A New Easy way to get a ToyPortrait Avatar!

Get a custom avatar to use on facebook and other places online. Now it's easy to order!

You just order and send us some pictures, and we'll make you a high-quality vector to use wherever you want!

sweet weekend

Me and Kitchen Sink from Starlite! Twelve Scoops of Assorted Ice Cream, Brownies, Chopped Nuts, Blueberries, Strawberries, Hot Fudge, Hot Caramel, Bananas, Oreo’s, Whipped Cream, Cherries and Who Knows What Else! What was your weekend like?

Trevor in Moscow with TOYHOP!

Recently we had some very exciting news: a Toy Tourist from USA visited us in Moscow! Say “hi” to Trevor! He is from New Jersey (east coast of the US) and he’s never been to Russia before. So I became his best friend and tour guide in Moscow. On the first day we visited Red Square, took pictures in front of the main sights that all the tourists always desire to see: the Square itself, St. Basil’s Cathedral, The State Historical Museum, Kremlin walls, mausoleum of Lenin etc. We also saw a big skating rink right in the middle of Red Square – it’s a special attraction here from November till March. It was a pretty cold day but at the same time it was bright and mostly sunny. I gave Trevor my favorite knitted hat to make sure he’s warm and is enjoying our walks. For lunch we stopped in a sushi café and enjoyed hot soup with shark meat!

That's all for today, more photos can be found on Facebook!
Stay warm!
Michael TheMonkey

ToyPortraits: Results!

Let me present you our Valentine's Day contest winners and their custom ToyPortraits! 

This is Dillon La-Donkey:

And this is Captain Bossy Socks:

CLICK HERE for more info about ToyPortraits!

St. Patrick's Day in Moscow

This is what St. Patrick's Day Parade in Moscow looks like! It was held on Arbat street on the 17th of March. It was the first St. Patrick's  parade I took part in, so I decided to learn more about the holiday.

Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Saint Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day. 

Now people in many countries around the world celebrate this day by wearing green, meeting up with the friends and going to pubs. I made a list of the best known Moscow Irish pubs, here they are:

The Shamrock Pub - Moscow’s first Irish pub founded way back in 1991: good Irish food, nice atmosphere and beer on Novy Arbat street in the center of the city.

Molly Gwynn's Pub is also on Novy Arbat so if you are done with the Shamrock you can continue the adventures :-)

John Bull Pub (metro Barrikadnaya/Ulitsa 1905 Goda and Smolenskaya) - there are two of them in Moscow - it's an English-style pub with a nice interior, good food but very high prices on beers.

Rosie O'Grady's by metro Park Kultury is part of a restaurant chain offering European and Asian food as well as Guinness, Harp and other Irish beers.

Katie O'Shea's at Grigolsky pereulok near Prospect Mira (the same street as the Irish Embassy) - serves excellent Guinness and Sunday lunch.

Silver's Irish Pub (metro Okhotny Ryad) is a little too small and too smoky but fun.

So this is it with my little research, I hope you had a very nice and green 17th of March!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey

The Moscow Times: Toys manage to carry out protest!

This Tuesday's article in the Moscow Times is about toys protesting in Russia! How brave of them! It's pretty cold on the street and they stood up to the police! :-)

The winners!!

Hello friends! Was your Valentine's Day fun and lovely! We have TOYHOP Contest winners here tonight! Meet Dillon, Wide Load and Spotty!

 This is Dillon La-Donkey - our 1st prize winner with 38 votes! He loves tea and cakes and this is his Facebook Page - in case you want to say hi and be friends!

Say hi to Wide Load! Our 2nd prize goes to him for 14 votes! He is from Cute and Creepy's Cannabalized Cuties in Los Angeles, California and he loooooves food! You can find more amazing toys by talented Jessica King if yopu follow this links: Facebook//Etsy//Store

 Aaaand our 3rd winner - Spotty Watson! He's from Burnaby, BC originally, but now lives in Toronto, Ontario - both in Canada. This is quintessential Spotty, he's the one in the very bottom right corner, in the Canucks toque. Say "Congratulations!" to Spotty HERE.

As we mentioned before our wonderful winners get super prizes from TOYHOP:

1st - FREE ToyPortrait + 50% discount on any Hop to Moscow!
2nd - FREE ToyPortrait + 25% discount on any Hop to Moscow!
3rd - 50% discount on a ToyPortrait + 10% discount on any Hop to Moscow!

Also all the participants received a 25% discount on ToyPortrait just for entering! Congratulations!

ToyPortrait Valentine's Day Challenge!!!

Hello Everybody!  In honor of our new service and Valentine's Day, we decided that it's time for another photo contest!!! This time, we are interested in seeing the true nature of your Toys -- we'd like portraits!

To enter, send an email to toyhop@gmail.com including:

• A wonderful photo of your toy that shows who he/she really is!
• Your Name
• Your Toy's Name
• Where your toy is from

Just for entering ,we'll give you a 25% discount on a ToyPortrait!

We'll post your toy to a contest album on ToyHop's facebook page, where you can send your friends to vote!  The photo with the most "likes" on Facebook by the 12th of February will win one of our three great prizes:

1st - FREE ToyPortrait + 50% discount on any Hop to Moscow!
2nd - FREE ToyPortrait + 25% discount on any Hop to Moscow!
3rd - 50% discount on a ToyPortrait + 10% discount on any Hop to Moscow!

Prizes will be announced on the 14th!  The sooner you enter, the sooner we can put your photo up!  We'll also feature entries here on the blog after the contest has finished.

Yours Truly,
Michael TheMonkey and the ToyHop Team

Michael takes a bath

Hi everyone! 

As you all know I love adventures! But when I travel, jump, fly and climb I get dirty. It's easy to see because of my yellow, green and orange colors. So from time to time I have to take a bath. I don't like water very much but fruit flavored bath bubbles and foams help a lot. This time I chose strawberry shower gel from Yves Rocher. Now when I am clean again I'm enjoying my hot tea and drying up near a heater. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Michael TheMonkey

ToyPortrait!

Make a mark for your toy with ToyPortrait!

Send us a photo of your toy and your preferences and we'll create a high-quality digital portrait for you!

Click Here!

Yours Truly,
Michael TheMonkey and the ToyHop team!

happy new year!!

My dear Friends, Happy New Year! Have a great one and let all your dreams come true!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey