The Greatest Stuffed Animals Known to (Wo)man
I know I’ve taken a little time off from posting reviews and giveaways, but this one, my friends, is worth the wait.
Some wild animals showed up in my mailbox yesterday. No, I didn’t mail my kids to myself. But Sarah, creator/sewer/artist extraordinaire, of Flaky Friends sent me two of her creations: Lester the Giraffe and Lucky the Turtle. I fell INSTANTLY in LURVE. Head over heels in love. I feel a kinship to these weirdo animals. Kind of like a long-distance-relationship-gone-bad kinship. We’ll always be connected - I can’t quit you.
The first thing I noticed when I held my loves girls’ new stuffed animals is their craftsmanship. These guys are so well-made, you’d swear a high-powered machine with 80 underpaid sweatshop workers had slaved away over them. But thankfully this is not true of the Flaky Friends. Each animal is HANDMADE by Sarah herself. I KNOW!
Sarah started making these crazy critters after her daughter demanded requested a purple stuffed pony, and after searching high and low, she couldn’t find one. So, like any other artist, she decided to make one. (Personally, I would have fibbed and told my girls Santa couldn’t come through and he was an anrgy old man and to quit asking for frivolous things. I kid - I kid.) People - she’s been working at these since January of THIS year. She’s just that good.
The tagline for Flaky Friend’s Etsy store is “Why Should You Buy One? Because You Can!” Ladies (and one or two gents) - I haven’t been this in love with a new product find since TiVo was invented. And that’s saying a lot. (Maybe I’m exaggerating a tad, but I LURVES these animals.) You must go now to buy your Flaky Friends from Sarah before she realizes she’s not charging enough for her artwork. Hello? $29-32 for the medium sized Friends? And by ‘medium,’ I mean 12-15″. That’s practically stealing art from an artist of Sarah’s caliber. Trust me - I’m a stuffed animal connoisseur, and you can NOT find handmade (in the USofA I might add) stuffed animals that are this well made and this adorable and this quirky and this lovable. And at this price.
Discount
So kiddies, I’m off to buy Sven the blue penguin for my penguinalholic 4-year-old. And I’m going to use the coupon code Sarah is passing along to all of us for 20% off everything in her store - HOTMAMAS. Use this code* through September 30, ‘08, but I recommend buying NOW before she realizes she doesn’t charge enough.
Giveaway
For our readers only, Sarah is giving away one of her ‘Out-of-Shell Turtles’ (value of $30). To win the turtle, visit Flaky Friends and comment below with your favorite Flaky Friend. (Sorry, but if your comment does not include the name of a Flaky Friend, you cannot win.) One comment per person, per day - come back daily for your chance to win! Comments are open until Sunday, August 10th, 11:59pm EST. The winner will be posted here on MamasLike, notified via email, and on Prizey.Fetch.
GET YOUR BUMS OVER TO FLAKY FRIENDS NOW and buy one (why? because you can). If you happen to win, and you’ve already adopted your Flaky Friend, no worries. You can start a menagerie.
*Etsy stores do not have the abilities to use coupon codes in their checkout. To redeem your 20% off discount, enter “HOTMAMAS” in the “Notes to Seller” upon checkout and wait for a revised invoice that reflects the discount before you complete your payment. It sounds confusing, but trust me - it’s worth it.

Mephistopheles the Fire Tiger is adorable!
I like the rainbow striped elephant.
Holy Smokes! I can’t decide between Greg the Shaggy Sheep or Gerty the Good Natured Hippo. So cute!
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Roger the Elephant
Priscilla the Llama of Pink Pleasures Stuffed Animal Plushie Toy if my favorite.
cherylfrancisco@hotmail.com
lester the giraffe, my daughter would go crazy for these
fire tiger is so cool. my son would love it.
Fire Tiger rocks!
I LOVE Svetlana the Purple Penguin.
It’s too bad the other penguins are threatened by her degree in microbiology so she has to tell them she’s a waitress at Chili’s.
Hopefully she’ll meet a strong ,proud, manly penguin who isn’t threatened by smart women.
I love Seth, the rainbow elephant!!! My little boy is fourteen months old and he just love vibrant colored stuffed animals. I think that this would bring a great big smile on his beautiful little face. We are in the process of starting to get him to sleep in a “big boy bed” and out of the crib, sleeping with this I bet would make it alot easier!
Gerty the Good Natured Hippo Plush Stuffed Animal is really cute! Thank you for the opportunity to win!
Greg The Shaggy Sheep is our favorite.
Thank you so much for offering this wonderful giveaway.
We would LOVE to win !!
I like the Lucky Turtle the Stuffed Animal Plushie Softie. Thanks!
Kitty McPhee! She’s gotta be my fav!
Greg the Shaggy Sheep is so fine!
My favorite is Mephistopholes the Fire Tiger.
I love em all, but esp Lucky the turle, and Bogart the camel
I could adopt Mephistopholes, the Fire Tiger. But the turtles are great, too.
My daughter is really into giraffes right now - she would love Lester the Giraffe!
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I like Gerty the Good Natured Hippo!
I love the FlakyFriends Gerty the Good Natured Hippo Plush Stuffed Animal!
If I had one of these, I’d probably keep it myself and hide it from my daughter! My favorite is the Crazy Yellow Gold Crocodile.
I love Roger the Elephant!
I love the Basset Hound Plushie and the Blue and Purple Elephant.
I like the Rainbow Stripe Elephant
Baaab Baaab Baaab, Baaab-Baaabara-Ann … Take my hand …
Er, I mean Baaab Robertson. Gracious.
Gerty the Good Natured Hippo Plush Stuffed Animal
Thank you for sponsoring this sweepstakes! It is very generous of you!!! Wishing you continued success!
I really like the Gerty the Good Natured Hippo Plush Stuffed Animal. All of her stuff is co cute!
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Seth the unfortunate elephant is soooo cute! But I do love them all.
Svetlana, the purple penguin, is peachy keen!!
I love Gerty the Good Natured Hippo.
I love Lester the Giraffe and the Flower Turtle!
I love Roger the Elephant
LOVE lester the giraffe!
Gerty the hippo…
love the tiger
First I fell in love the Basset Hound, but THEN I saw Gerty the Good Natured Hippo and went head over heals!
These are so adorable! I want one for myself!
We love these few:
-Lester the Giraffe Stuffed Animal
-Irish Monkey!
-Basset Hound
My mother raises dachshunds so it would be cool if there was a Dachshund one (black and tan) which would replicate my moms two year old baby Larz! I would definitely purchase it for her!
Thank you so very much and good luck to all!
Kelsey
rawrissexy@gmail.com
This little guy is so cute, I would like him at my house.
I like Roger the Elephant
I like Greg The Shaggy Sheep
We love the Irish Monkey!!
gregg the shaggy sheep is so cute
I need a puppy and the Shaggy Sheep Dog would really fit the bill.
Shaggy Sheep is my choice
I really like Sven the blue penguin!
I love Sven the penguin! Cute!
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Mephistopholes the Fire Tiger
I love them all but Lester the Giraffe is my favorite. Thank you for the contest!
I fell in love with the Patriotic Turtle. Way too cute of a stuffed plushie for me!!!!!!