Penang's Cheap Banner & Flyer Printing

For our Pesta Gawai and Kaawatan event, we had to print flyer and backdrop for the indoor stage. We made our own design to minimize the cost and next find the most affordable printing shop around the Seberang Perai area of Penang.

I found seberal printing shop at Bukit Mertajam and after requesting for quotation, I found that the pricing offered by Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad (PNMB) at Bandar Perda is the most affordable. In fact, the pricing is among the cheapest in the market.

The person-in-change of the printing department is the friendliest salesperson ever! 

Between exchanging emails and through PNMB's website I found that the minimum flyer to order is 500 pieces but Mr. Shahrul of the printing department allowed us to print 200 pieces since we only need that much. How kind of him! 

And since designing for the 10 feet × 10 feet indoor banner we need a higher resolution image, I had to asked Mr. Shahrul to design it for me. And guess what, he didn't charge me for designing! Adui, where else can you find a bargain like this! For the info, designing for printing marketing tools such as banner or brochures is included in the pricing. My last experience of printing a backdrop, one certain shop charged me RM20.00.

Designing process which includes 4,5 amendments and still Mr. Shahrul is patient as ever! 

The finish product. I got to say I am fully satisfied with the color of the image printed.

For the flyer, since it's going to be circulated to the public, it has to be attractive in term of color and designs. I regret that I didn't take photo of the finish product.

The term preforation only come to my knowledge when printing this lucky draw ticket. Perforation is row of small holes punched in a sheet of paper so that a part can be torn easily.

Small details like this costs more. One shop quote me over RM200.00 just for the perforation (not including the printing!) since they'll be using machines to make the fine cut. So we decided to just print it and manually cut it later on.  

For the reader's information, I am a freelance designer. For those who are interested in designing flyer for all occassion please leave comment below or email me at feliciawilliambinsol@yahoo.com.

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Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan & Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai

We had just finished our first time ever night of Pesta Gawai and Kaamatan. Months of preparations; organizing and practice come to this night in full gear to offer what we have to make it succeed. 

A quick recap here on the celebration of Pesta Kaamatan and Gawai.

Kaamatan is a harvest festival celebrated by different ethnic groups especially among the Kadazan-Dusun community in Sabah. It lasts for the whole month of May where different ritual stages are held to commemorate the spirit of the harvest and all leading up to the climax of the festival on 30^th or 31^st May. The peak of the celebration is often accompanied with Sugandoi (singing/karaoke contest), Unduk Ngadau (harvest festival queen), traditional sports, multi-ethnic cultural shows and carnival with an array of local food at the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association Hall or KDCA.

Similar to Kaamatan, Hari Gawai is also celebrated to mark the end of the harvesting season which falls on 1^st and 2^nd June each year particularly by the Dayak people in Sarawak normally at longhouses. Celebration begins on the evening of May 31^st with also different stages of ceremonial rites performed and ends with a merrier gatherings. The celebration may last for several days and activities included dances to the traditional music, cock-fighting matches, blowpipe and ngajat competition and also beauty pageant to choose the festival’s queen and king or also called Kumang & Keling Gawai. 

The Gabungan Anak Borneo team. 

So our very own Pesta Gawai and Kaamatan held on the 1st of May at Creative Ballroom, Butterworth, Penang. 

We have opening performances in dances and acoustic singing. The first special performance were neither from Sabah or Sarawak but from Indonesia. Since we had lots of Indonesian friends in Penang, we thought it was a good idea to showcase the traditional Batak dance from Sumatra, since they are also included in the third largest island in the world which is Borneo.  Batak is an ethnic group predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Some of the dancer who performed the traditional Batak dance.

I wish I had taken photo of each of the performances that day but everyone were busy making sure the event were on track that not even one of us remember to take photo! Or maybe, we were simply mesmerised by all the performances or maybe just busy taking selfies...haha..

Between performances, we had lucky draws and our kind sponsors make sure almost everyone get home with a prize or two. 

The Magunatip team dancer. Although the Magunatip dance or bamboo dance is from the Murut people from Tenom, all of us wearing different attire from the people of Dusun, Rungus and also Lundayeh of Sabah.

The guys from the Gabungan Anak Borneo team. 

Contestant in the Sugandoi (singing/karaoke contest). Song performed in the local dialect of both Sabah and Sarawak. What interesting is we got one contestant who performed Batak song.

Contestant in the best dress competition. Attire worn are from the people of Murut, Rungus, Dusun and Lundayeh. 

The winner of the Sugandoi competition.

Winner of the traditional best dress competition. 1st goes to traditional dress from the Murut people. 2nd goes to the Rungus people and 3rd from Dusun. 

Overall the event was a success. We were all thrilled and excited to be hosting our first Gawai Kaamatan in Butterworth, Penang.

Till next year!

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Squeeze Your Stress Away

I’m a full time mom doing part time home-based gift business and occasionally doing artwork for my homemade gift or artwork for church.

Stress is inevitable whether you are a student, working mom or housewife. One sure way I go through my stressful days is by crocheting (apart from praying). The repetitive action of crochet distracts me from whatever issues I had at the moment.

Nowadays, it seems everybody is stressed out.

A more easy quick way is to use a stress ball. The act of squeezing and stretching stress ball somehow ease you. You can also use these stress ball for your kids as well.
Find out how to make one here.

Have fun!

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Homemade Remedy for Cough

I had these terrible itchy cough that won't stop these few days. It would get worse during the night. I hate eating medicine especially cough syrup. I would feel sleepy the whole day. Even if I consume the non-drowsy cough syrup, for some reason, I would finish one bottle of medicine and still cough like crazy.

I saw these homemade remedy for coughing on the internet and thought I give it a try. 

Basically you just mix slices of lemon into the honey.  So you will be only needing these two ingredients;  1 lemon and a cup of honey. 

Place lemon slice in a glass jar or a mason jar and pour honey until the jar is full. Leave overnight in the refrigerator and take one spoonful when required. Or even you can take it by mixing with warm water.

I got to say I found out that my cough will subside during the day. You have to consume this homemade remedy for about 2-3 days for it to show effects.

I did give this homemade cough syrup to my 6 yo. He was having this dry nonstop cough when we had a month long haze right here in Penang. We would come home one day and by evening he would have this really bad cough. Went out to the pharmacy and buy the most expensive honey I could find (it was raw honey and it was imported from somewhere...) and get home. I give my son a spoonful of honey mix with a few drops of lemon and by midnight the cough's gone.  

So I think this homemade remedy works. But consume with caution. Honey is not suitable for babies below 1 year old.

Enough of my rantings! Try it yourself! 

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