Tuesday, November 24, 2009

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.

Friday, October 2, 2009

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.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009







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.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

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.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

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.





Thursday, May 21, 2009

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.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

It has been a while since I have posted.


This is what I have been working on the last few days. This are microwave potato pouches. If you have never used one, they are great. It will give you the moistest, softest potato from the microwave. You probably know that the microwave usually takes all the moisture out of the potato and you come out with a ugly looking potato that is hard and dry. This pouch solves all those problems. I have been making and selling these for several years and I now have people looking for me so they can get some for other people because they tried it and loved it. They are available on my website at www.ejcrafts.com
Other than these and a couple of bears that I made for challenges, I have not been sewing much. We bought a new to us car and have traveled the last couple of weeks back to the dealer, a 100 miles round trip to have things fixed on it. It is under warranty so no charge just the travel time and the gas. Of course, being retired we have lots of time and it does get us out of the house.
We will be taking another trip this week to Lake Havasu City, AZ, which will be another 100 mile round trip because they have a new Michael's store there and the WalMart there still carries fabric so it will be a shopping trip. We don't have fabric or craft stores where we live. I do sometimes miss living in a city with all the fabric and craft stores but I never miss the traffic that comes with it. We enjoy living in our small area and it is slowly getting some of the national chains in our new shopping center so we would never move back to the hassle of a large city. We can always go to Las Vegas, which is 125 miles north of us if we had too.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Stay safe and hope you will visit my website.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

I finally got all the bear hangers done.

This has been some week. I sold bear hangers faster than I could get them made. I finally got enough finished to list them on my website. Hope you will check them out I have them listed for only $4 each.

Thanks,
Eva
www.ejcrafts.com

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Well here we go again with a new project.




Here is my latest project. Hang them on a door or like my the refrigerator. Most of these have already been sold but I am making more, in fact, I made 7 more today and have some more in the works. I am using small pieces of faux fur that I have left over from other projects and then I am adding plastic locking eyes and nose so that if a small child get to it they can not take off the small parts. These are only 3 inches by 3 inches and I also added a little piece of lace for a collar and a ribbon. Then I added a ribbon hanger which all have been sewn on. I added a flower to the top of the head which has been glued on. I use to make these, from a different pattern years ago and they sold really well and I am hoping that they will again. I think these are much cuter than the previous ones I made. These are pretty girly and I haven't come up with a way to make a boy on yet.
Right now because they are selling so fast, they are not on my website but I hope to have some there by next week.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My newest project.




Well after a couple of weeks experimenting with making sock dolls this is my newest design. I went out and bought a bag of new ladies socks from the WalMart and started to make them up. The legs are cut from the ribbed part of the sock and the arms are cut from a separate sock. I made the bodies soft so they are so huggable. The hair is yarn that has been sewn on the head and the faces I painted on with a pen. Each one is slightly different as it just depends on how I work them. The clothing with includes a dress and matching panties are design for this doll only. I made them all removeable and because everything is cotton, all can be washed. I hope everyone enjoys them because they are fun to make. I have added 8 to my website right now and will be added more as I finish them.
I have tried to keep the costs down on these and am selling them for only $10 each. They are 12 inches tall.
Thanks for taking the time to look at them.
Bear Hugs, Eva


Saturday, March 7, 2009

Thoughts on the week


Here it is Saturday already and the is the time of the year when all the men in my family have birthdays. Our oldest son's birthday was the 5th and the youngest son's today the 7th and then on the 10th my hubbys. We don't live need either of the sons so phones calls and cards is all there is in celebration. They are both grown with families of their own so they celebrate that way. We won't be doing anything on Tuesday either as hubby has to go to the doctor for his ears.


Then this week I also broke my glasses so have an appointed with the eye doctor on Monday. I will find out on Tuesday when we are at the doctors how my blood test turned out too.


As for crafting this week. I got the little chest type boxes finally in the mail and started to paint them. Some I am just staining and others are painted. They will be used with my needlefelted animals as they are the perfect fit for the small animals. The others I will give as a treasure box with any bear that sells over $25. Not sure what will be inside of box yet or if I want to put anything in them.


For a laugh, I have added my newest bear. His name is Jed. I had this fur and really didn't know what I wanted to do with it so I decided a character bear would be fun. He is 10 inch tall and 5 way jointed and available on my website www.ejcrafts.com The poor little guy had a butterfly land on his nose and he is trying to see it and has been trying to chase it away.


Bear hugs to everyone and have a great weekend.


Sunday, March 1, 2009

March first already!


Here it is the first of March, where did February go? February here in sunny Arizona has been warm and cold and then windy too. This is the time of year that we have what other parts of the country call spring. Come May and we will start our hot summer. Now is the time I have to get busy and plant my flowers and pull weeds that have taken over our present flower beds. I looked last week for flowers but they didn't have what I wanted so will look again this week to see what they have got in.


As for bears and crafts, I have designed a couple of things this past month. One a little 10 inch bear named Alexander, named by a good friend of mine named Charlotte. Then I also had to make a Easter sock bunny for my stepmom, something she requested. While I was at that, I decided to see if I could design a sock doll. The doll is okay but not quite what I want yet. Then the last couple of days I tried my hand at a horse. I had a pattern for a long time for one and I worked it up and it turned out okay but if I make any more of them, I will redesign the pattern to make it easier.
You can find the bear on my website at www.ejcrafts.com plus I have quite of bit of end of stock that is on sale.


Sunday, February 1, 2009

New craft for me




Well last week I started a new craft project. I started to make needlefelted animals. I started by making a bear because I love to make bears. I am not using any pattern as I find as I felt each piece it just seems to take on its own life.




Here are the two bears that I made first. I sure do enjoy this new to me craft and I hope that as I get better on the craft that I will be able to create with more detail.
Please enjoy and I hope you will leave a comment as to what you think of my new craft. You can also buy them on my website at www.ejcrafts.com
Thanks for your time.
Eva

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy New Year

New year, new start. What am I going to do this year in new products? Hummmm!!!

Well I did do up a few scented wax animals, but these are no brainers as I bought the stuffed animals at the dollar store and the votive candles to melt and put on the bears. They turned out quite cute and I will take them to the swap meet and see if they sell. I usually don't do swap meets but decided I need to get rid of some of my older stock and this just might be the way to do it. I have a local indoor swap meet that is free for the month of January so why not try it.

I am not sure how much or if any bears and dolls I will make this year because of a new law taking effect in February that says all items for children 12 and under needs to be tested before it can be sold. I can't afford this and I don't know of any crafter who could. This just might stop me and my website. I hope everyone will write to their congressman and all the news agencies and help all of us crafters and artists who live in the USA and sell products for children.