Let The Voting Begin

At long last, I have returned to this blog - which I left so that I wouldn't distract from the contest. You can comment here and let me know if that was a good idea or not so that in the future, I'll know whether to time hiatuses like this or just keep on trucking.

Our September Holiday Contest, the contest of choosing lesser known and often uncelebrated holidays and honouring them with beautiful plush work, has come to a close with four magnificent entries surviving the submission process. Where others were turned away for not complying with the rules or because people simply didn't pay close enough attention to the folder they were submitting into, these four passed every toll booth and road block. Without further ado...



Needle Felted Elephant in Blue by feltieflaffy

"I chose elephant appreciation day for a few reasons. I personally love elephants, but they have had a sad past in circus history. Though elephants were one of the most beloved part of the circus, they were often horribly mistreated, malnourished, and if they became too old or lame to perform the incredibly difficult tricks they were tasked with on a daily basis, they were killed. Elephants are majestic, incredible animals and I wanted to celebrate their holiday with this piece."





September Rose Contest Entry by onetruetree (her etsy listing is here!)

"September Rose was named for the month she was born in and her mother's favorite flower. September is a girl in love with girliness, the ultimate symbols of which she believes to be roses and rabbits. She spends long hours in her mother's rose garden with her toy rabbit embroidering floral motifs or writing poems about the changing seasons while sipping tea.

Created this doll to participate in simply-plush's September contest! I just found the Festival of Roses prompt really inspiring and I wanted to create something that I thought "felt like" September (with a rose theme), and this is what I came up with. I feel like she embodies the last few weeks of summer/the first few weeks of fall pretty well, as well as the sweetness and delicacy of roses."




Roselia Plush by Plush-Lore

"i did mine on Festival of Roses. the reason i chose this holiday is because i am a fan of gardens flowers and plants in general! for this contest i chose to make the rose pokemon Roselia. i enjoyed making this one it looks so peaceful and happy XD i hope you all enjoy too! i know i did not get this out in time for the Festival of Roses but i hope you all enjoyed!"

 

Elephant and Ladybird by StrandedAutumn

"Elephant & Ladybird I made to celebrate Elephant Appreciation Day. Who doesn't love elephants, they live in family groups and look after each other"

To vote - check out the poll in the sidebar using this blog post as a reference. Easy as pumpkin pie! Voting will end on November 6th. There will only be one winner! To vote - check out the poll in the sidebar using this blog post as a reference. Easy as pumpkin pie! Voting will end on November 6th. There will only be one winner!

Etsy Shop Spotlight

Today I decided to show off a store one of you amazing artists have set up here. Choosing was easy - I counted up each shop listed here (if your shop isn't listed but you would like it to be, drop me a line at simplyplushgroup@gmail.com, as a comment here, or as a note on deviantArt) and then used a random number generator.

Today's number was 4 which means I'm reviewing a really great one today - check it out under the jump!

Cute Dolls Review

I decided to kick off doing reviews with a classic plush book, Cute Dolls by Aronzi Aronzo. It was one of my first purchases so it makes sense for it to be a part of my book review vanguard.

New Stuff!

We have lots of new things on the blog that you should check out!

We have a new poll regarding features right at the top of the sidebar - it looks like this:

And there are two weeks to cast your vote!

I also shifted the shops page from the group page to this page right here

And finally, a bit of news. If you want to have a contest next month, let me know! And drop your topic in the suggestions box over in the forums!

If you don't know where to go...

Voila!

Submission Spotlights

I keep seeing amazing work in my gallery so I figured - hey, let's do another spotlight. That was fun, right?

I won't waste too much space introducing these fantastic works, let's get right to it... after the jump! Boy am I getting good at this blogging stuff... I think.

Possible Future Reviews?

Curious about all those new plush related books popping up all over the place? Ever consider buying one but back out of it because you really don't know what the projects are like?

Online reviews can help - more specifically, mine!

Below are all of the books I own about plushies which I could possible review or do projects from for you guys, so let me know what you want to see either here in the comments or in the forums (which I would prefer):

Moo's Mini Cards

I was wondering last night about what to blog about today and I just couldn't figure it out for the longest. After a long while of thinking, I was going to settle for doing a post about minky when my mother came in with the mail.

My long awaited mini business cards had arrived!

I got these things for free when I started my (currently empty) shop on storenvy - one of the many alternatives to etsy. Technically I paid $5 shipping and handling which I think was entirely worth it for this gorgeous set of 100 minicards.

I designed these little babies a week ago using a friend's art. Here's the design:

According to an email , the cards were sent out three days ago with a note that they would be estimated to arrive on the 23rd - instead they came yesterday. I love surprises like this! I quickly abandoned the pink minky and the iron you're not actually supposed to use with it and grabbed the box of cards and my mother's phone for the grand unveiling. 

This packaging, although very simple, is surprisingly pretty. The green is much brighter than this picture lets on but not obnoxiously so. It's a very pleasant sort of colour. The back of the green holder they placed over the box boasts that the cards are made of paper sourced from sustainable trees and the holder itself is not only recyclable but also is recycled pulp! That's even greener than the literal colour of the holder.

This blue card fell out of the back when I took off the holder and it caught me by surprised. I didn't even see it there. It's my surprise best friend. On the back seems to be a sort of ticket/serial number dealio so I deemed that side not so important.

