Extremely easy access from Interstate 10 in Redlands between San Bernardino and Palm Springs!
Find us, at 1410 Industrial Park Avenue in the Tri-City Center
Open 6 days a week!
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Today is Sunday, October 6, 2024!
We're OPEN until 5 PM today!
In general we are maintaining the following STORE HOURS until further notice, with an occasional extra day off for wildflower foraying: Mondays and Wednesdays through Saturdays, OPEN 10:30 AM - 6 PM, Sundays OPEN 11 AM - 5 PM and CLOSED on Tuesday.
Barely made it past 100 degrees today (has the weather forgotten that it's October, for goodness sake?), but starting possibly as soon as tomorrow, we should no longer be seeing daily highs surpass the century mark and by NEXT weekend they should have tamed back into the "mere" eighties for the foreseeable future! Maybe the weather is starting to think about agreeing that it is Fall! We hope cooler temperatures will encourage you out to do some LOCAL SHOPPING! There are a number of upcoming Fall and Winter celebrations ahead that will be here before we know it (did we expect it to be early autumn already?)--and we already have plenty of goodies in store for both Halloween and Thanksgiving with Christmas "Stuff" coming as soon as the arrival of November allows us to make some serious space!
We spent our "day off" Tuesday starting to work on updating our decor here at Star Tulip Stuffies from late Summer to...Halloween! So far we've manged to convert the storefront, with interior decor "scheduled" to change next day off!
Eureka--we found our stash of Halloween "Stuff"!
We got out our shoehorn and have made some space on our seasonal shelves (some of those Fall items had to cozy up a bit!) to accommodate some spooky "Stuff", including additions of items new for this year! Halloween "Stuff" managed to take over a little more space (for now...) than the Fall/Thanksgiving "Stuff" concurrently available NOW in our seasonal display!
As promised, Halloween PopUp Cards (all FOURTEEN designs!) have made their way onto our Greeting Card display!
Meanwhile,
We have plenty choices for gift-giving (or keeping) and decor to get you ready for those upcoming Autumn celebrations--including some of those anxiously awaited Pumpkins!
Halloween and Thanksgiving Decorative House and Garden Flags have replaced the Summer Flags, now banished into storage until next year, on our Flag Wall!
General FALL House and Garden flags are still out on the big display rack near our check-out counter!
For those of you who are decorating for Autumn, FALL "STUFF" is up on our seasonal display shelves!
Be sure to take advantage of our always-available and recently updated bribes, ...er, "incentives" to encourage you to SHOP LOCAL with us for your celebration and everyday gift-giving (and keeping!) needs!
We just chose the WINNER of our Southwestern Desert Customer Appreciation Gift Basket drawing! No worries if you happen not to be our winner--we're taking qualifying entries to WIN our Fall Harvest Fun Gift Basket drawing as of...NOW!
The newest version of our DISCOUNT COUPON will soon be published and distributed in the October issues of the Coupons Monthly fliers (we have stacks of the most current Redlands, Highland and Yucaipa issues full of local deals in store)! You can SAVE MONEY with ANY of our coupons, since they NEVER expire!
Our Late Summer/Early Autumn Customer Reward packages (in a southwestern theme, value around $60!) are NOW AVAILABLE for you to earn!
Reminder: ALL of our Stuffed Animal Habitats have been restocked (and are continuing to be!) for 2024, so be sure to check in to see our selections in every area better than they have been, possibly for years, with more choices for you than ever!
Adorably CUTE Halloween PopUp Greeting Cards are now available!
Attention Grandparents: Which Grandkid would not LOVE to receive one of these?
Hint: Grown-ups like them, too!
Our Fall/Thanksgiving "Stuff" has conceded some of its space to Halloween "Stuff"!
Our NEW Early Fall Southwestern Desert (Cowboy!) themed Customer Rewards Gift-with-Purchase packages are now available for you to earn!
AT LAST!
A WINNER of our finally-finished late Summer Southwestern Desert Customer Appreciation Gift Basket has been selected! Congratulations to Angel M. from Colton who scored all of this swag just for making a purchase from us and filling out an entry form this summer!
If you happen NOT to have won our Summer Southwestern Desert Customer Appreciation Gift Basket, here is how you can qualify to WIN our Fall Harvest Fun version!
The current version of our DISCOUNT COUPON will soon be published in the October issues of Coupons Monthly! Note: We ALWAYS honor our standard discounts even if you don't bring a physical Coupon in with you because we have a stack of the most recently published issues for Redlands, Highland and Yucaipa right inside our front door (FREE for you!). We don't need the remaining shreds if you tear out our coupon--but you can use all the other coupons inside each issue for deals all over town(s)! Also, our Coupons never expire!
Our donation Gift Basket for the San Bernardino Humane Society's "Howler"-ween Casino Night Fundraiser in October has been "fetched" by them and will be up for grabs in some form at this event! The ONLY way you can WIN it is to attend in person! Check here for all the details:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1057084856420126&set=a.517265997068684
(HINT: Our contribution is one of the LEAST impressive prizes they'll have available to WIN/bid on!)
More adorable Fall Pocket Charms just in from Ganz!
These are miniature characters in the form of boy and girl versions of itty-bitty Scarecrows and/or Scarecrow Gnomes!
More cute figures to slyly "imperceptibly" decorate your home or office small spaces for Autumn (or give as sweet little gifts for good luck)!
FALL "STUFF" is up on our seasonal display shelves!
A little more Fall "stuff" has spilled over onto our back table!
We've always loved the nostalgic use of sleigh bells for winter decorating, so we fell in love with his autumn design wherein the bells are in the form of acorns instead of classically round and are accented with Fall foliage rather than Christmas holly! At a little over a foot long and six inches wide this creative fall swag is imposing enough to get attention and, yes, the acorn bells do jingle! A bit of "Not-stuff" to embellish your autumn decor!
We don't usually display much in the way of wall art (except to help define our Habitats!), but we found these 16" framed Sunflower images that our own interior August decor will soon nearly "match" and couldn't resist! One of these will very likely make it into our Fall Customer Appreciation Gift Basket, but the other two, currently found among our Fall "Stuff", are up for grabs...!
We have a nice collection of Acrylic Crystal hanging ornaments for late Summer and Fall, but we couldn't resist this detailed rendering of an autumn-ready Woodland Squirrel that seemed to us would be a perfect accent piece for your seasonal window sill, mantel, tabletop, desk or ??? His size makes him a little too heavy to hang, but we bet you can find a space where he can just sit charmingly with his golden acorn and be admired!
A new addition this year to our hanging Acrylic Crystal Ornaments from Ganz is this sweet little light golden Owl (last year's Fall version was gray with orange berries) perched on a Sunflower stem (the resin sunflower is actually repeated back-to-back to read as open from the front or rear side of the Owl). We simply had to include this design along with the rest of our sunflower themed items for Autumn 2024--and because it is adorable!
While casting about for items consistent with what seems to have become one of our Fall mini-themes this year we ran across these encouraging, anytime pocket tokens from Ganz. These little permanent Sunflower mini-greetings can be carried in a purse or pocket, stashed in a drawer or small container of collected diminutive items of personal significance on a desk or dresser or even kept in a car glove compartment as a reminder of each of our own inner strength!
OK--THESE Autumn Joy Fox Pocket Tokens were made by Ganz to help celebrate Fall!
Each one is 1" X "1.5" and is holding or curled around an autumn flower or fruit. At about the size of Easter eggs wouldn't they be fun to "hide" among whatever else you keep on your shelves, desktop, cubbyholes, etc. as little surprise reminders of the season? We love the perky expressions on their little faces!
We've been seeing the Sunflower show up as an Autumn icon in a number of "not-Stuff" items debuted for this Fall, especially several coming from our friends at Ganz! We are happy to show you that this familiar flower has been selected to also be featured in their Fall plush! This is Ganz's Autumn 2024 addition to their soft doll collection--and we are loving the pretty frock strewn with Sunflowers! Stem-green stockings and hair bows and brown hair and shoes take their cues from a Sunflower colorway to perfectly compliment the dress, making "Saffron" a lovely embodiment of this beloved late Summer/early Fall flower! Such a sweet face to match!
While "Saffron", Ganz's Fall Soft Doll, is dressed in fabric printed with Sunflowers, this little Bear is dressed AS a Sunflower! "Sunbeam" the Bear sports a green body suit for its "stem" topped with a circle of yellow petals around its face forming the flower and stands at about 10" tall! By its concerned expression, it would appear that "Sunbeam" is working really hard to out-cute all the real sunflowers in the garden--and is doing a darn good job at it!
