Battle of the Bands Winners!

Best Likeness: Willie Nelson by Annette Morrison

Rock Star Choice: Caught A Light Sneeze by Danae West

Roadies Choice: This was a tie The Cure by Moon's Creations

and Tom Waits by Uglykids

Please email me with your address and I will get out your prize as soon as Plush You! is up and running!

KnitWit

I just got the book, KnitWit, in the mail.  It's a great book for those of you that love to knit and have kids to make toys for.  I like how the use some amount of felt in this book to embellish eyes and such with.  The layout is nice and the patterns seem easy to read.  I am going to do another giveaway for this book so anyone that leaves a comment here is automatically entered.   I will choose a winner on October 19th!

And the winner is...

For the book, Knitted Wild Animals, is Gaby!  I have tried emailing you but have not heard anything.  Please email me at kristen(dot)rask(at)gmail.com with your address so I can mail it out to you!

Plush You is this FRIDAY!

Here are some things you will see:

Cotton Monster

Follow the White Rabbit

Missy Kulik

Eternal Sunshine

Plush You!

InSeattle Magazine

Check out this awesome!

Super nice write up about Plush You! show can be found here!

Six year's ago today...

Today is the day Schmancy opened it's doors officially to the public.  I am kind of in awe.  It has gone so fast!  It has been great and hard and life changing.  If you had said to me 7 year's ago that I would own a store in downtown Seattle, that I would be working on my 4th book and life would be full of stuffed awesomeness I would have probably smacked you across the face and told you to snap out of it.  But here we are.  When I opened these doors I had NO CLUE what the heck I was doing.  I had always fantasized about owning a store but after working for a few small business owners I decided it was better to just have a reliable paycheck....and insurance!  BUT then I met Sally who just happened to catch me on one of those "i hate everything i'm doing day's" and convinced me to open up shop.  Three days later while sitting at a job, I was not into, I got an email from Sally who said the landlords said I could have a lease.  HOLY CRAP!  WHAT?  I quickly started applying for credit cards (yes Schmancy started on credit cards), ordering toys and looking online for artists.  I was so naive that I just asked all sorts of established artists to either have an art show at the shop or sell things.  Shockingly a lot of them said yes!  I think that was one of my first life lessons from Schmancy.  You can always ask because the worst thing that will happen is people say no. 

It takes awhile to build up a customer base and feel like things are working out.  Of course as soon as things started feeling good the whole economy thing happened.  That really put a cramp in my style to say the least.  It was sad to see so many shops closing and then to think that your ship is sinking is the saddest thing ever.  There have been some bleak moments but you just gotta keep fighting the good fight.  After a major freak out one day I realized the only thing I could do is to keep fighting and that I wasn't going out without kicking and screaming first.  I also imagined myself applying for jobs and having a boss and well...I went into serious action. 

It's funny to think back to what I thought having a store meant.  I thought I would have tons of time to read, make stuff at the shop, watch movies on gross days, etc.  It just ain't so.  But that's okay.  I have learned so much, have really appreciated all the things that have happened to me because of this little place.  Mostly I am so glad that this little place has brought me to people like you.  Customers, fans of Plush You!, etc. has been more than I would have ever imagined.  Thank you!  Here's to at least 6 more years!