Yes, sometimes at Ellie Fun Day we like to throw parties for special friends. My dear friend Traci at 45 Wall Design was celebrating a special birthday, so her husband Herman decided to enlist me and her cousin-in-law, Rachel to come up with something fabulous for her. We were brainstorming ways to bless Traci and their new Eichler and came up with the idea of showering her with blessings.

We enlisted all of her friends to write a phrase of blessing for her and the new house. I printed them onto raindrops that hung from the linen cloud mobile that I sewed. The light was just perfect in her atrium.

As I’m all about recycling and being sustainable I found these GORGEOUS Wasara Plates at Branch in SF. They’re entirely tree free and made out of sugar cane, bamboo and reed pulp. I can’t say how lovely they are to see in person, especially the package that they come in! The shapes that they come in are just so elegant. I also found compostable forks and knives from Birchware via Amazon. I hand stamped Traci’s initial using an inkpad and then wrapped the knife in Japanese Washi Tape.

I love flowers so dearly and a party isn’t a party without flowers. Sticking with the theme I used billy balls, peonies, anemones, ranunculus and Star of Bethlehem with a Gemini filler. They turned out lovely!

These lovely critters I found at Michaels and used a white spray paint to cover them. As for the party hats…I used the same paper from the rain drops and then made a fringe with white tissue paper for the tassels. I think that this was my favorite part of the whole party. It just gave a whole new element to fun and party. The tree stumps (do you recognize them?) our dear friend Al had an old pear tree that he was cutting down and he offered to cut some of these for our pop-up shop.  I thought they were the perfect little element to give variation in height.

For the drinks we served a classic and pink lemonade with fun yellow straws and these lids we purchased via Etsy. I printed out little flags on craft paper that read “We Heart Traci”.

For dessert we decided to go with Traci’s favorites. We were a little sneaky and checked out her Pinterest board and came up with this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp in a jar. They were super easy to make.

Kara’s cupcakes with Cloud Toppers and raindrop fondant.

Traci’s favorite kettlecorn in cones and finished with washi tape. I bought a foam board from Michaels and wrapped it with tissue. To get the cones to stand up, I used floral wire inserted into the board then I slid the cones through the bottom and filled the cones with the kettlecorn.

The pièce de résistance were these cloud macarons that my friend Lisa made! They were the most adorable things I’ve ever seen! Yes, she is for hire! We found instructions here.

Thank you Herman for these lovely photos and allowing us to bless Traci in this way!

And we have a winner for our “Start Something that Matters” contest!

Gabi B said.

“I would like to rent out a room in a convention centre, church, etc.. and give a presentation about the north Koreans and there struggles and also tell people how they can help and get involved. I want to start a non profit org. to help the NK orphans and mothers and I think that if I just started going to different places and speaking it would bring me that much closer to my goal and hopefully encourage others to help. I would use the money to help pay for the auditorium or centre fee.”

This topic is near and dear to us. We ourselves have struggled with having children of our own and have a large heart for adoption. We have so many friends with awesome stories here and here. These pics are just a snippet of the joy that these children have brought to so many of us!

Choi Boi 

Lil E

This past Friday we had a chance to set up a pop-up shop at The Slave Next Door event hosted by Project Peace. This event specifically highlighted the issue of modern day slavery  in our own backyard. We were really floored when we heard the story of Minh Danh. She was sold for sex by her own parents right here in San Jose, California. We first heard about Minh’s story on Dateline NBC, but to hear her speak, opened our eyes wider. She was eloquent and dynamic, and spoke not as a victim, but an advocate. The speaker that came up after her, Kevin Bales, of Free the Slaves,  said that it was equivalent to meeting Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass, slaves that freed other slaves. It was a historic moment for us all to witness.

One large takeaway from Dr. Bales was that human slavery goes hand-in hand with ecocide. People that exploit people also exploit the land alongside of them. His solution to this massive problem was to stop our need for excessive consumption. He said that if everyone were to consume the way U.S. citizens consume it would take up 5 earths. Seriously eye opening.