This piece is very similar to the little Bear dressed as a Sunflower, but a Baby (slightly more pudgy than the Bear) dressed as a Sunflower was just different enough and ridiculously adorable-cute that we HAD to have it, too! We found this one in the Ganz Baby section, but we have to say that we have already sold several (had to reorder!)--and ALL were for "grown-ups"--who adored them!
Acorns always figure prominently in seasonal decor as we approach Fall, if for no other reason than that they are being busily harvested in autumn by a number of creatures to add to winter food stores, keeping squirrels and woodpeckers, et. al. seriously occupied and reminding us all of the importance of vigilance in planning ahead! They also serve as a perfect example of how a single seemingly tiny and insignificant thing can become quite the big deal if it sprouts and grows into a mighty Oak Tree! Hence, these little Pocket Tokens, each in the form of an acorn, are designed to serve as powerful "little" reminder inspirations to keep or share!
We loved this Acrylic Sunflower Ornament from Ganz last year and were very pleased to find it available again this year! A big (3.5" round), bold flower head accented with clear YELLOW crystals around a contrasting opaque center of "seeds" and detailed with a beaded stem and painted metal leaves can hardly be misread as anything but the quintessential floral harbinger of late summer and early autumn!
Yes... OK, OK, we've got a few plush Pumpkins for you, but only if you promise to keep them away from the sun until it's too cool to bake them out there!
Costumed Teddy Bears for different seasons, so popular some years ago seem to have almost reached extinction, but thankfully, one of our suppliers who made some of the cutest ones, Ganz, has this little guy to offer this year! At just 7" tall he is the perfect size to decorate a niche in your office area or to tuck in with the gourds and colored corn cobs spilling out of that cornucopia you are planning as an autumn centerpiece for your table! Not sure he's completely comfortable in that Pumpkin suit, but he certainly is adorable!
How cool is this? We were able to procure not just one Teddy Bear dressed as a Pumpkin, but TWO different ones! This is the version from Aurora! He's a little bigger (about 8" tall) and more intensely ORANGE than the Ganz Wee Pumpkin Bear (he also seems a bit more chubby--has he already been hitting that Thanksgiving buffet table?). In any case, he would seem to be an adorable--and eminently pokable--addition to any Fall Harvest decor!
OK--this Turkey Gnome is pure silliness!
We saw it when we were ordering little Pumpkin Gnomes for our Autumn Gift-with-Purchase packages coming in November and could not resist! This guy NEEDS to be the star of someone's Thanksgiving table centerpiece!.
Here is another whimsical potential addition to your Fall decor--if you can force yourself to unhand it long enough! Creative and adorable is this fat and fluffy Woolly Caterpillar (with a fall leaf for a "hat"!) from Douglas (so, of course, it's delectably SOFT)!
FALL FLAGS are available on our Flag Display opposite our check-out counter!
Here is a very small sampling of Fall Flags on hand...
Halloween and Thanksgiving House and Garden Flags are up on our Flag Wall!
Above are shown some awesome new Sea Dwellers were very recently added to our Ocean Habitat, having arrived in a previous shipment from Wild Republic that arrived just a few weeks ago...
With the arrival of ANOTHER shipment from Wild Republic on 7-2-24, we just got our hands on a Ray we've been hoping to restock in some form for a loooong time--and are happy to have added this particularly elegant version of an Eagle Ray to our Ocean Habitat!
We have had our eyes on this Cownose Ray for literally years because it is so unique looking, but we've always deferred to ordering more recognizable members of this group. We finally managed to get our hands on this species; it arrived in the most recent Wild Republic Shipment and can now be found along with a number of additional cool rays in our Ocean Habitat!
We actually remembered to add some medium-sized Emperor Penguins for our Ocean Habitat to the most recent Wild Republic shipment! We already had some slightly larger and fancier Emperor Penguins, but this one matches the 12" Cuddlekins Rock-Hopper and Black-footed Penguins, also from Wild Republic--and we will be needing at least one as our Antarctica representative for our "Animals from Every Continent" gift basket contribution to the Waldo prizes this year!
And now on to the Rain Forest Mammals just in from Wild republic...
These are all mini-Cuddlekin sized at about 6" tall.
We got several species of Monkeys, because they are hard to find in any size! This one is a White-faced Capuchin Monkey to fit in the palm of your hand. Well-detailed (and pretty cute!), at $15 it is a much more economical alternative, depending on your purpose, to the fabulously sculpted Capuchin from Hansa that is gorgeous, about twice the size, but retails for $54!
Another adorably sweet Wild Republic Rain Forest Monkeys is this mini-Squirrel Monkey! For a little 6" guy this version is remarkably well-detailed (at least 5 different colors/textures of fabrics), soft and with an admirable cuteness factor!
Is this not about the most engaging face you've seen on a little Monkey?
Adult Woolly Monkeys actually attain a good size, about 15lbs, in their South American Rain Forest habitats and have somewhat more mature looking faces, so we're assuming this little 6" plush version is modeled after a baby or juvenile. The dark brown main coat is correct for both males or females as are the grey appendages and light face with variations among subspecies. These monkeys are closely related to Spider Monkeys. We love how the designer put an elegant curl into this one's prehensile tail!
Oh look at the sweet little (6") new Rainforest Common Marmoset that just rode in with a back-order from Wild Republic! Not quite as elegantly depicted as the Pigmy Marmoset from Hansa, but adorably cute and at $15 a LOT less expensive than the $40 soft-sculpture Hansa version... We are still awaiting availability/arrival of some new Rainforest Snakes and at least one Parrot in this collection, so stay tuned!
We're not sure what inspired Wild Republic to produce in plush a few rather esoteric (as in, we've never heard of them...) mammal denizens of South and Central American Rain Forests, but this Paca is one of them! Turns out that it is a BIG (6th largest) rodent, at 20-30 inches long (in real life--this is a 6" mini-version), not quite as large as the giant guinea pig-like Capybara, but similar in appearance except for its fur being patterned with stripes and spots. The Paca, too, is a great swimmer, preferring to live near water where it can forage for plants and insects that compose its diet and can avoid predators by diving and staying submerged for up to 15 minutes! Should you happen to visit Belize, where Pacas are eaten by the people, you, like Queen Elizabeth ll might find yourself served a Paca entree...!
Do not be fooled by the squirrel-like cuteness of this (6") rendition by Wild Republic of a Rain Forest creature that is actually a member of the Weasel family! At least one Animalogic video more accurately describes the personality of this creature as "Tayra: The Honey Badger of South America"! Opportunistic omnivores, hunting rodents and other small mammals, as well as birds, lizards, other reptiles, and invertebrates and foraging for fruit and honey, they are adapted more for running and (expert) tree-climbing and traversing than digging. With a body length of 22-28" plus a long bushy tail of 15-18", the Tayra is similar in size and appearance to a large Fisher or Marten or a small slender Wolverine and is found throughout Central America and most of South America except Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, almost always only in tropical and subtropical forests.
The marsupial Four-eyed Opossum, with a body length of of about 8.7 to 13.0 in. and tail length of 7.7 to 14.0 in. is found in primary, secondary and disturbed forests of Central and South America. Its common name derives from the distinct white spots above each actual eye that contrast sharply with the darker fur of its face. Interestingly marked, per Wikipedia, "Its prehensile tail is bicolored, with a pale distal part and a longer proximal darker gray part, and is naked at the end. Its dorsal fur is gray, while its ventral fur, throat, and cheeks are cream-colored" Also,"The four-eyed opossum does not 'play dead' like the North American Virginia opossum, but is known to be 'the fiercest fighter of the opossums', aggressive and willing to engage with potential predators" and "Four-eyed opossums build nests out of dry leaves in hollow trees, tree forks, fallen logs and in ground burrows. They roll up into a ball while sleeping and although their eyes are actually closed, the white patches of fur above their eyes gives them the appearance of an awake animal"!
Toxin-neutralizing proteins found in its blood serum render the Four-eyed Opossum immune to venomous snake bites and allow inclusion of such snakes in its omnivorous diet.
This cute 6" plush version is from Wild Republic and is part of their new Rain Forest animal collection!
