SLAPITZ TM was invented by two young girls (8 and 10) from San Diego who noticed that their stuff animal friends were always lost, under the bed, in a pile in the corner or worse yet, in the plastic bag in the garage. They were special, but had no special place of their own to hang out. So the two girls set out to find a way to solve this problem and display their special friend’s right by the bed on the wall. They invented SLAPITZ TM.
November 10, 2009
Are you tired of losing your favorite stuffed animal friends? Are they in a pile on the corner of your bed or room? Are they under the bed or couch? Did the dog use it as a chew toy and tear it up?
Introducing,
SLAPITZTM A fun new way to display your favorite stuffed animals. Just slap it on and hang them up to the special SLAPITZTM wall mount and they will hang out wherever you like.
Now you can hold and display your individual stuffed animals anywhere without damaging or leaving marks on the wall.
SLAPITZ TM is also fun to play with because it wants to wrap around your wrist or Stuffed friend all by itself when slapped just right. You can color them with fine tip markers and/or adorn them with jewels. They are collectable and you can also wear them as a stylish fashion art bracelet.
SLAPITZ TM helps parents keep the house neat and organized while providing easy access for Kids to play with their stuffed friends. It also gives your special stuffed friends a special place of their own to hang out so you always know right where they are.
Inventor(s): Tana and Myla Zapf
Tana and Myla Zapf (10 & 8) liked to watch cooking shows, business and inventor shows like, The Big Idea and Shark Tank with Dad. Dad is always teaching us to look for ways to solve problems we see because those problems are really opportunities. If you can fix a problem you see, chances are someone else has the same problem. “Fix a Problem, Create a Business TM”, which is the title of the new book we are writing about our adventures bringing our new invention to market. It teaches kids and parents how to be entrepreneurs. It is a process that must be learned and unfortunately is not taught in school.
Eric Zapf – Founder, Wet Kiss Creative – Company provides Creative, Branding, Marketing and Product Development services.
Founder / Developer - Boulder Bar Endurance, an natural energy bar that sold in 50 states, Canada, China, Japan and the UK.
Tana, Myla and Dad all went to numerous product development companies, met with and toured their facilities. One of the developers we began working with made a bunch of drawings of a totally different product than the one we had wanted and had shown him a prototype of. Then another designer we briefly worked with spent an inordinate amount of time simply re-drawing our own prototypes into 3-D software. When developing new products sometimes is pays to have a low budget and really iron out the product description and purpose for others to clearly understand and even then, watch the billable hours like a hawk.
SLAPITZ TM is Patent Pending and incorporates a slap bracelet in the design that was very popular in the 1980’s. The slap bracelet was never patented by the inventor and was sold wildly by many companies. No one ever figured out any real utility use for the bracelet (Until Now) other than as a novelty product that when slapped on the wrist wraps around the wrist automatically. Now with this new invention not only can you design and decorate your own slap bracelets to wear and collect but you can also use it as a collar to hold your special stuffed animals anywhere on the wall anytime. Just slap it on and hang them up to the SLAPITZ TM wall mount and they will hang out wherever you like.
Plant Huggy is a decorative flower pot cover that lets your plants embrace the season. Don’t plant it, don’t pot it, cover it! Easily and economically transforms the look of unsightly pots by simply slipping a Plant Huggy over the pot and tying the bow, no expensive pots, no dirt, no trowels and no dirty hands. Plant Huggy comes in large selection of patterns from the American flag, dragonflies, and sea shells to pumpkins and snow flakes Plant Huggy even comes in solid colors to embrace every holiday and décor. The 10” size fits a wide variety of standard pots and containers. Plant Huggy can be used indoor or out and with or without a drip pan or saucer. When used indoors a drip pan can be placed inside the Plant Huggy before the plant, hiding the pot and drip pan while protecting furniture and floors. When used outdoor, no drip pan is needed and water runs out the bottom and away from the plant. Old cracked, dirty pots, even plastic butter bowls can be recycled into beautifully decorated containers that can be used to hold everything from plants or cosmetics to diapers or picnic supplies. Plant Huggy customers are always surprising us with new uses like a wine bottle cover or a garden tool bag.
