When Chris Brightwell created her cat toy for her cat, Milo, she noticed that he cradled it in his arms and cuddled it. She added eyes to the kicker toy to go along with its flowing feather tail and the Little Buddy cat toy was born. After she tested the toy with lots of other cats, she modified it to make sure that cats who like to play rough would also be able to use this toy without damaging it. After consulting with other cat owners, she also created a kicker toy with a crinkly plastic tail instead of a feather for cats who can’t resist snacking on some plumage.
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Crafts Toys with Unique Cotton Calico Patterns
Chris is a quilter with an artist’s heart. She admits that she wants everything she makes to be pretty, so she combs Seattle-area fabric stores to buy high quality cotton calico with unique patterns. She then uses interfacing to reinforce the fabric to prevent holes and tears. Her love of many different fabrics has another unique benefit: the fabrics are always changing, which delights her long-term customers.
Makes Every Toy by Hand in Her House
Every weekday, Chris makes cat toys in her house in Seattle. She has no other employees and says that she’ll never make more than 25 toys per day. That’s because she likes to think about the cat who will enjoy the toy and tries to insert a little love into every seam. She says, “My little cat toy business is my way of bringing joy to the world one cat toy at a time.” Chris does admit, however, that sometimes she’ll cut fabric on the weekends to make toys because it’s too much fun to resist.