saplanet originals

Have you seen our little Shin-tzu in our website yet? Shin-tzu (Xing-zi in Chinese) is the new ambassador of saplanet.

The subject of this post reads ‘Taming the little devil within’. The story goes that I was so burnt up by one service providers on Saturday, and in order to distract myself, I started to draw, and so Shin-tzu came to life.

The best anger intervention that works for me has always been drawing and crafting, it helps to tame that little devil in me that may be capable in burning some houses. (I reckon you understand that this is just a metaphor, don’t you?)

Dotty does look a little pitiful? Don’t worry about him, he has since become best friend with Shin-tzu. Just in case you are wondering how does the name comes about. My Chinese name is Lixing (read as lee-sing or lissing, just need to fine tune the tone of ’sing’), since I am doing tons of amigurumi making, that makes my little girl more suited with a Japanese Kimono; and of course, Shin-tsu is named after myself.. Xing-zi.

Correctly, she would be a little apricot, since the ‘xing’ in my name is really apricot, and the ‘zi’ usually means ’small, little’.

I am pretty satisfied with Shin-tzu, and including her in most of the new prints of my business stationery.

Before we start burning up someone, we may want to channel the energy into more productive work, you never know what pleasant surprises you may get out of it.

This DIY mail bag is specially made for me to drop in the packages to be mailed out. Mike helps to bring the packages to the post office almost everyday.

Initially, I would place the packages on his tray so that he would remember to bring the packages before he goes out to work. Now that his desk space is so taken up by his own stuffs, it’s not an ideal ‘location’ to drop my packages anymore.

Then, he hung the greeny recycle bag at the door knob of our work room. That worked for a short while, before the bag was used to carry other of his stuffs and never return to the door knob!

Since I still have some 8-ply yarn left, I decided to make a mail bag, and in the most colorful combination I can get. Most of my packages are not exactly that large, so the size is roomy enough to drop in quite a number of packages. I made a flap with a button pinned onto it, that reads ‘You’ve got mail’. LOL.. It’s almost like the in-flight lavatory, if it’s occupied, you see the sign changed. This is what I am going to do, if I drop packages inside, I will bring out the flap, and since the door is facing Mike, he should not miss it! 

(I may change the color of the flap to white instead, with the super colorful background, it wouldn’t be surprising that Mike completely miss the pin button!)

The reason to make it very colorful, Mike would probably rather die than to carry this bag out of the house! 

It just took me 1.5 days to finish this, pretty easy to make. Granny square is probably one of the earliest project I learnt to crochet, and I have probably learnt to crochet at age 8, instead of 10 that I mentioned many times before. I realized this when replying an email to a Sheri who just had her hand surgery. When I was 10 years old, I broke my right hand, and before that, I already know how to crochet, so it’s more likely that I learnt crochet before I broke my hand. I took almost 6 mths to fully recover from my fractured hand, and it was an important academic year, so I couldn’t be learning crochet that year. 

Anyhow, this simple granny square is very easy to work with, and when you get a hang of it, you would probably be crocheting away while your eyes are glued to the TV. The squares are joined with single crochet around the edges.

I have drafted out 8-9 drafts of new designs, but I am going to hold back for a bit.

My ring finger on my right hand is hurting bad. I have been crocheting intensively over the weekends, and my ring finger is hurting really badly.

That said, I am still going to finish the present project (it must really hurt me more badly before I am even considering putting crochet work to a complete stop), and I have a couple of dolls to make and to be sent out soon.

A word of caution to crafters though, we need to always observe the condition of injury, especially if our hands are the main tools to earn revenue to pay bills.

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For those who have subscribed to our newsletter, you would have received the newsletter. This time around, I have included in the subject beginning with <ADV>, if you are wondering what that means. It’s actually a requirement for any commercial emails; ADV = advertisement. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be needing to include that, since I am only sending to subscribers. <ADV> is required in the subject heading for any commercial emails (according to DMAS of Singapore) sent to recipients who do not request for such information.