We WISH Wild Republic--or anyone else, for that matter--would make a medium to large sized Ocelot with this much detail! Until that happens we'll have to content ourselves with this new (6") mini version just introduced as part of Wild Republic's new Rainforest Splendors Collection! (Pretty nice for a little guy...)
Next in the new Rainforest collection from Wild Republic is a handful (available now, more to come...) of Rainforest Birds. These are miniature depictions at only about 4.5 inches tall, so smaller--and less expensive, without sound--than their Audubon Birds, but each is a jewel-like creation accomplished with highly detailed fabric printed with each bird's characteristic markings.
This one is a Spectacled Owl and is much larger in person, up to over 20" tall! It favors dense old-growth areas of tropical rainforests from from southern Mexico and Trinidad, through Central America, south to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northwestern Argentina. Since the larger Great-horned Owl, present in adjacent territories, seldom ventures into true rainforest areas, the Spectacled Owl s typically the largest and most dominant owl in its range.
This little plush gem represents the (male--females are more dull in coloration) Collared Trogon, a medium-sized (about 9.8 to 11.4 inches long) tropical bird found in Mexico, Central America and northern South America, inhabiting the region between the high understory and the lower tree canopy where it subsists on small fruits (e.g., berries) and invertebrates such as caterpillars, crickets, cicadas, beetles, and additional insects. The namesake "collar" is a distinctive white band that separates the green head and upper breast from the bright red belly!
At first glance the long beak and brilliant coloration of this mini-rendition of another rainforest Bird in Wild Republic's new collection might lead one to mistake it for a hummingbird. Indeed lots of hummingbirds can be found in Central and South America, but this unrelated bird is a little bigger in real life at 5.5 to 13.4 inches long and its beak is significantly heavier than that of a hummingbird. Rather than feeding on nectar members of the Jacamar family represented by this plush piece are instead aerial hunters of insects, especially favoring moths and butterflies. Their particular method of hunting is known as "hawking" during which the bird takes prey from mid-air in its beak after acquiring sight of it from a suitable perch. Unless the prey is tiny enough to swallow in flight, consumption usually occurs upon return to the same or different perch. Eighteen different species exist in the Jacamar family and members can be found in tropical Central and South America where they occupy low-altitude woodlands and forests, particularly of forest edge and canopy habitats.
Closely related, but not identical to the green parrots that have become naturalized in Redlands (same genus--and size, 13", different species, different markings: "ours" is Amazona viridigenalis, the "Red-crowned Parrot", originally endemic to northeastern Mexico), the Amazon Orange-winged Parrot, Amazona amazonica is likewise mostly green, but with blue and yellow accents on its face. Per Wikipedia, "it is a resident breeding bird in tropical South America, from. Columbia, Trinidad, and Tobago south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil. Its habitat is forest and semi-open country." Hardly visible when perching the referenced "orange" feathers flash in the wings and tail during flight!
No collection of Rainforest Birds would be complete without a Respendent Quetzal--and that would have to be in the form of the iridescent green male with the extra-long and elegant tail feathers! Members of the Trogan Family (but a "little" fancier than the Collared Trogan, also in this collection from Wild Republic), Quetzals inhabit tropical rainforsts, especially montane cloud forests of southern Mexico and Central America. Because of its exceptional appearance, per Wikipedia:
"The resplendent quetzal is of great importance to Guatemalan culture, being present in various legends and myths. It was considered divine and associated with Quetzalcoati, a feathered serpent and god of life, light, knowledge and the winds, by pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. Its scintillating green tail feathers, symbolizing spring plant sprouts, were venerated by the Aztec and Maya. The Maya also regarded the quetzal as representative of freedom. Mesoamerican rulers and some high ranked nobles wore diadems created from quetzal feathers, symbolically linking them to Quetzalcoatl. Since the killing of quetzals was forbidden under the Mayas and Aztec criminal law, the bird was merely seized, its prolonged tail feathers deplumed, and was set loose. In ancient Mayan culture, the quetzal feathers were considered so precious that they were even used as a medium of exchange. Thus the name of the Guatemala currency, the quetzal. In various Mesoamerican languages, the word quetzal can as well mean precious, sacred, or king, warrior, prince."
IMPORTANT NEWSFLASH:
After years of missing having their awesome products in stock, we were finally able to reconnect (they are still there!) AND PLACE AN ORDER with CabinCritters, Inc.! They manufacture some plush pieces made by no one else that we are aware of and we are now once again in possession of our all-time favorite Ocean denizen, their fabulous Horseshoe Crab, plus their amazing plush Barracuda and Blue Marlin saltwater fish, Dungeness and Ghost Crabs AND some cool alternative versions of some of our most popular Forest/Desert denizens! We are also informed that, while they used to sell to most California Aquariums, those said Aquariums are now ordering from a consortium of suppliers from which Cabin Critters have been excluded--so we may be the only easy brick and mortar source for them--and definitely LOCAL for you!
So, while we found a number of awesome plush pieces to add to several of our terrestrial Habitats, we went to Cabin Critters specifically for their amazing Sea Life. Not many of our manufacturers are up to the challenge of creating plush Fish, but this is an area in which Cabin Critters excels!
We now have a magnificent stuffed Barracuda to include in the Animal Cars raffle basket we will be preparing for the Youth Hope Car Show fund-raiser latter this summer... (ha!)
Another stunning realistic plush Fish from Cabin Critters is this impressive Blue Marlin!
This beautiful realistic version of a Dolphin from Cabin Critters was different enough from the others residing in our Sea Life Habitat, we had to add it to your possible choices! (Note the airbrush detailing...)
Another kind of Sea Life that Cabin Critters excels in producing wonderful examples in plush are Crabs. They do several and one of our faves is this impressive Dungeness Crab! We expect it to start side-stepping its way across the page at any moment!
One of Cabin Critters' more unique sea animals rendered in plush, this is a Ghost Crab! "Ghost" Crab because of their generally pale coloration and their propensity for nocturnal activity. They are not familiar to Californians because they are found way east of our coast when they occur in the Pacific. You might find one in Hawaii or other western Pacific environs or even the Indian Ocean as far south as southern Africa or associated with the Mediterranean Sea. East Coasters, however, will know them from all along the Atlantic seaboard of the US. Not taken as food for human consumption (they only reach about 2-3" across in size), Ghost Crabs are "hunted" (not physically disturbed!) for bragging rights to having seen live ones in Nature!
We got the Cabin Critters version for its weirdness quotient (we've never seen one made by anyone else...), of course!
They're HEEEEEEERE!
We finally managed to unpack that shipment from Cabin Critters and those gnarly Horsehoe Crabs have found a home in our Ocean Habitat, along with some additional unique sea life we seem to only be able to source from Cabin Critters. But before we get to those, we need to "mention" that Cabin Critters also does some awesome alternative versions of must-have mammals of which we may already have at least one rendition, but that we could not resist adding another choice for you to our selection!
This cool Cabin Critters Badger is one of those new "options". He has just found he way to join a Douglas version in our Desert Habitat!
This is Cabin Critters' lovely plush Squirrel who just joined our Forest Habitat Squirrel family! We elected to add him because of his unique color (NOT gray!)--and that bit of a sassy attitude!
Plush Sea Turtles are easy-peasy to find in a number of versions, Fresh-water Turtles and Desert Tortoises, not so much!
We are thrilled to get our hands on this amazing Box Turtle now in stock for you from Cabin Critters! How AWESOME are those detailed markings!?
We already have a couple of reasonable options for plush Beavers, but this one from Cabin Critters has quite a different "stance" from the others--and is of especially nice quality, so it's a no-brainer to add it to the Beaver population in our Forest Habitat!
Some years ago plush Frogs of any description were incredibly popular, often showing up as cute caricatures in seasonal collections from a number of our suppliers. Recently, that popularity has moved on to other critters (notably animals like Axoltyls, for the moment...). Suffice to say that it has been challenging to find realistic renderings of ordinary common Frogs, even though they are still loved by many collectors, BUT we found a nice one shown here and now in stock from Cabin Critters!
There was a time when Cabin Critters was by default our go-to source for beautiful realistic plush waterfowl. They used to make a Canvas-Duck (uncommon, to say the least!) and a gorgeous Wood Duck, but those appear to have disappeared from their collection (permanently? temporarily?). However, we were happy to be able to score this handsome Canadian Goose to add to our collection and offer as a choice for you! Look for it in our Barnyard Habitat as Canadian Geese are at least half domesticated, spending a lot of their migratory time foraging in agricultural fields!
