How-To: Tooth Fairy Pillow

Kelly started losing her teeth a few months ago, right now she's missing her top tooth and has the most adorable lisp.  I keep recording her saying "suffering succotash" - I'm glad she thinks it's funny too!

When she lost her first tooth we needed something to hold it under her pillow.  Kelly is a light sleeper and I knew if the tooth fairy had to dig around for a teensy tiny baby tooth in the middle of the night, she'd get caught red handed.

First we came up with an embroidered muslin bag - I just traced a tooth icon I found online and split-stitched the outline.  It worked out but we needed something bigger.  Like an entire pillow.

Sewing a pillow is easy.  If I can do this, you can do this.  It's a rectangle.  It's stuffing from a bag.  Easy Peasy.

Kelly picked some soft fleecy fabric at JoAnns (which sheds like crazy when you cut it). I measured two identical rectangles and cut them out.  For the tooth pocket, I used white felt and cut out a large tooth shape (which was the same tooth I found on the internet).  I used a blanket stitch at the top of the tooth so it wouldn't fray, then sewed three sides of the tooth to one of the pillow rectangles.

Turn the rectangles so they face each other (inside out), and sew them together, leaving a hole at the bottom of the pillow to stuff it.  If you don't have a sewing machine you can do this by hand, it'll just take longer. Turn it right side out, fill it with stuffing until it's fluffy, then hand stitch the hole closed.   If you want to be fancy, do a hidden stitch to close it.

When we have a tooth ready for pickup, she places it in the tooth pocket, where the tooth fairy replaces it with a two dollar bill.  Because my husband thinks that's the only currency she would carry.

Kelly was so sad to never see her teeth again, so we asked the tooth fairy to leave her teeth on my dresser at night so we could keep them.  What the heck does she do with all those children's teeth anyway? Kind of a creepy. 

Supplies that will make this project easier:

cutting mat
rotary cutter
embroidery hoop
sharp fabric only scissors

How To: Shipping Made Easy

After numerous attempts, I have finally set up a proper shipping station that speeds up my processing time and makes me feel organized.  The key was to have everything, EVERYTHING, I need to package, at my fingertips.

Jewelry shipping is small, I realize I'm lucky to be able to setup a small shipping area that doesn't have to be picked up at the end of the day.  But if you can carve out a space that will let you have all envelopes, boxes, tissue, ribbon, cards, etc within reach, it will make you feel organized and efficient.  If you're short on space, maybe you could set up your supplies on a roll-up sheet that can be tucked away when finished.

The foundation of my station is my envelope and jewelry box supply, it slides right under my table where I sit to package.  Sometimes I even have a helper to pull it out.

On top of my table is a vintage desk organizer I got from reclaimer with my delivery confirmation stickers, customs forms (yes, I still do these by hand) and my postcard inserts.  There are tons of great vintage office organizers on Etsy and they feel more "special" than something from Office Depot. In my lazy susan are my jewelry cards, business cards, scissors and pen.

 

Right in front are my ribbons and tissue paper, where George and Martha look on.  I only wish I could mount my ginormous bubble wrap roll under the table, but a certain evil cat cannot, or will not, stop chewing it. When I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of orders I try to setup an OCD assembly line, a little tower of boxes, everything done in the same order because I'm terrified of sending the wrong item.

I still hand write my forms and addresses, I'm lucky enough to live very close to a USPS facility so I don't mind the daily trips.  But I'm thinking about printing labels on Etsy if I got a postage scale.  I know a lot of Etsy sellers love endicia, stamps.com or ebay shipping tools. 

There's a Shipping Improvement team on Etsy where you can test drive new shipping functions like processing time estimates, ship estimates, tracking - it's a great place to learn about the new improvements and how to use them.  What other shipping tricks do you use?