Boing Boing!!!

I got a few surprise emails today... all letting me know that I had been featured on Boing Boing!!!

How exciting :) For once, I have a loss for words :) Thanks Mark for featuring Basil!

Basil the Miniature Mushroom

Basil is about 3.5" tall. I've been wanting to come back to my original mushroom design for a while now, but always on a really small scale. It was a lot of work and took me close to the same amount of time as my bigger versions. And Working that small, there's no room for mistakes. Embroidering all those teeny dots was labor intensive too, but I love him! I'm hoping to make a few more and would like to try making an even tinier version. I want to see how small I can go!

Sprouted: February 18th, 2009
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Drink: Hot Chocolate
Favorite Food: Rice Crispies- hehe
Favorite Activity: hiding in pockets- jean's pockets, shirt pockets, kangaroo pockets... you name it!
Favorite Season: Winter

Coraline

I finally got to see Coraline over the weekend and I loved it! Hoping to see it one more time... to catch things I didn't see the first time around. It was the best use of 3d I've ever seen and so creative. It was magical, yet dark, and inspiring. And the website is pretty fun too :)

I was also surfing the web for some artwork that was produced for the film and here are a few amazing artists that worked on it.

Burst of Beaden

Shane Prigmore

Shannon Tindle

Dan Krall

Bard Sculpture Studio

Pebbles the Droplet

Pebbles the Droplet, originally uploaded by Effunia.

a little present for a swap... got a few more of these to make for other swaps too. I hope she likes it...

Precipitated: February 14th, 2009
Favorite Color: green
Favorite Drink: seltzer
Favorite Food: caramel apples
Favorite Activity: floating in a stream
Favorite Season: Spring

Astrid the Mushroom

Well this is the mushroom I made over the weekend and have been contemplating so much over... and I've decided it's MINE :D I always wanted to keep one for myself... and I just can't part with it. I do have some more of the corduroy left and the top fabric, so I'm hoping to make another one for the shop.

Sprouted: February 7th, 2009
Favorite Color: blue
Favorite Drink: Orange Sanpellegrino
Favorite Food: Sweet Cheese Pierogi
Favorite Activity: crafting
Favorite Season: Winter

HOOt HOOt HOOt

They are completely hand-sewn and made out felt that is made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles. I found it at the craft store the other day and thought it was amazing! It feels just like regular felt!

It was raining all weekend, which I thought was perfect for hand-sewing these little ones :) Plus my shop was so empty... and looked so sad- not anymore :)

I also made a new mushroom- but I can't quite decide what to do with it. I really like it and am tempted to keep it. Then again, I do have more of the fabric, so I could make another one, but they never turn out exactly the same... part of me wants to share it with someone... so torn!

Do you ever Google yourself?

Well, last night I did and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many blogs my mushrooms showed up on without me even knowing.

I really enjoyed reading all the nice things people had to say about my mushrooms :)

This is what PT Ford of WhyTravelToFrance had to say about Jean-Michel.

"Santa Monica California-based artist, Eva/Effunia, makes the most adorable custom-made mushroom plushies ever. This one is called Le Champignon Jean-Michel, who sports a removable painter’s palette, paint brush and beret, with a requisite black and white striped shirt. The moustache is perfect. The polka dotted head is brilliant and reminiscent of the mushrooms in Mario games. This French mushroom’s favorite colors are red, blue and white and his favorite drink is a cafe au lait. His favorite expression? C’est la vie! Mignon!"

Isn't that nice?!

And then I also found Jean-Michel on the Super Punch blog! Thanks everyone that has written about my plushies :)

Le Champignon Jean-Michel

Le Champignon Jean-Michel {happy}, originally uploaded by Effunia.

Germe: 1 Février 2009
Coleur favori: Rouge, Bleu, et Blanc bien sur!
Boisson favorie: Cafe au lait
Nourriture favorie: Pommes-Frites
Activité favorie: Peindre des panoramas
Expression favorie: C'est la vie!
Saison favorie: L'été

Jean-Michel comes complete with accessories- painters palette, paint brush and beret of course :) All removable too! This was a custom order for a co-worker of mine who's sisters is an artist and likes France. I really want one of my own actually.