Happy New Year

Baxter and I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year.... may 2011 be the best yet!
Bettina

post-Christmas plague...

it doesn't seem quite fair... but our Christmas elves passed on the plague to their visiting uncle, grandfather and myself. So plans we had to go "out and about" with said uncle have had to be put on hold.

We all felt well enough today to whip up a batch of Robb's famous spaghetti sauce! We then invited the elves and their parents for dinner ... big success ! Our 5 year old grandson bit down on a piece of spicey sausage which led to a never still little boy running around telling everyone, " Mama Mia that's a speecy, spicey meatsie meatball" at the top of his lungs! But dinner was fun though the still sick adults in this house were ready for some quiet time when the elves left!!

By the way... the elves have really enjoyed my Christmas sewing projects.... but the skinny grandson will have to have the elastic tightened. His pj's just won't stay up!!

My Christmas elves!

Here are my elves... dressed to help Santa on Christmas eve! The pj's I made do have "grow room" ...but better than too small, right!?

My etsy shop is having a Boxing Day sale from today through New Year's Eve.... here's your chance to get 10% off. No extra for shipping if you live in the US!

Go here

Workshop will be closing soon!

As you can see, we've been quite busy around here. The tree is up, my Annalee's in place and, the lights outside are on! The woodworking tools have been making loads of noise in my husband's garage workshop and my sewing machine has been whirring away like made.... not making bears or bear friends but Christmas pj's, twirly skirts, cooking aprons etc. I don't think my grandkids read my blog so I am safe posting a picture of some of my completed things!

We are having the kids and grandkids over Friday night for dessert and coffee or hot cocoa. We'll have a chance to talk without the excitement of presents....

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas ( or if you celebrate another holiday, hope that one is wonderful too!) !

The Christmas workshop is still open

today's task was biscuits for the grand-dogs Chloe and Floyd. ... a batch of doggie biscuits. The recipe included cheese, garlic powder, dry milk, an egg, flours ( several types) and chicken stock. They were in the oven for almost two hours and the house smelled good enough for Bob to give them a taste test!! Thumbs up!! Hope the dogs like them as well!
How shall I wrap them?

LiliBilli's in an etsy treasury!!

LiliBilli ( named after my granddaughter who also has red hair!) has been chosen for an etsy treasury !

My sewing machine has been whirring with the sounds of Christmas pj's and presents! I have finished 4 sets of pj's and a present for my son ( shh it's a secret!) . I can tell that the grandchildren are growing since now it takes 2 yds for Dominic's and 4 yds for Lili's ! Thank you JoAnne's for your Black Friday $1.49 sale on flannel!!

Back home....

We are back home and trying to get things organized for our second Thanksgiving on Saturday. This time it's with the Kansas City group!
I did manage to get a few things made ...here are three of them... There are a few more, but they aren't quite finished.... yet!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are down in Tulsa, OK visiting our son. He was in charge of the turkey so we tried a new brine recipe... brown sugar, peppercorns, maple syrup, bourbon and fresh thyme. It made a wonderful moist turkey! We also tried a new mashed potato recipe from Better Homes and Gardens..... cream cheese, blue cheese, caramelized onions, butter , cream and fresh parsley. Great flavor combination! We are on leftovers till we head home! We actually have to do turkey day all over again next weekend for the Kansas City family members!
Whilest the men did their stuff I worked on some bears.... but forgot the cord to download pictures to our laptop! So I will have to post them on BearPile and etsy ( and this blog) when we get home!
The men went to their chosen store for Black Friday ( I styed home waiting for a new bed delivery) and when they returned I went to JoAnne's Fabric store.... I seen Christmas pj's in my future!
How many of you were out shopping?

Boy, it feels funny...

It really does feel funny seeing bears I made years ago ( anywhere from 1 to 20!) show up on eBay.
Has someone stopped collecting? Downsizing? or what? I watch to see what happens and hope the bears find new homes....

another treasury for Christopher

Christopher has been chosen for another treasury.... but really all he wants is to go home with someone!

