Fundraising for St Jude's Tanzania

I've been in rural NSW for the past two weeks, fundraising for the School of St Jude in Tanzania. This amazing school provides a free education to the very poorest children in their part of the world. The dynamo who runs this school, Gemma Sisia, is an incredible woman and a true inspiration to me and to many others too I'm sure. So far with this fundraiser we've managed to buy the school some of the much-needed items listed in their 2011 Fundraising Appeal - some land for the students' sports field, some secondary science equipment, and some sports field fencing (to keep the cows and goats out!).

 I would like to thank all the lovely ladies & gentlemen of the Ben Lomond area and the Barraba area, for getting involved in our events and shopping up a storm for this worthy cause. I'd also like to thank the wonderful designers who provided their beautiful items to this fundraiser, and note that we do still have just a handful of truly magnificent pieces left if anyone would like to make a last minute purchase before I return the unsold items to their designers at the end of this week. All the fundraising efforts that come in this week will continue to go to St Jude's 2011 Appeal.

Fundraising for St Jude's Tanzania

Makims at Moreden Artisan Market - Fundraiser for St Jude's Tanzania

Image courtesy of www.schoolofstjude.co.tz

In February 2002, Gemma Sisia (nee Rice) from northern NSW in Australia, founded The School of St Jude in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa. As a charity funded school, St Jude’s provides a free quality education to approximately 1,500 of the poorest children of Arusha, Tanzania, while also providing boarding for over 900 students. Additionally, the school now provides employment to over 340 Tanzanians and purchases the essential goods required to run the school everyday from the local community. The ripple effect of these benefits on the community and beyond has been incredible.

The Makim family has come together to create an Afternoon Artisan Market to raise funds for this very hardworking school. 
21 May 2011, 2:30pm - 5:00pm.

"Moredun"

1419 Moredun Road

Ben Lomond, NSW Australia

Judi Makim will be our hostess with the mostess. 
Airdrie Makim will be bringing Joolz jewellery, designer clothes from a number of beautiful (and generous) brands, and designer handbags up from Melbourne. Neroli Makim will be down from Brisbane to autograph her book, 'Your Creative Success'. Afternoon tea will be provided, and of course as it is the Makims there will be the odd glass of bubbly about.

Entry to the Artisan Market is free, there will be a donation box and up to 100% (some designers have donated their entire sales, some have donated 50%) of the proceeds of all sales made on the day will go to St Jude's.

Makims at Moreden Artisan Market - Fundraiser for St Jude's Tanzania

I've listed over $1300 of joolz on ebay for the Qld Flood Relief

Hi there everyone,

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, the situation up in Queensland is pretty dire.

I've been watching the news reports, feeling competely helpless, and decided to donate via a joolz sale on ebay. I've listed over $1300 worth of stock , and every single one has a starting bid of just $0.99 All proceeds will be donated to the Qld Flood Relief.

Check it out, and happy bidding!

Ltd Edition Qantas Playing Card Butterfly & Pearl Necklace RRP$499 -

starting bid $0.99

Pale pink resin necklace RRP$45 - starting bid $0.99

Silver Cameo Drop earrings RRP $35 - starting bid $0.99

*Please note these pictures are only some of the items listed. You need to click on the link to check out all the fundraiser items.

I've listed over $1300 of joolz on ebay for the Qld Flood Relief

Sailing World Cup Ladies Day Luncheon & Fashion Show

Image courtesy www.peselandcarr.com.au

I'm just back in the office after a lovely afternoon down at Sandringham Yacht Club. Today was their fundraiser for ovarian cancer research, a ladies luncheon and fashion show. I had donated a necklace and earrings as one of the raffle prizes, and also had some accessories in the fashion show.

It was a lovely day, the girls at the yacht club did a fine job. One of my favourite stylists, Tessa, was working busily behind the scenes, making sure all the fashion was organised and ensuring the models looked perfect before they strutted down the catwalk - today's catwalk was a long carpet of faux grass. It worked very well for the event! And another of my favourite stylists was MC - Amber Renee did a great job, even though (as she told us early on) she was dealing with a rotten cold.

The fashion looked great, the models were lovely, makeup perfect (done by one Megan Kirkup, who I've had the pleasure of working with several times), and although our view of the bay was mainly wet wild n windy, still a very lovely spot to spend an afternoon.

I have some truly dreadful photos from the phone, but am hoping that I may be able to share some with you once they are forwarded on to me from the organisers, or some of the more professional shots that were taken by others who were there. I promise you don't really want to see my shots from today.

See? Not really worthwhile, is it? We'll just have to wait and I'll update this post once some decent photos become available!

UPDATE
Some pics are up on Style Melbourne - if you'd like to check them out, click on the link. Here are a couple of them. Thanks to Sarah Lamb for snapping these :)

Sailing World Cup Ladies Day Luncheon & Fashion Show

Movember Reign

Its the start of November and around this time of year you'll notice a few blokes about the traps growing a proliferation of facial hair. Ahh, yes, Movember is here again.

Those fine menfolk over at Movember raise funds for important men's health issues, specifically depression and prostate cancer (the Australian Bureau of Statistics states that men have an average life expectancy of 78, compared to 83 for a woman). The Movember crew have this to say:
"We want everyone to know that all men aged over 50 and those over 40 with a family history of prostate cancer are at risk and should be tested annually;
We want every man who is dealing with depression to know it is a disease for which they can and should seek help;
We want men to know that they shouldn’t wait until they are sick to see a doctor. An annual general health check-up will be the best change for catching things early and preventing complications and side effects."

I have watched men all over Melbourne grow luxuriant moustaches each November for the past few years, and decided this year it was time to show my support by wearing a moustache of my own. Sure, us ladies (well not many of us anyway) aren't so good a growing a mo, but we (and our not-so-hirsute man-pals) can still sport a fine little moustache and do our bit for charity.

I've built these from resin, with a badge pin on the back. Profits from each 'tache will be donated directly to the Movember Foundation. Man up and get yourself a mo!

Colours

Black $10.00 Bright Yellow $10.00 Bright Red $10.00 Grey $10.00 Pale Yellow $10.00 Green $10.00

I'll be making these little fellas to order, so if you have a hankering for, let's say, a jade green moustache, just drop me a line when you order it and that's what I'll make for you.

And if, by some odd chance, you are not a fan of the moustache, you can still donate to these extremely worthy causes by clicking over here.

Movember Reign

Joolz News 05102009

Welcome to the latest Joolz News!

In this issue we have some exciting news about a new store opening, a fun new giveaway competition, a special Red Cross fundraiser and some snaps from our Spring Fashion Week shows.

Very exciting news for us this week with confirmation of a pop-up emerging designer space happening in Georges on Collins, in Melbourne. A pop-up store is a temporary shop – ours will be running for a month in the shoppers’ mecca of Melbourne’s most prestigious destination. Georges is located at the “Paris end” of Collins St, rubbing shoulders with other such iconic names as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada & Chanel. It opens in just two weeks, and there’s LOTS to do beforehand. You can pop in and say hello to myself and the other two designers involved: Kristy designs fabulous dresses for her brand, Kuwaii, and Nikolina makes beautifully stylish hats & headpieces. Its going to be your perfect one-stop shop for Spring Carnival!

To celebrate our shop opening, there’s a new giveway competition! To enter, you need to comment via twitter, this blog, or facebook: every comment or tweet gives you an entry into the draw, and you can enter as many times as you like. The winning entry will be randomly chosen, and will receive this lovely Princess Bling Blue Jeans bracelet & earrings, made using Czech crystals, lampworked glass & diamantes. The winner will be announced at our glittering launch party in just a few short weeks, so there’s no time to be lost in getting your entries in for this one!


Congratulations to last month’s winner of the Tia Carrigan bodysuit giveaway, D. Marais of Narangba in Queensland. I’m sure that her prize will be a great addition to a summer wardrobe!

There were some lovely moments during Spring Fashion Week, and here are a few shots from our catwalk events both during and after that week. These pieces are now all available for sale exclusively to subscribers, enquiries welcome:




The blue retrocharms necklace pictured above is being sold to raise funds for the Red Cross Pacific Tsunami (Samoa & Tonga) Appeal 2009 – click here to bid

The “For Sale” section has been updated with some pretty earrings and a couple of necklaces. Please note: if you’d like to purchase more than one of these pieces, just email me with an updated invoice request, so I can give you a discount on postage :)

Spring Fling
Green mother-of-pearl with little pink pearls & sterling silver hooks.
$25.00

Marblicious
$105.00

Feel The Heat
Choker of yellow pearls and red coral with Swarovski diamantes (only one available).
$150.00

Enjoy your week, and I look forward to receiving your competition entries for the Princess Bling Blue Jeans bracelet & earrings :)

Warm regards,
Airdrie Makim, Joolz Designer

Joolz News 05102009

Fundraiser for Make-A-Wish

The Make-A-Wish Foundation are a wonderful organisation dedicated to granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions - to, as their website says, "enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy". They really are a very special charity, and one I wholeheartedly support.
Some more info from their website tells the story:

"On June 23 1985, a life insurance salesman from Ballarat heard a speech that changed his life.

The speech, given by Jack Stanford, the then National President of Make-A-Wish America, was an impassioned tale of the magic and joy experienced by children whose dreams had come true. He also spoke of the warmth and laughter, as well as sadness and heartache, experienced by those involved in the process of granting wishes. The man from Ballarat, Les Roberts, returned to Australia inspired and determined to pursue the mission of granting wishes to sick children.

Later that year, Make-A-Wish Australia officially opened in Melbourne, and news of its good deeds spread rapidly. Soon, volunteer branches formed in cities and regional areas across the nation as people from all walks of life joined together to assist children in their own local communities.

The first wish

Our first wish was granted to 16-year-old Shawn Cleland of Footscray in Melbourne in 1985. An avid fan of AFL, Shawn’s wish was to meet the players of his beloved Footscray.

Shawn had never flown in a plane – so Make-A-Wish added an extra-special touch, flying Shawn to Sydney to see the Bulldogs play the Swans.

“Walking was my first choice of a wish”, said Shawn who was confined to a wheelchair due to his illness. His second was to play cricket for Australia or football for Footscray.

Shawn’s favourite player, Footscray legend Simon Beasley, paid him a visit before the trip, “Tell the team that if they get a thrashing they deserve a salary cut”, Shawn joked.

Make-A-Wish Australia today

Since that first wish, Make-A-Wish Australia has gone from strength to strength, now granting about 500 wishes every year. We now have 55 volunteer branches throughout the country and more than 1000 volunteers, supporting more than 40 staff members in fulfilling our mission of bringing magic and joy to children and young people with a life-threatening illness."

There's a fabulous fundraising event happening for them this Friday, the Black & White with a Splash of Red Ball: the Bayside Branch’s annual ball will be held at Red Scooter, 3 William Pl, East St Kilda on Friday, April 17 starting at 7.30pm.

There'll be a celebrity host, 3-course meal, entertainment, an auction of donated goods and the presentation of a very special Wish.

I've donated some Movie Star Bracelets to them for the charity auction. If you wish to attend, please contact Susanne on 0407 803 521 or via the link I've provided.

Fundraiser for Make-A-Wish

I have finally have found a way to assist with fundraising for the fire victims

The craziness of the bushfires that have struck Victorians, taking away lives and homes with such frightening ferocity, has overshadowed every waking moment for us here in Melbourne lately. Smoke is hanging over the city and the smell of it has only receded in our nostrils as they become accustomed to the stink. Its still so hot and dry, and the horror that follows any reports of another fire started or another death added to the tally is exhausting.
I tried to offer our spare room for some emergency accommodation to whomever needed it, but when I called I was told that they don't need any more share-house offers for accommodation. What they are looking for is people who can donate either a caravan or an empty house for 12 months minimum. Obviously I don't have either of those, so I'm so glad to have found another small way that I can assist, with La Dolce Vita:
Emerging local designers Shona Design, Heidi and Seek, Valerie Randello, Marc Nanfro, Ali Bou, Jannifer Boentaran, Ryan Pelzer and Georgia Young have got together to put on the La Dolce Vita fashion event. All proceeds are going to the victims of the bushfires.
I'm assisting them with any accessories they want to borrow for the show, and also a piece to be raffled on the day for additional fundraising.
It is on at the Eltham Community Centre, 801 Main Road in Eltham on Saturday the 28th February from 2pm.
Tickets are $25 including champagne and canapes. To book or for further information please call Georgia on 0425 806 039. Any support is appreciated.

I have finally have found a way to assist with fundraising for the fire victims