Rachel's camels

Firstly I need to apologise for this post being a couple of months later than planned.

Following on from the last post, after I had posted photos of Carly's bear on my Facebook page, my diary started filling up with orders for more memory keepsakes. However, it wasn't just bears that the customers wanted.

I 'met' Rachel online when I was planning my wedding, sometime between 2008 & 2010, and have been Facebook friends since sometime after then. Rachel is an Expat living with her family in Dubai. Her daughter was 9 months old when they moved to Dubai, and her son was born out there. She wanted a reminder of their time there, for when the children are older and possibly living back here in the UK.

She contacted me and asked if I could make camels for her. I was quite surprised how quickly I was able to find a pattern, and purchased 'Chrissy the Christmas camel' from Funky Friends Factory. I have to admit that I was a bit unsure about purchasing the pattern, and feared that it would sit redundant in a folder, once Rachel's camels had been completed.

How wrong was I?! The camel has become one of my most popular sleepsuit memory keepsakes. Maybe Rachel knew something I didn't!

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.