Mink Teddy Bear

I finished my mink bear...finally...and was able to deliver it to my collector before Easter, though I did work on it right up to the time we left the desert for Easter with our daughter. I was so glad to get rid of that bear.

I've already told you that taking the coat apart was a messy job and seemed to take forever. Fur was flying everywhere and making me and the pups sneeze...definitely an outside job.

I was so afraid of making mistakes so it took longer to make. It was my first real fur bear, it wasn't my mink, and I was so afraid of ruining the fur. Real fur must be lined so cutting a cotton version of the pattern is necessary. The cotton lining provided support for the very fragile pelts.

Nancy Tillberg was encouraging and nudging me along. She finally told me to stop worrying about making mistakes and get over my fear of working with fur. I was mostly worried about sculpting the fur on the snout. I have only ever scissor sculpted but this time I brought out the electric clippers, closed my eyes and sculpted. It actually turned out pretty good and I was quite pleased that it was smooth, even and no cut lines were visible.

Would I do it again...yes, absolutely. While visiting the Central San Joaquin Valley over Easter I picked up a couple of jackets, one rabbit and one mink, from a high school friend. The next one will be easier I am sure.

Basic Bear Boot Camp

Here's my finished bear from the EbearZ University online class. Everyone taking the class used the same traditional teddy bear pattern provided in the class. It will be interesting to see how different everyone bear turns out.

Online Bear Class

The past few weeks I've been busy with an online class with EbearZ Univeristy.  Basic Bear Boot Camp is a new class and offered for free...can't beat that price. Class was taught by Nancy Tillberg of Kran-Bearys. You can read all about it at EbearZU blog. I've been making bears for several years but Nancy has  some really great methods and techniques and I learned much easier ways to do some things. I especially enjoyed the videos provided with the written lesson.

If you haven't been by EbearZUniversity in a while, stop by and take a look. She's added many new classes and some new teachers, too.

Finished my bear today and will try to get pictures this week.

My First Blog Award

I recently received my 1st blog award from Shari of S. Reetz Bears ! I'm so pleased to know that people do occasionally read my blog. Thanks so much, Shari.

This award is for:

"The authors say that blogs that receive this award are exceedingly charming.This blog invests a proximity in space, time and relationships.These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends; they are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandisement. Our hope is that when the awards of these ribbons are cut, even more friendships will be propagated.Please give your attention to these writers! Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who will choose 8 more, and include this cleverly written text into the body of this award."

I am happy to pass this award to the following bloggers:

Yesterday's Glitter
Boot Button Bears
Dog Patch Critters
Catherwoods
Three O'Clock Bears
Bear Paws by Roxanne
Inside My Studio
Laurie Lou Bears

All of these wonderful blogs can be found on my bear artists blogs links.

100 Best Bear Artist Blogs

Have you noticed this new graphic on the right side of my blog?

Paula Carter of All Bear has just opened a new site that will list the top 100 bear artist blogs. The rankings are set by the number of people who visit each blog. There are currently about 50 member blogs. Please visit the site and visit the various blogs. You'll likely find some that are new to you.

Of course, I wouldn't mind if you visited my blog frequently and move me up in the ranking.

Busy month

I can finally breathe a little easier and move a little slower. I was rushing to meet the deadline for the Be My Valentine show on February 14. Sandi needed everything in by January 19, Australia time, and I was able to get in under the wire which was 1 pm January 18, my time.

Sandi is busy now working an setting up artist booth. And don't forget that Bobo will have his very own booth with all proceeds going to Free the Bears Fund.

I'll be posting a sneak peek at my bears before the show, so please check back.

Yikes, I've been tagged

I was just tagged by Laura Lynn of Teddies by Laura Lynn which means I have to list 6 random things about myself. That might be difficult since I really don't have a very interesting story...but let's see:

1. I have incredibly short toes about which my family constantly teases me...but you don't get to see a photo.

2. I'm an avid reader and have about 800 books in the house.

3. I am not a very good cook and don't like to cook.

4. I am crazy about Scotties Terriers.

5. Allyn and I grew up in the same very small town, lived about 3 blocks apart, went to the same schools at the same time (but I'm a year ahead of him) but didn't meet

until 5 months before we married.

6. My two older sisters were teenagers when I was born and they named me.

Sorry, I'm just not very interesting, but I wanted to play.

If you are on the list below, you've been tagged to name 6 random things about yourself.

Penney at Seamore Collectibles
Ellen Borggreve
Laura at Dances with Teddy Bears
Christine at Boot Button Bears
Louise Peers Miniatures
Brenda at Duffy Antiques

I hope you all decide to play.

THE RULES (for this game of tag):

1. LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU
2. POST THE RULES ON YOUR BLOG
3. WRITE SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF
4. TAG SIX PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM
5. LET EACH PERSON KNOW THEY ARE TAGGED AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG
6.LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS UP
7. DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN (not actually a rule)

Updated Slide Show

I've updated my slideshow with more current bears. Most have been adopted, but not all so if you have a questions about any of them, please send me a note.

And now I'm getting to work on the bears for Be My Valentine.

Great Ho Ho Oh Bearz Show

The show was very successful with many bears being sold and several artists' booths sold out completely. Nancy did an extraordinary amount of work on this show in addition to all of her other obligations...she's a full-time wife and mother, a full time CSI in Canada, a web designer, owner of several sites for bear artists...and in her spare time, she makes award-winning teddy bears.



