Unaccompanied Baggage Trial

I am currently on trial sending an unaccompanied baggage to Johannesburg South Africa. I have encountered a small hiccup in that I keep on missing(two weeks in a row)  the time that I need to go to the airport to endorse the baggage that I want to send. I cannot let anyone else bring the baggage as I need to sign some forms and that it should be the sender who endorses the baggage. The only time I can do it is on weekends. I will not be able to do it this Saturday as I am going away for a day so I will be attempting again on Sunday and hopefully it will be a success this time. The arrangement is for the recipient of the unaccompanied baggage to come and pick it up from the airport when it arrives. If this trial turns out to be a success and that there are no hassles to sending unaccompanied baggages to South Africa, that would really be my lucky day. A successful delivery will allow me to send another baggage to Durban South Africa. So am keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Dress Distribution #49 - Children of India c/o Mercy & Grace Parcel 2

I packed this parcel as an extra distribution to India but have decided I will not be sending it until February or early March to give way to parcels to Kenya which I need to send at the end of this month. This particular parcel of 50 dresses and undies are meant for 50 more children under the care of Mercy & Grace Orphanage in India.

Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors. Please note that dresses to India requires sleeves.

1) Linda Smyth

2) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group

3) Katherine Nott

4) Betty Barrett and Betty Paull

5) Wendy Yates

6) heyboom for the t-shirts used in the t-shirt dresses

7) T-shirt dresses sewn by Dress A Girl Australia from fabrics donated by Linda Smyth, Monika Osvald, Louise Wright, Sash Hinton, Jennifer Howlett and Erlyn Ballesta

8) Undies by the Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group

8) Dress A Girl Australia

Most of these t-shirt dresses were sewn by me in early 2013 when I was doing the one-dress-a-day for 365 days journey. To see larger images of the contents of this parcel, please click here. For more details on these distributions (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made this parcel possible. Thank you for heartily sharing your time, money, materials and effort in making these dresses for the less fortunate children of India. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Parcels for Kenya

Aside from the Philippines' parcels, I will be sending two more parcels to Kenya this month. Pastor Joshua of the Widows of Africa in Kenya has more or less agreed that when he visits his ministry in Rwanda, he will take with him dresses for the kids in the community. So I will be sending two boxes. One for Kenya and the other if he wants to for the children of Rwanda. These parcels have to leave Australia by the end of this month so it arrives in Kenya in time for Easter. Thank you Pastor Joshua.

And I am glad I joined the Habit factor challenge. As of today I have saved $22.00 from my habit of gold coin a day. By the end of 4 weeks, I would have enough to send one parcel to Kenya including the money I received from selling an item in ebay which reminds me that I have more items to sell that I no longer need. Maybe this weekend I will list all of them.

Important Information on parcels

Good morning everyone. Last year i hurt my left arm due to a parcel weighing more than 5 kilos. Even the guy at the counter of the post office said to me that it was very heavy. He helped me but he could not take out the parcel from the trolley anymore. My arm still hurts a bit everytime i lift something. This is not my main job guys i have a real job to earn a living and i dont want to get hurt or be in pain because of this. 

So i am going to make a change as far as sending parcels is concerned. There should be no parcels sent that is weighing more than 5 kilos each. You can send as many dresses as you want. That is not a problem but please make sure that they are packed in kilos of 5 each. This is a must to avoid injuries. Remember i dont only picked up parcels i also send. 

People who are offering to help pick up parcels they are older than me so i cannot expect them to lift something that i myself cannot do so please be considerate. If the postoffice guy tells me that he thinks it is too heavy for me to lift then i will not pick up the parcel until such time i can find someone to pick it up. I worked for a company where safety is the number one priority and practically brainwashed by it so i will also apply this concept to this volunteer/work campaign to avoid accidents and inconveniences.

