Alayna Slinker became inspired to make her son a special toy after she noticed he favoured the knotted string tail on his stuffed giraffe. The first Zadyball was made more than three years ago. He was six months old. “He loved that ball SO much” Alayna says.Now almost four years old he still refuses to sleep without it.
H: How did you get started ?
A: We got comments on that homemade toy all the time, usually to the effect of “what is that thing?” After I explained it, many people said “hey, my kid would like that too!” So, I decided to start making them for my friends and giving them as gifts at baby showers. Other shower guests started offering to buy them from me, and it has just snowballed from there!
H: Tell me more about the Zadyballs, they are so unique.
A: A Zadyball is designed first of all with babies in mind. They are soft to hold and cuddle, and have lots of strings to grab and rub. I love coming up with new ideas. My latest is the Zadybug – a plush butterfly with Zady strings (of course) and crinkle wings.
H: Where are you marketing your products now?
A: I had a good friend of mine tell me about Etsy.com. She suggested that it would be the perfect place for my Zadyballs. I checked it out, and I think she was right! When I first opened my shop, I didn’t realize how important it was to have a great shop name. I originally opened under the name “alaynacreations.etsy.com”. I had 109 sales in that shop before I “officially” opened Zadyball on Feb 1.
H: Were you creative before you had children?
A: I think I’ve always been a pretty creative person. My mother taught me to sew when I was 8 or 9. I also learned to crochet, knit, cross-stitch and more! I’m the type of person that when I see something in a store and think “I could totally make that,” I often do.
H: Have your methods changed since?
A: I’ve had to be a little more creative about WHEN I can create, and WHERE I can store my stuff. I used to have an entire bedroom devoted to my crafts. I would just leave a work in progress and close the door when I wasn’t working on it. That’s just not possible with children, especially after my second child was born and I had to give up my room. I had to move all my “stuff” into a single closet.
H: How do you find time to stay creative?
A: I take whatever time I can get. I use naptime and bedtime to do most of my work. I’m constantly thinking of new ideas, and sometimes it will keep me up most of the night, because I can’t sleep until I try out my idea to see if it will work.
H: Do your kids show any creative spirit?
A: YES! They both LOVE to color (as the walls can attest). They always want to “help” with what ever I’m working on. I try to give them a little task if possible, even if it is just folding up fabric scraps.
H: Ok, so what’s with the name?
A: I’ve been asked several times how I came up with the name “Zadyball”. Zady is a combination of my kid’s names – Zander and Ady. It rhymes with “laddie” not “lady”. (Not that it really matters!)
Alayna and her Zadyball toys can be found online at http://zadyball.etsy.com/
You can keep up to date via her blog at http://alaynacreations.blogspot.com/ And email her for more information anytime at zadyball@hotmail.com/
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A: I had a good friend of mine tell me about Etsy.com. She suggested that it would be the perfect place for my Zadyballs. I checked it out, and I think she was right! When I first opened my shop, I didn’t realize how important it was to have a great shop name. I originally opened under the name “alaynacreations.etsy.com”. I had 109 sales in that shop before I “officially” opened Zadyball on Feb 1.
H: Were you creative before you had children?
A: I think I’ve always been a pretty creative person. My mother taught me to sew when I was 8 or 9. I also learned to crochet, knit, cross-stitch and more! I’m the type of person that when I see something in a store and think “I could totally make that,” I often do.
H: Have your methods changed since?
A: I’ve had to be a little more creative about WHEN I can create, and WHERE I can store my stuff. I used to have an entire bedroom devoted to my crafts. I would just leave a work in progress and close the door when I wasn’t working on it. That’s just not possible with children, especially after my second child was born and I had to give up my room. I had to move all my “stuff” into a single closet.
H: How do you find time to stay creative?
A: I take whatever time I can get. I use naptime and bedtime to do most of my work. I’m constantly thinking of new ideas, and sometimes it will keep me up most of the night, because I can’t sleep until I try out my idea to see if it will work.
H: Do your kids show any creative spirit?
A: YES! They both LOVE to color (as the walls can attest). They always want to “help” with what ever I’m working on. I try to give them a little task if possible, even if it is just folding up fabric scraps.
H: Ok, so what’s with the name?
A: I’ve been asked several times how I came up with the name “Zadyball”. Zady is a combination of my kid’s names – Zander and Ady. It rhymes with “laddie” not “lady”. (Not that it really matters!)
Alayna and her Zadyball toys can be found online at http://zadyball.etsy.com/
You can keep up to date via her blog at http://alaynacreations.blogspot.com/ And email her for more information anytime at zadyball@hotmail.com/
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7 comments:
These are great!
My son loves his zadyball! They are really great, and Alayna is wonderful to deal with. Be sure to check out her dragonfly zadybug - it is fabulous!
I am a huge Zadyball fan! I had to buy not one, not two, but FIVE so far for all my friends. It is always a hit! Alayna is terrific, and so are her creations!
Thank you SO much for the wonderful feature!
My little ones have grown & not so little anymore. But I know that they would have been big fans of Zadyballs!
Those Zadyballs are adorable! I recently read a friend's blog about her new puppy and his very own Zadyball. He is the cutest tiniest little puppy... and he never goes anywhere without his Zadyball! What a great creation!!
Cool Idea. I never would have thought of that. I bet Josh would have had fun with those.
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