Happy Sugar Shop on Etsy (click here)

Today I opened a shop on Etsy called Happy Sugar where I will be selling my new line of plush toys..Sugar Birdies.!!! There's only three items up so far...but there's more to come so please check it out. I hope you like them.!!! Happy Sugar! Happy Sugar!

One for the road...

I quickly made this new Birdie for my daughter to take with us on our Memorial Day weekend trip...more to follow...

New Fabric

I think this is my favorite part of making toys...buying the fabric.!! and today new fabric arrived so I am eager to start sewing more birds. Way back when my toys were manufactured, I used to go and roam around the warehouses of House of Pile in Brooklyn (they were so nice to me!), choosing giant rolls of polar fleece, in all different colors, to be sent to the factory to be made into my toys. House of Pile isn't there anymore so now I buy my Polar Fleece online from Malden Mills http://www.milldirecttextiles.com/
I usually choose a bunch of different colors and buy a yard of each because you can never really tell what the color will look like from the swatch chart. Here's what arrived today. The satin is from 39th St in NYC...a great street for fashion fabrics.
Anyway, wish me luck! I hope to be putting some of the Birdies up for sale very soon.

Video Guest Speaker (click here)

Recently I created this YouTube video for a Fashion Design Class at Orange Coast College in California. Yes, it's slightly awkward and unedited..you'll see a few interruptions..but I think it gives a good sense of what it's like trying to be productive, creative and run a business with kids and cats.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AjYdC5zjZw

"Fashion instructor, Mika Yamamura, is using YouTube to help students reach out and virtually connect with the fashion industry entrepreneurs. While bringing an array of guests into the classroom is challenging, inviting them to do quick YouTube interviews has proven a big success. Mika invites people from the fashion world to answer questions about their work via a YouTube video. The guests tape and post their responses on YouTube. When the Fashion class meets, they begin the class by watching and discussing the guest interview of the week."

Happy Birthday Nina!!

more birdies.....