Mochi Studios

Tea Time with Mom

Rita — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:56:18 +0000

My father has been out of town for the last couple weeks to spend time with his parents, my grandparents, in Texas which left lots of girl time for me and my Mother. We recently went to Tyme for Tea in Fremont’s quaint Old Niles district for tea time. It was her first high tea experience and it was a pleasant afternoon without the boys. We delighted in scones and peach tea and dainty sandwiches and sweets and the company of some of my Mushrooms then strolled down the street and checking out cute antique stores. This is what summer is made of ^_^

Here’s my beautiful Mother~

I’m so blessed and grateful to my amazing Mother.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bride & Bride Wedding Peas in a Pod Plush

Rita — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:30:17 +0000

I met Mo through the last SF Craft Group meet up that lovely Miss Futuregirl started. I was stitching up some Rice Babies and he was crocheting a super amazing afghan with really awesome striped variegated yarn! (Psst! Our SF craft group meets the third Wednesday of every month! Join us!) The next day, Mo found me on Etsy and requested a custom Wedding Peas in a Pod Plush for his friends getting married soon. I leaped at the opportunity to make my very first Bride & Bride wedding pea plush and also embroider in Japanese!

One Bride Pea has a silver bow and the other has a purple bow~

On the back of the pod, I stitched the Brides’ names, wedding date and “ねぇ、知ってる” in Japanese which means “Did You Know?”

The Japanese phrase comes from the super cute Mameshiba animations!

Mameshiba theme song!

And now I’ll be watching more Mameshiba animations ^_^

Thanks, Mo, for the opportunity to make this special plush for you and congrats to the happy brides!

And congrats, California, for overturning Prop 8!

Geri + Eric Engagement Photoshoot with Giant Plush Octopi

Rita — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:34:59 +0000

My dear artistic friend Geri and my cousin Eric are getting married in October and had an Engagement photo session with the talented Ann Hamilton a couple weeks ago near Sausalito! Geri specially requested two giant octopi just for the shoot! OMG it was such a fantastic idea! If I ever get engaged, I would love to do a photoshoot with my giant plushies and my fiancé! Ooh! they would be great wedding photobooth props too! Geri’s outfit is totally cute and the pics make my cousin look pretty good! Thanks Geri and Ann for letting me share these pics of your engagement photo session!

These pics are wonderful and so is the rest of the photoshoot! Hopefully Geri will post the rest of the pics on the wedding blog! Geri and Eric have been together for so long, she’s already my family, my big sis, and my craft partner in crime and I’m thrilled to be her bridesmaid too! Her bachelorette party is this weekend and oh my, there’s lots to do before the girls night out!

Newest Narwhal Plushies

Rita — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:43:00 +0000

I’ve been waiting for free time to make new Aqua Narwhals since I sold out of them at Maker Faire! I love the beautiful aqua lagoon color that perfectly reminds me of the ocean! And now, I make the unicorn horn from bendable pipe cleaners that I cover with white fleece stitched by hand so that they are more child friendly!

Here’s a top view of the Narwhal that I’ve never posted before!

Aqua Narwhal and Bunny Whale Plushies in Love~

And they made a Baby Bunny Narwhal!

Awww, it’s a happy Narwhal and Bunny Whale family~

The Baby Bunny Narwhal is a apecial custom order made especially for Brandon ^_^

These guys are all available in the Etsy Shop or by custom order!

Next on my list… make more Baby Narwhal plushies!

Giant Bunny and Carrot “Peas” in a Pod Plush

Rita — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:00:31 +0000

I love sewing custom order plushies crafted from the brilliant ideas of my customers! Erin first ordered a Bride & Groom Pea Pod Plush and requested one pea to be a bunny and the other pea to be a round carrot! What a cute idea! Then she saw the Giant Pea Pod Plush I recently made and posted pics of on my blog and asked to upgrade her order to a Giant Bunny and Carrot “Peas” in a Pod Plush! What a great gift for her friend who’s getting married and loves bunnies! Also, since I was thinking that if I had a giant wedding themed plush on my couch, I wouldn’t want it to always be in wedding attire forever. So I made the veil and top hat removable by sewing pins to the bottom so they can be easily pinned and unpinned from the peas! Here they are on my red velvet love seat!

They may not arrive to Canada in time but I wish the happy couple Angela & Sydney a very happy wedding celebration and marriage! Thanks, Erin, for giving me the fun opportunity to make this for you and your friends!

Have a fun weekend, everyone!

Plushies in the Conservatory of Flowers

Rita — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:07:40 +0000

Last weekend, I finally took a stroll through the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park with my boyfriend! The entire Conservatory astounded me with gorgeous plants and flowers in lovely living arrangements and it was a beautiful quiet time walking under the trees and around the waterlily pond. We went especially for the Chomp Return of the Carnivorous Plants exhibit which not only displayed Venus fly traps and Borneo pitcher plants but also showed and educated us about all kinds of different meat-eating plants from different habitats around the world!

And hey, did you know plushies love carnivorous plants and flowers too?!

Plant bait~

Mushrooms in the Garden~

Other plushies came out to play too~

Oh hey, it’s me!

The colorful flowers and vibrant plants really made the plushies smile ^_^

Before and since the weekend, it’s been dreadfully cold in SF.

I pray for sunnier days for more outings with plushies!

Next up… a Giant Pea Pod Plush with surprise Peas! (hint, one pea is a bunny!)

Plush Team Get Stuffed Book

Rita — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:08:41 +0000

The Plush Team is ecstatic to present to you our first ever Team Annual, containing 120 pages of plushy goodness!

What is in store for you upon opening this marvelous book:

An opening by our team founder, Megan Green, describing how our team came to be.
An insightful, informative, and all-around fascinating account of the history of plush craft by our team co-founder Christina Ward.
42 two-page, full color features of our Plush Team members. Each includes photos of the artist’s work, and text written by the artist explaining motivation, process, and inspiration.
A time line of Plush Team activities through over the years. Profile pages providing a comprehensive list of Plush Team artists, including artist head shots and Etsy shop addresses.
Photos of PT Stitchy, the team mascot, scattered throughout the book in his various incarnations as interpreted by our team members.

The book is full color, professionally printed, and soft cover. It measures 6.75″x6.75″ (or 17 centimeters square). This is volume 1 of our Team Annual, featuring the artists from 2009. Our intent is to make this a yearly publication, updating it each year with our newest members and their incredible work.

Visit the Team Shop today for your copy!

Mochi Studios isn’t in this volume but hopes to be in the next one!

Sweet Breams Wonderland Mushrooms

Rita — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:48:41 +0000

The Wonderland Shrooms from the Sweet Breams Me Plush You exhibition are now in the Etsy Shop! Alice, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, and Cheshire Cat Mushrooms are available for adoption and the Mad Hatter Mushroom went home with a lucky girl! Thanks so much, Tara, for hosting Mochi Studios in your cute Taiyaki Shop for the past couple months for your awesome exhibition! I can’t wait to see future shows at Sweet Breams! The next one is comic book themed! Have an awesome fun weekend, everyone!! ♥

GIANT Peas in a Pod Plush

Rita — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:00:11 +0000

Presenting the most humongous Pea Pod Plush I have ever made! It’s perhaps the largest Peas in a Pod Plush you have ever seen too! Mangobutt on Etsy requested me to make her a Giant Pea Pod Plush for a wedding gift for her friend to serve as a comfy couch cushion. The peas themselves are about 9″ wide each! And I embroidered the left “butt cheek” of each pea with the bride and groom’s monogram and the wedding date 7.16.2010. This is by far the biggest plush I have ever sewn! Have I mentioned how much I love making custom orders?

Here’s the Giant Giant Peas in a Pod Plush on my velvet love seat at home~

And here they are in comparison with my normal sized Pea Pod Plush!

Woah they’re HUGE!

Like a family of Pea Pod Plushies~

The eyes are embroidered and the hearts on the cheeks are made from soft pink fleece and stitched by hand.

I embroidered the girl pea with an”F” for her first initial and an “S” for the guy pea and they both have their wedding date 7.16.2010~

Giant Plush Peas with their smaller counterparts ^_^

The Giant Plush Peas are super soft and squishy!

They’re at home on my love seat but it’s time to go to your new home!

Thanks, Mangobutt, for your order!

It was a pleasure making these for you!

Three Peas in Pod Plush

Rita — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:52:11 +0000

Hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July holiday weekend! I love summer days of lazy lounging and ube ice cream cones and farmers markets and reading on picnic blankets~~

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my Etsy shop lately and the effort has been paying off! One week, I got a sale each day which is a huge accomplishment for me! I’ve also enjoyed obssessing over my Etsy shop stats over at Craftopolis which takes my shop’s google analytics stats and shows the number of hearts you get each day and which treasuries you’re items are in! I found out I’m in many more treasuries than the two I knew about through the curators! I’m also a proud new member of the Etsy Plush Team!

The past couple weeks, I’ve also been working on organizing my craft space which has never been accomplished before! I now have a large area in the center of my room to roll out a large cardboard sheet that I use for a backdrop for my product pictures. I feel that my photography skills are improving with practice ^_^ Here are some new plushie pictures of my very first Three Peas in a Pod order!

View from the top of the plush~

Mama Pea, Papa Pea, and Baby Pea!

The peas can be swapped around with different combos of girl peas, boy peas, chick peas, bunny peas, or any kind of peas!

Also great for three best friends like Three Peas in a Pod~

These peas went home to Wendy in Canada but I can make a set especially for you!

They’re in the Etsy shop now ^_^

Just this weekend, I finished a GIANT set of Pea Pods! The peas are about 9-10″ wide each and customized with a monogram of a soon-to-be bride and groom and their wedding date! They’re the biggest peas I’ve ever made and seeing them on my couch makes me bubbly with joy! I’ll take pics and share them with you soon!

Have a wonderful week!