Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thank you so much Daphne!!  Your opinion means alot.

Just to clarify, the idea isn't an EXACT copy of what I was thinking, though in my exaggrated posted I did say it was...   

There are major differences, but the "feel" of the end product of the other artist is what I would like to achieve.  If that made any sense...   
Totally Different, but totally the Same!  hehe...

I do, however feel that since my style is so different from theirs, that if I had went ahead and made mine without mentioning it... no one would probably see the connection that I do in my head.  But as soon as I did, with my luck, I would have stepped on some toes!!

I'm sorta leaning towards going ahead with the idea and seeing how the end results looks like.  I would love to read more opinions on this!

What do you do when you get an idea for a bear or friend and you go to do some research on the idea... (research: how old costumes look, techniques for quilts, etc.)...

and instead of finding simple inspirations, you find a bear almost exactly like you want to make?  grrrrr...

I know most ideas are not "new", but COME ON!!  Someone has been looking in my head!!!!   

hehee...

no, really... I don't want to step on anyones toes, but do you go ahead with your orignial idea?  Knowing that the outcome will probably look NOTHING like the bear you've come across??  Or do you shelf it?  Do you contact the bear artist, explain the situation and HOPE they aren't offended or think you are trying to steal their idea??

Oh help...  I really want to make a certain idea come to life.

Punishment for scaring the family...   (scarring?  scaring?  same thing!!)

Grounding?  Yes, but not enough...

No phones (cell or land)?  Yes, but not enough...

No friends over?  Yes, but STILL not enough...

Let's see... hmmm... what could be a big enough punishment for a 15 year old that runs off to Miami?  Notice the key words there... 15 years old.
(if ya missed it... http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=22963  )

OH!!  I know!!  Let's not sign the DRIVER'S PERMISSION SLIP FOR ANOTHER YEAR!!!!

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

Good ex-husband!!  Good ex-husband!!

And I love you all for the hugs and prayers you sent... thought ya'll would like a giggle at her expense!!

Thanks everyone for some great suggestions!  I have alot to think about now. 

Hopefully I'll make a decsion soon as my website is whoa-fully in need of an update.

Thanks again!!

thanks everyone for the advice!  I hate to change the name, but I think it might be wise.

Melissa, "Annnik" is a user name that I was given YEARS ago on some website I can't remember!  It just "stuck".     "Annnik Bears" does roll nicely!

Tina, very good point... "Moonbears" is a line I just now created and don't know if I'll continue with it.  I was looking at tying in "ALM" with the new name, thought it might help.  And "Monsters" doesn't quite work.

Bobbie, I've been selling under ALM Bears & Sculpts for a little over 3 years and am just now getting a repeat customer base.  I guess I could streatch it out to "Ann L Malone Bears"...  then I wouldn't have to change much.  My website is already "almalone.com"...

hmmmm... lots to think about.

Thanks again!

Has anyone changed the name of their business without much fuss?

I don't mean legal-wise, I mean from the stand point of your customers. 

Back in November, I did my first show and it was not well.  (for any of the vendors)  But one person did open my eyes to something I had not thought of before.
My business is "ALM Bears & Sculpts"... as in A nn L. M alone Bears & Sculpts.

"Alm Bears??  Are you poor?"  As in "Alms for the poor"!! 

How many people have seen my business name in that way?

So I was thinking of casually changing it to maybe something that start with ALM...  "Ann's Little Monsters"?  "Ann's Little Moonbears"??  (Moonbears is what I call my face-less little bears)

HELP!  I don't know if I should change this.  And if I do, I don't know what to change to.

oh... that made me tear up!!!

Slightly OT, but... I have a very special picture of my girls, when they were all younger and still played together, just dancing in the rain!

   I can't beleive I missed this!!!  I was too busy with a show and never looked at this thread.  I had been away so long, I just marked everything read and totally missed this!!!

Can we have a second chance exchange for all that missed it??   :pray:  pretty-please??   

