Teddy Bears For Mike

This is the story of some very special custom handmade teddy bears that I made for my friend, Lori. When Lori's brother passed away suddenly last year she asked if I could make some of my custom teddy bears out of his old t-shirts as memorial gifts to all of his siblings, nieces and nephews. I told her I would be honored. 

It took me about six months to make fourteen teddy bears. It's a big family. Fortunately, I had a few months to get them all done.

Lori lives in Alberta, Canada and I live in Maryland, so we had to do all this long distance. Lori picked out the first t-shirt I would use and mailed it to me. It had a big beautiful dragon on it and I saw lots of possibilites for the bears. We met via Skype so I could show her how my pattern pieces could be placed so that different parts of the design ended up on different parts of the bears. A few hours later I had a pile of tiny t-shirt scraps and nine stacks of teddy-bears-to-be and I got busy sewing.

I took photos of each teddy bear in progress and shared them on Instagram and Twitter so my friends could keep track of the story of this family of bears as I went along. 

Hint: If you're planning to do a lot of hand sewing, take care of your hands. Keep your favorite lotion nearby. And I highly recommend leather thimbles.

When I was close to finishing the first nine bears Lori sent me another shirt for the remaining five bears, a white shirt with an argyle pattern and an interesting texture. Again, I had fun choosing which parts of the design would end up on what parts of the bears. 

All fourteen teddy bears were completed and delivered in time for Lori to distribute them at the Brown Family Reunion last month. She lined them all up on a bed and brought everyone in to see them and choose the one they wanted to keep. Lori says, "Losing Mike was devastating to our family, and missing him is part of every day. Having a small piece of him to hold onto, with these beautiful bears, is a comfort.... The bears are another way to heal our broken hearts." 

You can go to my Flickr gallery of Mike's Teddy Bears and see a photo journal of this project with views of the teddy bears in progress and all four sides of each finished bear. 

Find more custom teddy bears in my Etsy shop 

and let me know if you have a special project you'd like me to make for you.

When Irish Bears Are Smiling

I think my friend, Ali, is the most Irish friend I know so I wasn't at all surprised when she asked me about a special teddy bear project. Ali has ordered several of my handmade teddy bears before so she was familiar with my work. She also knows I enjoy a challenge.

Ali sent me her favorite old hoodie and ordered two teddy bears to be made with it. She's lost a lot of weight during the past year and can't wear the hoodie anymore, but she hated to just get rid of it. Turning it into teddy bears seemed to be a good way of keeping the old favorite around. The extra challenge was that she wanted me to take the shamrock off the hoodie and put it on one of the bears.

The soft green knit of the hoodie was easy to work with. I trimmed the fabric close to the shamrock and appliqued it to the back of the bear. Since the shamrock was so large it fit better on the back, which is flatter, rather than sewing it to the more rounded belly of the bear, which might pucker or distort the shape. For the second bear, I found a small gold shamrock patch and ironed it on the front. The finishing touch for each bear was blue eyes, just like Ali's.

So, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Enjoy the pictures!

If you'd like me to make keepsake teddy bears for you

 leave a comment here, find me on Twitter

or check out my Etsy shop: 

Two Special Bears

This is the story of two very special bears. They were born the day my Twitter friend, Linda, asked if I could make teddy bears from an old bathrobe. I'd been making bears for years with recycled clothing so I said, "Sure, I can do that!" Then she told me what she wanted to do.

Linda and her sister lost their father about a year ago. I remember how we had talked on Twitter about the loss of a parent and our group of friends gathered around to encourage and uplift her.

Linda told me that she had her father's favorite robe with his initials on it and she wondered if I could use it to sew two teddy bears, one for her and one for her sister, and put one initial "L" on each bear. She even emailed me a photo of her father so the blue eyes of the bears would match his. I told her I would be honored to do a project like that. 

I decided to complete the construction of both bears before trimming the initials close and turning the edges under to sew them on. I saved the faces for last, as I always do, and added ribbons around the neck matching the color of the initials. 

When Linda received the completed teddy bears she tweeted me and said, "All I can say is...wow...amazing...speechless...they are just beautiful bears!" She also said her mother was "blown away". I do love a happy customer!

