We can just feel your excitement from our side of our screens! We’re back with another product brainstorming blog post, and this time, we’re digging into soother clips!
If you make products for your small shop, you most likely make soother clips! They’re an essential baby product and extremely popular sellers for both gifts and personal purchases. Soother clips make finding that rogue soother at night time much smoother, and keeping your baby’s soother on their person an easier task. We all know how babies love to casually drop them out of the crib, playpen, carseat, stroller… you get it. ;)
There are so many ways you can make your products unique to you and your shop, and soother clips are no different!
Sometimes, however, ‘endless possibilities’ can be daunting!
Where do you start trying to shake up your designs? You don’t want to copy someone else’s designs, but you want to have a unique design too! It’s hard to come up with new ideas and styles that keep you inspired!
Don’t you worry, let's work through this together! Roll up those creative ‘sleeves’ and let’s get brainstorming some of the unique ways you can make soother clips! Hopefully this helps you come up with your own unique spin on a standard shop product like soother clips!
Thinking caps on!
The easiest place to start with brainstorming is to work through ideas you’re familiar with! So we’re starting with a ‘standard’ design soother clip - you know the ones we’re talking about! Usually made of 15mm round beads in simple color blocking patterns.
There’s a reason these are the ‘gold standard’ of soother clips! They’re efficient to make, easy to keep clean because of the consistency in shape, and extremely customizable with our 90+ available colors (and counting)! Check out our standard pacifier clip tutorials - clip style 1 using regular cord and clip style 2 using paracord.
But beyond a strand of round beads, what else could your standard design look like?
Have you played with any fun focal beads? Maybe a new shape?
A fun pattern using smaller beads?
Now that we’ve worked through standard clips, are there any small changes we can do that make your design have more interest?
Is the size something you can shorten?
Do you think your customers would enjoy the option of a shorter micro clip?
Hmm…
As you work through creative ideas, have you tried to play around with patterns or shapes to create the look of something?
We have tutorials available for unique shaped soother clips using smaller beads like our gorgeous saucer beads! Check out this tutorial here for three fun and unique patterns you can create using different beads.
Have you tried mixing up your design with larger beads?
Double hole beads?
What if your strands weaved in and out of your design to create negative space?
There are so many options once you start playing!
Now that we’re warmed up with our brainstorming, let’s try something new! What if you didn’t have beads OR nylon cord? What materials would you use that were strong, safe & baby proof?
We can think of Macrame! Suede Leather! Maybe even Jersey T-Shirt Yarn! Be sure to check out the tutorials we created for using macrame cord and suede leather.
Maybe your shop doesn’t offer personalized clips yet, but is that something that you would be interested in offering your customers?
Maybe you could do a promotion at your next craft show making personalized soother clips right then and there??
We offer both silicone and wood alphabet beads, but did you know that we also have starter kits of all of our alphabet beads? Yep! Listed under each alphabet bead product, we have starter kit option! With 125 letters included, they’re such a handy way to begin on your personalized items!
Let’s try mixing up your materials next! We have some beautiful wood bead options available in both maple and beech wood, all naturally anti-bacterial!
We love the unique places brainstorming can bring you - as we thought about wood materials, and how adorable our wood rattles are, we pondered on if there was a way to make your soother clip into a rattle as well… This would for sure be something super unique and different!
Maybe a tiny wood ring suspended securely between two large beech wood beads?? A reminder that safety is priority in this kind of a concept!
And sometimes (just sometimes :P) when you think you’ve brainstormed something all you can, a lightbulb goes off in your head! A new idea! A creative solution!
If you’ve made it this far into the blog post, pat yourself on the back, and get ready for an interesting concept!
What if your soother clip didn't have a clip AT ALL.
Wait, whut?
Hear us out!
What if your soother clip was actually a soother lanyard with a looped end? This style soother clip would be better for an older baby who wanted to hold their soother clip, or was able to control hand movements.
Imagine how handy it would be!
And it’s such a simple idea!
How cute would that be with a teether toy or soother attached to it?
PHEW! What a brainstorming journey!
Your shop and products are a reflection of who you are and what kind of a small shop you want to be. We all get into creative ruts here and there, and that’s okay! The most wonderful thing about creativity is that when we feel like we’ve reached the limits or edges of our imagination, there’s always so much more to explore!
The possibilities ARE endless, and we hope this blog post has helped you think through your products!
If you’re interested in learning more about any of the clips shown feel free to reach out to us either to our email hello@carasupply.com, comment below, or DM us on our social media channels!
And if you were inspired by anything, we’d LOVE to see what you came up with! Be sure to tag us on Instagram #createdwithcarasupply!
Happy Brainstorming!
Xo
-the girls
**The products, materials, and supplies sold by Cara & Co. Silicone Craft Supply Inc. are intended for use by adults and should never be left unattended with a child.
***Small objects and beads can present choking hazards to young children. Never leave a child unattended with beads or other products. Always dispose of any damaged product. No product is completely indestructible, and fully formed teeth could potentially damage product if chewed aggressively, so responsible attentiveness is needed for any user or purchaser. Customers should always inspect and monitor their products, discontinuing use at the first sight of damage.
****Once our products have been sold and shipped to our customers, Cara & Co Silicone Craft Supply Inc., waives all responsibility and liability from the use of our products. Customers are responsible that their final products made from our supplies meet the appropriate safety requirements for their region. Our buyers understand that by purchasing our products or using suggestions from the above tutorial, the buyer assumes any and all responsibility and liability for the use of the products.
*****Cords, clasps and pacifier clips are not intended to be chewed on and may present choking hazards.