So again, please be considerate and be guided with this information. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #52 - Children of Bohol Phils (c/o Norie Bordador)

This is one of the unscheduled distributions that I am happy to oblige as I still have dresses on hand which I want to give before I start the new year 2014. All these unscheduled distributions will be focused in the Philippines which is very okay with me because it is nearer and taking cost into consideration, it is not that expensive even if I have to send boxes and boxes of dresses which literally I am going to do. These particular parcels are going to the children of Bohol in the Philippines. Bohol is located in the central visayas region. It was recently strucked with a deadly earthquake. It happened in October of last year where 222 people died, 8 missing and over 900 injured. Thousands of structures were damaged and about 14,000 were totally destroyed. A month after the earthquake happened although the place was not directly hit by Typhoon Haiyan, a lot of those who were still living in temporary shelters had to be evacuated again.

Anyway, after coordinating with a parish, a group of volunteers headed by Norie Bordador will be flying over to Bohol from Manila . Am not sure but I think the flying time will be about an hour. They will be doing their distribution in Cambigsi Elementary School with the aid of the school in charge Ms Hilot and their school principal Dr Diodora Gabito once these parcels are received. 157 dresses for 157 children in this community. Am just so lucky that I can easily find people willing to do distributions on my behalf and they even have to fly sometimes. Thank you guys. Your efforts to help make a difference are really appreciated.

So without much ado, here are the boxes containing the 157 dresses that I will be sending over on Sunday (I hope otherwise it will have to be next weekend) -

and here are the contents of these 2 boxes - again splitted into two batches to make it easier for me to identify the donors -
Parcel 1 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Shirley Bell
2) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing group
3) Betty Barrett & Betty Paull
4) Karen Interlandi
5) Bethany Greenaway
6) Deborah Parish
7) Monika Osvald
8) Canungra Circle of Friends Qld
9) Linda Smyth
10) Katherine Nott with fabrics donated by Amanda Sampson and the Fabric Bug
11) Gaylene Hermann
12) Annette Norley
13) Pam of Threading My Way
14) Wendy Yates

Parcel 2 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
2) Di Menzel
3) Sarah Tanmahapran
4) Evelyn Smart, Colleen Barry, Veronica Tooey 
5) Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre
6) Katherine Nott
7) Monika Osvald
8) Anne Goedeck
9) Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
10) Bronwyn Reynolds
11) Toni Kirkpatrick
12) Golden girls Kay, Pauline, Betty & Julie

Again, no undies on these distributions and 5 of the dresses out of 157 I can no longer identify. If these dressses happen to be yours, let me know.

To see larger images of the contents of the two parcels, please click here. For more details on these distributions (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made these two parcels possible. Thank you for heartily sharing your time, money, materials and effort in making these dresses for the less fortunate children in the Bohol area of the Philippines. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Pictures and Dresses

I am not supposed to be writing this because I am at work but I have no choice because it is a bit disturbing. I just want to let everyone know that sometimes pictures are not possible to be taken. Imagine if there are 200 children around you and there are only 2 of you distributing. Sometimes some of you would be lucky to see your dresses worn by a child in a picture sometimes not but this does not mean your dresses were not distributed. If you have any doubts about the dresses you contribute, please go to my blog and there is a special tab "Dress Distribution” where you can find all the links to all the distributions I have made. I also post links to the postage I paid for the parcels that I send. I try to update this page whenever I can but since this is only a volunteer work for me(which is now taking up my spare time just to make everyone happy) I cannot spend all my time just doing updates. Please note that I also have a full-time job from Monday to Friday. Sometimes it is not possible for me to identify all the donors of the dresses but if you see your dresses as part of the parcels then let me know.

 

The last thing I want to happen is for the people distributing dresses especially in remote areas to buy a camera just so pictures can be taken and to pay huge amounts of money to have them developed to send to me or pay huge internet charges to send emails with pictures attached. Dont forget that these dresses are sent to less fortunate locations where communications are not readily available or not so cheap the same way here in Australia. Asking these individuals or groups to make the distribution on  my behalf is already asking a huge favour from them especially if they have to hire transport to take these dresses to the children. They also have their own personal commitments like family, work etc. Once they received the parcels any expenses incurred by them comes from their pocket so this is also a big sacrifice on their part so I hope that some of you could be more understanding. The way I see it everyone involved from sewing to sending to distributing plays an equal part as far as time, money and effort are concerned. No one is at a losing end.

