Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Mindy what a wonderful idea, I can't wait to see the issue!!!!!!!!
Bear Hugs
Jodi Moisan

I haven't done a challenge yet, my husband wants me to get my tax stuff together EWWWWWWWWWWWW   so this will be a nice way to avoid an unpleasant task.
Sounds like so much fun!!!!! Great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs
Jodi

What a beautiful baby! Here's a internet baby gift
Hugs
Jodi Moisan

AHHHHHHHHHH she is so sweet!!!!!

This is such a great bear, it's going to get so much love!

What a wonderful bear, you did such a great job!

Oh my Gosh what a great bear!

What a great bunny!!!!!

These are so clever!!!!!! I Love them!!!!!!!

What a totally cute bear!!!!!!!

Shelli, this is the coolest idea, you are helping so many learn how to showcase their work, you deserve a medal. :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

My sister emailed this to me I thought it was so cute I wanted to share it with you all.
It hit home to me because on top of all that is listed in the show we are still able to make beautiful bears.

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of "pretend" bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment . He must make one unscheduled and
inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation). He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

There is only one TV between them, and a remote with dead batteries.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, which they will apply to themselves either while driving or making three lunches.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6-yr old boy finds it in the purse.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and
comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, "You're not the boss of me".

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.
The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years...eventually earning the right to be called Mother!

After you get done laughing, send this to as many females as you think will get a kick out of it and as many men as you think can handle it

You know for the longest time I had considered myself an artist, while I was a fine arts major at Ball State I felt like that was what people expected me to be, but I no longer call myself an artist, I am a crafter and I am so proud of that.
   Are the bears I make works of art?????? I think it takes a lot of artistic talent to create them and I am proud of the reaction people have to them, I refuse to label them as art, art to me is something that sits in a dusty museum not to be touched. I don't want my work  to not be touched, I want people to touch it and enjoy it. I come from a long line of craftsman, my great grandfather was a carpenter and my grandfather was the same, they loved to create with wood. Their work was so beautiful and to be enjoyed. So I am proud to be a crafter, a toy maker and I while I do feel that what we do is artistic I feel it is a craft that should be celebrated and respected.  I was asked to do an "artist's event" at a local  gallery and I did it, there I stood with all the "real artists", my little mice and bears looked so out of place, but I was so excited about sharing my craft with others and I was so excited to promote the world of fur, at the end of the show the owner of the gallery came up and said she never had such a great turn out (the newspaper listed teddy bears in the article) and the joy that seemed to come from seeing my work, that people were thrilled to touch them, and was saying they were going to try their hand at bearmaking or they were talking about their childhood bear.  So my feeling is, if you think bearmaking is an art be confident that it is an art, but for me I will be forever proud of my crafting ways.
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

I am so happy for all of you who got the Toby nod, you all are such wonderful artists and I am just over the moon for you. I read Shelli's post and I just giggled at the thought of her doing the happy dance all over the house.  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:
I must say one post made me want to write, Aleta you are a shining star, as an artist your work just amazes me, it is so lovely and beautiful I am in awe of it. I have never seen a bear of yours that wssn't outstanding. 
Hugs
Jodi Moisan

Thanks everyone on the kinds words about First date, I must say I am completely blown away at the kindness and talent that is on this wesite, as I said I am so proud to be a small part of a great group of creative people.

What a cute red panda!!!!Great job!!!!!
Jodi Moisan

Welcome Mindy, Lucky you, I got to go to Toy Fair one year and LOVED IT !!!!!!! What fun you will be having, take comfortable shoes,  I have never seen such a big place, I owned a small toy store so I got to go and had the best time.   I have closed the toy store to make bears full time and Toy fair is something I would really like to do again. Thanks so much for thinking of us and sharing your trip thru pictures, I will look forward to that.  I also LOVED R John Wright's display and the Hansa plush people, their life size animals are amazing, My son went with me and we were there on the last day and Hansa sells their display pieces and my son bought a life size vulture, people in New York and at the airport on the way home thought it was real  .
Have a safe trip
Hugs
Jodi Moisan

