Another Milestone Birthday

I have been busy making cats and mini dogs for the Bear Scout. I'm glad it's her traveling the country doing doll and bear shows. I really enjoy going places but really like sleeping in my own bed.

I hit the big 6 - 0 a couple of weeks ago. It was a great birthday, with the most family in one place in a long time. Also the most people in our home since we moved here. Bill spent the day before making lasagna and it was a big hit. Physically, I feel great, but when I think about my parents at sixty.....I thought they were really old.
Sooooo, back to work. Two online shows in November and more critters for the Bear Scout.

Christmas Treasures Show

Now it's really time to get going on Christmas creations. I have been accepted to participate in the Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures online show. The preview and voting for Collector's Choice will begin Nov 1st with the show taking place Nov 15th - 17th. I have a couple of cool ideas in my head....just waiting for stores to put out their Christmas fabrics. Teddies Worldwide shows are always excellent and I am really looking forward to this one.
Meanwhile, a bunch of mini dogs and a couple of black cats are on their way to the Bear Scout for her next show.

 Also, Bean, a cute Boston Terrier is waiting for his new home. Bean will be on Bear Pile soon.

 

Time to vote for the URSA Awards

I didn't realize that I haven't posted in over a month. Not sure how that happened. 
The first round of voting in the URSA competition opened today. The winners are determined by online voting. Brownie is in Category 10 and Patina is on category 14. There are 16 categories(there is no category 13) with a bunch of wonderful creations. You can vote in all the categories or only some. You can come back later and vote in the ones you didn't before. Round one ends July 31 and round two starts August 12. Winners will be announced Oct 1. I hope you will vote for Brownie and Patina but make sure to vote! Click the picture below to get to the voting pages.

Trying to get in the Christmas Spirit

The mocking birds keep making nests on our back porch. I have to duck to keep from being buzzed if I go out there. Another sign of Spring/Summer is the wet season has arrived here in Florida. We are experiencing the first tropical storm of the season with heavy rain and tornado warnings through out the day. But... it's time to make Christmas critters. The magazines need photos by August and I have an online show in November. The current humidity is not helping me get in the mood.
I have been selling some items on ebay and etsy. The local estate and garage sales have yielded some nice finds. We are looking forward to some visits from family in the next few weeks. I have a milestone birthday coming up next month...not sure how I feel about it.
Think I go play some Christmas music...that always makes me feel young.

Dogs & Cat

Whew! It's been a long time since I have posted. I was busy making some cats and dogs to send to The Bear Scout. Felicia Hymer is the Bear Scout. She takes Teddy bears and other critters to shows and shops made by artists from all over the world. Recently I went to the big doll and bear show, IDEX, in Orlando. I had the pleasure of meeting Felicia there and showed her some photos of my work. So a box of 11 dogs and cats are now in St Louis, ready for the Brightstar show on Sunday the 19th. I will post more pictures on my facebook page this weekend.

Mean while, these two Teddies are on sale in my etsy shop. There were 4 on sale but Dodi and Russell have already been adopted.

Little Bears and Dogs from scraps

The last couple of weeks I decided I needed to use up most of my mohair stash before I ordered more. These 3 bears are from small pieces that were left over. Andy Panda is already on his way to a new home. The other two, Summer and Lola, will be available on Bear Pile . I also made a tiny string jointed dog. The plan is to make several of them before the Greater Orlando Doll Show on May 5th. The little dogs are the perfect pet for Barbie. As for the plan to use up my mohair stash before ordering more.....fail. Put in an order yesterday.

Bebe has new shoes...

Shoes for bears have been on my mind. Wanting to make shoes for upcoming creations, I decided to make some for a bear that is still waiting to be adopted. Bebe looked like she could use some booties. I used a Simplicity pattern for felt baby shoes as a guideline. Pulling out some craft felt to experiment with, it took several tries. Now Bebe has some yellow felt booties. Now, to translate the pattern to some smaller feet as the new creations will not be as big as Bebe. I also have to update the photos of her on Bear Pile.