wordless wednesday: that day we created a rainbow

Step 1: Make a drawing

Step 2: Cut out colour squares

Step 3: Glued the colour squares to fill up the rainbow

Step 4: More gluing and sticking

 

Step 5: Completed rainbow, now to fill in colour for the rest of the drawing

Step 6: Colouring, colouring, colouring.....

Finally completed. A proud piece for ‘Show N Tell’ (it was on 2 Aug 2012). My not so Wordless Wednesday entry.

a warm and fuzzy feeling

On my way to work today, I suddenly remembered a friend. I took out my phone and texted “Girl, have been to the doc yet?”. Then, I waited for reply from my dear friend...

It is strange how relationship develops. I still remember the day when we first met. She has contacted me to stock one of the brand that she's distributing in Singapore. And we agreed to meet at Parkway Parade. We chatted for hours. This lady, on our first meeting, shared with me her passion for green products, environmental issues and her ideals of helping the less fortunate. Big dreams for a small-sized lady.

Well, I didn’t list her brand on my webstore eventually and we didn't keep in contact. But we met again when we took part in the same fair with a common friend. From then on, two mummies from different backgrounds, together with our common friend, took part in various fairs. Then in 2010, three of us decided to band together to open a brick and mortar boutique to showcase the brands that we love. It was then my dear friend and I got really close. We share tips and experiences on our businesses, even rants about our daily family life. She opened my eyes to issues on the negative impact clothing manufacturing has on the environment, on how toxic materials are used to produce the lovely toys that our children play, on how workers are treated unfairly by the employers. We search actively globally for social responsible children related products to introduce to parents in Singapore. We wanted to offer better alternatives to what is currently available in Singapore market. Among the three of us, she spend the most time at our boutique, clocking at least 6 hours for 6 days a week. Without my friend, our boutique wouldn’t have lasted 1.5yrs.

Her life has not been smooth sailing but she has overcome each obstacles that were thrown in her path and emerged stronger. Through it all, she’s still able to open her heart to love the people around her. I am always amaze at her energy level and never-say-die attitude. It is comforting to know that she will always be ready to offer a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or an encouraging pat... whenever I needed them.

So, here’s a toast to you Belinda, my dear friend.... cheers!

pssst... please go see a doc soon.

new beginning

It has been a wonderful 1.5 years for us at City Square Mall. Though it is sad for us to close our boutique, Moms’ Cottage, at City Square Mall, it is a move we had to make as we restructure our core business. We organized our final ‘Move Out Sale’ from 24 to 27 May 2012. A lot of you came to bid farewell and help us clear quite a bit of stocks, thank you for the love.

It was a big step for us to open a brick and mortar boutique 1.5 years ago and through it, we have learned a lot. From stock taking, budgeting, marketing, customer service to dealing with difficult requests... experiences that we will not have gained if we had remained an exclusive online store. But the biggest gain is we have made some wonderful friends who came into our life as fans of the products we stock. Your over-whelming support is what that has kept us going during this difficult retail time. You know who you are :)

On this page, we would also like to thank our part time helper Yulin. When Yulin first came for interview, we had doubt that she will even last 1 month, after all she’s only 18 (right?) and still in Polytechnic. But she proved us wrong and stick to us for the next 1.5 years. With the same determination that she has in learning the Korean language, she make an effort to learn all our product information, memorize our various on-going promotions, offer her best service and also give us feedback on customers comments. Even when Yulin’s school workload increases, she still offer to help us out on weekends so that our partner can have a break. In a time that committed retail staff are hard to find, Yulin is a blessing to us. Yulin will be starting her internship in September, we wish her success in her selected career path. We will miss you girl.

Our Moms’ Cottage facebook page will still be kept active with products and promotion updates. We are still reachable through facebook. Visit itsy bitsy ME! fans page for social responsible apparel and After Organic (here) for eco-friendly lifestyle products.

Thank you for walking with us as we continue our journey to embrace environmental sustainability. Till we settle in our next retail location, stay connected with us online.

Wordless Wednesday??

And so I just came to know about the term ‘Wordless Wednesday’ among the blogging community. I did a quick search on the WWW and this came up on Wiki Answers: “On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it doesn’t need any description.”. hmmm... good for me since writing is not really what I do best. So here’s my first entry to resuscitate my blog after 3 years, my not-so Wordless Wednesday post.

This fish flies.

Showing off their balloon catch.