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!
Friends from Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties and beyond: Do you pass "routinely" through Redlands on your travels?
Make Us a “regular” stop!
PLEASE NOTE: We DO NOT carry Jellycats or Labubus...
Today is Sunday, June 15, 2025!
We are OPEN until 5 PM
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 11 AM - 6 PM, Sundays OPEN 11 AM - 5 PM and CLOSED on Tuesday.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you Dads out there!
YIKES!
Within a degree of the predicted century mark for a high today--and likely the same for tomorrow before a cool-down begins that will return us to high temperatures from around the upper eighties to the low to mid-nineties (whew!) for the rest of the 14-day forecast! Looks like a brief "reprieve" before summer hits us full-on--the perfect excuse to get outside and do some LOCAL SHOPPING ahead of that happening! (We'll still have the AC on, set to be sure it's comfortable inside, too!)
CONGRATULATIONS to every member of the mighty Class of 2025!
Got a new Graduate to celebrate?
Graduation "Stuff" is up on our seasonal display!
Graduation Cards are now gracing our PopUp Greeting Card display near the front door!
We even have a few designs of House and/or Garden size Graduation Flags should you need to let folks know where the Party is...
SUMMER/SUNFLOWER Flags are up on our Flag Wall near the front of the Shop and our display fixture near the check-out counter is FULL of a TON of... SPRING Flags (featuring, flowers, birds, insects, et. al.)!
Remember that we ALWAYS retain a selection of packaged Patriotic flags just inside our front door should you be thinking ahead toward the Fourth of July!
And just in time for a sunny Summer, we've loaded up the little table in front of our rear panels with BEE Stuff (and non-stuff)!
Be sure to take advantage of our current bribes, ...er, "incentives" to encourage you to SHOP LOCAL with us for your celebration and everyday gift-giving (and keeping!) needs!
We are accepting qualifying entries to WIN our Spring Customer Appreciation Gift Basket Drawing as of ... NOW! And we just extended the deadline to enter until June 27!
Our newest DISCOUNT COUPON has been published in the newly reformatted issues (smaller magazine style, full color AND glossy, debuted in December!) of Coupons Monthly for June! You can SAVE MONEY with ANY of our coupons, since they NEVER expire!
SPECIAL NOTE: In view of the volatile trade tariff situation affecting all of our suppliers (some have added across-the-board surcharges to any orders only to change or even revoke them as tariffs have been reduced or canceled; others have specifically added to the costs of products made in locations according to the particular tariffs imposed on them, which are also subject to revision...), we have held off placing new orders until we see some stabilization in order to get our best pricing for you. While we may, therefore, be "thinner" than we would like to be in some areas, we still are generally well-stocked with many choices if you can be a little flexible!
Played hooky last "day off" and went wildflowering in our local San Jacinto Mountains instead of working at the Shop!
We've visited this area so often there is not much we have not already photographed to death--and this year was not the greatest for fields of annual wildflowers as it has been comparatively dry. However, the perennial shrubs are doing surprisingly well with most of the usual suspects clearly not missing the rain (probably still able to reach that higher ground water replenished the last couple of wet years), albeit blooming later than expected this year (cold nights?)! Manzanitas were especially showy for this "late" in the season! We did, however, document the fact the a couple of populations of the rare Munzii variety of Calochortus palmeri are still in place and doing well! (The out-of-the-wind examples were inside the private property fence, so we had to make due with a bobbing and weaving--and hence a little blurry--specimen just outside the fence! They seem to like dry mountain meadows often juxtaposed with Great Basin Sage scrub as seen in a general view of inside the fence!
Fun Bee items just in time for a sunny Summer!
Graduation "Stuff" is up on our seasonal display!
Congratulations to the Mighty Class of 2025--and best of luck in all of your future endeavors!
Graduation PopUp Greeting Cards available now!
We have a few remaining designs of Graduation Flags--available in House and/or Garden Sizes!
REMINDER: WE ALWAYS have a collection of Patriotic House and/or Garden Flags available on a display just inside the front door! (Selection may vary from shown)
SPRING Decorative Flags are now appearing on our Flag Display near the check-out counter!
Here are a very few examples of our available Spring Decorative Flags!
Summer, including Sunflower Flags, are up on our Flag Wall just inside our front door! Here are images of a few House (upper) and Garden (lower) designs!
Congratulations to Kate A. from Redlands for scoring all that awesome swag in our Easter Customer Appreciation Gift Basket!
Kate and her family happen to be a long-time, regular customers and had a number of opportunities among them to fill out an entry form (once a day per purchase per customer!) for this drawing--so, although we've had plenty of customers win on one entry, in this case multiple purchases (any amount) over time might actually have increased the chances of winning!
We've been accepting entries for our Spring Customer Appreciation Gift Basket Drawing since shortly after Easter, thinking to choose a winner this week. However--good news for you--since we were missing in action for a significant part of this month due to Kathy's hip-replacement surgery, we have extended the due date for entries until June 27, drawing to be held on Saturday, June 28! Don't miss these additional chances to qualify to WIN!
The June version of our DISCOUNT COUPON has been published in the newly reformatted issues (smaller magazine style, full color AND glossy!) 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 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!
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 left, being a little sculpture from Hansa, is about twice the cost ($27) of the sweetly huggable Douglas version (not at all bad at about $13) on the right. We're all about providing you with choices, right? Here we have a couple of nice ones you can easily discern but not necessarily DECIDE between!
Another iconic and well-known wild forest (and increasingly urban) critter is the Raccoon! Meet our scurrilous crew of masked Bandits, each of which looks like its very own brand of mischief, all now residing in our Forest Habitat!
If one Hedgehog is cute and fun, more must be better--so we HAVE MORE! All of these are adorable and offer choices as to size and price (and expression!), but the coolest one is the hand-puppet (top left on the box) because, not only does it have an opening for the puppeteer to insert a hand to animate it, but it also has a second opening at its base that allows it to be turned completely inside-out-into a ball--just like the ones Alice in Wonderland got to smack while playing croquet with the Queen!
Moose were unacceptably absent from our Forest habitat until recently, but now we have these three distinctive choices! Gotta LOVE the schozz on that mush-soft lay-down guy in front made by Douglas in that fabulous D-Lux fabric!
So we already showed you our collection of Sea Otters, but least we forget about their forest and stream dwelling cousins, we have even more River Otters to choose among! What strikes us about these guys is not only how different they are from the maritime version, but also how differently each supplier has portrayed the whimsical character of each River Otter shown! The one standing up with the most attitude and looking slick enough to have just emerged from the water is Hansa's "sculpted" version with "alternative" contributions from Gund, Aurora and Wild Republic!
So, we went from having approximately zero Red Foxes in our Forest habitat in early December to having too many now to show in one image! This group features a lush Ganz Heritage Plush Collection version (top, left) alongside a Wild Republic design (right) with a rendition in front that is not only beautiful and exquisitely detailed, but being from Folkmanis, is also a full-body Puppet you not only can cuddle, but animate from within as well!
Red Foxes, Round 2: Here are the rest of the Red Foxes we just added to our Forest Habitat--and each of these is from Douglas, so you know they feel every bit as wonderful as they look! The two darker ones are constructed of that fabulous new D-Lux fabric that in this case incorporates that minky, light-to-dark color gradation on each fiber of long fur. This stunning piece is not only "D-Lux", but also completely "D-licious" to handle!
We were very pleased to find a Badger in the Douglas catalog at last. Everyone else's seem to always be out of stock, but this rather portly little version made it into one of our most recent shipments--and yes, that deep, frosty fur is every bit as lushly soft as appearances here would suggest! What a sweet face, too, for a creature with the propensity for a bit of grumpiness!
We've had several Brown Bears (although one of those just sold a few minutes ago) in our Forest Habitat for some time and were finally able (this guy has been on back-order since December!) to add this luxuriant Black Bear! Looking at that lush fur, it's not hard to figure out that this is a piece from Douglas or to guess how amazingly huggable it is, even though it does have an appropriately sturdy and imposing presence!
We were every pleased to find a Badger in the Douglas catalog at last. Everyone else's seem to always be out of stock, but this rather portly little version made it into one of our most recent shipments--and yes, that deep, frosty fur is every bit as lushly soft as appearances here would suggest! What a sweet face, too, for a creature with the propensity for a bit of grumpiness!
