Handcrafted teddy bears you'll L♥VE

Teddy bears have been around for more than 100 years. We grow up with lovable bears in literature like Corduroy, Winnie the Pooh, and Paddington bear. I remember laughing out loud with my kids as I read Paddington's misadventures aloud to them. We have a teddy bear whom we fondly call General Bear because he commanded the rest of the stuffed toys. Being both wrestled and cuddled, General Bear was both a toy and a companion.

Of all the popular toys, the teddy bear has endured because it symbolizes love, friendship, and comfort. Teddy bears are probably the only toys that transcend childhood and become beloved to us even as adults. 


The Little Book of Traditional Bears chronicles the different teddy bears throughout the years. In the introduction, Paul and Rosemary Volpp tell us that Peter Bull came to be known as the "father" of the current teddy bear craze by saying "It's alright for grown-ups to like teddy bears." After saying that, he received letters "by the bucketful" from adults who loved teddy bears.  

Gifts and Graces is proud to contribute to the varied designs of teddy bears that have become beloved over the years, with our very own collection of retaso bears. The design of the bears are based on the classic plush design but the retaso gives it a modern appeal that's great for both kids and adults. 


These retaso bears as the name implies are made from upcycled materials and come in two design collections. The bears made from scrap denim each have a unique crochet scarf around its neck. The bears made from scrap upholstery material are artfully assembled from high end fabric that gives the bears a rich texture and contrast. As a result no two bears are exactly the same.

Both collections are beautifully hand-made with love by G&G's partner producers - persons with disabilities and urban poor mothers in Tondo. These bears help you support the art of these producers and you help care for the Earth at the same time.

Give these bears a home this Christmas. They are truly unique and wonderful gifts that lift the spirit that are sure to bring joy to your loved ones, not only this Christmas but all year round. 


Get them now at our Eastwood Mall aparador, the Ayala Museum Shop, the Edsa Shangri-la Lobby Shop, or at the Gifts and Graces office.

Green Christmas Shopping

Christmas is just around the corner and we're sure most of you have already started your Christmas shopping. Whether you're shopping at G&G or at one of your favorite malls, have fun Christmas shopping the green way by saying no to plastic and saying yes to reusable bags. 

The ideal bag is roomy, sturdy, and of course stylish. G&G's great reusable bags are all three. To help you be eco-friendly stylish this Christmas shopping season, choose from among these:

  

 

    

For boho chic, pick up one of our harina bags made from upcycled flour sacks and jute sacks. You'll love the different funky flour sack designs. Did you know that there's a flour company named Cinderella with of course a Cinderella designed sack? Available at the Ayala Museum Museum Shop

For classic elegance, shop with one of our beautiful newspaper bags in our iconic women series. Channel Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Jackie O, or Marilyn Monroe. All images are handpainted by Pandacan artist Boy Buenafe. Available at the Edsa Shangri-la Manila Lobby Shop

For serious grocery shopping, you can't go wrong with our extra large magazine bag. You'll love how colorful magazine strips are woven banig-style to make this bag. And you'll love how this bag is waterproof so it's great for the beach as well. Available at major Kultura Filipino branches

Our stylish directory boat bag is a fun way to promote your advocacy in going green. It's roomy enough to go shopping for fun accessories for your girlfriends and kikay nieces. Available at major Kultura Filipino branches

Last but not the least, our foldable canvass bag doubles as both a great purse and a handy shopping bag. The woven cloth detail on the pocket gives it a distinctive and unique modern Filipino look. Available at the Ayala Museum Museum Shop. 

All the bags are also available at the G&G office at the Mile Long Building Amorsolo St. Makati. In our last post, we posted our calendar of upcoming bazaars! We hope to see you there with your very own reusable G&G shopping bag!

Cash for Scrap: A Recycler's Bazaar

Bring your scrap to the Greenhills waste market this Sunday. G&G will be there to do a crafts demo and to showcase products upcycled from waste newspapers, magazines, and cloth strips. Hope you can join us!

Santa Time: Be Prepared!

It's that particular "ber" month when you can no longer ignore the Christmas jingles wafting from the radio, when you see the first twinkle of fairy lights. You know you have to start shopping very soon or you'll be overrun by last minute Christmas shoppers. Before you start on your list though, buy a few things for yourself from Gifts and Graces first that will make the mad holiday rush a little bit saner.

Big Plastic Baul 

Kids are nosy and gifts create lots of clutter. Buy these big boxes from Gifts & Graces and make this your designated gift container. The buckle will keep the little hands at bay & the generous size will ensure that it will fit your presents until it's time to put them under the tree!

