Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Now THAT's a nice present!  I'm so happy for you; your excitement is contagious.

That's flippin' spectacular, you guys.  You've outdone yourselves.  Absolutely superb work!  Bravo!   :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

PS  What Tammy said.  The US magazine sponsored contests are coming up at the end of December/beginning of January.  This one belongs in the "friends" area as an entry and I wouldn't be at all surprised to read later on that it got a nomination or even a win.  Please consider entering this gorgeous piece!

I made my first-ever sock monster tonight -- ONE ARMED PETE -- for a holiday art swap I'm doing at illustratedATCs.com.  I wub him and hate to see him go!  But the gal who'll receive him will be so excited (she loves these things), I think, that it's all okay.

If you've never made one of these, they're really fun to whip up and you can give them so much character with just a stitch here or a wonky eye there.  Give them a try!  I used the book STUPID SOCK CREATURES as a reference and then went for it.  You can also find lots of tutorials on the web, as well as tons of inspiration!, by Googling 'sock monster'.

Beautiful!   

Those are both truly wonderful, Wendy!  I LOVE the one with the crown!  So cute!

I like how-to books and magazines in my evening down-time and don't dive into novels much anymore because there's so much cool stuff to get inspired by and to learn!  My son is positively badgering me to read THE GOLDEN COMPASS, though; he even went so far as to stick it right on my nightstand!

The last incredible book I read and one I can highly recommend was THE LOVELY BONES, by Alice Sebold, which was heartbreakingly wonderful.

Brenda, you are maybe the cutest, best mom EVER!  That's so sweet; I swear, it has me tearing up a little.  What a thoughtful thing to do!  I'm almost 42 years old, and Christmas has never lost it's magic for me.  If anything, it gets more magical each year. 

What a great parent you are!

Pretty tree, too, by the way; I'll bet you had a blast decorating it with your grandson.

I, too, am in favor of prayers and understanding, and tolerance, and compassion, and discussion, and problem solving, rather than any kind of reactive behavior -- verbal or otherwise -- that just perpetuates these truly destructive cycles of aggression and defensiveness.

Thanks, Daph.  And Dilu, you, too.  I organized this swap in 2005 and 2006, and from personal experience, know it's not an easy thing to organize.

Kudos to you both for making it easy on the rest of us.      

This panda is awesomesauce on fantastatoast.  I think he's great!  Such a chubby, cuddly looking bundle of ursine huggability.  Very ALL BEAR.

I don't have ANY list from you yet, Dilu!  Don't forget me!  I want to play!

I don't think most software has that option, which is why having a .pdf creator (or whatever you call that software; you know way more than me about that!) is a good idea, as you recommended.  Most people aren't creating .pdf's from straight images but rather, from combinations of text and images, like brochures or zines or PATTERNS, say...!  So they might be working in Microsoft WORD to assemble those works... and then I think they'd need the software you recommended, for sure.

But if people are kooks like me and do everything in Photoshop because that's what they have and that's what they know, then it's really easy to simply SAVE AS .pdf if the end result of your efforts is that you've essentially created one big "image" file.  However, if I were an "industry" person, I'd be assembling my pattern/brochure/zine in a different way.  I think my design friend Andrea told me some years back that Photoshop isn't that good at aligning/inserting text (I'd have to agree), and that folks that do that kind of thing for a living (create brochures, etc.) use Illustrator and Quark to assemble/arrange stuff like that. 

Whatever THOSE programs are!   

Tami, I LOVE surprises.  I just HATE waiting for them!  :)~

Okay, okay.  I'll be patient.  I'm not even quite done with mine yet, although I'm off to a wonderful start.  I think I will post to my blog when I'm done.  Let's people know when I don't have bears available that I'm not slacking, just being creative in different ways.

