Nerdy Stuff

Finally my craft corner (which is not so slowly taking over the room) is fully stocked!  I've finished 2 monsters in as many days and am feeling prettyyyyy good about my productivity.  Next up is a little retooling of the geekier elements of the business.  I'm setting up a mini photography studio and taking new pictures of all of the monsters.  Then a little update to the website, blog and facebook page.  I'll also be playing around with photoshop to see what I can come up with for a flannel monsters logo.  It's a bit of a juggling act to get it all done but it keeps things interesting.

So much time, so little to do

Strike that.  Reverse it.  I have a stack of new flannel waiting and suddenly no time to work!  With winter finally on the way out and a new pair of running shoes on my feet, I've been trying to get back into a workout routine.  I used to run at least four times a week but that was the past so let's keep it realistic.  Between that, the usual cooking and cleaning and the little one's catching a cold and cutting teeth (poor guy) crafting has been on the back burner.  I do always manage to sneak in at least an hour of sewing time after the kids are asleep.  Tonight is looking promising though so I'm going to get to it and get one completed creature. . . maybe two.  Maybe if I work assembly line style. . . draw up all of patterns, then do all of the cutting. . . I could get three or four done that way.  Spoken like a true craft addict.

Fabric Delivery!

My new flannel showed up earlier than expected and I couldn't be happier!  I have quite a few pinks and purples so you'll be seeing some cute girly-girl monsters popping up soon.  First thing's first though and that means robotics!  I'm about halfway through my first attempt at a robot and it's turning out really well.  They take a lot of stitch time so the robots will be more of a special order item.  Feel free to e-mail me if you are interested.  They are really fun to make so I'm sure you'll see them in the store from time to time.  I'll post a picture of the one I'm making now but my son has already staked his claim on it.  "Me Woe-bot!"  He was very disappointed when bedtime came and his "woe-bot" was still full of pins.  Gotta get on it so it's done by bedtime tomorrow!

To Market, To Market

While I wait for my latest fabric to arrive, I've been focusing on getting the word out on my entrepreneurial venture.  There's the website, the blog, the facebook page and a slew of crafting and parenting websites.  It's tough to get noticed out there on the world wide web.  Next up is getting my ferocious flannel friends out there into the world of mortar and brick!  I'll be hitting the pavement and hopefully finding a few venues.  It's a good climate for locally made and handmade items.  Luckily we have quite a few locally owned toy and gift shops and a few that exclusively feature locally made goods (the anti-walmarts, if you will).  So if you see someone with a bundle of flannel monsters banging down retail doors, that'll be me!

Tyger

Here's the latest addition to the online store

Distractions, distractions

With a 3 year old, an 8 month old and one high maintenance chihuahua, finding time to sew is a bit of a challenge.  Someone always needs a snack, a meal, a bath, a walk, a story, a movie, a diaper change, a change of clothes. . . you get the idea.  I may only have a broken hour or two a day to work but it's definitely increased my efficiency.  Draw a pattern, cut, iron, pin, cut, lay out the decoration, stitch, turn, stuff, finish.  It may take me an entire day to get past step one but as soon as the kiddos are asleep I go into overdrive and bust out as much as is humanly possible.  Last night I took two new designs from pattern to completed products!  Not bad considering this baby has four, count them four, teeth cutting at once.

Fun with Fabric

New fabrics are on the way!  I absolutely love a drawer full of assorted flannels and I have a dozen on their way to my doorstep.  New fabrics mean new designs!  I've had several requests for robots so I started sketching some out today.  The little man saw my designs and said "Ooooooh, robots, yay!"  I took that as a good sign.

Home again, home again

Nothing like a good road trip to spark the old creativity!  I swear I come up with my best ideas when I have no way of working on them.  After over a week of vacation on the coast and a whirlwind hometown visit, I am so happy to get back to my creative outlet.  I dreamed up about a dozen new designs and immediately forgot half of them.  All of the parents out there know that any given thought has roughly a fifty fifty shot at breaking into your long term memory.  The other half are drowned out by crying, whining, diaper changes, spontaneous adorableness or any of the thousand other ways kids manage to steal your attention.  But now that we're back and on our regular schedule it's time to stitch those ideas into reality!  I'll be adding them to the website as fast as I can sew them so keep an eye out for the new additions.

Monster Origins

The first monsters I made were party favors for my son's 3rd birthday.  He has a love of monsters and dragons and generally anything big and loud.  I asked him if he'd like me to make him a monster and got an extremely emphatic "yes! pease, pease!"  As I set up the sewing machine he stomped around the house roaring and clawing the air.  He loved the finished product and since we were planning a small birthday celebration I decided to make one for each of his guests.  They were a hit so I played around with different fabrics and stitching until I found a combination that was soft and durable.  Three year olds have interesting ways of "loving" their toys.  They fly through the air, get dragged across the floor, sat on, chewed on, squished and smooshed.  In our house they also have to contend with a baby and a dog so durability is a must.  Now he loves to help me choose the fabric and see the monsters go from drawings to finished products.  He even keeps me on task; "mommy, make a monster. . . now, mommy, pease"  I started the online store to share handmade, quality toys with as many people as possible.  Everyone needs at least one; they're made with love and have so much character and personality.