Chalk Piggy on MOT/Times TAIWAN!

This one hits close to (Jean's) home....our piggy bank nicely written up on MOT/Times  in Taipei!

Blk Friday 25% off on L&G items!

It's BlkFriday! and we gots some sales goin' up in here!
We're offering 25% off of $50+ total purchase starting now till NOV 28th sunday (ends 11:59pm PST) 1st. ENTER PROMO CODE: BLACKFRIDAY25
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Piggy Mention on Mmminal Blog

Recently came across this awesome blog called Mmminal, and then end up seeing our Chalk Piggy mentioned on there!
It's always so exciting to find a blog we like and realize there's a mutual admiration of each others work!
Another reason why the inter-connected-web is so awesome...

Fresh Molds

Getting ready for the first pour on a new crisp set of pig molds for CITM piggy v4.0. More on him soon!

Piggy's New Home

Got this delightful email from a customer the other day.....

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This morning, in the office:

-oink- -oink- -oooooink-

Hey you! Hey! Come here!!! Go back!! Don't run!

I've goooot it!! I've goooooot iiiiit!!

Simply amazing :D Nice proportions, perfect choice of materials and excellently protected for the trip. This will be his new home.

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This totally put a smile on my face. :)
Looks like the piggy will be enjoying his new home in SPAIN! (I'm actually jealous of the chalk piggy!)

Also Diego has a graphic design studio, Clay, and a really awesome blog.

Thanks Deigo!

FABulous End to Our Sale

We've been so excited about being on FAB!!

We got ourselves geared up for our 3-day flash sale, and now our sale ended we couldn't be happier with the result and seeing the wonderful write up they did about L&G on FAB blog...(blush)

We put out a new item... Terracotta Piggies!...I love how the peachy-orangy terracotta color that makes it look more like a pig! Looks very nice for the summer, yah?

They sold out on fab for now, but they will be available soon on our site!

We really didn't know what to expect in terms of how people will respond to our work and how the sale will go...but turns out it was more than great and we actually sold out quite a few things!!

I know lot of the stuff aren't even in our shop right now, but we're in the works to put up more! Such as the new Terracotta piggies, one-off Daily Affirmation vintage mirrors, Alphabrass tables with vintage lamp parts and more!! We're planning to have our shop updated soon totally amp up our shop!!

But....

SHOP NOW and get 10% OFF all L&G originals!

Just Enter "GIMMIE10" at checkout!

Sale end of the day on July 4th at 11:59pm PST!!

L&G Chalk Piggies at Crewcuts!!

So....we had to keep this hush hush until recently...and we can't wait to share this exciting news!! Our Chalk Piggies are available on Crewcuts online HERE for all the stylish & adorable kids! Like this lil' adorable girl!We've been excited about this ever since one of the buyer from J.Crew first contacted us after purchasing a piggy after the holidays!This is our first time working with a big company such as J.Crew and we were more than happy that everything went as planned and now they're actually in one of the Crewcut store in NY and online! This is totally what I envisioned where the piggies would end up... to be with stylish kids & parents and be part of both of their worlds!

I think I'll be visiting our piggies at the Crewcut store when I head to NY this coming August!
Can't wait!

L&G on Dwell!

L&G is totally stoked to be in April issue of Dwell! ...we're actually in there twice! First feature is of the piggy bank along with other neat items...
here's piggy the Dwell website.
...and the second feature is of my Mega-Doily rug project under Meg's "Crafting a Meaningful Home" book!
Yay! Double awesomeness.

Drumroll....Announcing the Winners

So Thanks to everyone's contributions and efforts in participating in our little event to raise fund for Japan, we raised a total of $931. Yay! It's something! Thanks everyone for taking part of this!!

We drew 1 winner for every $500 raised. Since its pretty close to $1000, we figured we should draw 2 piggies!!
We did it the Japanese way (like getting a fortune at temples & shrines) and put everyone's tickets in the piggies, and shook it until the first names that came out...
...and the winners are Christen Coomer & Jennifer Fisher!! Congratulations!!

