Designing Cat Toys For My Etsy Shop

It is rewarding to design my own cat toys, especially when I get the design to the point that I can start making and selling them.  Sometimes, however, the design process takes a long time. The problem that most often arises is trying to simplify something that usually has a lot of detail, like a witch for Halloween or a Santa for Christmas.  I haven't come up with a design for either one of these yet.  Each item I design needs to be simple without a lot of detail work so that I can make them fairly quickly and can sell them for a price potential customers would be willing to pay.

Dora The Duckling Organic Catnip Bell Cat Toy

A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to design a duck.  This should have been easy, but each time I sat down with a piece of paper and pencil, I couldn't create a duck that I was happy with.  So, off and on, for two months, I've been thinking about how to make a duck. Then two days ago it just came to me.  I ran to get a piece of paper and pencil, and immediately drew up a duck.  A few minutes later I was cutting out the fabric, and then sewing the little duckling together.  Dora pictured above, is the result. Darwin, below, is the second duckling I've made.

Darwin The Duckling Organic Catnip Bell Cat Toy

Now I can challenge myself with figuring out how to make a cute, simple witch :-)  After that, I'll try to tackle Santa.  It may seem silly to be thinking about witches and Santa in March when spring is about to arrive, but  I just never know how long the process is going to take.