This luxuriant Black-footed Ferret comes to us from Douglas. Looking at its lean and wiry body and lush fur it's no surprise to note that this in a member of the same family as weasels and minks. Dependent upon prairie dogs as its main prey, its numbers in the wild declined nearly to extinction when prairie dog populations tanked during the 20th century. Discovery of a small remnant group of Black-footed Ferrets in Wyoming in 1981 allowed for a captive breeding program "launched by the US Fish and Game Service that resulted in its reintroduction into eight western US states, Canada, and Mexico from 1991 to 2009. As of 2011, over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals are in the wild across 18 populations, with five self-sustaining populations in South Dakota (two), Arizona, and Wyoming. It was first listed as "endangered" in 1982, then listed as "extinct in the wild" in 1996 before being downgraded back to "endangered" in the IUCN Red List in 2008." (per Wikipedia).
This guy HAS to be the gnarliest Alligator we have ever seen rendered in plush! Not only does it have those fabulous cat's eyes and iridescent, colorfully mottled scaly "skin" and plastic "claws", but since it is made by Folkmanis you can animate it from the inside by hand, including opening and closing that toothsome mouth!
We have the cool Bison back in stock!
The one on top is a classic from Douglas (we generally just about hate that kohair fabric on cats--they "should" have lush, standard, plush fur--but it is just about perfect in its different forms for a piece like this with curly and straight fabrics of varying pile lengths: "shaggy" really looks shaggy on this Bison--and the entire piece is still soft!). The two in front are from Wild Republic and we really appreciate that they took the trouble to make a Bison Calf (left) as well as the adult (right) as they really do have distinctive features as baby Bison!
Our northern hemisphere Forest Habitat, including our Audubon Bird Collection (these are the ones with the authentic songs recorded by Cornell University and brought to us by Wild Republic), has been fully restocked with TONS of choices (many are new designs fresh for this year)!
Not quite as fluffy as the "Cat-icorn" we showed above from Douglas, but every bit as soft (can you say "melty"?) and possibly even more colorful, with the added feature of a braided mane embellishment, is this seated "Rainbow Unicorn"! This piece is so soft it almost has to lean on something to keep from collapsing into a multi-hued cloud with a horn and a tail!
Most of the Dragons we source from Aurora tend more toward the cute than the gnarly end of the spectrum, but this one just might be the exception that makes the "rule"! We were especially attracted to the sophistication of that deep-indigo-to ice-blue mottled fabric--and that was before we even noted the coordinating shiny metallic wings, spines and feet! Most unusual, but perfect from a design standpoint is the fancy fluffy "mane" in Renaissance hues of olive green, teal and magenta! A uniquely awesome and stately Dragon from Aurora!
When it comes to Dragons this year even Ganz has gotten in on the fun! This super-shiny Green Dragon is made from an iridescent fabric with scales that grade through the colors of the rainbow on a chartreuse ground--and if that wasn't "fancy" enough, its wings and underbelly are covered in multi-hued sparkling sequins!
Oh--and that shimmering fanciful Dragon from Ganz also comes in PINK!
Our friends at Folkmanis Puppets make some of the most fabulously rendered creatures of all sorts and there is no category in their line for which this is more true than their Dragons! This little Winged Dragon, although one of their smaller ones, is certainly no exception, with different textiles aptly chosen and applied for the body, spines wings, wing-veins, inside of the mouth, teeth, claws and even that forked tongue, sparing no detail along the way during construction! Cool just to look at, as a Puppet it can be made to come alive by the hands of a puppeteer!
Here is another one of Folkmanis' elaborately detailed (and exuding plenty of character, even when it's not being animated by a puppeteer!) full-body plush Dragon Puppets, this one a somewhat chubby, cute, but still dragon-sly Baby Dragon!
Leave it to Folkmanis to even attempt a shimmering, swirling, flying version of a "Jabberwocky"! This one, amazing in its luxurious detail and rich heavy fabrics is structured such that it really needs a puppeteer to fill it out and give it substance--and when that occurs it becomes magnificent!
This BIG (over 12" tall) winged Wyvern Dragon from Folkmanis is lovingly constructed of golden crushed velvet and two wildly different versions of colorful scaly fabric to create an imposing and impressive piece that becomes even more so as an animated Puppet!
Our Fantasy Habitat is now jam-packed with all sorts of Imaginative Creatures for your choosing enjoyment!
Even though our first experience with Bocchetta Plush Toys in Australia was, in fact, as our only source of plush Pit Bull dogs, we understandably enough thought this supplier would become a go-to source for unusual and unfamiliar Aussie marsupials besides the well-known koalas and kangaroos our stateside vendors can supply--and indeed they have so become. What we did not expect was to find them to have such a great collection of plush Dogs and Cats--and in breeds we have often not been typically able to find at all and if so, rendered as well or even more interestingly as from our best suppliers (including, much to our surprise, Douglas)!
This gorgeous Schnauzer is a prime example! Douglas has had a very nice Schnauzer off and on in its plush dog collection, but not at this time and even if they did, this version is in a different pose and would give it a design and materials run for the money! This beautiful piece from Bocchetta is about 14" tall in this seated position and it is every bit as lush and fluffy and pleasing to hold as it is to look at! The first one we ordered stayed on our shelves for maybe a week once it arrived, so we immediately ordered two more! The first of these did not even make it from the box to the shelf as it was nabbed by a customer who asked if we had one as we were still unpacking the shipment. The second one was also gone in under two weeks once it made it to the display! We have three more as of this moment, but cannot guarantee for how long...!
Bocchetta Plush also provides us with this little detailed jewel of a Chihuahua in Black and Brown (all our Douglas ones are fawn-colored!). Anyone with even a little sewing experience knows how difficult it is to render small items of any sort in fabric ("Mommy, make some clothes for my Barbie, pleeeese", "...Noooooooo....!")--and we think the Bocchetta artisans have rivaled even Hansa with success in that regard depicting this diminutive dog breed with its accurately placed markings, finely sculpted pointed nose, rounded head and correctly shaped and proportioned ears--and still managed to give it such a sweet and attentive expression!
Here is Bocchetta's version of a classic Bulldog in all it's wrinkly, smushed-rather-flat glory, complete with that almost-sad, sleepy expression! Somebody MUST need to add this couch potato to the cushions already residing there!
Bocchetta Plush Toys brings us fancy Poodles, one snow-white and standing, the other coal-black and lying down, both with cute little bows on their ears! Even Douglas is not making a medium-sized Poodle in any color right now, so we are pleased to find these from our friends at Bocchetta!
Bocchetta is the ONLY manufacturer we know of that makes legit, realistic Pit Bull Dogs in plush! A few American vendors have tried but this dog's often unfair "reputation" as a "mean" and "dangerous" breed sadly seems to preclude retailers from wanting to stock enough of them to be worth the vendors' trouble, manufacture being demand driven as it is! We are really glad Bocchetta does not seem to have picked up on this breed bias and, in fact, makes not only these two beautifully rendered versions in Gray and in Black and White, but a couple more we will show you tomorrow!
Here are the other two plush Pit Bull Dogs from Bocchetta! We think their designer(s) did a remarkably good job sensitively capturing the sweet and intelligent side of the character of this often misunderstood and maligned breed!
Ironically, it was this very dog breed that led us to Bocchetta in the first place as it was a customer request accompanied by a downloaded image that included the manufacturer's info that set us on the successful hunt for them! They have become one of our main go-to suppliers not only of the expected unusual Australian stuffed animals they obviously have an inside track on, being located on that continent, but also for a really nice array of exceptionally well-rendered dog and cat breeds we have not found anywhere else!
Black and White Border Collie "Chase" from Douglas (rear) is back in store (we always feel lucky when he is not on indefinite back-order because is is SO popular!)--and now he has a new seated buddy "Tommy" from Bocchetta in Australia where they know a thing or two about working dogs!
We were delighted to find an actual color-variation (we have NEVER seen one in this color from any of our US suppliers!) on this popular working dog and are very pleased to be able to bring you this gorgeous BROWN and white version of a Border Collie from Bocchetta--sitting at alert attention, looking like he's ready to get busy ("Show me to some sheep!")!