 

Pictures are just bonuses if I get to receive any. What is important to me is that the parcels arrived at its destination and gets released to the recipients. Making follow-ups is not an easy task.  I never  said I was going to provide a picture of every child wearing a dress donated. If this is what some expected and is going to be a problem then I hate to be blunt and rude and that maybe  some of you should re-think whether to donate a dress or not to my cause  because I cannot assure everyone that their dresses worn by the children will end up in a picture.  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.

Feedback from Dress Distribution - CDO Philippines (Christmas Bags)

Still have not posted the article on the distribution of these parcels but I thought I would share with you snapshots of the Christmas Bag Distributions done by my aunt in CDO Philippines.
What a great way to change the world...with her own two hands reaching out to an eager-to-receive pair of small hands.

and see the smiles of gratitude after receiving their bags.

More pictures coming your way soon!

Dress Distribution #38 - Children of Manila Parcel 2 (Dec Distribution)

It is not an easy job to try to remember what you have packed especially when they are gone. This time two parcels containing 200 dresses and 50 pairs of shorts for the children of Manila (Parcel 2 Dec Distribution) c/o my good friend Leila Sevilla and her Knights of Columbus Grand Marshall husband Gerry.

Here are the two boxes sent weighing a total of 30 kilos (I think) and because I run out of boxes to use, I found an empty convection oven box and the plastic full of dresses fitted perfectly on it.. :-)

and here are the contents of the boxes and their respective donors. As usual, splitted them into four batches to make it easier for me to remember what I sent and who the donors are although it took a while to figure them (all 200 dresses and 50 boys shorts and more to remember) all out. If you see any of your dresses and your name is not mentioned, please feel free to send me an email so I can make the necessary corrections.
Parcel 1 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
2) Canungra Circle of Friends Qld
3) Beryl Hourigan, Marilyn Jenkins, Marie Dale, Kate Hardy and Terrie Ross
4) Melissa Delaware
5) Bethany Greenaway
Parcel 2 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Jabiru Arts & Craft Group
2) Monika Osvald
3) Maureen O'Brien
4) Evelyn Smart, Colleen Barry, Veronica Tooey
5) Melissa Delaware
6) Jo Taunton
7) Pat Pynn
8) Toni Kirkpatrick
9) Linda Smyth
10) Christie Sturre
11) Prudence Mann
12) Nikki Harvey
Parcel 3 contents -

made possible also by the following donors -
1) Nikki Harvey
2) Monika Osvald
3) Katherine Nott
4) Christie Sturre
5) Evelyn Smart, Colleen Barry, Veronica Tooey
6) Melissa Delaware
7) Meiling Sparrow
8) Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre
9) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
10) Betty Barrett & Betty Paull
11) Anne Goedeck
and Parcel 4 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Monika Osvald
2) Christie Sturre
3) Wendy Yates
4) Betty Barrett & Betty Paull
5) Norma Schubert
6) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing group
7) Maureen O'Brien

No undies were included in the parcels as there was no more space available in any of the 2 boxes.

To see larger images of the contents of the two parcels, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made these couple of  parcels possible. Thank you for heartily sharing your time, money, materials and effort in making these dresses for the less fortunate children in Manila. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please feel free to send an email todressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #44 & #45 - Children of South Africa (Morningstar Foundation)

Continuing on the never-seem-to-end parcels of 2013 are these four parcels containing 158 dresses, 50 t-shirts, 50 pairs of boys shorts, undies, headscarves and hairties for the children of the Morningstar Foundation of Wellkom South Africa. Hopefully I have properly identified the dresses and donors of items inside each parcel and did not interchange it with parcels bound for other destinations. :-)
Here are the four parcels I packed for South Africa - Luckily I was able to get a special concession for these parcels otherwise it would have been impossible to send these many boxes weighing almost 50 kilos via air freight.

