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Nancy, we have the same here in Arizona. Snowbirds with shorts and us with a coat on. We can always tell who are the snowbirds.
On another note, you said you moved from Maryland to Florida. That is funny because, my daughter moved from Titusville to Leonardtown Maryland about 8 years ago. She hated Florida, was there 13 years. SIL works for Boeing and worked at the cape on the shuttle and is now on another project and is in Iraq right now.
While all of you in the upper USA are having COLD brrrrrrrr temps, us in the southwestern part are having record highs. We are in the upper 70's. My husband looked at the temp on our back patio yesterday afternoon when the sun was shinning on it and the temp was 94F. Now that is way to hot for this time of the year. Everyone in the north stay inside and make bears 
I know most of the people on this forum make collectibles but I have always made bears and other things geared for children. This new law has been a worry. I have read article after article on this law plus several websites and forums who are talking about it. I will have to change what I have been saying on my website and am in the process of getting rid of part of my line of products. From what I can gleam from all the talk is that the government will not be going after the small crafter or artist. They have already exempted some things and businesses and I think they will be expanding on this. They say they don't have the testing areas or the manpower to police this law. Congress was afraid of the lead in products and without thinking it through they passed a blanket law and now have to amend it. It is still in the wait and see mode, so we will just have to see what they finally come up with.
Joanne, it worked for me and your site looks great. Good job. :dance:
Love to see the winter pictures. Glad in the part of Arizona I live we don't have the cold weather. I moved away from that 30 years ago.
Another cute drawing. You do such wonderful work. 
Right on!!! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Love the bunnies. Great job!
I have been designing and making lower end plush bears for 30 years and yes they do sell well. I don't have anything that sells for more that $55. I get all kinds of people buying them from collectors or people who want something for their kids or grandkids. Most people like to see a well made bear and can't always afford the true collector bear and this is what I supply. With the economy the way it is now, I think you would do well with added some lower end bears along with the artist bears. The kits are a good idea too. The build-a-bear does big business where they are in malls. We live in a small town and the two people I know who tried the build-a-bear here both went out of business because that did not sell here but then we are not in a tourist area. All I can say is try a small area of the plush and give it 6 to 9 months and see if it works.
Happy New Year everyone.
Ella is a cute little bear. I have tried open mouth years ago and it never came out well, so I applaud you on your work. :clap:
So sorry about your mom. I hope that everything will turn out okay. I will pray for her.
I use the plastic joints all the time because I make child safe bears. I did not look at the website but if you have a loose joint it is because you do not have the joint tight. Just like all the other type of joint fasteners you have to make sure the joint is tight before you process with the rest of the bear. This is how I make sure my joints are tight. I use a thread spool or a socket out of my husband tool box. Take and put the post part of the joint through the head and body, put on the washer and the locking pieces and then place the post over the spool which is placed on a hard surface and push down hard. You will hear a little noise as the pieces lock together. Check the pieces to see that they are all tight. If you don't understand this, pm me and I will try to explain better.
I dress part of my bears. The ones that I mainly dress are my 17 inch. I design every outfit just for each bear and make them all removeable. My make child safe bears so I want the children to be able to remove the clothing. I know this probably doesn't help you as you sound like you want to buy clothing for the bears.
:crackup: :crackup:
This was great........Merry Christmas to you.
Great!!!! Thanks for the link as I do need to make a light box and this one is so easy and affordable.
Thanks so much for this as I made this lightbox only bigger and I have started to experiment with it. Haven't got it down yet but I have a start.
Sorry Ann Marie that you had an earthquake in your area. We live in an area of the USA where we have little ones all the time. I have only been in one big one and it was scary. Take care.
Laurie, when you said you tied your tree to the door handle, it reminded me of when our kids were small and we had a new litter of kittens, 5 of them and about 8 weeks old at Christmas time. They climbed and knocked over our tree and we had to tie the tree to the curtain rods to keep it up. We lost a lot of ornaments that year but it was funny with kittens in the tree all the time. Our kids also had the chicken pox (that was before all the shots they give today) that Christmas so we were house bound for several weeks. It was a real tree and the kittens had a ball and they entertained the sick kids.
I love all the Christmas trees and decorations on TT.
Hugs,
Eva
www.ejcrafts.com
Here is our Christmas tree this year. I usually put up two trees but because I don't have much Christmas spirit this year, we only put up this one. I didn't decorate the house much either.
Those big 50's lights came back last year and we put them on one of our trees then. They used a lot of electricity! Then after Christmas last year we bought a 7 1/2 food prelit tree. Neither one of us liked to put the lights on the tree. We went with the white lights. The tree looks great and hubby put about 1/3 of the ornaments we have on the tree. I usually have two or three trees up but this year, one is enough. I don't have the Christmas spirit this year. I have so many decorations and most are still packed away and I just can't seem to go dig them out of the shed. Maybe next year.
Great idea and I will do. I have a son in law who is in Iraq now. This is his second time there. He is not a soldier but a civilian working with an Army group. It is lonely being away from family at Christmas and everyone over there needs our support. I am getting a box together today of snacks to send over because these guys work 12 to 16 hour days and don't always have time to get a meal.
I make child safe bears and yes I machine sew all my bears. I hand sew on the ears of some and others I design the pattern to machine sew these in too. I know they are pretty indestructible as I have been doing this for 30 years and they are still all together and I haven't had to repair any of them.
Happy Thanksgiving Day.
I am thankful for:
Good health this year,
50 years of marriage,
A loving family,
and finding this website and all the loving new friends and wonderful bear artisits.
Thanks for the discussion on the walking foot. I have always wondered if it was worth the expense. I do quilts without one and just change the pressure on the foot. It works for me. I sew so many different types of fur and have pinned everthing to stay on track. After this discussion from all of you, I think I will forego the walking foot.
