GIVEAWAY: Bring Your Child's Drawing to Live by Perniq

EDIT 27.12.15: Congratulations Carol Mei Mei Lim! You have both won yourself a handmade Out Of the Page Softie!

My nephew is quite an artist and his favourite character is Humpty Dumpty. Give him access to YouTube and you'll find him watching Humpty Dumpty in various languages. This anthropomorphic egg never fails to fascinate him and it probably started at the age of two. When he began to doodle, his pages were filled with many versions of Humpty Dumpty. With every birthday, the character grew with him too and I meant the details. We had thought he'd find himself a new favourite (like every typical child) by the time he turned five but he is one loyal little guy. I requested for a drawing one evening, just for keeps. He enthusiastically pulled out a piece of paper and illustrated the Portrait of Humpty Dumpty for his Aunt May. It took him a mere seven minutes to present me with my gift and I was totally impressed! He gave Humpty an orange hat, multi-coloured pants, a pair of pants and shoes that matched the orange of his hat and a cheeky tongue-out-of-mouth grin. At that instant, I knew I had to bring his drawing to live. He probably doesn't know it now but this is his masterpiece at age five - one that he'd be so proud to show his children when the time comes. One that his parents will hold close to their hearts when they look through that trunk of keepsakes from long ago.

When I found out about Perniq, I knew this would be the perfect Christmas gift for him! I spoke to Nancy, the owner of Perniq, and we got down to working on Callum's Portrait of Humpty Dumpty right away. Nancy is a mother of three and she kept lots of her children's drawings. She became an avid collector of their artworks and found it hard to put them into the trash. One day, while browsing the net, she found a few crafters who run businesses making soft toys based on children's drawings. Being a crafty person herself, she attempted to make some softies out of her children's drawings on her own. Then friends asked her to make some for their children and there, Perniq was born.

Through the process of the making, she understood why the crafters she found on the net set such a high price for producing one. It takes a lot of effort to successfully reproduce a child's imagination. Because this is something she is passionate about, she offers a more affordable price point compared to what you can find in Etsy. To achieve that, she will use mixed (many different) materials from the region and sometimes if she has to, she uses upcycled materials, fabrics remnants and such. Best of all, she is in Singapore! We can be sure we will be saving on shipping costs!

When you have more than one child, you need to exercise fairness. I requested for a drawing each from Callum's sisters as well. They are a pair of twins but their personalities and temperaments differ quite drastically. So are their pictorial compositions. Cayley drew up a storyline with houses, a girl  (I presume that's her) and a colourful bear. Clearly, I took the drawing to Nancy and told her to bring the bear to live. I loved it that the colours sewn to make Cayley's bear were made close to the drawing! Don't you?

Cayla, on the other hand, worked on this picture with her papa. It was drawn over fruits and desserts at the dining table. The warmth and love I witnessed over this artwork made my heart sing. Small opportunities like these, spending time with your children after dinner working on colours, bring out the most charming memories. This is a panda? A koala?  Oh whatever bear this is, it is one combined effort between father and child. Proud to be able to replicate this softie for them both.

I received these handmade Out Of the Page Softies (OOPS) just yesterday and I couldn't wait till Christmas. I had to bring it to them as soon as I could and watch their faces light up with delight.

To request for a quote, please write to Nancy here. Each production takes time and pricing cannot be determined until the drawing is submitted for a proposal. She always tries to finish one soft toy within a week and keep the price ranging from S$40 to S$80. Just so you have a good gauge of prices based on size and detailing, Callum's Humpty Dumpty costs S$70; Cayley's Colourful Bear costs S$65 and Cayla-and-Daddy's Bear costs S$45. In my opinion, the soft toys are priceless and I don't think I've overpaid for the amount of work put into it.

Please note that Perniq does not reproduce copyright characters like Disney.

For the giveaway, we are awarding ONE lucky child 
to one handmade Out Of the Page Softie!

Steps to win the giveaway: 

1) like A Million Little Echoes Facebook page
2) like and share this blog post with "You can turn your child's drawing into a soft toy!" (make it public)
3) comment in this Facebook post,
- a picture of your child's drawing that you'd like to bring to live
- his/her name and age
- a short story of the drawing
- your email address 
4) follow @perniqonline and @mmlittlee in instagram (optional)

We will choose the best drawing and story (in our opinion) for the win!

Giveaway ends on 25 December 2015, 2359 hours and results will be announced the next day at A Million Little Echoes Facebook page. 

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A stay at home mum, blogging to widen her social life. 
We want to echo the sound of love through our lives to inspire other mothers alike.