Finally the good part. I opened this bad boy up to see my 100 cards nice and neat inside. Gorgeous. They even smell pretty good.

You can't tell from the pictures but these things have great image quality and they feel really sturdy too. Sustainable trees make great minicards. They're cute too - the things are about 2 and 3/4 inches long and just over an inch tall (in case you were wondering how mini "mini" is). I love them to bits and would definitely order another set sometime - I'm already down one card because my mother threatened to kick me out if I didn't give her one.

If anyone's looking to snag a box of their own, feel free to hit up this referral link for 10% off - you can grab full size business cards, Luxe business cards (these are the superior ones to normal business cards), greeting cards, post cards, and stickers and labels on top of your very own set of adorable minicards - they also sell accessories like card holders for your business cards but I don't think the discount applies to those purchases.

I really recommend business cards to anyone with their own online store. I know a lot of people go to anime conventions and these would be perfect to hand out there even if you don't have a booth. I personally do sewing in public spaces like school - I used to get constant questions about my plush work from my peers. Some even wanted to purchase plushies from me. These would have been perfect for that. I even think my mom will show off or maybe even give away the card I gave her for some customer at her job to check out - who knows!

Advertising is crucial for sales and you can't always depend on the popularity of a website like etsy to carry you or word of mouth or even journal posts on deviantArt - you have to go out and grab the attention of your customers. I think these cards are absolutely brilliant for that and an investment well worth making.

So check out Moo and keep your eye out for other product reviews I do in the future - every second opinion you can get on something is worth it.

Also be sure to check out our forums and join in on our discussions there too!

Edit


I should have mentioned this sooner but it slipped my mind at the time but Moo offers something called Printfinity which means you can put a different picture on every single card in the pack you buy if you want to. If you get 100 cards, that could potentially be 100 different designs! As an artist, this works beautifully - you could choose four or five of your best works from your store, for instance, and have almost a mini portfolio which keeps things fresh and interesting, shows off your work, and really wows a potential customer!

Our New Forum

Check it out, we've got a new page on the blog. Did you notice it?

We've got our very own forum to play around in now! It's pretty empty now but I hope eventually it will fill out a bit.

I feel so tech-savvy now.

Our First Features

Going through my messages can sometimes be a daunting task. Even after clearing up my watch list, I still find hundreds of messages piling up from all of the plush groups I follow. There's one that I pay particular attention to though - can you guess which?

Anyway, here are some of the artists who have submitted pieces to Simply-Plush that have caught my eye recently!



First of all is this cute Pweep Fledgie created by the artist Steph-Laberis. I find it incredible how much expression you can pack into beaded eyes, wool roving, a single feather, and a slightly off-center sort of beak. Pweep is beautifully constructed and is a part of a series which also includes a Cockatoo and an Owlet.

The other two Fledgies in the series are shown below.




One of my favourite pieces from this artist is an Adventure Time piece though - I really just love that show. It's impossible for me not to include Science.






Another great artist I've noticed this month is most definitely OopisNein. I'm not sure if it's the tentacled, cephalopod look or the monster-esque features... or both. But they're absolutely fantastic - especially these two cuties, Abner and Matilda. They have poseable tentacles and some really adorable outfits - I mean, check out Matilda's floral print and bow! Plus their cute little fingers make me really want to shake their hands.


Other than these two cuties, she's also made a fellow named Bosco.




A bunny-eared party monster named Delores.



And a really cool Monster Totem - her 4th





Finally, Rekka. She's a beautiful original character created by artist dolphinwing. I'm a sucker for plushes with long limbs and her long arms and legs really drew me in - perhaps even more than her adorable screenprinted expression. Her outfit is fantastic too. My favourite parts are the striped stockings and the cute little boots.


The artist has also done some really, really fantastic fanart pieces too - including Korra from Legend of Korra, Fluttershy from My Little Pony, and Chun Li from Street Fighter.










That's all for this time, hopefully I see more amazing pieces in my messages from you guys. I don't really have any doubts though, you haven't disappointed me yet. 

Can't wait to do another one of these features - they're quite fun!

Phase Two, Part Two: The Blogging Part

The verdict is in and blogging on Blogger won by a landslide!

For all of you who already have your own blogs on this platform, feel free to add us to your reading list. For those who don't have a blog on Blogger, there are several other methods you can use to keep up with our brand new blog.

1. Favourite or bookmark our blog and check back occasionally.

2. If you have an account with Google, subscribe to this blog using Google Reader.

3. If you don't want to do that, check out the alternatives to Google Reader.

I'm not much of an expert on blogs or rss feeds so I can't offer much more than this short list but if there is anyone out there who would like to offer up a suggestion, feel free to comment. In fact, any and all suggestions for this blog are more than welcome. I'd love to hear directly from you guys what sort of posts, contests, features, etc you'd like to see. Or you can just comment on how great I am.

Either or.

Also, it'd be wonderful if you could share this blog and help promote it a bit! As soon as this blog takes off, it will be your work up here and the more people who see it, the better.

Thank you, guys. I'm looking forward to writing many more posts - unless you like guest bloggers. Your call.

Ashley/Sandfan, over and out.

(Is that how you end these things?)