During the pandemic, Emma (my step-daughter & sidekick) and I wanted to learn how to make masks, help out and donate them to people in need in our neighborhood. We tapped into our community for sewing lessons (virtual, of course), for equipment, and for left over fabrics and tried our best.

We also had to navigate home schooling and the stresses associated with it—especially the anxiety around sitting in front of a screen all day.

Emma always had 2 things on hand for managing her stress; scrunchies for keeping her hair up and out of the way & fidgeting with squishy things. We thought to ourselves, "Wouldn't it be cool if the two had babies?”. So, we deployed our new found knowledge of sewing, scraped together all the little pieces and parts we needed and created the Smunchie!