Thanks Sue Ann , First let me say I have loved your bears so much, your Bailey was one of my all time favorites,  Holly the Holiday Bear  was a bear that I saw in an old Bear magazine that I bought off of ebay and and fell in love with her , I guess I never realized you were the artist that made her, I am now star struck and if I was talking to you in person I would be talking really fast and saying some nonsense that makes no sense, because that's what I did when I met Michelle Lamb.  I always think I am going to come off sauve and cool but I never do.  I honestly can't believe I am talking to you,  and you like my mice, they are just barely 3 inch tall.  Well I better go, I am late in getting an auction up, I just finished a new little mouse.  Good Luck with the Golden Teddy, I bet your entry is just wonderful.
Hugs
Jodi

Aleta, I want to move to the west coast, I love your idea.
Hugs
Jodi

Here is my entry it is titled "First Date"

First Ive got to say, Sonya that red, white and blue bear is gorgous!!!!!
And Judi your nominations are just so beautiful, the snow white is my favorite, it reminds me of when my 20 yr old son was about 4 he called it "Snow White and the seven Dorfs"  Those bunnies are the cutest x 7.
      There is an artist on ebay who I just adore and I love her bears, well we started at about the same time on ebay and we both did really well selling, she got a Toby Nomination the 1st time she entered and was walking on cloud nine, well she started making different looking bears, she started making them like the one she entered and they didn't do well, she would put a high reserve on them and she went two to  three months without selling a bear and each week having to pay the 20 dollars ebay listing fee, then she didn't win a Toby and she got so down she decided she was going to quit making bears.  After a lot of artists convienced her to keep at it, she is back selling well on ebay. This is a little different then my story, but we both got to the same place, we realized that we are so lucky to be able to make some money for something we love doing.  I am not going to say the nomination doesn't mean anything, it does, but I also know it means for some reason my entry connected to some of the judges , I know it doesn't mean my work is better then some who didn't get picked, I know if another group of judges were there, the results would be completely different. (Hey I am not fooling myself, I am no Karin Delorenzo, in my opinion she is the goddess of fur, man I love her work)
Hugs
Jodi

We're on line because
A. We must not have a bear in the works.
B. We can actually complete a thought without a child/husband/or dog interrupting us.
C. We don't have to compete for computer time
D. Our husband snores
E. The chocolate monster in our head woke us up. :doh:
F. We are addicted to computer poker and we are waiting on a good hand 
G. The tylenol PM hasn't kicked in yet
Thanks again for all the kind words , you are such a doll!
Have a great weekend
Jodi
PS The tylenol PM has now kicked in

Hi, I am completely new to this chat board so forgive me if I don't respond, because once I click out of this area I most likely  will never find it again. I wanted to say that I had entered for both the Toby and Golden Teddy for the last 3 years , I was doing OK on ebay but wanted to try for an award ( and my only goal was to get nominated) and was crushed each time I didn't get "the call " Last year my 2nd time at entering I really started to wonder why I made bears and other creatures , I compared my work to others and got really down on myself, I got jealous of some really wonderful artists and avoided talking to them, finally I wrote Shelli and confessed to her about what a big failure I was feeling and I was kind of jealous of her success, even though it was deserved. I let my inner fur demons color a relationship with an artist I admire and a friend I valued and I apologized to her, Shelli was an angel and completely understood and gave me a pep talk. I stopped making creatures for a while and did some soul searching, I asked myself, why I make bears and my mice.  I realized finally it's because I Love it and I would make these creatures if I never sold another one, I am part of a creative, mostly female, wonderful supportive group. I realized that if I never won an award, being part of that group of women and getting to do something I love, is reward enough.  I see way too many extremely wonderful pieces not get chosen. One of the bears I made last year and entered , did not get picked and I put it in a place I never really see, and one day I was cleaning out some clutter and came across it and I looked at it long and hard, I really liked it, it made me smile and it made my little boy smile and that was wonderful, it is now sitting in a place that I see every day and it still makes me smile, so I decided that was enough.  Now this is the real ironic part, I told my husband I was not going to enter this year and he talked me into entering at least one contest and my TBR magazine came first , so I entered it, I told him that if I didn't get nominated I would not be down and I was really OK.  Well My little set of mice called "First Date" got nominated,  I actually cried when I hung up the phone I was so honored.  But a little saddened because I knew some where some other talented wonderful Bear Artist was now doubting herself , the way I had. I really have come to believe that every person that creates something from nothing and can bring so much enjoyment to others, are all true winners.  I have seen some of the work that is in my group and I must say I am beyond honored to be in their group.  If you as an artist didn't get nominated this year or last, don't feel down, celebrate the joy of bearmaking, your time will come.