Etsy: SALE!

Everything in my Etsy shop is now on sale until the end of Sunday (tomorrow). Starting Monday my shop will be closed for 2 weeks because I'm going on an early Xmas vacation in the sun à la Dominican Republic! :D

http://www.etsy.com/shop/followthewhiterabbit

Etsy: MOAR Mohawk'd Plush Deer in the shop!

It's an invasion! More yummy flavours of Mohawk'd Plush Deer are now available in my Etsy shop!



[On the far left] Blueberry Lime Fizz currently has the #1 single on the music charts in Deerville! She writes & sings her own music and loves to make sparkly costumes for her live shows.
[On the far right] Blueberry Grape Tartelette works for a decorating magazine as the lead designer. She has a good eye for sleek, modern and trendy design. The chic magazine you just read was probably designed by her! ;)
[In the middle] Strawberry Cupcake Deer works in a French Confectionery that makes the best sweets available in Deerville. When she's not selling sugary treats, she likes to browse the local antique shops for treasures and afterward enjoys an afternoon tea at her favourite local cafe.



[On the left] Starlight Soda Deer runs the local observatory in Deerville. She is an astronomer and gazes out into the stars every night. She has discovered new galaxy's and still wishes on shooting stars.
[On the right] Grape Tangerine Twist loves to go out dancing at Deerville's hottest nightclub "The Roxy" and meet all the cute Does who are waiting for a dashing young Stag to ask them to dance. He loves to impress the ladies with all the hottest new dance moves.

Etsy: More Mini Ghosties + 1 Plush Deer

More plushies hit my Etsy shop today! 7 Mini Ghosties and 1 plush deer:

• Mini Lime Green Ghostie promotes new growth in any situation.
• Mini Yellow + Blue Ghostie helps to revitalize you if you are feeling burnt out from too much work.
• Mini Red Ghostie absorbs all the fears and anxieties around him in an effort to try and make things stable again.
• Mini Pink + Blue Ghostie helps bring peace to a hurtful relationship.
• Mini Light Pink Ghostie helps to show there is love in a situation that might seem hopeless.
• Mini Blue + Pink Ghostie helps bring peace to a hurtful relationship.
• Mini Lime Green + Pink Ghostie helps to bring out your inner beauty.

Strawberry Cupcake Deer works in a French Confectionery that makes the best sweets available in Deerville. When she’s not selling sugary treats, she likes to browse the local antique shops for treasures and afterward enjoys an afternoon tea at her favourite local cafe.

Mighty Muggs Show: Pics!

This weekend was also the Mighty Muggs Charity & Art Show at The Labyrinth in Toronto. Here are some pics of the show from The Labyrinth's blog:



The customs on display look awesome. Two of Spades is happy to hang out with Hellboy. :) On a side note, check out all the art books in Dan's shop! Can you see why it's the best art book store in Toronto? If you're in Toronto, check it out and donate some cash to charity by voting for your favourite Mugg! And then go buy some books! :)

Munny Grubbers Show is this Saturday!

Just Blazed is hosting the Munny Grubbers show tomorrow night from 8pm-11pm! There will be giveaways, prizes, a raffle, and a contest judged by the crowd! My custom Loved Unloved will be on display and for sale, and there will be lots of amazing customs there too, so definitely check it out if you're in the area. They are located at 1740 East McDowell Road in Phoenix, Arizona.

I'm happy to say that Loved Unloved has been getting a bit of love this week! ♥ He was featured on the awesome toy blog Tomopop.com! You can read the article HERE.



He was also featured on my favourite urban toy blog SpankyStokes.com. You can read the article HERE.

Mighty Muggs Show is this Saturday!

The Labyrinth is hosting the Mighty Muggs Art show tomorrow from 6pm-9pm! The show is free and everyone is welcome. There will be lots of custom Muggs both on display and for sale. They will also be raising money for World Vision by voting on their favourite Mugg custom via money donation. There will be a Character Design Showdown event (which is like a drawing improv). Everyone who participates in the improv will get a little something for their efforts. They will also be running a special book sale on select titles, with a portion of profits going to charity.

