Zooguu Toys are available in the Clay Wood & Cotton booth at Grand Central Station's Holiday Fair in NYC from Nov. 12 - Dec 24. Our narwhal ornaments at Clay Wood & Cotton are featured in the New York Times in the December 7th edition! We're so honored to be included in the lineup of great Ornaments to find in New York City!
NYC's Grand Central Holiday Fair runs from November 12 - December 24. Our toys will be sold in the Clay, Wood & Cotton booth this year! We are honored to be represented at this incredible show. Here's a glimpse of the booth, with Zooguu toys on the right!
I love Halloween! This month's wallpaper calendar features my special edition zombie narwhal toys. Last year, I made 10 in lime green. This year, I'll have 10 more in kelly green. They will be available at the Salem Open Market on the 13th and 14th and at the SoWa Open Market "Market of the Living Dead" on the 28th. You can also enjoy them all month long on your desktop! Download the free calendar on the Zooguu Free Stuff Page.
Aaaaaand they're off! Sloth takes the lead in the slowest race you'll ever see.
For your Thursday evening viewing pleasure, I am proud to present a sloth riding a tortoise. You're welcome. These guys are headed to Seattle, WA for Plush You!, a gallery show at Schmancy Toys.
Part One of our big news for the fall/winter is that we are now a vendor with Close Buy, a Maine-based company that creates a sustainable fundraising system that benefits communities. They source locally-made products people want, with the proceeds benefiting the artisans that make the goods and the schools & non-profits that sell them. Check us out in the "fun & games" section on their site. We're making 100 narwhals & 100 bunnies available. Here's a snapshot of our progress. Things are coming along swimmingly.
Yes, I live in New England, and I make plush toys. It's about time I made a lobster!
Be the first to own a Zooguu lobster toy by coming to the Greenway Open Market in Boston this Saturday. If he doesn't find a home on Saturday, I'll be at the SoWa Open Market on Sunday.
There are great white sharks in Cape Cod, shark week is coming up, and I have a new shark plush toy so I thought it would be nice to have a shark themed calendar for August!
You can download it from our Free Stuff page!
Our third PDF pattern is available for sale starting today on Etsy.com and Craftsy.com! It will be added to Zooguu.com on Monday.
Learn how to make your own version of one of our most popular toy designs, the bunny!
The PDF is 14 pages full of photographs, diagrams, step-by-step instructions and special tips to help you along the way!
July's calendar features our squid, seahorse & manta ray designs!
Download it on Zooguu's Free Stuff page.
People purchase our ornaments all year long. Sure, during the holidays, they make excellent tree ornaments, but there are other ways you can use our tiny animals on a string. Lots of kids use them as backpack zipper pulls. Many of the ornaments live on rear view mirrors in cars, others ride on bicycle handlebars. Often, people just like to collect things that make them smile. One of the most popular ways people use them is to make a mobile. I've just started to offer finished mobiles at craft shows. Here is an example of a finished mobile using an embroidery hoop and ribbon. I'll have some this weekend at the Greenway Open Market in Boston and at Bazaar Bizarre's Union Made event in Somerville.
Hot off the sewing machine! I'll have a few different colors available at this weekend's Greenway Open Market (Saturday 11-5) and SoWa Open Market (Sunday 10-4) in Boston.
June's free desktop wallpaper calendar is up! This month, we're featuring our new dragon toys!
Download your wallpaper at Zooguu's Free Stuff page.
I'm a member of the Etsy Plush Team, and every month or two there is a team challenge. This time, the challenge was to create a plush that would be perfect for Father's Day. One of the categories we could choose from was "geeky", so I was very happy to have an excuse to make an Admiral Ackbar plush. He's one of my favorite characters from Star Wars, and I've been wanting to make one of these for some time now. Here he is in all his glory (standing & sitting):
2012 is the year of the Dragon. This Red and Gold Dragon was a custom order for a new baby. I'm hoping it brings lots of luck! This design is definitely going to be added to our line of regular toys, but only available in size medium, large and xlarge due to the complexity of the design. Sometimes, when a toy has a lot of little pieces, it actually takes more time to make it smaller.
Our May 2012 Free Desktop Wallpaper Calendar features our latest plush design: The Zooguu Manta Ray! We will be bringing the first few rays to the opening day of the SoWa Open Market (Yankee Magazine's vote for best outdoor shopping in New England!!) on May 6. They will be available to order online later on this month, or by dropping us a line to request one.
For now, you can download the desktop wallpaper calendar for free on our Free Stuff page.
We're in the middle of a gigantic project right now, and I wanted to share progress shots of things as they develop. We love fairy tales: princesses, frogs, witches, disguises, wolves, candy houses and more! Whether everyone agrees on the messages that classic fairy tales deliver, the imagery involved has fascinated artists for centuries. We'd like to put our spin on the classics. This project has evolved a lot over the last few weeks, but I think we finally hit on something pretty great. The look is inspired by Brian's cut paper work, Jen's sewing skills and a bit of toy theatre thrown in. Jen has come up with all of the concepts and initial sketches. Brian has used his critical design skills to improve the compositions and develop the color palettes. The final pieces will be made of fabric with colored top stitching to bring out the details. Here are the first four designs in their computer sketch form. We're hoping for at least 12 total before any stitching begins. It even looks like we have a gallery show lined up for when these are complete! Enjoy this little sneak peek into our process:
Little Red Riding Hood
Hansel & Gretel
Cinderella
The Frog Prince
Our latest custom order is for fellow SoWa vendor Cody's Creations! Kerrie wanted a custom dog collar mannequin that resembled her beagle and her company branding. Standing at 14" tall, this guy is the perfect size for a table top display.