Here are the contents of the parcels and their respective donors. I have splitted them into 3 to make it easier for me to identify the donors of the dresses -
Parcel 1 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Sian McIntosh, Sue Nash
2) Lorraine Walter
3) Sarah Tanmahapran
4) Hiroko Price
5) Kaylee Healy
6) Doris Beaty on behalf of Jolly Sun
7) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
8) Monika Osvald
9) Laurel Murphy
10) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
11) Lyn Granger
12) Debbie Nikolic and friend Wanda and sewn by Heather Harris
13) Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre
Parcel 2 contents -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Heyboom
2) Flor dela Cruz
3) Penny Grey
4) Karen Interlandi
5) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing group
6) Sarah Tanmahapran
7) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
8) Frances Cornish
9) Sian McIntosh, Sue Nash and Judy Pettersson
10) Katherine Nott
11) Canungra Circle of Friends Qld
12) Linda Smyth
13) J Rich
14) Evelyn Smart, Colleen Barry, Veronica Tooey
and Parcel 3 & 4 -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Elaine Klein
2) Maureen O'Brien
3) Loris Pullen and Chris Redden
4) Karin Maltby
5) Vanya Bryant
6) Annette Norley
7) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
8) Sarah Tanmahapran
9) Lyn Granger
10) Liz Williams
11) Monika Osvald
12) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Group
13) Linda Smyth
14) Dress A Girl Australia

As posted earlier, it is no longer possible for me to identify the donors of the undies so thank you to everyone who has donated undies.

To see larger images of the contents of the parcel, please click here for the dresses, undies and other accessories and here for the t-shirts, shorts and undies. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made all these parcels to South Africa possible. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. And my heartfelt thanks to Sian McIntosh and her dear friends for their postage contribution. Thank you for sharing the spirit of Christmas with these kiddies in South Africa. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

The Habit Factor challenge that will benefit Dress A Girl Australia

About a year ago I bought a digital copy of a book titled the Habit Factor. It is about goals and habits and how it influences our world and that the world we create probably depends on our habits. Then I bought the iphone app that allowed me to set goals, habits and activities which I used last year in my One-dress-a-day for 365 days journey. Everyday for almost 6 months(until I stopped), I would login to the app and tick the habit box whenever I finished sewing a dress.

About three weeks ago( from the Habit factor page which I follow in facebook) I found out that  there was a habit factor challenge coming up in the new year where you set up a minimum of 3 goals and what habits you want to develop in order to achieve your goals. I submitted my name to join the challenge. I  thought I would drop out from it before it started but after receiving two emails about the challenge I decided why not go on with it. I have nothing to lose and what to do if I cannot make it.  I think it was the idea that if I win, I will win an IPAD mini (I think)that made it attractive. I already have an IPAD but if I win am thinking of keeping the new one and sell my old IPAD and have more money for postage.

So here are the goals I setup for the challenge. Realistic and practical goals which I really needed to do anyway  for good health and well-being.

Goal #1 is to lose weight. Am starting to feel uncomfortable wearing my size 12 clothes that it is time to wake up and start losing some pounds. And to help me achieve this goal I need to form the habit of walking 10,000 steps a day which is about an hour and 15 minutes of walking. I did 10,000 steps a day as an office challenge (Global Corporate Challenge) about 3-1/2 years ago where for over 16 weeks I made a total of 1,720,246 steps with a daily step average of 15,497. It is like walking from Sydney to Pomeroon Supernaam wherever that is. J

Goal #2 is learn a new language and I chose Japanese. I’ve always been intrigued about Japan so the best way to learn more about the place and its people is by learning their language. The very first time I visited Japan about 12 years ago, I made sure I always had a pen and paper with me so I can draw a picture or an image to show where I wanted to go. I thought this was really funny but it was very helpful. It is not easy to find real Japanese craft shops if you cannot speak  or at least understand basic words.  I bought an iphone app (Mirai Japanese) and I think learning this new skill will take me maybe a year or more but for the sake of this challenge I need to develop the habit of learning something Japanese for at least an hour a day.

Goal #3 I think is the best part.  Save money for postage and/or Dress A Girl Australia well  and the habit I want to develop is save a gold coin a day. Imagine a gold coin for the next 365 days. That would mean a total savings of $730.00 in one year which I can donate to my fundraising campaign for a Dress A Girl well to be built in Kalagi Uganda if at the end of the year I still have not reached my goal or with $730.00 that is the equivalent of almost 7 or conservatively 6 parcels of at least 65 dresses each. A whopping 390 dresses to 390 less fortunate children anywhere in the world. 390 more happy faces in this world. And I have also worked out what I need to do and what I would be accomplishing in the next 4 weeks –

Goal #1 – By the end of 4 weeks I would have walked about 310,000 steps which hopefully would mean at least 3 kilos lost.

