Happy Thanksgiving

Where did November go? I have been busy and just have not had the time to get here. I have no new bears or dolls made in the last 6 weeks.

I did an 18 day show which ending Sunday and was very profitable but it has left me with very little stock and I have another show starting Friday and running every weekend through Christmas.

I am low on bears and almost out of dolls and then the potato pouches that I make are completely out. I have not been so low on stock in years and I am tired and really don't want to get into the sewing room. Then I also have a couple of comission bears that I have to try to get out for Christmas. Time........time...........need more hours in the day and some energy boost. If any one has some extra of either, please send it my way.

I did get some key chain bears made while I was at the big show and will try to get them posted soon. They were big sellers to hang on purses and backpacks.

Hope all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't eat too much. Those who have to travel please drive safely.

October? Already?

Here it is October and just where did the summer go? I know I did get quite a few bears designed and made and even did a new sock doll so I guess I have just been to busy to see the months slip by. I do know that it has been very hot all summer and I didn't want to leave the house. Grocery shopping, a couple of trips down to the casinos and some company in August and that has been about all my excitement.

Well now I am ready for the fall craft shows to start. We don't travel anymore, due to my hubby's health, so I do only local shows. There isn't much to choose from and they are all mixed crafts and commercial but I have learned to deal with what is available. I started doing a indoor swap meet in January of this year and everyone kept asking me, where were you before Christmas, so this year I am doing the swap meet starting next weekend. We will see what sales are like before the holidays. There are quite a few craft people who did the pre-holiday meet and they said they did pretty good. I will be there every 3 day weekend until the first week in November and then I do a straight 18 days outside show at the AVI Casino and Resort. I have done that show for the last 3 years and have done very well there. Do have to contend with the wind, which we have a lot in the fall but we anchor the canopy down and have never lost anything. After that it will be back to the swap meet until Christmas. I think I am going to be dragging after all that.

So if you don't see me again for a few weeks, you will know that I have just been busy or maybe just to tired to type.

Thought you might like to see my latest baby. This is "Pretty in Pink". It is an all pink bear including the feet. I love this fur because it is so soft and shiny. I only have a little bit of it left so I am going to have to be careful in what I make from it. This bear is child safe as most all my bears are.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. It was quiet here as we pretty much stay in the house this time of the year. It is over 110 every afternoon. When it is over 110 the air is drier, usually under 10%. We are normally now in our higher humidity days, and temps from 96-109 but for some reason this year we have only had about a week of that. It WILL come back and then we get the thunderstorms, dust and a little rain.

Have a great day and talk to you next time. Please take a peek at my website. Lots and lots of stuff there.

www.ejcrafts.com

Onto another project.

Well here we are again and onto another new project. I started to think about doing plant pokes and then had some people say that they would get wet and buggy. Living in Arizona, we don't have that problem but I guess you would in other parts of the country.

So it was suggested that I try the bear heads on pencils or pens. I have done a couple on pens but I think the pens are kind of short so I have done several on pencils. I think if people want they can still poke them in a plant but that will be up to them.

This is the only one I have photographed at the moment but I have a dozen made in different colors. I have them in grey, brown, tan and this rust color. I have some with flowers glued on the ear and some without. Each will have a ribbon around the neck. I still haven't decided what I need to charge for these. It will have to be somewhere from a dollar to two dollars. I will never get my time costs but this has been a fun project and keeps me busy. Let me know your comments.

If you would, become a follower and you will know when I have a new project in the works. I have a few more ideas that I am working on so hopefully over the next few weeks when it is too hot here to be anywhere but in the sewing room, I will post some more new things.

Everyone take care and don't forget to check out all the things on my website that I have put on clearance. I really need the room for some new things LOL.

Feather bears

Here are my bears that I made with a faux fur called feathers. It is really different to work with and I think the brown and pink ones are cute. But the black one just doesn't look right to me. These are 10 inch bears, made from my newest design. They all have leather foot paws and are 5 way jointed. The top fur on each of them is grey and white but it really doesn't show well on the black. I am going to make a couple more of them and they are available on my website.

Our weather here is the desert is getting very hot now as it is going into the summer. We had 100 degree temps almost all of May and then this first few days of June, it has only got into the upper 90's. Yes I know, most people will say that is really, really hot but we don't have much humidity and so if you stay out of the direct sun, you don't feel too bad. Of course we pretty much live inside this time of the year and just get out in the mornings when the temps are still in the 70's. Grocery shopping and any yard work is done before 9am.

I have some more bears in the works and will try to get them posted in the next week or so.

Remember When?

Well here I go again with some new bears. These I call "Remember When". I was thinking about the bear I had as a child and thought these were simple bears in a more simple time. I was raised in the 1940's and money was tight for our family. It was war time and there was not much joy in the world. Boy that sounds like today. Funny about how things cycle over and over again.

The bears are made of a short faux fur and 13 inches tall. I think the bear I had was only 9 inch, but seeing it is long gone, I decided I would just use my memory and recreate the style. The bears are jointed too in the arms and legs which I know my bear was not but for today's world this works better. They do have the set-in seam ears in the two colors and a plastic nose which really haven't changed much over the years. Then I put on the button eyes. I usually make child safe bears but back then we never thought about child safe and all the eyes were sewed on so that is what I did for these bears.

In my stash of fabric I found this cute blue and pink plaid in a soft cotton and so I created little pants for the boy and a dress and panties for the girl, all matching. I found enough of this material to make 5 bear sets and because they are easy to make, I have a lower price on the sets too. Please let me know if you are interested as these are not on my website yet.

Until June 9 I do have a big sale with about half my products at 50% off so if you have any interest in some bears or dolls, please check it out.