Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone! Sorry I haven't updated my blog in awhile, it's been crazy trying to get everything done and shipped off for Christmas. As of yesterday I have finished my last sewn Christmas present, so now it's off to start doing the baking and cooking. I was taking a break last night and enjoying the Christmas tree and wondering what should be my Christmas post, and I was thinking of all the festive pictures up on flickr the past week, and decided to take pictures of the Christmas tree. I was also inspired by my flickr friend Meadaura's photos to experiment with the manual focus and see what happens. Volia- abstract art from christmas tree lights. :) Thanks Meadaura for the art inspiration! :D
I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with family and friends, and good food and fun.
Here's to a fantastic year in 2010! I will be back in January with new plush and stories to share. Lots going on already! :)
-Leeanna

Go Ask Alice Plush show pictures

I'm back from my wanderings in the wonderland that was the "Go Ask Alice" show at Paul Cumes Fine Art in Santa Barbara. There were so many fun and creative plush at this show, and the curator of the show, Cimmi Cumes, did a wonderful job displaying everyone's work to the best advantage. Thanks Cimmi! :D It was a busy night, and quite a lot of people made it to the opening. The tea party was a big success- especially with the kids. If you are ever in Santa Barbara, go check out the gallery and say hello to Cimmi and her artist husband, Paul.
These photos are just some of the terrific work that was on display at the show. To see the rest of the pictures, head on over to my flickr page.

Double Plush Show opening week!!

Okay, I am totally excited about the openings for the "Go Ask Alice" show this saturday at Paul Cumes Fine Art in Santa Barbara, and the opening TONIGHT of the 3rd annual Luv-Able and Hug-able show in NYC at gallery hanahou. SO MUCH good plush to be had, so if you are looking for that special present for that special someone, this may be the opportunity you're looking for. (just sayin'. :D) You can buy the luv-hugable plush here.
I have pieces in both shows and am lucky enough to be headed to Santa Barbara this weekend to see the Alice show. Wishing I could go to NYC... where's a sugar daddy when you need one? ;D
Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

Holiday items in the shop!

OH- and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my great friend Danamarie of greenstarstudio- why don't you help her celebrate and head on over to her lovely shop and do some browsing and buying? You won't be disappointed!

Here we go with the new holiday items:




I had fun making these singing/smiling snowmen and gingerbread men ornaments, it got me into the holiday spirit. The snowmen are available in my etsy shop in sets of 2, and the gingerbread men in various states of cooking doneness (is that even a word? probably not. :D) can be found in the PlushTeam's etsy shop, where the proceeds from their sales goes to Toys for Tots.
I also decided to do something a little different... so the Vampire Brothers Victor and Vittorio got out their holiday outfits and fancy cloaks, ready to be invited over to your house for a holiday party or two. They will be on their best behavior, I promise. They are currently hanging out in the shop, waiting for invitations..








HAPPY SHOPPING everyone! I can't believe it's already December...wow did this year fly right by.

4 DAYS OF FREE SHIPPING!

In honor of the craziest weekend of holiday shopping, I've decided to waive all shipping fees on any and all purchases from my etsy shop from friday November 27th until midnight pacific on monday November 30th. If you are in the mood to buy something that is handmade and one of a kind as a present for a loved one (or yourself! :D) this year, there are a ton of amazing sales and promotions this weekend from artists of all kinds on etsy.com. Break free of box stores and malls, buy handmade instead. Happy shopping! :D
To check out my etsy shop, click here.

More Plushcatures

I had a commission from my excellent friend and fellow artist Danamarie of greenstar studio to create custom plush of herself, her husband AJ, and their most adorable dog, Mason. I took me quite awhile and lots of sketches (just some of them posted here) before I was confident enough to go ahead and make them into plush.




There was a little added pressure (in a good way) for them to be successful, since Dana had asked me to make them for their 1st wedding anniversary. GULP! It took me down to the wire (and a little bit over) to get them done and sent off to them, but they made it. Hooray! Since both Dana and her husband are keen recyclers of anything and everything that can be recycled, I used repurposed jeans and t-shirts as well as scraps of leftover fleece to make their plushcatures as authentically them as possible. To see Dana's family's reaction to the plush, head on over to her blog, where she has photos of the plush with the real thing. :)
To see more photos of the finished plush, check out my flickr page.

If you are interested in having me make plush of yourself or someone you love, send me a request through my etsy store.

