MOVING SALE

Moving Sale All plush are now 15% off!
Discount given after payment and refunded through paypal.

(Can't be combined with other discounts or used on Gift Cards)

CUSTOM MONSTER MOVE

Custom Frankenstein style Monster complete with scar.




I want my mummy! Custom Mummy and one of my favorite creations :)



Adopt Duncan

I was able to find some really great faux fur at a thrift store and knew a Monster would be in the works.

Ingredients:
Faux fur remnants
Vintage trim
Fleece scraps
Flannel remnants
Vintage button
Recycled plastic shopping bags


--

Finally some news! My husband and I have found an apartment and will be moving closer to his family. We've found a charming farmhouse on acres of beautiful farmland. It has a huge front porch and a wrapping white staircase inside the window lined front door. Finally, I will have a designated room for my studio & with windows!

My Etsy Shop will still be open but custom orders will not be accepted until August 20th. All other orders will be shipped out within 1-2 business days.

After some unpacking I promise to share photos!

THRIFT STORE FINDS

What could be more perfect for me to find than a sewing machine? This one is especially beautiful and was a totally unexpected find. It's in full working order and although I can't find a date in the manual I did a little searching online and it was created in 1953. How much did this beauty set me back? All of $30!



At the same thrift store I found this lovely stack of fabric. The red fur reminds me of Elmo so I might have some problems cutting it up ;) The rest ranges from wool to some really nice 70's style knit.


Finally my husband found this nice hardback book. It's full of bird illustrations. I'm contemplating framing some of the artwork but I'm not sure if I want to destroy the book in the process.

I hope everyone else had a good day :) I'm finally feeling better and have been able to sew a few monsters. Though I've run out of plastic bags, I'm still making shells in the hopes of finding some soon!

CUSTOM MONSTER

Custom Extra Fuzzy Monster - with two eyes ;)

FUZZY FRIDAY

Fuzzy Friday:
Interview with Kaeti owner of tylerponcho



Tell us how you start your day.
Coffee, bumping into things, and setting up Tyler Poncho so he looks perky and encouraging for a day of work.

Where did you grow up and where do you live now?
I grew up in Waukesha, WI. Last night I had a dream that we had skyscrapers in the "downtown", but alas, they don't exist.
I currently live in an even smaller town, technically a village, Oregon, WI, which is just south of Madison, WI.

What makes where you live special?
It's nice and safe, has public parks. We're able to work in our favored professions and live and visit our families.

Tell us about how you got started creating plush.
I started sewing in elementary school and recreated a few of my favorite toy mice. I started making them again a few years ago to entertain myself in our tiny apartment.



What inspires you?
Awkward looking animals, animals making silly expressions, my husband's silly brain.

What would your perfect day be like?
Sunny, with eggs and blueberries. All my business dealings are happy and productive, I finish a whole bunch of cute plushies and line them up and make Tyler pretend to eat them all.



If you had to choose another medium, what would it be?
I was painting more before I got so serious into plushes. Right now I'm preferring acrylic and watercolor over ink, but oil can be nice when you want to get fancy.

What's the one thing you can't live without?
My husband, Jon.



Extra: Tell us a random fact about yourself!
I write backwards! I'm left-handed so ink can smear sometimes so I got in the habit of writing backwards like Leonardo Da Vinci.

Random Silly Question:
If Wyle E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME stuff, why didn't he just buy food?
It's not about the food or the money, it's about doing what you love.


Web tylerponcho.com
Etsy tylerponcho.etsy.com
Kaeti is also a member of the Etsy Plush Team

MONSTER, YETI, & ETSY FEATURE

Ingredients:
Upcycled fleece blankets
Upcycled fleece jackets
Scrap cotton fabric
Ribbon
Vintage buttons
Recycled plastic shopping bags

Adopt Bella





Ingredients:
Upcycled fleece blankets
Upcycled fleece jackets
Vintage button
Recycled plastic shopping bags

Adopt Yeti



It's Alive!

Created by "nicilaskin" Featuring Bella the Plush Monster

MANAGING MONDAY

Managing Monday: Calming Caffeine


♥ ♥ Pour Your Heart Out ♥ ♥





1. Tenmoku Teapot - Ceramic by AntwarePottery
2. Redbird Teapot - Ceramic by CocoaMarie
3. E.T. Pot - Sculpture by Rakumancy
4. Teaset for Two - Ceramic by NstarStudio
5. Donut Teapot - Cermaic by nevpotter
6. Blue Blossom - Miniature Teapot by ArtisticSpirit
7. Spiked Tea - Porcelain by nancyadamsclayartist
8. Civilities in Gunmetal - Earrings by tangopig
9. Polka Dot Teapot - Porcelain by kristenkswanson
10. Sculpted Frog Lid Teapot - Ceramic by JMNPOTTERY
11. Teapot with Tray - Ceramic by TheoHelmstadter
12. Teapot - Ceramic by ShellyGreenStoler
13. Teapot Set - Vintage by LALSART
14. Earth Laughs in Flowers - Photograph by ciaobellaphotography
15. Little Blue Teapot - Fine Art Print by rubyvictoria
16. Tea For Two - Original Watercolor by YellowTomatoes
17. Curly Teapot in Green - Ceramic by lawatson
18. Teapot Love - Fine Art Print by Arrolynn

EXTRA, EXTRA!