You can click on these photos to see them full size:

If you'd like me to make custom teddy bears for you

leave a comment and tell me what you have in mind

or you can find them in my Etsy shop.

Eden Riegel Charity Auction

Last fall I had the privilege of attending a luncheon for Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery on All My Children) along with about 30 or so other fans where we auctioned off some items autographed by Eden to benefit the Much Love Animal Rescue shelter in Los Angeles. We had so much fun with the auction that we ran out of time and decided to auction off the remaining items on eBay someday. Round One of that auction finished last week with a little over $200 as the result and Round Two has just begun.

This time, the money raised will go to support Eden's latest endeavor, a half-marathon to benefit the APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles). Every penny of the winning bids will go to Eden's fund for this worthy cause.

Featured in this auction is a Teddy Bear I sewed by hand, signed by Eden Riegel. This is the only one that will be offered during this auction. Three of my bears were auctioned off at the luncheon last fall and I even got a couple of special orders from other luncheon attendees. What can I say, my bears are cute and cuddly and made with love! We could have offered more but my fingers can only fly so fast, so they are by definition, limited edition items. The bidding just began yesterday and already this little cutie is up to $100!

Tonight I added an additional note to the description of that listing: the bear is wearing a special one-of-a-kind button pin bearing the logo I designed for the Luncheon With Eden.

See that very special Teddy Bear and all the items currently available, just click here.

Carnival Time!

I've participated in several of the Etsybloggers Blog Carnivals and they're always fun. I enjoy the challenge of the suggested topics but sometimes I find I'm distracted by other things as the deadline approaches and don't get my submission in on time. Not this time!

The topic for this one is about why you opened a shop on Etsy and what you like about being an Etsy seller.

I blame my daughter for all of it. She's The Pink Samurai on Etsy and you really ought to take a minute to check out her shop and her blog. She's grown up watching me work as a freelance photographer and dabble with other artsy stuff. She's been a great tester of my child-safe plush toys like my teddy bears and puzzle balls, too. She started an Etsy shop and soon encouraged me to do the same. Together we learned the ropes about running an Etsy shop and we still compare notes.

One of my favorite things about running an Etsy shop is all the wonderful people I've met. Many of my customers have become my friends, returning for repeat orders. I've gotten to know a great group of other moms through the Etsymom and CafeMom Street Teams. I'm learning more about the arts in my area of the country through the EtsyCREST Street Team. And, of course, the Etsyblogger teams has helped me learn the ins and outs of blogging and kept me writing.

This month I've been the Featured Etsyblogger and the Etsybloggers have really outdone themselves. I've been so encouraged by all of these bloggers that I decided to share them all with you. Go see what they've been saying about me:


