Product Overview
Stitches & Scribbles is a printable coloring book brand that teaches children how their clothes work and sparks an interest in sewing as a creative hobby. It’s an end-to-end product build that I took from concept to launch: the concept and storyline, the characters, the books and their themes, the YouTube cartoons, the website design and the marketing that brings families to the Etsy shop, all built with an AI-native workflow.
Overview
The idea
Children wear zippers, buttons and snaps every day without knowing how they work. Stitches & Scribbles turns that into printable coloring books that explain how clothes work and spark an interest in sewing as a creative hobby. Each book also has an ASL option that introduces the sign language alphabet, which creates a curiosity in learning sign language and promotes inclusive learning.
Why I made it
This project brings my whole skill set into one product. My Fashion Design training gave me the subject, years in childcare taught me how young children learn and what interests them, and UX thinking about how parents search and choose shaped the Etsy listings. I used graphic design and content creation for the characters, the books and the calm YouTube cartoons, and growth marketing to reach families on Pinterest, YouTube and Etsy. I built it AI-native from day one, and running it end to end is making me a stronger, more well-rounded digital marketer.
One book per age band
Fasteners 101 has a book for ages 5 to 8 and a book for ages 8 to 12, and each comes with an ASL option. Every book pairs real photographs and simple explanations with coloring pages.
Made with AI, checked by hand
I made the line art in LitPal AI and the characters and cartoons in Higgsfield AI, and used Claude with custom Skills and MCP connectors for research, copy and strategy. I designed the layouts in Canva Pro, Canva AI and Affinity and checked each fact myself. The ASL letters are never made with AI.
A cast with a job
Thimby the Thimble guides every book, joined by a cast of fastener characters for ages 5 to 8: Ziggy the Zipper, Bo the Button, Buck the Buckle, Snappy the Snap and Rip the Hook-and-Loop. Nia and her dog Biscuit lead the books for ages 8 to 12. They carry the stories across the coloring books, YouTube cartoons and Pinterest, and make everyday fasteners feel familiar and relatable for children in a fun, engaging way.
A weekly rhythm
I share one new post a day. YouTube videos and Shorts go up when they’re ready instead of on a fixed schedule, since YouTube sets no posting requirement. Each week I review and update the organic and paid strategy behind every post, set out further down this page.
Listings built for search
Each book and its ASL option has its own Etsy listing. The book cover is the first photo shoppers see, every listing has a short video, and the titles and tags use the words parents and teachers type into Etsy search.
Offers that run themselves
Automatic Etsy offers for abandoned carts, favorites and interested shoppers, a thank you coupon for repeat buyers, and a scheduled Cyber Week sale.
The funnel
Pinterest and YouTube Shorts bring people in, and the Etsy listing turns visits into sales and offers a thank you coupon to bring buyers back.
Measured weekly
Each week I compare Etsy Stats, Pinterest Analytics and YouTube Studio, then decide what to change, promote or improve. If a pin gets views but no clicks, I give the next one a clearer reason to click. If people watch a format to the end, I make more of it. If a listing gets visits but no orders, I test a new first photo and opening lines.
Early days
The Etsy shop launched on 1 October 2026, together with the Pinterest and YouTube funnels that lead to it. I track the numbers from that day and update them weekly in the dashboard below.
What this shows
A working example of how I approach growth marketing: tracking set up from day one, a short list of numbers that matter, and honest reporting, even before there are months of data. Together with the strategy below, it shows how I connect each channel to a sale.
Inside the Books
Each book explains everyday fasteners in simple words and real photographs, then lets children color what they have learned. The ASL option adds the ASL alphabet, so children can start learning to sign as they color, and Thimby guides readers through every book.
ASL option for each age band
Thimby, the guide
One topic, two age bands: hook and loop
Both books teach the same fastener, with real photographs, everyday examples and a caregiver tip on each learning page, followed by coloring pages. The reading level and the caregiver activity change with age, so siblings in both age bands can learn the same topic together.