The 17" version of this beautiful Brown and white lying Appaloosa horse by Douglas was so popular, it is now offered in a 22" "incarnation" as well! Incredibly soft, with a brilliantly white muzzle and socks, to say nothing of the fancy multicolored mane and tail, this gorgeous rendition is indeed imposing! We have both sizes now!
Oooooh!
How gorgeous is this NEW lying dapple-gray horse just in from Douglas? Lovely luxuriant multi-colored mane and tail detail AND a white muzzle and socks--all in supersoft plush!
It's been awhile since we added to the Horse Collection in our Stable, so we included a few newbies in our most recent order from Douglas (our premier plush horse supplier). We opted for the lying versions because they are far too melty-soft to stand without reinforcement--and the MOST huggable! This one is "Wrangler", a beautiful chestnut with white socks and blond mane and tail with caramel undertones! The box he is stretched out on is about 16" long, so a nice medium size (in case one of your Easter Basket recipients "needs" a new horse)!
Good thing we added THIS NEW Spider to our recently arrived Douglas shipment! "Sneaky" the Spider arrived just as we sold the last of the new black tarantulas we just got in from Aurora! "Sneaky" is a little larger than the Aurora version--and has some brown fur on its back that the Aurora Spider did not, but is certainly every bit as soft--and huggy (?)--for a spider!
NEW!
Just in from Douglas, a FANCY (fanciful?) version of an Axolotl with a shimmery Tail and rainbow Gills! Also super-soft!
Since we so love the whimsical Banana Slug we got from Douglas, we simply had to also have their somewhat stylized "Orchid Mantis"--inspired by a real insect!
We ALMOST forgot that the Chinese New Year welcomed earlier in February is the Year of the DRAGON!
Thankfully, although we already had a pretty good collection of plush Dragons, we remembered in time to add this beauty to our most recent Douglas shipment, just in case someone needs a RED Dragon to help celebrate!
NEW from Douglas just in!
It has been about 20 years since we had a respectable plush Doberman Pinscher to offer--and that one was a magnificent, almost life-sized seated version, also from Douglas, that was, to no one's surprise, purchased by a Doberman breeder! This new plush Dobie is not only gorgeously handsome, but rendered in that fabulous, ultra-soft DeLux fabric, knocking the hug-factor out of the park!
We're always on the look-out for "interesting" Dragons for our Fantasy Habitat and we do already have quite a nice collection, but when we saw these two vaguely grumpy-looking guys in Ganz's 2024 Plush catalog we simply could not resist! Thankfully, they came in an assortment so we did not have to choose a (just one? Not!) color! We really love their somewhat chubby, relaxed floppiness, chunky feet and those big, slightly disorganized scales--to say nothing of those coyly annoyed-looking and sort of fierce (maybe more like disgusted?) expressions!
Should you be in the "need" of a fabulous realistic rendition of a North American Lynx...
This has to be one of our all-time favorite Hansa "Portraits in Nature" and we are thrilled to have it back (for now...) in our Forest Habitat (it's hiding behind the Ferrets on the shelf below our Wolf collection)!
This one is imposing and indeed gloriously special!
We get requests often enough for plush Butterflies (we've even searched for believable ones ourselves for our gift-with-purchase packages) and we've usually been disappointed with the available choices (too limp and floppy, too fantasmagorical, too fluffy, cutesy and/or silly, not great colors, etc.)--until now! New this year from Aurora is this not only gorgeous (yes, there is some shimmer going on with the wings!), but also good-sized (13" wingspan) AND poseable (the wing stiffening is just right!) Monarch Butterfly we are proud to display with other insects now abiding in our Fantasy Habitat (most are larger than life, at least). Such a nice piece that the sales rep said she wanted one, too!
One more addition to our Desert Habitat here! This almost-cute smallish (8") Tarantula is no where near as colorful as the Collared Lizard or Cactus pieces we also just added--but it surely is FURRY!
We just added some COLOR (GREEN, as a matter of fact!) to our Desert Habitat! We could not resist the NEW Collared Lizard just available from Folkmanis (this one is a Finger Puppet, as all Folkmanis pieces are puppets in some form!), especially given how hard it is to find plush Lizards of any persuasion! Since we "had to" restock those very popular little Cactus Palm Pals from Aurora, we invited this adorable Cactus "Fancy Pal" carrying a cute little Desert Fox inside along for the ride! These guys are brightening up our Desert Habitat--and are easy to find against this mainly beige environment!
Look how GREEN our Desert Habitat has become with the addition of a bright Collared Lizard finger puppet from Folkmanis and Cactus Palm Pals and Fancy Pets from Aurora (we also added their black Tarantula, but it's not very colorful...)!
Thanks to recent arrivals from both Folkmanis and Hansa we now have a "significant" selection (THREE whole versions!) of....SNAILS!
We love them all, but the Hansa design in front is our fave! (who else would lovingly render so detailed a "sculpture" in plush of such an ignominious, albeit interesting, creature?
We are starting 2024 with the introduction in our Shop of a whimsical group of new plush characters with a serious message!
This brand NEW series of cool critters from Wild Republic is now "living" just below our Sesame Street Collection! These are "Monsterkins", special creatures here to help clean up our environment by EATING our PLASTIC TRASH! Several different kinds exist, each specializing in its own particular environment to work on. This series has already been winning awards for its clever concept and designs.
To learn more visit:
Allow us to introduce our first individual Monsterkins, "Vish", along with his "profile!
And our next Monsterkins is... "MK" lover of landfills as a source of un-recycled plastic bottles to eat!
Meet "Grom", Monsterkin monitor of trashy beaches...
And heeeeeere's "Trash Foot", Monsterkin of Snow, Ice and Glacier clean-up!
This Monsterkin is "Muck", assigned to Ocean de-plasticizing all over the world!
Meet "Vinnie", Monsterkin steward of plastic clean-up in rivers, streams and forests!
And here is "Dusk", master of night-time Campground and Wilderness plastic clean-up!
And last, but certainly not least we have "Trashzilla" the Monsterkin who relentlessly combs through dumpsters and trash cans everywhere looking to eradicate those tossed water bottles!
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Somehow we have managed to miss or ignore the fact that Hansa makes this beautiful plush rendition of a Mallard Duck! We finally have it in stock--in anticipation of receiving an adult "Softie" version and Mallard Ducking from Douglas (both considerably less expensive, but sacrificing some realistic detailing compared to this Hansa "portrait") to also add to our Barnyard Habitat in time for Easter!
We've had Hansa's representations of many wonderful Forest animals, including an array of beautiful kinds of Squirrels (many back in stock now), but we've never had their Muskrat! We figured it was about time...!
(Look for it in our Forest Habitat near the Raccoons and Beavers)!
We've never had a Monkey this large (well over a foot tall, seated as shown!) from Hansa, but given how exquisitely and accurately detailed their much smaller Rain Forest Monkeys are, we had to give this African Vervet a try! Needless to say, Hansa did not disappoint! What an engagingly charming face!
Most of the huge Hansa shipment that just arrived is restocks of beautiful popular items of plush sculpture we can acquire nowhere else--but we could not resist a few "new" for us pieces, all of which are just as AWESOME! We doubt than anyone would hazard a claim that this Hyacinth Macaw is anything less than absolutely stunning! We are thrilled to finally have one in our Rain Forest Collection (Scarlet Macaws, Pigmy Marmosets and Titi Monkeys are also back in stock)!
In keeping with the silliness of that Snuggleluvs Bee from Wild Republic that we just added to our Fantasy area, we noticed that it seems that Douglas could not help themselves from creating a rather literal interpretation of our northern California coastal rain forest Banana Slug!
Apparently we could not resist the result, either!
Here is a completely NEW addition to our Fantasy Area! We got this HUGE "Snuggleluvs" Bee from Wild Republic to help fill our Busy Bee Customer Appreciation Gift Box (before we realized how much other "stuff" we had to put in there)! While he was waiting to make his way into our Box, we just could not contain a chuckle, giggle or outright guffaw every time we walked by him--he is just so SILLY! One of our regular customers who saw us unpack him and his fellow (they came in twos!) nabbed up the "extra" one before he even made it to the display... so, obviously we had to get at least a couple more for the rest of you/us to enjoy! Look for this guy on the top shelf of our Fantasy Habitat--the only place he fit!
