Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Seething with jealousy here...still haven't figured out how to do this stuff...thank goodness for Shelli!!! :lol::lol:
Your avatar is wonderful Kim, the black background really makes it pop!
Nanc...........

That is a cute spotty friend, Vicki...just adorable.
thank you all for the names and help.  I finally got him listed, now hopefully it will sell...not too sure anymore.
nanc........

thank you Roxanne...that was truly a big help and I appreicate your time.

nanc.....

Thanks Sue Ann...both are great.  I have a baby book full of names but none of them are Alaskan names.:(
Your are a quick responder....and a sweetie!!

Tahnks so much
Nanc......

I am listing a little polar bear and I need an Alaskan name...I am doing it NOW.  Got any quick ideas.

I know this is kind of like getting married on the way into the delivery room...!!!:lol:

Nanc.....

Oh that is so funny Shelli!!  :lol:
I personally do not care for lawyers.  When David ( my husband) was in a bad automobile accident (not his fault), the lawyers were all over him...'you can sue for this and that' ( he almost died from his head injuries, that is why)
but being the man that I have loved all these years, his answer was "No, I just want what I was going down the road with, replaced"   The reason was, it was a young woman with two small children that hit him broadside and he was going 65.  His went flying down the road sideways and hit a concrete stop, which sent his vehicle flying thru the air and flipped 3 times.  To make a very long story short, he survived and told the lawyers, that she made a mistake, he was alive and he didn't want her to start her young family life out, having to pay for the rest of her life.
I wish more people would have that attitude...he is a wonderful man.
These lawyers today are really something and I pray we will never have a need for one.

Thanks Shelli, I will certainly try to incorporate that beautiful avatar in my card...it is soooooo classy!
You are a dear!
Nanc.......

Here in Atlanta, we had tornados popping up all around us last night.  Carrollton county had 30 homes destroyed.  It was awful last night trying to sleep in all that with the weather radio going off every 30 minutes or so.  We are getting very high winds yet today and the tornado watchs and warnings are supposed to go off at 2:00 today.  Thank goodness it was fast moving.
My heart goes out to all of those that were in the path.  My mother used to live in Gulf Shores and I was a wreck everytime one was heading her way because I would always hear...."oh honey, I will be OK"...NOT!!!  I would call her neighbors to get her out of there as she lived right on the Bon Secour River and at 85 didn't think about storm surges. 
Now, I have my step mother in Fairhope ( about 1 mile off Mobile Bay) that tells me..."oh honey, I will be ok".  She is 83...what is it with these women in their 80's ?  I am a nervous wreck with her too. :rolleyes:

These hurricanes just keep coming in such frequency, it is truly amazing.  When my mother was alive, they didn't come one a week, like now.

Nanc.....

Oh Shelli, you are right.  It didn't cross my mind that this would be a good way to spread the 'bear word'...great idea.
I will definitely re-vamp my cards.
Shelli, could I put my avatar on them?  Is it too big or too small?  Am I allowed to do that?

nanc..

What a wonderful lion!  That would be a very interesting addition to anyones collection.

I really love the very long muzzle and how far it comes down so the mouth can be elogated, giving him such a somber intelligent look.
Very artsy and very well done, thank you for sharing your photo.
Nanc.....

Just adorable!!  She does very nice work, thanks for sharing Jenny!

Isn't it fun to see all the different 'personalities' in everyones bears.  Bears have been made for how long?...and yet everytime someone creates one, it is all new! 

Amazing :D

keep up the beautiful work Michele, your bears are very original.
Nanc......

Laura the old idea of having a calling card is a great idea too.
Thru the years I have met some very sweet people and many times was asked to give my phone number so theycould  keep in touch with me.
So, I got tired of writing my phone number down on any scrap paper handy...and decided to bring back the old 'calling card'.
It is great, and just last week, I met a lady in Hobby Lobby who approached me because of my purse and started a conversation.
Well, we hit it right off and she said, lets get together someday for lunch and she wanted my phone number...lo and behold, she got her 'calling card' out of her purse and handed it to me and we laughed as we swapped cards.  What a delightful lady she was.

Cards ARE good and I think now I will make some different ones and put a picture of one of my little creations on it just to add some interest.
How nice to have met someone sitting right next to you who collected teddy bears...that was a stroke of luck that doesn't happen too often. :lol:

Good tip that you just suggested for everyone!
Nanc......