Thanks everyone.  I'm feeling better about it now. 

I did try to spread the word about artist bears.  And I did get alot of great feedback from most people.  It was still a bit of a downer, though.

My biggest impression???  ...   There should always be pie!!!

(I think I need to change my signiture to that...    )

Thanks again everyone!

I went to my first show (an arts & crafts show) on Saturday...

IT WAS HORRIBLE!!  I sold 1 tiny Christmas ornament... ONE!  At $15 that didn't cover my gas to the place.

sigh.  oh well... it was a beautiful day and I got to sit next to the bake sale.  I've already finished my pecan pie I bought with half my earnings.  At least that was YUMMY!

Now that I'm back, I have a bunch of bears to sell that didn't sell at the show!  I'm off to post them over in the for sale gallery...

I still need a teeny-tiny hug.  Just a tiny one.  Not much... I think I need to finally get some sleep now, too!

I haven't been able to post much lately, but I have been lurking.

Again, I must say... WOW!!!  Look at all the wonderful teddies everyone has been making.  I know I've said it before, but it bears (get it? "bears"??!) repeating...

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

I've been busy with school (I home-school two of my three girls) and getting ready for my first show.  It's an arts & crafts show here locally that apparently has been put on for years, but I've never gone to it.  So... not only am I going to my first show, but I'm going in blind!!  The ONLY thing they have really told me about it is that my table is near the "sock monkey lady"!!      (I actually requested to be near her...)

I need hugs!!  In the good way!!  WHAT HAVE I DONE???  Am I ready??  I don't know!  I'm putting my creations out in public  WITH ME!!!  AND it's local, so it's a good chance I'll know some of the people scrutinzing my work... oh... what have i done... 

I use Cingular's (Now AT&T's) Pay as You Go... I pay $15 to $100 per card, depending how much I can spend.      It then costs me $1 (from the prepaid-ed-ness...) per day that I use it.  And then 10 cents per minute that I use it.  But, I can call anyone on the AT&T network for free.  (Still the $1 per day, though).

So.... My mother, my father, my oldest daughter, and my boyfriend all decided to get the same plan!  Which means, since these are the only people I call on my cell, and I don't use it very much... I spend around $15 a month on my cell phone.

The $15 card is only good for a month, but if you buy more minutes, your unused ones DO roll-over to the next month.  A $25 card is good for 90 days, $50 card is 90 days, too.  But $75 is for 6 months... $100 is more... Something like that... You'll have to check the website for the exact days each card is for.

My mother barely uses hers, but will buy $15 to $25 cards when her time is almost up.  She has around $200 on her phone right now if she needed that much time/minutes/money.

How this info might help you a bit!!

OH!  I forgot... the phones themselves where about $30 each and they came with $10 on them.  You can get them from their website refurbished for between $20 to $200, depending on what features you want.  You can also buy them at Radio Shack.

We've had MORE rain here in North Texas this week, and don't have a sunny day scheduled until Saturday.

However, there's been hours where the sun is out and so are the critters!!!

Here's what decided to come out and play with the dogs this afternoon...

He looked like he'd been in the mud for about 200 years!  He even had moss/algea/hair growing on his prehistoric looking tail.

Oh... and he liked to snap!!  Almost got my nose once.  This picture was taken right before Lilly put her paw on his back and he flipped over so fast trying to snap her.  He landed on his back and flipped up-right in seconds.  Very fast feller!!

After seeing everyone's new blogs, I decided to try one again myself.

I've had one or two (or three...) in the past, but I always hosted and coded everything myself.  Maybe that's why I burned out on it and/or never posted much.

After just a few minutes... it's up and running.  Very easy! 

http://almbears.blogspot.com/

Anyone wanting to try it, but think they are too hard... try it!!  It's fast and easy!

just my 2 cents...   

May I add to the question?  Sorta...

When my boyfriend and I have flown to pool tournaments, we have usually shipped out our pool sticks before hand to the hotel we have stayed at.  Either UPS, FedEx or USPS...