With a few gaps needing to be filled in our Fantasy habitat, we took a look at some new Unicorns from Ganz--and found them awesome enough to join our collection! This sweet confection is the larger, multi-colored lightly tinted tie-died version, "Majestique" at 16" long and soft as a fluffy cloud!
Accompanying the large multi-hued Unicorn from Ganz were a couple of slightly smaller ones (at about 14" long)! While they may have "plain" solid fur (this is the soft dove-gray version), their bling factor is compensated by shiny metallic golden horn, hoof and ear detailing, along with lavish contrasting fluff for the mane and tail--and trimming each hoof! Fancy!
The other smaller Unicorn from Ganz is just as blingy, but in white with hot pink and shimmery gold trim! Totally lush!
Arrived this month direct from Australia: Quokkas!
We've had the larger (11") version on occasion, always selling them out, so since a smaller size (about 8" tall) has become available, we nabbed one of each this time around! These quirky-cute marsupials from Down-under are actually popular enough that we get requests for them by name--and given these designs , it's no great surprise they don't stay on our shelves for long!
We just added these two new Kangaroo-like characters just in from Bocchetta Plush to our Australian habitat!
The one on the left is a Pademelon(?!) and the one on the right is a Red-necked (they have red-necked residents in Australia, too?) or Bennett's Wallaby!
Check out our newly restocked--and jammed full--Dog Area!
German Shepherds, Golden and Labrador Retrievers, Pugs, Bulldogs, Bichon Frises and Pit Bulls are baaaaack!
It SHOULD be easier to see all the plush Body Parts, Cells, Germs and Molecules in our newly redesigned and expanded Medical Area!
Recent additions from Folkmanis, the Puppet people:
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Here is one of Evergreen Enterprise's NEW plush Dogs! This one is an adorable, mist-soft reclining Bichon Frise. The Evergreen dogs are slightly smaller and to our mind a little bit more expensive than those from some of our other suppliers, but they are beautifully detailed and natural-looking--and constructed of the most amazingly luxuriant, often delicately fluffy fabrics for fur!
This is Evergreen Enterprises' interpretation of an extremely sweet and cuddly (you won't believe the more-rich-than-cotton-candy softness of these pieces!) of a tan Labradoodle! Just look at that face--foofy lap-dog personified!
This is the NEW Pug from the new Evergreen Enterprises plush collection! Not a foofy texture, but a lush silky one for its fur, with a dark visage, turned up nose and just enough wrinkles and air-brushed accents to achieve the requisite worried pug expression! Oh--and that curled-up tail!
Here is the gorgeous and sweet new Siamese Cat from Evergreen Enterprise's NEW plush collection--the very definition of "silky" and beautifully marked as well! And those EYES!
This adorable Bichon Frise, back in stock from the Ganz Heritage Collection, is just as sweet as the reclining ones we have from Evergreen and Bocchetta, but posed entirely differently, just for fun--and by way of another choice!
This is the new Moose from Ganz's Heritage Collection! We can get several really nice examples of Moose, including a couple from Wild Republic and the Miyoni line from Aurora, but this one is unique in design from others we've seen, with interesting contrasts in colors and materials--and rather unusually designed "headgear" that is linked to its ears to provide stability. And, for a face many would contend only a mother moose could admire, this one has a pretty sweet expression!
We were looking to fill in some gaps in our Stable Habitat, so "invited" this gorgeous Miyoni Alpaca from Aurora to ride along with some newly arrived Fall/Halloween items! We just wish we could accurately describe how awesome-soft the "fur" on this piece is! Be thinking marshmallows ... or clouds... or dandelion fluff... or???
This little cutie-pie from Aurora's Miyoni Collection may be only 10 or 11 inches long (and considerably shorter!), but it is still loaded with Dachshund personality!
OK--so we already have Caffeine (and Chocolate) Molecules from Giant Microbes, but they simply could not resist this pairing: They made a nice Coffee Mug printed with an image of their Caffeine Molecule and the question. "Got Caffeine"? Stashed inside the carefully packaged boxed Mug is a clip-on size version of their plush Caffeine Molecule--just in case you "need" some... Now in stock for yourself or your favorite Coffee addict!
We have never even heard of a Yutyrannus dinosaur, let alone have a clue what it might have looked like! Clearly the designer who rendered this awesome plush version of same for Wild Republic's new Artist' series has a pretty good idea--or at least a great imagination! A truly gnarly piece for you plush dino collectors--this one is obviously special!
We CAN say we are familiar with Velociraptors, but this has to be one of the most impressive plush renditions of this dinosaur we have seen! New to the Artist's Collection of stuffed animals from Wild Republic, this version is highly detailed (if the fossil evidence even hints at the presence of feather-like appendages, most dino designers are trying to incorporate that information into their creations, so certainly not lacking here...) and nothing if not imposing! Another must-have for the discerning collector of dinosaurs done in plush!
We promised NEW "STUFF" would be coming in this week--and we didn't lie!
ALL of these Teddy Bears that came in those big boxes from First and Main have found their way onto the Teddy Bear shelves! Lots of old friends restocked. plus several newbies!
Even though these guys look like they possibly should belong in our Fantasy Habitat, we just received not just one, but two designs of realistic Axolotls from Aurora that now reside in our South American Rain Forest! One (top) is even a fancy Miyoni version, so especially well rendered--and BOTH definitely pass the cuteness quotient requirement!
OK--these two magical little charmers do definitely belong in and have found their way to our Fantasy Habitat! Fanciful standing Sparkle Dragons in pretty hues of aqua and blue, these two colors have never been available when we ordered their seated siblings in pink and in lavender, so we grabbed these when we saw that they were! Most certainly not in the scary category of dragons and more in the favor of princesses than warrior knights, either or both of these could become a little girl's best friend and confidant!
Oh LOOK what just arrived, back-ordered from LAST YEAR from Folkmanis (Puppets, of course)! An awesomely detailed "small" Chameleon has joined our African Habit (at least for a little while--the mini finger puppet versions are long-gone!) that is not made out of ridiculous tie-dyed fabric!
This stunning creature is Aurora's large (about 18" long front paws to tail tip), fancy Red Fox from their Miyoni Collection! Relatively new, it compares very favorably with the similarly sized D-Lux fabric Douglas version that sold out over Christmas! In fact, this one has a slightly different facial expression and is presented in a somewhat more natural counter-positioned lying pose. We'll circle back for additional Douglas foxes when next we order from them, but meanwhile we're loving having this Miyoni design as a great additional choice!
We got two designs of Raccoons in that recently-arrived shipment from Aurora! The sleepy-looking guy in back with the droopy eyelids is "Bandit", a long-standing member of Aurora's line of "Flopsie" critters. The one in front sporting the slightly lusher coat and a tad more realistic detail is from the high-quality Miyoni Collection!
In case anyone wonders if, since we do have a pretty good collection of plush Cats, we might also have any Dogs, we can affirm that YES, we do! Here are "a few" of them!
And a few more Dogs...
And yet MORE Dogs... (that does about cover them)!
Do we have any plush Cats to choose from?
Um...yeah, at least a couple. We don't know where to send you to find a better selecion--plush Cats with the right
"Cat-itude" are REALLY HARD to find!
Do we have a decent selection of Dinosaurs/Prehistoric Critters left after Christmas, you ask?
Given that we received NEW STOCK a week or so before Christmas, YES, we have a fabulous selection of Dinosaurs/Prehistoric Critters (including Pteranodons, Mosasaurs and Plesiosaurs, along with most of the usual suspects!) for you to choose from!
The Pig Collection in our Barnyard Habitat has been restocked! We're up to EIGHT different designs of plush Pigs, with the largest laying down solid pink and spotted versions being rendered in that awesome D-Lux fabric by Douglas! It's what gives them that extra-fluffy, eminently huggable nature!
We were not kidding (we never are) about stocking up for Christmas--which, of course also means we are now very well-stocked in general for 2023! Our Ocean Habitat has gotten special attention as a "few" sea life pieces were missing in action! One group that has plenty of recent additions is our Sea Turtle Collection, including that pillow-sized Melissa and Doug version taking up most of one shelf! Filling in the "gaps" around it (and spilling onto the the bottom shelf next door to the left) are a range of smaller sized turtles from Ganz, Wild Republic and Douglas, et. al. Soooo.....LOTS of Sea turtles to choose from into the new year!