Judi, I don't think you have anything to worry about. 
The auction did go off for a certain contractual amount and he is bound to that contract...not your final invoice.
Mistakes happen and this CLEARLY was a mistake.

Before you get your stomach all in a knot, I am sure ebay can get it straightened out!

Relax just a bit and see the reasoning to this.  He agreed to the 440.00 and only made a partial payment, regardless of your bookkeeping error.  That does not negate the contract.

Hold on and see what happens.
Nanc.....

I let my subscription lapse...what happened?
Without even seeing it tho, I know you gals had to have made something GREAT!!!! so congratulations on the recognition that I know you well deserved.

nanc.......

I know this sounds bad, but it does feel good to know that others are experiencing what I am.  My last two doggies have not met reserve and I normally have never put reserves on my work, but felt compelled to on these last couple.
It is hard to believe but we have very few shows of any kind here in Atlanta.  The culture has become extremely diversified and people from the countries we have here and just not interested in collecting dolls or bears...in fact that is the farthest things from their minds.  We used to have some wonderful artist doll and teddy bear shows here but they have all disappeared.  It really is very sad, the ways of old are gone, at least here in Atlanta.
Ebay is my only sale source, so I do hope it picks up as my ebay monies are sent to help a family member and this is really hurting him.
I also experienced my first non-paying bidder...that really hurt! :(
ok, my pitty party is over too, but thanks for letting me know y'all are having the same problems...at least I can relax that perhaps it is not my work.
I have a software to design my web pages now, so I am excited about that.
I re-read the posts from Laura where she gave links to various interesting sites and the one that I went to first was the one created by Lisa.  It was all very interesting, but I found the verbiage about 'links' and how important they are, very helpful.  I didn't know that it is important to have links to increase your....your...hummm hahaha, can't remember.  Well, you want to put links to sites that get a lot of hits.  I'll have to go back and read it again.
Boy, one minute I have something in my head and the next....POOF, it's gone.:lol:
I think I have too many....'wonder if I made this or that, if it would sell' ...ideas floating around up there!:P
hugs to you all....
nanc......

Well, it is nice to know others are feeling the slow down too...and Jenny it is interesting to learn that business is even slow in the UK.
I am just going to list some 'cheapies' for a while to keep stuff on and hopefully it will pick up.
Planning on putting a miniature polar bear on tomorrow.
Keep all those busy fingers crossed for me....PLEASE!!
Hugs to all,
Nanc...........

Oh Cindy, I almost forgot...your website is marvelous!  He did a wonderful job and what a friend in deed.  Your bears are just adorable.  I didn't know anything about you being gone, but I sure am glad you're back.  WELCOME HOME.
I am getting closer to mine (web-site that is)...so pretty soon, I hope to have it up and running.  I really want one...BAD!!!!

Please tell me that I am not the ONLY one who has noticed that ebay sales have gone...WHERE??? :rolleyes:

I hope this is just a passing thing...but I have noticed that sales have dropped since gas has gone up?  I know, the TV keeps telling me every night that the economy has never been better....hummmmm, that is debatable...at least around here in Georgia.

Anyone else experiencing a drop in sales and/or prices?

I sure hope I am not in this boat all by my lonesome...I hate paddling alone.

Nanc.......

Hey...If the label fits...wear it!!!

Ok, Dilu....I finally found your little 'fuzz buster'.  What a cutie!!!
I think she turned out to be well worth the effort, even if you do have a few additional nose hairs, SO WHAT if they are 3 inches long and white???       

I laughed at the thought of your spa having a 'frothy top' from fur floating.

I agree, I don't think I will be using this fur again.  It is very difficult to work with, but it does have a very nice drape to it.  That may be why they used the knit backing rather than a stiff back.

I did not line mine (altho, that is a great idea Jenny...and by the way, I love your bears and website :D)...but I did use permanent fabric glue along each individual cut edge to keep it from fraying.  I take the time to do that to all my bears....JUST in case!!!
I too, am afraid of having anything go wrong with a bear or critter that I sell.

Anyway, Dilu....she is fabulous and I love the nose, it goes so well with her and it was nice to see one of your 'allusive bears'.
nanc........

Shelli...I am just getting back 'into the fold' after being away for a week or so and I am late to offer my sincere congratulations.