Can... not... wait... to... see... these... SURPRISE... ornaments.   :crackup:

PS  I'm not very experienced with creating PDF's, but if you happen to have created or scanned your pattern in Photoshop, I believe you can simply SAVE AS a .pdf -- or, at least, my version (Photoshop 7.0, which is kinda antique at this point) offers that option.  I hand-draw all my patterns and then scan them digitally.  I manipulate the pieces to fit onto one long "page" and then save.  If I were you in this situation, I would SAVE AS .pdf (instead of .jpg or .tiff or however else I might have saved them digitally, purely for my own records and as backup.)

Nope.  It's just the torture part.    

I'm new to this, this year.  Do we post photos of our finished ornaments, or does the recipient?  Or are we sending them secretly via eMail?  Or what?

My vote is post when you're done!  I'm dying of anticipation and want to see them all!

Vicki, he's positively darling.  What a cutie!

BEAUTIFUL, Jane!  I adore him in all his sweet, little boyish glory.

I hope what's been keeping you from bearmaking has been something fun about which you're passionate.  Like lampworking, maybe... ?

Jenny, Aleta, I'm so proud to know you both and to call you my friends.   You're the best kind of people; those who think of others as readily as themselves.

And Jenny... actually, I think you look supremely pretty in your photo.

Exactly!  Tell her upon arrival, OR, insist upon immediate change regarding the bear's name given the seemingly innocuous nature of her offense.  Maybe I'm just being a daft Westerner here, or one of those namby-pamby teacher types (I am one of those, frankly)... but if anything, this woman was probably trying NOT to incite hatred or blaspheme, but instead, to connect with her students, and to help THEM connect to their learning, using an object they could relate to with warmth, that they named themselves, as the vehicle.

One of the people who commented at CNN wrote that half of Mexico is named Jesus and in that country, that's seen as the opposite of blasphemy; it's a sign of faith and devotion, not as idolatry or the worship of false gods.  I do understand that there are cultural differences at work here.  It just seems like, hey, we're all human, right?  Where did common sense and understanding go in this circumstance?  When I read that police RAIDED the school -- how scary for the staff, parents and kids! -- and that men showed up stating they wanted to KILL this woman, I just thought, "Yeesh.  Murder in the name of God (a God who goes by ANY name) is still murder.  How can it be okay to MURDER a school teacher, but a crime punishable by lashing and jail time to name a teddy bear insensitively?"

So much melodrama.  When did people forget how to simply talk to one another?

Hey... I hear ya, loud and clear.

Have you guys heard this story? 

In Sudan, a private school teacher is in PRISON and has been charged with blasphemy (punishable by public lashing or six months in jail), for allowing her 6-7 year-old students to name their class teddy bear Muhammed -- a name which, coincidentally, happens to be perhaps THE most common name in the world.  In fact, the students chose that name because the most popular boy in their class is named, you guessed it, Muhammed.

Read more about this developing story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/11 … pstoryview
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ … 55,00.html

One of my favorite comments in response to the CNN article, and one I think you'd all appreciate, too, was the one that read:

I'm all for abiding by the rules of one's country of citizenship whether they make sense or not, and I believe completely in tolerance and respect for cultures not my own.  I don't have a problem with Islam despite the whole 911/Osama/Iraq thing; those acts do not define ALL Muslims, many (if not most) of whom are compassionate, humane souls.

But isn't this taking things a bit far... like, deep down the rabbit hole, with Alice, and into crazytown?

Criminies.

Wonderful news, Julia.  Congratulations to you!  I'll bet you're over the moon and you should be.  That's a proud accomplishment. 

Bravo you!   :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

What a great feeling for you!  Congratulations to you, Marlys; I hope you enjoy floating on air for as long as possible.   Well done!      

VERY nice, Daphne.  I know you must have spent so many hundreds of hours on that makeover.  It's beautiful!   :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

Haven't started working with my supply of the stuff yet -- have been working thru other projects but am itching to try it! -- but I'll do so with the window open now that I've been forewarned about the sticky sock thing.

EXCELLENT to read about your paint and glaze tips.  I bought black and was hoping to add shimmer, glazes, etc. to it so I'm glad to hear it seems to accept them well.  Thanks for sharing your pointers, all!