Made of plastic strips by urban poor men of Malabon.


Handmade Paper Journal

Make your list of who's been naughty or nice in this journal made of renewable resources such as Cogon Grass & Banana Bark. The sale of this product benefits displaced women in Quezon.

Mangyan Cloth Organizer

Christmas is a time when nothing is ever in its proper place and when clutter is in an all-time high. Keep your essentials tucked into something pretty and safe with these Mangyan Cloth organizers. Keep your scissors, pens, tape and other wrapping and writing essentials at hand and then roll them and keep them out of sight when you don't need them. Saves you from clutter and going insane trying to find them!


Sewn by urban poor women of Valenzuela City.


Magazine Bag

When doing your shopping, do your part in helping out the environment. Refuse the little plastic bags that they give you and put your purchases in these one-of-a-kind Magazine Tote Bags instead. These are big and roomy and are a conversation piece to boot!


Also available in SM Kultura outlets.

Table Scape Treats

The dining table is where we gather with family and friends for special occasions. Be it celebrations or commiserations - special occasions and normal everyday it's where we all sit down to eat our daily bread. 


Invest in special pieces that mean something to you and that will make a difference in the lives of the marginalized communities who made them.


Gifts and Graces offer items that could make the humble dining table worthy of all the time you spend there with your loved ones.

Jade Napkin Ring

An elegant accessory to tie up a dining essential and is sure to up the ante in your table scape's overall look.

Oval Directory Tray 

Place your fruits or hot plates on this oval tray made of upcycled woven directory pages. A conversation piece and the perfect opener to explain to advocate to your friends buying fair trade products!

Riverstone Candles 

Do away with the typical candles on your table. Accent your table with these candles that look like smooth river stones instead.

All about Upcycling

We talk a lot about upcycling in this blog but not a lot of people don't know what exactly upcycling is. If you're one of those people, read on!


To quote Cara Smusiak in her post about upcycling in Naturally Savvy, Upcycling is 

"taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else." 

She explains further the difference between recycling and upcycling: "upcycling maintains or improves the quality of the materials" while recycling downgrades the materials that are reused.


There are a myriad of ways to upcycle different sorts of "waste". It's all up to your imagination and creativity to reuse something that could potentially have added to to the landfills! To get you started, here is a list of 100 Amazing Upcycling Ideas you could use.


If you don't want to start upcycling yourself, why don't you buy some of Gifts and Graces many upcycled products? Not only will you be helping the environment, you would also be helping provide a dignified income to one of our partner marginalized communities!


Here are just some of our upcycled products:

Upcycled from Scrap Fabric

 Retaso Pillow

 Coffee Sleeves

Retaso Travel Set: Passport Holder, Luggage Tag & Checkbook Holder

Upcycled from Juice Packs

Juice Pack Bag

Upcycled from Magazines

Magazine Tote Bag

Upcycled from Phone book Pages

Stackable Directory Bowls

Upcycled from Old Flour Sacks

Harina Tote Bag

To see more of our upcycled products visit our showroom/office at:

Unit 131 Milelong Building, Amorsolo St, Makati City

or call 759-2525 or email us at: marketing@giftsandgraces.com

Fair Trade Travel

Jet-set in style using Gifts and Graces travel accessories. Be a fair trade traveler and take your advocacy wherever you go!

Mangyan Travel Set

Take your Filipino pride wherever your travels take you by covering your travel essentials with these Filipino handmade cloth passport holder, checkbook holder and luggage tag. 

Retaso Travel Pillow

 Travel in style and comfort with this pillow decorated with quality scrap fabric.

Retaso Travel Pouch

A place to put your toiletries in your hand carry bag made of canvass cloth and retaso fabric strips.

Gifts & Graces in Metro Society May 2011

We, at Gifts and Graces, would like to extend our appreciation to Metro Society Magazine for featuring our beautiful newspaper bags on their May 2011 Issue with Kenneth Cobonpue on the cover.

Very special thanks goes out to Ms. Marichelle Ligon for including our best-selling Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly newspaper bags in her feature Objects of Desire.

The featured bags are handwoven from upcycled newspaper pages and hand painted by Mr. Boy Buenafe.

If you want to order or see more of our newspaper bags 

you are welcome to drop by our office/showroom:

Unit 131 Milelong Building, Amorsolo St, Makati City

or call 759-2525 or email us at: marketing@giftsandgraces.com

Fair Game

Fair trade products cater to a wide range of people including the little ones. At a young age, start exposing them to eco-friendly and ethically-produced toys so that they can start early with social responsibility. 