I have included <ADV> this time around, since there is a transition from the manual newsletter-sending previously, to the current built-in newsletter sending in my shopping cart. I have transferred all the previous subscribers to the current list, if you do not wish to continue to receive updates from us, you will not need to do anything, we will not send to you any updates in the future. However, if you wish to continue receiving updates, simply following the link in the confirmation email and validate the request.

Rest assured though, we do no send out spam emails, all newsletter follows the recommended inclusion of option to unsubscribe (of course, that is a universal ruling that all recipients MUST be given the option to unsubscribe to the emails sent to them) from future mailings. Just click through the unsubscribe link, we would be sad to see you leave, but we will honor and respect all requests.

If privacy is concern, you may just read our privacy policy in our webstore.

Thank you all for the nice words and wonderful responses.

I was really planning to hold back Abo & Eli till my next design is completed, so that I can included that in the newsletter. 

I have received 11 emails/convos since the cave couple first hit the www, and I reckon it’s better to list them up in the store ASAP!

The yarn prices have gone up since April 2008, I have been trying to maintain the old price since I had stocked up a bit during the last order. The prices will be adjusted as of 15 September 2008, so if you need any yarns, it’s best to get them now. 

I have also included Kenny & Keidi into the sale section, remember, there is only 1 UNIT per design to be purchased at the discount price!

This theme is all about ME!

Lately, the topic with friends and family have been revolving around the fact that I rarely or even barely stepped out of my house, not even to the common corridor! My highest record of staying in-house (completely) would probably be around 2-2.5mths.

Friends have been calling me ‘mountain-tortoise’ (direct translation from Chinese, mainly to describe someone who is ignorant of things around, no up-to-date); some think that I hate people; my mum and sister think I am autistic (oh well, that was a long time story, they said that since I was a small child) etc..

Just when the topic gets pretty much discussed, I received an email from Lynda (LOF) with an opening sentence of ‘cavewoman’! hahaha.. I can’t remember how this topic started, vaguely, I must have mentioned to her that I don’t go out much, and either she or myself used the cavewoman phrase. 

Almost immediately, the inspiration sparked off with a theme design of cave people. I was hesitating, and Cindy (Starrydesigns) encouraged that I should just proceed since the inspiration had come. 

I am indeed a modern cavewoman, I accomplish almost anything from home, with the generous help from the caveman - Mike, of course. He helps to run some errands, bring my packages to the post office everyday, buy dinner etc, while I work in the comfort of my cavey room. 

I will always try to design happy dolls, Eli is a contented cavewoman who does most of the stuffs at home; while Abo is out daily to hunt for food? LOL.. 

Since it’s all about me, I have Eli dressed in my favorite orange color. I planned to make a bushy hair for Abo, but I really hate messy hair, so I have Abo’s hair tied back. Mike was laughing really loud when he saw Abo last night. 

The cave people will hit our webstore soon!

Danielle purchased the amigurumi squirrel pattern and quickly completed one super squirrel. She added a really sweet cloak for her Pisko with a star embellishment. 

I can’t wait to see her other finished projects as soon as she is completed with them.

I contemplated which blog to post this in, and decided it has to go in here.

I have this untamed imaginative mind which sometimes run real wild. Imaginative doesn’t warrant to being creative though.

I had spent an extensive amount of time, and effort to build the present cart, since the program is a lot more complicated than standard html which I had previously used to build my webstore, the self-confidence level dipped too. On the very night that I have officially bring the cart to ‘live’ status, I had a dream, somewhat interesting.

I dreamt of my little critters running in a pac man game set, they ran all over the places, stopped at some corners, then ran again. I had a hard time catching up with them. I reckoned I didn’t feel 100% certain that I had them in the right places in the cart, hence the dream.

A very good friend of mine, Sheri, had her daughter wrote to me ‘reporting’ on her post-surgery of her hand. Seriously, I should really be more empathetic with her situation, but I was laughing out really loud when I read the email. Her daughter told me that Sheri who had a cast on her hand kept hitting herself times and times over. She didn’t dare to laugh even though it looked really comical, until Sheri laughed first.