You not only deserve this wonderful award for your beautiful work but also for the 'beautiful you' !!!
I don't think there is a person in this group who has not received some form of help from you in one way or another.
I believe in order to be truly deserving of an award, you must not only be good at what you do but add something special to the inner workings of an art form...and you certainly do that, very well.

Congratulations honey, you 'did good' !!! ;)
Nanc.........

Hi Dilu....

I have been 'off network' for a few days...WOWHOWDY...have I ever been 'off network'

Sweetie, I can sympathize with you...That stuff was awful to work with.  When I finally emerged from my work room, I had fuzzy snow-woman.  Even my cat wouldn't come in the room with me!!  AND to add insult to injury, the maltese didn't reach reserve. :(

I do have something to share with you about sewing with that stuff.

I always trim my seams first, which does help (some people do and some people don't, but I like to).  BUT....when I am cutting out the area that will be the closing seam, I make a small 'flange' there.  Then when I come to actually sewing the dog closed, I use two Priority Labels and pull the fur away from my would be seam...I hold it in place (away from the seam) with the labels.  It works great and gives you a nice 'clean' area to do the ladder stitch.

Dilu, I also use this technique to sew ears on.  I pull the fur away from the area that I am going to be attaching the ears and hold it away with small strips of cut Priority Labels.  It makes doing the ladder stitch for ear application soooooo much easier.

I use the labels because they hold much better than tape.  A word of caution tho....DO NOT use it on real fur.  It is so strong that it can rip the real fur off the hide. :(

Hope this helps and is there a picture of your completed "fuzz" ?

Nanc...........

Eileen, I think that    'anytime something is expected of you, it ceases to be fun'     and certainly an edition number is expected of one...YUK!!
nanc....

Kelly, I know exactly what you are saying.  I changed my dpi to 300 and it shrank way down.  I didn't think, tho to look at what the actual inch size was of the picture, once I crammed all those 300 dots into one inch.  I will go back and try it. 
Oh...it would be so wonderful if I could get it to work.
I wonder what the lady at the magazine did to my other pictures to make them work?  I used my Mavica for those too?  My pictures were published smaller than some others but were the same size as others as well.  I wondered at the time, why mine were smaller. :rolleyes:

Do I crop first and then change the dpi's or change them first and then crop?

You gals are always thinking!! YEAH!
Nanc........

  I have my 'Shelli' folder.   I print it off, so I can read and absorb later.  I am glad you were an ELEMENTARY teacher Shelli and not a COLLEGE PROF......your way of explaining things is just marvelous.

I know I have mentioned it before and you chose to just ignore me;)...but you should really become an author.  With your lightening typing speed and a mind that obviously can keep up with your fingers...you certainly have a talent with giving the reader a visual image from you words....well, you would be a natural.
I am a big, big reader and I would love to have one of your 'books'. 
Please just think about it, what a wonderful talent you have been given, plus your education has only improved upon it.  What a shame to waste it.

I hope I didn't come off as a mom scolding her young one...but!

Nanc

Eileen....when I first started in the original porcelain dolls, I made limited editions of 100 on each of my first 5 dolls.  After a shop picked them up and started to advertise the dolls, I had to make good the hundreds of dolls...over and over and over.   I was soooooooo (and there are not enough o's for this) sick of those dolls by the time I was done.  I quickly went to an edition of 5 and I was still sick of making the same doll.

If you love to create new and don't like repetition, then do the one-of's.

If you don't like to constantly come up with new ideas and don't mind creating the same thing over a number of times, then limited ed's are for you.

I don't know if there is a big difference in the realized prices of the work unless you are a highly sought after artist.

Sometimes, I prefer to buy limited editions because the secondary market seems to be higher than a one of a kind.  The demand for a certain design edition can sometimes drive the market up...where as if you own a one of, there is no comparison....unless of course it happens to be a one of from someone like Annette Himstead and then it is solely left up to the market demand.

My viewpoint only!
Nanc.....

  great idea Shantell! and your little bear is just adorable.
  I gave a tiny bear to a friend who was going thru some rough times, to carry in her purse, so anytime she needed a hug from me, she could take it out and get one.  She said she loves looking in her purse and seeing her little bear...it reminds her right away that there is someone who cares.
That makes you happy!
nanc.....