We didn't quite raise enough to do the drawing as planned, so we'll be giving other piggies to other relief events around. They'll be going to a good place no matter what. :)

One coming up: Seattleites Help Japan-Relief Event Part2
This Thursday April 14th 6-9pm
There's a suggested donation of $25 with 15 types of sake tasting, appetizers & desserts.
Japanese Koto Performance and silent auction. All money will be give to Peace Winds.
Please go to above link for event details.

Thanks Anthology!

Thanks Kate from Anothology for sharing this on their wonderful blog!! We hope it'll reach lots of their readers!!

Thanks Daily Candy!

Thank you Daily Candy for posting about our fundraiser event with our special Japan piggy banks!

HELP US HELP JAPAN!!

I'M WRITING IN ALL CAPS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?? DOES IT SOUND LIKE I'M SCREAMING?!? BECAUSE I AM!!!
....Pleeeeease help us help Japan and reach our goal! READ DEATILS BELOW:WHAT WE'RE DOING: L&G would like to help raise some funds by giving away up to 5 special tribute to Japan Chalk Piggy Banks. FOR EVERY $500 RAISED, ONE PIGGY BANK WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN (AT RANDOM). Our goal is to raise at least $2500!!

WHAT YOU COULD WIN: Limited edition special tribute to Japan Chalk Piggy Banks with a red cork nose. Will also include white chalk & felt wipe cloth as well as shipping.

HOW IT WORKS: ONE drawing ticket will be given with EVERY $7 donation you give to the Japanese Red Cross. (i.e. $10=1 ticket, $21=3 tickets, $70=10 tickets....MORE tickets means HIGHER chance of winning!)

Step 1: Go to Paypal's link to Japanese Red Cross and donate $$$.

Step 2: Email us your receipt from JRC with the amount you've donated to: expert@ladiesandgentlemenstudio.com .

Step 3: We'll reply with a confirmation email, the number drawing ticket(s) we'll put your name in the drawing, and an acknowledgment to your awesomeness, generosity, and in making a difference with a virtual big thumbs up!!

Step 4: Check back on April 11th, to see who the winners are on our website blog.

DATE OF ANNOUNCEMENT: Monday, April 11, 9pm (PST)

Winner(s) will receive separate emails from us asking for your shipping info. So please make sure our emails don't end up in your junk email because that would just be a real bummer...

Thank you to Seattle Met & Blue Ant Studio for sharing this on their site!!
We would be more than thrilled if anyone else can share this with your friends or your site, blog, facebook, twitter, etc.
Big big thank you all for your support & help!

WE LOVE YOU!! YES I'M SCREAMING THIS, TOO!
xoxo Jean & Dylan

***UPDATE*** NEW SAVE JAPAN INSTRUCTIONS!

Our raffle plan failed when we saw an email from Paypal today saying that it's against Paypal's policies !! :( Total raffle FAIL!!! booo.... ...BUT no fret!! We've reformatted!

Basically, go to the Japanese Red Cross site and donate directly to them (between now and April 11th).

Email us (expert@ladiesandgentlemenstudio.com) a copy of your receipt and for every $7 you donate, we'll put your name in a drawing for one of the five special edition banks. For every $500 we raise, we'll draw a pig winner at random.

If you've already donated to us, no worries, we'll still donate it directly to the red cross and you'll still be in the drawing. Just don't tell paypal it's a raffle...because it's NOT!

We apologize for the inconvenience but GREATLY appreciate your willingness to work with our set up and our goal to help the people in Japan!! We can't do this without all your help!! Please comment or email us with any questions!

xoxo Jean & Dylan

Wrapping Up Some Loose Ends...

Ahhh.....need to get some order out before we take off to Japan....
I'm SO ready to just get on the plane for 12 hours and do NOTHING besides sitting, eating, sleeping, catching up on all the movies I've missed this past year...aaand repeat...

L&G Goods In Japan and Soon...US!

So we got some DOUBLE exciting news for L&G and for us!