While we were restocking ahead of Christmas, we needed to replace our biggest Octopus that we usually procure from Fiesta. However, theirs seemed to be out of stock so we opted for Wild Republic's "jumbo" version instead. It is HUGE, with the realistic details of a siphon and a beak and now occupies a BIG part of our Ocean Habitat, curling its tentacles around one of our large dolphins and dwarfing our Sperm Whale! (It MIGHT fit on a bed--but we wouldn't leave it there overnight--whole bed might be gone by morning!)
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Not a lot of our vendors are currently producing a variety of realistic Monkeys from any habitat, so we of course turned to Hansa who makes things like these small, but exquisitely detailed (and, not surprisingly, not inexpensive) New World Monkeys! Starting at the top of the image and moving clockwise we have a classic Squirrel Monkey adjacent to a completely charming little Titi Monkey. On the lower right sits an adorably fluffy tiny Pigmy Marmoset and the collection is rounded out by another classic, a Capuchin Monkey, looking a bit like a world-weary little old man! We are so impressed with not only the artistry and craftsmanship inbued in these pieces by the Hansa artisans, but also the distinctive character obvious for each lovingly rendered species!
It has been awhile since we have had Tropical Frogs in our South American Rain Forest Habitat and we are happy to welcome back an old friend from Wild Republic, The Red-eyed tree Frog! This time we also added a Citronella Poison Dart Frog just for fun and because we could!
Everything Hansa produces is basically fabulous in quality, attention to detail and realism of portrayal of any creature they make, but they excel especially in their depiction of birds in plush! We simply had to add some of Hansa's beautiful Parrots to our South American Rain Forest Habitat, if for no other reason than for what colorful accents they provide! Note the hand-drawn feathers and facial details on these little works of artistic sculpture!
No South American Rain Forest Habitat would be complete without Sloths--and our collection of Sloths (we do have several) would not be complete without this guy from Hansa, who is arguably one of the best plush versions available! Good-sized, sitting at about 13" tall and executed in remarkable detail, in case that sweet expression on its face is not enough, his entire head can turn--and he's even huggable!
Our South American Rain Forest Habitat has been repopulated for 2021!
We are very pleased to have what is probably our favorite plush Rattlesnake back in stock after a too-long absence! We love the beautifully printed scales on this version from Fiesta and how it is posed coiled and ready to strike! And, yes, there are rattles in that tail!
We found this handsome Desert Tortoise in the Wild Republic Catalog! Isn't he a handsome addition to our Desert Habitat?
These two awesome Armadillos, one from Douglas (left) and an interestingly posed one from Wild Republic (right) just joined our Desert Habitat. Can you see why we like to get the "same" plush animal from different suppliers? We love how every designer has their own take on any given creature--and we especially love bringing you choices!
This exquisite plush "sculpture" of a North American Gray Fox from Hansa just joined our Desert Habitat (It could just as easily have "lived" in our northern hemisphere Forest Habitat, but that one is already jammed with Red Foxes, including a BUNCH of NEW ones, and this one can be found in desert environs...). We are completely blown away by the subtle variations in colors and textures of this duskily well-camouflaged predator, to say nothing of that suitably sly expression on its face!
Although sparsely populated in nature, our Desert Habitat is newly refilled with an array of creatures adapted to live in its harsh environment!
Starting on Africa today (it's a BIG Habitat, so this could take awhile!) with a couple of just sweet little Elephants, both from Aurora! The standing one, covered with silky "hair", is just stiff enough to remain upright, but the laying one is "floppy", smooshy-soft, with lush velvety fur!
What African Habitat would be complete without a Dromedary Camel, an animal so historically crucial to travel and trade across especially the northern part of this continent? In truth, we often do not have camels represented in this collection because not all that many acceptable (at least to us!) plush versions even exist! However, this is currently not the case since Douglas has finally designed and executed an especially nice Camel complete with the caravan referencing harness, posed kneeling, just waiting for a load to carry!
Here is another simply spectacular Fox from Hansa! This one happens to be a South African Bat-eared Fox, so it resides in our African Habitat. Those "bat-ears" are crucial for survival as this fox hunts for small prey below the surface of the ground which it detects by directing those ears to listen very carefully! We are so impressed with the craftsmanship employed to go from portraying that tail composed of lush fluffy plush to the finely trimmed detail of the muzzle and face (and everything in between!) of this exquisitely rendered creature!
All of our other Hedgehogs (and we just got in a good number of new ones!) are currently residing in our Northern Hemisphere Temperate Forest Habitat, as one would expect European Hedgehogs to be about! However, given that Hansa tells us that this small but precisely intense creature is an AFRICAN Pigmy Hedgehog, you will find him in that Habitat, along with the Bat-eared Fox and Dromedary Camel! Sporting a crest of fur vaguely reminding us of a carefully coiffed Mohawk hairstyle, the purposefulness of his expression could have us believe he is about to step up to the podium on those tiny little feet and expound authoritatively about some subject on which his well-versed expertise deserves to be paid attention!
This unabashedly lushly handsome 22" long (without the tail!) adult male Lion is NEW from Douglas. Matching the quality standards of everything else in the Douglas line of plush, including its elegant tactile appeal (it is every bit as soft as it looks!), we WISH this company would make more wild animals, especially when they would all be this nice! We will have to be content with loving their dogs, cats, horses, barnyard and fantasy creatures--and count our blessings when they do occasionally surprise us and drop something as lovely as this lion into their collection! Thankfully, we have an African habitat to accommodate him!
Who, other than Hansa, would expend such loving craftsmanship to portray a creature as gnarly as this remarkably accurately rendered Vulture? Obviously they believe--and we agree--that every creature holds an place of honor within Nature and deserves to be so respectfully presented. We have to admit that this is one of our favorite Hansa pieces--and we are very pleased to welcome it back to our African Habitat, a place decidedly less than complete without it!
This adorable little squirrel-sized primate just joining our African Habitat from Hansa is known as a Bush Baby, partly due to its diminutive size, but also for its huge eyes and rather plaintive cries, like those of a small child. It is rendered in the same kind of exquisite detail as larger pieces made by the artisans at Hansa, edging into the realm of sculpture as much as "toy"--but one you can hold in your hand and even stroke or cuddle its soft "fur"!
Three adorable new Hippos just joined our African Habitat! There's a big soft, huggy one from Fiesta, a cute, relaxed floppy version from Aurora and a realistically rendered one from Aurora's fancy Myoni collection! (We keep telling you we are all about choices...!)
Do we happen to have any Cheetahs in our African Habitat?
The disappointing answer to this fairly common question (about a creature that can be surprisingly uncommon to find in plush versions) at our shop was, up until the end of December, "Right now we have exactly zero Cheetahs"...
Obviously this situation has changed--for the waaay better!
In fact, one reason we temporarily "forgot" to order Tigers was because we were SO excited about all the new Cheetahs we were finding that we had to add to this popular area! If you love Cheetahs you simply must check out all of these awesome plush renditions just added to our African Habitat!
Now that we've restocked all our favorites plus added the recently described "newbies" (note the special little area just for Flamingos!) our African Habitat is back to an "acceptable" level of choices! Come check it out!
Since we've shown you all the new and restocked "stuff" in our African Habitat, it's time to move over to our Asian Habitat right next door!
Before we get to inhabitants of the main Asian continent we want to draw your attention to the Asian Habitat shelves closest to our African area (just left of the Flamingos!) to find some interesting creatures from places like the Southeast Asian Islands and Madagascar! The latter is where to find Lemurs like this pair to draw to, a Red-ruffed and a Sifaka Lemur, both new to us. They will soon (we hope!) be joined by a returning Ring-tailed Lemur, currently on back-order from Wild Republic!
This adorable munchkin of a creature comes to us from Hansa (you could tell, right?) and is a Baby Tarsier! The adult version was out of stock when we ordered, but even this 6" tall incarnation has a head you can swivel! Rather than inhabiting the main Asian continent, species of Tarsiers are found on the Southeast Asian Islands of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Nocturnal primates in their own family, Tarsiers are the only entirely carnivorous group of living primates, dining mostly on insects and spiders with an occasional small bird, lizard or bat also included in their diets, although Tarsiers can in turn fall as prey to any of the latter three! Those big eyes that give Tarsiers an edge while hunting at night also contribute significantly to their extreme cuteness quotient...