I couldn’t help it too, I had the images flowed through my mind (free-flow) as though she was wearing a robot arm and the arm kept hitting on her face uncontrollably. Sheri is an amazing woman, I tell you. She would create humor in the worst situation in life, so, she is not upset at my laughing at all. 

Today, Lynda told me something about her mixed up schedule, and immediately the imagination went wild. I had the images in mind that a uber stylish girl cladded in her very stylo eye glasses, and looking really good… The hilarious part was that the girl in the image was wearing the strangest expression on her face and a huge question mark hanging above her head (try to visualize it in the comic way). I shall not share the contents, but it was more of the ‘outcome’.

It was really funny when you entertain some humorous thoughts in mind. At that point of time, I wished I could draw better. I used to sketch out my imagination, and sometimes, they just turn out really zoned-out, but amazingly pleasant.

Desire is a strange thing, it may motivate you to strive harder to achieve your desires; it may also deter your progress, it all depends on how you manage these desires.

I have been wanting to get one of this, but the price is a deterring factor. Then, I try to strike a balance between my desires and needs, almost a reality check. Perhaps when I find a niche in my illustration, the desire may just become a need, and that should justify the investment. 

Then, I managed to convince myself to compromise for a mid range series instead. I really won’t need a A3 wide screen tablet, I need my workspace for other work. Hey, this is a more affordable price for me. 

See, many a times, when justifying an investment, it’s pretty much the ‘egg and chicken’ theory, especially useful for business. 

If we just wait for the ‘demand’ to grow before we invest into a new ‘toy’, the demand may never grow at all. Since there is no progress or new innovation in your creations, why would we be expecting miracles? I mean, at least if we pull off some fantastic marketing strategies to expose our products/services, otherwise, how hopeful is it to have a sudden demand? It does happen, but in a more realistic setting, the chances are slim.

However, if we invest into something that is not going to cost us an arm or leg, at least we start something off, and there is better chance to attract either the same group (who didn’t love our products that wonderfully) or a larger and varied group of audiences. 

It’s so easy and convenient for us to pick out one excuse card from the whole deck of ‘excuse’, ‘reasons’, ‘factors’, or whatever you call it (you get the drift?) cards, just so that we don’t take up the challenge which we think may be less easy. 

It is almost like.. having a hi-tech stereo sound system at home. With simple pressing of some buttons on the remote control, you get to adjust the surround sound, more treble, less bass etc, anyway and anytime you want. That convenience comes with a price tag that not everyone can afford. Does it mean we can’t enjoy better sound system at all? 

Alright, so we can get the mid range speakers, wired them up ourselves. Then, that comes with several remote controls, or no remote controls at all. We will have to physically and manually go to the devices and tune it, then go back and forth to the best sitting position to test out the best sound receiving. 

Sure, I would love the first option, but if I am not ready to burn a hole in my pocket, perhaps option 2 will just do fine for the present need. Now, we can say, we will ‘upgrade’ the system when there is higher demand. (say, if we are able to create better with better tuned music? which helps to fetch better responses towards our works? I don’t know, hey, this is just a metaphor!)

It’s a little extreme when we have this ultimatum nagging at us.. ‘either best of nothing’. What gets done eventually? 

You already guessed it, I am writing such a super duper long post, just to justify my new investment in plan…LOL.. Who says blogging is just for marketing? Who says we can’t make use of blogging to self-counsel our guilt senses? Blogging is for any purposes.

The new cart is finally up! With my exploding joy, saplanet is offering a 15% storewide discount (not applicable for items already on special sale price; and wedding favors orders) for purchases over S$30. Just enter the discount code SAP-OPSPECIALS at the checkout page. The code expires on 15 August 2008.

This comes timely to celebrate Singapore’s Birthday too, on 09 August 2008. 

 

It’s been a looooooong struggle…… day in day out……

At loooooooong last, my new shopping cart is ready!!!! I can’t tell you how much weight I have gained (got you, didn’t I? do you think I lost weight over it, I really wished, really) because of the regular intermittent ‘de-stress’ method… chocolate munching!

