New butterfly pins - hand-painted animal jewelry!

I've just put five new butterfly pin designs up in our new online gift shop. Here are two of them - aren't they gorgeous? Here's a link to the insect jewelry, which includes the butterflies. Have fun exploring!

As if in celebration, we got our first order today from the new site. As many orders as we get from our original site (still going strong), its exciting to see the new one working :) It's much faster to upload items on the new site, so all of our painted jewelry should be up in a short time, although there may literally be a few hundred more designs to scan and upload. And the site is good for items where we don't have many of a particular item (since it's less labor-intensive). We've started a couple of new sections for art and craft objects made in Colombia and other Latin American countries (to help with tapir conservation and because we love the art!), and our plan is to grow that area of the site in the next few months as well. Come on over and take a look!

Animal drinking cups for children

Animal drinking cups for kids continue to be very popular this summer. We have ocean animal and land animals. The tails or, in the case of the giraffe, the neck is cleverly turned into a handle. Come see the lot of them! They come in a variety of colors, too.

Carved wood animal pens now in our new gift shop

Here's another series I've put online in the new gift shop. Check out our variety of animal-shaped ballpoint pens - hand carved and hand-painted in China.

Baskets from Colombia on our new site!

Our new gift shop is evolving and taking shape. One of the new categories is Werregue baskets from the coastal area of Colombia. We imported a small number of these high-quality and much-sought baskets as a trial run. We expect to have more within the next few months. As of this moment, I've put one of them on our site and I have three more sitting on my desk to put online as soon as I've finished this blog. The baskets are tightly woven of palm fibers, and a lining between the outer and inner woven surfaces allows the baskets to hold water! Come take a look!

Beautiful carved wood tapir for auction

Hi all, this whimsical and totally unique carved wood tapir is available for auction this week on our TPF blog. Check it out!

Extinct plastic animal toys continue to be favorites

Click any image for a bigger view.

Megatherium (giant ground sloth), deinosuchus (extinct alligator) and dunkelosteus (extinct aquatic eating machine) remain some of our more popular rubber or plastic animals. All of the above are made by Safari and manifest extremely realistic shapes, details and painting. These are quality educational toys, and are also great collector's items for animal lovers or students of our earth's long-distant past. See our online animal toy store for sizes, prices, and more extinct toy animals!

New dog jewelry online - boxers and more

If you like dogs and you like unique items, jewelry for special occasions, or you simply appreciate artistic creations, come check out our new Painted Animal Pins web site! We have some new dog pins online as well as a large number of other new animals.

Plastic cobras

Cobra snakes have always been one of the top search words used by people who come to our online animal store! We have plastic cobras in a variety of styles and sizes. We have 2-inch plastic cobras for dioramas, party favors, collectibles, etc., and we even have a 3-foot-long plastic cobra that you can pose. Come on over to our online store and check them out!

High visibility for tapirs: A stuffed tapir is his new best friend!

Pamela wrote to us on August 5, 2008:

Thanks for offering and shipping the wonderful new stuffed tapir. My son used his birthday money (which arrived right at the time you began taking pre-orders) to buy it and he is entirely satisfied -- thrilled would be more accurate. Even though he is 15, he has been taking it around the house with him and letting it perch on his shoulder; he really likes the wired legs which make the tapir posable. Here he is "modeling" Yanisa, while wearing the tapir shirt he got LAST year for his birthday. August loves doing his part to make tapirs more visible!

Blue whale jewelry - it's so blue!

This lovely realistic blue whale pin or oversized tie tack is now online on our new animal jewelry web site. Take a look. There is so much to see with over 170 pins now online and more coming soon. In fact, I'm going to work on another five to ten as soon as I post this blog entry. A lot of the whale's friends are also newly online. Check 'em out, OK?

"Top 10 Animal Horrors" - or, who's afraid of . . .

This is kind of fun. The Discovery Network has a number of "Animal Countdowns." This week they're giving us the top 10 animals that humans are afraid of. You know, it's often about our perception from childhood (such as fairy tales) or from movies rather than the facts about the animal that have made us fear them. As Discovery said, "There's never been a documented case of a wild wolf killing a person — in fact, they tend to be more scared of us than we are of them." The wolf is the 10th most feared animal. We have a number of these "Animal Horrors" in our gift shop, so let's see which ones on the top 10 are available in our store!


10. We have beautiful wolf jewelry.

9. And we have mouse jewelry and plastic mice.

8. Piranha jewelry. We also have lifelike plastic piranhas, but please call us toll free (888) 325-3179, because they aren't back online yet. Our new ones just came in!

7. Our grizzly bears tend to be cute rather than fearsome.

6. We have lots of great white sharks - plastic, jewelry, drinking cups for kids. . . .

5. Our bat pin is quite realistic. Click on the "englarge" option.

4. SPIDERS? We have lots of them! We even have spider jewelry, but it's not online yet, so give us a call!

3. Bees! We have them!

2. Second most feared? Snakes, of course. We have lots of those, too. We have many nice (or creepy, depending on your point of view) toy snakes to choose from!

1. And the finalist is. . . . ? The number one most feared animal is something we don't actually have: the parsitic worm. I won't even go there, but we have some nice, friendly earthworms. And we have stuffed toy maggots - now they ARE creepy. Again, you'll have to call or send e-mail as of this post date, because they aren't online yet.

Enjoy!

Return customer and stuffed toy squirrel both happy

Oops! Running out for coffee. Text to come soon!

