavender bags which Lyn Granger sent for me to sell in my shop in order to raise money for postage.

I sent her a thank you email last Sunday and this is her response today which I thought I should post and share with everyone -
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From: Lynn []
Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2014 7:52 AM
To: <>
Subject: Re: Lavender Bags

Good morning Gigi
Thank you for your email i am so happy to be part of your good work that you do I think what you do is such a good I have selection of dresses and shorts to send I shall be doing that in a couple of days I love being part of this it gives me so much joy and keeps my skills alive and in doing it goes out to a very good course I hope the Lavender bags does well for

Much love Lynette Granger 

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It is such a nice feeling to know that what I am doing gives so much joy to other people not only with the less fortunate girls around the world but also for those who are sewing dresses. Whatever frustrations you had encountered during the day...they manage to disappear when you receive and read emails of this kind...so full of love and sincerity.

To Lynn, thank you so much for all the support you have provided to this campaign. Thank you for helping make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate children around the world. It is so much appreciated. And for the lavender bags, a wholehearted thank you. 

More soy candles for sale

I am currently working on a project (and will be going on for the next 3 months) that is making me a bit tired when I get home that sometimes all I want to do is just sleep. But I need to make money by selling my handmades in order for Dress A Girl Australia to survive. So if anyone is wondering why I am promoting my soy candles again...this is how Dress A Girl Australia sustains its ability to continue on distributing dresses to different locations around the world. I am not a rich woman but I enjoy making a difference to the lives of the disadvantaged children around the world. I make a difference and I hope inspire other people to make a difference through my selling. 

So happy to announce more new products in my online shop. 
New product number 1 are the soy tealights.

My "Tealight" collection are available in both scented and unscented and in small, large and limited jumbo-sized aluminium cups. All sizes fit in any normal tealight holder. The wicks are all-cotton, with no wires or zinc. To checkout this new product, please click here.

New product number 2 are the mini melting soy bars.

A great alternative to burning candles! Enjoy the aromatic scent of the melting bars using an electric tart burner.  Burn tarts without the need to add oil and no water at anytime. To checkout this new product, please click here.

New product number 3 are the votives. They will soon be available to purchase in my shop @ $2.00 each. I just need the time to spare to post them.

Every candle that sells, a girl somewhere out there gets to own a new dress. The more candles I sell, the more dresses travel to less fortunate locations. These soy candles helped send two parcels to Kenya 2 weeks ago instead of just one. 

So if you or a family member or a friend is looking for environmentally friendly candles, please spread the word about the soy candles available for sale in my shop. The price of each item already includes postage. You wont be charged postage when you check out. Since I combine postage, any postage in excess of $2.00 will be returned back in the same way that payment was made. Please help spread the word about my soy candles and other handmade items. Thank you.

Valentine Cards for the elderly

I wrote something about this in my facebook page and just realize it tonight that I did not replicate it in my favourite blog. :-) I have several reasons why I am doing this and one of them is trying not to get burned-out with the task of sorting and packing dresses when I get home from work at night which I have been doing almost every night for the past 6 months. I need to do something temporary for a change (in addition to doing no distributions until April 2014 which is not really true because I am still sorting and packing for unscheduled distributions) and I thought about handmade cards. In case some of you have forgotten, I used to make and sell handmade cards and donated a dollar from every card I sold to a Breast Cancer research group. I stopped when I went into full-time job again and my donation also stopped especially that our signed agreement also expired. I did not ask for a renewal.  I still have some of those cards that were left unsold and most of them are Valentine cards (Does that mean then that no one gives cards anymore on Valentines Day or no one says 'Be mine on Valentines Day' . LOL!)

So last week I sent a general enquiry to Meals on Wheels NSW and mentioned to them about my intention. I thought sending an email was a better option as I was not sure how they would react if I rang them. At least if I did not get a response to my email I would not feel so bad compared to being turned down on the phone. :-) And luckily I got a message left on my voicemail that they were happy to do it on my behalf and that is distribute the cards to the elderly that they serve on Meals on Wheels on Valentines Day. They think it is such a great idea and very much appreciated. Unfortunately, the lady who rang me last week is on leave for a week and will not be back till Monday of next week so I do not have that much details as to where to send. In fact she said she will send me some forms to fill up for media involvement but I think I will let her know next week that it is ok not to have any media involvement. Am kind of a very private person. 

Meals on Wheels NSW I was also told has more than 180 services and I do not believe it will be possible to provide handmade cards to everyone so depending on the number of cards I have, we can select to which suburb(s) the cards can be given to when they deliver meals on the 14th of Feb which I believe is a great idea. So I am not going to say how many more cards I need especially to those who wants to help and/or donate cards but any card I will receive between now and end of next week will be highly appreciated. I myself am aiming for 100 and since I already have about 70-80 cards available I will try to make 20 more between now and next week.