The other component of the event was a fair-trade bazaar that featured many different organizations that sourced fair-trade products from around the world. We were happy to be across the way from our friend, Fay Johnson at Slavery Footprint. They have an amazing site that helps you calculate how many slaves work for you according to the items that you own. I soberly calculated 51 with all of my goods. I highly encourage everyone to take this survey as it’s an amazing and beautiful site, but also helps us to personally take action in our corner of the world.

I know that it’s been a long-time coming, but we’ve finally launched our Indiegogo! So what does that mean? IndieGogo is a crowd-funding platform to help fund creative projects like ours that just need a little boost from friends and family. For every contribution there are some awesome things that you will be getting in return! We are trying to raise $15,000 to kickstart our project in India. Here are our goodies!

$5 ///  Ellie’s Friends :

• shout out on Ellie Fun Day facebook
• a digital wallpaper download from Ellie Fun Day

$25  ///  Ellie’s Poster Club :

• a limited edition Ellie Fun Day  poster. This was designed and hand-drawn especially by my good friend Akiko Ito for Ellie Fun Day.

$40 ///  Ellie’s Shopping Club : Ok, this is not just any ole shopping bag. First off, it’s made from jute (which is an eco-friendly fiber) with a water protectant liner. We are collaborating with Freeset Global to bring this bag to you. Freeset is a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade.

• a limited edition Ellie Fun Day and Freeset Collab burlap totebag.

$60 ///   Ellie’s Swag :

• both the limited edition Ellie Fun Day totebag and poster

$96 ///   Ellie’s Blankie:  This is a limited edition run blanket made in the USA. All proceeds from this blanket will help fund our venture in India. The front side is made from an ultra- silky Cotton and Silk. It features adorable little flaps that little ones will love to play with. The backside is 100% ORGANIC COTTON FLEECE that is super snuggly and soft. This is entirely machine washable.

• premier Ellie Fun Day Blanket (retails for $110). Pick ONE, either the ELLIE or the SHARKIE

$150 ///  Ellie’s Blankie Club :

• 1 Ellie Fun Day blanket
• 1 limited edition Ellie Fun Day poster
• 1 Ellie Fun Day Burlap Totebag

$325 ///   Ellie’s Blankie Swag : This is a great deal if you have many upcoming baby showers! What a great way to have a gift that keeps on giving

• 3 Ellie Fun Day blankets
• the limited edition Ellie Fun Day poster
• 1 Ellie Fun Day Burlap totebag

$365 ///   Ellie’s Heirloom Blankie: We will work with you to create a one of a kind blanket for your loved one that will be treasured for a lifetime. This is truly a special gift that will bring lots of oos and aahs… for generations to last.

• everything from Ellie’s Swag ( 1 totebag & 1 poster)
• plus 1 customizable, heirloom blanket, hand-sewn by Sarah, which includes a design consultation.

$1,000 ///   Ellie’s Photo Friends : If you’ve ever wanted your child to be a model in an ad, this is the time! We will work with you to get just the right shot and you will have the photos to prove it! (limited to the Sacramento and SF Bay Area)

• 1 Calvina Photography Session Package and we’ll feature your child (5 and under) in an Ellie Fun Day promo
• plus everything from Ellie’s Blankie Swag

 $7,000 ///   Ellie’s Tour : hear stories of transformation and gain an in-depth perspective on our development work. Let this trip also be an opportunity for you to dream of how you can bring change to our world!

• everything from Ellie’s Blanket Swag
• and one trip to India to meet the women who are making the blankets

Please go to our INDIEGOGO PAGE to support us! Thanks friends and family!

In approximately 4 days my husband and I will be heading with two dear friends to India. This pilot trip really is about setting out to do the impossible. In this season of recession, some people have called us crazy to start up a new company. Though we understand the difficulty, we can’t help but to see the amazing opportunity.

Some of you already know that Calvina Nguyen, from Calvina Photography will be joining us on this pilot trip to help tell our story from the very beginning. I’m ecstatic to have her and I can’t wait to see the stories that will come out of it.

Another dear friend of ours, Nate Chan from Yours Truly will also be a part of this pilot team sharing our journey through video (he shot our awesome teaser video!). They’ve been featured in WIRED MAGAZINE , MTV and many other industry mags.  Nate has profiled numerous up and coming indie bands as well as Grammy award winning Lady Antebellum. We are incredibly honored to have him join us.

