One Woman Took Drawings From 600 Little Kids And Turned Them Into Stuffed Animals

In 2007, Wendy Tsao's then-4-year-old son kept drawing his "self-portrait," a stick man with big round eyes and ten long fingers. So Tsao thought it would be cool to create a "softie" (a stuffed animal/doll) based on the drawing. When her son saw the softie he immediately recognized it, and Tsao had an idea.

She started "Child's Own Studio," where parents can send their kids' artwork to be turned into stuffed animals and dolls.

She's made over 600 pieces, and no two are the same.

Here's how it works:

Tsao receives a drawing, like this one, of a blonde-haired girl holding a baby.

Tsao normally works only with children's art, hand-drawn and colored.

Then she gets to work in her Vancouver studio. She cuts and draws and sews.

Tsao is the only person who makes the softies. She says that while it's become a business, creating stuffed creatures out of the artwork of children has become its own form of art.

She matches everything in the drawing as closely as possible.

If there are some discrepancies, she talks to her client about them before the project is completed. A Child's Own softie ranges between $90 and $140 plus shipping.

The final product

Here are some of our favorites from the Child's Own Facebook page