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What a beautiful picture! Thank you for sharing, Estelle. 
and Happy Holidays to you too!
I love to travel and see sights form around the world.
I'm utterly envious of all of you who have been to Europe! 
I would love to go myself some day. There are so many places I'd like to go to, I''ll never have the time to see them all let alone the money! So seeing pics from far away places is the next best thing. In fact, it's one of my favorite things about TT.... well, next to the people here... and the bears... and the people...
hugs,
Bonnie
She's beautiful Stephanie!
I love her fur, it looks frosted, shimmery.
Wonderful job!!
:clap: :clap: :clap:
Bonnie
Bonnie, we must be kindred spirits. I too am deathly afraid of W's and centipeids. Have been all my life. Don't mind snakes, etc but if threatened with a W I would tell all, including where my children were hiding.
The bravest thing I did in my life was: I had brought a pot growing celery in for the winter and it was on a window ledge behind the couch. I watered it and a W actually crawled out of the pot and onto the counch, beside my 1 mth old son. To protect him I grabbed a LARGE handful of kleenix and picked up the W and threw it into the fire.
That was brave Marion! Phobias have no logic or reason and can be completely crippling. Overcoming yours just proves what a great Mom you must be.
You too, Sandi!
I don't mind spiders and snakes and most other insects, but I have to say worms are really gross! Yet I still put on a happy face when I see one so that my 2-year old daughter will not grow up fearing such things...
...There were sooo many worms and centipedes underneath those darn stones! The centipedes just scurried away but the worms couldn't get into the ground because of the black liner from the pond. I felt terrible for those ugly little things. I thought the scorching sun would fry those little buggers so I scooped them all up with a stick and moved them to the grass. And my little girl was right there with me so, of course, I had to do it with a smile on my face. We had a lovely afternoon chatting with all those darn worms.
One worm is bad enough. When there are bunches of them the heeby-jeeby factor increases exponentially! Yucko. And centipedes and millipedes.. ugh, ugh, ugh! Way, way too many legs for one critter!! Logically I know those things want to get a way from me (almost) more than I want to get a way from them, but just the thought of one of them mistaking my pantleg for a safe hidey hole just about makes me pee my pants.
Marion from France, I'd love come to a mountain in France to visit you if I could afford it! I don't speak a lick of french though except "How are you?" and "Fine, thanks." At least I can visit you here.
I can so relate to so many things everyone has shared: hostess neurosis, being a people pleaser (that's a BIG one for me), being an introvert, etc. etc.
I think your all great just the way you are!! :hug: :hug: :hug:
Bonnie
I did help send a pedophile to jail for 7 years.
Good for you Tammy!! 
It is sad how many sick people there are in the world now. 
Bonnie
regarding artificial sinew:
it is nearly impossible to break.
I must rescind this statement. :redface: I was working with artificial sinew today and managed to break the darn stuff by pulling too hard!! :doh: I had divided it into smaller strands... apparently this is a bad idea. I used it 'full strength' after that and didn't have a problem.
learning, learning, learning...
Okay Deb,
sorry for the delay on pics.....been trying to get this done all afternoo.... tech difficulties, arghh! Hopefully :pray: :pray: :pray: here is your visual.
I've been pulling on 'A' while applying leverage with my thumb and at the same time pushing down on 'B' then clamping 'B'.
Hope it helps.
Bonnie
Hmmmm....Tricky territory this. Secrets that my friends don't know but I am willing to expose to the world via cyberspace. Makes for a pretty short and boring list from me. Oh well, lets see.....
I get SAD and I am a food addict too, but that's not really much of a secret since I'm overweight and often get the blues for no reason, crying in my cocoa. 
I force myself to eat vegetable so I can have dessert. Boy is that childhood conditioning is powerful stuff or what? scary.
I'm addicted to the show "Survivor." Do they have meds for this?
Heres the big one:
I'm not too bothered by most bugs, spiders, mice, or even snakes.... but throw any type WORM (or caterpiller) on me and watch me come COMPLETELY un-glued!!! Weird, huh? 
I have always tried to keep this under wraps because I'm afraid someone will use it against me. Seriously, its true....
What? Paranoid? Me? Noooo... Not me! 
.....Uh, why do you ask? What have you heard???!
Boy that is a pretty boring list. Sorry. Go to the next post quickly please! I'm going to go medicate myself with some chocolate. 
lotsalove,
Boring, chubby and paranoid in Missouri
Glad your feeling better, Sophie! 
Free Lindt chocolate! Cool! That would raise any chocolate lover's spirits! 
We'll keep our fingers crossed about the job with your father. :pray:
Can't wait to a fully hatted Théophile! Don't forget to post pics, please!
Hugs
Bonnie
I'll work on some pics. I'm a visual learner too!!
When people ask sarcasticly, "Do I have to draw you a picture?"
My answer is usually, "Gee, would you mind?"