Please spread the word and follow us for updates, pics and videos!

Oh Kolkata…

After two days of Kolkata, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. The chaos, the poverty, the amount of effort it takes just to get something done. I was reminded that we have a long road ahead filled with many challenges. I had to take a few deep breaths, relax myself, remind myself why we’re doing what we’re doing.

A few glimpses into our day:

We were trying to find bottled water to drink, but not all bottled water comes from a reliable source. Back home, I casually go to the tap or buy a reputably branded bottle from a large retailer. But we had trouble finding a store that even resembled a 7-11. And many of the bottles sold by street vendors seemed like that had already been used and just refilled with tap water. It took us a while, but we found a store and got our water rations for the week.

In our efforts to find the stores, we used addresses off Google and a random map we found at home. As we were roaming the streets looking for the stores, the map we had didn’t seem to have all the streets and the street names didn’t all match up. Later we read in a tour book that there are very few maps for Kolkata because most of the street names have changed [after British rule] and there are just too many little alleys to put on a map.

When we walked back last night, all the streets near our guest house were lined with people sprawled out on the side walk. They weren’t in line buying Harry Potter tickets or protesting the wealthy one percent. They were bathing in the gutter water, sleeping on thin straw mats and for a few, embracing the one whom they could call their own. It was sobering moment for everyone on our team.

Tomorrow we meet with Sari Bari who free women in the sex trade by making handbags and home textiles. We’re so encouraged by the work they’ve been doing and look forward to learning and observing. Companies like this remind us that though the challenge is great, there are courageous people willing to go into hard places to make a difference.

Thanks for following! More to come!

Follow Calvina Photography for more pics.

To say we love the poor doesn’t mean much until we do something about it. And Beth did something about it. Right out of college, Beth from Sari Bari, decided to move into the heart of the red-light district in Kolkata and has given up her twenties to defend the powerless.

She picked us up from the metro station and walked us through weaving alleys, shouting storeowners and bathing children. We noticed that the closer we got to our destination, the brighter the houses got. It was more alluring, yet more dilapidated than other neighborhoods.

There are no signs to Sari Bari. This is for the safety of the women. We proceeded up a dark narrow stairway to arrive on a brightly sun-lit terrance. At the center of a very worn down building, there was the gentle hum of women sewing. These beautiful sarees were being hand sewn, stitch-by-stitch into blankets, bags or scarves.

Beth speaks a few words in English to her operations manager and then gives a loving embrace to one of her girls. She’s both a mother and a manager. A coach and a counselor. Beth supervises, mentors and cares for over 50 former sex-trade workers, helping them find a way out of the trade.

We’ve spent two days with two organizations, Sari Bari and Freeset, hearing about their work providing freedom for women in the sex-trade. Many of these women are kidnapped, lied to or blatantly sold by their husbands or parents into slavery. There are several red-light districts in Kolkata where up to 20,000 men seek out the services of over 10,000 women daily (many of whom are barely teenagers).

What Sari Bari and Freeset do is provide gainful employment as an alternative to the sex-trade. Sari Bari makes bags and blankets out of recycled sarees. Freeset makes jute bags and organic, fair-trade cotton t-shirts (we’re offering their burlap bag as one of our Indiegogo perks!). Both organizations provide health coverage and basic education in reading, writing and math.

It’s been tough learning about how girls (not women) are being exploited. Kerry, the founder of Freeset shared about how they often get destitute women walking in with all the life sucked out of them. However when we observed the women, there were so many contagious and genuine smiles. They worked hard, laughed intermittently and you couldn’t help but feel like you were among family. You knew lives had been changed.

Annie, Kerry’s wife, spoke about a woman who was mute and had been working in the sex-trade for many years. Because of her physical disability and her age, she was barely making 25 cents USD per “transaction.” She came in broken and her saree was filthy. Annie gave her a clean saree, a few full-days wages and brought her into the Freeset family. After three years, she still can’t speak, but she can smile and she’s one of the hardest workers in the group.

