Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Jared,

Sorry it took me so long to reply, but my life has been in chaos lately.  Thank you so much for the offer.  If it weren't such a long drive, I would gladly take you up on that.  I do not have any black walnut trees on our property, but I do have access to some.  They make such a cool, antique looking dye.  I am anxious to finish my walnut dyed bear, but he seems to have been put on hold for a while.  I may not get to him until after the holidays.

Hi All,

I do some distressing on my bears.  I use a lot of plant dyes (black walnut is super), coffee, tea and rit dye.  I also have a pair of cheap dog clippers that are great for removing some of the hair.  My "old" bears always have antique shoe button eyes.  Some of my bears are patched with antique fabric.  I have not done any super heavy distressing yet, but I am working on a bear now that is dyed with walnut.  But with all of the commotion in my life right now, I'm not sure how soon he will be finished.  I have never run over my bears or allowed the dogs to play tug with them.  If that happened, I would be the one distressed.

Shari,

I cannot give you advice, but I do know what you're going through.  I have similar pain (not near as severe as yours) from my job.  Are you on concrete floors all of the time?  I am and it is a killer to my legs.  The only thing that I know for myself is to find another job.  I will keep you in my prayers.

Thanks everyone.  I realize that some people don't understand grieving over a dog.  But Andre was not just any dog.  He has been  a major part of my life for more than 6 years.  If you asked me to define loyalty, I would have to say "Andre".  He will be greatly missed.  Here's a picture of him.

Ellen - I do live near Columbus.  I am about 50 miles east.

I am off to what I hope to be a big show today.  Back in the spring I had inquired about this show.  It was booked at the time.  About a week ago I was contacted because there was an opening.  I agreed to do the show on such a short notice.  I felt like this was a great opportunity.  This is an art show with only hand made items allowed.  It is the From Our Hands Show held in Columbus.  I am a bit nervous about doing this show.  I don't know what to expect.  I am also a bit down at the time.  On Wednesday my German Shepherd, who has been my shadow for more than six years, suddenly died.  We had no warning.  He had not been sick and the vet is totally baffled by his condition.  An autopsy told very little.  So I have to go to the show with a smile and, while I am there, forget what has happened.  Wish me luck please.

I am trying to list my bear for the auction.  I have saved and edited the template.  When I preview it, all looks great.  However, when I copy and paste it on the ebay listing, most of it does not come up.  My pictures and text are there but the title and info text are not there.  Can somebody please tell me what I am doing wrong?

My favorite places are in the West (Wyoming, Colorado and Texas Hill Country).  We are planning a trip in May to Montana and I am already so excited.  We plan on visiting Yellowstone and going horseback riding in the mountains.  May seems so far away.

Well it's not Saturday now but I'll just give you an idea what my Friday and Saturdays are usually like.  We have a friend of the family who is a bachelor living alone so he is here every weekend.  We eat, drink coffee and play cards until the wee hours of the morning.  This has been our routine for several months now and I love it.  Daphne, I agree with you, I don't mind growing up but I don't want to grow old.  In the movie Secondhand Lions the old man makes the comment when he is told to slow down, "What do you want us to die of, old age?"  I gave him a good  hearty AMEN to that.  I am 47 and I don't call that old and I don't want to sit and do nothing.  Now when I'm 90 I'll be old and I've told my family I will then go to the Grand Canyon and take the mule ride down.  If I fall, well I'm 90 years old and I "died with my boots on".

Sue Ann,

Toby is super duper.  I love to see rescue dogs.  Rudy is also a rescue, and Yes Penny, he does snore.  We found Rudy when he was about 6 months old.  He had been banded.  For those who don't know, this means that someone had tied a band around his testicles to try to nueter him.  He was an absolute mess and had to have surgery the next day.  He's just a big baby now.  We love him and wouldn't know what to do without him.

Here's Rudy, my canine couch potatoe.

Congratulations Louise!  Free advertising is always a super thing.  :clap:

I have dyed mohair with coffee, and I agree with Penny.  It gives a very nice color, but the scent will not last.

Just thought I'd share some pics with you all.  This is "Frankie", she is named after Ole Blue Eyes Sinatra.  The pictures don't show it, but she has beautiful blue eyes.  We found Frankie is the ditch.  We truly weren't sure if she would even live through the night, but she did.  She is on the way to recovery.  We suspect a head injury.  When we found her, she couldn't even hold her head up.  So I had to spoon feed her.  She can walk now but is still very wobbly, her vision is improving and she eats on her own and gaining much needed weight.  She is extremely loving.  I had three people who expressed interest in taking her when she is recovered, but when they found out that she may have vision problems, they no longer were interested.  That's alright because after all of the time and work involved in her recovery, I don't know if I will be able to give her up.

I have just dealt with this problem and here is what the computer guy told me.

AVG is free, but it is not the best detector.  He uses it because he is a computer tech and knows what to do if he does get a virus.

Norton has good detection, but it slows your computer down a lot.  He said unless you have a new super powerful computer, he would not recommend it.

McAfee is worthless.  His words not mine.

He recommended PC-cillin.  He said it is one of the best available.  It also has spam blocker.  We're using it, and so far so good.

Hope this helps.

Count me in.  Tomorrow I am trying a new recipe out on some friends.  It's a double chocolate praline fudge cake.  We'll see if it is a hit.  I'll think of y'all while I'm eating it.  After I've eaten it, I'll think of how much weight I'm gaining from it.  Friends are just killers to a diet.

Funny you should mention men Shelli.  A man (my husband) is the reason my computer crashed in the first place.  What's a girl to do?

Well I think my computer problems are all fixed, after two trips to the "computer hospital".  So I will now be finishing the updates to my website.  I will be working on my links page so I will try to include everyone.  If I miss you, please let me know.  I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things now.

Jenn,

I think the biggest things with child safe bears are the eyes and the nose.  If you embroider a nose, that is no longer an issue.  You need plastic safety eyes.  If you don't have access to any, I have some I can send you.  I think the joints can either be plastic (preferred) or lock nut.  I also have some plastic joints if you need them.  Hope this helps.

Jenn,

Thanks for the offer, but my computer issue was caused by my husband.  He's not telling everything, but he did something and crashed the whole thing.  He then tried to fix what he broke and made it worse.  When he began to talk of removing the hard drive, I loaded the thing up and took it to the shop.  So I now have my computer back, but we are still struggling with virus problems etc.  I just talked to the repairman and he gave a few things to try, or else we may have to take it back in.  So the computer is a sensitive subject here.  As far as the dogs, I will get back with you shortly.  :doh:

Jenn,

I am having computer issues right now (don't ask, it's a touchy subject around here).  I cannot see your pics.  If you would like to email me with pictures and details about what you want, I can get you a price.    I need to know if they are long hair or short, size you want etc.  Also, when is your birthday present due?

I have made several different breeds of dogs.  I have even done mixed breeds (replicas of customer's dog).  I would just get pictures of the dog and then take it from there.  If you would like, I would be willing to look at your dog pics.  Also, if you want to make one of your own, CRs supplies sells a pattern for a dachshund.

I also have this problem.  The wind up watches work well.  The problem is finding one.  I have found that I can get by if I only wear the watch part of the time.  When I'm going somewhere I put it on, then take it off when I get home.

He is definitely a cutie pie.

I think he is just precious.  I love the idea of using the fabric for the paw pads.  He looks like the kind of bear you want to hug. :hug:

In this case, I would make a well loved new "old bear".  I do intentionally make bald spots on some of my bears and then use a tiny bit of shoe polish to make it look a bit smudged.