The spiders.....

The spiders are hung by the door with care in hopes that the Great Pumpkin soon will be there! And a bat just flew in to keep them company....

Christopher's in a treasury!

Little Christopher and his altered paper mache box made in into an etsy treasury !

my surprise!

When the doorbell rang today I had no reason to expect a surprise box from my son.... but I did. He sent this wonderful autumnal dried flower wreath! I've hung it on the door to the closet in my entry way ... for the time being. I will use it for a centerpiece on my dining room table when I finished making memory bears from a 1950's wedding dress. Currently the table is covered with satin, lace and netting! Thanks, Robb!!!

Two snowmen for 2011!

Here's are the first of 2011's Frostys.... I always enjoy coming up with new ones each year! Frosty the Snowbear is on BearPile and stands 6" tall. The roly poly Frosty is on etsy and is 4 inches to the top of his hat!

the start of Christmas bears ... and bear friends

Baxter is the first of my Christmas bears and bear friends... I have posted him on BearPile.
I have made a few 2011 Frosty the Snowmen which I will post soon!!

Made it into an etsy treasury ! Yipee!

My pumpkins are in an etsy treasury!!

Update... since I posted, the pumpkins have made it into three more treasuries!! What fun!!

Trick or treater!!!

We've been visiting our son down in Tulsa. He had some vacation time and a list of house projects for us .... new lights, new bathroom fan/light, bush pruning and so on. Knowing that my husband and son would be gaming on the XBox at night, I took my bearmaking supplies along. Loren is one I finished while they played.

The Jubilee is over...

The Kansas City Bill Boyd Memorial Teddy Bear Jubilee is over for 2011....I enjoyed it ( as usual) even if I didn't get to spend as much time there. Bob and I mixed a stone carving 3-day workshop with the 3-day teddy bear convention! I found myself wishing I could clone myself because I wanted to be at both things at the same time! Didn't happen!
Molly, my elephant in the kimono, won a first place ribbon for"under 6 inches dressed" in the Jubilee competition!!

As for stone carving.... my limestone piece isn't finished. I worked on it all Friday becoming more and more frustrated. Then I learned on Sunday that I had picked one of the hardest shapes to carve.... and felt much much better. There isn't much carving left... though I will still have loads of sanding to work on! I will post a picture then!
Now that The Jubilee and the bear show down in Grapevine, Tx. are over , I have started putting bears in my etsy shop again! Here is the link! By the way... sales at the two shows were good!!

Working hard

After a great bear show in Grapevine, Tx. on the 11th I have been working hard to "restock"! A nice problem, but I have another show, the Kansas City Bill Boyd Memorial Jubilee on the 24th ! I took a picture of my latest sitting waiting for their hang tags! I have a purple elephant and a Halloween ghost in the works!

Heading back home

The Grapevine Show, Texas was great! We saw lots of old friends and made new ones! LOTS of bears and bear friends are NOT heading back to Kansas City with us... which means I will be sewing a lot before The Kansas City Teddy Bear Jubilee on the 24th.
For other bearmakers... the promoters are already at work on next years' show. It will be Sunday October 28th.... same place, the Grapevive, Tx. Community Center!

Simon's hitting the beat

Simon is ready to head down to Texas... but in the meantime he's making noise hoping someone will notice him!
He can be seen on BearPile until I pack him away for our trip to the Lone Star State.

Will Jennie got toTexas?

I'm working on things for the Grapevine Show on September 11th. This is Jennie.... a 6" bear made from hand-dyed mohair. She comes with her vintage hankie dress ( Thanks to Nancy Hauk !), her "bear case" and her Ohio Art vintage tin cup, saucer and creamer that I found in Livingston TN.
By the way, Nancy's workmanship is supreme... wonderful smocking, all finished seams etc.! I always keep my eyes open for hankies for Nancy to work her magic on! This one also came from Livingston, TN.

Jennie's going to Texas but not to Grapevine!

Teddy Bears with all their Friends

I'm getting ready for the first Grapevine, TX Teddy Bear show sponsored by two local bear artists!! Here are the details:

Grapevine Convention Center
1209 S Main Street
Grapevine, Texas 76051
Sunday, September 11, 2011
11 - 4 pm

Can't wait to see all my Texas Bear Artists Guild friends!

Needle felted pumpkin giveaway winner

My needle felted pumpkin giveaway has a winner ! I inveigled my husband to pull the name from this cute little Halloween bag which I won on a giveaway last year. He pulled "Laurel's" name.... and I will be emailing her shortly to tell her!!

Thanks to all that participated!!

GIVEAWAY... hit 300 plus last night!

I hit the 300 "favorites" on etsy.com last night!!! So here is my giveaway....one of my needle felted pumpkins. He was made from hand-dyed wool roving with German glass eyes and a wire curlique . He measures 2.25 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall.

What YOU need to do to be entered:

comment on this blog with a way for me to reach you.

This giveaway is NOT restricted to US mailing addresses. I will ship overseas by USPS International First Class.

This giveaway will close on AUGUST 26 th and I will email the winner and announce it on this blog.

one "favorite" to go

I am up to 299 favorites on etsy.com !! I promised a giveaway when I hit 300... The giveaway is made and ready for me to post. I just need one more "favorite"!

the weather is hot so I've been sewing

What is there to do when the temperatures hit 111 degrees? Well... I've been sewing and reading. Bob and I lug shopping bags full of books home from the library and sit and read for hours at a time!
But I also sew.... hand sew little bears. This is Tommy and his friend Chaps. I found the basket and the (plain) puppy on the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. The puppy was too plain so he has been enhanced with coptic markers. You can find them both on BearPile

Joey.... my latest... a really small little guy!

Lately I have been honing my tiny bear sewing skills... I think Joey must be one of the smallest mohair bears that I have done. He is 5 inches tall and is 5-way cotter pin/hardboard disc jointed.

I was trying to dye some white mohair black and this dark mauve gray was the result.... since it wasn't black enough for the skunk I was working on, I put it aside . Yesterday I came across the piece in my stash and decided to put it to use... Joey is the result.

Joey just fits in the palm of my hand!

Favorites on etsy.com

My "etsyshop" has been favorite-d 291 times... !! I think that's awesome ( as Lili would say) ! Now I have to think of something for a giveaway when I reach 300. I think there's still time to ponder but will post details shortly.

Etsy treasury.... "Pretty in Pink"

Elspeth has been chosen for the etsy "Pretty in Pink" treasury!!!

Max hits 30!

No not years... but hearts on etsy.com !! I can't believe it... 30 hearts!!! And a treasury.




Update on July 18th... Max is at 35 hearts now!!!

Elspeth the Elephant

Elspeth is a little pink elephant.... she comes with a silk flower to celebrate Creating the Hive's First birthday...
she's been posted on BearPile and etsy.com

Time for a cat???

I had a hankering to try a little anime cat and in the midst of making one I decided to needle felt the muzzle, nose and mouth.. .. Mitzie is the result. I'm pleased with her and will try a few more ideas next time!

Blowing in the wind.... not !

Mr. Cowabunga dude ( my grandson) celebrated his fifth birthday last night with cupcakes ( his choice)... he doesn't "like" cake. Mom made them with help from Dominic, his sister Lili and his friend Carson. Luckily the recipe called for three eggs! They were great..delicious!

Happy birthday Dominic !

Fireworks are coming....

George is ready to celebrate Independence Day... the Fourth of July ! Fireworks will be going off!
George was made from a scraggy gray mohair with a blue backing. He has Ultrasuede paw pads, black German glass eyes backed with white Ultrasuede, and a perle cotton nose. George is stuffed with polyester fiberfill and weighted with steel shot . His head is cotter pin and hardboard disc jointed... the rest is string jointed.
George is wearing a sparkly red top hat and flag ribbon. He comes with sparkly stars set into a vintage wooden thread spool.
Shipping is included for those with US mailing addresses and Canada. I use USPS Priority Mail which includes tracking for US addresses. I use USPS First Class International for others. Please contact me for a discounted quote if neither US nor Canada.

