We thought we’d bring you up to speed on what has been happening over the last several months. In a nutshell, we’ve expanded our products on Gerard Aflague Collection.

While we began by offering primarily basic poster illustrations, we now have expanded our offerings so that customers can now select various types of museum quality prints to choose from, including Giclee posters, canvas, aluminum slate, wall adhesives, as well as our fine art plaques.

If you have not visited us over the last several months, we have also added a host of home and office products including shower curtains, rugs, glassware, i-phone cases, totes, coasters, and t-shirts. Much of these products are essentially made for gift-giving.

In the last few weeks we’ve added some blankets that are pretty neat as they are printed edge to edge and are a dual use product. They keep you warm, and when not used, can be hung on a wall as decor.

We have also added some unique gift-sized table top and wall hanging plaques, some of which are very popular with islanders including the plaque that asks your visitors to take off their footwear.

In the interest of pacific island folks, we’ve tried to expand our products so you can have more choices for gift-giving and decor.

Remember, that while we are all about creating new and interesting products, we always are available to custom design a product for your specific need. Thank you and Si Yu’os Ma’ase.

We are expanding on our offerings. In the days ahead, our website will be adding full-color sticker decal products to our collection of offerings. While most decals that are offered across the web only provide for basic illustrations, we will offer both single color, vinyl material, and full color images illustrated by me personally.

Unlike traditional sticker decals, we will be offering the ability to customize any illustration that we have available as a sticker by adding a short name of your choice to it. For example, we just added rooster decal stickers to our line of products. While it already has predesignated names on them, such as “Saipan”, etc., we can replace it, or add to it so that you have a unique product that you would be wanting to display proudly on your car, laptop, wall, or other smooth surface.

Our sticker decal material is non-fading, waterproof, and can be applied both for exterior or interior applications. All our stickers will now be contour cut to provide for a more beautiful and professional display. We plan to offer free shipping on all our sticker products and expect to migrate to that in the near future for all our other stickers.

Remember, we ship to all 50 states, U.S. military installations, Guam, CNMI, the FSM, and Palau, among others. Feel free to comment in response to this post if you have any special custom requests on what illustrated decals and stickers you would like designed for your car, i-pod, or home’s interior wall.

Suicide Cliff, a well-known landmark on the tiny island of Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, commemorates the spot where thousands of citizens and Japanese soldiers [estimates number it closer to 22,000] jumped to their death many feet below.

In 1944, Saipan was one of many battlegrounds in the Pacific, where Japan and the United States fought a horrific and bloody battle. Other places included Guam, the Philippines, Palau, and the Solomon Islands, to name a few. The United States started north and made their way south.

In testimony from United States soldiers that fought on Saipan, they described efforts to persuade the enemy through load speakers, to stand away from the cliff edge, however, with no effective result. Many citizens and Japanese soldiers jumped over the cliff, while others were thrown by Japanese soldiers themselves. It was described that the number of those Japanese soldiers and citizens were in the tens of thousands, with all but about 1,000 Japanese soldiers left.

This beautiful illustration is of Suicide Cliff in Saipan.

On Saipan, the battle was ferocious, and while the Japanese fought hard, they retreated into the mountains against the American soldiers. It was told that the Japanese convinced the citizens that the Americans were barbarians, and as a result took part in committing suicide.

Some estimates have put the battle of Saipan the costliest to date for the Americans as over 14 thousand causalities resulted. As for the Japanese, practically the whole garrison was killed, amounting to over 31,000, including Lt. General Yoshitsugu Saito, their leader on the island, who committed suicide.

After the Saipan battle, it was Japan’s end of a dynasty. It was told that Premier Hideko Tojo of Japan, declared that they were dealing with a national crisis that was unprecedented in its history. What followed would be the full resignation of his war cabinet. This was a major turning point in the war, because up until about this time, the military was essentially running the government.

