Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Luv-able and Hug-able Show at Gallery Hanahou

We're happy to announce that our pieces for the wonderful Luv-able and Hug-able group show at Gallery Hanahou are finally complete and ready to be shipped off to NYC! The show runs from Dec 3rd to Jan 9 so if you're in the area and looking for adorable gifts for very special people, stop in and see the work of many amazing artists from all over the world!









Friday, October 9, 2009

Crafty Bastards Round-Up

This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to participate in Washington D.C.'s largest indie craft festival, Crafty Bastards. It was truly an amazing event and I am in awe of how well organized and incredibly well attended it was. The weather was beautiful, though there were threats of rain earlier in the week... I think we all did our best no-rain dances to fight it off together. I met a lot of really wonderful people and saw a lot of fellow craft friends that I always enjoy seeing at these events.

I made some great purchases myself. I bought an adorable ring from Figs and Ginger whose work I always love to peek at. I also took home another creature from fellow Push Team member Phil Barbato... Thorgrimm the Defeated. And my mom brought me a sweet little surprise from Lumpkin.

And now for some pictures!

I made a giant monster to hang from the top of my tent beckoning monster lovers to come in my direction...


I promptly sold said monster 3 hours into the show... but the monster lovers seemed to not need any beckoning...


There were a lot of awesome people wandering around!


A better view of my collaborative prints with my sister Robin Koss of Wind Up Bird Studios.


A monster lover caught in the act of making an adoption!


A close up of some of the handsome fellas...

The last four photos courtesy of Dots, Lines, and Polygons.

Thank you, Crafty Bastards!

Bring on the holidays!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we over at the Etsy Plush Street Team want to help save the boobs! In order to raise funds and awareness about this insidious disease, the members of PlushTeam have created mammary-themed plush. 80% of every purchase goes to the Susan G. Komen Institute, an international fund dedicated to raising money for Breast Cancer Cure research. There have been some amazing plushies designed by my fellow artists which you can check out here on the Plush Team Blog. A lot of them have already sold (and it's only the 7th day of the month!) but there are still many for sale in the Plush Team's Etsy Shop. So help us raise money for the cause and save the boobs! Remember, 80% of every sale will be donated!

Here is my donation, also available in the Plush Team Shop.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Monster lovers... cont...

In response to yesterday's post about happy monster customers, Heidi Elliot sent along a photo of her from Art Star Craft Bazaar with her new handsome fella, Simon.



Heidi had been following my blog for a while and that's where I first met her. She had mentioned she would try to make it out to Philadelphia for Art Star and what a great surprise to finally put a face to a name! You can read more about her adventure to Philadelphia here and peruse the rest of her crafty blog here. Thanks, Heidi for sending along such a great photo!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Cutesy but not Cutesy and satisfied monster lovers

Now that Cutesy but not Cutesy has some down time between the end of the summer season and the start of the fall and holiday seasons, we finally have time to sit back and really think about all of the happy homes we've supplied with monsters this year (so far)! This is something that is sometimes easy to forget when traveling from place to place and state to state, weekend after weekend. But... sometimes these reminders show up right at our doorstep (or in our inbox) right when we need them the most...



This is a photo taken at Artscape of myself and Vanessa Petersen, of Churchton, MD, with her new monster companion. Vanessa first saw my work featured in STUFFED Magazine and was thrilled to discover them on the very streets of Artscape in Baltimore! It was a tough decision, but I think Vanessa made a good one! I think we may have a future plush designer on our hands... :)

And with that, if YOU have any photos of yourself with any members of my monster family, I'd love to see them! Please send them along!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Cutesy July round-up and other updates

As we wind down our six-show-in-a-row whirlwind tour with one show in Collingswood, NJ left to go and gear up for some much needed rest before the hectic fall and holiday season, here are a few snippets from our time on the road.

First, as mentioned in a previous post, we were at the Manayunk Fine Arts and Crafts Festival in late June. Here are some delayed pictures...

The booth


The EMS on segways


Area Chef's getting some air


One very cool customer


And the Fiber Arts Award


From Manayunk we moved on to Haddonfield, NJ where we met many wonderful people. Unfortunately, we have no photos of this show... but you just have to trust that it treated us kindly :)

The next week we made our way to Baltimore for ARTSCAPE with Wind-up Bird Studios. Three 10 hour days in a row with hundreds of thousands of people. This had to be the most exhausting show we've done but fantastic nonetheless. And we were in good company, I saw a lot of familiar fellow crafter's faces as well as met some new ones! We had the honor of sharing our tent with Chelsea of Lola Miren. She has some of the most adorable baby products I have seen! We also met some great people who attended the Mortal Plush show in DC where we have "The American Dream". What a great weekend!

Soon after getting in from Baltimore and after only a couple days of hectic stitching to restock, we headed on the road with mom to Asheville, NC for Bele Chere. Mom had never been to North Carolina, let alone West Virginia and Tennessee, both of which we had to travel through... so it would be a true adventure for all! Asheville truly is an amazing place and this festival was a great event. We had so much fun meeting people from Asheville and the surrounding areas and meeting new vendors. It was nice to be so far away from home because it meant meeting that many new people! We had a booth across from Raimbow Tree who relocated to Asheville from Alaska a few months ago. Her work is amazing and I ended up buying a skirt from her and she purchased my favorite monster, a fair trade in the end if I do say so myself! :) We also met Yvonne Miller of Atlanta who we ended up trading with for some awesome wall art, as well. Overall, the Asheville show ranks above all the rest... it had the best music, the best food, and the most amazingly appreciative and supportive vendors and customers. I think mom never wanted to leave!

We don't pump our own gas in New Jersey


Some new top-secret products?


Street performer


Day 2 exhaustion and Barley's Pizza


Another happy customer!


And that brings us to this past weekend at the Stone Harbor Arts and Crafts Festival. Despite having to wake up at 3:45am each day to drive down to the show, the drive into the sun-rise sure was a beautiful one. We had never been so close to the beach before and what an adventure for the monsters! We ran into the wonderful couple behind Clay Monster whom we first met in Manayunk. They're work is too awesome, great minds think monsters! Unfortunately, there was a huge storm on Sunday and being solo this weekend, I decided to pack up the fellas early just before the downpour and lighting showed up. The tent wasn't as lucky, as it had to be the last to go into the car. I ended up having to hold it down from the wind gusts while trying to take it down at the same time. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty site at the time, but looking back at it... it might be mildly comical. With the sopping tent finally in my car, I ran in bare feet (the shoes were too soaked to wear) to gather the rest of the goods... and the monsters and I were safely on our way home.

Everyone hiding in their tents


Stopped traffic on the drive home


And as if that's not enough to take in... we're super excited to announce that we'll be participating in this year's Crafty Bastards in October and the Luv-able and Hug-able show at Gallery Hanahou in NYC in December!

Finally, our submissions are on their way for the Plush You show at Schmancy Gallery in Seattle in October. Here are our submissions...

The Keepers of the Mountains


Summer Mountain Keeper


Winter Mountain Keeper


Spring Mountain Keeper

Friday, July 10, 2009

Mortal Plush at Art Whino Gallery

Cutesy but not Cutesy is very excited to be a part of the Mortal Plush show at the Art Whino Gallery in D.C. The opening is tonight and they've just posted some pictures of the work all hung.





Also, if you're in the Anaheim area, the grand opening of Rothick Art Haus is also tonight. Looks like they have some really awesome artists for their opening and my monsters will be available for purchase in their gallery, as well!

And if that's not enough, if you're in South Jersey you can come see me and my monsters on display at theHaddonfield Arts and Crafts Festival!