The Plush Team is ecstatic to present to you our first ever Team Annual, containing 120 pages of plushy goodness!

What is in store for you upon opening this marvelous book:

• An opening by our team founder, Megan Green, describing how our team came to be.


• An insightful, informative, and all-around fascinating account of the history of plush craft by our team co-founder Christina Ward.


• 42 two-page, full color features of our Plush Team members. Each includes photos of the artist's work, and text written by the artist explaining motivation, process, and inspiration.


• A time line of Plush Team activities through over the years.Profile pages providing a comprehensive list of Plush Team artists, including artist head shots and Etsy shop addresses.


• Photos of PT Stitchy, the team mascot, scattered throughout the book in his various incarnations as interpreted by our team members.

The book is full color, professionally printed, and soft cover. It measures 6.75"x6.75" (or 17 centimeters square). This is volume 1 of our Team Annual, featuring the artists from 2009. Our intent is to make this a yearly publication, updating it each year with our newest members and their incredible work.

Visit the Team Shop today for your copy!





*Note: LEFTZ is not in this Annual

CUSTOM SET & NEW IN SHOP

Halloween can never come too early! This was a custom set inspired by new monsters. Boo and Mr. Pumpkin are on their way to their new home but have left me with one thought.. is it time for trick-or-treating yet??



Meet Dan! He is part of my new monster collection I will slowly be adding to the shop the next few weeks. The perfect part about this design is that the color choices are endless. Hopefully by the end of this week I will be surrounded by one-eyed one-toothed cuties :)





Al's outfit reminds me of the bathing suits from the 20's. He is by far my favorite monster and I've actually made a copy of him to keep for myself :))


In other news I've sent my next set of submissions off to Stuffed Magazine! Keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed :D

CUSTOM

Custom Plush Monsters


Monster Bob


Monster Steve

Ingredients:
Upcycled fleece blankets
Upcycled fleece jackets
Scrap cotton fabric
Ribbon
Vintage buttons
Recycled plastic shopping bags

FUZZY FRIDAY

Fuzzy Friday:
Interview with Karla owner of theitsybitsyspider



Tell us how you start your day.
Coffee! I don't even function until I have a steaming hot cup of coffee in front of me. I like to have my first cup in front of the computer while I check mt email, facebook, blogs, etc.

Fun tip -- to enjoy your coffee Itsy Bitsy Spider-style, get yourself hooked up with a Keurig brewer and a box of Donut Shop Coffee by The Coffee People. Yum!!! (coffeepeople.com)

Where did you grow up and where do you live now?
I was born in Pittsburgh, PA and grew up in a lake-shore suburb on the west side of Cleveland, OH. About a year ago (after we adopted our daughter), my husband and I decided to move back to the town where I grew up... and here I am!

What makes where you live special?
My favorite thing about my home town is being so close to Lake Erie. There is something so soothing about always having a big expanse of water just to the North. I don't get up to the lake shore as much as I would like, but when I do, I could spend hours just watching the waves come in.



Tell us about how you got started creating plush.
I started creating plush after two major changes in my life. The first was a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), back in 2007 and the second was the arrival of our daughter, Kaia, in 2008.

I used to be a crochet afghan/sweater person, but the RA made it more difficult to work with larger projects. Add that to a curious little girl who gets into EVERYTHING and I knew it was time to focus on smaller projects that I could easily put away when I needed a break.

I've always loved dolls of all kinds and amigurumi really struck my fancy, so I bought a pattern book by Tammie Snow (called Tiny Yarn Animals) (roxycraft.com) and started crocheting. Before I knew it, I was designing my own ami's and loving every minute of it.

What inspires you?
My daughter. We go places together (like the zoo or the bakery) and I want to show her all the amazing things around her. Of course, not everything is touch-friendly for a two-year-old girl, so when we get home, I make amigurumi versions for her to play with.

One of my favorite Kaia-inspired designs was my amigurumi cell phone. She kept stealing mine, so I made her her own to play with. That design won me a first prize in the Instructibles Critter contest judged by Lion Brand Yarn! (instructables.com )



What would your perfect day be like?
Coffee (of course). Play with my daughter... More coffee (maybe with my mom & daughter at a local coffee shop)... Lunch with my daughter and my husband... An afternoon of crochet... Some more playing with my daughter... followed by a romantic dinner with my husband and a glass of wine on the lake shore.

