New Shabby Chic Miniatures Book!

Hi Everyone! I recently received an advance copy of Monica Castillo's (Kitchen Miniature blog) new book, Kitchen Miniature: Kitchens With Soul, and I highly recommend it. Not only is the book full of adorable photos inside several of her miniature kitchens, but it also includes helpful advice for achieving the same effect in your own miniature kitchen scenes.

In her latest book, Monica advises the use of a number of elements for achieving that adorable shabby chic look that she is famous for. She also includes some delicious real-life recipes for making some of the tasty-looking miniature treats featured in her kitchen scenes. Yum yum!

I found her book to be both an enjoyable read and a visual treat. Check out Monica's new book in her Etsy shop, which also features yummy-looking mini foods for sale.

Next post I'll show you two new birthday cards that I recently designed. They're already back from the printer - yay! Until next time, keep it fun!  xoxo Jennifer

Flossy Feels Like Vanna White

Yes, Flossy the bunny feels like Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune fame, but here she is anyway, showing you one of the new miniature baking sets I've made that are now in my Etsy shop. There are several different sets in my shop, so please take a look and let me know what you think. Can you picture one of these baking sets in your mini dollhouse kitchen? If so, which one is your favorite?

By the way, all of my newest cards are sold out right now(!) but are still available at select brick and mortar outlets). You can still see my other birthday cards while you're at my shop looking at the miniature baking sets, though. ;-)

Thanks so much for looking and for your sweet comments. I hope you're having a good weekend. Until next time, keep it fun! xoxo Jennifer

Sweet Miniature Finds on Etsy

Teddy the frog has his eyes on that balloon!

Here are some recent purchases on Etsy. The first came from Eva Perendreu, whose lovely blog you may know. It's a birthday party chair from her shop, Evamini. Isn't Eva creative? I love that balloon and those tiny cookies! Oh, and she is so wonderful to work with--what a sweet person. I would love to buy from her again. Check out Evamini when you have a chance!

Next, I bought some darling miniature heart-shaped sugar cookies from Catherine at Sweet Petite Shoppe. And see, she sent me some free cupcakes too! Thanks again, Catherine!

Michi at cherrydot has really cute, whimsical dollhouse miniatures and mini food jewelry. I bought a couple of things from her, perfect for shabby chic Cupcake Cottage. I love her mini cupcakes complete with paper wrappers and those cake stands too! She sends lots of fun freebies when you buy from her--woohoo!

Finally, Judy at beadocious makes lovely things, including very realistic-looking homemade-style miniature frosted cakes. Yummy--doesn't this look tasty? Even better: there's a 20% off sale in her shop right now!

Until next time, keep it fun! xoxo Jennifer

Birthday Cards and a Winner!

Hi everyone! Let me share a little good news with you before I announce the winner to the followers giveaway. I don't know if you realize it, but my greeting cards are available in four brick-and-mortar stores now, and they're selling really well. A fifth store is in the works too! Here's my latest, a birthday card called "Tomcat is Ready to Party."

Inside, the card reads, "Happy birthday! It's time to party!" Tomcat is such a sweetheart! So that is some of why we're partying here at Plushpussycat. This card, as well as my others, is available online in my Plushpussycat Etsy shop. Check out the new three birthday card combo pack! There's a six birthday card combo pack too.

Of course, another reason we've been partying here is to celebrate 700+ Plushpussycat blog followers. Thank you, my friends. It is so good to have you all here. One of you is the lucky winner of my followers giveaway. The winner will take home the minis on this table:

and these three miniature bottle openers:

I used Random.org to pick the winner. So, without further ado, the winner is:

Sandy of  Gammy's Little House blog!

Congratulations Sandy! Please email me your mailing address, and I'll get your prize off to you right away! And for everyone else, I'm planning more giveaways for the very near future, so stay tuned for that. Thanks for sharing in my successes, and keep having fun! xoxo Jennifer

Favorite Mouse Plushy Photos

Yesterday, my mouse plushy was featured in an Etsy treasury called I love everything mouse. It got me thinking about a couple of things. First, I had wanted to take some new photos of my greeting cards for my Etsy shop. The original ones I took weren't very effective for viewing in Etsy treasuries, and since they hadn't been put in any treasuries, not many people had been exposed to the cards. To make a long story short, I took new photos of my cards, put new listings in my Etsy shop, and * reduced the price * on the cards while I was at it. You see, I added a new card to my line:

And I ordered a batch of these cards while Moo was having a sale. Then I added a coupon onto the sale price, so I got this order of cards at a really good price. So I'm passing my savings onto anyone who buys any of my cards. Yay!

The second thing I was thinking about was that there are some really cute pictures of my mouse plushy, and Friday is a great day for cuteness, so here are my favorites:

This last photo is on the front of two of the cards in my shop. One is a birthday card, and one is blank inside. These mouse photos are some of my very favorites, so I offer them for your viewing pleasure, my dear readers. Have a great weekend! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

A Couple of Changes

Hi! Just wanted to give you all a heads up that I've changed a couple of things on my blog. First, I added a stand-alone page dedicated to all of the various storylines going on at Plushpussycat.