~ Sheryl

OK, back again :)

Rachel wrote to us from Canada:

Re: Red Squirrel Order

Good Day! This is just to let you know I've received the squirrel today, safe and sound. He's gorgeous, thank you for chosing exactly the right squirrel for me.
:)

We believe the squirrel is also happy and we're sure he/she has a good home. By the way, this squirrel is one of my favorite stuffed animals in our collection!

New stuffed aardvark in our store!

Our new stuffed aardvark is a charmer! Made by Hansa, this critter is 12 1/2 inches long and looks every inch like a real aardvark! The fabric-covered pink tongue is posable - move it into a new position and it stays there. Soft and lovable, this stuffed aardvark is hand-crafted in the Philippines and exhibits the quality and design features you've come to expect from Hansa, maker of some of the world's best collectible stuffed animals! Come see our new aardvark!

New stuffed tapir now in stock!

Our new stuffed tapir, Yanisa, has now been delivered and is ready for shipping. We've had a "pre-order" option online for some time, and those who ordered in advance have now received their tapirs. Here is the reply from one happy customer:

Plush Tapir ...safe arrival...

Hi: Just writing to say the TAPIR arrived and it looks very nice. Good in detail, and color too. I'm very pleased with it. Thank you so much, and I hope to do business with you again very soon.

Donna.

Thanks, Donna! We love to hear good news . . . and we're glad the tapir has a good home :) Yanisa's name was given to her by a tapir fan in Russia. Yanisa is the name of his daughter - half Russian and half Thai. We thought it was a beautiful name, and appropriate since real tapirs live in Thailand.

Sheryl and Sue

Plastic elephant on a mission

Sue,

Thank you so much that was very nice of you and I am sure he will love it. You would not believe how hard it was to find reasonably priced toys for kids that they can actually learn from, so I appricate it. Thanks again :)

Lauren

We love it when our animals make someone's day, whether it's to be educational, entertaining, or both. We have quite a collection of toy and collectible elephants. Come have a look!

What goes together better than summer and ice cream? Obviously . . . summer and plastic lobsters!

No matter what color or size you prefer, our plastic lobsters seem to be one of THE most popular items this summer. Get them while they're hot (or cold, or floppy, or whatever tickles your fancy). These crustaceans are going fast! Check them out at Tapir and Friends.

Animal jewelry: yes, we have T-Rex dinosaur jewelry in two colors

We have three dinosaur pins left in stock! We have two green t-rex pins and one red pin. You can order them by phone or e-mail or check out our site. You can call us toll free at (888) 325-3179 or send e-mail. These hand-painted pins are $29.00 each. Read more about this US-based artist's work on the painted animal jewelry page of our web site.

Stuffed hyena and hyena animal jewelry from Tapir and Friends

This is a great time to be thinking about hyenas! Discovery Channel is featuring them this week, and you're bound to learn a lot if you tune in via TV or Web. Hyena gifts and stuffed animals are hard to find, but we've located two that we believe you will like. Our stuffed hyena is made by Hansa in the Philippines, featuring design by the artisans who make the products, and Hansa's typical hand-crafted quality. Hansa's animals are unique and collectible. The fabric is made especially for this animal in small lots with attention to detail. Hansa searches the world for just the right fabrics for each creation. Details are stitched and painted, resulting in stuffed plush animal toys that are not only fun to cuddle, but look like real animals!

Our hyena jewelry comes in earrings, pins, and pendants in your color choice. Individually-chosen beads from the artist's collection will be used on the earrings and pendants. You suggest the color! Each piece is made to order, but takes only a few days. The prices can't be beat for such outstanding artwork! They are made of light-weight aluminum and pack a lot of character. We're sure you will love them! Please check out our animal gift shop at Tapir and Friends! You'll have a warm and friendly welcome. If you have questions, call us toll free at (888) 325-3179 or send e-mail.

Giant Galapagos tortoise 3-D animal puzzle

Have you tried these wonderful 3-D plastic animal puzzles yet? They're among our most popular items. Fun for kids on summer trips, and fun for indoors entertainment when the weather gets too unpleasant to stay outside. I find this tortoise one of our more challenging. We have approximately 40 animal puzzles in stock. Most come in plastic eggs, shells, ice blocks, etc. In other words, the packaging is a snap-together container that you can keep as a way to store the pieces if you decide to take it apart rather than leave it out as a showpiece. The cases are also wonderful for packing to take the puzzles on trips.

I said the tortoise was one of the more challenging, and it is. Most of the bulky animals such as the hippo or one of our two elephants are a bit tough because there are some interior pieces. With the bulky animals you sometimes need to pull off a side, front, back, or top once it's partially put together to get the interior pieces into where they belong. With the thinner animals, most if not all of the pieces have exterior paint and that helps match the pieces up, and you also don't have to maneuver the outside pieces while working on the inside. It's hard to describe, but you'll see what I mean. The snakes, for instance, are reasonably easy, but each animal presents some sort of problem to solve. THE most difficult is our tarantula! Try figuring out which jointed leg goes where - and yes, they have to go in the right sockets, because otherwise the spider simply won't fit together. Kids usually do better with these puzzles than the adults! Check them out, they're lots of fun. And once put together, they look like real animals, so you can add them to your collection of collectible toy plastic animals!

Animal jewelry: Airedale dog pin

If you like Airedales, you might just love our Airedale dog pin. It's hand-cast and hand-painted in the USA. This lovely dog pin is yours for only $29.00 while our stock lasts. Our hand-painted jewelry includes hundreds of animal types, both domestic and wild animals. Come check them out at our new Painted Animal Jewelry Pins web site!