I’m so happy to say that there’s a contest starting from today and the prizes are sponsored by My Happy Store and Buttons and Such! Isn’t this great?!
My Happy Store is filled with eye-candy deco tapes, washi tapes and adorable stationery while Buttons and Such is a lovely place carrying an assortment of fabrics, buttons and other notions that any sewing crafter will love! Ruth, the sweet owner of both shops is offering 2 surprise packs, worth USD 15 each, containing zakka goodies (from both shops) to 2 readers. All you have to do is to pick one favourite item from either shop and let us know what it is with a comment on this post.
Contest ends next Wednesday 17th Mar. Results will be announced the next day. Please feel free to spread word about this and when you do, you’re welcome to post a second comment stating your method of info sharing.
Very big thanks to Ruth for offering the giveaway. If you are going to shop right away, don’t forget to write “bloomize” at “Note to seller” to enjoy a 10% discount (exclude shipping) on your order from either shop. Shipping will be combined if purchases are made at both shops. Discount ends 19th Mar.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about a giveaway and finally decided what zakka goodies to share with you. I divided them into 2 sets and both will be given away to 2 persons. Choose either set A or B then leave a comment with your email on this post.
Set A:
Moco coloured thread from Fujix, polka dot twist ties and a pink leather teddy charm
Set B:
A pack of Romatique Soleil page markers, a matryoshka card and a brown leather teddy charm
Closing date is 18th Dec. Results will be posted on the 21st. Please feel free to talk about it.
Also, from now till Sunday 13th Dec, for any purchase of a Sunshine bracelet you’ll receive a set of matroshyka page markers as a thank-you gift. Designs may vary from the one pictured below but guaranteed kawaii.
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A few days ago I bought a Cop Copine dress for a wedding. It had a handsome tag hanging from the inner label. Nothing unusual at this point. What puzzled me later is that unless I cut the string, I couldn’t find a way to take it off. But…how can that be? How strange to have a need to cut. I was stumped, so I put the dress aside.
Last night I pick it up again to dig further and voila, found that the conspicuous ball held the answer! It’s a fastener!
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Do you wish to see more of them? I’ve begun keeping track of some of the design varieties (and I’ve made more than 80 bracelets thus far) on this Flickr set.
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Hub came back from a work-related seminar a while ago and showed me a brochure of a lilac pipe (which I thought was pink). The Lilac is made in Germany by Aquatherm and is used solely for recycled/reclaimed water. The birth of Lilac came about after the company received requests from Australia to design a pipe specially for reclaimed water. The color was chosen because of the specifications required by the Sydney Water Authority to differentiate this pipe from the other pipes used for other purposes. Isn’t it a refreshing choice of colour for coding hardware?!
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Barbara Glanz is a speaker and author. A few years ago, she spoke at a convention for a large grocery chain with over 3,000 people attending. Her talk was on creating memories for the customers so they would want to come back. At the end of her speech, she gave out her email address and phone number, and said, “If you have any great service stories, I’d like to hear them.” Well, about a month later, Barbara gets a call from a young man who introduces himself as Johnny.
He said, “Barbara, I heard what you had to say about service, and I like it! I’m just a bagger in the store and I have Downs syndrome, but I wanted to think of a way I could make a difference.
I decided that I like sayings, so each day I’m going to pick out one that I like, and my dad and I will print it out on the computer. I’ll cut out the quote in strips and sign my name on the back of each one. The next day when customers come through, I’ll just drop a strip right in their bags and say, ‘I hope you enjoy my quote of the day.’ What do you think, Barbara?”
Barbara said, “Johnny, I think that’s a wonderful idea!”
A few weeks later, Barbara gets another call…this time from the store manager. He says,
“Barbara, you won’t believe what’s happened at our store. I went out into the store and noticed that one line was three times longer than the others. I went to the back of the line and suggested that customers move to another checkout, and they wouldn’t budge—they wanted to see Johnny’s quote of the day!
In fact, one lady said, ‘I used to come here once a week, but now I come 2-3 times just to see the smile on Johnny’s face when he drops in his favorite quote.’
So the next day, I round up my team and tell them what Johnny has done to give our customers more than they expected. That afternoon, I see the lady in the floral department cutting off her broken flowers and pinning them on the elderly women in our store. Our guy in the meat department loves Snoopy, so he was putting his favorite Snoopy stickers on the packages, and talking to his customers.
In fact, everybody in our store is finding creative ways to put their mark on service. We’re having the time of our lives, and it seems like everyone in town is talking about us! And you know what, Barbara? It happened for one reason…Johnny decided to do something!”
When it comes to service, we all have our unique gifts to give; however we’ll never make the emotional connection with the customer unless it begins in our heart.
[An except from the book The Simple Truths of Service - Inspired by Johnny the Bagger by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz.
Image courtesy of Barbara Glanz]
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Though our island wasn’t affected in any way by the Asian tsunami back in 2004, the event hit home closer than we could have expected. My family and friends either knew someone or knew someone who knew someone who was in Phuket when the mighty tidal waves crashed through the shores.
Recently some parts of Asia have been badly hit by a series of disasters. Hub knows a Filipino contractor working in Singapore whose brother’s family and sister’s family are badly affected by the flooding in the Philippines. Their homes are gone. His wife and kid who are living in another part of Philippines are safe and well.
We want to help him raise funds and have started a donation drive among family/friends/their circle of friends. I made bracelets during the weekend to go alongside with the fund-raising…hoping to raise whatever amount we can. We are also accepting clothing.
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