Meet Plush You! artist: Plush Goodness

Leeanna Butcher of Plush Goodness is one swell lady and makes some amazing plush goodies. 

Tell my readers a bit about yourself
I am a plush artist and fabric-aholic living in Northern California with my artist husband and scruffy dog, Waffle. I grew up in Canada drawing, watching cartoons (pretty much anything animated), playing soccer, and spending a lot of fun times with my cousins playing now-classic video games on our various early video game systems. All this lead me to attend the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to get my degree in Character Animation. It was a few years after that that I got into plush-making during a creative block I was having on a painting, and since that day, I've never stopped creating plush out of my doodles and sketches.

What do you love most about making plush toys?
It's an amazing feeling to do a sketch and then transform it into an actual physical, huggable, object! I loved stuffed animals as a kid, (still do :D) so this is me celebrating and holding on to that part of my childhood, I guess. Plus, I have the best time playing with all the amazing fabrics out there to create my characters with. I can't resist a great print, and I love going fabric shopping.

Is this your full time job?
Yes, it is. I am lucky to be able to do what I love as my job.

What sites do you look at for inspiration?
I look at a bunch of blogs, including this one, and there are a bunch of amazing artist pages on Facebook, where I can get daily updates from artists that inspire me. Flickr is a great resource of visuals from inspiring artists of all kinds. I love looking at fine art, animation, children's books, low-brow art, you name it, it can inspire me. I haven't jumped into exploring tumblr or pinterest yet- I am trying to limit my computer time to make more room for creating. I am also a member of the Plush Team, which is a great group of artists that are pretty inspiring to be around. :)

Did you do anything fun for the summer?
I had a great time at the Plush Team Retreat this May, and then a wonderful week with my girlfriends in New York in June. Other than that, summer went by so fast!