Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I have sadly not dressed up the last few years. But I did flip through some old photo albums and relived some of my favorite costumes.


Raggedy Anne Halloween costume Raggedy Anne, circa 1982.


Annie Annie, circa 1983.


Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Shortcake, circa 1985.


Alien Alien, 2001.


Little dead Little Dead Riding Hood, 2003.


Fairie Faerie, 2004.


I hope you've enjoyed this mini photo feature. What is your all-time favorite costume? Post pictures and stories over on the Plushroom Soup Facebook page if you're so inclined!


In other news, I had the extreme good fortune of having my shop linked to from an online Newsweek article (check the slideshow for my zombie yeti), and since then I have been pleasantly inundated with custom zombie orders. Hooray!


Between that and the day job, I've been too busy to even take pictures of the zombie awesomness being churned out in the studio. But it has been so fun to work on so many zombies. I really gets me in the Halloween spirit, since I'm not dressing up this year.



Thursday, October 7, 2010

Plush You! Seattle

The 6th annual Plush You! show opens tomorrow night at Schmancy in Seattle. I'm super stoked to be attending the show for the second time (though it's my first time representing Plushroom Soup). I can't wait to meet many of my fellow Plush Team members in person, as well as many other plush superstars.



This year, I decided to send a fractured fairy tale: my own twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood.




Little Dead Riding Hood, the Huntsman, and Big Bad Werequatch plushies
Little Dead Riding Hood, the Woodsman, and the Big Bad Werequatch (or Werefoot, if you prefer).




Little Dead Riding Hood plushie
Little Dead sports the epitome of zombie girl fashion: a completely removable cloak made of soft buttersuede and lined with cotton canvas, a skirt featuring creepy spiders and spiderwebs, striped tights, black boots, and fashionable little pigtails held in place with coordinating ribbons.




Little Dead Riding Hood's basket of moldy goodies
Little Dead carries a basket of moldy bread and rolls, with a stow-away black rat. Eeeww!



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Little Dead keeps some pretty questionable company, in the form of a Werequatch. The werewolf that encountered this bigfoot definitely bit off more than he could chew, and never lived to tell the tale.


Huntsman plushie
The Woodsman sure has his work cut out for him with this pair! Fortunately, his wool pants, hiking boots, flannel shirt, and knit cap keep him toasty while hunting, and he's very well-armed. In addition to the traditional hatchet, he carries a special double-headed axe and a special rifle as well.


Double-headed axe "double tap"
His axe serves him well when fighting zombies, as long as he remembers the cardinal double-tap rule (kudos to the readers who get this fairly nerdy reference).


silver bullet rifle
The Woodsman's rifle is loaded with special silver bullets, the only weapon known to effectively dispatch Weres.

I had so much fun crafting this trio, despite a couple of challenges while doing so! Clay is not really my forte, so the weapons and Little Dead's basket gave me a few fits and aren't 100 percent the way I wanted them to look. But I'm proud of myself for continuing to refine my people-making skills, as I've been wanting to do fractured fairy tales for a very long time. I hope this bunch enjoys their time in Seattle and can hold their own next to all the amazing plush talent that will be present.

If you're in or near Seattle, go see the show! It's on display until November 8 at Schmancy, Fancy, and Nancy. But if you can't make it, don't fret. I'll be sure to post a recap of the show when I return from Seattle!



Monday, October 4, 2010

Shop Update!

I've been getting into the Halloween spirit this past week, using fun seasonal prints on my latest creations, all for sale in the shop.


frog plushie with dancing skeleton print fabric
How fun are these dancing skeletons? This is Pablo, and he likes to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in addition to Halloween. 


owl plushies on a tree branch
These owls aren't quite as obvious for the season, but I liked the subtle dark theme of their wing prints. I've recently made a small change to all my owl creations, thanks to a savvy customer: each bottom now has thick recycled cardboard inside, to help the owls stand up all by themselves.


spooky giraffe plushies
And last but not least, I give you giraffelets! They're 30 percent smaller than my usual giraffes, but 110 percent cuter!

And for even more seasonal awesomeness, check out all the fantastic Halloween creations from my fellow Plush Teamers in the Plush Team shop!