Ages 5 to 8 · read aloud together
A grown-up reads short sentences aloud: one side has tiny hooks, the other has loops, and they grab on tight. The history is a simple story about prickly burrs on a dog, and the caregiver tip turns the lesson into play: pull a strap apart slowly to hear the rrrrip, then try it fast.
Ages 8 to 12 · read independently
Children read this page on their own. It explains the mechanism, thousands of hooks gripping thousands of loops, and names the inventor, George de Mestral, who studied burrs under a microscope in the 1940s. A Did you know? fact shows how astronauts use it, and the caregiver tip makes the child the scientist, exploring both sides of a strap with a magnifying glass.
Content
These are live posts, chosen by how they have performed since launch: the pin with the most impressions, the YouTube video people watch the longest, and the Etsy listing with the most views. Each one does a different job in the funnel.
Pinterest · Top pin
A zipper learning page and its coloring page in one pin. It has the most impressions of any pin since launch, 41 of the 211 so far.
YouTube · Channel trailer
The trailer introduces the books and the crew. Viewers watch 92.5 percent of it on average, more than any other video on the channel.
Etsy · Most-viewed listing
Fasteners 101 for ages 8 to 12. Its cover is the first photo shoppers see in Etsy search, and it has the most listing views of the four books so far.
Characters
Each character gives a fastener a face and a personality, so children remember how it works. The fastener crew leads the books for ages 5 to 8, Nia and her dog Biscuit lead the books for ages 8 to 12, and Thimby guides both.
Thimby the Thimble
Guide · both age bands
He opens every book and hosts the videos. A thimble keeps your fingertip safe while you sew, and his dimples push the needle through.
Ziggy the Zipper
Ages 5 to 8
His slider pulls two rows of teeth together, one pair at a time.
Bo the Button
Ages 5 to 8
He tips sideways to slip through the buttonhole, then lies flat to keep a coat closed.
Buck the Buckle
Ages 5 to 8
The strap slides through his frame, and his prong drops into a hole to hold it.
Snappy the Snap
Ages 5 to 8
He's a press stud, not a button. His bump pops into the cup and clicks shut.
Rip the Hook-and-Loop
Ages 5 to 8
Tiny hooks grab soft loops. Press to stick, peel to open.
Nia
Ages 8 to 12
She leads the books for older readers and finds out how her clothes work in everyday moments, like zipping her coat before a walk.
Biscuit
Ages 8 to 12
Nia's golden retriever, who comes along on her walks and adventures.
The fastener crew
Left to right: Buck the Buckle, Bo the Button, Thimby the Thimble, Snappy the Snap, Ziggy the Zipper and Rip the Hook-and-Loop, from the YouTube channel banner.
Meet the Crew
Nia and Biscuit with Thimby and the fastener crew, from the trailer thumbnail.
Organic Strategy
Before any paid ads, Stitches & Scribbles runs on an organic funnel across Pinterest, YouTube and Etsy, and the website joins it once it’s live. Each channel has its own job, and every post points to the matching book on Etsy, so I can see which channel and which post moves a parent toward a sale.
1. Get found: Pinterest works like a visual search engine for parents and teachers, so each pin answers a real search, like how a zipper works, and links to the matching book. Because how clothes work is a niche topic, I tag each book and pin for the many ways parents, caregivers and teachers search: sewing for kids, how things work, homeschool science and STEM, learning to get dressed and fine motor skills, Montessori practical life, occupational therapy activities, the ASL alphabet and screen-free gifts. Calm YouTube Shorts and cartoons make the characters familiar, and Etsy search reaches shoppers who already know what they want.
2. Visit the listing: Every channel lands on an Etsy listing built to convert. The cover is the first photo, a short video shows the pages, and the opening lines say what the book is, who it’s for and why it helps.
3. Buy: It’s an instant download that families print at home, so there’s nothing to ship and no wait.
4. Come back and share: A thank you coupon and a review request follow each order. Reviews help the listing rank higher in Etsy search, and followers see the next pin or video.
