Carly's Memory Keepsake Bear

Everyone has to start somewhere, so the first bear I made was from Sock Baby's old sleepsuits. Armed with my pattern from Funky Friends Factory, I set about cutting and sewing, and transforming Sock Baby's outgrown sleepsuits, into a practice bear, and an example, to hopefully start some orders.

Being reasonably pleased with my first attempt, I decided to launch a prize draw on my Facebook page, to win a personalised keepsake memory bear.

Now, I mention the word 'personalised'. During my research, I discovered that most memory keepsake bear companies use embroidery to personalise their creations. With my lack of embroidery machine, lack of funds to buy one, and desire to be different from the rest, I set about seeking an alternative option. I turned to Shelley, a friend, and the lovely face behind 'I Heart Henry'. I saw that she creates some beautiful plaques with wooden hearts on. Each heart has a name of a family member on. This gave me my idea. I decided that by working with Shelley, I was able to offer a personalised, hand painted and hand stamped wooden tag with each memory keepsake bear. On one side, she can stamp the child's name, and on the other, the date of birth, therefore making my memory keepsakes quite unique.

Back to the prize draw. The lucky winner was Carly, mum of triplets, who were coming up to their first birthday. Absolutely ideal timing for a memory keepsake bear. She sent me 3 sleepsuits, one worn by each boy. I was so honoured to have been trusted with such precious items, and to start with was very nervous about cutting them up! However, I was blown away by the result and even made Carly cry (happy tears of course) when I shared the photos on my Facebook page. After that, the orders came flooding in, and with them, the request for different animals. I hope you'll agree that I've created something pretty special for Carly. A great keepsake for remembering those early days.

Next time.........The story behind Rachel's camels.

Creating Memories

Things have taken a turn here at Sock Creations HQ, and as demand for sock creatures has slowed down, I've realised that my business needed to move in a new direction.

After 'umming' and 'ahhing' for quite some time, I decided that I'd have a go at creating a memory keepsake bear. Ok, so I'm not the first person to do this, and there's certainly a lot more people doing it than there are sock creatures, but when I started my market research, I found several really good reasons to give this a go myself.

Firstly, I should say that there are some amazing memory keepsake bears available out there, but then I discovered some not so amazing examples. I appreciate this is just my opinion though, and also discovered that there are plenty of people lining up to buy these 'not so great' designs. Secondly a lot of the companies making the really good memory keepsake bears, either charge a lot of money for them, or have a really long waiting list, with some customers waiting more than a year to have their keepsake created. While they can't do anything about being popular, the prices of some of these, I felt was extortionate. Yes, they're lovingly handmade, but at the same time, the majority of materials are provided by the customer. So having learnt that there's definitely room in the market for another memory keepsake bear maker, I decided to have a go. I thought if I can offer a great looking memory keepsake, for an equally great price, then I might be on to something.

Starting at £23, I can create memory keepsake bears, lions, monkeys, camels and bunnies. The price includes postage. All items are posted using recorded delivery, and can be tracked.

At this point, you might be wondering, 'What is a memory keepsake bear?' Well, I'll tell you. A memory keepsake bear is a bear (other animals also available) made from your babies or children's outgrown sleepsuits, or other clothing, therefore creating something you can keep and display, that provides a great memory of their early days. While most people choose to use those tiny sleepsuits from the early days, other clothing can be used, that bring back special memories to you. Maybe sleepsuits, or clothing that was bought as a special present, or bought from a special place. Or perhaps their first school uniform. Remembrance bears can also be created to remember those loved ones who are sadly no longer with us.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing, here on this blog, the different animals I have created so far, some stories behind some of my memory keepsakes, and more insight into the transformation process. For now, I'll leave you with a few photos of recent work.

More examples can be found on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/sockcreationsuk