There are a number of different species of diminutive Old World Monkeys found mostly in Southeast Asia, including portions of India and China within that region, peninsular areas of Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and/or Sumatra and Borneo that are commonly called Leaf Monkeys. They are typically arboreal and earn their common appellation from the main component of their diets. We are pleased to welcome this little little 7" portrait from Hansa of a generic version of this too-cute-for-words primate back to our shelves!
It may be hard to wrap one's head around, but this large nocturnal tree-dwelling primate fills the ecological niche on the island of Madagascar that Woodpeckers fill almost everywhere else! The Aye-aye is a lemur that hunts using a method known as percussive foraging, first tapping on tree trunks or limbs to find grubs and then harvesting them by gnawing an access hole with its sharp teeth and extracting them with a specialized long finger to consume them! Like those of many rodents, the Aye-aye's teeth continue to grow indefinitely, so it needs to grind them down chewing through tree bark on its way to prey!
Asia is home of one of the most famous and fantastically beautiful birds in the world and we just added FOUR NEW plush versions to our Peacock collection, one each from Hansa, Douglas, Folkmanis and Aurora (that's not counting one from Wild Republic that was previously holding down the space alone and another fantasmagorical one soon to arrive from Ganz)! We are so impressed with how wonderfully each manufacturer has rendered its Peacock--and how different each one is from the other!
Looking at the attention to detail on this rendition of a Pallas' Kitten, a diminutive feline endemic to, but widely distributed within the montane shrublands and grasslands of Central Asia, we are stunned at how closely the artisans at Hansa have matched its specific features as described by Wikipedia,
"The Pallas's cat's fur is light grey with pale yellowish-ochre or pale yellowish-reddish hues. Its forehead and top of the head is light grey with small black spots. It has two black zigzag lines on the cheeks running from the corner of the eyes to the jaw joints, and five to seven dark transversal lines across the lower back. Some hair tips are white and some blackish. Its chin, whiskers, lower and upper lips are white. The underfur is 40 mm (1.6 in) long and 19 μm (0.00075 in) thick, and the guard hairs up to 69 mm (2.7 in) long and 93 μm (0.0037 in) thick on the back. Its fur is soft and dense with up to 9000 hairs per cm2 (58,000/in2). Its eyes are encircled by white. Its iris is yellowish, and its pupils contract to small circular slits in sunlight. Its ears are grey with a yellowish tinge on the back and a darker rim, but with whitish hair in front and in the ear pinnae. Its rounded ears are set low on the side, so that it can peer over an object and show only a relatively small part of the head above the eyes without depressing the ears. This gives its face a look of ferocity and unrest. It has narrow black stripes on the back, and its grey tail has seven narrow black rings and a black tip..."
That, plus it is about as cute as a bug!
If the markings on this plush rendition of what is obviously not a domestic cat don't seem to be consistent with those you might recognize as belonging to regular Leopards, Cheetahs, Jaguars or the like, it is because this represents none of the above! In fact the markings on this wild cat are so distinctive, that its common name is derived directly from their unique appearance! This is a "Clouded Leopard", a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into southern China. Clouded Leopards are solitary cats that exhibit advanced climbing skills useful for a largely arboreal existence, although they do spend time hunting on the ground at night when they are most active, preying upon medium sized vertebrates (e.g., the size of pangolins, binturongs, pheasants, small deer and the like). Per Wikipedia, "Its head-and-body length ranges from 68.6 to 108 cm (27.0 to 42.5 in) with a 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) long tail. It uses its tail for balancing when moving in trees and is able to climb down vertical tree trunks head first."
We used to be able to obtain a nicely positioned, laying Clouded Leopard from Fiesta that is no longer available so are happy to see this one appear in Wild Republic's collection. In fact the fur pattern and texture on this version may be the more luxuriant!
Our Asian Habitat would be sadly lacking without Pandas--and betcha we couldn't order just one style, either! So we ended up with a lovely, fluffy PILE 'o' Pandas, of course! There's one from Ganz, one form Wild Republic and a couple of different ones from Douglas! Now making a choice among them is YOUR "problem"!
Lest those reptile-lovers out there think we are ignoring you, allow us to reassure you that we are VERY pleased to present not only one, but two different plush interpretations of a snake well-known as a denizen of places in Asia--and are delighted that BOTH the Wild Republic (left) and the Aurora Myoni (right) artisans used a few strategically placed stitches to position their Cobra coiled and ready to strike with its hood famously flared!
We got so excited to find so many of our manufacturers making awesome Cheetahs that we forgot to check our inventory of Tigers while ordering just before Christmas--and as it turns out we needed some of those! So we have meanwhile remedied that situation!
And if, as we must, we are going to have traditional orange Tigers in our Asian Habitat, it is simply de rigueur to have a few in White as well! That big one is every bit as lush and fluffy as the image would imply (its smaller compatriot is silky smooth and also eminently huggable, too)!
We can hardly call our Asian Habitat complete without representing the OTHER big Cat besides the Tiger, this one famous for its solitary existence in the icy cold extreme altitudes of the Himalayan Mountains! The only way we could get a naturally posed, laying down, counter-positioned version from Wild Republic at this time was to go with the JUMBO size shown here! This magnificent Snow Leopard's body is about two feet in length (and is as soft as a pillow--which you could use it as!)--and its big fluffy tail is nearly as long! It takes up an entire shelf unto itself, although, having no choice, we've managed to jam another plush piece or two on and around it...
And the grand finale of new additions to our Asian Habitat is...the Hansa Snow Leopard (just LOOK at that face--need we say more?)!!
Our newly restocked Asian Habitat has entire shelves full of Tigers, White Tigers and Snow Leopards with plenty of additional critters from Peacocks to Pandas stacked on and around them!
In moving on to describe refilling our Australian Habitat, we feel so fortunate to have Bocchetta Plush Toys, actually based right there on the continent in question, as an awesome resource for plush representations of some of the renowned and unusual denizens of this unique spot of real estate on our planet! Separated from other land masses for eons, most of Australia's land mammals evolved as monotremes or marsupials rather than as the familiar placental mammals filling similar niches everywhere else on earth! The Kangaroo is, of course, one of the more famous members of the marsupial group--and even though American companies can provide perfectly fine examples, we had to restock this magnificent rendition designed by artists who, living with them on a daily basis, most genuinely appreciate and accurately render their special, distinguished features!
One of our favorite reasons for having found Bocchetta Plush Toys from Australia is that they make a beautiful and altogether accurate, reasonably sized and priced Tasmanian Devil! Our only other current source for this famous critter from Down-under is Hansa; of course their piece is gorgeous, but also big at almost life-sized, with a matching Hansa price-tag, all of which is moot at this moment because Tasmanian Devils are out of stock/on back-order right now at Hansa. Thankfully, this one will serve as a perfectly fine, maybe even better, alternative choice for now--and alongside the Hansa one when it next becomes available!
OK--so almost everyone knows what a WOMbat is, but what about a NUMbat? This is one of the Australian critters we knew nothing about until we discovered it in the Bocchetta catalog! Turns out, although of course a marsupial (it evolved in Australia!), this mostly solitary creature is not closely related to other marsupials and is, unusual for this group, fully active in the daytime, rather than at night. It's mouth and tongue are adapted to efficiently slurp up its almost exclusive diet of termites, up to 20,000 a day for an adult, but because of its relatively small size and lack of strong claws for digging it must make inroads on the weakest parts of termite colony structures, usually shallow and unfortified underground galleries that termites construct between the main concrete-hard nest mound and their feeding sites and must hunt them when the termites are active and can be detected by the Numbat's strong sense of smell!
Although similar in name and also a marsupial, this Australian "Brushtail Possum" is more distantly related to our American Opossum than it is to kangaroos and other Australian pouch-incubating mammals! It is also mainly nocturnal, but dining more on plant leaves, including eucalyptus, than on smaller animals, although an occasional insect, bird egg and/or chick or other small vertebrate can be an acceptable addition to its diet. Like our opossums that have become accustomed to human habitation, per Wikipedia, "common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids". Not generally rendered in plush by our regular US vendors, this specimen is another welcome addition to our Australian Habitat from Bocchetta Plush Toys!
Here are a couple of versions of an Australian animal you may actually have heard of before! The Frilled Lizard is probably one of Australia's most famous reptiles and we were especially pleased to receive not only the rendition of one by Bocchetta (left) who is based on the continent and SHOULD be familiar with this critter, but also a full-body Puppet design from Folkmanis. If you are sufficiently coordinated (and have large enough hands to reach it), the puppet has an air bladder in its tail that allows the operator to actually puff air into the frilled collar to inflate it!