Goal #2 – At the rate of 4 Japanese words a day (which is the average number on the iphone app am using)  I would have learned about 124 Japanese words that I can use in a sentence

Goal #3 – Saved $62.00 . Another 3 weeks of gold coin a day I can add another $100 to my Dress A Girl well or send another parcel to India or whatever will make me happy on the day that I reach a $100. And this is how my plastic box looks like as of yesterday after starting last Monday -

So habit factor challenge….bring it on!

A few more of this....a little bit of that.

1) Before anything else, one of the items I listed on ebay just got sold about an hour ago. One more item to go and my parcel to Kenya is going to say goodbye to Australia. WooHoo!! Thank you to the buyer of the item. You probably do not know that with your purchase you just helped Dress A Girl Australia in dressing about 70 less fortunate kiddies in Kenya. Thank you for your purchase. It is much appreciated.

2) It looks like I have an unscheduled distribution that needs to be sent to the Philippines by end of January. Feeling happy as I can send small sizes.

3) If anyone is thinking of donating undies, please consider sizes between 0 to 6 for girls. Overflowing supplies for boys so dont need any. Have lots of 8 to 12 and dresses are mostly between 0 to 4. Sizes 0 to 6 will make me feel high. :-) Thanks heaps!

4) Anyone out there who wants to see a chart on average waist/size measurement for boys shorts, please see below - (Thank you Katherine! )
           

Till next this and that!

Dress Distribution #40 - Children of Thailand (Baan Jai Dee)

Although this is only the first of the parcels for December that I need to publish, this is the last parcel standing and the last that needs to be sent off  to close 2013. This parcel for 25 children of Baan Jai Dee in Thailand has been delayed for too long and when I was about to send it in November of last year I decided to put it on hold again so I could send my aid to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Phils. Well this time it is going. Will try my best to be able to leave work early any day this week to catchup with Australia Post or wait for Saturday at the latest and should be in Thailand in a week's time.
Here is the parcel to be sent to Baan Jai Dee Thailand -

s

and here are the contents of the parcel for 25 children (9 boys and 16 girls) - a mixture of dresses, boys shorts, t-shirts, socks, undies, mini bags for the little treasures they may have, headscarves and 3 softies -

and here are the donors -
1) Betty Barrett/Betty Paull
2) Mary Lauke, Sally Giles and Julie Quast
3) Sarah Tanmahapran
4) Ladies of Kapunda Sewing group 
5) Heather Harris
6) Sharyn Paull on behalf of Elizabeth Rowlands
7) Katherine Nott
8) Jane Daley
9) Lyn Crossley
10) Di Beckett
11) Rose Cunningham
12) Vanya Bryant
13) Monika Osvald
14) Dress A Girl Australia

To see larger images of the contents of the parcel, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made this parcel to Thailand possible. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

A couple of reminders for the day

One of these days I will be making a summary of all my observations on all parcels I receive. 

Reminder #1 is on straps. When making dresses with straps, please be generous with your straps. Dont forget that you do not know who is going to end up wearing the dress you are making so a bit of flexibility is needed. We dont want the child to become uncomfortable with her new dress. We want her to enjoy wearing the dress. 

Reminder #2 is on pins left on dresses or boys' shorts that you make. Make sure that before you packed your dresses or boys shorts that you remove all the pins you used. Twice in a row last night I got pricked by a pin. Note that I usually do sorting and packing at night after a full day's work so I cannot really see these pins sometimes. I only know about it when I have been pricked. We are here to help one another so it would be nice if along the way while helping no one gets hurt. 

Thank you for being so understanding.

Packing #5 - Softies from Rose

Back to donation acknowledgement and details of dress distributions to close off the year 2013. Hopefully I would remember which dresses went into which parcels. At the time of packing I actually had about 15 boxes on the floor. :-) It does not matter now which boxes went to which locations as they are all packed and gone.

