Plush Team Virtual Book Tour - a Detour to the Land of Yummy Pancake

Next stop on the Plush Team Virtual book tour is the wild imagination of Yummy Pancake!

Earlier, I posted about the awesome-tastic Plush Team annual that the fabulous Plush team, which I am a member of, put together and published earlier this year (get yourself a copy here!). Not only does it contain the history of the Plush Team, it also contains pages upon pages with pictures of each member's work. Everyone is so talented and unique. It makes you wonder how the heck they come up with the ideas for all the plush they create....so, on my stop of the virtual book tour, I'm going to give you a little glimpse on how I come up with the ideas for my plush!

I get my inspiration for my designs from many different places. Sometimes, it's just from something that I like and enjoy. For example, my husband loves Guinness - it's his favorite beer. I thought the harp on the can looked really cool and decided to whip one up:

We also enjoy a shot of Jager every now and then. I love the bottle - it is such a pretty green color and such a cool label:




Another place I get inspiration from is other people - family, friends, co-workers, etc. My brain can only think up so many things, and I'm not the only one who can come up with cool ideas. Below is a custom order I designed for someone. They wanted a lighthouse with a 'stache similar to a lighthouse in NJ and a crab. I put on my thinking cap, and this is what I came up with:



A giant source of my inspiration is food. I like food. Food is good. It's even better with faces in my opinion. After Thanksgiving dinner one year, I looked at all the leftovers on the table and thought that they would make a really cool monster if I put them all together....and the Thanksgiving Leftover monster was born:



And one of my favorite characters, Mr. Toastee, was born from a BLT plush I had made. I was looking at the bread I designed for the sammich and thought it would look cute with a face and butter ^_^

And I combined 3 of my favorite things - bacon, eggs and jellyfish to make the Bacon and Egg Jellyfish ^_^

Locations can spark inspiration as well. When I was vacationing at the beach last year, I saw a jellyfish in the sand. Then for some reason I kept thinking about peanut butter and jellyfish sammiches....so i made one. My thought processes can tend to be a bit strange, but I just embrace it ^_^

Sometimes it's a button or type of yarn that will give me an awesome idea. I bought some red glittery lip buttons earlier this year. When I saw them, they made me think of a Las Vegas Showgirl for some reason. So, I used them and created a Las Vegas Showgirl Toastee:

And sometimes an idea can come from just seeing a cool type of yarn. I found a really cool, chunky, colorful yarn at a knitting store in NC. It just screamed at me to make a jellyfish out of it.....so i did ^_^

You just never know when inspiration is going to strike. Do what I do - I carry a little notebook with me at all times to jot down plush ideas when they come to me. That way, I don't forget them. The stranger the concept, the better! I never run out of ideas, just time.

So make sure you stop by the Plush Team's etsy shop and pick up your copy of our awesome annual. You will be amazed at the talent on out team. I know I am!!!