This post could go on forever with stories and impressions. But what we saw were people courageously standing up for the poor, restoring broken lives and loving people that others have thrown away. They were willing to move their entire families to the worst neighborhood in Kolkata because of a simple call to follow Jesus and love the poor.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos within either Sari Bari or Freeset because many of the women are still at risk from former owners, pimps and lenders. We’ll share more in the next few posts, but both these organizations were amazing inspirations and ridiculously generous with their time and resources. It’s been both supremely humbling and encouraging to be with them and a huge blessing to connect with leaders who have been doing it for more than 10 years.

Thanks for journeying with us… more to come!

Today we began the first of several visits to cotton mills. Sourcing is such a critical issue for us. On one end, it’s about finding really high quality materials so we can produce a really amazing blankie. But on the other end, we need to know how the cotton was made and who it was made by. We can’t enable freedom on one end and facilitate oppression on the other.

We were driven by the owner of the company to the outskirts of Kolkata and took a thorough tour of the plant. It’s pretty amazing to see the entire cycle: from processing the raw cotton to weaving the fabric to finishing the product. It gave us a very comprehensive view of the manufacturing process.

As we mulled over different fabric samples we had a really interesting conversation with the owner about the overall work environment in West Bengal. He shared that the communist party has been in power for over 30 years (Indian states are independently governed by different political parties, one of which includes the communist party) and their staunch commitment to socialism has left the state and its people in poor shape. Hard work is rarely rewarded and city development has been severely limited.

The owner also shared about how Bengali’s are very resistant to change and that relationships need to be cultivated over many years before you can make any type of progress. But once you have their trust you have it for life.

Even though we won’t be working in Kolkata, we were reminded that there are larger issues to deal with than just “making a blanket” – we’re here to both empower people and develop communities. Because of this, our road ahead may be a little longer than others. But our hope is to see lives changed and for this we’ll walk the longer, less traveled route.

Today we got a chance to catch up and rest. We filmed another video – but this time on the streets of Kolkata. I didn’t quite anticipate how much attention I’d attract! Storeowners, pedestrians, street people all stopped to see if we were doing a local news report. It was a bit daunting to get that much attention since we already get a fair amount of stares for being foreigners. Overall everyone was friendly and just wanted to talk to us or be on camera.

In the afternoon, we went back to Freeset to spend time with a couple of their operations managers. We’re SO blessed by Freeset; they’ve welcomed us with open arms, treated us like their children and shared all their past mistakes and triumphs. It really can’t be overstated how helpful and loving they’ve been.

We met with Sandro who is a native Brazillian and moved to Kolkata just to work with Freeset as their operations manager. He oversees the whole production of the bags from start to finish. He sat down with us, gave his best advice and let us pick every part of his brain. He shared openly about the joys of working at Freeset and the struggles of living in India.

Sandro also told us that a big challenge is the differing standards of quality. What we think is acceptable quality is different than what the women think is acceptable quality. Some of this is cultural. But in the end, it’s still a significant gulf to cross.

Many of the Freeset women have no education and need to learn fine motor skills in order to achieve the tasks that they are given. Even handling a pair of scissors can be a challenge. Kerry and Annie not only provide a job, but they educate their women and love them like their own. Just recently they had to house a young girl who was beaten by her brother and had no where else to go.

To see where they are today is an enormous encouragement. After 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, they’ve been able to create a sustainable business and produce quality products that are sold all over the world. It’s a story of faith and endurance. Their willingness to sacrifice western comforts and intentionally live among the poor has been an inspiration to us.

As we were leaving, Annie (one of the founders), sneakily slipped a card into my purse and said, “This is for you guys.” Later when I opened it up, it contained a very generous gift and the card read, “Please accept this to help as you start-up your business. May His Freedom Reign, Blessings Kerry & Annie.” I am so humbled by their generosity and it’s something that I will carry with me always. Thank you Freeset for paving the path for us.

On our last day in Kolkata, we visited two starkly different places. The first was the Queen Victoria Memorial built to honor the British matriarch during the British occupation of India. It was palatial, made of pure white marble. It’s surrounded by sprawling gardens, palm trees and reflection pools – all fit for queen. Next to the Taj Mahal, the Memorial would be the crowning architectural achievement in India.

