The Accidental Handmade Business

I can not believe it's been over a year since my last post, craziness! I guess 2 kiddos running around hasn't given me much time,or maybe I'm just not as great at time management as I thought. Either way, I have been crafting.  In fact last Christmas I unknowingly started a small side business called The GracieLynn Shop.  How do you start a business and not know it? I made my daughter, 9 months old at the time, a Bit of Whimsy Doll.  The Baby pattern, which is absolutely adorable by the way, is the one I purchased and it's smaller than the other ones I've made making it the perfect doll for my little one.

So of course I was so proud of the cuteness I created I posted a picture on Facebook and the orders started coming.  Friends of friends and family members were all wanting homemade dolls for their sons/daughters, grandson/daughter, niece/nephew, and baby shower gifts.

It was truely a blessing because we were unsure how we were going to afford Christmas & going to see my husband's family. I had been praying about it a lot and then this kinda fell in my lap.

I made 4 different girl dolls

And some boy dolls,

Cute little babies

Christmas rolled around and I was asked to make elves (more on that in another post).

And then Easter rolled around and I started making bunnies.

  I used the Sleepy Bunny pattern from Mmmcrafts.

I've had so much fun making them!

Sleepy Bunny

I had planned on buying the Sleepy Bunny pattern from mmmcrafts while I was pregnant with the intentions of making Grant one for his Easter Basket.  Being the procrastinator I am, I waited, then my husband lost his job and I couldn't justify spending the extra money on it.  My mom got online and looked at the pattern, thought it was too adorable not to purchase, and bought it for me if  I would make one for baby Sophie and the grandbaby of a woman she works with.  I bought fabric, a 1/4yard is all it takes (ended up costing $1.22) and I already had the stuffing and coordinating fabric.

(Warning! a not so great picture on a dark and cloudy day)

For anyone else out there thinking of making a Sleepy Bunny here are my words of advice:

Double stitch your seems.  Stitch around once then go back and stitch over top of the same one.  This will hold better when you start stuffing.  Some of my seems started busting because I tend to over  stuff.

I picked a patterned fabric and kind of wish I had picked a solid print for the front.  I thought mine was cute but a little busy (just something for you to think about)

The pattern is really easy to follow and doesn't take long to finish.  I'm always weary of new patterns and afraid they will be beyond my skill level but I had fun making this bunny.

I didn't get a picture of Grant's full Easter basket before he dumped it over but here is what I had in it:  2 board books from Target $1 spot, Bambi DVD, felt chocolate bunny, Sleepy Bunny, and his first Football.  All together a total of $16 was spent.  I don't think that's too bad for his first visit from the Easter Bunny. 

Chocolate Bunny

I had every intention of buying a little chocolate bunny for Grant's Easter basket, and the more I thought about it I thought why buy one when he's too young to even eat it and my hips don't need any more chocolate.  That's when I came across this post on Just Deanna, and I thought it was a perfect solution.

I'm always on the lookout for little things to entertain Grant as he walks around in his walker.  So I found this bunny pattern and decided to make a felt chocolate bunny.  I couldn't make the pattern Just Deanna used work correctly for me so I found this pattern and it worked great.   On the inside I put some crinkly stuff (pop tart wrapper) and a jingle bell.  He loves things that make noise so a regular old bunny wouldn't do.

So the list of things you will need:

Felt

Pop tart wrapper

Jingle bell

Thread

This is a quick and easy project.  Place your pattern on your felt of choice and cut around it.

Make sure to cut out an eye or stitch one on if you're concerned about small pieces being swallowed by your little one.  I used some blue thread for mine, Grant is chewing on everything so I didn't want to chance him swallowing something.

I blanket stitched around the outside, leaving a small opening to put stuffing, a jingle bell (I actually put 2 bells because mine were the small ones and didn't make enough noise to satisfy me with just one), and a pop tart wrapper inside, then stitched the opening closed.

Now you have the perfect chocolate bunny for your little one.

Easter Pail

My intention was to make Grant a fabric Easter basket this year.  I found a tutorial I liked, had my fabric out and ready and then after trying to make a bag that ended up being a horrible crafting disaster, I scrapped the idea.  I didn't want to waste fabric if it ended up not turning out the way I envisioned and I figured with me going to Ohio Easter week I should take an easier way out.

I went to the dollar tree in search of a plastic bin, bucket or pail, not necessarily an Easter one, but one I could dress up and I found this:

They had them in blue, green, purple, and pink. I immediately went for the blue knowing I had some orange ribbon to dress it up, my husband is a big Tennessee Vols fan so I thought he would appreciate the orange.

I whipped out the glue gun and glued ribbon around the handle and around the bottom of the pail.  I used my Cricut and the Don Juan cartridge to cut the letters of Grant's name out at 1 inch, then glued those to the pail as well.  I showed my husband the finished pail all excited because I thought it was cute and he hesitated when I asked him what he thought.  Of course once again he thought what I made looked a little girly due to the polka dots on the ribbon.  Maybe it does but Grant is 5 months old I think cute little polka dots are allowed at his age.  Either way I think the pail is adorable and will be perfect for his first Easter, and who can complain with a $1 Easter basket.  Maybe next year I'll come up with a more "manly" basket, do they even make those in pastel colors? haha.