I am a plant lover, an avid gardener and holiday decorator. One day while sitting on the porch gazing at my beautiful plants in ugly plastic pots I thought there must be something out there to cover them without having to replant them into expensive pots. I looked high and low to no avail, all I could find was foil wrappers that held water and damaged the plants, and didn’t fit on hanging baskets. I was determined to find a better way. I bought a sewing machine and set about creating a workable pattern that wouldn’t damage the plant that was fun and easy to use. When my neighbors wanted to know where I got my pot covers I knew I was on to something. I named my product, created a logo, took care of the legalities and I recruited a friend, we started to sew. We packaged them and sold them to local garden centers, online and at home and garden shows.
Attn: Lori Kennedy
I live in Virginia and I am married to my husband/business partner Chris. We own and operate C&L Tile Inc., a successful tile contracting business that specializes in new custom home tile, marble and stone. I hold a Class A Builders license and a real estate sales person license (inactive). In true entrepreneurial spirit, I now split time between C&L Tile, Inc and Plant Huggy LLC. The next five years I will aggressively build my Plant Huggy brand. With the addition of different sizes, patterns, prints and partner products I plan to grow the Plant Huggy brand into a household name for home, garden and plant decor.
The Plant Huggy logo is named Peony Plant Huggy and she has taken on a life of her own, she even has her own MySpace page. There are more sizes and partner products in the works that will coordinate with and add to the Plant Huggy experience of mixing, matching and collecting.
I could not have come this far without the help and support of great friends and family. Thanks Barbara for spending your summers in my upstairs “Plant Huggy” room sewing tirelessly, working the shows and riding the roller coaster of Plant Huggy with me.
Shirley says:
Nov 12, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I have purchased quite a few of these. I had one in my bedroom and when I changed out from summer to winter which were two different color of comforters, I just change my plant huggy from the summer color to a winter color. Love the way I can change my … more plants to match my choice of decor!
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Lori says:
Nov 11, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Barbara, I sent out an e-mail to my customers to let them know Plant Huggy would be featured on YakAboutIt, which explains the wonderful comments. I am truly grateful that so many of them took their time to comment and vote. I have the best customers … more ever! Reading their comments gave me a great shot of validation and a punch of motivation to continue to work hard to bring Plant Huggy to a store near you. Right now they are available in many Hampton Roads shops and hopefully Plant Huggy will be in a store near you soon, spread the word, a.k.a. Yak About It! Until then the Yak About It store has them, as does PlantHuggy.com.
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Jeff Gawronski says:
Nov 11, 2009 at 8:42 am
Barbara good question. Often with new inventions there is a chance they are not yet in your local market. This is where you as the consumer can really effect and help grow a product. If you have a favorite local shop that should sell Plant Huggy let … more them know they should be stocking this great new item. Not only then does the Plant Huggy make it to your town, but that's how great inventions start to spread.
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Barbara says:
Nov 11, 2009 at 7:30 am
I see that some folks have already purchased them. How can I find out where I might purchase them locally?
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Kaen says:
Nov 11, 2009 at 12:26 am
I am a big Plant Huggy fan! Perfect fit every time. With the holidays coming, I won't be without them!
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Shirley says:
Feb 2, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Tana & Myla - I'm so proud of you girls! You have been working very hard on this product. The comments show that people like it! - Keep Inventing! Great Job Eric!
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Becky says:
Dec 13, 2009 at 12:47 am
Great Idea as well as price point, would make great stocking stuffers :)
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Jo Ann H. says:
Nov 10, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Awesome idea! Congrats on seeing this to production. I wish you all the best success. Hmmm... I wonder if I could use it to store yarn? LOL
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Eric Zapf says:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:35 pm
FYI: Thank you all for the great comments. Tana and Myla read them after school today. Keep an eye on SLAPITZ.com for exciting new products to come. Soon we will be launching a pre-decorated line for retail as well as some top secret things we … more can’t talk about yet.
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Steve says:
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:40 pm
These are great, my daughter will love them. She chooses a different stuffed animal each day to bring to school. I hate digging throught the pile. It will be so much easier to have them mounted on the wall. Great product!
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