Our second visit was to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in central Kolkata. After Mother Teresa passed away she was entombed right in the main worship area. The building is understated but immaculate – definitely not like the surrounding area. Her tomb was simple and white with orange flowers neatly spelling out the phrase: Prayer is longing for God.

There were several other pilgrims paying their homage and a sense of solemnity filled the small room where she lay. As I walked through the humble museum of her belongings, her level of sacrifice is unfathomable to me. She said her final goodbyes to her mother and sister at the age of 18, never to see them again in order to serve the poorest of the poor on the streets of Kolkata.

I’ve heard many stories about Mother Teresa, but nothing really sunk in until I saw the place (and the people) she spent years serving. Walking through the city and seeing a 2 year old begging on the street by motioning with their hand to her mouth and saying “food” makes it all very real. It puts into context Mother Teresa’s act of obedience to God and the sacrifice she made to love the poor.

One quote that struck me was from Mother Teresa’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

What can we do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the west so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed the hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society – that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult.

It’s a little bittersweet to bid farewell to Kolkata. What started as shocking became more understandable. What I’ve seen here and the work that has been done through our courageous friends has left an indelible mark on me. Their commitment and selflessness has really put everything into perspective. I’m reminded that clean water, food to eat, even a place to rest my head on are pure luxuries. I’m thankful for my time in Kolkata and look forward to what lies ahead in Trivandrum.

In honor of our return from India and in the spirit of Christmas we are hosting a Mommy and Me Giveaway contest!
(can we get a YAY?)

Here is what we’re giving away!

FOR BABY

#1 One Ellie Fun Day blanket of your choice (Ellie or Sharkie) Retail $95

#2 Chewbeads: some might argue this is for mommy as well! Retail $29.50

FOR MOMMY

#3 Deep Steep Organic Bubble Bath in Lavendar Retail $10.95

#4 EOS Organic Lip Balm in Sweet Mint Retail $3.29

#5 Emerson Made Silver Dollar Indian Tunic  Retail $168.00

How to Enter:

One of our core values at Ellie Fun Day is RESPECT for both people and the planet. So we started to do some research and  came upon a really interesting company that hand looms organic cotton and dyes it in Ayurvedic medicinal solutions. Ayurveda has a 5000 year history of treatment of medicinal plants for various ailments. All very similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

… Drumroll please…

We also have a surprise gift for the BEST Favorite Baby Memory!!

Thank you everyone for such an awesome comments. Much thanks to EmersonMade for sponsoring!

We would LOVE it if all of our fans can continue to SPREAD THE WORD about our IndieGogo. Buy a blanket, a tote, an awesome poster...all to help fund a great cause!

I always thought that it was fun to see what goes on behind the scenes of a photoshoot. To be honest with you, I’ve been on many photoshoots that I’ve art directed and many times they’re pretty calculated and staged with lots of lights and makeup.

For Ellie Fun Day due to time and resources we had to be more creative with what we had. First off, booking a studio would cost us hundreds of dollars and lots of other not so fun paper work. After some discussion with my in-resident photographer Calvina, we thought that my loft would be the best place since we had tons of natural light and the right flooring.

After some “minor” furniture rearranging we managed to get our set-up where we had a nice clean wall and floor for our main shoot. (notice how Nate, our videographer, used my stool and clothespins to hold up the blankets!)

For the bedroom shoot I cleaned out my guest room and kept the palette nice and clean with bright whites and a fluffy bed. This is where you see our teaser with the adorable Isaiah.

Wardrobing kids is always fun. I wanted to keep the feel simple and make sure that the kids and the blankets stood out so I kept them in whites and neutrals. Surprisingly it’s extremely hard to find just simple white tees and bottoms for them.

To keep the kids happy and entertained we had a good sampling of organic pops, Goldfish and juice boxes to keep them happy. Note to self for future shoots, bring out goodies AFTER the shoot to keep them clean.

One of the biggest challenges with shooting kids is that you can’t direct them as much as adults so you’re looking to create spontaneous and fun moments for them. It’s really the job of the photographer to capture them at just the right moment and Calvina did a fabulous job.