Due to the major changes made to my main domain root directory, my craftblog and other blogs may have quite a bit of broken image links. I will work on them gradually. Most of the past blog posts are linked back to my previous shopfront, which is completely ‘demolished’ now, so that will bring the page to the error page where there is a sitemap under the error message which you may browse through the categories.

The new changes with the new shopping cart:
+ Account registration required 
+ Newsletter feature
+ Order history
+ Personal address book
+ Gift certificate (transferrable to a friend)
… and more

This should enhance your shopping experience with us, no more digging through the files to check on your previous purchases, no more re-entering of your addresses…

Happy shopping!

I know I have talked about the new series forever. These little ones have been waiting very patiently to be launched forever too. I am pleased to announce that they are out in the new shopping cart NOW!

I have kept this as confidential as I could, but Cindy is amongst the first to see the prototype, when I met up with her some time back.

If you have been reading my blog, you would know that as far back as March this year, my mum was informed by her employer that she was amongst the few to be relocated to another company. Since then, my mum had been worried that she might not adapt to the new working environment.

I knew immediately I wanted to come up with a new series that she may help out with, I will then pay her for the work. My mum sews, so I needed a series that involves sewing. I had considered quite many possibilities, but couldn’t settle with any.

Mum and her siblings had decided to bring forward the dumpling making (Dragon Boat Festival) this year due to some traveling plans. That evening I noticed a dumpling (the first image above), and I was reminded of the days when I helped with sorting the grains of rice. This was when all the inspirations sparked off!

That dumpling reminded me of the childhood game we used to play back then - 5 stones (also known as knuckles in some countries). The 5-stones we played were really made of fabric, rather than the real stones. Mum had been living a frugal lifestyle when we were small, just so that we can manage our household finances with the small monthly paycheck that dad brought home. Mum would sew the 5-stones using fabric scraps and stuff them with raw green beans. I remember I felt really proud of the 5-stones mum had made me though.

After all that mum had done for us over the years, I reckon it’s time for me to do something for her. When I was small, mum would bring back some clothes from the factory to cut ends etc to earn some extra income. I was the youngest at home, and my sister was always out to play while I stayed home with my mum. Mum was worried that I was bored, so she would give me some work to help out with, and I really felt very good and ‘contributing’ towards our household income. Hahaha

Mum had worked for the same employer for more than 15 years, now that she is out of employment, it wouldn’t be easy for her. There would be a sense of insecurity due to loss of income. I wanted to make my mum feel useful again, although I can’t afford to pay her a fat salary, my key objective is to keep her occupied.

To be honest, mum hadn’t been very excited about the whole plan, she had been concerned though. She had been checking on my sales performance, and also how the new series is doing etc. oh well, the series hasn’t been launched till now. She isn’t keen to help out unless there is demand.. LOL.. I guess, I am fine to handle the work now, if the series proved to be popular, I would then rope her in to help.

Whatever it is, it’s great to have a new series after all.

I ran into quite a bit of obstacle with this series, but just glad it all came off fine now.

The name of the series ‘re:’ is an open-ended name, which truly derives from where the inspiration arrived from. With this series, I reminisce the good old childhood days; I recreate from the memories; I reinvent from what I can do; I remember my loving mother as though she was still young and healthy, so was I small and innocent.

For now, there are 8 designs in the shop for sale. re:series is launched with special introductory price, therefore the current promotion is not applicable for this series. The introductory price is not applicable to wholesale order too. 

I hope you like this new series.

I am not sure if it was me, or just the sales guy. There is always some sort of drama for gadget purchases. 

Mike has decided to get me a laser printer, and he was really excited about the purchase. He got a HP printer, carried back the super heavy printer home, anticipating to see my thrilling expression.

To be honest, I had experiences with HP, and I love the products, I just think they should buck up with the after-service care. I was kind of resistant to HP purchases. Then again, I was really excited about the laser printer, and most importantly, I really appreciate Mike’s sweet thoughts. 

