Came across this Cardboard Dollhouse PDF pattern for sale at Dolls and Daydreams. Each set includes instructions and a tutorial on how to make a dollhouse out of your basic cardboard box, without the hassle of taping or gluing anything together. Such a simple and sweet eco-friendly idea! Imagine throwing a party for your little girl and giving each guest a cardboard box to make their own dollhouses from! Hmmm, looking around our new warehouse, I can predict an entire city happening soon… *evil grin*
We’ve been really quiet, but that’s just because we’ve been busy moving out and up! So much has been happening at the Gin&Jacqie office, and boxes are stacked taller than the few of us combined. After all that hard work, we’re finally into our new office and warehouse space, and though we’re far from making it look Etsy-becoming, this is a milestone worth sharing
Just some behind-the-scene pictures from our chaotically productive two weeks:
Besides moving, we also managed a successful launch for UNHCR (can’t stop thanking everyone for the overwhelming support!), and we’ve upgraded our display space at Czip Lee with a bright and dotty backsplash (apologies for the blur picture, hands were filled with toddler). If you happen to pop by at our favorite local stationery shop, do check it out and purchase a UNHCR bag for charity. We’ve also been sampling new packagings for our bags, and will post sneak peeks of the final sample soon!
It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come, from one little organizer to many big things. And it truly is a blessing to grow with you guys
Last weekend, I co-hosted a small and intimate baby shower for a very dear friend. We chose to have tea in the lounge at Mandarin Oriental, and to match the theme of a girly tea party, I made a games kit suitable for a quiet, lady-like afternoon.
I designed and prepared a very simple booklet for every guest, and in each one were five “games” that they could play within their own time during the tea party. When I was preparing the kit, I Googled baby shower game ideas many times, only to come up with a lot of “eat from a dirty diaper,” and “paint a onesie,” and just a whole bunch of really messy games that will amount to a pretty hefty budget or potentially unwilling guests. Since the mom-to-be was a very gentle person whose main priority was to catch up with the rest of us, I didn’t find such tedious games appropriate for her special day. Plus, I wanted her to go home with fond memories to fill a box with, something she could keep and share with her little girl.
So here’s a list of games I filtered down to instead:
Game 1: Guess the Genes
Simply come up with a list of basic genetics, followed by columns of boxes for both Mom and Dad. Get your guests to guess whose genes they predict the child will inherit from which parent by ticking the boxes.
Game 2: Fill in the blanks
Come up with some short sentences for guests to fill in their predictions with, such as “The baby’s first word will be _________,” or “The baby’s favorite color will be ________,”… just short little thoughts that won’t be too much of a hassle for the guests to fill.
Game 3: Baby names A-Z
This is as the title states: just list the alphabets down, along with blanks beside each alphabet for the guests to come up with suitable names. My friends took the longest with this game, and we got a lot of good laughs along the way.
Game 4: Draw baby’s face
Prepare a paper plate and marker for each of your guest (I chose pink to match, you can get most colors at any party shop), and get them to put the plate against their face and attempt to draw what they predict the baby’s going to look like without lifting the plate off their face. Not as easy, but easily fun!
Game 5: Dearest Baby…
This is just a page for each guest to write a message to the baby, and will be such a fond memory to revisit a few years down the road for both mom and child.
We filled up our individual booklets as we enjoyed the delicious tea sets (each set was RM75, and comes with complimentary tea). The games gave us a light and easy way to bond and laugh amongst great company, and the lovely mom-to-be took each guest’s kit – inclusive of the face plates and a blank booklet for herself to fill up – home to keep for her daughter. No mess, no wastage, no fuss… just a really darling way to share a joyous time with close girlfriends.
Between a baby shower, a wedding ceremony, our big warehouse and office move, and a new collection moodboard due, I was in too much of a rush to snap many pictures of the weekend fast gone by. I didn’t even have time to drop by the Fuyoh Art Bazaar in hopes of grabbing some last minute birthday gifts. However, I managed to drop by the Science Centre to photograph some natural textures that will help inspire, and to enjoy a quiet dinner with my family at our favorite Thai spot, My Elephant. And I think that pretty much sums up a wonderful end to a really hectic week.
Justin Timberlake, renowned pop singer, established fashion designer of William Rast, influential style icon, and interior designer at HomeMint. Yup, you heard right. JT is now dabbling in the field of ID through HomeMint, a website that showcases products designed and curated by JT and the talented Estee Stanley, interior designer to the stars.