Has anyone done this with their bears?

My take on the sword...

The goblins got it.  BUT THEN, a true Gryffindor was in need of it, so it came to him/her... just as it did for Harry in the Chamber of Secrets.

I enjoyed the ending.  I think I would have enjoyed it no matter who lived/died/married or who was good/evil/etc...

Marion, I fell asleep with it open on my bed last night too!!      Did the same with the last book. 

I didn't start reading the series until after the first movie came out... my kids now think I'm a "Harry Potter NUT"!!

I LOVED the last book.  I laughed, I cried.  I definately laughed at one single line at the very end that was printed in CAPITAL LETTERS... (trying not to spoil anything...)   

YES!!  Give that cute little girl a body!! 

Your bears are always soooooo cute!!  Let her live!!!!!!!!   

Oh how wonderful!!  All our pretty flowers are soggy here!

Although our land and house aren't flooded (we're up high on a hill), the creek near us has flooded AGAIN.  It STORMED this morning.  And now, we are stuck in the house today.   

Last year we had a drought, this year we're SOAKING!!

Thanks for the great pics... YES, they did cheer me up.

Thanks everyone, I'm still a little weak, but MUCH better!

Oh SueAnn!!!  How's the rain with you??   :crackup:
We live near a large creek and while I was down with the flu, I couldn't get into town to the doctor because I was flooded in!!!  Luckily, our house is on the highest spot in Grayson Co., so besided the muddy, muddy, MUDDY dogs, we weren't/aren't in flood danger.

Just wanted everyone to know how AMAZING ya'lls creations have been!  I've been out for 2 weeks, (2 WEEKS!) with the stomache flu.  Add on to the fact that I haven't gotten my modem fixed yet and still have to borrow my mother's computer & connection to check out this forum.  That adds up to not being able to post much and let everyone know how helpfull this place is and the beautiful work everyone does.  I am hating the fact I have only time to lurk, but if I posted like I want to, I'll miss alot of reading...

maybe I'll get that modem fixed soon, until then....

YA'LL ROCK!!!

So... a nice mud bath, a shampoo and a nice warm towel?

So the mud bath wasn't wanted, neither was the shampoo.  But the nice warm towel works!
My sister's HORRIBLE dog keeps bringing these cute little kittens up to my house.  This is actually the FIFTH kitten in 4 days!  Wish they were old enough to keep.  But we also just took in that new puppy someone dropped off out here a couple of months ago.

BTW... still no Alex sightings. (the hamster)

So I placed my lovely Jim up for auction again, but over at eBay this time.  Thought his pool playing ablities might grab more attention over there.

I went to check it and someone has purchased him through "Buy It Now"!!  Yippee!!! 

OR SO I THOUGHT!!!

Yep, they are no longer a registered member.  Humph.  Do I report it immediately as unpaid?  Or do I wait a bit to see if there's just an error or something?

No, I didn't use the paypal required... this is the first auction I've done under the new format and didn't even think about requiring paypal.

What should I do??

I wish I could comment on everyone's GREAT new bears and friends.  But the first round of thunderstorms a week and a half ago blew out my modem!!  I was trying to unplug the phone line real fast and wasn't fast enough, got "popped" when I did it.  Bye-bye modem.  (I hate dialup, but living in the middle of nowhere- that's all we can afford.  $100 a month for satillite?  don't think so!)

So, I have to steal a few minutes here and there on my mom's computer to grab email real fast.  And check out TT as fast as possible.   Bearly (get it?  "bear"-ly??)...  bearly had time to upload my latest bear for sale. 

Oh well, I spend too much time online.   

SO...  to everyone's bears that I can't comment on:

YOU GUYS ROCK!!! 

Oh Charlotte!!  I LOVE him!  I've got my sketches (in my head) of my critter... I'll be wandering in the labryinth in the next few days.  Your feller is a great welcome-wagon to the madness!