Family of Monsters

Back in the fall, my friend Carrie asked me (commissioned me) to make 8 monsters named after her kids and all the other grandkids in her family. It was in the middle of my very gross first trimester days, so it did not get started on until just a couple weeks before Christmas. She wanted to give them to her parents for Christmas so that each kid would have their special monster always at Grandma and Grandpa's house when they visited- such a cute idea.

It was very fun designing some new faces and writing their little descriptions based on some of the kids' characteristics Carrie had given me. Here's the whole bunch-

I had hoped to make multiples of each and get them in the shop before Christmas. Here's the thing about having an Etsy shop: You have to keep making things in order to keep selling things. Revolutionary idea, I know. But you can't just open your shop and let it sit. And I didn't when I first opened. I kept listing and relisting pretty regularly. I had big plans for diversifying my products and price-points and all that stuff the emails from Etsy tell you to do as a seller. (I still get those emails. I used to read them, now I delete them immediately. Yet I haven't unsubscribed from them because I know that someday soon I want to be motivated again and start reading them. Isn't that silly?) But after getting pregnant again, I guess I kind of lost interest. I do enjoy making a few things to sell and having people appreciate that, but I really enjoy sewing for gifts and for my kids and occasionally even me. And I never expected to try to be one of those sellers featured in a "quit your day job" article, but it would be nice to just make enough to take care of a bill or two each month. Anyway, I know I'm totally rambling now, but I was just wondering if any other half-assed Etsy sellers out there could relate to the ebbs and flows of motivation... But I guess that is one nice thing about the way Etsy is set up- everything is already there and ready for me when I decide to get selling again. And it will sit and wait when life/apathy gets in the way again.



Hey, did I tell you guys yet that I'm having a girl?!? I don't think I've mentioned it here, but yup, it's a girl. We are pretty excited about that :)

GIVEAWAY starts today!

The very lovely Mollie is doing a giveaway of one of my monsters over on her super fun blog, Wild Olive. (Welcome if you are visiting from there!) It starts today and goes through the weekend, so if you'd like to win a FREE monster from my shop, head here and leave a comment to enter! And the best part is, you get to pick your prize.

I've never done a giveaway before. Giveaway virg. Just thought I'd go ahead and get that out there in case this was a little awkward :)

And more monsters are coming to the shop soon for Christmas. Kids of all ages love them, so you know, it's a possibility. Or just go ahead and buy your nephew something plastic from China, no pressure :)

Tagging and Packaging

So when I opened my Etsy shop and made a couple sales, I was a little caught off guard. I realized I wasn't actually ready to ship the monsters I had made. Well, um... crap.

Luckily, I found a whole stack of old paint chips I had kept stashed from my days decorating children's church rooms. They are from this kid's line of Nickelodeon colors that Lowe's carried, although I don't think they do anymore.

At first, I tried painting over all of the Lowe's branding on the back sides, but that looked pretty awful, so I just glued two chips together back to back, in two colors that kind of match the monster they are on. Then I cover the cartoon characters with my shop name the monster name.

Here are 2 of my first sales ready to go.

They also get the little description attached on a laminated card. I hope to get these professionally printed down the road, but for now, they kind of add to the whole homemade look. 

Penelope was shipped out this morning. She was one of 4 new designs listed this week. You can read about the other 3 here.

Anyway, I love the bright paint chip tags, but I'm going to run out soon. I have some cute vintage owl playing cards I might use when that happens. I'd like to keep using repurposed/ recycled items. Does anyone else have any genius ways you tag your creations, or things you have seen other sellers use?

Some Customer Appreciation :)

My friend from Florida purchased one of my first monsters out of the shop for her baby boy, Slade. (So I named this monster after him.) She sent me a couple customer appreciation photos of Slade with Douglas, which of course made me so happy :)

How adorable is that? It's true- babies love monsters.

She requested a special order of stuffed blocks for him too, which I finished today:

Quick poll- should I start selling custom letter blocks in the shop? Would anyone else be interested? It's a thought... 

Also, We are leaving for New Orleans on Sunday! And leaving HG with my parents!! So I won't be back on the blog until after next week, but I'm sure I'll have good stuff to share from the trip. It's one of our favorite places in the world- can't wait!

A Good Weekend

Friday night was very exciting because Fyrefly Photography opened up their new studio! It looks absolutely beautiful. Lots of friends came out to say hi and have a drink and celebrate how far the business has come in just a little over a year. We think of Nathan and Edie and their kids like family, and now Nick is second shooting weddings most every weekend with Nathan. Also, I do some blogging/ childcare/ bag-making for him. So we feel like it's the family biz. It was a fun night.

Here is a little peek of the space. I think I'll have to show you more of it later this week, because it is full of great vintage styling you will love. Too bad I'm not a photographer myself, but you'll get the idea.

That night was a monthly event here in our neighborhood called "Oakley Afterhours," where all the businesses on the square stay open late and have special things going on. So Nick played some tunes for Red Tree Gallery and Coffee Shop, just around the corner from the new studio. Yeah, he's pretty good.

And my monsters also made their debut at Red Tree that day! Besides the really good art they have on the wall each month, they also sell lots of very cool handmade goods from local artists. I'm excited to have them for sale "in the flesh."

And lastly, my friend Kara just informed me that one of the monsters was included in an Etsy Finds collection on their blog and daily email. WHAT? The crazy thing is, my other friend Olivia from Palette Theory has an item in the same collection! I think she is the only other person I know with an etsy shop. There are only like a gazillion different items on etsy- what are the odds of that?? See it here. (Scroll down to the bottom.)

Henrietta is back.

She was my first Etsy sale, (thanks to this crazy guy) and I missed her when she left. So I've conjured her back.

This is Henrietta. She likes rolling down hills and catching frogs. She does not like when her little brother monster comes into her room. She keeps a bird named Paul in her mouth to keep her teeth clean.


I'm working on a batch of brand new monster faces today for peddling at Red Tree Gallery. I will show you tomorrow, and after that, more new listings in the shop. 

Hey! I finally did it. Shop open.

I have an Etsy shop now. Geez, those things are a pain to set up! It was fun though, and I'm excited to get it going. Since starting this little blog, the monsters I made have had some of the most positive reactions, so now there are 8 one-of-a-kind plush monsters for sale at the shop, also called A Little Gray. Although, I don't think there is anything gray in there :) So anyway, thanks for all your positive comments and encouragement, or else I never would have done this! That, and my husband and friends constantly telling me to get my head out of my arse and do it.

Thanks to Nathan for taking the amazing pictures. Go look around the shop here!