Thanks for joining us to tell us more about your goimagine shop Little Bit Pets Kids and More
Let’s start with the basics, tell us your names and where you are from?
Hi everyone, we are Tanya & Sabrina Dayton from Jackson Michigan.
Why did you decide to become a maker? What led you to where you are today?
I retired in 2010 and was looking for something to do. My daughter and I decided we wanted to start a crafting/embroidery business. I learned to sew at 55 years young. We spent a year researching, preparing and buying supplies before we started “Little Bit of Everything” in November, 2011. We started with local craft shows at schools and churches. We made a few pet items and they took off. So, we decided to focus more on pet items and children activities. We add other items along the way: embroidered book marks, embroidered holiday items, purses, etc. We ended up doing larger craft shows (1,000 to 30,000) and now do shows from September to December. We started dabbling in online selling in 2019 and then the pandemic happened. All of the craft shows were cancelled. We now have a more presence online selling.
Tell us about what you make? Why did you choose the products and style you create?
Pet beds, Pet toys, children activities, embroidered bookmarks, embroidery holiday items, novelty purses and will be doing receiving blankets and placemats in the near future.
Where does your inspiration come from? What helps with your creativity?
Inspiration comes from people enjoying our products. Our pet pads are machine washable, long lasting and the dogs and cats enjoy them. We even had people tell us they use them for their guinea pigs and rabbits. Our catnip toys are a favorite for our kitties. We use organic catnip that is strong and lasting. Our hand puppets have been a great imagination play with both adults and kids. It brings us joy to see people enjoying them.
We look for what pets and children would possibly like and do…whether a toy for a pet or an educational game for a child. We tag team on most of our items. I have arthritis and had to for me to hand sew. I will start do the embroidering an item and my daughter will finish up with the hand sewing. Sabrina makes the pet pads. She selects the pattern, does first round sewing, washes the pad, stuffs the pad with 2 layers of 10 oz quilting batting and hand sews the opening. She then sews a outline in the larger pads so the quilting batting does not move during washing. All of our products are made under the guidelines of the CPSC (Consumers Product Safety Commission) Safety Requirements.
Where can people find you in the “Real World”?
We sell at craft shows and at our seasonal campground during the summer. All of our craft shows are in Michigan. Our craft shows are;
Clinton Fall Festival (the last weekend of September) Clinton, MI
Appleumpkin (the second weekend in October) Tecumseh, MI
Sand Creek Craft Show (the weekend before Thanksgiving) Sand
Creek, MI
Christmas at the Wings (the first weekend in December) Wings
Stadium – Kalamazoo, MI
Thank you so much Tanya and Sabrina for sharing a bit about yourself. We can’t thank you enough for being a part of goimagine and our new #caringeconomy
Jon Lincoln is the founder of goimagine, the handmade marketplace focused on helping children in need. Since launching in 2020 goimagine has attracted thousands of makers & artists throughout the United States supporting their mission to create a more caring economy through handmade.