Getting ready for Emerald Con!

Wondering where I've been for the past few weeks? Frantically sewing my butt off to prepare for my first ever experience at Emerald Con in Seattle next week! I'm sharing a booth with the awesome Schmancy Toys, so we should have a great time. I know we'll meet some awesome people and see some fantastic cosplay, so it will be a real treat for the people-watcher in me. Who knows, maybe I'll come back from it totally inspired by all the colorful and creative costumes I'll see there, no to mention the cool art that will be on display in Artist's Alley and beyond. :D

Here are just a few pics of some of the new pieces that I am working on for the booth, as well as my new corner display piece that I found at a vintage shop last weekend- I just have to re-paint it and it will be perfect.

Emerald Con runs from March 28th through the 30th, so if you are planning on going, come on over to booth number 2706 and say hello!

PlushYou! show opens tonight!

It's that time of year again! Hooray for the annual plush art show curated and hosted by the awesome Kristen of Schmancy Toys in Seattle.

Here are the pieces that I created for the show- inspired by the beautiful flower gardens in the neighborhood were I walk the dog every day. These two girls are Flower Sprites- those beings responsible for making your garden blossom and bloom into something wonderful.

Bloom and Blossom

 Bloom is more excitable than her sister, Blossom. She really gets into her job turning the small blossoms into full-fledged and beautiful flowers.

I wanted the forms and clothing to evoke the organic shapes of flowers and buds. Blossom is made from fleece, with felt facial features and flower in her hair. Her clothing is made from patterned cottons, and she has felt leaves growing from her arms and legs.

 Bloom's skirt is not only removable, it's reversible, too. :D

Blossom is definitely more "zen" than her sister, and her color palette was chosen to reflect that difference.

Blossom is also made from fleece, felt, and cottons. Flowers are blossoming on her, and she also has leaves sprouting on her arms and legs.

I will be at the opening of the show tonight (5-9pm at Schmancy Toys) and I will take tons of photos of all the amazing work created for the show, promise. :D

It's time for Plush You!

I would loooooove to be in Seattle for the opening of the Plush You! art show at Schmancy Toys this Friday night at 5pm, but no such luck for me this year. My plush will just have to enjoy the opening for me, I guess. ;D

I did a bunch of sketching before I decided what I wanted to make this year, and I finally came up with the idea to do my take on Hansel and Gretel, and their nemesis, the Witch.

Hansel

Hansel and Gretel find themselves lost in the woods for days, and then suddenly come across a cottage deep in the woods that is completely made of candy! 

Gretel

Unbeknownst to them, the delicious looking cottage belongs to Wilhelmina Witch, who has an unusual favorite food...

Wilhelmina Witch

In my version, Wilhelmina is a lot like the sharks in Finding Nemo: she is a recovering child-eating addict, who is trying to mend her ways. Will she be able to resist Hansel and Gretel? I wonder...

These were a lot of fun to make, and I really had a good time finding a bunch of cotton prints that coordinated but weren't matchy-matchy. Playing around with combinations of prints is one of the most enjoyable aspects of plush-making, I think.

I also wanted Hansel and Gretel to relate to each other but not use the same fabrics, so I chose yellow as the common element, and worked with that to choose the differing fabrics for each sibling. Both Hansel and Gretel have freckles, and are wearing the same shoes. I wanted to get the candy feel into them without it being too obvious, so I used rick-rack to add a "gingerbread" element, and the flowers on Gretel's apron kinda look like lollipops to me.

For Wilhelmina, I definitely wanted her to shout candy and treats, so I found a cotton print with all sorts of ice cream desserts on it for her skirt, and then I used the colors from that pattern to help choose the rest of the fabrics, keeping the candy theme in mind. She has a witchy light green fleece for her face and hands, and a definite candy pink for her hair. I made her witch's hat out of brown felt, with a lighter brown stitching over top to create the "waffle cone" effect. To add to the candy/treat elements of her look, I made her a large lollipop to hold, as well as mini donuts for the buckles on her shoes, and a pink shortbread cookie, chocolate chip cookie, and ice cream pop resting on her hat brim. To add some sparkle, she has a sparkly button brooch on, her dress has sparkly green rick rack trim, and the icing on the donuts is made from white sparkle felt.

If you are in the Seattle area this Friday, head on over and check out the show at Schmancy Toys. There are always amazing plush made for this show, and you won't be disappointed! If you can't make the show, but still want to see photos etc, look for #PlushYou! on twitter, and you can also see photos on Schmancy's pinterest, and facebook pages.

Meet the SuperHAREos!

