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.

Photobooth fun with my Plush You! 2012 pieces

Here's a fun shoot that I did with my pieces for this year's Plush You! show, which opens in Seattle on October 12th.  I wonder if you can guess who I made? Photos of the finished pieces will be up on my blog the week the show opens, so stay tuned! I am busy working away in my studio, more plush to come!

Penelope the Party Panda and a Plush Flower

It's a special time of year- the Plush Team is celebrating it's 5th anniversary, woohoo! In honor of this milestone, we decided to have a secret plush swap. I was excited when I received my swappee's name, since this meant that my plush would be traveling all the way down to PATAGONIA! How cool is that? I drew the name of Nuff Nuff Toys, who lives in this beautiful corner of the world, and makes the most adorable hand-sewn mini-plush.

It took me awhile to decide what to make her; and then I thought, why not a party panda? A panda was an animal that I hadn't made before, and it was definitely a lot of fun designing this one.  Here is Penelope the Party Panda in her best party dress.

I found this great cheery and fun cotton print for her dress, and decided it would be even more festive if she was wearing a flower in her hair, so I made one out of purple, pink, and orange felts to tie in the colors in her trim and her dress. Here she is in a fun photo I took using the hipstamatic app- very psychedelic! ;D

Now we get to the fun of what I received from my swapper, Careful it Bites- who makes awesome cats and yeti head plush, among other fun stuff:

I love how she used the fly-away faux fur for the grass/moss! Very clever idea. Thanks so much Kelice for this great new house plant; it's one that my black thumb won't be able to kill, which is awesome. :D

Now, it took a hint from Kelice to make me check what was hiding in the pot,  and guess what? This is not just some cute little flower my friends! No siree! Take a look:

Hahaha! I love it! Looks like he's not too impressed to be out of his pot though. Thanks again Kelice, he is terrific. :D

Happy 5th birthday to the Plush Team! To see more of what each member of the team got from their swap partners, head on over to the Team's blog, where our members are blogging as their plush goodies arrive.

Babies, babies, babies!

After a hectic few months of summer filled with all sorts of non-plush related stuff, I am back plush-making like a demon to make up for all the time missed. What has all that got to do with babies, you say? Well, I have been busy making a few baby gifts, among other plush goodies.

First off I made a few bibs for each new mom, since you can never have too many bibs once the baby starts eating semi-solid and solid foods, right? These are made from fun cotton prints, with a pocket for holding a washcloth or binky.

I also made these plush bunnies for the lovely Sally, who had her beautiful baby girl last week. Sally asked me to create a bunny that had the baby's initials on it somewhere:

She's made from soft fleece, with cottons for her dress, and a super-soft corduroy for her sweater. No buttons or any choking hazards on either of the bunnies, of course.

I also created a smaller, rag doll type bunny to give to the baby right away, out of lovely fleece and flannels for softness and hug-ability. :)

For the wonderful Marcy, I made these bibs. I loooved these prints and bought them especially with Marcy in mind:

and a version of my Lime Bear:

Congratulations to both of the new moms! 

Now in the shop... Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro.

Napoleon and Pedro are back from their Florida vacation at Bear and Bird Gallery, and are available now in my etsy shop. :D If you or anyone you know is a fan of the "Napoleon Dynamite" film, then these may be the plush for you. Napoleon is wearing his "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt, and Pedro is dressed in his best shirt and bolo tie. Head on over to my etsy shop for more photos and details.

Sneak peek...

A little glimpse into the work-in progress of a couple of my pieces for this year's awesome Plush You! art show in Seattle.

I'm really busy plushing away, and I will have more blog posts featuring what I have been working on, coming soon! I seem to be in this really cheerful and bright mode right now, so my plush are all coming out very happy-looking. It must be because I am so glad that Fall is on it's way. :D Stay tuned for more plush updates...

Comic Con goodies!

Forgot to post these- how silly of me. These are the spoils that Ben brought back for me from his trip to Comic Con this year, and boy was I excited to see them!

From left to right: Wooper Looper figure by Gary Ham, Rose Vampire in coffin car by Super 7, looper Cavey by A Little Stranger, Pink Gumdrop by 64colors, Freddie the Beetle by Bwana Spoons for Super 7, and last but not least, the Grim Marshall by Squibbles ink + Rotofugi for 64colors.

At least these guys didn't take up too much room in his suitcase. ;D

Old-Time Bather Plush

I was inspired to create these plush by the Plush Team's July/August Challenge, which was Beach Party themed. I decided to look at photos of turn of the century swimmers, and here are the results. You can find Cecil and Amelia in my etsy shop, 

while Edward and Priscilla can be found in the Plush Team's etsy shop.

Cecil St. Clair, at your service:

Amelia Beaufort is as sunny as her hair, and loves to sail and swim the summer away:

While Edward, or "Eddie" as his close friends call him, loves to comb the beach for sea glass and go clamming.

Priscilla James loves to sun bathe, although her fair skin burns if she's not careful.

If you want to see more beach party inspired plush, check out the Plush Team's blog and etsy shop. :D Enjoy the rest of your summer!