I know a handful of you already support me on the regular, but for those unfamiliar with me, this post is for you!

When I started my plush journey back in 2019 (yes literally forever ago now lol), I had a hard time finding manufacturers. I would like to say that Kikidoodle, Succulent Scribbles, & Cindacry helped soo much on my plush journey. Without their guidance, I don't think I would have made it nearly as far as I have. Not that they will see this but thank you all so much! <3

I tried several manufacturers (including Squishable who I love and adore lol). I had to pivot and never started a sample with Squishable for a corgi plush. I actually started off trying make my friend's dog, Shippo, who suffered from DM. From Google: "Degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a progressive, incurable disease that affects a dog's spinal cord. It causes gradual paralysis that usually starts in the hind legs and moves toward the front. DM is similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, in humans."

I tried another manufacturer for the corgi plush while I was pivoting with Squishable. It turned out horrifying lol.

It didn't pan out and I pivoted to making what you guys now know as Panic Puffs. I actually did try a Kickstarter campaign for the Panic Puffs with Squishable, but it ultimately failed. The MoQ (minimum order quantity) was 1200 so the costs were substantial. Maybe my fanbase is too small, maybe the design really wasn't that appealing, timing to market, etc. I have no idea but ultimately I decided to try again with a manufacturer who didn't have such a high MoQ. In the long run I still want to order more to keep costs down, but for now I need to stay in my small creator lane for now.

My Panic Puffs did finally get funded with my second project and much lower MoQs. Lizbie Cafe helped draw up the tags when I was busy and didn't have time - think 2023 was the year of me being a busy mom and doing swim stuff. Either way, the success of this project encouraged me to try again with the corgi plush.

So fast forward to later in 2023 with the same manufacturer I used for my Panic Puffs. I closed the eyes compared to the first designs of my plush because I didn't feel like I understood the eye embroidery I wanted well enough (I will eventually figure this out in the future still). I ultimately decided the standing design - while it was a good idea, wasn't really what I wanted. My corgis sit with their lil legs being silly but they didn't find it manageable to have the leg under the dog to match the corgi sitting position I wanted to shift to. 

I won't bore you with all the drafts and updates in the end, but aside from the color being lighter than expected, I was much happier with the final product.

I still love him. <3 Keychain plush were probably my next pain point since I just assumed you could shrink plush down fairly easily. The Panic Puffs could only shrink an inch and the corgis shrunk a lot, but lost significant detail. It took me about half a year to finally just accept that Murphy wasn't gonna be anything but printed at his size. I still wish it wasn't printed, but alas, he's still very cute despite that.

I still have so much to learn about plush and thank you so much for supporting me on this journey!

Anyways, I hope this was informative for anyone curious about why sampling may take awhile or anyone curious about the samples that aren't finished. I am currently working through revisions on the plush - some will get posted here, some I will forget and just post to Discord and Facebook.

And for the artists who backed this and may want to dip into plush - feel free to ask questions! I know the laws and such are very confusing. Heck, I am still trying to figure out the EU stuff for the future. This is sort of why small runs are better for the time being too. 

Thank you! <3