Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I know it's been said over and over, but it deserves to be repeated. These teddies and friends are outstanding. Like Ellen said, keep your chins up and try, try again (I know how hard that can be though). I've been making and submitting for over eight years and until yesterday hadn't even been nominated. There are only a few spaces and so many wonderful entries to chose from it must give those judges a headache. Keep working, every loved bear is a winner.

Thanks so much Shane.  I'm so thrilled, I have to pinch myself 

Congratulations to all the nominees, so many stunning teds and friends.

I'm absolutely thrilled and honored.  I have to keep checking the list to be sure I read it right.

First let me say hi to everyone. I rarely, if ever add my comments or feedback for fear I might say the wrong thing or chat too much. I do browse though and often think about what I've read. Today, I have to comment. I was thrilled, honored and happily surprised to have won two 1st places and one 3rd place award in the URSA contest. So...I was a little hurt by some of the recent comments. I am sure this wasn't intentional and completely understand being disappointed when our favorites aren't chosen. Over the years I've submitted lots of entries that were never chosen, nominated or mentioned. I've wondered what I could have done differently and thought maybe that bear just didn't "call out" to the judge or voter.  Being a collector as well as a maker, I've also voted for my favorites only to see another bruin win. Although I've been disappointed, I kept stitching and voting. As for canvassing for votes, yes I did email the collectors on my mailing list and asked them to look over the entries. I also wrote that if they felt one of my entries called out to them, I appreciated their vote. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to have bears adopted by wonderful collectors and can't thank them enough for taking the time to vote for one of my teddies. Whether they voted for my bear because they thought he was the nicest or because they thought I was an artist that they wanted to see win, I thank them. I also want to say thank you to Bears and Buds for offering us a wonderful place to display our bears, find out about other artists and share our passion with collectors and bear lovers. Again, I am thrilled and honored to have won and will proudly display my Winner's Icon on my website.