The two sisters, Audrey (older) and Emily (younger) are daughters of my dear friend Corrine (we go all the way back to 6th grade). They’re hapa-babies as we call them, half Irish and half Chinese. They are both as rambunctious as the photos show and Emily had the total gigglies the entire time. I was scared at first that they would be camera shy, but it was quite the opposite. When we took a break to shoot Isaiah in the bedroom, Emily started to cry because she couldn’t be a part of that shoot!

I can’t wait to do the next Ellie Fun Day shoot, we have some interesting ideas brewing… love to hear some of your thoughts on what you’d like to see next as well!

Today was a culmination of a lot of experiences for me. This day seemed to mark the beginning of something. I met our first five potential women that could be sewing our baby blankets. We prepared an initial intake interview to get a sense of their current situation and I had a simple sewing sample for them to complete to assess their skill levels.

I greeted each and every individual women by shaking their hands and learned their names…Rani, Rachel, Latika, Beena, and Philomina. Most of these women were my age or younger, but looked 10 times their years. They have never been employed in their lives and their husbands are either day laborers or do menial side jobs. Many of them survive on 500 rupees a week = $10. One of them is HIV+. They struggle with making ends meet and very few of them have savings. But despite their condition I was met with beams of joy.

I’ve blogged about my own personal stories and interactions with others but I haven’t talked about the people that I brought with me. They all served a very important role in this whole possibilities project. We started this trip as friends and came out as soul mates.

NATE CHAN: This was one of Nate’s first forays into the depths of a foreign country and he’s always had a heart to tell stories visually through film. When I first asked Nate to join us on this trip it wasn’t a hard sell, he was quick to say, “Sure! Why not, I have the time and this seems like a good experience for me.” This pretty much sums up his own life, simplicity. He lives with the mindset that if I wanted to move to another country in a heart beat, I can just pack up my one suitcase and go. (This guy is currently at SXSW shooting some famous rockstars with Yours Truly)

Nate loves:

• tote bags: everywhere we went, he kept on saying, oh I love this bag. He also lives in the Mission and everyone in the Mission carries tote bags.

• kids: wherever we went he’d always have an eye for the kids and tell us what he saw through their lens. After one of our dinners we had a ton of leftovers and we decided to bring it back for someone that was homeless. Nate prayed and asked God for the right person to give the goods too and his heart went to the kids that lived down the street from us. He was utterly touched by how joyful they were by such a simple gift of our leftovers. I think that experience has left an indelible mark on Nate.

• well-made goods: we talked endlessly about all these Indie made products that had a cult following and how everything Nate buys something, in a couple of months, it ends up in Urban Outfitters

• Chinese-Indian food: Nate and I seem to have the same taste in food. We always ended up ordering the same dish! He was most concerned about the level of spiciness but he was the most adventurous of us all!

• lipbalm: I don’t know how many times we went searching for lipbalm for Nate on this trip. Everywhere we went, there was no lipbalm and poor Nate kept on asking for it. We even offered some of our own lipstick for his use.

• wandering: yes, in a large city like Kolkata, we were always asking the question “Where’s Nate?”

CALVINA NGUYEN: I don’t have to say much for her talent because her photos speak for themselves. She’s really caught the whole essence of our trip and I get compliments all the time from her amazing ability to document our whole process. I am so utterly indebted to her not just as a photographer, but as a friend. She’s championed our cause and been such a cheerleader for us during this whole process. She’s talked me through tears of struggle and has been excited with me throughout this whole journey. I love this lady.

Calvina loves:

• mango lassi : we were extremely cautious wherever we went to eat or drink. Every meal, Cal wanted to try a mango lassi, we warned her about “milk products” and anything that involved ice. She was good and decided to wait until we got home to try one!  She decided NOT to heed our caution and ventured to try one. Ask her if she experienced Delhi Belly after that one.

• tea: did I tell you we spent close to an hour in a supermarket looking for the right milk tea? Cal needed to know every single detail about this tea..”was it organic? is it loose? is it roasted? is it..?”

• making her own EVERYTHING: I’ve learned from this gal that she uses apple cider vinegar to wash her hair, she makes her own deodorant and that she can turns dirt into wine … well, I kid about the last one.

• wandering: her and Nate wander together…we worried a bit for them especially in Kolkata. We teased that if we left them at any spot, they’d be clueless. But her wandering also got us to discover some cool places that we would’ve never thought to go!