Yesterday marked the launch of our Art with Heart project with The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In conjunction with World Refugee Day, we had an art contest for the children of the local refugee camp. They were given the theme entitled “Happy”, and each of the hundred participants were sponsored art supplies by Czip Lee to portray their image of happiness. Out of the many inspiring paintings that we received, one really spoke to us, and that was young Mary, who painted from the pain of losing her mother. “I painted “Love.” When my mother passed away, I was so scared, but I know her love is always with me. And that makes me happy.”
Mary’s winning artwork was printed onto Gin & Jacqie canvas bags to be sold to the public. Proceeds from the sales of the bags will go directly to funding education programmes under UNHCR. “Funds raised from this project will aid these learning centres in areas of basic needs including school books and stipend for refugee teachers,” says Yante Ismail, UNHCR spokesperson for Malaysia. “This is vital in helping refugee children have access to the best possible quality of learning while they are here in Malaysia.”
While the turnout was good, I was personally enjoying the obvious love, support, and dedication that the children had for one another, and even amid the celebrations and excitement, they were well composed and gentle mannered. Mary was truly an inspiring young soul to speak to, soft spoken and exudes a warmth that brought many fans to gathering her signature and smiles for their purchased bags. This was my first time participating in such a charitable cause, and now I see why Jacqie loves doing this at least once each year for the past few years… it is truly a rewarding experience and eye-opener to the the hearts and souls that make Malaysia.
As for the bag itself, it is now available for purchase at Czip Lee, Bangsar, direct from the good people of UNHCR, and in our online store. As our personal thank you for supporting the cause, we’re throwing in a gold Organize Jacq for only RM10 with every purchase of the Art With Heart bag. We truly appreciate all those who have supported this cause from the start, and we truly thank you those who continue to spread the awareness.
While skl0 faces possible jail time for decorating the streets of Singapore with a touch of whimsy and humor, Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, 25, is only facing much awe and admiration for the six-meter-tall graffiti image of an old man’s face on the wall outside an Armenian Street corner shop in George Town, Penang. The young artist has been so overwhelmed by approval that he’s already got requests lined up for projects all around George Town in conjunction with George Town Festival.
Read more about Ernest Zacharevic and George Town Festival here.
Thanks to the haze, we’ve been sick and stuck at home. Needless to say, the Father’s Day boxers I wanted to sew never got done. Thankfully, while I was freaking out guiltily on the morning itself, Oh Joy tweeted a picture of the gift she got her hubby – bottles of beer with her daughter and hubby stuck to them as labels. So I scurried out to B.I.G for some bottles, followed by Mailbox to get the labels printed, then to the carousel in the middle of the mall just ‘coz it’s so darn irresistible, popped into MPH to grab some comics to add to the pack, onwards to a quick lunch at Marmalade, and back home with homemade popsicles from Fru T-Pop and a Japanese convenience store on tow to finally work on the gift. I managed to get everything done just before he arrived home from work, and he was delightedly surprised to open the bathroom door to find arrows leading right up to his throne (men, tsk tsk), decorated lavishly with a stack of new comics and bottles of assorted beer.
It took him a good 40 minutes to come back out of the bathroom.
Hope your Father’s Day was as fun to create as ours was!
Since our Tidy Anne undergarments travel bag and Cory shoe case have received such great response, we’ve been drafting and sampling a lightweight kit for all your traveling needs. Above are some pictures of the samples, and we must say we’re pretty darn pleased with the results! In fact, I’ve used the first raw sample of this travel kit on a recent family trip to the beach, and fell in love with its compact spontaneity and the fact that I really don’t have to fold each “bag” with the accuracy of a road map to fit them back into its main (and mini) pouch.
Just received some printed pillow cases from The Great Indoors, and they’re looking pretty good in the scheme of things. Made to order and printed onto calico fabric, each piece brings to play such nostalgia in vintage brandings and just the right amount of understated statement to a room.
Of course, The Great Indoors offers much more than pillow cases. They sell a variety of oddities that are both whimsical to the young eye, and reminiscent of the old, from worn out crates, to exposed light frames, to an array of industrial stools that could do wonders to the layout of the everyday kitchen.
For more amazing finds such as the above, check out The Great Indoors website, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
