There won't be any new posts for a few weeks because I'm really sick, so I'll see you all back here in april!

Crammed Organisms group plush show!

Calling all plush creators and artists! This show looks amazing, the theme is: "Fairy, Folk, and Fable."
The deadline for entries is March 29th, so get creating!

Taxi!

Bernard tries to get a cab on a street corner in New York City on his way to a jazz club. He's a freelance journalist who covers the jazz music scene in the city he's currently visiting. An ardent Herbie Hancock fan, Bernard is ecstatic that Herbie took home the Grammy for Album of the Year.

The Little Matchstick Girl

The Little Matchstick Girl is from a Hans Christian Anderson story. In a nutshell, the little girl is thrown out into the cold by her mean father to try and earn some pennies on the street by selling matches to passerby. It's very cold and no one buys any matches, so she decides to use her matches to try and keep warm. When she lights each one, she has a vision of her kindly (but dead) grandmother which lasts for the duration of the match flame. As she burns through the matches, her vision of being with her grandmother grows stronger, and she doesn't feel the cold anymore. The next morning the little girl is found frozen to death on the street with an angelic smile on her face. Such an uplifting and cheerful story, I know. It was the theme for last months posts on Gum or Mints, and I thought I'd post it here as well.

Mr. Collins on vacation

Deciding to take some time off and beat the winter blues, Mr. Collins is currently in Hawaii. Time to recharge the batteries and sit in the sun on the beach with a tropical drink in one hand and his camera in the other.

Poppy

Poppy is a fan of all things big and bold. She loves the huge floral pattern on her dress, it puts her in a sunny, confident mood.
A graphic designer by day and purse designer at night, she hopes to launch her own line of handbags in the near future.

Cool creatures from Kenya

I found this fantastic Kenyan hand-knitted zebra while visiting the Seattle Art Museum. The Kenana Knitter Critter co. have a fun assortment of creatures, all made from homespun wool which is then plant dyed if necessary, and knitted into the animals. All the money the women of this village make from the sales of their creations go to help supply their families with the necessities of life. It was great to find such an appealing character sitting in the museum gift shop, and a bonus to realize that adding this zebra to my collection was helping out families in need. Hooray for plush! Here's the link to their website:
www.kenanaknitters.com

Mr. Collins, CEO

Mr. Collins has turned his early stock market savvy (he bought both Apple and Google stock when the companies went public) into a flourishing composting business that supplies organic gardeners throughout North America. When not at the office, he enjoys reading in his large library and occasional trips to the tropics.