Kim Russell, well known Australian artist, won best of show for her Miss Lillie. Isn't she adorable? Kim is amazingly talented and Miss Lillie was snapped up shortly after the show opened.






I sold one bear, Annie, and I'll be shipping her off to her new home is Australia soon.

I hope you all had a chance to stop by the showroom to see the variety of styles and sizes of beautiful bears.

Christmas in July is almost here!

The North Country Teddy Bears Christmas in July online conference and show begins this week! You can sign up for online workshops now. I'm taking Judi Paul's Felted Paws class and I am enjoying it very much. My bear now has toes!

In addition to the workshops offered, there will be games, prizes, swaps, and much more. You will also be able to chat with world-famous teddy bear artist, Ted Menten, on Friday evening in the Hospitality Chat Room. Participating artists will be available throughout the sale to answer any questions you may have.

Click the banner on the right side of my blog and you'll find the complete schedule for the four-day event beginning July 24 and running through July 27.

Please remember that all times listed are Eastern Standard Times.

Click on the Scuba Diving Santa to see a Sneak Preview of the show.

Hope to see everyone there.

Christmas In July

We're getting closer to our summer online show. What was supposed to be the Spring Fling in June is now Christmas in July. Unfortunately, the delay was unavoidable due to a serious fire in the data center where more than 9,000 servers were damaged.

Just click on the banner to the right and it will take you to all the information about the show now scheduled for July 24 - 27. Previews of the artist booths will be available about a week before the show.

Hope to see you there.

Hyacinth

Hyacinth is on Bid4Bears beginning today. She's made from a beautiful lavender blue dense, curly kid mohair by Shulte with pale lavender paw pads.

Blue Belle and Peaches continue to reside with me.

I've recently joined Bear Pile at the suggestion of a serious bear collector who recently adopted Molly. Many, many artists from all over the world belong and display many styles of bears. If you haven't discovered this site yet, take a look.

Blue Belle

Blue Belle is up for auction this week on Bid4Bears. She's 14" tall and 10" sitting, and is made from Helmbold 5/8" sparse mohair in the color Sky. She'd love a visit from you.

Blue Belle wears a Precious Moments ceramic heart-shaped pendant that hangs from a pink ribbon.

Franz is up for bid

Franz is up for auction on Bid4Bears this week. He's about 10 inches while sitting; with bent legs, he prefers sitting. He's made from Shulte mohair in a very pretty beige-brown batik.


I'm also happy to say that Molly has been adopted and will soon be on her way to live with her new family in New York.

Molly is up for auction

Molly is up for auction on Bid4Bears this week. She's 16" tall and 11" while sitting. She's made of a one-inch, curly cream mohair and wears a lace party dress. More pictures are on her auction. I hope you have a minute to take a look.


Willis was adopted and is now on his way to live with his new family in Ohio.

Artist Power Campaign 2008

Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign starts on March 9th and runs through May 10th. All teddy bear lovers will want to take a look. There are currently 25 teddy bear artists from around the world who have committed to this campaign.

I have personally committed to posting at least one bear each week of the campaign. I have four bears ready to go and I'm working on another.

Registration with Bid4Bears is free and allows you to bid on any of the bears offered.

I hope you'll visit Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign often during the next eight weeks.

Black and white challenge bear

This is Molly. She's my contribution to the black and white challenge recently on Teddy Talk . If you'd like to take a look at the other entries just go the the Challenge Gallery and you'll see many imaginative creations.

Molly will be available on Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign which starts on March 9th.

I'll be posting more information about this Campaign next week.

Rusty. . .a new bear

This is Rusty and he's just been posted on Bid4Bears. He's made from 1 1/8" dense, curly Shulte mohair. He has a shorter body than most of my bears and I really like his look. He may have cousins soon.

Esme was adopted last week and is now residing in New Jersey.

I'm still working on my black and white challenge bear...the bear is done, the accessories are not. I have another week to make the deadline so I better get busy.

New Bear - Esmé

Sleepy Davey and Rose Marie have been adopted together and will soon be on their way to their new home in New Jersey where they'll join Tommy and Peppermint in a wonderful teddy-bear-loving home.

This is Esmé and she has just been listed on Bid4Bears. Her fur is actually a very frosty white and her color comes entirely from the backing fabric. She's 15" standing and 10.5" sitting. Hope you like her.

I'm currently working on two Teddy Talk challenge bears, one a "shades of black and white" bear and the second an "out of your comfort zone" bear. The black and white is nearly done and, hopefully, will be completed by the end-of-February deadline. The other bear is a work in progress and will be smaller than my normal bears. I've always admired miniature and micro-mini bear makers. They so amaze me with so much detail into such tiny pieces. I love the little bears, but all those little pieces just may not be for me.The head is finished and I'm really quite happy with the way it turned out so I'm encouraged.

New Bears

I've just listed two new bears on Bid4Bears which is a great auction site dedicated to teddy bears, their friends, bear-making supplies and other related items.

This is Sleepy Davey and he comes with his own quilt and sleep shirt.

This little lady is Rose Marie and she has a hand embroidered foot pad in the shape of a heart.

Both bears are about 15 inches tall and about 10.5 inches sitting. If you love teddy bears, take a look at Bid4Bears.