The Labyrinth is the best art book store in Toronto, specializing in animation, illustration, and manga books. I try to visit this shop every time I'm back in Toronto, cause they have tons of awesome stuff that you can't get anywhere else. The Labyrinth is located at 386 Bloor Street West (2 blocks west of Spadina Station) in Toronto, and their regular hours are Mon-Tues: 11:30-7:30, Wed-Sat: 11:30-8, and Sun: 12-7:30.

I was so happy to see Two of Spades proudly announcing the show over at The Labyrinth's blog. :D

My Plush Deer are now available at Chuckwa!

My plush deer are now available at Chuckwa! Chuckwa is a boutique store and gallery located in Fullerton, California. They sell urban vinyl, art toys, clothing and more. They also have a large gallery space where they feature street art, pop art, and urban vinyl art (my custom Skully vinyl + plush were in the Custom Mini Skully show). These plush deer are only available in their shop, so if you are nearby, go check them out! :) They are located at: 2453 E Chapman Ave in Fullerton, CA (near Disneyland!), and they're open Mon-Fri: 9-9, and Sat: 10-9. Chuckwa has a Facebook page, a My Space page, and an online shop.


[Photo property of Chuckwa]

(Awww... they're on a shelf with Shawnimals ninja, Spok Spok and Gloomy Bear, all my plush heroes! ♥)


[Photo property of Chuckwa]

And here's a pic of me (3 months ago -- I have black hair now) in front of Chuckwa! :)

Etsy: 4 New Deer in my Etsy shop!

More plush deer with mohawks have hit my Etsy shop! :D





[On the left] Pink Grapefruit Deer owns a juice shop where she sells very healthy drink concoctions. If you need a boost of energy or ginseng, this is the place to go! I hear the strawberry banana drink is the best.
[On the right] Starlight Soda Deer runs the local observatory in Deerville. She is an astronomer and gazes out into the stars every night. She has discovered new galaxy's and still wishes on shooting stars.



[On the left] Strawberry Cupcake Deer works in a French Confectionery that makes the best sweets available in Deerville. When she's not selling sugary treats, she likes to browse the local antique shops for treasures and afterward enjoys an afternoon tea at her favourite local cafe.
[On the right] Grape Tangerine Twist Deer loves to go out dancing at Deerville's hottest nightclub "The Roxy" and meet all the cute Does who are waiting for a dashing young Stag to ask them to dance. He loves to impress the ladies with all the hottest new dance moves.

Loved Unloved: Custom for Munny Grubbers show @ Just Blazed

Here is my finished 7 inch Munny custom "Loved Unloved". He was made for the Munny Grubbers show at Just Blazed in Phoenix, Arizona. The show opens this Saturday (August 8th, 2009), and he will be for sale along with lots of other awesome customs (like Brigitte's Slade)! :)



I took a few days to sketch out lots of different ideas until I settled on this final design for my custom (now I have tons of other ideas for future customs -- score!). Since the show is being held at Just Blazed (a graffiti store), I wanted my custom to have a clean graphic look and use lettering of some sort. I wanted him to have dripping hearts for eyes, an x-ray'd style skeleton body and I wanted him to have text across his forehead. I also wanted him to give him a sort of a tattooed/graffiti look. Before I started to sketch out my design on the blank Munny, I printed up a page of my favourite fonts for reference and sketched the initials on his head. (You can see the page of fonts in the before pic). I used the font "Dearest" which I also use for the banner of blog and my Etsy shop. The initials "WR" stand for "White Rabbit". :) I REALLY enjoyed designing, painting and creating this custom. I'm almost sad to put him up for sale, but I hope he finds a nice home. :)



So here's the part where I geek out and talk about lettering...

