Gifts from Taiwan - Great Money Maker

Since Princess two was sick and working most of the time she was in Taiwan, she didn't get to go shopping much or do much sight seeing. 

In fact, yesterday, I transferred over her pictures of the almost year she spent on her mission and was really shocked to see that she had only one and a half CD's and many of the photos were blurry as she had a problem with her first camera. 


She was sad that she hadn't bought anything for her sisters and she actually had to leave lots behind due to weight restrictions. She unpacked and found that near the beginning, she bought something that she found unique and decided to get them for her sisters. 

She was shopping and noticed a man with an engraver. He was using it to carve things into little stones or pebbles. 

He would then drill a hole in the top and put a string through the top and make the little stone into a necklace but the cool thing is that he personalizes them. He did one that said "mom" for me with the Chinese Characters for "peace" above it on one side and then on the other side, he did drawings. On mine, I have a heart with wings flying.   


On each of the girls necklace stones, she put "Peace" and then all or part of their names on one side, and on the other, she told him to draw whatever he wanted. Some have fish, others clover, others hearts and other things.


I thought how smart the man is for making something out of free stones. The string he used is thin nylon and two small beads. The string and beads are the only items he used other than the stone.


I know that this photo is a bit washed out but it was the only way I could get the carvings to show up well. It is really cute and different and who doesn't like jewelry! 

I thought the idea would be a great carnival or festival idea to make money for the PTA or scouts or any great fund raising purpose. 

You can buy cordless engravers online and we bought some and used them on little metal and plastic necklaces a few years ago at our school fall carnival. However, how much cuter to get stones, let the child pick one out and carve their name on it. Or, you can collect stones from a favorite place or tourist attraction and make them from there or on shells etc. 

The girls liked their presents and we all wore them today. Princess two and I even went to visit Princess three at college today since Princess two used to live in the same house and wanted to see how it had changed. Just getting in the door, she ran into someone she knew from when she went to college there and had a long conversation with her while I cooked lunch for us all. 




 So, even though she thought she had forgotten and felt bad that she didn't have time to get them something, in the end, she did and it is something the girls liked. Good choice Princess!