These softies were meant for the children of Wilcannia but came a week late from my work colleague Rose Cunningham. She was away on the week that I posted the parcels to Wilcannia NSW and she thought that it would still be on when she came back. What I did was I inserted it in the parcel for Thailand which was still not sealed. These will have to go to the youngest kiddies in the group as there are only 3 of them but I wanted all toys to be given away.

Thank you so much Rose. Much appreciated.

Candle supplies' listing on ebay

I received 3 emails and a comment in my blog posting about the ebay listing I did for the candle supplies. I hope this is a good sign that there will be someone who would make a purchase soon. :-) 

I did the listing under my personal account (leisurestuff) rather than creating a Dress A Girl Aus account as I dont think it would really make any difference. ebay has strict guidelines if you are selling for charity. It does not matter which account it was listed. All I know is that if the items get sold soon,  I will have the biggest smile on my face especially that I know I would be making 70 girls in Miwani Kenya happy for giving them new dresses. The items are not on auction as I want a fixed price for it and I think whoever buys the items can still make money if they try to resell it. The selling price is below cost and fair for the quality of the items.

For the Tin Moulds - Floater/Tart - Seamless - 142 pcs - selling for $42.95 plus actual postage of $16.35 including signature upon delivery. here is the link - 

 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/191022995939?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

For the candy thermometers - 8x - selling for $32.50 plus actual postage of $10.00 including signature upon delivery. here is the link -

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/191023639196?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

If any of the above links do not work, please try to copy the URL address by highlighting the line, right click your mouse and select copy and then paste in your internet browser. If you still have problems, please let me know and I will try to work out what the problem is. Thank you.

I think I will do a few more postings of my personal items and see if it gets sold then perhaps I can send two parcels instead of one. :-)

Candle supplies for sale in ebay for Kenya parcel

Someone told me once that you tend to remember things you were supposed to do when you are in bed and I think this is really right. The whole morning at work yesterday I was thinking that the first thing I was going to do when I get home was look for a small box containing candle supplies which I have collected when I was still making/selling soy candles. Was not sure whether the box was in the garage or in the kitchen pantry. You see, whenever I ordered supplies from a US candle wholesaler before, I would always get a free candy thermometer. For some reason yesterday morning I remembered about it and knew I had about 6 or 7 collected. Also, when I visited this wholesaler in the US (I visited a friend in Pennsylvania and on our way to an Amish town I convinced her to stop by the candle wholesaler) it so happened that they were having a sale on tin moulds. The owner said that if I buy 100 moulds I will get 200 (2 for the price of 1) which I did. I sold a few of the tin moulds when I got back.

I was about to go to sleep when I remembered that I needed to look for that box. It was almost midnight (well past midnight actually since it was 12:02am on my alarm clock) and finally found the box after half-an-hour and my memory is really very good (LOL!) because these are the contents of the box - 8 candy thermometers and 142 tin moulds.

 A jackpot box which I am selling in ebay (in fact I have already posted the tin moulds right after I found it very early this morning) and will be posting the candy thermometers later today as I still need to think of a description. Proceeds from the sale of these candle supplies will be used to send a parcel to Miwani, Kenya. I think this is the reason why I had to find the box. I needed the funds for the parcel.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in candle making or looking for these candle supplies, please let them know about this. These items when sold will dressed about 70 girls in Miwani Kenya.

Important Notice regarding dress sizes below 4 please read !!

As of tonight, I have 735 dresses on hand and 462 of these dresses are below size 4 (between the sizes of 0 to 3). I am having a difficult time distributing these dresses as the feedback I am getting is they need bigger sizes. With the cost of sending parcels overseas going up again, I dont want to send these dresses only to find out that no one is wearing them. This is a difficult decision to make especially for those who have been making a lot of these sizes (but for almost 6 months now I have been posting about sizes that are needed) but as of tonight and until such time that I am able to clear these 462 dresses, I will not be accepting dresses below size 4. I cannot afford to rent a small warehouse to safekeep dresses that are slow moving. I hardly have a space left in the room that I am using in my house so please if you want to help please make bigger sizes. 

I want to focus my expenses on the sending of dresses for distribution rather than paying for a space to safekeep dresses that cannot be distributed. This restriction will be lifted as soon as I have cleared these dress sizes for distribution. Thank you.