The illustration of Suicide Cliff in Saipan has much history and bloodshed behind it, however, today, if you were to visit this site, it not only holds memorials to those that perished, it presents itself as a World War II park looking over the majestic ocean, with rugged limestone cliffs, nestled in an open grassy area with Flame trees that dot this island landscape.

Details of this illustration can be found at on the Gerard Aflague Collection online.

While Easter Season is a wonderful time to celebrate with egg hunts and easter baskets, we cannot forget the real reason we are celebrating this time of year.

Our Savior, while sacrificing on the cross for our inequities, finally won the battle over evil, and rose from the dead. In this act of finality, we are promised something so precious and so free. While he gave everything for each of us, we receive His gift through His grace.

So during this Easter Holiday, may we all remember the real reason for the season, and take part in celebrating with family and friends for it is because of His blood that we are set free.

Did you know that Guam villages have their own flags? Yup. They do. In fact, it’s been a little over a year since Guam adopted these flags representing the culture and landmarks of each village. This effort is aligned with the Guam public law on the establishment of such flags. Guam Code Annotated 2000, §1031 reads that the various Municipal Planning Councils of the Territory may adopt an official municipal flag which depicts the history and culture of the respective village. However, efforts to publicize their achievement have been paltry.

With this knowledge, Gerard wanted to do his share and elevate the awareness of these flags to the general public by designing and publishing Guam Village Facts and Flag Illustrations. By using social networking sites to ask Guam residents their opinion, he was able to gauge their interest.

We are encouraged by the response. Many of those who viewed them were drawn to the flag colors and complimentary design elements. Many felt it embodied their village and captured a few of their landmarks. Additionally, the illustrations in total represented their village and they said that they were really intrigued by the designs, Gerard said.

With all Guam 19 municipal flags available online, interested customers now have an opportunity to purchase and display a unique illustration that represents their Guam village.

To see all Guam Village Facts and Flag Poster Illustrations, visit http://www.gerardaflaguecollection.com/flags/

Plumeria is a tropical flower related to the Oleander, and both possess a sap may irritate eyes and skin. While Plumeria take many forms and colors, the more common are the white Plumeria with the yellow center, and the more interesting flowers that have come on the scene are the deep pink tones.

Having a plumeria tree within proximity provides for opportunities to make beautiful and fragrant lies. To make a lei, you will need:

Jar of oil such i.e. Vaseline, Lei needle, 4-8 pound fishing line, 30-50 Plumeria flowers, galloon zip type plastic bag, and measuring tape.

Steps:

1. Measure the length of the lie you would like by roping the fishing line around your neck to measure an adequate amount.

2. Thread the fishing line through the lei needle. Create a knot at the end of the line where the two join open ended. Create several knots if needed to ensure that the flowers are caught at the end. Ensure that the knot is bigger than the average diameter of the flower opening.

3. Keep flowers that are harvested from the tree in a zipped plastic bag and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

4. Use oil based grease to lubricate needle. Needle flowers one side up, with all in the same direction.

5. Use your desired pattern of colors. Example: 5 yellow, and 2 pink Plumeria.

6. Upon stringing all your flowers through the needle, create a loop with both ends of the line and tie off well with several knots.

7. Place completed leis in zipped plastic bags and place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Gerard Aflague Collection is now making available an assortment of full-color, vinyl stickers that are repositional, and colorful with an island theme. Over 25 different designs will be added to our product line that will depict regional locals abbreviated in 2 letters, Guam and CNMI seals, and various words that represent several regions in the Pacific.

The two letter decals are great to affix to car vehicles letting others know where your origins are from, while the Guam and CNMI seals are sized to fit nicely on the back panel of an I-Phone, I-pad, or other clean flat surface showing your island pride. As for the various words such as “Chamorro” and “Pacific Islander” to name a few, they work well on car windows, phones, i-pads, or on bumpers.

Your imagination is endless on the number of ways you can use these stickers.

Limited designs are available in inventory. Pre-orders are being taken now at our website, and products will be shipped March 26, 2012.

See all the designs here.