Julius: Your Pez-y Friend

Paul Frank's famous chacter Julius the monkey has been made into a Pez dispenser. The set of three was originally intended for release only in France, but they are now available in the Pez Collectors Store!

Monkeys? Pez? Paul Frank? Yes, yes, yes!

Lay off my Monkey!

I love sock monkeys. Always have. Over the past few years I've patiently shared my love of sock monkeys with the population at large, knowing that the mass public's interest would fade and the trend would pass.

But this Halloween, Target has chosen to cheapen my love of monkeys* by offering costumes for the whole modern sock monkey family— we have daddy monkey, monkey mistress, cute little baby monkey, and spoiled brat monkey.**

Seriously? How pervy does daddy monkey look standing next to his baby momma/teenage daughter? 

Target, I beg you, please go back to profitting off of Harry Potter and his wizarding wands and leave my precious monkeys alone!


*I initially typed monkey-love here but then realized that was wrong, very wrong, and luckily corrected myself before publishing this post. However, I was entertained enough by the typo that I am divulging that secret with you anyhow.

**There's also a not-so-cute Zombie variation, because the best way to make a quick and disturbed dollar is to merge to trends together.

The Monkiest

Now I'm sure it's pretty clear that I like sock monkeys a little bit. But this dress is a little beyond me. But I applaud the commitment to a look!

Flip through Rebecca Yaker's other creations. Clearly I'm a sock monkey amateur!

Getting Cozy with my Tea Cozy

Nothing beats a sock monkey surprise. This was waiting for me when I got home from work last night. What a great hat right? WRONG! It's a tea cozy! The most fantastic tea cozy I've ever seen.

My mom made it—using our stash of old sweaters of course. It's lined with fleece and fits right over my little tea pot.

Sock monkeys are pretty much always a home run with me, but I have to say, this one is pretty extra fab.

My response to the cozy was so strong that I wouldn't be surprise if they show up on the ScrappyLynn Etsy page soon!

**UPDATE: A Monkey Tea Cozy is now available on the ScrappyLynn Etsy Page.

[Thanks Mom!]

*This isn't photo staging, the apple and orange were not placed next to the cozy by me. My mom subtly likes to remind me that I should lay off the donuts. Either that or she thought the monkey may need a snack before i made it home.

Assembling an Army

After a long morning of "but I don't wanna"s, it was back to work today. After a leisurely few weeks, it was a rough transition. Not having any family holiday obligations, I spent my days doing something I love— watching tv while crafting.

In fact I made a whole gaggle* of argyle friends to keep me company. I love monkeys, I love argyle—could there be a better combination??

See my monkeys on Etsy here.

*Gaggle of geese, a pack of wolves, barrel of monkeys?

Channeling My Inner Monkey

Ever since completing Year 1 of Weekminds, where I made a monkey a week for a year, I've been unintentionally obsessed with monkeys.

I see them everywhere. And I don't know if monkeys are simply in right now, or if I simply never noticed their presence before, but clearly I'm not the only person that's obsessed.

While at Schulars Books downtown last week (shop local!) I stumbled across Monkey Mints: banana flavored mints that come in a monkey head tin.

I took a picture so I could share the cute little tin with you. But the photo was all blurry so I turned to Google to help me find a cleaner one.

Once again, Google gave me more than I bargained for, and boy, am I grateful.

Robot Room discover Monkey Mints on Archie McPhee's website, and writes: "Although we were disappointed to discover that the mints are not made with real monkey, the amusing metal candy container is still worth the purchase price. In fact, the container is so much fun that it deserves to come to life as a robot."

Um, awesome?

This is what makes the internet so awesome—People with too much time on their hands! Check it out, Robot Room even includes a video:



If you're feeling a little bored this evening, visit Robot Room's site for instructions on how to make your own monkey head tin robot or on other robots for beginners.

Go Bananas.

Led Astray by Google

So I was flipping through the new Communication Arts Design Annual this week, when in the packaging awards section there was a candy pictured. The candy was called "Fruity Monkey Poop".

Yes, it was a cool package, but it was an even cooler name, so I set about Googling it so i could share it with you. I mean come on, if I'm lucky enough to discover FRUITY monkey poop, god knows I'm going to share.

Low and behold, it's wasn't candy Google led me to, but a book. When a Sock Monkey Throws Poop, All You Get Hit With is Stuffing: A Life Under This One.

Another interesting name. How do you write a whole book about monkey poop?... I wonder what it's really about... Holy [monkey poop]! The author is from Grand Rapids.
"Straight from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Paris of the Upper Midwest, comes this first collection of 'A Life Under This One' cartoons. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder why you ever opened the book (and how you ever lived without such great bathroom entertainment.) Imagine 'The Far Side' on crack..."

I see. I feel like a more complete person having discovered this book exists. Which apparently only furthers my curiosity.... let's continue...

Lacking the foresight to NOT Google "when monkeys throw poop". I ended up at the following answers.com page. Where my favorite response is:
"Wouldn't you if you were caged up and had monkeys staring at you all day! They are ticked off! Don't get too close to the cage because they will try and pee on you as well."

Adding "sock" to my google search page lead me here to this self-proclaimed "adorable" sticker.

And lastly, Googling the actually book title, found these less than charming dolls.

Through all this, I never found a site with fruity monkey poop, the candy to share with you. But truthfully, I didn't really care anymore.