This last week I have been working on more embroidered toys.  I made some new ones pandas and frogs.  Sometimes when you create something new your vision doesn't turn out exactly as you would have liked

For example this pink panda....

This panda is better.

What I thought was nice for the ears on the pink one just didn't turn out the way I had hoped.

But I am sure it will get adopted at some point.

While making some toys this past few months, and some issues I have had, I made a joke to myself about the Island of Misfit Toys.  

So now I am actually going to start a section on my table for the "misfits". 

They need love and homes too.

I spent most of my weekend doing household chores, like cleaning and shopping, so a lot of crafting did not happen.  But I did cut out some cows, and worked on some smaller projects, like this little dino. 

Well I will be creating more plush toys this week, I have a craft fair in Moores, NY on Saturday.

Video of Embroidered Toys.

It has been a while since I have posted. Quite a lot has changed since then. In my personal life and professional life too.   I will try to blog more, even if it is just once a week. This will be the real "me" and my thoughts.

Currently, I am trying to move my hobby of Plushie Making into more of a business. So there will be a lot of trial and error on my part as I go through this process.  I find it difficult right now to focus on just one thing, I currently try to write down my goals and focus on them for the week.

My Time management issues:

1. I work full time. So that limits my ability to create the toys.  I can only create after work or on weekends. This makes it difficult to stay competitive with others whose main focus is their craft business. 
2. I have to choose what my focus is on for the day/week/month. Not enough free time, and I often let things slide. Like my sleep, or chores, or fun time, etc. and those things should not suffer because I have a business.
3. Advertising: I was just posting everything I made on Facebook. While that is a great start, it is still a limited audience.  What about others who are not on Facebook? I need to expand.
4. Web Site: I looked in to several places to host my website, and chose one in the end for cost reasons. I am currently building it.  Of course I need to spend more time on it. At some point, I will have an online store. Dragon's Keep Plushies Web Site
5. Facebook: I have a page I maintain on FB. Actually two, but i need to focus on just one. Dragon's Keep Plushies FB Page
6. Craft Fairs: My majority of sales are at events. It involves travel, gas, car maintenance, time whole day or days, food/drink costs, set up (tables, displays, etc).  I rent a table or tables or space, and set it up every time. And hope that the organizer has done their part in advertising, etc. and that customers show up to the event.
7. Farmer's Market: this year I am attending the local farmers market. So I need to focus on making items daily so that at the end of the week I will have new or replacement items for my booth there.

So, I have a lot on my mind.  But this week's focus is I am making Embroidered stuffed animals for the young children safe for all ages. As I sold almost all of the ones that I made for the Craft Fair last week. 

My next Craft Fair sale is in Moores, NY on May 6th. So I'm busy creating for that one. 

My plan is to make one new toy a night or more if I feel up to it.

These are some of the little guys that I am working on:

I sold most of these, so I'll make more :)

Hello

Hi! For those of you who don't know me. My name is Caroline. I started sewing and crafting since I was a young girl. I learned to do a variety of crafts in 4-H, church programs, and from my mother.

My mother and I would create our crafts and sell them at local craft fairs. I loved making plush toys and plastic canvas creations and my mother would make pillows and other crafty things. Later on, my daughter Michaella joined us in attending craft fairs by making her wonderful jewlery pieces.

I started focusing on creating plush toys to sell because I enjoy and love making each one. I put my love, care, and attention on every plushie that I make. I often use patterns to make the toys that I create. But my new goal is to begin to creat plush toy patterns of my own.

Please see my facebook pages DragonsKeepPlushToys FB page and  my etsy shop  for the current plush toys that I have made. I can do custom color combinations of almost any of the patterns that I currently own, message me and we can certainly work something out.

I will be blogging my current projects, as well as possibly making mini tutorials on how to sew or use a pattern, or tutorials in the future.

Welcome,

Caroline