ELTON LIN: I don’t have many opportunities to boast about the love of my life. I won’t get too gushy. But having him by my side has made me more confident in what I’m doing and knowing that he’s my partner through this thick and thin makes the world of a difference.

Elton loves:

• chips and ramen: yes, I knew this about him BEFORE the trip, but at every convenience store we stopped at he had to check out the ramen and chips, and since it was in India, everything was curry flavored. We’ve learned to bring our own Shin cups for the next trip.

• toilet paper: I don’t know how many times we’ve run out of toilet paper and he’s had to go and replenish it.

• bottled water: the first day we were there we were desperately searching for bottle water. We walked high and low for a supermarket and FINALLY Elton found one after an hour. Upon our arrival back to our room, we asked the front desk where he purchased water and he pointed to a small store across the street. Hilarity.

• dogs that look like Pumpkin: my brother-in-law has a dog named Pumpkin that looks alot like the dogs in India. Every time we saw a dog like Pumpkin, Elton wanted to either pet it or feed it. Upon my stern warning of getting rabies, he conceded to not pet them. Yes, the strict wife I am.

• his wife (ok I had to slot this one in..but it’s a good story): one of the days during training I was feeling rather light-headed and tired. It was probably a culmination of travel and little sleep. As I was getting up to stand I grabbed his arm to steady myself and he helped me gain my balance to walk outside for some fresh air. He also sat with me and brought me some water. It was such a simple act, but what was even more interesting was that the ladies that we were training were in awe. They noticed that my husband took care of me. They said that no husband they’ve seen here in India does that for their wife. The wife ALWAYS serves the husband no matter what. I feel blessed to have him.

We set out on this journey with the question, “Is this dream even possible?” So far all arrows have been pointing us in the direction of “Yes”. Just seeing the success of our friends has given me hope that we CAN do something worthwhile, we CAN change the system and we CAN do it together. Thank you friends for supporting us! This is just the beginning of so many more possibilites to come.

This was another monumental stepping stone for us! We finally packed and shipped all of our blankets, totes and posters off to their new owners. Having a large community of friends and family come and help us was a huge help indeed. We packed and shipped out over 150 packages!

 Our hangtags were letterpressed by our friends over at Wonderflower Press. We hope to have a mini-short of the process of that soon! Thanks Matt and Alison!

Hand-stamped “special delivery” on each box!

The hang-tags were all hand-punched by two of our burly guy friends, Sergio and Leo…we broke two of these punches in the process!

I owe alot to this babe, Grace of Red Jasmine Weddings, and mama of my two cutie pie god-daughters. I’ve known this girl since college…(she got me through genetics!) and she’s the left brain to my right. At 3 am the night before we were duking it out as to how to print postage…she was striving for functionality, I was striving for aesthetics. Guess who won? She managed to pull off our shipping and merge our crazy Excel docs into something automated. It’s a masterpiece in itself.

I am greatly indebted and honored to all of our friends that made it out to help us on this big day! Thank you Ellie Fun Day packing team!

photos courtesy of Sergio Brizuela

So I was graciously given 2 copies of “Start Something That Matters” written by Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes. One to review and one to GIVE AWAY! For all of you that don’t know who Blake Mycoskie is, he is the founder of TOMS shoes. For every shoe you purchase TOMS gives one away to a child in need. They now have branched out to glasses and books. I’ve truly come to look at Blake as a forerunner in social entrepreneurship. (I’ve even emailed him for advice about Ellie Fun Day and he’s responded!) Thanks BLAKE!

Let me tell you a little about how Ellie Fun Day has started using some of Blake’s pearls of wisdom to “Start Something that Matters”.

ONE > FIND YOUR STORY

Everyone loves a good story. I’m so visual I often only remember something told in the format of a story. I’m so not a numbers or facts kind of gal, but if you tell it in the form of a story, I will remember it! The story of how Ellie Fun Day started was simple. I loved my baby blanket as a child, and I’ve always dreamed of creating something that mattered. Something that would empower a group of people. We’ve come a long way since then!

