Monday, July 19, 2010

Get Your Plush Team Annual!


Plush Team Annual



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:


    plush reading Plush Team Annual
  • 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.



plushies reading Plush Team annual


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!



Wednesday, July 14, 2010

My (Mostly Clean) Craft Studio

Yes, that's right—hell froze over, pigs started flying, all that jazz—I finally got my butt in gear and cleaned the craft room. Mostly. It still needs a bit more work, but it's clean enough to finally show off. Just how messy was it?



Exhibit A:


Craft Studio before shot. Very messy. Yep, pretty oh-my-god-either-a-14-year-old-girl-or-budding-hoarder-lives-here embarrassing. And really, there's no excuse for not keeping this space clean. Especially because a clean craft room is so energizing. Every time I've walked in here since cleaning it up, I get excited. I smile and think "wow! It's so nice in here! Let's get to work!"  

So, enough blathering and on to the "after" shots!



Craft Studio north and east walls. Desk area, computer, sewing machine.
Craft Studio north wall. Storage, sewing Ahhhhh, so much better. The space behind the computer could use some art (and I need to relocate that stack of CDs once I load them into iTunes), but I have the perfect series of images from The Black Apple that will go here once I get them framed. I'd also like to redo the hoops above the pegboard.




Craft Studio north wall close-up. Pegboard, sewing supplies The pegboard (I bought white pegboard, cut to 4 feet x 2.5 feet, and painted it green) behind the sewing machine is one of my favorite parts of the craft room. It allows me to hang all my most-used supplies within easy reach while also keeping them very organized. And I love being able to grab the thread I need after one quick glance. I've also got some goodies stashed up there from some of my favorite Etsy people. You can see them better by viewing this image full-sized in my Flickr pool.





Craft Studio east wall, plushie corner. Immediately to the right of my sewing space is my little plushie corner. The shelves (Ikea Fabian shelves I painted blue) house some of my own creations, while underneath hangs prints I nabbed at the first-ever No Coast Craft-o-Rama in 2005 (if I could remember who it was, I would totally share a link. They're signed "Jerome." Anyone know who this is?) and plush from some of my favorite artists.




plush by Michal Wright-Ward, Tyler Poncho Toys, Moons Creations, and Girl Savage Clockwise from top: Mckenna monster by Michal Wright-Ward, Prince Teds by Tyler Poncho Toys (a fellow Plush Teamer), Yeti Moon Bun by Moons Creations (another Plush Teamer), and Jackalope Feltidermy by Girl Savage.




Craft Studio east wall The rest of the east wall of my studio is occupied by a little fold-out table on which I do most of my fabric cutting. The window overlooks my backyard garden plot, and desperately needs a curtain. But who wants to sew curtains when you can sew strange creatures?



Craft Studio south wall, bookcases, fabric, yarn, and fiber stash storage The south wall houses a large portion of my fabric, yarn, and fiber stash. This is another area that could use some more work. The bookcases are the Ikea Billy series, and I've always intended to get doors for the bottom half to better hide some of the clutter. I could also use some of those nifty divider things yarn shops use to keep their yarn organized. But let's get a close-up of the flannel and cotton I so painstakingly folded and organized (by color, because I'm that nerdy), shall we?




fabric porn Oooooh, fabric porn. . . .




Blythe's corner. Plushies by Kit Lane and Hine. My little Blythe corner features some more Etsy treasures: the horned Jacabob by Kit Lane and the white slug by Hine.




Craft Studio west wall Last, the mostly boring west wall, which also needs more work. We somehow lost the switchplate to the light when we painted this room, and the closet (and nearby window) needs a curtain to hide the organized chaos of my shipping supplies (and other sundries). I could also use a better ribbon organizer. One fun thing about this wall: see the tiny brown alpaca on the second shelf? That was my first plushie, followed by the frog keeping him company. These guys are a fun reminder of how much my skills have grown in the last four years.



So there you have it, my little craft studio. It's such a blessing to have a room in our house I can dedicate solely to Plushroom Soup. But it can also be a curse, because not only do you tend to accumulate more stuff with more space, but it's all too easy to close the door on big messes!



But I now have photographic evidence of my room looking fairly spiffy, so I can look at this whenever I need a cleaning kick in the pants. You can view all of these photos in my Flickr pool as well.



What does your crafting space look like? Do you have favorite tips for keeping everything clean and organized? Please share in the comments; I'm always looking for new and better ways to corral my stuff, and I love looking at other creative spaces.



Monday, July 12, 2010

In Absentia

The last few months have been crazy busy, and so many good things have been happening that I've sadly had little time for creature creating. I know you've all been wondering just what I've been up to, so how about a little photo journey?


29909_408044048872_581298872_4263051_387196_nHanging with the gals. If you do not know the awesome wonder of the Pedal Pub, I suggest you remedy that right quick.


IMG_5312My sister Gabrielle graduated high school (with honors)! I can't believe how fast the years flew by, and I'm so proud of and excited for her.


IMG_5404Okay, there's been some time for creature creating. These bright yetis are the mascots for a new social media company. When the site goes live, I'll share links!


IMG_5393What could it be? An all-new creature in the works for one of the Plush You shows. I can't decide if it'll be for LA or Seattle. . . .


Picture 3Shopping for "grooms maid" dresses—my brother Matthew is getting married this fall! (This isn't the dress we chose.)


IMG_5343IMG_5352IMG_5366Shows. Lots and lots of shows. I haven't been to this many in short succession since my early college days, and I'm having so much fun. Since May, we've seen Mumford & Sons (top), Dawes (middle) with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (bottom), Megafaun with Breathe Owl Breathe (hands down the best show of the year so far), and the Avett Brothers.


IMG_5415And last but certainly not least, I'm engaged! Jon and I finally decided to get hitched, and are planning a January wedding (cue Avett Brothers). Isn't the ring gorgeous?!


I also transitioned into a new role at the day job (no picture for that!), which is exciting but also a big challenge.


And of course, the usual everyday stuff, like walking the dogs, tending the garden, reading good books, etc. I even finally cleaned up the craft room (gasp!), so stay tuned for a post about that later this week.