For the past few years, birds ruled the roost when it came to images of cute woodland creatures decorating almost anything with a surface, including teapots, totes and comforters.

The hipster love of birds as design muse became so commonplace that IFC's comedy series Portlandia poked fun last year with its now infamous sketch "Put a Bird on It."

But there's a new animal gaining a toehold as the next design darling: the squirrel.

Jonathan Adler's white bisque squirrel match strike ($42) appeared on many decor magazines' top-10 gift lists during the holidays. The company also offers ceramic squirrel-shaped ring boxes and candle holders, and brass squirrel letter openers and shoehorns.

Land of Nod, the children's furniture and gifts brand from Crate and Barrel, carries squirrel-shaped wall hooks ($29) in kid-chic colors of aqua, green and red.

Type in the word squirrel at Etsy.com, the online store that has become the barometer for current style trends, and more than 1,000 items are listed under jewelry alone.

Hundreds more listings feature images of squirrels scampering across stationery, coffee mugs, T-shirts and pillows.

Among the squirrel-as-art offerings are quirky, colorful prints from Berkley Illustration, a Portland, Ore., company known for its portraits of animals in human dress. One of the company's 5-by-7-inch prints features a red squirrel wearing a lace collar and pink bow.