scribblenation.typepad.com

bunnykissd.blogspot.com

twozanyzebras.blogspot.com

purrprints.blogspot.com

beadedtail.blogspot.com

jleighdesignz.blogspot.com

offthepeg.blogspot.com

winemakerssister.blogspot.com

maryeb-blog.blogspot.com

designsbynico.blogspot.com

designsbyvanessa.blogspot.com

patti-peacox.blogspot.com

dorothywyn.blogspot.com

rosebud101-fortheloveofbeads.blogspot.com

jaimesews.blogspot.com

aboutangiescrafts.blogspot.com

youvegotmaille.blogspot.com

liletsyshop.blogspot.com

madebymelissa.blogspot.com

homemadeoriginals.blogspot.com

thefabmissb.blogspot.com

shellmitchell.blogspot.com

wearewedges.blogspot.com

lunasbaublebilities.blogspot.com

devinedesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

lostmittenblog.blogspot.com

fiveoclocksomewherejewelry.blogspot.com

heatherknitzdesigns.blogspot.com

heatherscustomsewing.blogspot.com

storybeader.blogspot.com

akeepersjackpot.blogspot.com

http://www.curiousmess.com/2009/02/february-etsyblogger.html

panopticamx.blogspot.com

beadedtail.blogspot.com

macaroniandglue.blogspot.com

morningskyjewelry.blogspot.com

magdalenejewelsblogs.blogspot.com

thecoppercauldron.blogspot.com

memoriesforlifescrapbooks.blogspot.com

greyeyedesigns.blogspot.com

aliciamae280.blogspot.com

pinkzinnias.typepad.com

ishyscreations.blogspot.com

stormydesigns.blogspot.com

http://www.xanga.com/aliciamae_8/693342493/february-featured-etsyblogger/

roseworksjewelry.blogspot.com

candycrackcreations.blogspot.com

chezchani.blogspot.com

mamasmagic.blogspot.com

3rexes.blogspot.com

downthestreetcreations.blogspot.com

cozyetsy.blogspot.com

cozystitches.blogspot.com

cardsbyjenna.blogspot.com

lazytcrochet.blogspot.com

jenniferhayessketchbook.blogspot.com

miesmama.blogspot.com

http://www.jrosebud.com/designs/catalog/blog/?p=602

julieantinucci.blogspot.com

sewingmachinegun.blogspot.com

rockababyclothingco.blogspot.com

sumikocreations.blogspot.com

dodadidit.blogspot.com

createathoughtetsy.blogspot.com

magicmarkingsart.blogspot.com

http://alittlemousesaid.typepad.com/a_little_mouse_said/2009/02/featured-etsy-seller-donna-pool.html

A Bear With Spirit

Now this custom teddy bear has team spirit!

A friend of mine sent me an old sweatshirt to recycle, complete with team logo. I cut out the pieces for the bear so that the team logo will appear on the left side of the bear's chest. I haven't put it all together yet because I still need to embroider her nephew's initials on the bear's backside in thread that matches the logo. But that's on my agenda for today. I'll post pictures of the bear when I get it all finished in a couple of days...I hope!

Favorite New Creation

I've been prompted (by the Etsy Bloggers Street Team) to write about my "favorite creation" but after giving it some thought I realized that my favorite is always changing. Almost every time I make a new puzzle ball or teddy bear, it becomes my favorite. (I say "almost" because there have been times that I finished one and regretted my choice of fabric or color...but those are ones I don't share!)

Actually, I don't even have to wait until I finish a teddy bear...I make the head first and as soon as I have it sewed and stuffed the bear takes on it's own personality. Then I prop up the head where I can see it while I finish sewing and stuffing the rest of him...or her....



So I shifted my focus to take a wider view of what I create and I offer you this...a slideshow I created for my church's Vacation Bible School. I love running around all week long, shifting back into my old freelance photographer mode, taking pictures of the kids every morning for a week. Then I take one of the songs they've been learning and use it to put together a musical slideshow that tells the story of the whole experience. We show it during the presentation to the parents on Friday night. This time I was in a real time crunch getting it finished...I still wish I'd done a few more quick cuts near the end, but I also realize that parents like the group shots to stay on the screen long enough for them to find their kid in the picture...and besides, I was finishing it up about ten minutes before I was supposed to leave the house to go show it at the church! At any rate...here it is...my most recent favorite creation:

From Pink to Black

Pink & Pinker is gone! The bear I mentioned in my previous post didn't languish for too long in my Etsy shop before finding a new home.

The next bear I finished was a custom order that came to me when someone spotted my Blue Jean Bear on my Flickr and asked if I could make a black denim bear with scraps they had on hand. I'm always interested in doing custom orders like that, so they sent me one leg's worth of an old pair of jeans and here's the result (I added a red ribbon around the bears neck after taking these pictures):





This customer happens to be an amazing photographer. She sent me a couple of her pictures so I could turn them into pocket mirrors to include in her package with the bear. Here they are:





You should check out her blog here and see her work on her on her Flickr, too.

Pink and Pinker

When my daughter was just a preschooler she used to ask for her favorite yogurt... one of those colorful Trix yogurts with the blend of two flavors. I don't remember what the flavors were, but her favorite was something that was a mix of light and dark pink that she called "pink and pinker".

I thought of that as I put the finishing touches on this pink denim teddy bear. Usually, I'll add a ribbon of a contrasting color, but then I spotted this brighter pink ribbon and thought, "why not?"

So, I present to you my "Pink and Pinker" Teddy Bear...now available in my Etsy shop! I used to sew faces on all my bears, but some people like them left plain like this, and others have a preference about eye colors or whether their bear should be a girl (with eyelashes) or boy (without eyelashes), so I leave them face-less now and let the buyer tell me what they want.