Get your kids a few of the fabulous Gifts & Graces Fair Trade Foundation toys:

The Tangram

A 19th century Chinese puzzle that has spread around the world. The tangram is a square that has been cut into 7 pieces or tans. The tans are used to make silhouettes of everyday objects, animals and even people. The only rule is all 7 pieces be used in making a design and none of the pieces may overlap.  

Tell your kids to use their imagination and sense of humor to come up with his or her own shape.

Monster Dolls

Give your kids cute and quirky monster dolls to help them express their personalities and to stretch their imaginations. Help them make stories about these unique plush toys using different scenarios. Teach them imaginative play and the concept of individuality!

Retaso Stuffed Toys

These stuffed toys are truly one-of-a-kind. As they are made of donated quality scrap fabric, no two stuffed animals are the same. These cute bears are made by differently-abled persons. Your purchase will supplement their livelihood programs.

These are available at The Lobby Shop at Edsa Shangri-La 

and our office/showroom 

Unit 131 G/F Mile Long Building

Amorsolo St., Makati City

Rainy Day Gear

It's that time of the year again that workers dread and students spend with their fingers crossed for classes to be suspended. That's right. Typhoon season is upon us again. Aside from the all important umbrella and the optional rain boots and rain coat, why don't you add some of our fair trade products to your list of rainy day gear?

Tarpaulin Shoe Bag

Are you one of those sensible office workers who wear rubber slippers or boots to work and change to pretty heels or dress shoes when you get to the office? Keep your office shoes from getting wet by putting it in this cute shoe bag made of upcycled tarpaulin. You can keep your rubber slippers here during work hours too!
 

Retaso Travel Set

Dress up your travel essentials while protecting it from getting wet. The Retaso travel set made of quality scrap fabric consists of a Luggage Tag, Passport Holder and Cheque Holder. Also available in Mangyan Cloth and Buri.

Tarp Sling Bag

Keep your things safe from the torrential downpour by putting them in this sling bag made of upcycled tarpaulin. Remember, tarpaulin is made to endure any weather condition and this bag will keep your hands free to hold an umbrella up. Stylish and practical.

Bamboo Candles

Typhoon season also unfortunately is synonymous to black out time. Be prepared with these beautiful bamboo candles. Awesome house decor and excellent source of light when the power fails. Of course, you can opt for our eco-friendly soy candles.

Market! Market! Tarp Bag Promo

Market! Market! Tarp Bag Promo

In 2008, Market! Market! In Bonifacio Global City, launched their highly successful tarp bag project where Market! Market shoppers get the chance to win one-of-a-kind upcycled tarpaulin totes. This promotion earned Market! Market! Prestigious accolades and recognition for their concern for the environment and support of livelihood programs through its partnership with Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation.

The Public Relations Society of the Philippines awarded Market! Market! In 2009 and 2010 with an Anvil Award of Merit for Public Relations under the Community Engagement category. For the same promotion they garnered honor as ICSC Finalist 2009, Tambuli Awards Bronze Winner 2009 and recognition at the Philippine Quill Awards.

Gifts and Graces continues its successful partnership with Market! Market! by tapping five of our partner marginalized communities to produce the upcycled totes made from Market! Market!'s donated tarpaulin.

Be one with Market! Market! And Gifts and Graces in our commitment to environmental concern and economic sustainability for underprivileged communities. For the whole month of July, you can avail yourself of these tarp tote bags by visiting Market! Market!and presenting P2,000 single or accumulated receipts or you can buy one for P75.00 when you present P500 single or accumulated receipts.

Father's Day Gift Ideas

It's Father's Day in a couple of weeks. Have you thought about what you're giving the special man in your life this year?

Here's 3 unique products from Gifts & Graces that will sure put a smile in your father's face!

FOR THE DAD ON- THE- GO

This recycled tarpaulin mail bag is durable and water-proof. It will keep your dad's hands free to do whatever his busy day entails. It also benefits our partner community in Boni, Mandaluyong!

FOR THE TRAVELLING DAD

Is your dad always going on business trips? Why not give him this recycled flour sack bag to keep his suitcase organized and clean? It's perfect for him and the environment!

FOR THE COFFEE ADDICT DAD

If your dad drinks a lot of coffee, you should buy him these coffee sleeves made of retaso fabric. That way, he won't have to waste so many of those cardboard holders each time he buys some coffee. Your dad will thank you and so will the trees you save!

We'll be posting more Father's Day gift ideas for you so keep checking back!