Win back: If someone favorites a book or leaves it in their cart, Etsy sends them an automatic offer with a small discount to bring them back.
Website, coming soon: Once shopstitchesandscribbles.com is live, a free hook and loop coloring page invites families to join the newsletter, which I’ll run through HubSpot. Subscribers get a new free page each month and vote on what I draw next, so they help decide what follows Fasteners 101. The Journal blog gives families learning tips around each theme, and those posts help the site show up in Google search (SEO) and in answers from AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews (GEO and AEO). Each email and blog post links back to the Etsy listings, Pinterest and YouTube.
Measure and improve: Each week I read three dashboards. In Pinterest Analytics I check impressions, saves and outbound clicks for each pin. In YouTube Studio I check views, how much of each video people watch and where viewers found it. In Etsy Stats I check where visits come from, including Pinterest and the referral visits from YouTube links, plus favorites and orders. Then I make one change per channel and note why. If a pin gets impressions but no clicks, the next pin gets a clearer title and reason to click. If a Short holds viewers, I make more in that format and post it as a Pinterest video pin too, because a video pin carries a clickable link. If a listing gets visits but no orders, I test a new first photo and opening lines.
Early signals: Since launch on 1 October, viewers watch 75 to 93 percent of the trailer and Shorts but leave the longer character intros within seconds, so I’m putting my video time into Shorts. Pinterest has the widest reach, with 211 impressions and the zipper pins leading, but no outbound clicks yet, so the next pins test a clearer call to action and a direct link to the matching listing. Etsy has 5 visits and no orders so far, none of them from Etsy search, so I’m refining the titles and tags around the searches behind the strongest pins.
Then paid: Once organic shows what works, I’ll put the best-converting listing into Etsy Ads first and the strongest pins into Pinterest Ads, so the budget only backs proven content.
Weekly Analytics Dashboard
I update this dashboard each week from Etsy Stats, Pinterest Analytics and YouTube Studio. It shows the numbers since launch, the strongest content so far and the plan for next week, based on those numbers.
Etsy
60% of visits came from Etsy's app and pages and 40% were direct or referral. None came from Etsy search or Pinterest yet.
9 pins across 3 boards. How Things Work For Kids is the strongest board, with 95 impressions.
YouTube
Viewers found the channel through its page (54%), the Shorts feed (23%) and YouTube search (15%).
Strongest content
- Pin: Zipper coloring page and how a zipper works, 41 impressions
- Video: the channel trailer, 92.5% watched on average
- Short: How does a zipper work?, 5 views and 76.7% watched
- Listing: Fasteners 101 for ages 8 to 12, the most listing views
Next week's plan
- Pinterest: post more pins in the zipper learning-page format and add two video pins made from the Shorts, each linked to its listing, to win the first outbound clicks.
- YouTube: put video time into Shorts, the format viewers watch to the end, and keep the listing link on the first line of each description.
- Etsy: refresh the titles and tags on the ages 8 to 12 listing with the searches behind the top pins, and check that photo 1 matches the zipper pin people respond to.
- Check next week: outbound clicks, Etsy visits from Pinterest and YouTube, and watch-through.
Next Steps
- Launch shopstitchesandscribbles.com, built in Next.js, as the home for the brand: the books, how they work, an FAQ and the Journal, with every book linking to Etsy.
- Grow the newsletter in HubSpot with a free hook and loop coloring page for signing up, a new free page each month and a monthly vote on what I draw next.
- Publish Journal posts with learning tips for families, homeschoolers and educators, written for SEO, GEO and AEO.
- Set up an AI email agent for the welcome emails and launch updates, and an agentic data hub that brings Etsy, Pinterest, YouTube, website and email data into one place.
- Claim the website on Pinterest, so pins that link to it carry the brand name.
- Test Etsy Ads, then Pinterest Ads, after one to two months of organic growth, behind the content that has proved itself.
- Release the next series, on what our clothes are made of.