As promised, here are the photos of my Superhero rabbits, the Super HAREos. They will be for sale at the Schmancy Toys booth at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend. I have never done any comic book fan art before, and I wanted to do a little twist on the theme; so I decided since Easter was coming up to make these superheroes as rabbits instead of regular humans. These are some of my favorite superheroes. I have fond memories of the Superfriends cartoons that I watched as a kid.

Since my favorite color is green, I've always had a soft spot for the Green Lantern:

It would be pretty amazing to be able to run as fast as the Flash does:

and to be able to kick some serious criminal butt (as well as be super-rich ;D) like Batman:

 To be able to fly and jump buildings in a single bound like Superman does:

Now we're getting to my favorite characters. I love Hawkman, and had a ton of fun making him:

My all-time favorite Superhero, of which I had the Underoos and a set of the cuffs, tiara, and lasso when I was a kid; is the Amazon herself, Wonder Woman:

These were a ton of fun to make, and I hope that if you are in the Seattle area that you have the chance to check them out in person this weekend at the Con. :D

Sneak Peek!

Just a few quick teaser photos of my pieces for Emerald City Comic Con- they'll be for sale in the Schmancy Toys booth, the Con is this coming weekend (March 30- April 1st) in Seattle.
I'll post photos of the finished pieces later this week. :)

A new plush for my collection- woot!

Meet Aaron Luckybones, the newest member of my collection. Made by the super fantastic Ninon, I've been wanting one of her larger pieces for a long time. I found this one when I was lucky enough to have the chance to get to Schmancy Toys right before Christmas.

I love the pom poms on the sides of the head, and the little wee ones on his shoes- and that grin is awesome. His arms are jointed and posable which is terrific. The mixture of materials is really great! Ninon really puts some character into her plush creations, and the names she choses for them are utterly quirky and yet they fit like gloves.

You can see more of the cool world of Ninon if you head on over to her blog, where she writes about everything that is interesting her at the moment, as well as her newest plush creations.

Here are some photos of all the great plush and things I found at Schmancy- if you are in the Seattle area, you should definitely check it out.

I found more plush goodies and other things on my Christmas break, which I will be sharing over the next little while, so stay tuned! :)

Ornament Show!

Just in time for the holidays, Schmancy Toys in Seattle is having a holiday Ornament show, and I was happy to send my group of 10 ornaments on a trip to the lovely Pacific Northwest. There are some really fantastic artists making pieces for this show, so if you are in the area, go check it out!

As promised here are photos of the pieces I sent to the show:
Bring on Santa Claus. Ho ho ho!

I was brainstorming ideas and finally sketched up some Santa heads, which I thought would make festive ornaments. Each one is unique, since their eye color, mouth and cheek color varies, and there are Santas with green hats, and Santas with red hats. Some Santas have cream colored beards and mustaches, others have white. I hand embroidered each set of eyes and their mouths.
These are sold individually, but I think it would be fun to have one green, and one red, don't you? ;D

Hope that you all are starting to feel the holiday spirit- making these ornaments definitely got me in the Christmas mood! Well, I'm off to go decorate the house and put up the tree, while listening to my favorite Christmas music. :D

More plush creations will be coming soon! Until then, check out the holiday rabbits already in my etsy shop. 
Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Coming Soon!

Available only at Schmancy Toys in Seattle, I wonder what these could be? Find out this Friday, and if you are in the Seattle area, why not head on over to Schmancy and get some Christmas cheer for your tree, and cool gifts for your loved ones? Shop local, handmade, and small businesses this weekend and call yourself a hero. :D

Woo Hoo, Plush You!

Here are my pieces for the show, opening at Schmancy Toys in Seattle tomorrow night! I wish that I was going to the opening, since it's an amazing show, and it's always a blast to hang out and talk shop with my plush peeps, but it's just not to be this year.

I was inspired by the idea of taking some classic Hollywood Monsters and adding my own spin to them. Here's the result:

The Surfer Creature from the Black Lagoon:

He's made from a mottled and hairy green wool felt, with cotton accents, corduroy swim trunks, and hand embroidered patches of scales, as well as his gills and his ribs. The surfboard is made from patterned cottons, and has a quilt-batting wrapped piece of cardboard inside, to make it stiff but also somewhat soft at the same time.

And Rockabilly Dracula: 

He's made from faux-leather, denim, cotton, and fleece. I had a lot of fun creating a removable wallet on a chain for his back pocket, as well as doing all the applique on the back of the jacket. He's ready to jump into his '57 T-bird convertible and cruise the scene.

 If you are in the Seattle area and have a chance, go and check out the show- it's always full of fantastic plush art to see (and buy ;D) and great people to meet and hang out with.