Next Big Thing 2008

Hop hop horray! I was selected as one of the finalists at Fred Flare's 2008 Next Big Thing design competition! Gregory, a froggy iPhone cozy that I designed and made, is being featured in the shop.
EDIT: ** Click here to vote for me July 2-16! **
You can read the article about me here and see the other finalists here.

We were on vacation in Palau when I got an email from Keith at Fred Flare that I was one of the 27 finalists and that they wanted 50 Gregories -- Yikes! When we got back, in the midst of whirlwind packing, moving and work, I stitched up all fifty froggies over the space of a few days... Yup, it was a little crazy; my fingers were a little sore and I was kinda delirious afterwards... I think Gavin suffered a little, too.
-- Ring, ring --
"Hello?"
"Hey, what's up."
"I'm running out of eyes."
"What?"
"I've done like 20 pairs of eyes. I need more eyes. I mean buttons."
"...Ohhh, you mean the frogs."


After I shipped off the 50 froggies, I went to sleep dreaming about... frogs. I got to thinking, in every large population, there are always a few mutants. Especially nowadays, due to all the pollutants in the air and water. So now that there are all these Gregory iPod cozies in the world, it seems reasonable that there might be some mutants, too. So, the next morning, I stitched up Goggles, a 3-eyed froggy iPhone cozy, and I posted him in my Etsy shop… He's sold now, but I'll be posted up some more when I have time. All proceeds from selling Goggles will go to Tree Walkers International to help (who else?) frogs!

Maybe this summer, we'll try to find some new frogs for our courtyard. They'll eat the mosquitoes! In the meanwhile, here are some pictures of our old frog friends, Mr. & Mrs. Chombagi.

And now for some happy links, my bookmarked guaranteed-mood-picker-uppers:
Fuzzy baby animals
Dancing dog!
Rapping shark & b-boy bear
MarsPhoenix Rover's Twitter