Ideas & Inspirations from Friends, Clients & Suppliers

More than a week ago, my friend Aina asked if I could me to make a chocolate-candy gift basket for her friend's birthday. Not the super-expensive gourmet chocolates but the normal treats that even I love. So she texted me what chocolates her friend loves. Then 2 days after she mentioned if I could include some imported candy. Then after that she asked me if I could include some imported chips.

I really like this. It somehow makes my job so much easier hehee..

So here's Candy Crazy, filled with Kettle Chips, Mars, Twix, M&Ms, Kit Kat, Wonka Nerds, Runts etc. Love this sugar high :D

Then I remembered some other customized gift baskets that I did before. Like The Actor in Me and Just Loved and Be Loved ordered by a friend who's younger brother was in a Shakespeare play some time last year. I remembered my friend & my ex-roomie (during college days) & me group-chatting *or brainstorming* via BlackBerry Messenger on what to include in those gift baskets. After much info & also more input from a schoolmate who actually went with me to hunt for suitable deco items..these are the finished products:

I only knew who the recipient really was just before delivery these gift baskets. He used to have a column named The Bangsar Boy..and he's also a well known blogger. Even Amsyar knows (and admires) Niki Cheong!

At one time a regular client who loves our flower baskets, muffin baskets (or both, combined) asked for a customized gift basket..for his best friend's wedding gift. He was the best man so in order to make the gift something that is well-thought through, I naturally had to 'interview' my client lah. Using the honeymoon-location info as the main idea for deco, I came up with Honeymoon Picnic (you can easily guess the couple will honeymoon by the beach!) :

And during Mother's Day, the same client wanted me to do up a gift basket that his mother could carry on the aeroplane back to Terengganu :P. After another round of 'interview', I got some things that his mother likes and assembled it as My Mom's Favourites:

Some time this year, a twitter-friend who was selling Dubai-produced makeup at that time asked if I can make them into gifts. Why not, ALL women I know wear makeup! (and I ended up buying some for myself when I looked through her range, konon nak pilih yang mana la alih-alih pilih jugak untuk diri sendiri). Here's Rose Garden Chic, Pink Country Rose and Spanish Rose. *yes, the makeup-distributor company name has the word 'rose' in it*

Sometimes close friends ask if I could sponsor a gift basket or two for an event, like school reunion and such. "Alaa yang simple-simple je boleh ke?". AZ Gift Baskets is all about simplicity heheee...but while we believe that 'less is more', we are also hardcore believers of 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'. Basic baskets don't seem very basic if you go that extra mile for the deco :). Red Polka Dots and Vintage Lace (by this time I was running out of ideas for gift basket names):

There are more, actually. And though I love going through photos of my previous creations..time is just not on my side. Hubby and The Boyz are getting ready for dinner outside with my SIL..and I'll be catching up on the loads of unfolded clean laundry (yang sampai bila takkan sudah hahahaa).

Other than that, you can also click HERE and read my older post about Syok Sendiri Creations that I come up with from time to time.

So there, I get ideas and inspirations not only from going through the web or from me only...but also from friends, clients and suppliers. Kita manusia biasa, kita memang tak boleh bekerja sorang-sorang. Even if we don't like it..but in business (and life, in general), we must seek others' help from time to time.

And if we need help, we have to have people who WANT to help us. I am forever grateful that I can always turn to them if I need to, and they can turn to me too, insyaAllah. That's why it's very important for me to take care of and maintain good relationship with my family, friends, clients (of course), suppliers (who sometimes become my clients, too)...and last but not least, people in the same industry. Believe it or not, these are the people who you need to turn to sometimes. So make them as the people who you CAN turn to.