OFF TO PLUSH YOU!

I'm finally posting a pic of Hansel and Gretel and their stand. I officially sent these guys off on Saturday and let me just say it was not cheap. I'll think twice before making something that big again.
I so wanted to make the witch too, but I just didn't find the time. But I'm still happy how these guys turned out, even without the witch looming over them.
Their stand is just made out of some scrap lumber and dowl rods. I had some scrap 1/4" plywood laying around that I made the shrub behind Hansel with and attached it with nails. I also made some little candies out of felt and attatched them to the base.

ART UNLEASHED

This is my fifth year donating work for Art Unleashed. Art Unleashed is a silent & live art auction benefiting the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. It's being held at the Uptown Theatre this Friday starting at 7:00pm. I won't be able to attend this year, but it's a lot of fun. Check it out if you're in KC!

BIG FOOT THAWING IN FREEZER

Most know I have an interest in cryptozoology. So as I was reading CNN this morning I stumbled across this story.
Supposedly Bigfoot has been found in northern Georgia. A press conference has been scheduled for this afternoon in California to share the details. You can read more about it here. If this is real...WOW!

STILL IN A CIRCUS MOOD

It's a bit of an obsession I know. I get drawn into my circus obsession about once a year. Last years it was when I was working on the Side Show Freaks for Plush You 2007. This year my PT Barnum zombie has thrown me back in.
Last week I saw an ad for Keds.com that says you can design your own shoes. It's pretty cool! They are working together with Zazzle.com. You can choose three different shoe styles and upload your own images or use theirs. You can then choose your inside color, thread color, binding color, soul color, laces color, etc. There are even quite a few fonts on the site you can use. These are what I came up with. I have an old circus clip art book that I got the images out of. Scanned them, colored them and added some scanned textures. Once you upload your images you get to place them and the site shows you what your shoe will look like. I hope they look this good when I get them. I'll post a pic when I do.

STEP RIGHT UP

PT Barnum is complete. I decided to add a FeeJee Mermaid as well. Here's what Wikipedia says about the FeeJee mermaid.

The original exhibit was popularized by circus great P.T. Barnum, but has since been copied many times in other attractions, including the collection of famed showman Robert Ripley. The original exhibit was shown around the United States, but was supposedly lost in the 1860s when Barnum's museum caught fire. The exhibit has since been acquired by Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and is currently housed in the museum's attic storage area.
The Fiji mermaid came into Barnum's possession via his Boston counterpart Moses Kimball, who brought it down to Barnum in late spring of 1842. On June 18, Barnum and Kimball entered into a written agreement to exploit this "curiosity supposed to be a mermaid." Kimball would remain the creature's sole owner and Barnum would lease it for $12.50 a week. Barnum christened his artifact "The Feejee Mermaid" and began to "puff" her to the skies. In Barnum's exhibit, the mermaid was allegedly caught in 1842 by a "Dr. J. Griffin." Griffin was actually Levi Lyman, one of Barnum's close associates.

PT Barnum

FeeJee (Fiji, Feegee) Mermaid