Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

DEB!!!!! That little girl on your avatar is just way too cute!!!!!  When did she come about!?

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
http://www.picturetrail.com/bastadolls

How big is she Fran?  She looks a bit like a 1950's "Tiny Tears," except for the deep red lips.  Do you know who she is?

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

I use regular old sewing thread for my minis... even the tiniest ones.  I've never been able to use the invisible thread successfully....

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

She is absolutely gorgeous!  You cetaily do that lovely pattern serious justice!

Beray truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

I saw you Daphne!!!!! Your ad looks great!  It's "Keeper" right!!!?

:dance:

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Doesn't that kinda stuff make you feel REALLY REALLY good!!!!? 

Well done Susan!

For those who are "snork deprived" Here's a link where you can hear their theme song as well as learn a bit about them....

http://www.angelfire.com/me2/80sChild/snorks.html

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Rita.... first of all, BIG HUGE hugs to you!!!  :hug:  I am so sorry! 
Secondly.... don't let this guy walk all over you financially.  You DO have rights.... he can't just put you out in the street.  Run, don't walk, to Legal Aid.... Generally that's what we call a 'Citizen's Advice Bureau' here in the States.  Though you must just be emotionally devestated right now... there are papers that can be filed with the court system to protect you financially and personally.  Legal Aid lawyers work for reduced rates... or sometimes free... and you may even be able go after HIM for any attorney's fees you incurr. 

Beary trul yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Simply terrible.  I can't even imagine how personally violated they must feel as a result of the robbery itself, then to top it all off......  their poor dog!  It's just terrible.   :mad:

Beary truly,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Oh Jane!  He's such a little sweetie!  Glad to hear that he's responding well.  Animals bring such joy to their human companions, and enrich our lives so deeply, just by being their furry little selves!  It's so wonderful when we humans can use what we know to make their lives a bit better as well! 

Beray truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Jenn.... Don't give up!  I can guarantee you that 99.9% of us here make lots of bears that aren't at all what we thought they would be.... especially in the beginning, but I know I have lots of teds that just completely morph into something that I had NOT planned!!!!  Just try to go with it..... and enjoy the process!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Eileen,
  We still have Presidents' day off here.... It's a combination of Lincoln's & Washington's Birthday!  In the last school district we were in, the kids had the day off, but they had no idea why!!! I hate it when I have to find out that it is a holiday just because the furniture stores are having a sale and are advertising all over the place! 

[TV announcer voice] : "Hurry in.....it's time for the annual XYZ Furniture Store's Presidents' Day Sale!!!.... all couches are 20% off!!!!!"

I swear, sometimes I wonder if eventually kids will actually think that some of these holidays are in fact furniture based!  The town we are in now has a really active chapter of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and they don't let    the schools forget about those holidays!!!!

Shari.... What are you guys having?  Something equally as yummy I hope!  I'm not a real big fan of pumpkin pie.... but I do expect to have it at Thanksgiving, and I do eat it!!!  I'm a sucker for tradition!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta

Wild Thyme Originals

I didn't know that it was Canadian Thanksgiving!!!!  Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!  It's Columbus Day here... Hey, didn't we used to get a day off of school for that?  My kids are going today? Hmmm?
Is the Canadian Thanksgiving essentially a harvest type holiday..... giving thanks for the year's bounty?  Do you eat turkey or is there some other traditional dish?  Is there a story behind it the way we have the pilgrims & Indians here?  Just curious.... I'm in need of some global enlightenment!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Good Job Heather!!!! It's kinda like found money isn't it!!!!

Beary truly,
Kim Basta

Actually I don't Sue Ann.... Only my knowledge of delicious ice cream drinks goes back to the 50's   I actually had the 'pleasure' of being born in the disco era... I have particularly hideous baby pictures... and my parents have a Super 8 movie of me at age 9 months trying to learn how to walk while sporting a pair of too long pink polyester bell bottoms!

