Providence Art Festival!

Hooray!! I can't wait, and the beasts are so psyched. I think it's just because they heard the word "festival." Those beasts just love to party.

xx
the Beast Peddler

Cindy Lou Facesucker...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Put that down at once!
xx
the Beast Peddler

Urban Legend Time

Meet Cindy Lou Facesucker, a new beast who is based on one of my favorite urban legends- the beast version of this story here:

Sometimes at night when it's thundering out and the beasts want to hear a scary story, everyone gathers in the living room and they turn out the lights. The Beast Peddler drapes blankets over the furniture and brings a lantern, and all the beasts gather in the blanket fort and wait patiently for Hagatha to begin.
There was once a beast named Bootstraps. Bootstraps loved to go adventuring in the wide world, from the sandy shore near the enchanted cottage to the deep, dark forests of the Beast Peddler's homeland. On one occasion, Bootstraps was wandering through a particularly dense bit of forest. As he very barely brought a map, he soon became lost- and worse, it was starting to get dark.
As in any horror story, Bootstraps soon found himself in front of a small house. It had a sign on the front that read Bed & Breakfast, so he decided to retire for the night. He pushed open the wooden door and was greeted by a crow person- a little old lady. She blinked through her thick glasses as he entered.
"Greetings, young one! What are you doing out in the forest this late at night? There's dangerous beings out there."
"That's why I stopped in for the night, I was glad to see a building this far out in the woods!" The crow woman smiled.
"Wonderful! I haven't seen a visitor in a long time, no one really comes up this way anymore. The Horrors make the woods too dangerous. But I do have a room for the night- here's the key. Right up the hallway, second door on your left."
"Thank you!" Bootstraps said, and he took the key.
"One more thing, dear!" said the crow woman as he turned around. "I'm going to sleep now- don't disturb the room next to you, be a good little beast."
Bootstraps couldn't imagine why he wouldn't be allowed into the next room, if the old lady hadn't had any visitors in a long time. He shrugged it off and let himself into his room, but his gaze lingered on the door next to his. He shot a look at the desk where the crow lady had been, then looked back at the door. Bootstraps ducked his head and peered through the keyhole.
Inside, the room was dusty, but seemed like a regular bedroom. At the rear of the room, there was a black beast, facing the window. It was combing its fur and humming a little song.
Why hadn't the old crow woman wanted him to see this room? Bootstraps didn't think there was anything out of the ordinary in there, but he felt bad that he had been watching. That beast would clearly want to be left alone. He went into his room and closed the door, and spent an uneventful night in his bed.
The next day, Bootstraps woke up bright and early. On his way back to the desk, he stole another peek through the keyhole. (Bootstraps was a curious beast.)
Strangely, when he looked into the keyhole, all he saw was the color red. Maybe they had put something over the keyhole so no one could spy in. Embarrassed, he quickly looked away and hurried to the desk to give the crow woman the key back. She was smiling oddly at him, like she knew everything he had done. Now he was really embarrassed. "Thanks for returning the key, young one."
"You're welcome," Bootstraps said. "Well, time to be off!" He turned to walk out of the building when he spotted something on the wall, next to the door. It looked like a really old photograph- it was black and white, and pretty badly faded. There were two adult beasts, one with a bow tie and one with a bonnet and a cameo necklace. Bootstraps was frozen in place. Those two beasts, they looked just like...
"They used to live in this house," the crow woman said. "Over a hundred fifty years ago. They had a daughter. She was very beautiful and spent long hours combing her fur, but she never left her bedroom because other beasts were frightened of her." Bootstraps was chilled to the bone- he didn't like where this story was headed.
"Why were they frightened of her?" he asked, quietly. The crow woman smiled and turned back to the cross-stitch she was working on.
"Why, she had one red eye. Very unusual."

Bootstraps never went back, nor did he ever run so fast back to his home.
I can't wait to do some more of these, I love scary stories very much.
Also, the Prince has started taking pictures of the beasts, and doing an amazing job. He took these pictures of Beelzebub, which I thought came out so beautiful.

Have a good night, everyone!
xx
the Beast Peddler

New Friends!

A whole day of my two favorite activities, sewing beasts and creeping myself out!

Meet Gretchen Leggenbeek, who uses her third eye to see into the future!

Also, Lord Azarul, a lesser demon who eats all the maraschino cherries and then leaves the stems in the jar. :( What a jerk!
We were creeping ourselves out by reading about the Japanese suicide forest and watching the Destination Truth episode about the haunted forest in Romania. Last night it was super foggy so we sat outside listening to Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine.

xx
The Beast Peddler

Tomelo the Twirler saves Princess Your Grandmother's Sitting Room from a Horror Attack!

When the Beast Peddler was finished sewing Tomelo the Twirler (but before he was called that,) she put him in Hagatha's room for her to bring to life later that night. Then she went about her business, making a beef stew for dinner and trying to reason with the bat family that had taken up residence in the attic.
In the morning, Tomelo was nowhere to be seen. However, this was soon forgotten as the inhabitants of the enchanted cottage realized that Princess Your Grandmother's Sitting Room was also missing. Panic gripped the beasts and everyone ran outside to start searching for her. They had only just stepped outside when Opposable Betty pointed at a tree at the edge of the forest. Something was causing a commotion in the top branches. The group stood holding their breath and watching the branches sway wildly. Even the brave Ozymandias could do nothing to help- the trees were so high. Suddenly, a black, white and pink mass emerged from the treetop. It sailed through the air to another tree, where it caught a branch with its tail and from there did a full flip mid-flight and caught the next branch. In a few minutes, the blur came into focus.
It was the new beast, holding on to Princess, making his way back to the cottage.
When they were safely on the ground again, Tomelo and the Princess were given a warm welcome. Princess told them of how she had woken up early and was taking a walk around the yard when a Horror with the longest fingers she had ever seen snatched her and climbed to the top of a tree. Luckily, Tomelo had been warming himself in a window and saw her get carried away.
In celebration, the Beast Peddler made a chocolate cake for breakfast, and it turned out to be pretty good day.
xx
the Beast Peddler

Hi there! Here are some things we've been doing here at the enchanted cottage:

Here's a little specimen in a jar! Not really a fully formed beast yet. It's like a larval form! I think I'll be bringing some of these with me when we all go to the Providence Art Festival!!

This here is Crowley, a little crow person who we're taking care of. As a rite of passage, young crow people leave the colony for a time to live out in the world. Granted, he's not that far away from the crow village. We like having him with us all the same.

Crowley really likes sitting out in the sun when it's warm outside. When it rains, he likes to sit on the peak of the roof and just caw his brains out.

Are you going to be near Providence, Rhode Island on June 2nd? Because we'll be at the Providence Art Festival!! Swing by and say hi to the beasts!
xx
The Beast Peddler

Beastlets!

We've got Beastlet fever over here at the enchanted cottage. Tiny beasts galore! Lots of fun stuff to come with the little guys, like surprise beastlet sets, more Owlpup litters, and even beasts with more than one stage of evolution!
Here are a couple of the little things-

Bluebo! He's a cute little guy, loves eating marshmallows and mushrooms, loves belly rubs, scared of the broom. Can't wait to see what he grows into...

This is Molly Grufflefluff's daughter, Jenny Gemface! It's really exciting when the beasts spontaneously reproduce by budding. At first, it looks like they're growing a second head, with no features on it. Then it starts to grow into a curled-up kidney bean sort of shape, and then one day it falls off. When the furry lump falls off, we generally grab them and put them in a nest of pillows under a heat lamp so they can wake up.
It's amazing when they wake up, it's like watching a huge furry bean waking up and all of a sudden these little nubby legs unfold and start waving about. Awesome, and really cute.
The Prince named her Jenny Gemface because even though the beastlets are generally carbon-copies of their parent beast, sometimes the magic wobbles a little bit and things can change. Jenny has the same gem adornment as Molly, but Jenny's is a little off-center. Also, it's already at the same size as Molly's. Hagatha seems to think it should be smaller if it was just a copy of Molly's gem, so it may be getting ready to grow into something bigger. Hopefully!

More beastlets every day! The enchanted cottage is brimming with the little things. This year, a lot of the beasts are "budding." We've even had male beasts bud in the past. It has a lot to do with all the spells that get cast in the enchanted cottage. Mixed with the Earth waking back up in the Spring, the beasts bud like crazy. This year though, the Budding came much earlier than we planned for. Usually it happens once Spring has actually started. Hagatha thinks that maybe there's a fertility spirit in the woods nearby...
Have a great night, everyone!
xx
the Beast Peddler