Etsy Best Sellers Interview – LittleGreenBearGifts

Here is another Etsy Best Seller Interview. Today I want to introduce to you Kelly from Wales.She is the creator of Little Green Bear Gifts Etsy shop. You can find 32 cute amigurumi patterns there – from dinosaurs to sea creatures to different dog breeds to farm, forest, and safari animals. You can find them all. Check it out; they are so adorable.

Kelly’s designs are clear to follow with lots of pictures as guides and step by step instructions for assembly. They’re 7-8 pages long, intermediate skill level, and are available in US and UK terminology.

For someone new to amigurumi, Kelly suggests her Geoff the Giraffe pattern. On her website (link is here) you can find instructions with step by step guides for color change, sewing, and embroidering of her famous big smiles.

Kelly is so kind; she has set up a coupon code (for use in her Etsy shop) for my readers: use “BESTOFCP” to get 20% off any of her amigurumi patterns, until the end of May 2020. Make sure you take advantage of this great deal 🙂

For the latest news, you can follow Little Green Bear Gifts on Instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/LittleGreenBear_/Kelly is married and lives with her grown up son in Pembrokeshire where she works for their local authority as a business support officer. She has two tortoises and a naughty Labrador.

You can read more about her below:

1. How did it all begin? Tell us your story.

I learned to crochet in my 30’s when a friend of mine started a lunchtime craft group, every Wednesday in the workplace. I wasn’t keen to attend at first, I had done some cross-stitching in the past but wasn’t really interested in crafting – and what about lunch!? It was around week 3 that we had the first crochet session. One of the ladies could crochet and gave us some yarn and a hook each, got us started with some basic stitches and we just made circles… I loved it immediately.

I would practice in the evenings using blogs and YouTube videos, just having a go at different stitches and shapes – I found it very relaxing (and started really looking forward to Wednesdays). I also found crochet magazines very useful. They usually came with some free yarn and my first “real” project was a small granny square blanket using a pattern from one of these magazines (I still love making granny square blankets now and always have one on the go for in the evenings).

I tried my first toy after a couple of months, it was a teddy bear and I was delighted with it. I found it more challenging than the other things I’d worked on, there was a lot of counting and I wasn’t sure if I was doing any of it right – then, to top it off, there was sewing involved! I kept going and started seeing all the funny shaped parts I’d been working on come together, finally taking shape and actually looking like an animal – I loved that and didn’t really stop!

2. What inspires you?

Animals, wildlife, nature. I love going for long walks with my family and our dog. We’re very lucky to live in Pembrokeshire with lots of fabulous countryside and beaches no more than 10 minutes in any direction. This inspires me to go home and create something lovely.

I love every part of designing amigurumi, from researching the animal I’m going to make (sometimes figuring out how I’m going to make him cute), playing with shapes and colours and then seeing them come together into something I’m happy with, turning this into a pattern other people can follow and then the end photographs (which can be a little stressful and embarrassing – you can guarantee that in even the quietest, most remote place, when you’re positioning a stuffed toy on a log and photographing it from all angles, someone will walk or drive past, thankfully they usually rush off quickly avoiding eye contact…).

3. How does your every day look like?

I get up early and, whilst drinking 2 cups of coffee, check emails and messages, update shops and plan social media for the day; then it’s off to work until 2pm. When I get home from work I can usually spend a few hours working on whatever amigurumi I’m designing at the moment; this could be crocheting, planning, frogging and restarting, typing and formatting the pattern or taking photos for the pattern. After dinner and a walk I relax with my granny square blanket and lots of cups of tea – then off to bed with a book (currently Stephen King).

4. What is your favorite yarn?

I love Scheepjes Stone Washed XL yarn, the colors look amazing and I think the “stone washed” gives the finished toy an extra something. Because it’s a cotton yarn it holds the shape of the toy nicely and it feels great to work with too, very soft.

I also use Scheepjes Cahlista and Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran for toys, for blankets I like Stylecraft Special DK and Scheepjes Colour Crafter acrylic yarn, both have a great range of colors and feel good to work with.

5. Do you have any advice for other sellers?

Keep going and doing what you love. Designing and making amigurumi can be hard work and is very time consuming, you have to really love what you’re doing.

It can be difficult starting off and you’re learning all the time, make changes when you need to – I think it’s also important to look at what you’ve achieved; read through your reviews and feedback and look at some of the lovely pictures from people who have used your designs or are enjoying something you made, it’s very rewarding.

I am so grateful Kelly took time in her busy schedule to answer my questions. I think it is so interesting that she found her passion in a place where she never expected. That is why I love these interviews; you can see how, if you are open to try new things, something like saying yes to craft Wednesdays can change your life forever. You can find your life passion in the most unexpected places.

I hope Kelly’s interview inspires you. Make sure you visit her shop Little Green Bear Gifts on Etsy. Here is a coupon code for my readers again: use “BESTOFCP” to get 20% off any of her amigurumi patterns, until the end of May 2020.

Pin this interview for later here:

If you need a little more inspiration, you can read other Best sellers interviews here: Interviews.

And before you go on to Little Green Bear Gifts Shop or read the other interviews, please share with me in the comments which pattern do you like best.

Have a beautiful day, and enjoy crocheting.

Katja