I LOVE Dr. Pepper floats!  Anytime of year!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

AWWW Judi!  Your avatar does look like maybe she is that big guy's little baby daughter.... !!!  And YOU.... you are the cutest of them all!   Miss Judi has the waist of a teenager!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta

How about a 'phosphate?'  Anyone remember those?  I worked at Friendly's (basic restaurant chain serving sanwiches, fries, etc... but known for their ice cream) for a couple of summers in collage for pocket change (maybe pocket float?)..... I scooped ice cream, made sundaes, etc... Anyway, we used to have people (generally those who would have keenly remembered the 1950's soda fountain craze--- I'm NOT being offensive here!  :hug:) come in an order a 'phosphate.'  It was weeks before I figured out what the heck THAT was!  Several shots of soda water (see that's 'soda' to me--- soda water ), with chocolate syrup, or vanilla syrup, or cherry syrup, plus a bit of milk. 
Or a vanilla coke!  That was before Coke came out with pre flavored pop.  I was like, "Huh? We only have one flavor of Coke!"   When Coke came out with their flavors.... my son thought it was the just the coolest, newest, awesomest ....and I had to break it to him that it was actually sort of a "vintage" thing!  People knew how to LIVE in the 50's.  YUM!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Good going !!!!!  :thumbsup:

Beray truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Now here in the midwest, we do call a carbonated drink with a scoop of ice cream in it a 'float.'  As in "gimme a rootbeer float."   If you say 'ice cream soda' I know what you mean, of course, but midwesterners don't really use the term 'soda' a whole lot... we call it 'pop.'  I think 'soda' is a more East Coast kinda thing...?  Maybe?

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

I too absolutely laughed out loud at this one!   
Truly, how wonderful to know that though your bears will eventually perish, they will die happy... at least they will in Germany! 

Bear truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

I couldn't be any happier for you Sarah!  This is so amazing!  Hope that you are basking in the warm glow of knowing that you and your bears are much loved!

:hug:

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

Someone...and again I can't remember...said that you have to reduce the head a bit more when reducing your patterns because the head looks too big...did you find that to be true?  I'm having a hard time with that concept of proportion...mathematically speaking.

Hi there!  That's probably me that you are referring to... I did post that I had to change the proportions somewhat in my bears when I went from little to big....  I think what I actually said, or at least what I actually meant to say, was that when I go from a pattern that I've designed as a mini and try to enlarge it into a big bear pattern... say going from a 2 inch to a 14 inch bear... I have to enlarge the head less.  I think that's because my minis look better to me as fairly big headed things... and I tend not to like a big-headed look in my larger bears.  It's just a personal preference for me though... it's certainly not a hard and fast rule about reducing or enlarging in general...  It's all about what appears right to YOUR eye.

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta

I got a good chuckle out of that statement too Gina!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta

Hi Clare!  My first thought when I heard the word 'float' as a noun was a parade float.   I was imagining you ridding into the bear show atop a motorized platform contraption covered in carnations!!!!  Then I thought maybe the beverage made with a carbonated drink and a scoop of ice cream.... That couldn't be it!  That little ball that you attach to the end of a fishing line so that you can approximate where your hook is in the water?  No.....  Bless these Americans is right!!!! Thank Goodness for the Kiwis we have here at TT who do understand both!   Now I get it!
Good luck at the show Clare!  I'm sure it will be fun!
Beary trulu yours,
Kim Basta

I think it's a flat out wonderful opportunity for you gals!     Of course, I echo the same concern of my predecessors in posting... you can pretty much count on the fact that someone will sell a bear made from your pattern.... even with a nice copyright statement printed on it.... There are dishonest people out there, we all know that and sometimes it's those type of people who can ruin it for the rest of us! I seriously doubt that very many of those individuals go on to have great careers in bear making anyway, so I wouldn't dwell on it too terribly much. I truly think that the overwhelming majority of bear makers & artists do respect the time and effort that goes into pattern design and could never do such a thing and still look themselves in the face in the bathroom mirror every morning.... at least I hope not!
Honestly, I have so much respect for folks who put patterns out there.  I'm sure that the vast majority of us here on the board made their very first bears from someone's pattern & instructions that were published in a book or magazine, and kept them, or gave them away as Christmas presents, etc.... So we have those wonderful artists to thank for the fulfillment and joy that each of us now enjoys as a maker of teddy bears!  If you do decide to do it you'll be up there among the ranks of Nancy Tillberg, Linda Mead, Joan Woessner.... on and on and on..... A pretty great place to be if you ask me!  If folks weren't willing to share to some degree I think I can safely say that very few of would be where we are today!
I know that before I designed my own patterns, I first used a pattern (that I just shrunk down & instructions from Linda Mead (ABC's of Making Teddy Bears).  That was before I discovered that there were "mini specific" books & patterns out there!     :doh:  Then I made a few more that were designed by Debbie Kesling (actual minis--- I still have a couple around here from one of Debbie's patterns!).  Then I was off on my own.... I owe the biggest THANK YOU to both Debbie and Linda!  Thank you Debbie & Linda!!!!  :love:
Whatever each of you decides to do, what an absolute honor to have been chosen, as well as paid!  Can't beat that!  And I do hope that you are each walking on air!!!!

Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals