The other day I came home to a very pleasant surprise: A large box from STRANGEco. I was so excited, rushed into my flat and tore open the package. Tucked neatly inside the box were these little lovelies by Jule West. They have the sweetest faces and are an adorable addition to my vinyl toy collection. Merci STRANGEco!

This year, Hasbro has been celebrating the 25th Birthday of the iconic My Little Pony brand in a myriad of ways including re-releasing some 1983 and 1984 Original Ponies. The big quarter centurial celebration culminates with “The MY LITTLE PONY Project: 25 Ponies for 25 Years� gallery exhibition, which I went to check out on Thursday, here in NYC. The Project features 18 inch ponies that have been designed by celebrities, artists, and young fans, to be auctioned off by CharityFolks.com to benefit Give Kids The World Village, a nonprofit organization that provides week-long vacations to Central Florida to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Among the included were works by artists Claw Money, Junko Mizuno, Tokidoki, Junie Moon, Catalina Estrada, Tado and Klor, and celebrities Kimora Lee Simmons, John Stamos, David and Courteney Arquette, LeAnne Rimes, Deborah Gibson, and Leah Remini. Worldwide fans from the tender age of 4 to 26, and from far and wide as Australia, Ireland and the U.S. were also chosen to get in on the action through a previously held contest.

As a young lass I wasn’t much of a fan of typical girly toys, but to be completely honest, My Little Ponies were the exception. My weakness. In fact, I recently rescued my collection of OG Ponies from my parents house so they wouldn’t wind up at the Salvation Army when I wasn’t looking! So you can imagine my pleasure to attend this event and see these magnificent works, and some of the old fillies in mint condition!

These ponies will be up for auction on Charity Folks.com until Oct. 2, with prices starting at $150 for the ponies of the contest winners, $250 for celebrities, and $500 for artists.

I spotted M.I.S.S. Crew fave Claw Money in attendance and took the opportunity to snap a flick of her with her pony.

I’ll show you two of my favorites, and we’ll take a full roll call after the jump!

I loved the precise and intricate painted and beaded works of Catalina Estrada and 10 year old contest winner Sofia de Santiago Palomares Hoffman from D.F. Mexico




10 years old!!

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Yesterday in NYC, JanSport threw a launch party featuring the live tunes of Digable Planet’s Ladybug Mecca, and J. Boogie and debuted it’s latest collection of limited edition artist designed bags, featuring the art of UK artist Julie West and LA based grafitti artist JoeX2. Previous collections have been limited to backpacks, but with this collection we see messenger bags, and expandable upright luggage bags thrown into the mix with marvelous result. These bags will be released to stores in April 2008, but you can still find the winter collection in stores now. Check JanSport.com for product information and to find your local retailer for the series. Artist bios, inspiration and more photos after the jump.

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