Zooguu is turning Four years old on May 1, and we couldn't have done it without your support. Every handmade toy purchased over the last four years has made it possible for us to have this business, and we can't thank you enough. To celebrate four years of being full time artists & business owners, we'd like to extend our thanks by offering an upgrade to your order. Here's how it works:
Order a TINY and get a SMALL - you save $10
Order a SMALL and get a MEDIUM - you save $15
Order a MEDIUM and get a LARGE - you save $20
Order a LARGE and get an EXTRA LARGE - you save $30
Order an EXTRA LARGE and we'll give you a free MEDIUM of your choice - you save $40
All you have to do is write the word UPGRADE in the comments box during checkout. If you are ordering an extra large, please put your medium toy choice in the comments box as well.
Now is the best time to pick up gifts for upcoming birthdays, rewards for a great school year, or even treat yourself to a new office pal to brighten your day!
This offer is good until May 1 - find your new friend today on zooguu.com
Here at Zooguu, we do a lot of custom work. We decided to showcase all of these unique projects into a brand new section on our web site, the Gallery. In the Gallery, you can browse through four years of our one-of-a-kind plush creations - Have fun!
This month's free desktop wallpaper calendar features my latest series of plush that combine mermaids and animals! I thought a bunny would be appropriate for the upcoming Easter holiday. You can download it free on Zooguu's Free Stuff page. Enjoy!
Our latest piece of sewn, fabric wall art. 14" x 17" Stretched on a wooden frame, and ready to hang. This piece and many others will be at the SoWa Winter Market tomorrow from 10am - 3pm | 485 Harrison Ave, Boston
Introducing MerBunny & MerFox!
Gubicza & I have been collaborating on some sewn fabric wall art based on his illustrations. After completing this recent mermaid shown below (20" x 24"), I couldn't wait to combine some of my animal toy designs with a mermaid tail. I've been using upholstery remnants that I received from a local business to create the colorful, patterned tails. I love the way the bunny & the fox came out. I'm planning on adding a MerMonkey and MerBear to the lineup soon.
I just finished this custom plush toy for Rhino Accounting, a Canadian company that develops small business accounting software for Google Apps. They asked me if I could turn their logo/mascot into a plush toy. The most challenging part of this project was creating the head. It took a lot of thinking and drawing on fabric to decide where to place the seams to get the best results. Here is the finished product:
It helps that I had a fun character illustration to work from. The finished rhino guy can stand up on his own and has jointed arms.
Just in time for spring, I've finished writing the PDF pattern for my chick design. The 13 page document contains step by step photographs, diagrams and descriptions explaining the process of how to make one of these little guys. The PDF contains pattern pieces for three different sizes, depending on how small/large you want to make it!
You can purchase my pattern at the following places:
One of these chicks would be a great handmade addition to any Easter basket!
Ever since I've been making my shelf-sized, 10" jointed dinosaurs, I've wanted to create one that was much larger. I use little buttons inside each of the limbs on the smaller dinosaurs, so I had to order bigger doll joints for this upcoming project. The day before the joints were scheduled to arrive, I get a message from someone asking if I can make one of my dinosaurs in a larger size, about 2' tall. The timing could not have been better! I love when these things happen! The recipient of my largest jointed creation has already named him Eugene, and he is so happy to be going to a loving home.
If you're going to Toy Fair, stop by booth 5688 to visit with the Cooper family and hear all about their invention, the Doodle Roll®: a roll of paper and crayons contained in a compact, portable kit. It's simple, brilliant and has been very successful. It's small enough to fit in a purse so kids can have creative fun anywhere they go.
This will be their second year at Toy Fair, and they asked if I would take some of the characters they had created for them called "The Doodles" and turn them into large plush mascots to make an impact in their booth. If you can't make it to Toy Fair, you can see the results here:
Li'l Dweek loves to give hugs.
Kevin loves to ride on swings.
This month's free desktop wallpaper calendar features two fugu in love!
Download it from the Zooguu Free Stuff page!
Our latest addition to the free stuff page is a connect the dots activity inspired by a Zooguu jointed soft sculpture!
Download the PDF file from the Zooguu Free Stuff Page!
Our second free download this year is a coloring page featuring a penguin making a snow penguin. You can download the coloring page PDF on our Free Stuff Page. Check back next week for another free activity download.
Happy New Year from Zooguu!
We're continuing with our free desktop wallpaper calendars in 2012, along with many other free activities like paper toys, coloring pages, puzzles, mazes, crafts and more! Look for more downloads starting next week.
Download the 2012 January Zooguu Narwhal Calendar from our Free Stuff Page!