My Grandfather was a Linotype Operater. He printed newspapers, books, etc, using a Linotype machine. The machine was HUGE and had to be constantly lubricated and maintained because of the 2000 working parts. Each Operator had to know how to take apart their machine and put it back to together quickly so they could fix it and get the job done. Apparently he was really good at it because he won several competitions! The keyboard on the Linotype is different from the one we have today -- it has 90 keys with both upper and lower case letters, and there were areas to swap in letters with italics, different fonts, different sizes, etc. When he would set up the text for printing, he lined up the letters by hand and had to spell each word backwards (that's how you would print letters the right way). There was no spell check back then, so he had to get each word right and work fast. I think that's an amazing accomplishment for someone who's second language was English!



My Father was a Hand Letterer/Sign Writer. He taught himself how to hand-paint letters, and started out painting signs for businesses, trucks, buildings, etc. He used a mahl stick to make sure his hand was both steady when he painted, give him precise curved edges, and also it would prevent him from accidentally touching the wet paint. He's so skilled that he doesn't need a mahl stick anymore. I remember when I was a kid he got this commission where he had to paint logos on the sides of a bunch of white vans in a short amount of time. There were a ton of white vans parked outside of our house, and he was there just painting and painting for hours. He was so focused and spent so much time perfecting his skill, that I grew up with the same love, passion and focus for my own artwork. He taught me about typefaces (I knew the difference between Serif and Sans Serif lettering at like age 10) and letter spacing (each letter generally has the same space, but there are some exceptions to the rule). When computers were introduced sign writing was then mainly done with cut-out vinyl lettering. It was still a ton of work because he had to measure and line up the letters just right before he stuck them on the sign. He made festival and street signs for the city of Toronto for years.

And to top it off, my parents met in a silk screen printing shop! So as you can see, the appreciation for typography runs through my blood. I came into lettering when I was doing graffiti back in 1996, and had my chance to create stylized letters (which I will save for a future post!). ;) For those who love lettering too, visit LetterCult, a blog for lots of awesome typography.



Okay, back to the custom...

I named him Loved Unloved because of his eyes. (I always start painting a custom starting with the eyes because I think they are the main captivating element, and the rest of the design just follows.) One eye/heart is untouched while the other eye/heart is broken. Either way, love sure hurts this Munny. Not much is known about Loved Unloved because he was written out of the Alice In Wonderland series. What really happened is Loved Unloved also followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole like Alice did, however he did not have a soft landing. Unfortunately he broke his neck and died, and his ghost has been haunting the rabbit hole ever since. His soul is not allowed back up into reality or through the keyhole into Wonderland. So he is forever roaming the hallways that are not quite part of either world. The good thing is that there are lots of bookshelves lining the walls in the rabbit hole, so he has plenty to read. Poor little sad roaming ghost spirit boy who was completely forgotten about. :(

Sneak Peek: Custom for Munny Grubbers show @ Just Blazed

Here's a sneak peek at my custom for the Munny Grubbers show at Just Blazed. When I posted a pic of this guy before, he was only a sketch. He's completely finished now, and off to the show. I'll be releasing full pics of him in a week! ;)

Plush Art Show: Stitch Wars > online shop is live!

All the available works from Stitch Wars are now for sale in Bear + Bird's online shop! My R2D2 has already sold, but Princess Leia is still available. There are lots of Star Wars inspired plush creations by other artists, so go check it out! Go HERE to see all the available works!

In Progress: Custom for Munny Grubbers show @ Just Blazed

When I was working on Two of Spades (my Mighty Muggs custom), I posted a preview pic of it on my art table. That's not much of sneak peek, now is it? :\ This time I'm gonna show the whole sketch. ;) This custom is for the Munny Grubbers show at Just Blazed on August 8th in Phoenix, Arizona. I finally had a bit of time between sewing projects to sketch out a few pages of ideas (you can see some on my sketchbook in the background). I finally decided on the design that you see sketched out below. Now I start painting! :D

In Progress: Two plush dolls > pics + creative process

I'm currently making two plush dolls for a special project, so I thought I'd share some in progress pics and talk about making them. :)

1) First I start out with a rough sketch of what I want to make. I already have an idea of what their personalities are like, and I try to bring that out in their expression, outfit, and overall look. My creative process is always evolving, and new decisions are made at every step that I could never have forseen with the initial sketch (later on you can see that I scrapped the dresses, and swapped the mouths).



