I've set up an Art Fire studio

I decided to give Art Fire a try before they ended their $7/month promotion. My "studio" is called "Glass Dragon Bears Plus" and here is the link. If they can generate enough traffic it could work out. I'll just have to see.

I have a couple of bears to put in the studio later today... have to get pictures taken first! I've finished a really small bear ( small for me). I had steered away from this size bear because my hands were giving me problems; but this one worked out ok! A nice surprise.

Another egg

At the St. Louis show I was showing customers how to make eggs like this one. I had wet felted wool roving over a 4" by 2" plastic egg... it hadn't dried yet. Now it's dry and I cut it open with a zig zag line, removed the plastic egg and filled it with Easter grass and polymer resin ( Sculpey) jelly beans.
The egg and its jelly beans have been paired up with Bennie Bunny!

Slide show from the Bright Star St. Louis show

"Oops" and "Hatched"

I have been having loads of fun wet felting these eggs. Then I needle felted the egg and the chick! The white egg is 4" long by 2" wide , the brown is 2.5" long.

Dressing up for St. Louis

Kris has been given a" wet" felted purple wool sweater and hat decorated with bumble bee buttons! I found the sweater at one of the local thrift stores and promptly put it in the washing machine with the hottest water, a little soap and one of my grandson's hard rubber balls.... Then I let the machine do its magic... when it was done, the wool was firmly felted! I finished the raw edges with blanket stitching.
Kris is looking forward to a road trip Sunday...when we are off bright and early for the Bright Star Show and sale.

playing with wool roving!

I have been playing with my wool roving and needles again.. this time it's Easter eggs. They are each 2.5" long and are felted over Styrofoam. These eggs won't crack nor spoil... I remember one Easter as a child when one egg wasn't found. Weeks later an odor wafted forth and the hunt was on! Finally the hunt was successful and the egg REMOVED!
These eggs are on etsy. Though they may go to St. Louis if not sold by Sunday!

Valerie Rogers of Bright Star just sent me this link
One of my bears is in the on-line St. Louis paper!

St. Louis here we come...

The Bright Star St. Louis show is this Sunday, March 22nd. It will be held at the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel.... I70 at Exit 235S in St. Louis, MO. The hours are 10.30 to 4 pm. I have a $1 off coupon on the "show coupons" page of my website.

If you come...do stop by and say "hello"!


If you'd like to participate in the Early Bird part of the sale, contact Bright Star either by phone ( 502-423-STAR) or online by Wednesday 3/18. It starts at 9.30 and includes refreshments!

Bear in sweater...

Yesterday I went searching for wool sweaters. It wasn't the best time to look... Goodwill was into summer with shorts and bathing suits. The next thrift shop had some sweaters... but not wool. The third place I tried was a success! I found three. I decided not to wet felt the white one... it was very soft...and I wasn't sure what the final result of felting would be.
Sitting waiting was Bellamy, a traditional bear with long arms and a "Mod Podge" nose. He needed something and a white turtleneck sweater seemed to be the answer.
The next thing was to photograph him... closeups were fine but for full shots I seemed to be in the middle ground of too much light for the flash and not enough light to get a good one without the flash. Hopefully the sun will cooperate later in the morning or afternoon.

shell flowers

Have you seen baskets of flowers made from shells? I remember seeing them after relatives went to Florida when I was a child; and so when I saw an ad for shell classes in the Sanibel Island paper I knew I had to go. When I walked into the Community Center there were tables and people filling a large room. Each table seemed to be dedicated to making one sort of shell thingy. I was too late to try most of them... like the table where a man was making motorcycles from shells. But I did get to try making a flower.
When I got home with shells I gathered from the beaches myself... I made more. Here are pictures of the first ones . Corrie has a shell embellishment... it would be a hair barrette if her hair was longer! I have revamped Corrie's listing on Bearpile !

corrected slideshow from Tampa

Made in Florida !

Rina was made during our vacation in Florida... boy! she was so happy to get out of my sewing box! She's wearing a cute little hankie dress by Nancy Hauk which has lots of little teddies printed on it! I have put her up on Bearpile.
March 22 is the Bright Star St. Louis show! We will be there!

Heading home

We are on our way home to Kansas City. Our vacation on Sanibel wasn't long enough! We stopped in Atlanta to visit our son and watched the city grind to a halt due to a snow storm! The airport closed... schools were canceled ... kids had a ball! I was told it would all be gone the next day... but not so. Stuff was still on the roofs three days later due to non-Atlanta-like cold temps!
Now we are in north central Tenn. visiting with family ( they have a campground/rv park/trout farm). Believe it or not.. they have campers already! Snowbirds on their way from Arizona to Michigan . They bought land near here last year and so are staying for a week deciding where to build.. where to have a driveway... where to plant trees they are having shipped here.

We will be home by next week.... have to get to work on bears for the Bright Star St. Louis show March 22nd! If you are going... stop by and say "hello"! All info on the show is on my website.