Meet the Snow Angels

These are my plush for the Luv-able and Hug-able show that starts December 3rd at gallery hanahou in NYC.
The Snow Angels are responsible for getting everyone excited for winter and winter activities. They fly around invisibly and whisper suggestions for winter fun in our ears. The large plush are around 8-10 inches high, while the little ones are around 5-7 inches high. I had a ton of fun making these guys and incorporating my love of winter into them. I had never made anything this small before, so that was a good creative challenge. I also used minky fabric for the first time and I LOVE how soft and cuddly it is.
Camille and Josie Snow Angel are the ones who inspire us to drink hot chocolate on a cold day, or go ice skating with friends.
Paulie, Charlie, and Freddie get us to go and build huge snowmen, or go tobogganing, or start epic snow ball fights. :D
I think I made these out of wishful thinking about winter. We definitely won't be having any snowball fights here in California this Christmas! Although we do have ice skating, and hot chocolate. :)
For more pictures, head on over to my flickr page.

These guys are on a trip to NYC today.

Lucky plush! I'd love to be in New York again. What an amazing and inspiring city to visit. I sent the plush that goes with these tags off to gallery hanahou, for the 3rd annual Luv-able Hug-able Show at the gallery in December. One more deadline crossed off the list. :) I will post more pictures of the actual plush once I have a few moments to spare. I am in the middle of major crunch time, so this post is necessarily brief. If you are in the New York City area this December or January, go and check out the show, the artist list is awesome- and the plush is guaranteed to make you smile. Have a great weekend everyone!! :D



Luv-able and Hug-able
New 2009 theme: medium and mini!

December 3 - January 9
Opening party: Dec 3, 6-9 pm RSVP info@galleryhanahou.com

gallery hanahou / 611 Broadway, Suite 730, NYC / galleryhanahou.com
extended holiday hours Mon-Sat: 12 - 6 pm

A proper workspace at last. YAY!

I've been meaning to take these pictures for awhile. I thought I'd better take some while it is still somewhat tidy and organized! I am so excited to actually have a real sewing table at last!! Thanks to my generous mother-in-law I am now the proud owner of her old table, which my father-in-law built for her 30 years ago. (She upgraded to the amazing Pfaff creative vision 4.0 mammoth embroidery machine, and it wouldn't fit in her old table.) Lucky for me! :) I had so much fun filling up the cubbies and compartments with all my sewing paraphernalia and reorganizing all my sewing mess, which was desperately needed- and just in time for all the holiday madness. I also haven't had time to use my new pfaff embellishing machine- I'm waiting for some "down time" to play around with it and all my felt, but that could be awhile. ;)
I still get giddy whenever I look at my "new" table, and so far it has made my sewing life a lot easier, which is awesome. Happy sewing is good sewing. :)

Got wings?

Not "Wings" as in the band, or "wings" as in buffalo, but wings as in flying. :D
More WIP pictures. I'm working on my pieces for the Luv-able Hug-able Show at Gallery Hanahou in December, and these little pieces go with that. They are a time consuming but integral part of my plush designs for the show, so what can I do? I love the feel of minky- it's SOOO soft and cuddly, but it creates an ungodly amount of fluff that gets everywhere- including your nose, lungs and eyes. It's just one of the occupational hazards of being addicted to plush making. The end result is worth all the irritation though... I hope. ;)

hello again! :D

Well, look who's finally updating her blog! :) I've been super busy since I got back from Seattle last week, and I haven't had the time to post anything. I decided to finally make time today to give you a sneak peek of the projects I'm working on for upcoming shows. These are just a few of the plush that I'm currently working on. Hmmmm... now what could they be, I wonder? ;)
I have deadlines rapidly approaching, so it's back to the sewing machine for me. Have a great weekend everyone.

Plush You! weekend in Seattle

Wow, what a weekend of amazing plush art!! I am blown away by all the work at Plush You! It was so wonderful to see it all in person, and as usual I did end up buying a few pieces. Not as many as I wanted, or else I would have come home with the whole show! That's just not happening, to my great disappointment. :) I will post photos of my purchases as soon as they arrive home from Seattle. Can't wait!! Hooray for plush collecting, it just makes me happy. And inspired. And wanting more. ;)
I had a blast meeting some great plush people, and fun hanging out with the members of the Plush Team who made the trip out. These are just a few of the MANY, MANY photos that I took at Schmancy, the Anne Bonney, and Bluebottle Gallery. I wish that I had space to feature everything that I saw here, but that would be the mother of all blog posts. :D
To see more photos, head on over to my flickr page, where I have the pictures of the Anne Bonney and Bluebottle venues up. Schmancy photos will hopefully be up by tomorrow afternoon. Happy looking!