2) Next I choose the colours and fabric I want to use. I lay everything out in an abstract kind of way to help visualize what colours go together, and what don't before I start cutting the fabric.



3) Then I cut everything out. It's hard to tell that they'll look any good at this point, lol.



4) Then I sew everything together that I can with the sewing machine (it makes my life easier!) and I start stuffing body parts.



5) Everything is sewn together! In this pic you can see that I've done a bit of handsewing already (sewn the legs on the body, sewn the hair on the heads, etc), and I've also pinned the eyes on their faces. I do this so I can start adding the smokey-eye look (with pastels and q-tips) exactly where I want before sewing the eyes overtop of the added makeup.



6-7) I hand sew the tiny collars for the dresses, and choose which buttons will suit the white-haired girl best. Then I sew their eyes on after adding eyeshadow and blush.



8 ) I think once they have smokey eyes, the dolls really start to come together and their personality starts to show. At this point I'm figuring out what type of lace I'm going to use for the ruffle collar and other lacey accents. Their heads and arms aren't attached yet... I do those last. The white-haired girl's hair buns won't be sewn on until last because her buns sit low on her head, and I need to have room to sew the ruffle collar to her neck first. The ruffle collars are then pre-sewn (so they are nice and ruffly), and ready to be attached to the bodies. In this pic I decided on pink mouths.



9-10) The dolls are both happy (and unhappy) with their new smiles, and can't wait for me to finish them! I'll be revealing their names & backstories when they're completed. :)



...To be continued...

Etsy: New MOHAWK Deer + Mini Ghostie plush!

More plushies hit my Etsy shop today. The ones I'm most excited about releasing are my new twist on my deer plush line -- plush deer with mohawks! These hip and trendy deer love to spike their soft furry hair. :D




[Left] Strawberry Kiwi Deer loves to go to the spa. She gets the works: facial, massage, manicure, pedicure, you name it! Her guilty pleasure is reading all the trashy celebrity gossip magazines while she's there.
[Right] Peach Bluberry Tartlette Deer owns a pastery shop filled with the most mouth watering sweets in Deerville. She bakes all the scones, croissants, danishes and everything else that is displayed behind the glass counter. When she's not baking, she's learning how to skydive. :)


[Left] Peach Blueberry Tartlette Deer with mohawk is a cousin of the other Peach Blueberry Tartlette Deer without mohawk. Sometimes they even get themselves confused! They love Halloween because they can dress up in entirely different costumes -- however, they call each other ahead of time to ensure that they won't be wearing the same thing!
[Right] Professor Bubble Tea Deer has a famous laboratory where all the wonderful flavours of Deerville's Bubble Tea are created, mixed and made into drinks. He has pioneered the Bubble Tea industry and has become extremely wealthy off of "the world's greatest taste buds", as he puts it. (He also wants you to know that Bubble Tea is also called "Pearl Milk Tea" and "Boba Tea" in different parts of the world.) ;)

• Mini Brown Ghostie helps you to feel grounded and wholesome again.


• Mini White Ghostie absorbs negative energies that are blocking you from clear and pure thinking.


• Mini Green Ghostie helps to settle things down if everything around you is growing too fast.

Etsy: More Mini Ghosties!

More Mini Ghosties have been added to my Etsy shop!

• Mini Peach Ghostie helps to stabilize your emotions when you are seeking creative ideas.


• Mini Violet Ghostie helps to re-balance over-active energies in your life.


• Mini Light Blue Ghostie helps to open the flow of communication.


• Mini Red Ghostie absorbs all the fears and anxieties around him in an effort to try and make things stable again.


• Mini Black Ghostie helps to stabilize a situation with his mental and physical strength.


• Mini Orange Ghostie helps to bring down the energy level of a situation that is too intense.