Moving forward with Production

I promised myself this year I would get help with my sewing, and am pleased to announce my friend, Autumn, has jumped on board to help me keep up with demand this year.  She'll be helping me sew up my silkscreened skeleton dolls, since I swear, if I have to make one more myself I'm going to give up the whole sewing business altogether!  I'm also happy to announce that I'm planning a factory run of 5 of my popular food plush items: Monsieur Carrot, Sweet Pea, Black Eyed Pea, Professor Foster, and the bookworm (okay, so most people don't usually eat bookworms, but he seems to fit in pretty well).  I'm working with an overseas factory and trying to fit all the logistical pieces together so I can roll out my plushies nationally.  I'm looking at getting about 25,000 toys made and am hoping this year I can spend my time I would have spent sewing those guys on other things like developing new characters and making buyer contacts.  Should be a fun year!  I guess I could have made a resolution like exercising more, but this seemed more fun!  Plushie fruit salad, anyone?

Happy New Year!

After a nice Christmas break where my hands did nothing but jigsaw puzzles, I'm back and ready for action.  I'm hoping to move the business along this year with a good round of manufacturing so I can keep up with demand.  Hopefully my limited edition factory items will be available in April.  I've got Monsieur Carrot, Sweet Pea, Black Eyed Pea and Bookworm all slated for production and may even be able so squeeze a few more in.  I'm hoping this is the year that I can do something with my business other than sew from morning till night!

Look for me as always at First Friday in a white tent in the center of Casino Center Blvd. just south of Charleston.  And keep your eye out for my new creations - follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get the latest scoop!

Happy New Year, Sarah

Locals Pick Up Your Christmas Loot Today!

I'm done with events for 2011, but anyone in the Las Vegas area can drop by HellPop! at The Arts Factory to shop where I've dropped off my remaining inventory until the New Year.  I'm the featured artist outside the comic shop there and you can find all sorts of characters including Misunderstood Pitbull, Lester the Tijuana Circus Giraffe, Monsieur Carrot and Mr. Bones.  HellPop is located on the first floor of The Arts Factory at the northwest corner of the building (right next to Happy Panda Toys).  Thanks for the great year and I'm gearing up for all sorts of new characters in 2012!

HellPop!
 107 East Charleston Blvd Suite 105, Las Vegas, NV 89104
Wednesday through Saturday, 12pm to 8pm
jason@hellpop.net
shane@hellpop.net
maria@hellpop.net
702-353-3228

Two More December Events

So I was going to end off the season with First Friday, but in the spirit of squeezing every last drop out of my capabilities (and then some) I've decided to do the Fresh52 Farmer's Market at Tivoli Shopping Center in Summerlin on  the mornings of December 10th and 17th.  I'm down to my very last of the 2011 stock, but if you want to come by and see my plushy spread in all its glory, come and say hi!  Here's the address:

Saturday

8:00 am to 2:00 pm

fresh52 @ Tivoli Village

302 S. Rampart

Las Vegas, NV 89145

I'll have my little gingerbread army which will make great stocking stuffers and Secret Santa presents for the young at heart.  Just look for the awesome tent with the prettiest gal inside surrounded by fluffy wonders. That'll be me!

Anonymous Awesome Person will Match your Contribution!

I just got an email this morning and found out that anyone willing to participate in my Kickstarter.com project will have their contribution matched by a fan of Flaky Friends!  Thank you so much to our anonymous "matcher" for your support of weird plush and encouragement for this project.  I am going to be dreaming of sugar plums and plush toys all the month of December.  Click here to visit the project page and see me making funny faces on camera.  If you are looking for a great way to support small business, Kickstarter is an awesome web idea and has tons of people like me looking for a way to get their artistic ideas off the ground.

Also, Flaky Friends found themselves on the cover of the December 1st, Las Vegas Weekly magazine!  I also had another full page photo inside as well as a synopsis of the biz.  You can check it all out here.

Flaky Friends in HellPop!

I'm really excited to announce that I'll have some of my larger toys featured outside of HellPop! comic shop during the month of December!  HellPop! is a very cool little comic shop with all your deepest, darkest comic needs readily supplied tucked into the Arts Factory amidst great galleries of art.  My toys will be in a foyer also connected to Happy Panda Toys with all sorts of designer vinyl and plush toys and Hiptazmic Studio with tons of very fun upcycled pieces of jewelry and art.  It's an amazing location for me with hopefully my kind of people  tromping through and I can't wait to see how their customers respond to my stuff.  I've got some of my classic characters there like Mr. Bones and Jane the Orangutan, and also some newer items as well as one of a kind pieces that I may or may not make again.

HellPop! is located at 107 E. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV inside The Arts Factory.  Thanks again to Shane and Maria for reaching out and giving me this great opportunity!

My Kickstarter Video

I've just launched a Kickstarter.com project to help me get my little skeleton rattle, Mr. Bones produced in a limited edition of 1,200.  I've sold hundreds of them that I've handmade myself and honestly, I just want to focus on developing other characters now.

Please take a minute to watch my video here:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1945838666/mr-bones-plush-silkscreened-skeleton-rattle

I'm offering all kinds of great rewards for project participants including custom toys, and your creative input into the Flaky Friends line.  Thanks so much!

The Holiday Surge

If I can just make it through December, I'll be okay!  Once again, I'm in the midst of a holiday whirlwind of activity and have my elf hat on 24/7 trying to fill orders and keep afloat.  I've had some really great press lately and am trying to get more involved in local art events so with about 10 balls up in the air, I'm a fantastic act to gawk at.

In December, you'll be able to find me selling at First Friday (on the sidewalk just north of The Funk House in Las Vegas) as well as in the foyer outside HellPop Comics at 107 E. Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas.  My work is also featured in the Jenny Valdez Inc studio in the Arts Factory, also at 107 E. Charleston Blvd.

I hope to see you in December and hope my poor sewing hands hold out until Christmas day so I can open some presents for ME.

Green T-Rex

Black Sheep

Skeletons

I made these using my new silkscreening equipment.  Now I can put my drawings directly on the fabric!

Crazy Hat Day

My five year old was supposed to wear a Crazy Hat for school yesterday, so I whipped up this little brain eater for her.

Butterflies

Ladybugs

Killer Goldfish

Diaper Divas

Snail

Punk Rock Teddy Bear

Santino the Ostrich

Lester the Giraffe

Available for immediate purchase here. This item is a limited edition production (only 500 handmade in the factory).