Most of those storylines involve plush critters, such as mice, kitties, frogs, bears, and bunnies. I also put the Dad's Dollhouse series on the "Plushpussycat's Stories" page. Hopefully, this page will help anyone who is interested be able to follow an entire series from start to finish. It might also be a helpful page if you want to re-read a favorite story or series of stories. :-)

The second change I made was adding a dedicated page called "Shop." That page is currently under construction, but as I have time, I will list items for sale. This will allow you to make purchases directly from me using Paypal. Currently, however, my greeting cards, plushies, and (hopefully in the near future) miniatures are available exclusively in my Etsy plushpussycat shop.

Just a heads up! So how to find these dedicated pages on the blog? There are links to them near the top of the blog, front and center. They're just under the name of the blog followed by the paragraph that describes the blog. Just under there! :-)

I hope you're all having a lovely July. I'll write soon with more about my new (to me) dollhouses, I'll show you the work I've done recently on Dad's dollhouse, and I'll have a new story for you very soon. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Tomcat Plushy Is a Star!

Tomcat plushy has become a star recently.

He has been featured in an Etsy treasury, is one of two main characters on the thank-you/romantic card in my new greeting card line, and is regularly favorited by a number of people visiting my online shop. But now he has made it to the big-time. That's right, Tomcat has been featured on a web site called I Only Like Monsters! As one of the featured gray cats, he's in an exclusive group. He's a hotshot now, a VIP, a rockstar! But I think he may be getting a big head about all of it. See what I mean?!

Do you think Tomcat's new-found fame has gone to his head? Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Cards, Anyone? Plus Giveaway Update

Have you ever run to the store at the last minute to buy someone a greeting card, only to find that the card selection was really limited? If you're anything like me, you've had to settle for second best at times, picking something that will work, but not necessarily a card that you like that well.

Drum roll, please! Ta-da! I have created a line of greeting cards featuring pictures of my plushy miniature vignettes. Now you can take into your home and share with your friends a little bit of Plushpussycat! Now you can send greeting cards that you're really happy to send, because they express your interests: plushies, miniatures, cuteness, or all three!

There are three cards in my product line (so far!), and I couldn't be more thrilled! Note: The greeting cards are as pictured, but without the watermark that is across these photos.

OK, here they are (now available in my Etsy shop):

Card #1 “Little Mouse Has a Treat” Inside the saying is: “It’s your birthday. Time for a treat!” Great birthday card for anyone you know.

Card #2 “Oh My, You Shouldn’t Have!” Tomcat has flowers for Plushpussycat. Her reply is the phrase inside the card: “Oh my, you shouldn’t have!” This card can be used both as a thank-you card and as a card celebrating love (i.e. valentine, anniversary, wedding, bridal shower). There are so many possibilities! :-)

Card #3 “Houndstooth Pup and Raccoon Make Friends” Inside: “I’m so glad we’re friends.” Perhaps you’re mailing a small gift, such as a mini exchange or giveaway drawing prize (!), and need a card, or you’re just sending a card to say “hi.” This card is ideal for acknowledging a long-time friendship or even for growing a new friendship! :-)

As you may know, first I source recycled materials to hand sew the plushy critters and design and build the sets for the miniature story vignettes that I feature on this blog. Then I photograph the mini scenes and use photo editing software to tweak the pictures as needed. Finally, to create these cards, I designed the inside sayings and had the cards printed.

I'm really happy with how the cards turned out. They're made from good quality heavy paperstock, and the images printed beautifully. The matching envelopes are a crisp white, also on nice paper. These greeting cards are something I've done that I'm really proud of (taking a bow now!). :-)

OK, now for the giveaway update. I've been busily preparing for the official drawing announcement. Today I will do final tweaks and take photos of the giveaway gifts (yay!). If everything goes according to schedule, I will officially announce the blog giveaway on Monday (yippee!). I'm looking forward to thanking all of you, my followers, for your support by offering the giveaway. Stay tuned for Monday's blog post, so you can enter for a chance to win! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Big News!

I have some big news, something I finally did that I've been meaning to do forever! Yesterday I finally listed some critters in my Etsy shop! It took me six hours to list nine plushy critters, but now it's done--whew! Am I glad that project is finished!

Only two of the stuffies in my Etsy shop are pre-made: that's the banana slug and the pair of love worms(!). The others are all made to order (I'm keeping my originals, since they are ongoing characters in my miniature vignettes). Each critter takes me approximately four hours to make, and that doesn't include the time it takes me to source and process my (mostly recycled and vintage) materials (or all the time it takes me to list items--just kidding!).

There will be more big news tomorrow or the next day. I will have something more to tell you all. Hope you have a beautiful and lovely day. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

New Graphics for Plushy Shop

A few weeks back, I mentioned on my Plushpussycat Facebook page and on Twitter that Christine Blystone at Flapper Girl Creations was holding a contest. The prize: a free pre-made Etsy shop banner set (to use to decorate your own Etsy shop). Well, miraculously, I was one of three winners! Yay! So Christine and I negotiated a deal for her to make me a custom Etsy shop banner set, and boy, am I thrilled with the results! Check it out! The banners (one regular, one for vacation mode, and one for sale mode) feature my own plushies. This one is for when my shop is having a sale:

Isn't that sweet?And here's a cute graphic that I just added to my blog's sidebar, announcing my Etsy shop:

Aren't they darling?! Christine was a doll to work with, and as I said before, I'm thrilled with the results. You can check out her Etsy shop here.

Speaking of Etsy shops, I plan to open mine in late April! Stay tuned here for the latest on the grand opening date! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer