Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I totally feel for you!!!  we moved 3 years ago into our first house and my hub said on the first day "hope you really like this house, cause we ain't ever doing this again!"  We didn't have half of the stuff we have now.  What helps me in the room is to start with the big items, don't even think about the knick knacks at this point.  Get the big stuff where it goes and then work down.  For pictures/artwork/mirrors, etc....I trace the item on paper (use food bags if you have to) and stick the stuff to the walls before trying to hold, hammer, move around.  I had these "shadow images" up for days, rearranging until I got it all to where I liked it. 
Putting that arrangement back together sounded very theraputic. 

:hug:
~Chrissi

Cool!!  I'll be there, with my boring old cup of tea     :crackup: 

:hug:
~Chrissi

I think the eyes are lovely!!  We'll protect you from the golly police...we can take em' :crackup:
Imagine if no one here pushed envelopes, tested knew stuff or thought to put eyelids or fabulous stringy bright pink mohair on a teddy bear!! 

:hug:
~Chrissi

I'm up for it..."Constant Comment" Decaf Tea....when??
Today was almost a fuzzy slipper day for me!!  I got to the car (thank God I looked down) I HAD MY PINK FUZZY SLIPPERS ON!!  Running out the door, I didn't even realize..they're so comfy. :crackup:

:hug:
~Chrissi

This is a GREAT piece of advice!  And it's so true.  I've been introduced to so many artists, shops and events because a piece was run in the local paper.  I had no idea there was a "knitting cafe" in a local town, owned by a fabulous woman who teaches onsite.  Her work IS art, just gorgeous. 
Again, great advice Mindy! I guess there are 6 "P"s...practice practice practice AND promote promote promote   

:hug:
~Chrissi

I luv these guys Judi, just adorable!! 

Funny that everyone's talking about being "cheeky" in this thread...I'm a lucky dog who has Luxembears "Cheekie" 
Just about the cutest thing ever

:hug:
~Chrissi

After hearing all of this additional info, my guess is she's impaired in some fashion.  If she's 42, living at home, not allowed to give out her phone number (her mother's been involved in the past), repeats things like her birthday and address, is habitual about calls and then makes childish toned "threats" that really sound silly to us...sounds like she may just have special needs or a disorder of some type.  If she's latched onto collecting something, the photos may be her outlet (like a baseball card )...could be driving her in some fashion. (??) 
Since it's becoming annoying I think you can have her number blocked from your phone.  I believe it's a service similar to *69...the info may be in the front of the phone book.  GOOD LUCK!!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

It took me a long time to find a doctor who listened and looked at me as a whole and not just as a black and white, text book case (like they do for most people).  We found a doctor who specializes in "preventative medicine".  He's associated with one of the best hospitals in my area as well.  Some might say it's more holistic, (relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts <holistic medicine attempts to treat both the mind and the body)..but it's more than mind over matter...he treats you as a whole system where many specialist just treat what they specialize in and send you on your way to the next guy, where the specialist never really all work together to make you well.

When I got so ill that I felt like my body was breaking down around me I decided it was time to seek help from "outside the box".  The last thing I needed was to feel desperate, cause then they just label you a depressed female and link all of your health issues back to being depressed rather than dealing with you anymore.  It's easier for them to say "ah, she's depressed..that's her problem..case solved..I'm done"

I'm so glad I found this doctor and my primary because together they helped me more than any specialist had (we're talking orthopedics, neurologists, gastro, rheumatologists, pulmonary/sleep specialists...I saw 'em all)

Holistic today isn't rocks and crystals and meditating to become well like in the movies (not that any of those things are bad...).  It's much more system driven, whole body, foods, outside influence, environmental factors, etc.  Many of these doctors have outstanding credentials and are associated with top hospitals.  Might be an option for you at some point.

:hug:
~Chrissi

Adorable!!  Sweet little face on her!  
Her outfit is so precious

:hug:
~Chrissi

Thank you Sarah (blushing over here) , very nice of you to say! I have to get a photo and my avatar done already!  I've been doing so many other things this summer!!  I honestly look nothing like reese witherspoon....I think it just went off of my chin and smile in this particular shot.  When I was younger and she was bigger on tv and in movies I always got the Helen Hunt comments. An older lady in the Mall once called me Jamie Buchman  :crackup:  :crackup:

Hi Kim Bee, swap partner...it is nicer to have an image of someone when you're talking..I agree!! 

Kim Basta, I totally see Audrey too.  She's one of my favorites, I watch a movie collection of hers quiet a bit! 

:hug:
~Chrissi

This is fun!  Don't mind the hair in this photo, we're getting hit with the remnants of a hurricane and I've had it pulled back all day 

Reese Witherspoon 76%  (happy dance for me :dance: ...I love this girl!!)
Sela Ward 74%
Marcia Cross 71%
Holly Marie Combs 71%
Piper Perabo 70%
Kate Winslet 68%
Julia Roberts (huh???) 66%

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi Dilu,
I found pure white on Edinburgh...you can buy a 9x9 square for like $5 or something.
Hope that helps!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

Ha ha ha..... we lovingly refer to this as "going stepford" in my house.   :crackup:
I personally adore this kind of campy stuff!! I adore vintage 1930's 40's and 50's items and have a kitchen themed with it all.

When we first bought our house a few years back I found this funny book on ebay and I still have it out on an antique hoosier in my kitchen "A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband (with Bettinas best recipes)" This book is such a crack up!!  I had to have it!
This is a thick book about a guy named Bob and his new wife Bettina...it's got story's in each chapter (Bettina gives a luncheon, Ruth inspects Bettina's kitchen, Bettina entertain's alice and Mr HArrison, Bettina buys a refrigerator, Bettina spills the ink, With house cleaning over...) Poems for each month, nd it's filled with recipes.

"To every other little bride, who has a Bob to please, and says she's tried and tried and tried to cook with skill and ease.  And can't!---we offer here as a guide Bettina's Recipes.  To her whose Bob is prone to wear a sad and hungry look, because the maid he thought so fair, is --well-- she just can't cook! To her we say, do not despair, Just try Bettina's Book." Oh, it's too funny...I love it!!
" No you cannot live on kisses, Though the honeymoon is sweet, Harken Brides a true word is this, even lovers have to eat".   :crackup:   
Oh, it gets so much better!! "Roasting turkeys! Rich Mince pies! Cakes of every shape and size! Santa though they're fond of you, Christmas needs us housewives too" 

Here's the BEST part...the last chapter:
"The first year ends"
Do you know Bettina that I've found you wiser than I ever imagined a young wife could be" say bob.
Bettina finally says" "after all romance is really in everything that we do lovingly, and intelligently. I find it in planning and cooking the best and most economical meals that I can, and in getting the mending done on time, and in keeping the house clean and beautiful.  And ---in having you appreciate things"

AWWWWWWW   now that's love :crackup:

JARED:  I totally agree with you.  My sister teaches and she is so many times so upset with the way parents allow their precious little girls and pre teens to dress now.  ...these kids are raising themselves essentially with no boundaries.   I personally don't want to see a 13 year old girl with tight pink sweat shorts that read "sweetness" across her butt. Who's that for anyway...some dirty old guy in the Mall?? Don't even get me started on the Bratz dolls (or the micro ho's as we call them)

My one sister was home schooled for a while and I think if things continue to go as they are today I might just do the same when we have kids...it's too scary to see what goes on now.  And I'm not that far out of highschool myself...(only had 1 reunion so far!!)  :crackup:

:hug:
~Chrissi

Ugh...I stink at timed tests...you think after being out of school for so long I would have gotten over that!  I can type like the wind at home and work.  But time it, and add that the bolded blue word thing-a-ma-bob and I freeze up.  Only 35 words per minute according to the test...but at home I'm speedy typer  :crackup:

:hug:
~Chrissi

Thanks for putting this together Heather!! 

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi All,

I'm trying out wire armatures and read a bunch of past posts on it.  I went to Home Depot and found what I needed....had 2 workers there insist on trying to help me (I knew the explanation would make them leave me alone   :rolleyes:)..."uh huh" as they walked away confused.  I wasn't confused..but they look funny after I tried to quickly explain the armature set up..hey, they asked!!  :crackup:

Now, I use screws and lock nuts normally and I glue the screw first.  Has anyone used armatures with the wire and ring terminals with this glue process ??  How have you had to change things??
I'm guessing that the ring terminal would get glued first, then the screw to that...as long as it holds for the tightening I guess it would work....anyone have a better thought?? I use a glue called "perfect glue, liquid nails"  (I glue the joints because I don't like the visible seams, I'm an inside the limb slicer.)

Thanks for any help or ideas!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

Yep, here in good old PA with our food restrictions...maybe it's the water??!  :crackup:
Like I said before I'm more than happy to help you out in any way I can (been there, done that).  Who knows, you may not need to stick to this forever, it may just be that your system is going through something and needs a break..we're all different.  They say women's bodies change every 7 years and things that were good for you once may not be again for a while.   I felt so much better after my diet restrictions that I've just kept with it...if I ever need to tweak it again it won't be so bad now that I'm use to it all. 
You'll get back to salads, no worries!!  If you're having IBS type stomach issues
(not sure, just using as an example) there's a lot of reading you can do on what veggies are good and how to prepare them...some are better raw, some are better cooked. 

I kept a food journal in the very beginning, it's how I realized I can't do any preservatives....I would get wicked migraines and feel lousy any time I ate them.  MSG..forget it..it puts me in bed with a migraine and terrible illness... BHT, BTA, mono tri blah blah blah they all make me ill.  It made sense for me to just cut them out.  I eat natural foods.  I can still eat lots of fun stuff, I have a few specific local restaurants that know me and that I trust to make basics for me, and if I'm eating somewhere unfamiliar like a wedding or a party I do the salads, veggie trays, fruit trays.  I've even taken my own stuff to family events (no one ever cares or makes a deal of it..in today's food allergy world it's kind of normal actually)

Like you said it will get easier and you will be healthier and you will feel so much better, no worries!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi Dana!
I'm late to this post, but I love your Parrot...what a beauty!!  I think Kim and I use the same scissors.  I love my gingher embroidery scissors.  I can get very detailed with these little sharp tipped scissors, even removing stitches easily with a snip if need be.
I started out making mini's too! I'm making larger bears now as well, but my scissors are the same...love 'em.  Welcome aboard, can't wait to see your bears!

:hug:
~Chrissi

Love it!!  Looks great...I luv your "Hobey" bear.  Is he a mini or a larger guy??   

:hug:
~Chrissi

HA HA HA!!  I HEAR YOU!!  I don't do caffeine AT ALL.  SO I guess for me it's no wheat, dairy, caffeine, preservatives and white sugar (i only cheat sometimes on the sugar...if I'm dying for that ice cream stuff!!) the no read meat is just a choice I made, not for any health issues I was having.

I just found that soy milk upset my stomach...like if a person with lactose intolerance drank milk...that's what soy was like for me.  It just made me feel heavy or ill to my stomach.  I don't find it bothers me if it's an ingredient in something premade. (go figure) But I wouldn't buy soy ice cream or milk for myself, it just didn't agree with me in it's full strength for some reason.

Gluten free products are all over now too.... the baking products (mixes, etc) are decent and the ener-g breads and stuff should work out for you very well.  I use gluten free only because a lot of it is dairy free too, in the baking mix stuff I can use my substitute vegan butters and oils.  Gluten Free Pantry products are nice...check labels for dairy, some have..some don't.

I love to bake at Christmas and Thanksgiving. The best baking cookbook I ever got was Simple Treats.  The authors are awesome, I've even emailed them once or twice.  It's a wheat and dairy free cookbook, it's not gluten free, but you may be able to substitute some stuff. 

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi Shari,
Wheat free can be really hard at first....wheat's in everything!  I thought I'd never have decent pasta again, pizza, or a "bread" that I could stand.
Pasta: Tinkyada (pasta joy) is the closest I'll ever get to real pasta.  I can make mac and cheese, lasagna, summer pasta salads, etc.  It's so good that my husband couldn't tell at first.
Bread and other goodies:  http://www.ener-g.com/default.aspx   (pretzels!!! I can have pretzels once in a while!!)  The tapioca bread is the only one I'll get now and then...it toasts up well and tastes like sourdough (rice bread is like eating a couch cushion :crackup:)  The ener-g breads are vac-sealed and have expiration dates of a year or more because of the sealing, buying the bulk is a good way to go from the web site.

KIM: these breads are dairy free too...most commercials breads now have dairy in them.

Again, Good Luck and let me know if you need any kind of help!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi Kim!
Glad you're finding answers to your tum issues!

After a health crisis I wound up going wheat and dairy free and I don't do preservatives.  I don't eat any red meat either...(I saw cows up close and watched the calves play, they're too much like a dog for me.)  Because of my diet restrictions I do still eat poultry and certain fish.
If soy agrees with you that's great, my stomach didn't like soy at all.  I do rice milk...certain brands I don't like, certain ones I do. Rice Dream brand milk can taste gritty sometimes, whole foods brand and shop rite brands are my favorite.  I like the vanilla flavored with my cereals.  For calcium..I just buy as much as I can  that's "enriched" on the label and take supplements. The enriched natural juices they make for kids, enriched soy and rice milk, etc. 
If you're craving ice cream Celestial Seasonings (tea) just came out with a new line of "non-dairy" frozens that are really really good.  I don't do white sugar, but if I'm having a drop dead craving I let myself have some of this stuff.  Cheese...rice dream slices are pretty good.  I make "pizza" with them, they melt pretty nicely for "mac and cheese" and they're not bad on a sandwich, melted on veggies, etc. Personally I don't like the preshredded stuff and the blocks of it are gross (imo).  Butter...I use a "vegan" butter called "Earth Balance".  It comes in a tub and in sticks..the sticks are great for baking.  It tastes like butter at this point to me. 

I've been on my restricted diet for a long time now...it takes patience in the beginning, but once you're use to it and know about all of the products out there and you find what you like...it's no big deal.   Wheat and dairy free together was not easy at first , but I don't even think about it now when shopping, it's 2nd nature.
Whole foods & wegmans are good stores to shop and even Giant now has a great organics/natural section that's filled with dairy free stuff. Small "natural foods" stores usually carry all of the stuff I mentioned too.

Good Luck and let me know if you need any help with recipes or anything...

:hug:
~Chrissi

Aw, Daphne they're all adorable! 

Have you guys ever posted you first attempts at bear making before...like your first bear ever. (??).  I've seen some artist sites that do that..the "then" and "now" pictures.

:hug:
~Chrissi

Hi Sarah,
I think your Sammy is made from the same Fabric as my Grumpster here: (I made this style back when I first started making bears. They all reminded me of big old grumpy grizzly bear men ) I say "big old" but these are actually under 4 inches. This "fur" was the first order I placed for any kind of bear making fur/fabric.

This is a bunny made with the same synthetic, in white.....this stuff stretched like mad, so I really had to watch my patterns and the way I stuffed (good practice in the beginning!!)

I liked the razzle and used it a bit, but do you find you have to back it?? 

Jared, Orson ROCKS!! I LOVE Big Ol' Teddy Bears... and how cute is that picture???!!!

:hug:
~Chrissi

I'm debbie reynolds  
I gotta look into the "life i a breeze" part of this one. hmmm (??)
I'll have to think it over with my witty, cute, & calm self as I'm sipping champagne in my noon bubble bath....hmmm (???) :crackup:

:hug:
~Chrissi