TWO > FACE YOUR FEARS

I’ve learned that fear was initially there to protect us. It was our “fight-or-flight” mechanism. You run from a saber-toothed tiger because he will come and make you his dinner. We no longer face those types of fears, but often times that type of fear follows us into starting a business. But I’ve come to learn that what you fear will not kill you. I often fear failure. I’m a perfectionist. I fear that Ellie Fun Day will not succeed, I fear that I will disappoint the women that we’re working with, and I fear I’ll lose everything and live in a shoebox for the rest of my life. These things are not entirely in my control. I can only do my best with the resources that I’ve been given. And in the end I can say, I’ve learned and grown so much from this journey.

THREE > BE RESOURCEFUL WITHOUT RESOURCES

As a startup we can wait around till some big VC decides pour in money so we can hire a ton of experts to get us going. That is entirely not the reality. I’ve learned that as an entrepreneur I’ve got to learn to do everything myself and I need to go and find the answers. Do you want to know what my secret resource has been? This resource has given me legal advice, told me how to fix my website, where to buy organic textiles, how to set up a sewing center, what are the best ways to structure a social enterprise…ALL FOR FREE! And do YOU know you have access to this as well? It’s called GOOGLE. (large props to Sergey and Larry!) If you don’t know…Google it…someone out there likely has the answer. We’ve also developed an awesome network of friends that believe in our cause and we couldn’t have gotten to this place without them.

FOUR > KEEP IT SIMPLE

I’ve learned from my past life as a graphic designer that simplicity is the key to success. Some of the best designs are simple. Nike logo anyone? So many people have asked us, are you going to make adult sized blankets? bibs? clothes. I would love to say “Yes” to all the above, but we need to keep it simple at the start. Baby blankets are my passion and I’d like to put forth a good product built on reliability and good design. I can’t spread myself too thin trying to do all the other things. Eventually we would love to go beyond baby blankets, but at this point we are about baby blankets and saving lives.

FIVE> BUILT TRUST

Part of building trust is being transparent and admitting mistakes. Who likes being wrong? I sure don’t. But I’ve learned from many mistakes already and it’s made me more aware of the areas that I need improvement on. We’re taking ALL the feedback from our blankies and improving on it. We’re not perfect, we’re learning as we go, but we value you as our friends to help us along the way by telling us ways we can be better.

SIX > GIVING IS GOOD BUSINESS

People love our blankets partially for the design, but when they hear our cause, they’re JAZZED! I have had high schoolers come up to me and say “I want to be you.” I’m utterly grateful, but what I’m encouraged that THEY realize they can also do something that matters and that I’m just an example of an everyday person with a dream that decided to go for it. Being in the “giving” business has been advantageous for us as well. EmersonFry‘s awesome partnership for our mommie and me giveaway is an example of how they saw that we were more than just a baby blanket company and decided to sponsor our giveaway.

OVERALL RATING: 4/5 stars. This is a great feel good book to get you going on starting your own business. If you’re needing a motivational speech, Blake does it well and simple. This is not necessarily a mechanics book for entrepreneurs. There are plenty of those out there. This is just a one man’s journey and how he made it possible through lots of hard work and help.

HOW TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY:

WINNER GETS “Start Something that Matters” Book and $50 to Start / DO something that matters AND be a guest blogger on what you’ve done.

** RULES**

$50 cannot just be given to a charity, it must be used to START/DO something no matter how big or small. Even baking cookies for your lonely neighbor is doing something!! We will feature your story on our blog after you’ve used your $50!

How to Enter:

10 EASY Ideas to “Start Something that Matters“

1.) Buy books for your local preschool in need

2.) Purchase toys for a local women’s shelter

3.) Do a carwash to fundraise for your own “Start Something that Matters” project

4.) Start a one-for-one donation for the local Boys and Girls club. For every ball donated, you will match it

5.) Find a children’s hospital that allows you to visit and give away balloons to kids that are on the mend

6.) Buy a $50 grocery card for a friend who is having a hard time making ends meet

7.) Start a garden and give the extras to a local soup kitchen

8.) Treat the homeless person that you see regularly to a nice dinner

9.) Volunteer at a pet-shelter and donate some treats for the animals

10.) Organize a beach clean-up day and treat all volunteers to a picnic

See it’s THAT easy to “Start Something that Matters”! So go and enter by 8pm PST today!