We spent some time installing the printer, just to realize that it printed multiple unwanted lines. Alright, so we spent some more time trying to fix that problem. We gave up, and called the vendor, to cut story short, it was decided that the printer is faulty.

We were promised a one-to-one exchange, if we fail to get the HP technical people to fix the problem. Since HP doesn’t provide on-site service, I told Mike that we should just change the printer to Canon. I am definitely a better fan of Canon to HP. 

Now.. the drama began… (I am naming all vendors’ names because this is more of a constructive feedback and response, there is no need to conceal the names)

M=Mike; BDG=Best Denki Guy

Mike carried the super heavy printer weighing over 16kg to Best Denki…

M (spent more than an hour there to process the exchange)
BDG: We are only left with the display set for LBP5000, do you want to take that unit?
M: (display set only comes with half full toner) No, I’d rather not
BDG: You can take LBP5100 instead, newer model, but you have to top up additional $100
M: (considering all the inconveniences that may arise) Ok then, I will take that
BDG: We have one unit left, for that model, is that ok?
M: Ok, I will just take that then
BDG: But that unit is reserved for another customer, due for delivery
M: (!!!!!!!)
BDG: I can order one in for you though, you have to come back again when it’s here
M: (!!!!!!!!!!) No way! You mean I have to carry back this heavy HP printer home, then carry it back here again to exchange for the new printer? I have to make another trip, and carry to/fro the heavy printer?
BDG: yes
M: (!!!!!!!!) I’m sure you can make arrangement for that, you can just get your delivery guy to collect the other set from another outlet to deliver to the customer, right?
BDG: hmmm, ok, I can do that
M: (almost delighted with the new arrangement)
BDG: We don’t have the warranty card here for that set though
M: (!!!!!!!!) WHAT! 
BDG: We can mail it to you if you want
M: Fine, so there is a promotion going on, where do I collect the free gifts?
BDG: Oh, because there is no warranty card, you can’t collect the gifts
M: (!!!!!!!!!!!) So, I still have to make another trip to collect the gifts after I even receive the warranty card?
BDG: Yes

As you may imagined, Mike came home with a really bad mood. When he told me the small episode, I was laughing out loud. I can’t help it. It was so funny, that BDG was really asking for it. It wasn’t intentional, but he just lack good customer skills, so to speak. 

Anyhow, I managed to set up the printer this morning, installed everything, printed the test page, pretty happy with it. 

I am planning to purchase the extended warranty, but first, I need to register the product which I couldn’t because I don’t have the warranty card, remember?

This is when all good things flow in. The canon customer service officer, Ms Noris called me right after my printer was installed. (good timing, I actually wrote an email to the customer service last night, on the warranty issue) She was so friendly, so helpful, and simply too sweet. 

She offered to help me trace the warranty registration number, which can be tracked from the serial number on the machine. I followed her instruction, and found the S/N. She called me very promptly once she found the registration number. I was furnished with many useful information, and she offered to guide me through the online registration process, which I declined, I can manage that myself.

Noris also patiently explained to me the various extended warranty coverage, and the methods to purchase it online, or offline. I had also feedback to her about the free gifts, and she told me that she would instruct the warranty department to send me the warranty card, so that I can provide that to the redemption counter for the gifts. 

She called me back again, while she went to retrieve the various redemption locations, she gave me such detailed information, such as addresses, operating hours etc. She had also highlighted the promotion period, and the last day of redemption. 

What can I say, the service was awesome! Whenever it comes to gadgets or products, the key determining factor to decide on the purchase, has always been the after-sales service, and technical support. It is not enough just to have a wonderful product, without proper after sales support, it’s almost meaning to say that this product may just turn into a white elephant the minute it cranks up and fails to perform as it should. I had the worst experience with Maxtor one-touch backup HDD, there was literally barely any support, and it only worked for barely a month, now, it’s just a not so fanciful decoration in a shopping bag tucked away somewhere I can’t even recall. 

Thumbs up for Canon! Great work there!