Monday, April 23, 2012

What's With the Poems?

If you looked at my Angel Bears, you would see that many of them come with poems. Then you might ask the question, “What’s with the poems?” I started writing poetry as a teenage girl. I don’t know why or how it started. I just filled several notebooks one summer, probably just part of “finding myself”. Some were pretty good, some were just kind of weird. I wrote poems about things I had experienced and things I knew nothing about. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. The time spent writing poetry lessened as the years went by and I actually had a life (LOL), but it never went away totally. I have written some longer poems about my dad, life with breast cancer, the meaning of Christmas, all of which I have posted on my site under My Poetry. Read them if you’d like. When it comes to writing poems for my Angel Bears, they are short and sweet and fit on a little card that comes either attached to the bear’s paw, or fits in a small frame displayed on an easel, or I cross-stitch the poem and make a heart shaped pillow that the bear holds. It all works for me.
Mom Angel Bear
Since Mother’s Day is coming up soon, May 13th, you might be interested in an angel bear and poem that I wrote just for a mom. Mom Angel Bear is dressed in a soft, feminine print fabric full of pink roses and the poem displayed on an easel makes a beautiful ensemble. Maybe your mom would like one this year, or maybe you would like one and you can pass the word to your offspring. Last day to order to receive before Mother’s Day is April 29th.  See all suggested gifts for mom on my Mother's Day Gifts page.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Confessions of a Fabriholic

It is springtime, nearing the end of the school year, and the beautiful dresses and sharp looking tuxedos are PROMinent in the minds of teenagers and parents.  A few years ago, I saw some beautiful fabric in the fabric store and my immediate thought was, "That would make a beautiful prom dress for a teddy bear."  When I see fabric, I always think in terms of teddy bear clothes.  I used to think about making myself a dress, or my daughter something really pretty, but I found I could buy smaller pieces and many more pieces to make clothes for teddy bears and spend less money than if I were making people clothes.  Thus the foibles of being a fabriholic.  I see a fabric that I like (and there could be hundreds of fabric I like in one trip to the store) and I immediately see it in the form of clothing.  I see it, I like it, I want to BUY it, even just a little.  Just a small strip of fabric keeps me dreaming and imagining all that the fabric could be and how I would feel if I make that imagery become reality.  One problem I have is that I am also practical.  I CANNOT buy every piece of fabric that I love, I CANNOT make something out of every piece of fabric that I love.  Using the fabrics to make teddy bear clothes helps a little because I can buy more of what I like and keep the cost down.  But there is always more that I want to do and reality always falls short of my dreams.  Have you heard the saying, "So much fabric, so little time."?  That is the fabriholic's mantra.  I wish I could say that I made the imagery of the teddy bear prom dress become a reality.  The picture is still in my mind, but more than likely it will stay there.  And maybe that's okay.  I would drive myself crazy if I tried to make everything I thought of.  And, actually, in my business, I don't make too many pieces of clothing anymore.  My seamstress does that and saves me a tremendous amount of time and stress.  Sometimes when I have an idea for a new product or a variation of a current product, I have her make the clothes and then I finish them when I get time.  Frustrating for me sometimes, when I can't produce that new product right away because other duties are higher priority (like filling current orders, taking care of the books, etc.).  But the promise of something new to add to my website keeps me going.

I have just given you a little peak into the life of a fabriholic, tough, isn't it?  Of course it's not tough at all and the frustrations are so miniscule, they don't even count.  And besides, I still have the gift of dreaming, even if it doesn't bring anything to reality.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Being a Weather Watcher

Today is Monday and I am feeling very "draggy".  I think that is from my vigilant weather watching on Saturday evening.  You may have heard that the Midwest was hit hard with tornadoes and other severe storms on Saturday night.  Though I live in the Midwest, there were no such storms at my house.  However, I had family and friends who were in the projected path of the storms, so I stayed up on Saturday evening, watching the storms develop via a weather channel website.  As fascinating as it was, it was also nerve wracking, as my daughter lives in a city that was hit by a tornado.  That is the first time I've had to go through a tornado situation with a child that was not living at home.  I didn't like it much.  She did not experience the tornado, though other parts of her city did.  She was several miles away from the tornado, but she thought it was still too close and didn't care to ever be that close again.  I am in agreement with her.  I have never been through a tornado, only tornado warnings.  I have spent more than one night in the basement (with children, husband, and pets) because the siren went off and the potential for a tornado was there.  As far as I'm concerned, if there is potential for a tornado, there is a bed in the basement for me to sleep on.

