Happy new year! Here are some Mome Raths. They live in California right now at the Go Ask Alice show. Jabberwocky is my favorite poem of all time! It was easy for me to decide what to plushify from the classic story.

Go Ask Alice
Doll and Plush art show
Until January 7
Paul Cumes Fine Art
131 East Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara CA
artsantabarbara.blogspot.com

Isn’t it kind of crazy that we are in 2010 now? I don’t have any resolutions other than to work hard and do my best. This is the year to really make dreams come true! Right now I am working on my final preparations for Sea Party, which begins this Saturday. Dream come true #1 for 2010 - to be showing off a big bunch of kooky plushes at Art Star! Yay!

What are your resolutions?

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Here is the Wee Peppermint Beast and his two friends. These fellows are wee, and perfect for hanging on your tree. Come make one of these guys with me at the Wee Peppermint Beast Workshop at Gallery Hanahou in NYC on December 19. Reserve your space now! Hope to see you there!

Workshop: Make a Wee Peppermint Beast Ornament with Plush Artist Jenny Harada!
Saturday, December 19, 1-4 pm
Cost: $20
Email info@galleryhanahou.com to sign up!
http://galleryhanhou.com

The weather had been gloomy and it took me many attempts to photograph these little guys adequately. I just kept adding and and adding lamps. I finally set them up under the winter garden grow lights. Mark is working on setting up my little dream indoor garden as I type. I am so excited to grow spinach indoors this winter. The setup is about 95% complete. Well, until I figure out a better way to photograph plushies, I think the plants are going to get temporarily booted every now and again. If you have any advice for setting up indoor lighting for photography, please do share!
P.S. tips for doing it on the cheap would be preferable because my budget for lighting is approximately $0, haha!

For those of you who won’t be able to make it to the workshop but still would like to make yourself a little beast, stay tuned for the pattern, and possibly a kit. In the meantime, if you’re feeling Xmassy, you could busy your hands with some elf chum making if you like. We made these creepy little darlings at the Luv-able and Hug-able workshop I led last year and it was a grand old time.

Hop on over to the Etsy shop for the pattern.

Three beasts, pre-hugged and looking for a new home. Currently living in London. Being auctioned on Ebay by the fabulous Leona of Lady Luck Rules OK. Here’s your chance to adopt one of these classic characters that I may or may not ever feel like sewing any more of ever! Click links below pics to go to auctions.

Peppermint Beast

Mr. Rainbow

Bloonicorn

Here is a little piece entitled Bat Flower that I sent to Monkeyhouse Toys for a charity benefit art show that opens tonight.

5" x 7", fabric, beads, fun fur, embroidery floss, thread, ready to hang in a glittery frame

Info about the show:
FIREFLY
A Charity Art Show and Sale
to benefit Junkiri School, Hopeful Vocational
School and Children for Green Nepal

Opening reception on Saturday, September 19th, 5pm-9pm
Work will be on view through September 30th

100% of the proceeds from this show will be going to benefit the Junkiri School, the Hopeful Vocational School, and Children for Green Nepal.

Please visit gala-ed.org to learn more about GALA and these wonderful and needed programs.

“Junkiri means firefly in Nepali, the idea of the school’s name is that the children create their own light to guide them through life.”

Artists include:

Chirag Bangdel
Astha Tuladhar
Amit Baniya
Rabin Maharjan
Sabnum Shrestha
Juju Kaji Maharjan
Bisnu Lama
Josh Taylor
Jenna Colby
Dee Chavez
woolloomooloo
Mary J. Hoffman
Lauren Preston
John Hicks
Heather Chavez
Carl Lozada
Chris Hartford
Alina Chau
Kelly Thompson
Edzepln
Spooky Daddy
Bee Harris
Donna Letterese
Jenny Harada
Frank Furlong
Christine Velez
Jonathan Bueno
Christian Robles
Monkeyhouse Toys & Art Gallery
1618 1/2 Silver Lake Bl.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-662-3437
monkeyhousetoys.com

Here is a velour seal that I made when I was about 10 yrs old. It was commissioned by my grandmother. She kept it on top of her perfectly made bed complete with bedspread for many years. I inherited it back from her about seven years ago. Here she is trying to see which is taller, her or the pile of #6 containers I have saved for a project. If she stands on her tippy flippers, she is indeed taller!

Bacterial speck has overcome. It has been a bad year for tomatoes, folks. Well it’s kinda cute how this one looks like a ladybug anyway. My two yr old noticed it. She was saying, "Ladybug, mommy! Ladybug, mommy!" and it was right in my hand and it took me a while to find the ladybug.

I was making something with a dolly face but I didn’t like that factory mess up blue smear on her forehead. (Some stray junk got embedded in the vinyl making it discolored.) So, I ripped it out and now she looks whiskery. Maybe I will try making a whiskery baby on purpose sometime.

That’s how it goes when you are making a book about making monsters. There has been a lot of trial and erRAWRrrr. Many monsters have been made. Many monsters have been destroyed. There are only so many pages in a book, so there are a bunch of extra beasts lurking around too. I’ll be sharing some of those bonus projects here some time soon. In the meantime, I am looking for a few good Dr. Frankenstein types to join my crusade. Do you fancy yourself a monster maker extraordinaire? Maybe you’d like to contribute to my monster book. Email me if that’s you. jh AT jennyharada DOT com. BTW, that title up there, “Me Make Monster,” is also the title of my book! It will be coming out next year from F+W. Check out all their fabulous crafty titles on My Craftivity.

My brother’s family got a new puppy and we made this blueberry pie to celebrate. I can’t really take any credit for making this, but I can take credit for eating some. I did however made a quiche with the same crust, my sister-in-law’s secret crust recipe, and it came out so good. It was a crusty goodness day!

Here is my favorite new special blend for a tasty sauce. One each of apple, tomato, onion, and banana. I am going to super chop these and throw them in the slow cooker in just a bit for tonight’s dinner!

Hello blogland buddies. How are you? I am doing fine. Today my son started kindergarten. Now that school has started, I’ve given myself the assignment of writing here on the bloggy, once again. I inadvertently leap-blogged right over the three summeriest of months! Most of the words I have written lately have been devoted to the book I am working on. I will share more about that very soon. It’s quite exciting, I think. For now, here are some words and pictures to sum up my summer.

Spent some time at the shore, but not enough.

Grew lots of things in the garden and ate them.

Here is a project that did not end up in the book.

The lemon is CLOSED.

Three wet hibiscus blooms on the Veranda. It pretty much rained every day this summer.

Just one snack among snacks.

xo Jenny

Made some pancakes. You make rainbow pancakes ONCE and they want rainbow every time. So I said we can use one color. This all natural blue food coloring does not work so well. But it looks lovely with his eyes.

If pancakes naturally poured square instead of circle, they might have looked rather sidewalky. Despite their cement intentions, they were pretty darn delicious and that is why I got no photos of the final cakes.

In case you come ’round here to see the plushes, here is a grey fellow for you. He told me to say wassup. Don’t have much else to show right now since I am working on the book.

Robo Elka just happens to be looking for a mommy or daddy or both.

I have one drawer that is dedicated to just cookies cutters. It is full to the max. This one got bent out of shape just from trying to open the drawer. Time to move them to a bigger home! Can you tell what this one is supposed to be? In smooshed form, it looks like a space age low rider.

We brought out the game cube.

This beautiful mother’s day bouquet includes two rare and exotic bloomin’ blondies. I am such a lucky momma!