Douglas was one of the first plush companies to take on the complex challenge of rendering a blue-merle Australian Shepherd ("Sidney", top right) in any kind of textile--and they invented at least one fabric (that also shows up as the tails of their small grey squirrels!) to make that possible! Now that they can get their hands on that fabulous new DeLux material, they obviously had to use some to make the bigger and better version! Maizie (laying in front here) turned out so fine that she graces the front of the 2021 Douglas plush catalogue! If you are an Aussie Shepherd fan, shouldn't she be gracing at spot in your home, too?
And here is the brand NEW for 2021 blue merle Australian Shepherd from Bocchetta, now part of their "working dogs" collection--a different enough (grown-up!) version to be well-worth adding to ours too!
The Aussie Doodle, a cross between an Australian Shepherd and standard Poodle, has become an incredibly popular mix of dog breeds, largely because the resulting offspring are incredibly cute! This cuteness quotient was enough for Douglas to recognize the "need" to create a plush version and we doubt they could have done any better, especially since they stayed with the puppy version! What you can begin to suspect looking at that fluffy "fur" but cannot fully appreciate without holding this little guy is how fabulously SOFT and cuddly this piece turned out to be--plus Douglas manages to convey just the right "personality" for this combination of two great dog breeds!
Not a lot of plush Terriers out there either, so when these two showed up, one (left) seated at about 9" tall and described specifically to be an Airedale in the Ganz Heritage Collection and one (right) as a NEW 18" D-Lux fabric laying down version (Mixed Terrier!) in the Douglas catalog (in fact, this one made the cover!), we HAD to nab them both! Terrier lovers take note--and don't miss the "opportunity" should you happen to "need" a stuffed animal rendition!
We try to keep in stock at least one plush "generic" Dog we can envision as some little kid's best buddy to cuddle, sleep with and drag along everywhere! It has to be cute and floppy and soft and huggable, with a sweet face that indicates astute attention being paid to any secrets being shared! At this time this yummy 16" long (it can sit or lay down) Labradoodle by Douglas would be our choice as it meets every one of these criterion--and it even has curly "fur"!
Going from a "generic" Labradoodle to these very specific and precise plush French Bulldogs (in two variations, no less!) is made possible by Bocchetta! These little guys are the most realistic and accurate we can find anywhere and we are consequently SO grateful to have this company as a resource for you!
Even though we have several really nice plush Golden Retrievers from Douglas, the fact that this design from Bocchetta depicts more of an adult dog in a seated position rather than the more floppy puppy versions from Douglas made it a must-have for our collection! That cute little panting tongue didn't hurt to help seal the deal either!
Being as mush-brained for dogs as we are we are always on the lookout for plush versions of Dogs we have not seen done as such before! Sometimes that includes breeds we have never even heard of (just like our exotic wildlife occasionally does) like this Flat-coated Retriever provided by our favorite plush dog manufacturer, Douglas! We know essentially nothing about this breed except that it is categorized as a working gundog like other kinds of Retrievers. With its distinctively "feathered" legs, chest and undersides of tail and belly compared to smooth upper body head and ears, it must present as an entirely handsome creature in real life! This plush version looks like it could easily serve as some deserving young man's best plush buddy!
And from the beautiful solid coal-black fur of the Flat-coated Retriever we shared above/yesterday, we go to this wonderfully detailed portrait of a snow-white breed, the cute-as-a-bug--and simply fabulous--Westie! This is another breed we've had trouble consistently finding in plush in any form, but leave it to Douglas to make not only an accurate, but excellent one--making sure to portray it as an adult in a breed-standard show-cut! This one should be on the way to a championship place in the heart of any Westie lover!
Douglas brings us yet another somewhat unusual Dog Breed to find rendered in plush! While almost every manufacturer that makes plush dogs eventually gets around to some form of German Shepherd, Douglas has responded to a specific interest in the distinctive Belgian Malinois! We've actually had a few requests for this breed over the years that we've never been able to satisfy--until now! And of course Douglas has captured the intense and distinguished character of this handsome working breed!
OK--when someone purchased our last Quokka, we knew it was "time" to reorder from our friends in Australia, Bocchetta Plush Toys (Alert to budget: Danger, Danger!)! We try to keep in stock the wonderful Australian Cattle Dog from Douglas that is made of an amazingly soft, merle-printed, suede-like textile, but the last two of those sold out a few weeks ago, so we decided to try the Bocchetta version of a dog they should be eminently familiar with until we can get another order in to Douglas, especially because Bocchetta's designers have a wildly different take on this particular breed! We love how handsome this guy is and how relaxed and naturally his laying-down pose presents (it's probably one of the few way to see a working breed like this staying still)! He is also soft, but in a different way, with thick, rich classic plush, from the Douglas design. And doesn't he have the sweetest, most alert and engaging expression--with that cute little tongue barely hanging out of his open mouth just making him look alive?
This beautifully executed laying German Shepherd from Bocchetta is BACK in STOCK (along with more Quokkas, a new Potero, a new Flying Fox and a new Emu, not to mention several fabulous Cats, all from this fun company based in Australia)! Much like their amazing Schnauzer, this piece is stunning enough that it sells out, not quite as fast, but still rather quickly (we got an extra one this time...). Unlike the Schnauzer, we do have alternate choices in the US for German Shepherds (Douglas and Ganz currently have good versions in their current collections; a few from additional companies are almost an embarrassment to display on our shelves, so we avoid them!), but this is the BEST one we can find anywhere in this size and price range, being much more detailed and naturalistic in its portrayal, showing off the most iconic characteristics of this well-known and admired breed!
We like the laying German Shepherd from Bocchetta so much we thought it well worth trying the seated one, too. We wanted the 14-15" tall one proportioned to "match" the laying one we love so much, but those were out of stock this time around so we opted for the 8-9" just to see how that pose looks in person! We have to say that there is no loss of detail--or personality--on this smaller size and it comes with the advantage of being a little less expensive than the larger one. Totally handsome!
What fun to find such a charming example of a plush Golden Doodle in the Bocchetta Dog Collection! A little bit Poodle-curly and a little bit Retriever-"feathered" with plenty of that "Golden" just to please the eye, we think this rendering of this now-classic breed combination admirably showcases the best of both, while looking like it is just waiting for a hug!
We are pleased to have this quintessential spotted Fireman's Dog back in stock! Much easier than the real ones to keep entertained and out of mischief is this eminently soft and huggable Dalmatian from Douglas!
We are always delighted when we can bring you a breed of dog that is almost impossible to find as a stuffed animal! We've even been known to have things (like plush Pit Bulls!) shipped in from as far away as Australia to make this happen for you! Fortunately, we did not have to go that far afield to find this beautiful Weimaraner; even better, this one comes to us from Douglas whose sensitivity (not to mention quality of design and materials!) in rendering especially dogs in plush is a hallmark of their pieces! Nothing less than you would expect here for this handsomely rendered breed--in classic solid steely gray with BLUE eyes!
Although we often recommend this handsomeh piece for someone in need of a plush "generic dog" dog, it is , indeed, specifically designed to represent a Newfoundland Puppy! This sturdy breed in real life happens to have particularly long, thick and rich fur (Newfoundlands are used by various international agencies like Coast Guards for water rescues because the trained dog, strong enough to "tow" several grown men, will happily engage its webbed paws to paddle out to a struggling potential drowning victim and all that person has to do is grab onto that fur coat anywhere and keep their own head above water while the dog swims them strongly and confidently back to the rescuers!), frosted here with that characteristic white patch on the chest. That along with such a sweet, soulfully friendly face, makes even a stuffed animal version of the Newfoundland a reliable and huggable best buddy!
Our Dog Collection just keeps on growing! We have so many plush dog breeds that they are kind of surrounding our Flag Wall at this point, so be sure to look on both sides!
Next up: CATS!
One definition of "almost-impossible-to-find kind of stuffed animal" could most certainly be solid-colored Black Cats, especially if we are talking LONG-HAIRED solid-colored Black Cats! Once again we turn to Bocchetta Plush in Australian for something very special that is not a marsupial endemic to that continent! Here we have not just one, but two different renditions of this feline rarely executed in plush (even adult plush panthers are hard to come by--and they commonly serve as mascots for sports teams and schools)! And we think it would be hard to match the "cat-itude" portrayed by these poses--or the fine, arrogantly fierce expressions on the faces of these two guys!
Do we have any Calico Cats?
Why, yes, we do: two lush soft and floppy versions from Douglas and the one in front with the magnificent attitude form Bocchetta Plush! All are simply fabulous, darling!
Here is Bocchetta's extra-FANCY, long-haired Tuxedo Cat in two poses, both in store now! Plenty of "cat-itude" confidence in each pair of striking golden eyes--because they know perfectly well how utterly gorgeous they each are!
We can find plush long-haired Himalayan Cats all day everyday right now, but procuring a short-haired Siamese is another issue! Back we went to our master of Australian animals expertly rendered in plush--and found these gorgeous, accurately portrayed sitting and laying Siamese Cats. Clearly these slender and sleek versions, both exuding Siamese aloof cool (how gorgeous are those eyes?), would not be mistaken for Himalayans!
This fluffy snowball of a long-haired, pristinely White Persian Cat comes to us from Ganz and is a member of their extra-quality, realistic Heritage Collection! The expression in those bright, gemstone blue eyes give this ermine-coated confection an additional air of royalty consistent with the lushness of rich "fur" that almost melts under a stroke or a hug!
This fantabulous black and white and gray long-haired Cat, "Zoey", comes to us from Douglas--and we think it may have been just a perfect "excuse" to showcase how gorgeous that new D-Lux fabric can be when used to construct a very special stuffed animal! Awesome to look at, this one is great for a big (22" without the tail), melty-soft hug, too!
Here is yet another gorgeous seated long-haired (fluffy!) Cat from Bocchetta, this one in soft (visually AND physically) gray and white--and fully infused with that special, fiercely and unapologetic Cat attitude!
OK--so we showed you our gorgeous, long-haired White Persian plush Cat a couple of days ago... Even harder to find is a SHORT-HAIRED solid White Cat in plush! Leave it to Douglas to bring us one that is not only accurately adorable, but also melting-marshmallow soft! This one almost dissolves to the touch--and may be even softer than the fluffy Persian!
If you were even vaguely impressed by the long-haired black and white Cat, "Zoey" from Douglas that was made especially beautiful by its construction of D-Lux fabric, this one has to be Douglas' piece de resistance of Cats! Done in several changes (colors, fur lengths) of that special D-Lux textile, this Maine Coon Cat features "fur" stunningly mottled from rich reddish brown-black to tints of beige that is as richly soft as it is hued! It's also huge (the box it is laying across is 14.5" long--and it almost doesn't fit!), as befits this breed that was literally developed to hunt Raccoons!
Our "Cat House" is once again full (more like overflowing)!
Next featured inhabitants: Barnyard and Stable--wait until you see the Chickens!
Now THESE Chickens are more like what we would expect to find in our Shop! We don't know of any other manufacturer that can render stuffed versions of Birds so believably and with such accuracy, with nary an actual feather in sight, than our friends at Hansa Yes, they ARE priced as you would expect any exquisite sculpture, plush or otherwise, to be. They are also life-sized in stature at about 16" (the amazing Red Hen, right) to 18" (the magnificent Rooster, left). We are just waiting to hear them crow or cluck--and fluff those "feathers"!
Not a wit less detail on this slightly smaller (and a little less expensive) 11" Rooster from Hansa verses the 18" one shown above! We are so impressed with how believably Hansa manages to depict "feathered" birds in plush--and very pleased to have this one also gracing our Barnyard Habitat!
Hansa describes this lovely Lady as an Alsace Hen--and she is in the same size range as the 11" Rooster above! She also sports the same level of thoughtful and sensitive detail, as does ANY Hansa plush piece! They are all more soft sculpture than "toys" (we can see these Chickens sharing a collector's display case along with the carefully chosen brass, tin, wood, crystal and ceramic versions), but thoroughly safe for children 3 and up!
This pretty little fowl is identified by Hansa to be a French Hen. She, too, is similar in size to the Hansa 11" Rooster--and perhaps the best color match to it, should anyone feel compelled to possess (or gift to an adoring collector) a PAIR of especially beautifully executed plush Chickens!
In case you were wondering, we do have perfectly fine alternatives to the extra special (and admittedly pricey!) versions of plush Chickens from Hansa! This colorful Red Hen and Rooster are from Ganz (at under $30 each) and are part of their quality Heritage Collection of realistic stuffed animals! We are SO glad they decided to make some Chickens, too!
Also found in the Ganz Heritage collection of realistic stuffed animals is this handsome all-white rooster, a much more refined version than the Foghorn Leghorn of cartoon fame!
We can always count on Douglas to bring us cool options for a given animal rendered in plush! Here we have their entirely different take from Hansa or Ganz on a couple of unique (and exceedingly soft!) versions of Chicken Hens we are pleased to have among our Barnyard Habitat choices!
Chickens are clearly not the only birds that Hansa artisans are capable of exquisitely constructing! Out of the corner of the eye this Pigeon is easily mistaken as real--or at least as a taxidermied specimen. It takes closer inspection to reveal it as sculpted and airbrushed (just admire its neck coloration) life-sized piece of fabric art!
Leave it to Hansa to not only accurately depict the physical features of this infamous member of the Corvid Family of Birds, whose members are known to be highly intelligent--as well as occasionally a bit smart-assed--but to also capture the cocky personaity of the Crow! Relying on its immediately recognizable silhouette, the Hansa designers wisely demured from attempting to ruffle the look of their softly scupted Crow with "feathers", but using a short-pile, velour-like fabric concentrated on presenting the smooth, sleek appearance this elegant gangster of the bird world always seems to manage to project!
From Hansa's portrait of a jet-black cocky Crow we now go to thieir pristine vision of an angelic White Dove--with all that sass appropriately replaced by sweet demure innocence!
This purposefully scruffy-looking fellow is a Raven from Folkmanis, the Puppet folks! Although his rather unkempt appearance already gives away some of his sketchy character, you can make his demeanor even more scurrilous by the way you animate him!
We've been adding awesome Douglas Horses to our Stable!
When the gray and white version (hiding in back) of this ultra-soft, gorgeous laying Spotted Pony arrived earlier this year, we could not believe how it feels like it is dissolving to the touch when handled! We loved that characteristic so much, not to mention the typical Douglas detailing of the lush two-colored mane and tail, we HAD to have this newly arrived milk-chocolate and white rendition! Both are like picking up a cloud!
For a little smaller (13.5" rather than 17" long like the pair shown above)--and alternative color choice, also in extreme softness--Douglas provides us with this laying Pony in caramel-tan with white "socks" and a flowing blond mane! And then there is also the further embellishment of a silken golden braid to emphasize the fact that this horse is FANCY!
This elegant steed is part of the Douglas Princess Horse collection and is designed with long combable (brush included) mane and tail WITH decorative embellishments, including ribbons, beading and a braid! This black and white Indian Paint pony, should there be any question, is the "Warrior Princess" Horse!
The fabulous (and fabulously popular) "Pauline" Spotted Pig from Douglas is back in stock a second time this year! Were her attractive black spots and charming personality not enough to boost her into the celebrity category, those lush huge soft pink ears would certainly seal the deal! We expect her current appearance in our Barnyard to be typically brief, as usual....
We knew as soon as we saw it that we had to add this little plush Pig to our collection, because it is a very specific breed we haven't seen/don't already have--and we knew it would be wonderful because it is part of the high-quality, realistic Myoni Collection from Aurora! Meet Aurora's a sweet little Hampshire Pig, a well-known and quite distinctive domestic porcine breed a few 4-H and/or FFA members past or present may actually even recognize! (Go ahead and Google the breed to see how accurate this portrayal is!)
As soon as Douglas was able to get their hands on that fabulous new "D-Lux" plush fabric they began to lovingly render some of everyone's favorite animals in this crazy-rich material! Obviously, as popular as their "regular" Pigs are, they could not leave out doing one this big (16" long), soft (a little more fluffy than your average Pig!) and "Lux"urient! "Charlize" is one impressive Pig from whom you won't shy away from giving a nice big hug!
One more little Piggy to talk about before we move on to another area of our Barnyard/Stable! This little Piggy could go to market--or just about anywhere else--because it has WINGS! And not just any wings, but rainbow-striped ones to carry it aloft! This little Piggy can be found in either/or/both our Barnyard AND Fantasy Habitats!
For unknown reasons it seems we always have difficulty finding anything plush in the donkey/mule category! This is a new addition to Douglas collection of Floppy Farm Animals--and we are so glad they included a Donkey! What this design might(?) lack in extra realistic detailing it more than makes up for in melting softness!
If you prefer elegant detail over smooshy softness in your plush Donkeys (you will always sacrifice a little squishiness when a piece is designed to stand by itself), Douglas also provides us with this realistically rendered handsome creature! We are impressed with how much of the essence of Donkey the Douglas designers managed to "stuff" into this beautiful 12" tall representation!
Even harder to find than Donkeys are Mules, but Wild Republic makes one and we have it in our Stable for you! True to its famously stubborn nature, this one appears to have taken a seat with no apparent intention of going anywhere soon!
Until recently another farm animal hard to find in plush, but consistently requested has been any kind of domestic Goat! Thankfully, in the last couple of years they have begun to appear--and we've added these three beauties, including that gorgeous example with the lush eyelashes stretched out on the box in back, done in that fabulous D-Lux fabric, from Douglas! LOVE to have choices in kinds and sizes (and price-points), especially from such a quality supplier!
Do we have any Llamas in our Stable?
Well, YES, we have an entire collection of them PLUS an adorable Alpaca (middle, front) to keep them company!
Cows used to be one of the most popular animals to depict in plush, but recently they have begun to become a little scarce, so we were happy to add these new soft and floppy lay-down versions just in from Douglas to our existing collection!
Here is what our VERY crowded Barnyard Habitat now looks like!
Even more and larger domestic livestock can be found next to our Barnyard in our expansive Stable Habitat!
And now that things are heating up for summer here in Southern California, we're going to spensd a little time looking at plush renditions of animals that live where it is COLD, new additions to our Arctic Habitat:
For a very brief time (like one order's worth!), we were able to get a nice plush Reindeer from Ganz--but then it went away.... Meanwhile, we have been waiting months for this new design on back order from Wild Republic to finally ship! We think it was worth the wait to be able to add this handsome creature to our Arctic habitat!
If we are going to have an Arctic Habitat we must have Arctic Foxes! Here are two, both exquisitely soft, one from Wild Republic (left) and one from Douglas (right). We love to have choices of the "same" animal because, as you can see, every designer will have a different interpretation of a single species!
OK, OK! We know that Mountain Goats are not strictly an Arctic animal (they tend to range from the Rocky Mountains to the northern Cascades and other western mountains of Canada and Alaska ), but they do live in subalpine to alpine conditions featuring extremely cold temperatures, snow, ice and steep cliffs. These remarkable creatures can nimbly climb slopes inclined at a 60 degree pitch and withstand temperatures as low as -50 degrees and winds as high as 99 miles per hour much like those found even further north! And they, like many Arctic animals in winter, are "dressed" to blend with their snowy surroundings, so we thought our plush versions from Wild Republic (on box) and Douglas (in front of box) might feel most at home in our Arctic Habitat!
Probably no one would argue that the Arctic is not home to one of its most iconic inhabitants, the Polar Bear, so of course we have a few gracing these shelves! In fact, we have so many it will take a couple more images to show them all, because they can be BIG! The two above, one from Wild Republic (left) and one from Douglas (right), are the "small" versions (about 9" tall) and if you are wondering if they are as delectably soft as they look, here's a hint: Douglas is calling theirs "Marshmallow"...!
This rather big bruiser of a Polar Bear is Wild Republic's 16" (nose to tail and at least 10" tall, seated as shown) realistic offering in plush of this remarkable Arctic species. They've even included felt claws to remind us how powerfully dangerous these animals can be in real life--but not this one! He's a good size--and softness--for a nice big bear hug!
This is our BIGGEST (14-15" tall!, seated as shown) and best Polar Bear! No great surprise, it come to us from Douglas! Of course they have manged to give him the most engaging face and better yet, constructed him of that fabulous, exquisitely soft D-Lux fabric so you get a LOT of fluffy hug for your money from this imposingly handsome fellow!
Fortunately, plenty of plush versions of different Arctic-dwelling animals exist for us to fill this habitat, BUT we probably would have had to have an Arctic area if for no other reason than as an "excuse" to have these GORGEOUS Snowy Owls on our shelves! Both of these are from Douglas, with the magnificent one on the left being not only constructed of that fabulously rich D-Lux textile, but also having a moveable head that can be swiveled to pose!
Here is our Arctic Habitat, repopulated for 2021. This is where you stand when it's a hundred degrees outside and think "cool" thoughts, wishing you were somewhere you needed this kind of fur and/or feathers!
Moving out of the cold Arctic and time-traveling back well beyond recorded history, we now visit our Prehistoric Habitat where dinosaurs roam!
This is one we did not recognize, but found to be a real dinosaur from North America that lived during the late Cretaceous Period. It was a member of the pachycephalosaur or thick-skulled (or bone-headed, literally!), bipedal, plant-eating dinosaur group. Its spectacular skull, however, lacks the dome characteristic of this group and instead has spikes and frills reminiscent of a mythical dragon, hence its assigned genus name, Dracorex or "Dragon King"! Given that Douglas is already expertly competent in the manufacture of exotic plush dragons, it should be no surprise that this plush interpretation of this fabulous creature comes to us from this fun company!
We love having a Prehistoric Habitat that we can fill with plush creatures as gnarly and diverse as dinosaurs--and that every manufacturer does what can be a wildly different but awesome take on the SAME dino species! Here we have two such renditions of the famously monstrous Spinosaurus! The one on the left is by Fiesta, while the one on the right comes to us from Wild Republic! Which one would you choose? (Yeah, we couldn't decide either...!)
Our Dinosaur collection would hardly come close to being complete without at least one representative reptile that made it into the air! Not just one, but two Pteranodonsone from Fiesta (left) and one from Wild Republic (right) are filling this bill in our Prehistoric Habitat. Interestingly, while different, each of these interpretations rely on intricately printed fabric to "describe" this flying dinosaur!
Even when designers stick with the anatomical elements known from the archaeological record, plush versions of the same dinosaur can still vary widely! This is certainly the case for these two examples of Triceratops, both equally "accurate", the one on the left coming to us from Aurora and the one on the Right made by Wild Republic! We like to be able to provide lots of choices, so this works brilliantly for us!
According to Wikipedia, "Parasaurolophus was a hadrosaurid, part of a diverse family of Cretaceous dinosaurs known for their range of bizarre head adornments."
As if their head ornaments--and even their name--were not unusual enough, we have two wildly different plush versions of this same dinosaur! While Fiesta employs textural and muted color variations, using several different fabrics to achieve their rendition (left), Wild Republic (right) chooses intricately printed--and brilliantly hued materials to create theirs! Both designs take into account and presesnt known anatomical detail consistent with the fossil record in spite of their varying design approaches, so whichever style you might choose would still be "correct"!
OK--so dinosaurs made it into the air (e.g., the Pteranodans shown earlier), but they also had a presence in the sea! Here is a plush representation from Fiesta of a Plesiosaurus, a Jurassic Period marine reptile. These are often out of stock at Fiesta, but we managed to snag some on our most recent order!
We have not one, but two representatives of prehistoric marine reptiles. This one is a generalized version (there were 40 genera considered to belong to this group that flourished during the Cretaceous period) of a plush Mosasaur. They belong to the same order of reptiles as modern snakes and lizards and were the dominate predator of their time until they became extinct as a result of the 
K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. They ranged in size from just over 3 feet up to 56 feet in length and most likely giving birth to live young! We had to wait several months for this piece to ship as part of a back-order from Fiesta!
How can any prehistoric collection of dinosaurs be complete without the infamous Velociraptor? We need to re-order Wild Republic's plush version, but meanwhile we do have in stock this gnarly plush rendering of same from Aurora (note the detail on this one of those fiercely vicious-looking [not really] "sharp" [plastic] teeth)!
This crazy-colorful (who knows what hues they really came in, so lots of "artistic license" here!) plush creature is Fiesta's rendering of a Gigantoraptor! "Giganto" because these guys could be as big as 29 feet long and weigh in at over two and a half tons! Wikipedia informs us that "Gigantoraptor is a genus of large oviraptosaur dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period". This group of dinosaur is also known to sport some level of body covering of small feathers, hence the "fluffy" regions of fabric on this plush version, so flamboyant that we occasionally refer to it as our "Mick Jagger Dinosaur"!
Ankylosaurus, a genus of "armored" (note what would have been bony defensive protuberances on its body, including two backward facing horns near the back of its skull!) dinosaurs contemporary with Tryannosaurus and Triceratops during the late Cretaceous period, was possibly even greater in mass, up to 8 tons, and similar in length, up to 26 feet--and perhaps as odd looking--as Gigantoraptor! However, while Gigantoraptor was considered to be bipedal, Ankylosaurus walked on all fours. This plush version from Fiesta seems to have become "extinct" from their catalog, but we have a few remaining in stock (and eventual access, when necessary, to a rendition by Wild Republic) in our Prehistoric Collection!
This is Wild Republic's depiction of a Diplodocus, which according to the Wikipedia summary is "a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now mid-western North America, at the end of the Jurassic Period". Further, "Among the best-known sauropods, Diplodocus were very large, long-necked, quadrupedal animals, with long, whip-like tails. Their forelimbs were slightly shorter than their hind limbs, resulting in a largely horizontal posture. The skeletal structure of these long-necked, long-tailed animals supported by four sturdy legs have been compared with suspension bridges." Although their exact means of feeding is still under discussion, Diplodocus were plant-eaters and obtaining food likely entailed unilateral branch stripping. The posture and use of their extremely long necks is also subject to debate, but must have been influenced by physiological limitations much like those faced by modern day giraffes.
Brachiosaurus is another genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic Period. In contrast to the Diplodocus, the front legs of Brachiosaurus were LONGER than its hind legs, giving it a backward-sloping rather than nearly horizontal stance. Its disproportionately long neck suggests that it browsed on high vegetation above 30 feet off of the ground that likely included ginkgos, conifers, tree ferns, and large cycads. It likely consumed 440-880 pounds of plant matter a day, not surprising for a beast estimated to have been between 18 and 21 meters (59 and 69 ft) long and weighing in at from 28.3 to 58 metric tons (31.2 and 64 short tons)!
We showed you Fiesta's interpretation of a Brachiosaurus last time and here is Wild Republic's version of a member of the same genus of dinosaur! This wildly colorful, mostly tie-dyed portrayal is a bit of a contrast to the all-over neutral scaly gray of Fiesta's Brachiosaurus--but, hey--we're all about choices (and artistic freedom)!
Finishing out our Prehistoric Collection of Dinosaurs has to be none other than the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex, without which it would hardly be complete!This is Wild Republic's plush rendition of same, complete with a gnarly set of (felt) teeth--and an entirely predatory stance!
Here is our entire prehistoric Habitat newly restocked for 2021!
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Was it insane to drive across the desert to Kingman Arizona and back in the dead of summer? Yes!
Was it worth it to meet this little guy? ABSOLUTELY!
Meet "Gilead" being held by Breeder Julie Vanderlinden of Shadow Mountain (now Long Valley) Aussies about a week before our visit (at about 4 weeks old) on July 29. His Dad is "Gideon" and we wanted to name him something at least as distinguished! The esoteric history associated with this name, per Wikipedia, includes the fact that Balm of Gilead was a rare perfume used medicinally, that was mentioned in the Bible, and named for the region of Gilead, where it was produced. The expression has come to signify a universal cure in figurative speech. "Gilead" as a given name means roughly "everlasting joy (or happiness)" in Hebrew.
"Gilead" will likely quickly be shortened to "Gilly", which our favorite Reference Librarian (thanks Bonnie!) informs us is colloquial English for a carnation!
What do you think?
Gilead is GROWING! Here he is at about 6 weeks old!
And at 8 weeks!
And sitting in the water next to an unrelated grown-up (for scale!) at about 9 1/2 weeks!
He already LOVES water--hence new waterproof decking going into his kennel, to cover the raw, mud-forming caliche soil on the ground!
Here's Gilly settled into his palatial digs in his newly remodeled kennel at home--with elderly rescue-dog, Dusty, worrying over him in the background (it's GOOD to have company again!).
Gilly, coming from the Arizona desert, is completely certain that the "water" bowl on the ground in his kennel is for playing in, especially scraping all the water out (we are REALLY glad we put in that decking or he would most certainly be a mud-puppy both morning and evening)! Hence the narrow-mouthed, chin-high version on the fence in front of him that he actually drinks out of!
Ah--that HUGE crate at the Shop is not so bad, afterall--and Gilly's toes are MUCH safer here than under Kathy's desk chair! There's plenty of room (and food and toys!) in there and Gilly gets to come out for potty breaks (he's already about trained himself about these), brushing and anytime a customer would like to greet him for free hugs and puppy kisses. Help keep Gilly from getting bored from not having enough people to meet and welcome to the shop, his official day-job now!
Gilead got to spend our "day off" on Wednesday, October 21, testing a NEW TOY and learning to negotiate a LOT of exercise/exploration possibilities on his awesome tie-out run! No wonder he was sleepy on Thursday!
At about 5 months of age Silly Gilly's grown-up fur is beginning to replace his fuzzy puppy coat--and it's coming in all swirly-curly, at least on his back, so far! We LOVE those cute little ringlets of fur doing just what it "wants" to do--and becoming beautiful in the process!
And just like that (or so it seems!) Gilead graduated from his puppy harness to the next size up! We opted for the distinguished gray, matching his merle areas and harlequin spots, since he chewed through two of his pretty orange leashes and the replacement leash (25% heavier and featuring an extra, short handle for "control" in traffic--and while meeting guests) happens to be black.... (Note how much closer to the top of the crate his head is getting!)
We finally managed to have the camera and Gilly together at the same place and time on 1-3-2021!
At just over 6 months old, isn't he becoming a really handsome Dude? (And he's tall enough to chew on his doghouse roof!)
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And here he is at just about 10 months old, tearing around the yard with his new favorite toy, making up games to play with it as he goes along...
Gilly, at almost exactly 10 months old, has become quite the road warrior, riding for hours without complaining (watching out the windows trying not to fall asleep the entire time!) and still being ready after a good night's sleep camping out with plenty of appropriate "social distancing" (it's a BIG desert!) to help with packing up! Pics from Hole in the Wall Campground, East Mojave Desert Preserve, April 28, 2021:
Uh-oh...
We just realized that we ordered so much "Stuff" for our Medical Area from both I Heart Guts AND Giant Microbes that we had to expand our display for this "interesting" Collection...
The I Heart Guts shipment arrived in June, 2020 and plush Body Parts/Organs from this supplier found their way onto the shelves of our newly expanded Medical Area! They have now been surrounded by plush Cells, Organelles and Molecules in a shipment from Giant Microbes that was delivered a few days later!
Giant Microbes used to package a number of their cells and germs as mini pieces of three inside of a deep Petri Dish. They no longer do this, probably for the same reason sleeve after sleeve of Petri Dishes shipped to the research lab Kathy once worked at were returned for replacement--Petri Dishes are incredibly subject to fracturing with the slightest ding in the right spot, so losses probably made this kind of packaging, while adorable, a case of diminishing returns! That is certainly not to say we no longer can get, for example, plush Red Blood Cells. They simply are only available only as individual, larger (the "giant" in Giant Microbes!) pieces. As you can see, these are at least as cute, if not more so, as the mini versions! In order for you to better see them, we will be showcasing additional plush Cells that arrived in the most recent shipment from Giant Microbes and are now surrounding the I Heart Guts plush Body Parts in our Medical Display Area!
If you are going to make plush Red Blood Cells you pretty-much HAVE to make plush White Bloods Cells as well! No worries! Giant Microbes does just that! (Now in store in our Medical Area!)
And to be sure those Red Blood Cells can properly clot as needed, there must also be Blood Platelets, AKA thrombocytes) Not enough Platelets in the blood can result in bleeding that cannot be stopped, but too many can cause spurious clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
And, of course all of those different kinds of Blood Cells need some kind of medium to swim around in while being transported throughout the body to do their jobs. Enter Blood Plasma, a bit of a challenge to convey as an individual plush item. Giant Microbes' solution to the problem is to present Blood Plasma as a single "liquid" droplet, albeit a slightly fuzzy one (which we also think looks a little like a fried egg...), lacking nothing at all in terms of "personality"!
Meet a plush version of a Stem Cell! Stem Cells are undifferentiated cells, for example those found at the center of early mammalian embryos, that have the capacity to develop into almost any kind of specialized cell needed to function in various developing/adult tissues. Deciding what specialized cells stem cells ultimately become is a highly complex process depending on precise regulation mechanisms, but until that happens a Stem Cell has the capacity to develop in any direction. Note how this trait is suggested here by the rainbow coloration and neutral expression of the as yet undefined plush Stem Cell!
Our very favorite thing abut supplying our Medical Area is what a great marriage the plush Body Parts from I Heart Guts make with complimentary plush Cells from Giant Microbes!
Here is a perfect case in point: The plush Heart is from the former and the Heart Cell is from the latter. We love how anatomically correct I Heart Guts has made the Heart--and that the Heart Cell from Giant Microbes not only makes a faint heartbeat sound, but lights up in concert with it when pressed...!
Here's another great example of I Heart Guts providing the plush organ, in this case a highly detailed Section of Skin, including a hair follicle and its attendant hair, and Giant Microbes making the individual Skin Cell(s), although much more "giant" than the scale of the chunk of skin!
If we can have a plush Pancreas from I Heart Guts, it seems only fitting to also have plush Pancreatic Beta Cells from Giant Microbes! Since Beta Cells are the ones specialized to produce Insulin to manage blood sugar levels, Giant Microbes includes a plastic model of an Insulin (gigantic!) Molecule stashed away inside a special zippered pouch inside each Beta Cell!
Today's Medical Dynamic Duo is plush organ, the Stomach from I Heart Guts accompanied by an individual Stomach Cell from Giant Microbes!
It take a LOT of Muscle Cells to build a big strong Muscle. Luckily, Giant Microbes makes plush Muscle Cells and I Heart Guts has the "Muscle" to provide the plush organ they make up!
This plush organ from I Heart Guts says he is a "Liver, not a Fighter" (I Heart Guts can never resist printing a horrible pun on any given label of theirs...). The little plush Liver Cell from Giant Microbes looks like he is just waiting to get together with some like-minded associates to form this important organ!
This I Heart Guts plush organ represents a Kidney. The particular plush Kidney Cell that Giant Microbes decided to make is a Podocyte, a very specialized kind of cell that, with the help of very specific proteins, wraps itself around tiny knots of blood capillaries within the kidney to facilitate filtering of waste from the bloodstream, an amazingly complex process that allows two kidneys to clean 400 gallons of blood every day!
Her is a lovely plush Brain brought to you by I Heart Guts and surrounded by its supporting cast of a plush Brain Cell and Nerve Cell from Giant Microbes!
The huge Knee Joint on the left is one of the newest "organs" from I Heart Guts! As it happens, theirs is a healthy joint. Giant Microbes, who in addition to cells and molecules also specializes in germs and various maladies, chose to make their Knee Joint their "showpiece" for Arthritis!
Bone Cells make up our skeleton and are therefore found helping to hold our shapes, bend and maneuver, throughout our bodies.
However, sometimes things go amiss, usually not so much with bone itself as with how bones connect and interact with each other so we can move. Along with their Bone Cells, Giant Microbes offers two examples of these maladies represented in plush: Back Pain and issues leading to the requirement for Hip Replacement!
Not only does Giant Microbes make entire cells in plush, but they have even added some important cellular Organelles to their line-up!
According to Giant Microbes (we LOVE that they include information like this on all of their pieces), The "Golgi Apparatus" manufactures and packages proteins, lipids and other macromolecules produced by the cell. It assembles simple molecules into complex ones in conjunction with the Endoplasmic Reticulum..." in all eukaryotic cells, including those of both plants and animals, acting as the cells' factories.
Here is another organelle vital to eucaryotic cellular function and presented in plush by Giant Microbes! While the Golgi Apparatus is considered to be one of the main construction sites within a cell, the Mitochondria would be the energy producing centers! Biology students, this should be familiar; remember the Kreb's cycle, respiration and all those ATPs and ADPs? This is the organelle where all that happens! This is also the organelle whose own small amount of DNA, different from that in the nucleus, comes ONLY from your maternal parent, the "Eve" DNA, and thus can be used to trace maternal family lines.
Besides producing Cells and intracellular Organelles, Giant Microbes even makes plush versions of some very important Molecules on which life depends! Of primary importance in reproduction, growth, development and maintenance of living cells is, of course, DNA--and here we have a plush portion of a DNA Molecule, complete with its double-helix twisted "ladder" of coding base pairs!
Another extremely important molecule produced by our bodies is the Antibody, in the news a lot lately because researchers all over the world are trying to develop a vaccine that will effectively encourage our immune systems to create antibodies able to suppress infection by the COVID-19 virus! Each kind of Antibody is very specifically designed to capture and help put out of commission a very particular microbial invader such as COVID-19 , likely in the case of a virus by targeting an exposed protein on its external coat. Giant Microbes has even illustrated this "capture" of a target Antigen on one of the "arms" of their plush representation of an Antibody! Doesn't it look SO busted!
OK--Home-schoolers and Distance-learners, Giant Microbes (along with I Heart Guts) is here to help with those biology lessons! As we've shown, Giant Microbes makes a plethora of cellular Organelles and Molecules and here to put some of them in context is their plush version of a generic, unspecialized Animal Cell, with a handy-dandy reference card attached!
Although plant and animal cells share many internal organelles, their structures and modes of operation vary quite significantly. Here to illuminate the wonders found at the cellular level in plants is a huge plush Plant Cell, brought to you by Giant Microbes and also featuring a handy-dandy cheat-sheet, er-um, information tag, identifying its parts!
Back in stock from I Heart Guts: a plush set of Lungs, accompanied by a hang-tag with another famously bad pun!
Who else but I Heart Guts would endeavor such an "in depth" 3-D "study" in plush of a Colon? The pun on its hang-tag is even worse than the one for the plush Intestines above!
The perennial get-well gag-gift for anyone who has had to have one removed! I Heart Guts brings us this ginormous plush Appendix. If you "Feel it in your Gut" as the hang-tag suggests, unfortunately, it's probably time to be seeing an emergency room surgeon!
Having done detailed plush studies of both the Colon and Appendix separately, I Heart Guts combines them here in the "context" of the entire set of "Intestines" and points out on the hang-tag that you do, in fact, "Go with your Guts"!
Another hugely "popular" post-surgery get-well gift is this plush Gall Bladder from I Heart Guts! It is SO popular, in fact that we are often out of them and waiting for them back-ordered from the supplier! Back in stock...for now!
Among the silly things listed as fun information (besides the requisite pun on the front!) inside the hang tag for this plush Bladder from I Heart Guts is the fact that most bladders have the capacity to hold as much urine as the contents of a can and a half of soda...!
This combination organ rendered in plush by I Heart Guts is the Trachea (or "windpipe") through which we breath air to and from our lungs. Contained within it is the Larynx where our vocal chords reside; production of the verbal and musical sounds of our voices starts when passing air vibrates these in a controlled fashion which, augmented by our mouth muscles, lips and tongue, allows us to MAKE sounds!
Complete with the Hammer and Anvil (both are ossicles which transmit sound vibrations from the eardrum to the snail-shaped) Cochlea (that converts those vibrations into electrochemical signals sent on to the brain to be interpreted) and even the Semicircular Canals that help maintain balance, this plush Inner Ear from I Heart Guts helps to explain how we HEAR sounds!
Here's a plush set of organs from I Heart Guts that anyone with allergies will appreciate! Allergens like pollen and dust are one group of things, along with bacteria and other breathed-in invaders that are trapped by the Sinuses by encasing them in mucus for expulsion in snot, hopefully before they get to your throat and lungs, but making your head feel like a cotton-filled balloon in the meantime!
We have amazing organs in our throat and head to allow us to make and hear sounds and even catch unwanted things we may breathe in, but one of the most awesome organs of all is the Eyeball, here rendered in plush by I Heart Guts! Very detailed information on how the eyeball and brain accomplish this miracle is available on the hang-tag!
Our bodies are populated throughout with many different glands that help regulate various precisely controlled functions, usually by means of the production and distribution of specific Hormone molecules. The job of the Thyroid Gland is to regulate metabolism, setting how much energy to burn and influencing how energetic you feel. Sometimes the Thyroid fails to produce enough of its hormone to do this effectively, making you tired and weak. Fortunately, modern medicine can treat this problem with a carefully monitored dose of a synthetic version substituted for the necessary hormone, usually, however, required for life once begun.
Your Pineal (refers to its being vaguely shaped like a pine cone) Gland, a rice-grain sized organ buried inside of your brain, plays a significant part in the mediation of your waking days and sleeping nights as it is where the hormone, melatonin, that tells you when it is time to sleep, is produced. Sometimes called our "third eye" because in terms of biological evolution it can be interpreted as something of an atrophied photoreceptor, the Pineal Gland responds to information actually obtained by the retina about the state of light and darkness in the environment. Melatonin is made by the Pineal Gland when darkness is signaled. The Pineal Gland is also implicated in the regulation of bone metabolism and the functioning of another important gland, the Pituitary, including influencing sexual hormone production.
Meet The Thymus Gland, presented for your enjoyment in plush by I Heart Guts! Important to know in these times of contagion and confusion, the Thymus, seated right above your heart, is where those amazing T-cells that fight infection are made and mature to help your body defeat specific intruders!
Read just a portion of all the awesome information included on the multi-page hang-tag of the Pituitary Gland from I Heart Guts: "The teeny tiny pea-sized gland has a lot of big jobs. The Pituitary, which dangles from underneath your brain, watches over the body and works to keep everything running smoothly. The Pituitary releases hormones into the bloodstream that tell other organs and glands to do their jobs. These hormones help control growth, metabolism, sex hormones and blood pressure as well as maintain water levels in the body. That is one busy gland!"
Additional hang-tag Fun Fact: This so-called "Master Gland" actually takes orders from the Hypothalamus.
One Adrenal Gland is perched atop each Kidney in the body. These are the glands that produce Adrenaline, the famous "fight or flight" hormone that increases your heart rate and generally pumps up your strength to enable you to effectively do one or the other (there is a cute chart on the hang-tag detailing how and what body organs are affected by Adrenaline during this response). They've been very busy in the last few months producing another hormone, cortisol, also a stress hormone, in almost all, if not all of us! The Adrenal Gland is also in charge of producing sex hormones, so, all in all, a rather important organ!
We could never come to be were it not for the fluid produced by the walnut-sized Prostrate Gland in men to protect and nourish the sperm generated in their testicles. It is actually mainly the Seminal Vesicle Glands atop the Prostrate that makes most of what goes into semen, the medium wherein sperm cells swim.
Hang tag info for the plush Lymph Node from I Heart Guts:
"Sprinkled throughout the body, Lymph Nodes are filled with White Blood Cells which patrol the lymphatic system for bodily bad guys. When these cells identify harmful invaders, they drag them back to the Lymph Node to be destroyed...!"
Having these organs removed is every kid's nightmare! Tonsils were once believed to be not of serious usefulness and thus got taken out at the first sign of a sore throat located in them. Fortunately, modern medical practitioners recognize the value of Tonsils in fighting germs in our mouths and antibiotics can assist when it seems the tonsils are becoming overwhelmed by an given invader. Wishing to preserve the infection limiting potential of these organs, physicians now tend only to remove them when the tonsils become too compromised to provide that function. Whew!
We can hardly discuss organs of the mouth without mentioning Teeth! Here from I Heart guts is a big plush molar --in pearly white, of course! It even has its own "toothy" grin...!
The coup de grass of Teeth would HAVE to be a GOLD Tooth--and far be it from I Heart Guts to forego the opportunity to make one! One of our customers has already provided this stunner to her Dentist as a "Thank-you" (sort-of) gift!
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Sad news:
Our beautiful day on April 1, 2020 appreciating California's native plants flowering in our local deserts (far away from other people) ended sadly when we returned home to find our beloved Australian Shepherd Foxy expired as if asleep in her kennel. We are devastated because this came as a shock, especially as Foxy was always one of our healthiest dogs, and had our vet look into possible causes. It turns out the Foxy had a silent tumor, hard to detect with no symptoms to suggest its presence, on an artery at the base of her heart. It finally caused a rupture that bled into the pericardium of her heart. We consider it a blessing that she showed no signs of distress until her last few days and then slipped away peacefully after a long and happy life of being much loved. Eventually, we will replace the gaping holes in our heats with another fur baby, but for now our hearts are aching..Rest in peace, Foxy. We'll see you on the other side of that Rainbow Ridge....
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It is hard to believe that Star Tulip Stuffies, House of Fine Stuffed Animals has been open for over four years home again in Redlands, CA (we started here back in 2003 in the now-defunct old downtown Redlands Mall)!
We have lived and worked and been your neighbors in this area for more than 40 years! Star Tulip Stuffies was originally opened as a storefront in the Redlands Mall back in 2003. Since then a growing following of stuffed animal aficionados has managed to find, support and spread the word about us.
From the very beginning our intent has been to bring our customers the very best selection of the finest quality plush creatures we can find while keeping our prices as rational as we can.
We are all about choices; we like nothing better than to present several different companies’ version of the same animal because we have found that every designer will have a different take on that same critter. Thus, if you visit us, which we certainly hope to make you curious enough to do, you should not be surprised to find that, not only do we have an “unusual” creature, say a porcupine or an opossum, rendered in plush, but that we also will likely have four or five or even more styles from as many different manufacturers (with accompanying differences in sizes and prices!) of that individual kind of animal! This also means that while you will find respected and familiar names like Gund, Ganz, Douglas Cuddle Toy, Fiesta Toys, Aurora, Wild Republic, etc. on many of our products, we make a point of searching out quality companies less well known, especially in California, that you may only brush up against on a trip to the zoo or aquarium (we really love the educational kick provided by those extremely realistic representations!) or while traveling east of the Rocky Mountains (many retailers are simply unwilling to stand the cost of shipping some of these…)--or that are just outrageously esoteric (we have plush germs--in Petri dishes, no less--by GiantMicrobes and body parts--if I only had a brain--from I [Heart] Guts!
Our selection is so diverse (we are simply stuffed with “stuff”, but then “stuff” is what we do!) in order to keep track of everything we have resorted to arrangement by habitat! When you visit (by now you know you have to if you can…) you will eventually notice that our entire shop is suggestive of the interior and exterior of a gigantic fantastic playhouse or dollhouse. “Inside” live authentic Raggedy Ann and Andy, Sesame Street characters, etc. Also living the pampered “indoor” life are plush Cats and Teddy Bears “Outside” you will find our rather extensive collection of realistic Dog Breeds (this is a personal favorite category of ours, so if someone makes a decent version of a specific breed, we will try to have it for you!), Barnyard Animals, Horses, Frog and Turtle ponds, Forest critters, Desert animals, Birds, and creatures of Central and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia as well as an area devoted to Ocean life! There is even a section “inhabited” by the fantasmagorical creatures of the imagination including dragons, faeries, unicorns and the like!
About Our Name: The “Star Tulip” part of our name alludes to our other life as occasional botanists! “Star tulips” are members of a rather large genus, Calochortus, meaning “beautiful grass”, of native Californian lilies that includes species with enchanting common names like “butterfly” or “mariposa tulips” and “faerie lanterns”. The butterfly tulips have large goblet-shaped tulip-style flowers, often marked with spots and bobbing in the breeze above their cohabitating grasses like the insects they appear to mimic. The more diminutive faerie lanterns have closed flowers on slender overarched stems and could easily be imagined to light the nighttime activities of elfin woodland inhabitants. Our tiny namesakes open fully wide and close to the ground as if they were stars scattered across the forest floor! The alliteration of “Star Tulip” and “Stuffies” was just too tempting to pass up!
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