If you had to choose another medium, what would it be?
I really love fibers... does it count if I say knitting? Probably not... that's too close to crochet. But, if I woke up tomorrow and all my crochet hooks were gone, you can bet that the next pace you'd find me is with my knitting needles.

If I had to give up fiber entirely, then my choice would be colored pencils. When I was little, my dad used to bring me new colored pencils from the shop near his office in downtown Pittsburgh. Just one at a time and only every once in a while. I still have many of those colored pencils and use them in my amigurumi design process today!

What's the one thing you can't live without?
My family. Short, sweet, and simple. They are my life.



Extra: Tell us a random fact about yourself!
Random fact..... hmmmm.... When I was a teenager, I was a bit of a punker. Doc Martins, purple hair, hard core industrial music (I still *love* Nine Inch Nails). I really want to add a highlight of purple to my hair again (just a few strands) but I can' seem to work up the courage to do it.

Oh... and I still have my Doc's :-)


Etsy theitsybitsyspider.etsy.com
Blog itsybitsyspidercrochet.blogspot.com
Facebook theitsybitsyspider
Flickr
Ravelry

Karla is also a member of the Etsy Plush Team

TRINKET THURSDAY

Trinket Thursday: Let Me Hold You

♥ ♥ Tiny Hot Dog Cart ♥ ♥







1. Tiny Folding Typewriter - Vintage by SarahAnntiques
2. Abstract Owls - Mid Century Vintage by rhan
3. Tin Bird - Vintage Toy by spacejam
4. Pin Dishes - Antique Enamel over Copper by sofralma
5. Tiny Red Binoculars - Vintage by prettyandpleasing
6. Brass Crab - Trinket Keeper by LucyandEllen
7. Chartreuse Candy Dish - Vintage by winkinpossum
8. Mildred Pin - Vintage by MrsPottsVintage
9. Miniature Camera - Vintage by theEvolPixiesSupply
10. Bowling Ball & Pins - Vintage Trinket Dish by babylonsisters
11. Brass Animal Figurines - Vintage by twostringjane
12. Black & Cream Buttons - Vintage by ArtbyheatherSupplies
13. Brass Grasshopper - Vintage Figure by penorus
14. Tiny Owls - Vintage Ceramic by nocarnations
15. Horses - Vintage Ceramics by findingfabulous
16. Wooden Foundry Mold Set - Vintage by eFlea
17. Glass Bottle - Vintage by WoodsOfNarnia
18. Jackalope - Vintage Plastic Figurine by ELEMENTSOFBEAUTY

HUGE $10 SALE

HUGE $10 Sale going on now in my Etsy Shop
- Help me make room for new designs while supporting handmade!


Available plush on sale: Plush Tribals, Plush Trout, & Red the Plush Fox!
All Sale items are $10 plus shipping. Prices normally ranging from $19 - $29

WHIMSICAL WEDNESDAY

Whimsical Wednesday: Just Shoot me!

♥ ♥ Vintage Polaroid Camera ♥ ♥






1. Metal Film Canasters - Vintage by SlothArt
2. Family Vacation To Dillion, CO - 8mm Film by Chicagoish
3. Reporter's Trunk - Vintage by luckylittledot
4. Brownie Holiday - Flash Camera by AUBIEJEANVINTAGE
5. Kodak Polycontrast Filter Kit - Vintage by CathodeBlue
6. Brownie Special - Vintage Kodak Camera by retroEra
7. Vintage Kodak Duaflex II - Fine Art Print by CitrusTree
8. Domestic - Fine Art Print by TheLightFantastic
9. I Love Photography - Photography Print by heatherkingdesigns
10. Film Box - Vintage Black Leather Container by thepuddingstorevint
11. Cine-Kodak Royal Camera - Vintage by FalconandFinch
12. Mini Movie Reels - Vintage 22 8 MM by FoundForYou
13. Polaroid Spirit 600 Land Camera - Vintage by monichelles
14. Kodak Yellow Filter Lens - Vintage by VintageEtc
15. Vintage - Fine Art Photograph by danaspin
16. Happy - Print by LolasRoom
17. Exposure Meter - Vintage by spacejam
18. Burnt Out - Art Print by sommerwithano

XL BASS & WRAPPING

XL Yellow-Spiked Bass

Ingredients:
Repurposed upholstery fabric
Knit pants
Vintage buttons
Recycled plastic shopping bags




XL Black-Tipped Bass

Ingredients:
Repurposed upholstery fabric
Scrap cotton fabric
Vintage buttons
Recycled plastic shopping bags



Finally, I decided to take another photo of the
wrapping available for the Plush Trout & Bass.

-- Hope everyone is enjoying their week!