And the Winner is....

ANNA!

Congrats to Anna- and thanks so much to everyone who entered, this has been really fun. I loved hearing which of my plush were your favorites, the responses were quite varied- which was great. :)
I will be doing my next give-away in November on the Plush Team Blog, so you'll have another chance to win one of my plush if you didn't this time. Have a great week everyone!!

Easter Basket Giveaway!!!

I haven't done a giveaway in awhile, and since it was fun making these mini bunnies, I thought why not do an Easter Basket? I haven't got anything from the Easter Bunny since I was 7 and dared my Mom that there WAS an Easter bunny- and he WOULD come to our house, so we didn't need to put out any eggs. *SPOILER ALERT!!!* If you don't want to know how this story ends, scroll down to the area where I tell you the rules for the contest. :)

I was pretty pissed the next morning when I saw that there were no eggs hidden, nor any candy or baskets- meaning I was wrong and the Easter Bunny was just something made-up. It totally sucks when your childhood illusions get shattered. My mom had gotten us Easter Baskets anyway, so it salvaged the day somewhat, but I lost the first bit of my childhood innocence that morning. We managed to hang on to the Easter Bunny for a few more years for my little sister to enjoy, but it was never the same for me after that. Can I just say that growing up sucks?! :D So, if you're like me and haven't had an Easter basket in awhile, why not enter and get some goodies in the mail?

Here's what the lucky winner will receive:

One hand-made yellow mini bunny by yours truly :)
One package of pink peeps candy
One glittery "Easter" sign
One package of Easter stickers
One green M&Ms filled easter egg
One Easter bunny pez dispenser
One fluffy yellow chick
One chick-in-egg plastic cookie cutter
One yellow pinwheel
And the basket, of course. :D

the Rules:

Starting today through midnight pacific on Sunday the 21st of March you have a few ways to enter:

Just visit my etsy shop and leave a comment on this post with your favorite item. Be sure to include an e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.

But wait, you can get even MORE chances to win!

Become a Meet Sam and Pete blog follower. If you're a new follower, leave a comment and let me know that you joined. If you're already following me, let me know that too, and you'll score one extra entry!

Tweet or facebook this giveaway. Make sure to give a link to your tweet/facebook in the comments to get ONE extra entry.

Blog this giveaway. For an extra TWO entries, tell folks about this giveaway in your blog. Please make sure to use one of my Easter Basket photos in your post and leave me a link to get your entries.

Buy something from my etsy shop!. Get another FIVE chances to win by making a purchase from my shop. Don't forget to let me know which new piece of plush is now your very own. :D

I will put all your names in a hat and have my Other Half pick one winner on Monday, March 22nd. Don't forget to leave me your contact info so that I can tell you when you win!! Good luck everyone!

Spring Mini Bunnies

In honor of the first few stirrings of spring around here, I created these mini bunnies. My friend Laura of Dog Bone Art suggested they'd be perfect in Easter Baskets, so I took her advice and photographed them with all the Easter trappings. These are available in my etsy shop if you are so inclined- all except the pink one, who has already found a home. Spring is almost here! YAY! :D

©2010 Leeanna Butcher

One Lucky Clodhopper!

If you haven't seen a Clodhopper before, the Clodhoppers are a species of Bigfoot that are rarely seen by humans. Each Clodhopper loves to wear mis-matched socks.

Seamus Clodhopper lives in the hills and dales of Ireland. Seamus is very proud of his Irish heritage, and always wears a shamrock in its honor. Although a little easier to spot than a leprechaun, it took a lot of coaxing to get Seamus to pose for these pictures. Even though Seamus loves Ireland, he is very excited to visit other places around the globe. Won't you invite Seamus over for a visit and get some of that luck of the Irish? ;)

Seamus is one of my first attempts at a "furry" plush, with more to come! His fur is really soft and huggable- and his face, feet, and hands are made of really soft flannel.

Since St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, some members of the Plush Team decided to create some lucky plush, you can see Seamus and his pals over at the Plush Team etsy shop. This is just the first wave in a year-long series of holiday themed items that will be dropping into the Team's shop- so stay tuned!

The Eensy Weensy Spider

I was contacted by the author and illustrator of the fun new children's book "The Eensy Weensy Spider Freaks Out (Big Time)", who asked me if I could make a plush version of his Eensy design for him. He gave me a bunch of reference, and I got to work. It took me quite awhile to figure out how to get the legs working, and to figure out the right proportions for the body etc. I made six spiders before hitting on the right size/proportions that would work. Then I was stuck on the legs- a few of the options I tried first didn't work, but finally I hit on a solution. The legs are posable wire, so that Eensy's legs can gently be posed into pretty much any position. If you would like to see more work-in-progress photos, head on over to my flickr page. To find Troy's book, which comes out in late May, check out Amazon.com.
If you want to see more of Troy's art and design (of course you do! :D), head on over to his website.

Wow.

I don't know how he does it- but he found this book for me for Valentines Day, and the thing that makes it so special is that it is illustrated by my favorite illustrator, Tomie De Paola! I love it. :D
Happy Valentines' Day everyone! :D

Bea Arthur Cat plushcature

This is Bea Arthur. I was asked to make a plush version of him (yes, Bea Arthur is a boy. :D) for his owner's birthday at the beginning of this month. He's been sent off and arrived safely, and I have it on good authority that he was well received. Phew! I have to admit is was a bit of a challenge to make an all-white cat plush with no distinctive markings to rely on. I had to make the face the focus, since he does have those chartreuse eyes- and pinkish ears and a nose. Not being a person who is around many cats meant I had to do a lot of sketching of an unfamiliar subject to make sure that I got the "cat" aspect of him to really feel cat-like. I made him out of super soft and cuddly white minky to give him that soft cat hair look and feel.

Clodhoppers!

Something new! These are the Clodhoppers. Clodhoppers are a species of bigfoot that are found around the world but remain hidden from humans- most of the time, anyway. :D If you're lucky you may spot one. They LOVE to wear mis-matched socks.
Jessie from Samaria Project asked me to make her a Clodhopper, and it got me thinking that I needed to make more of them. I made the top Clodhopper for her, and then went on to make the rest. Meet Olivia, Henry, and Camille Clodhopper. There will definitely be more Clodhoppers made in the future- I am currently working on some that come from the far Northern regions, who are very furry. If you are interested in having any of the Clodhoppers over to your house for a visit, you can find them in my etsy shop. For more pictures of the Clodhoppers, see my flickr page.