Bonnie
so sorry for your loss. I've lost pets too. They really do become part of the family and it is so hard to lose them.
:hug: :hug:
Bonnie
Jenny, congratulations on the new Grand-daughter! .... sorry about the other stuff.
except the BBAA awards.
Ummm.. I must confess I don't actually know what the BBAA awards are, (newbie feeling really dumb here.) except they must involve bears and awards so they they sound very exciting and being a finalist is awesome. Congratulations again!!
But anyway, I wanted to say that I just checked out all the lovely beary photos and without a doubt they are all brilliant... It's hard to comment on them all but suffice it to say that it's an absolute pleasure to see all that creative work and I enjoy being part of the group.
Here! Here! and ditto. I am constantly impressed with everyone's creativity and talent here.
Bonnie
I do hope this a useful tip for you girls. It seems to help me.
Daphne, my tendons seem to be getting a little tweaky too lately. This does seem to take some of the stress off for me. Hope it helps you too.
Debbie, I've been using upholstery thread but I read in another TT thread that artificial sinew is good for eyes and (I think) sculpting. I have some from my other crafts and it is nearly impossible to break. I'm going to try it. Here is a link for a place you can get it cheaper than Tandy Leather.
http://www.primitiveoriginals.com/arsin1.html
You mentioned something about trying eyelids in another thread. I haven't tried them yet but I plan to!
Here is a link for leather cord in many colors:
http://www.firemountaingems.com/search. … her%20cord
Hope I did the link thing right!
Beary smiles,
Bonnie
Hi everyone.
I've learned so much here, I wish I could contribute something back, but being new to bear making I don't have much to offer in the tips department (I'm soooo at the 'need to recieve' end of the knowledge scale here) except for one little thing that might help some. My little tip may be old news, but I haven't seen it mentioned so, for what it's worth, here it is.
As I've been browsing all post and archives here, lurking and learning, I noticed that several of you mentioned getting cuts and calluses and sore fingers from pulling on sculpting thread. When I started trying to do sculpting I had a hard time keeping tension on the thread, holding the head and manipulating the needle all at the same time. (Remember, I'm blonde! :lol:) So I got out a couple pair of straight tip forceps I had around to help me out. Instead of wrapping the thread around my fingers and pulling, I clamp one pair of forceps onto the thread, wrap the thread around the tip and pull. (I wrapped a bit of tape, the white first-aid type, around the tips of this pair of forceps to avoid damaging the thread. Don't know if this is necessary, but figured it couldn't hurt.) I can pull REALLY hard this way without hurting my fingers. Once I get the tension I want, I clamp the second pair of forceps on the thread right up next to the head to hold the tension. You can leave this second pair in place as you pull the thread back through the head, then unclamp them and they slip right off without any loss of tension. I hope this helps someone. Or, Maybe there is a reason I shouldn't be doing it this way and someone can let me know.
Either way it is offered in the spirit of sharing and appreciation.
By the way, they sell forceps here at Intercal starting at $3 a pair. I haven't seen them anywhere else for so low a price.
Beary hugs and smiles to everyone,
Bonnie
Eileen,
Congratulations to you and your daughter and son-in-law to be!! Such happy news! They make such a beautiful couple.
Weddings are wonderful things. All those good vibes of love and hope and positive expectation and joy!! I love them. Congratulations again!!
Bonnie
oh Sophie,
I'm sorry for all your stress. Sometimes things just all pile up at once. I hate when that happens but I totally understand so vent away!!! Getting it all out of your system might help you feel better.
Making lists and prioritizing as the others have suggested is good advice. Then just try focus on one thing at a time instead of all of it at once.
Know that I am sending warm and supportive thoughts your way!! :hug:
Eat some chocolate and hug a teddy bear! :love:
Hoping things smooth out soon,
Bonnie
He may be a little guy but he sure has a lot of personality in that little face!! You just can't help smiling when you see him. He's awsome Jane!
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Bonnie
I love everyone's ballerina bears!! Too cute! :clap: :clap: :clap:
Shelli, what a great pic of your kids! And I can't wait to see your bear. Good luck on the contest! I bet you'll knock their socks off as Melissa said. :thumbsup:
Hayley,
I agree with everything Kim said. I also think art is not so much about original ideas as style and the artist's interpretation of an idea.
Honestly, if every idea had to be 100% completely original, with no one ever having done it before... I don't think any of us could EVER make any bears!
How many 100% original, never before done, ideas can there be left? But, if you put 10 bear artists in different rooms and told them all to make a ballerina bear, you would wind up with 10 totally different bears. Each would have the 'style stamp' of its maker. I know Shelli has such a beautiful, distinctive style that when her ballerina bear makes its debut, there will be no doubt that it is an original Potbelly Bear!
Hayley, I think you make wonderful bears and I'll bet the bear in question is special and distinctively yours. :rose:
Bonnie