Here are some of the Valentine cards I have available which I will be giving away to a few elderly people to show or let them know that there are many people in this world who still cares about them (even those who do not personally know them)

And to those who wants to help and/or donate cards, please send the cards to the address below -
                      Dress A Girl Australia
                      P.O. Box 240
                      Casula Mall Casula
                      NSW 2170

And please include your name and/or other peoples name if you are a group. Thank you so much for the help. It is very much appreciated.

New Year Countdown - Barely 3 more sleeps to go

With barely 3 days to go before we say goodbye to 2013 and say hello to 2014 I thought I would be a little bit crafty by making something australian and add to my shop to sell to help raise money for postage for next year.

By the way, for the next 3-6 months or depending on how long it would take, proceeds from the sale of soy candles and handcrafted personal treasures for charity will be donated to Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to build a well in Kalagi Uganda until I have achieved the target amount of $10,500. The sale of the other items are allocated to Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund.

This time I revived my fabric picture cards which I used to make about 8 years ago and donated a dollar for every card I sold to a breast cancer foundation here in Sydney. I stopped making and donating when I went back to work. I used to make these cards in between problem solving of work issues when I worked from home. At this time I am only making a couple of Australian-themed picture cards. If I am in a good mood I might make the Sydney Harbour bridge or if I make a lot of sale. :-)

Fabric picture cards are pictures and/or images fitted inside window cutouts. Regular 100% cotton novelty-designed fabrics and/or images are printed by me on a 100% cotton fabric sheet to fit the card's window cut-outs or I use plain fabrics just like the Kangaroo below. To produce a raised effect of the images inside window cutouts I insert a wadding. Size of the card is the standard 110mm x 155mm and comes with matching envelopes. The inside panel is blank for personal messages just like any normal greeting card. You can have them framed too and hang on your wall if you want.  

So if you have any intention of saying hi or hello to a friend overseas, these cards would be perfect to send. :-) These cards are being sold in Dress A Girl Australia's shop for $2.50 each plus postage of $1.20. They will make a good keepsake or souvenir. To make a purchase, please click here. For any questions or more details, please click here. To help spread the word about items being sold in the shop to raise money for postage, I will leave that up to you. Thanks!

Nemo and Dress A Girl Australia

This is Nemo. With Nemo's help in 2014 (fingers crossed), I hope to be able to provide more dresses/shorts/shirts to the less fortunate children around the world. 

"We are going to shake the world" says Nemo and Dress A Girl Australia. WooHoo!!

So be on the lookout for Nemo in the coming weeks.

Charm Bracelets for Charity

Reviving my charm bracelet product line to help me raise funds for the Dress A Girl Australia well to provide clean water for the people of Kalagi Uganda. Once I have reached my goal, proceeds from sale of these items will be donated to Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund to help pay for the cost of sending dresses to different locations around the world.

I have 3 types of charm bracelets. One is the 'Girls best friend'. The second one is 'Imagine the possibilities and the third one is for the environment 'Be Green'.
(1) 'Girl's best friend' comes with a dress, stilleto heels, a girl, a bag and a sandal charms plus a bonus of a 'peace' charm.
(2) The 'Imagine the possibilities' are for sewing enthusiasts. The bracelet comes with a pair of scissors, sewing machine, tape measure, buttons, a single letter of the alphabet and on this particular charm is for letter H for hope and a bonus 'peace' charm.
(3) The third one which is the 'Be Green' comes with a recycle, butterfly, mushroom, tree, bird and a globe. All about saving the environment.
All bracelets are about 19cms (about 7.5") long which is the average size of a ladies' wrist.

For the first 25 customers, each bracelet purchase will come with a heart-shaped hinged tin. I had these tins for years but only 25 left though. Not sure if I can still sourced this item at this size and at the same price I bought it about 5 years ago. Actually I was trying to look for an item that is easy to sell in ebay because I was thinking I might send an extra parcel to the Philippines and the parcel would probably cost me about $60 to $80 dollars to send instead I found a box which had these inside. I wanted to sell something if I want to send an extra parcel as I didnt want to touch what I have started to save for next year. I did mention earlier that I used to sell arts and craft supplies to finance my craft hobbies but had neglected it when I went back to full-time job.

So if you purchase now you might be one of the lucky 25 who will get a free heart-shaped hinged tin. To check out these items, please click here. Each charm bracelet cost $10.00 plus postage of $1.80. I dont think you will find these charm bracelet combinations easily as they are a product of my imagination.

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

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.