Do bears like ice cream?

I can only say that Parker does! I just happened across this little ice cream cone next to the check out counter at Michael's! It was just the right size for the bear I was working on.... who turned into Parker!
Parker is on BearPile now and probably will also be posted in my etsy shop ( Glass Dragon Bears Etc).
ps... Parker reminds me of Corduroy ... the bear in the book with green pants who is missing a button.

Time to relax ...Hannah is the result

After all the fetch and carrying I did down in Tulsa and the painting I did here in the KC area, I finally has a chance to relax! Hannah and her "quilt" are the result. She was made from vintage rayon... maybe someone's bedspread? Who knows. She tiny for me...4.5inches... and has some light enhancements around the eyes, ears and paws. She is cotter pin and disc jointed and weighted with steel shot.

I have a few more bears/friends in the works... if no one has more work for us!

Labor Days...

You'd would think that May was the month for Labor Day considering all we (my DH and I ) have been doing.... first we went to our son's in Tulsa and helped him repair his wooden side fence. The posts and supports had rotten and were in danger of collapsing. First take down the bad stuff... add some new support posts... many trips to Lowe's for more wood, concrete, deck screws...rebuild the fence. Then it was clean up time... cut up the rotten stuff for bagging and then find where to get rid of it all since we had way too much for the garbage men to take! Luckily Tulsa has a "transfer station" abut 6 miles away and all we had to do was load the SUV and lug it there and dump it off ( for a price!). Then my husband vacuumed over and over again to get rid of all the stowaway ants!!
Back home for one days rest and then to our daughter's to paint her kitchen and office, make screens for windows that didn't have them, hang shelves and finally put everything we'd moved back!!
So for us this hasn't been Memorial Day Weekend... but Labor Day Month!!
That's why the blog has been silent and no little bears or friends have been posted....

this morning's surprise

It really is delightful to log onto etsy and find one of your items is in a treasury! Today's treasury member is Genny and you can see the treasury here.

Even though the weather isn't as warm as one could wish for... it has been delightfully sunny. The herbs are planted as are the tomatoes and some flowers. The perennials such as iris are in full bloom and gorgeous as usual. When it comes to planting veggies, I could wish for more sunny spots but over the past 25plus years the trees have grown! When I google my address and look at the satellite view you can barely see the house! All tree tops! So I can't complain (much) because the trees keep the house cool and the deck shady; and during the hot hot days of Missouri's summer, cool shade is appreciated!

blog tour winner

The Fedex guy left my prize on the front steps today....Hooray!! I "participated" in a blog tour which celebrated the printing of this fantastic book and I won.
The author is Amy Adams and I enjoy reading her blog.

Thanks Amy for writing the book and for giving me a chance to win a copy!

Gone before I could post...

Lily has headed out for Garland, Texas ... before I could even post her to my blog!! She was made from mohair that Alison McKee tie dyed ! Wonderful shades of red, orange and yellow. I used a dark pink Ultrasuede for her paw pads and inner ears.

what's new

Even though we have lots of outdoor tasks...... we have been power washing, scraping and painting our backdoor deck and the big deck ! We are almost done. We just have a second coat on the floors and hand rails to apply later today.... I can't stop making these little guys/girls. Somehow little pieces get sewn together in the evenings when the tv is on!
Meg is the latest.... she even has a little crocheted dress and matching hairband.

If the ground actually warms up enough, I will be adding annuals to my gardens! And tomatoes... basil.... peppers! I'd plant more, but in the 20plus years we've lived here, the trees have grown huge and we have SHADE. If I googlemap our house all I can see is the house roof and trees!

Mother's Day sale!!

To help you shop for Mother's Day I am having a 10% off sale in my etsy shop.... the code is MOMSGIFT.

Spring is hiding so Molly has arrived

I know , there's not much of a connection between Molly's arrival and Spring hiding... but I ended up working on her instead of the outdoor stuff we planned and need to do. We have had days and days of rain and cool weather... not conducive to power washing the decks!

