For parents of young children who are growing up in this digital age of plug and play electronic devices, it’s nice to find something from the analogue world that is engaging for your child to play with but doesn’t need batteries or power of any kind. Designing imagination driven children’s educational materials was not part of the plan when graphic designer turned mother Marie-Claire Camp, quit her day job to pursue raising children full time. It is said that necessity is the mother of all invention and once Marie-Claire had her twins boys Owen and Silas, the necessity of holding and stimulating their attention became self evident as they began to explore the world around them. The boys naturally found their way into their Mother’s purse and developed an interest in playing with and chewing on various credit cards and member rewards cards. The boys found a special thrill in pretending they were all grown up and using objects from the purse like they had seen their mother do. Eventually Marie-Claire decided she would like offer her kids a nontoxic alternative that could be substituted for the real thing and actually be used as a teaching tool for her children. This idea manifested into what today has become So Awesome, a company run by Camp, that focuses on the manufacturing safe and informative educational toys for kids. So Awesome’s flag ship product was aptly named “Wallet Cards” by Marie-Claire’s children. The product features sets of cards constructed out of nontoxic materials with varying focuses of teaching, including numbers, shapes and colors, all aimed at promoting mental stimulation and exploration of their environment. Blogger Local Kansas City spoke with the Mother who invented from necessity and spoke with her about her connection to the custom printed muslin bags of Kansas City’s Linda Fulghum.
“She did a great job, the product was fantastic.” -Marie-Claire Camp of So Awesome
When we spoke with Marie-Claire she told us about how she found out about the one woman craft factory. Marie-Claire was in the market for a cotton drawstring bags to package up So Awesome’s products in and originally turned to the State Line Bag Company for help with getting custom printed bags. They referred her to Linda Fulghum for her custom printing needs. Marie-Claire told us that she has Linda print up her custom logo on her product’s packaging. The packaging is not air tight and made of all natural fibers which are safe for kids. The bags are cute and also very portable for chubby little fingers to carry around. The custom printed muslin bags are a fun way to stow away the “Wallet Cards” when not in use. Marie-Claire told us that Linda was very personable to work with. She recalled how their was a slight error in the first batch of printing on her custom bags. Marie-Claire explained how although there was an error she chose to work with Linda again and the second time around she was truly impressed by Linda’s goodwill and determination to make Marie-Claire feel confident in her decision to use Linda’s Webstore again. She told us that Linda discounted the price and worked hard to resolve any reservations the Mother and business founder may have had previously. Marie-Claire said that overall she has had a great experience with Linda Fulghum and will be using her in the future create packaging for her children’s educational materials.
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