We currently have some L&G goodies & hand selected vintage items at our friends' shop in Japan called Depot Cycle & Recycle. It's a charming family run bike & lifestyle shop in Ichikawa owned by THE MOST adorable, loving, & happy people we know!!
For the past month, We've been sending some fun things from L&G, R&L goods, and Piano Nobile for their house & lifestyle area of the shop. They just sent me the photo of what it looks like and I'm already in love with all the things, the colors, and just the charming aesthetic of their shop!! I Especially love all these beautifully made ceramic ware.
Here is a photo of the lovely Minato Family. Seiya & Mami & their 3 adorable kids, Aika, Yume and Yuni!! ( I'd like to adopt all of them....yes please...) This is pretty much what they look like ALL the time....always happy and adorable....no joke.
The Minato family visited us in Seattle last summer at our duplex and between Dylan, Chika, Jared and I, we had such a blast with them hanging out around Seattle, Ballard and Guemes Island to show them the great NW.
It was especially fun experiencing everything through their eyes since pretty much wherever they go...birds would sing, people would smile, flowers would bloom, babies would laugh, and even total strangers would go up and talk to them and be compelled to be their BFFs...
It sounds like I'm making it up...but I am not exaggerating.

So in about a week, Dylan & I are actually going to Japan to visit them!!
We'll actually get to really see and experience what its really like to live like one of the happy Minatos!

We're especially excited to see Seiya & Mami's shop in person and see the L & G piggy banks, servers, and doily rugs!
I made a couple of Mini-Mega Doilies (One 2.5 ft diameter and the other is 2ft diameter) for them since their space is limited, but I also think they might actually do well at that size in Japan since they can also be used as seating pads for the floor or on a chair....I hope they do well!
At that size... it's actually pretty cute if I may say so myself! :)

I also made a little sewn look book for them of our work.
There's something so satisfying about the combination of thread & paper...

Here's what the inside looks like...I can't explain how excited to see them & also visit Japan!! I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it!
It's been a LONG time (7 years!) for me since I was last in Japan studying abroad there, and Dylan on the other hand has never been!
We've been talking about it for couple of years now, and it's also been a long time since the two of us have taken a long personal vacation that's not family or work related!
So it's about time!

....now on with planning the trip......Oh boy!! Where do we even begin or stop!?!

Sending Our Piggies Out the Door!

FINALLY !! we're done with all the holiday orders!!

Now I can breath!! I feel like I've been holding my breath (and grinding my teeth) for the last month with all the production, managing of orders, packing & shipping, and craft shows we had to do for both L&G and R&L goods.

We've been more than happy with all the positive response of our piggies and servers and would love to thank all the wonderful people who supported us being our first holiday season!
Of course...not everything went as smooth as we wanted. Being our first time doing all this...especially in such hectic Holiday season...we definitely ran into some road bumps and had to learn some hard lessons during the process. I know there's always a learning curve to everything....but man, there were just so many small-seeming little things that we over-looked...(i.e. packing & shipping) that ended up being WAY more complicated and time consuming than we ever imagined.
With that said we're the MOST thankful to all our customers who have been MORE than understanding and patient with us!!

Knowing what I know now, we'll definitely be making some improvements for less errors to take place and ways to be more efficient.
One thing that we hope to stay the same is that we'd like to give the same amount TLC in making our goods, pack & ship all our piggies....

Where each piggy will have their limited edition number card.

...and they'll get wrapped up with their rag & chalk kit, which are individually bagged in a little cloth bag.

Then I wrap them up in these awesome textured kraft paper and make them look like a delicious-looking little piggy packages. :)

Of course, I'd like to add a little thank you note for every package to let you know how ever so thankful we are for your wonderful support.

Although taping up isn't my favorite task...but the fact that we get to use this awesome metal Italian tape dispenser from Kiosk, it makes it totally worth it. This was one the best souvenir we got from our summer trip to NY.

So thank you ALL again for your enthusiasm in our goods!! We couldn't have done all this without you! This has been a whirlwind, but very exciting holiday season....and now I'm gonna hit the hay and sleep for 2 days straight. :)