Molly is a 5" or so little jointed anime elephant... I have put her up on BearPile and will probably put her en etsy shortly.

It's a good thing that I have Molly and her friends to work on... the furnace is still running and it will be May 1 on Sunday! I may make a fire in the fireplace this afternoon and start on a bear!

Hoppy Easter

demo result!

I was doing a needle felting demo at a show the other day and wanted to make something that would intrigue the children that were watching.... the result is Patches. Surprisingly it was the adults who checked back every so often to check on my progress! I think that if I could have finished him, he would have found a new home.... but I hadn't brought enough brown wool with me!
Patches was needle felted from wool and alpaca roving with a jointed head, black onyx bead eyes and a needle felted doggie bone. He is about 4 inches tall plus the tail!
.

Spring..... a bear not the season!

I finished "Spring" yesterday ( and it looks like she may be moving to Australia!) . I did have fun with three colors of Alison McKee's "Not Your Mother's Mohair"! You can't see her purple tummy, but she's got one!
I called her "Spring" because her greens are so new leafy!

Who would recognize them?

I had a show this past weekend with a kid's activity area. My daughter came to see the show and brought my two grandchildren along. This is the result of a visit with the face painter... one cheetah, one monster!

Herbie... a third treasury!!

Herbie is in a third treasury!

And he sold at a show I was at today! His new owner had a table across the room and she said he watched her all day!
I've left him up on etsy because he is in three treasuries but put a note on the listing that he was sold and there would be another shortly! Never had something in so many treasuries at all once!!

Etsy treasuries

I made it into two treasuries today!!!!

#1 Easter Basket of felted Fun


#2 eggs eggs eggs

another Herbie...

We've been down to Tulsa to visit our son... and to bring his cat home. "Jack the cat" was a visitor while our son was gone on business trips. Jack would rather stay with us than be in an empty house or at the vet's for a week! Jack was really happy to be home!

This year's chicks and eggs have been a lot of fun! Two went to Hawaii! I decided that another white egg was a little boring and decided to do a multicolor one. Is it one from one of those fancy breeds like MarthaS has? Or did someone dye it before Herbie hatched? I've posted HerbieFive on BearPile. How about a duckling next?

Onion marmalade

I spent the afternoon making another batch onion marmalade.... it's made from onions, sugar, red wine,olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bacon fat . Tho' you can substitute peanut oil for the bacon fat! It's great on toast... great with cream cheese on a bagel and great as a meat condiment!

If you'd like to try making a batch... here is the link

My batch is in the fridge... I'm hoping some of the fat comes to the top for skimming. Then I can put it in jars... and then in the fridge! Great eating ahead!

what's been happening....

It's been a busy busy week... spring cleaning, painting, knitting , special orders and Herbie!!
Herbie "hatched" yesterday...he was made from a dense mohair with German glass eyes, a polymer resin beak , stuffed with polyester fiberfill and steel shot. Herbie's head is jointed but his wings don't move. I made his legs and feet by covering wire with polymer resin. Herbie's egg was wet felted over a large Easter egg and is edged with perle cotton in a blanket stitch.

Herbie is moving to Hawaii ( lucky bird) ... and for those that asked, the egg came first!

even Steven....

Grandparents are supposed to do things evenly.... so after hunting all over I am at work on a sweater for my 4 year old grand son. His sister told me "not a cardigan" ... so this is a raglan sleeve, knit from the neck down pullover in camo colors ( just right for little boys!). It has a rolled neck so no tight rib knitting to hinder getting dressed "by himself".
I'll post some pictures as the "project" looks like a sweater!

So bears, bunnies, mice and elephants ... and eggs... are on the back burner for awhile!

Fleur and Ralphie are in an etsy treasury!!

Fleur( bottom) is in an etsy treasury... isn't that neat?!

Now Ralphie (top) is in one too ! Lili, my grand daughter, made his carrots from Sculpey!