Since I was feeling rather drained all day, I didn't get much done in teddy bear land.  Hopefully, after a good night's sleep, I will be able to accomplish more tomorrow.  I am working on a Nurse Bear and Cheerleader Bear, with some fun Graduation Bears to follow.  All in a good week's work in the teddy bear den.

Friday, April 13, 2012

A Gallery of Teddy Bears

Several months ago, I added a page to my website of pictures showing different teddy bears I had made in the past.  These were variations of items shown on my website, but in different colors, or maybe something special a customer had wanted to make the gift more personal.  I have Basketball Bears, Graduation Bears, Football Bears, just to name a few, shown on this page.  Yesterday, a woman found me by searching for someone who had made a basketball bear for her daughter a few years ago.  Guess what!  That someone was ME!!!  She saw my Gallery of Teddy Bears and saw a picture of the very bear that had been made for her daughter (see picture here).  Now she wants to order another one for her younger daughter.  How cool is that?  I never thought about that benefit from having previous order pictures on my website, but it looks like a good move at this point.  I have many more I could add and will some day......

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I Hate Head Colds!!

I really hate having a head cold, don't you? I don't feel that bad except for a stuffy nose, scratchy throat, etc. I would go back to bed, but I feel worse lying down than standing up and moving around. Too bad I can't learn to sleep standing up, I might feel better. In any case, it's on to work for the day, doing the best I can.

Today I will be working on a Female Pharmacist Bear.  I believe this is for a young lady graduating from pharmacy school.  One of the fun things about offering a wide variety of dressed teddy bears is that when it comes to graduation, you can choose a bear in a cap and gown, or you can choose to have it dressed in their professional clothing.  It would be a nice keepsake for a graduate either way.

I have several Professional Teddy Bears, and am open to new professions if you don't see what you need.  I also have an entire page devoted to Medical Professionals, that has been a very popular theme over the years.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Two Days in a Row?

Wow, here I am two days in a row.  Today I am playing with a new "toy", a pom pom maker.  I know, I know, I could use two pieces of cardboard and potentially accomplish the same thing.  I was just hoping that the pom pom maker might make better looking pom poms, not sure just yet, I haven't found the exact look I want.  I am going to be using the pom poms for a Cheerleader Bear.  So they need to be an appropriate size for the teddy bear, plus they need to "hang" a little, rather than just "puff".  Thus, the playing, or some might call it experimenting.

I rarely have time to experiment or play, but the taxes are done, my pending orders can wait one more day while I play.  Sort of nice.

I was doing some cleaning up in my crafting room/office yesterday and was reminded of many new products that I have in my head.  When these appear in my head, I gather supplies and send them to my seamstress so that the clothes are ready when I have the time to complete the product.  I have some beautiful satin dresses just waiting to be put on a bear and trimmed in ribbon and lace.  Soon, very soon.....

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Blog Much?

If you have visited this page often, you'll see that I don't blog much. I can never think of what to say, and even if I do, it's not very long, so I don't bother. Maybe short blog posts are good, I have a hard time reading long posts anyway, maybe you do too.

So here is my short blog post: I am currently offering a 25% discount coupon for your spring gift shopping. This is good for anything on my website except items shown on the Sample Sale page and Clearance Items page. The discount code is "mom".

Just to give you a few places to start shopping, there are gifts for mom on the Mother's Day Gifts page. Gifts for graduates on the Graduation Teddy Bears page. Personalized wedding gifts on the Wedding Teddy Bears page. Don't be alarmed, but there are also bunnies on the wedding gifts page.  I also have gifts for teachers on the Teacher Teddy Bear page.