Although the Australian Quokka is reminiscent of cute western hemisphere rodents like Prairie Dogs or even certain rats, it is a marsupial relative of kangaroos and wallabies, although in its own separate genus. Only cat-sized itself, it can be preyed upon by introduced domestic cats, dogs and red foxes and due to such predation and significant loss of suitable habitat has become ecologically vulnerable. A nocturnal herbivore, the Quokka is able to climb small trees and bushes to reach leaves to munch on, but also eats grasses, sedges and other vegetation which it partially chews and swallows to regurgitate and chew as cud much like cows!
Here is another Australian marsupial (of course) that we had never heard of until we looked at Bocchetta's catolog! Unlike the Quokka, the various species of quolls are carnivorous. Per Wikipedia, "Quolls eat smaller mammals, small birds, lizards, and insects. Their natural lifespan is between two and five years. All species have drastically declined in numbers since Australasia was colonized by Europeans, with one species, the eastern Quoll, becoming extinct on the Australian mainland, now found only in Tasmania. Major threats to their survival include the cane toad, predators such as feral cats and foxes, urban development, and poison baiting. Conservation efforts include breeding programs in captivity, one of which is taking place in Tasmania with support from Rewilding Australia and Conjour.
Ah--at last an Australian animal besides a Kangaroo that you might even recognize--or at least have heard of! Being in Australia, Bocchetta Plush Toys would be expected to offer some Wombat choices and we picked out the two supporting this pile 'o' Wombats from them! Obviously, a little different in size there are a few additional subtle differences as well (eye and feet treatments); the Wombat on the top of this heap comes to us from Douglas and varies from the other two! Our really, really favorite Wombat is made by Hansa, but it is currently out of stock--it is also considerably more expensive than any of these--and we are happy to offer these alternative choices in our Wombat selection!
OK, OK--we do know that Kiwi Birds are not Australian, but rather, from New Zealand! However, Australia is the closest continent and doesn't boast enough indigenous animals to fill an entire habitat of its own, so much like Madagascar critters hanging out with those from Africa, our Kiwi(s) will be found in our Australian Habitat!
This one is, much to our surprise, from Aurora, a manufacturer who doesn't usually stray too far from the common and well-known creatures of land and sea for inspiration for their plush creations. We suspect one of their designers got their hands on some of this extra-fancy Luxe fabric and realized it would be the perfect thing of which to construct a Kiwi Bird, with the long, color-tipped fibers looking so much like the fine, needle-like feathers these flightless birds sport instead of flight feathers! We couldn't agree more!
Here is our Australian Habitat, updated with lots of interesting new pieces from Bocchetta, our supplier right there on that continent, among others of our awesome vendors, for 2021!
Moving out of our Australian Habitat, we're going to let these three shimmery Mermaids be our introduction to all the NEW ADDITIONS to our Sea Life Collection! We love how the multiple shiny fabrics of each costume compliment the beautiful skin-tones of each Mermaid and although all are different, each adds a a watery sparkle reflecting the marine habitat of these Sea Ladies!
If you know anything about us at all, it should be that when it comes to choosing stuffed animals for our shop we are ALWAYS attracted to the unusual and possibly even the strangest, so when we saw this pair of exotic fish appear in the Ganz catalog we HAD to have them! Ganz isn't even a company we would have expected to spend the time to get something as weird as the Lion Fish and the deep sea Black Seadevil, complete with its fishing line/lure to help attract unsuspecting prey near enough for it to grab, realistically correct (we expect them to provide us, rather, with awesome-cute Teddy Bears, Cats and maybe Puppies!), but we think they did a "fantastic" job with both of these designs!
So, speaking of exotic, we knew the moment we saw this fantasmagorical Sea Serpent appear alongside Dragons in the Douglas collection of fantasy creatures that we would need to add it to our Ocean Habitat! We love how it curves like the waves and how its scales have such a watery shimmer!
Just in case the Sea Serpent from Douglas is not complicated enough for you, we also have a slightly more over-the-top one from Folkmanis! Being from Folkmanis makes it, by definition, a Puppet so its motion in water need not be suggested merely by shiny scales, but you can fully animate its motion by moving BOTH its head and tail
Now that we have several to choose from you absolutely "otter" come check out our new collection of Sea Otters! We also have an even bigger collection of River Otters to rival these, but that's entirely different Habitat!
Do we have any Narwhals? Of course we do!
'The big smooth one with the printed dapple detailing comes to us from Wild Republic and the smaller, fluffy-huggy one is a Douglas creation, so it is soft, soft, soft!
We love Folkmanis, not only because all of their full-body plush pieces are puppets that you can either just display or fully animate, but mainly because they make creatures nobody else even thinks to try! Here is one example we haven't seen from any other plush supplier, a Giant Claim--with an equally unique dose of personality to accompany its unique form!
Here is another creature bringing some exceptional "character" to our Ocean Habitat, also from Folkmanis! The body and legs are accessible for animation by the hand of a puppeteer--or the entire Crab can be pulled back into its shell, just like any realistic Hermit Crab would need to be able to do!
Even though we already had a standard Dolphin or two in our Ocean Habitat we had to add this unusual Vaquita Porpoise from Fiesta! Limited to a tiny region in the north end of the Gulf of California with their population numbering at just around 60 individuals, Vaquita Porpoises are currently the most endangered mammal on earth. With Vaquitas being unintentionally caught during fishing operations, those activities have been suspended in its range in order to hopefully rescue the species. The distinctive facial markings, dark circles ringing each eye, have given the Vaquita Porpoise the nick-name, "Panda of the Seas"; these markings and the beaklike structure of the Vaquita's mouth are unique identifiers for this porpoise.
This smallish (17" across, stretched out), but luminous textured velvet and velour Octopus in colors to match the Sea comes to us From Douglas , so you know it also FEELS as awesome as it looks!
It has been quite some time since we have had Douglas's cute and colorful little Blue Crab in store, but it was about time to welcome it back to our Ocean Habitat! It's there now, waiting to be appreciated once again--just for you and all of your "crabby" friends...!
We were delighted to find this adorable little Puffer Fish in the Wild Republic catalog! This is the diminutive species of which the male carves out a huge and elaborate nest on the sandy sea floor to attract a mate only to have it swept relentlessly away by the waves once this goal is accomplished! It has been featured for this feat on at least one PBS Nature program recently--and it's hard to comprehend how such a little fish keeps track of such a massive design and actually maintains its symmetry long enough for any female to notice! Of course, we suppose it COULD just be that cute little smiley face that ultimately attracts the right girl...? We certainly hopes it attracts you to our Ocean Habitat!
Be sure to visit our Ocean Habitat, newly restocked for 2021!
And moving on to our newly restocked Forest habitat...
We are pleased to offer no less than three designs of plush Great-horned Owls now residing in our Forest Habitat! Bottom left is the Wild Republic version, on the right is the one from Douglas and overseeing both of those is the majestic Puppet Great-horned Owl from Folkmanis with a head you can swivel and eyes that can blink!
Leave it to Douglas to be the first of our plush suppliers to provide us with a Great GRAY Owl! This imposing creature has been missing from the collection of Barn Owls and Great-horned Owls and we are happy to welcome it to our Forest Habitat!
Here is a great example of why we love to be able to present the same animal in plush from different suppliers! Both of these are relatively accurate renditions of a Red-tailed Hawk, each portrayed handsomely, but with specific traits accented quite differently by their respective designers! Having both in this case also provides alternative size options for different spaces as well. On the left is the version from Douglas, accompanied on the right by the one by Wild Republic.
No Forest Habitat would be complete without representatives from one of its most iconic groups of residents, SQUIRRELS! And we have a good collection to choose from, including a couple of exquisitely detailed and complex renditions from Hansa (sitting on the wooden block), as well as simpler and differently sized versions in a variety of typical squirrel colors!
We got so excited to show you all the Squirrels in our Forest habitat we almost forgot to share this iconic Bird of Prey we are delighted to add to our collection! This elegantly rendered Peregrine Falcon is new from Douglas, the only supplier we are aware of who can even supply one as a plush piece and, as usual they got it right in all its regal detail while managing to keep it soft and huggable!
So, if we're going to have Squirrels in our forest, we have to also have Chipmunks! Both of these are adorably cute and detailed, albeit it to wildly different degrees. The one on the lef