Here they are, The Polar Pack, please say hello to Arctic Fox in Spring, Black Lemming, Snowy Owl, Caribou, Ringed Seal, Musk Ox, Bearded Seal, Red Aurora, Arctic Hare and Ice Blink. They don’t have super powers, just a love for the Arctic and the ability to assume an alternate identity, well, that is pretty super I guess. These little guys are available exclusively at Schmancy from the 1st of March, the online store is here. Each member of the polar pack is one of a kind and will never be repeated. In fact Schmancy is the only place you can grab yourself a Fish Boy of any kind at the moment! You can read more about the gang in an interview I did with lovely Kristen over at Plush You. I would love to hear if you have a favourite, I am willing to bribe you to leave a comment letting me know which of the pack you like the best. So, I am giving away a star pin of your choice from my Etsy shop and some other goodies too, a Lou Lou & Oscar treat bag, it will be lovely I promise! The winner will be chosen at random by the number picking gizmo, you have until the 1st of March if you would like to play along.

Hello Polar Bear! I am working on a top secret project and immersing myself in the Arctic, really a boundless source of inspiration. I have been studying A Naturalist’s Guide to the Arctic written by the ecologist, E.C. Pielou, so that my fanciful imaginings and magical projections about the polar region are tempered with a dash of natural history. I have a head full of patterned ground, tundra polygons and ponds, not to mention the plants, birds, mammals, fish and insects.

Can it really be a year since I stitched my first Polar Fish Boy? I wonder where my armchair expedition will take me this time!

Continuing the polar theme I received two wonderful mini books for Christmas by the illustrator Jackie Bos, pop over to Jackie’s Etsy shop and marvel at I Heart The Arctic .

I like the collage above by Lizzy Janssen too, it is named Land of Shine.

Of course I couldn’t get away without including some work by Diane of Hibou Caillou Chou! Diane’s work is influenced by Inuit culture and the Great North, poetic lines indeed.

The Polar Bear Plate by One Blackbird caught my imagination as well.

Happy New Year everyone!