Where Fun Meets Felt

     Hi!  My name is Amy and I'm the mommy behind Felt Food Kids.  My two year old daughter Grace is the driving force behind all that I do.  I started selling felt food in my other shop, Amazing Grace Creations Shop on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmazingGraceCreate) on Dec. 3.  That's when my good friend, fellow mom and etsy seller Jenny talked me into giving selling a try.  In the month of December I had nearly 30 sales!

My first sale:  A set of felt food eggs, sunny side up!

     I love sewing felt food but I also have a love of sewing clothes & accessories for children & babies so late January I decided to open a second shop devoted entirely to felt food & Felt Food Kids (http://www.etsy.com/shop/FeltFoodKids) was born!

    Jenny came up with the slogan for my shop:  Where Fun Meets Felt & it is so fitting!  I really do want my food to provide hours of fun for kids.  As I add to my daughter's kitchen & pantry, I hope to add to other children's kitchens along the way.

     Designing felt food is the hardest part.  Once I've perfected my pattern, sewing items over & over may take patience and attention to detail but at least I'm past making prototype after prototype.

All my felt foods need to fit my requirements:
1.  Quality & Durability:  if it isn't going to last--why am I making it?  Grace is an excellent tester of my prototypes.  I try to use double layers of felt when possible because I want my felt food to last.  I double stitch items or hand stitch certain features, too, for the same reason.

Salsa & sour cream are double layered for better durability.

2.  Encourage Imaginary Play--HOURS of it:   I want my food to inspire kids to play all day long.  While some of Grace's creations may not appear that appetizing in real life, I love that she's a risk taker in her felt food filled kitchen!  A lot of my food can also be used to play garden and I'm always amazed at the ideas Grace has for the food.  For example, did you know a slice of bacon can also be a knife?  lol!

I add options like 2 jellies to foods to increase the fun & variety!

3.  Adorable & Representative:  I want my creations to be cute as can be & to look like the foods they are supposed to be.  Most foods are real life sized & all are adorable!

Adorable green eggs & ham set!

4.  Affordable:  There's a balance I'm walking when I create felt food.  I try to include enough details that the item looks realistic but not so many details that I'd have to charge too much to cover the hours spent making it.  Sometimes I have to remind myself I am creating toys not art!  :)

Apples with adorable leaf detail.

5.  Versatile/Kid Friendly:  I avoid using beads & glue whenever possible--they just aren't kid friendly materials.  When creating, I want the food to work well together & be versatile.  The bacon can work with any other breakfast item or toss it on some bread with lettuce & tomato & you have a BLT in no time!  I use velcro on things like tacos to help hold ingredients together (plus, Grace gets angry if her taco doesn't stay shut after she's created it!).

Yummy bacon!

     Before becoming a stay at home mom, I was a school psychologist, working mainly with kids aged 3 to 9. That experience helped shape my understanding of the importance of play--pretending is important!  While Grace helps me in the kitchen with nearly every meal (we are total foodies here!), her time with her felt food is  equally if not more important.  I hope the toys I create inspire kids to play, play, play!