An odd week to be sure.

I'm so very glad it's Friday. Let's see, where to begin? Bill and I found our dream home.....and we weren't even looking. At this moment in time it is but a dream. It's a lovely dream and a shiny spot in the week. You see, we've also had very sad news this week. A dear family member will be leaving us much sooner than we had imagined. Our hearts simply ache with sadness.


When I'm sad, I either clean, or decorate, or both. It's my way of sorting things out, literally and figuratively. Yesterday I redecorated the pink bedroom....taking furniture from other parts of the house and garage to get ready for guests next weekend. If you remember, the pink bedroom was to be my new studio....until I got a clue and realized there really was no way all my bearaphernalia would fit in that room regardless of the size of the walk-in-closet!! You can all say, "I told you so!" now. Really, I'm fine with it.

So, this week I've found the house of my dreams, had very sad news, had my website go bonkers, redecorated the pink bedroom.....and tomorrow we have a wedding to go to. Insert wrinkled nose here! It's been an odd week to be sure. Life can be so weird.

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

As Piglet would say....

Oh, d-d-d-dear, dear! There is always a first time for everything and today was one of those times. Oiy! My first clue should have been the trouble I had listing Simplicity in the first place. I actually ended up shutting down the computer and restarting it in order to stop getting an error message on my website. Like I said, that should have been my first clue that things were about to go sideways.

I'm going along merrily and the page loaded as it should and I was able to input all the information as well as download (or is it upload, I can never figure that one out!) the pictures for the listing. Because of all this trouble I was ONE measily minute behind my scheduled 5:00pm listing. So, what do you think happened? Two wonderfully fabulous ladies clicked on my listing at the EXACT same moment to purchase Simplicity. ACK!!! No, no, no, NO!!

I've never had that happen before. An icky heavy feeling has filled my heart. I had to e-mail one of the wonderfully fabulous ladies to tell her that she was edged out by mere seconds......probably a cat whisker. Boo-hoo.

On the bright side though....at least I hope she sees it as a bright side.....she gets first option on the next bear in that size range!! And as luck would have it, it's my most popular bear color besides panda colors....pale peachy pink!! Even better news, the bear is already underway because it was one I was taking with me to my show. I'd like to think that's the silver lining. Here's hoping anyway!!

Here's also hoping double purchases never happen again!! I think I need a Lemon Drop Martini!!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

A ginormous thank you!!

From me, Truly Silly! Birthday Bear and a Little Silly! Sam....a ginormous thank you for making us smile so BIG!! From the lovely notes to the all important bids for the Lemonade Bear Benefit......you rock our world!! I'm blessed to be in such fabulous company here in blogland. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

And The Winner Is!!

First of all, a heartfelt thank you to everyone posting such lovely notes for me. Honestly, all you really needed to do was leave your name. I do, so appreciate the sentiments. Really I do. I just don't want to get a swelled head or nuthin'. So, here's the deal: Next giveaway, you must leave the name of a character you dressed up as for Halloween! Oh wait, maybe some of you out there didn't dress up for Halloween! Hmmmm. Okay, let's say it should be a character you liked to dress up as when you were a child. There, I think that should cover everyone!

Okay, okay, okay! I'll get to the winners now. Geez Lousie!! The Grand Prize and winner of my Truly Silly Birthday Bear is.....#9 Theresa!! And in order of tickets drawn, the winners of lovely little things are......#21 Grace, #15 Samantha, #26 Draffin Bears, #23 Pam Lashley, #14 Elaine, and #25 Folksie Linda!!! Yay!!! Party hats, streamers and tootle horns!!! Girlies, please send me your mailing addresses!! You may go through the contact button on my website www.thesillybear.com to leave your address.

Now, next on the agenda, The Lemonade Bear Benefit. If you feel so inclined, please skip on over to www.bid4bears.com and take a peek at all the bears up for auction for such a worthwhile cause. You'll know they're bears for the benefit if they have Lemon or Lemonade in the title. I don't want you to skip over the bears that don't have this in their title, because there are some lovely bears there, I just want you to be able to tell which bears are for the benefit. A Little Silly, Sam, is there waiting to wave and wink at you to try to get you to bid. Give in. You know you want to!! *wink*

Another little sniglet of information......tomorrow is the Harvest Sale at Willow Nest!!! See the link over there to the left. I'll see you at 10am!!!

Have a super fabulous and wildly wonderful weekend!! Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

P.S. Yes, there will be a Halloween goodie giveaway in October!!!

Truly Silly and even Sillier!

It's late afternoon, really almost evening, but I made it! I'm posting a picture of two special bears I've just finished. By just finished, I do mean JUST FINISHED. Whew! The Truly Silly bear on the right is the 7th Year Celebration Giveaway bear. YAY!! Pink and white and aqua...simply divine....and soooo what my eye seems to be drawn toward these days!! This Truly Silly wears a paper hat and a vintage pinback with a cake and the words Happy Birthday to You. Perfect!!

Now about that little guy on the left. Oiy!! He's a hard one to photograph! This is actually the best picture so far after two sessions. He's a Truly Silly too. Sillier in fact! He's the smallest Truly Silly to date and he may just be the last!! He won't sit still...insisting on falling backwards and rolling around on the studio table!! The problem is, this little guy is suppose to go up for auction on Friday. He's my donation to Alex's Lemonade Stand, to help with the fight against childhood cancer. I'll post a link to the auction on Friday. Pssst.....I still have to figure out how to do it!! Double oiy!!!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

P.S. Don't forget: To win the giveaway bear you need to post a note on my August 31st entry. I know that some of you wish to remain anonymous (Hi Mom!) but I do need some sort of identifier in your post like your initials or something. I've also had a few people contact me who read my blog and would prefer not to sign up with Blogger. Contact me through my website if you'd rather remain under the radar. It's a celebration of bears and a giveaway and I really don't want to leave anyone out that would like to participate. Hugs! A

No flitting about like a butterfly for me!!

The faster I go, the more behind I get!! Perhaps if I slow down, I'll catch up with myself!! Ha!

I've been busy, busy, busy in the studio trimming faces, sewing noses and setting eyes. Tomorrow I airbrush five bears!! Hopefully tomorrow afternoon (cross your fingers!!) you will finally get a glimpse of two very special and Truly Silly bears. Think happy thoughts!!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Before and Almost!

I thought I'd share one of the interior design projects I've been working on. The top picture is the "Before" and the bottom picture is the "Almost". Almost because I still haven't found fabric I like for drapes around the window or fabric for the seat cushion. That window has me in a bit of a quandry as to how exactly I'm going to hang the drapes anyway. So, I sit and rattle it around my brain while working on bears!!

Goodbye, brass bed and Ralph Lauren roses! Hello, spa blue/green swirly jacquard, creamy white and bold black! It's the canopy bed I've always wanted....all grown up!!

I decided not to go with the airy drape over the canopy. I rather like the bold lines and the room is large enough to handle it. There's a lesson here too: Make sure you really want that 21 yards of bridal organdy before you purchase it!! Oops.

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

An aqua/turqoise sort of day!

I took a break from the bears on Sunday to go to the Coburg Antique Faire with my always wonderful husband, Bill, and my fabulously darling girly girl, Brittany. Brittany hasn't gone on any of our escapades this year because she and her husband, Jeremy, are newly married and have just bought a house. You know how that goes. We don't rank as high on the list as we used to, so, for her to join us was truly the cat's meow!!

On several levels the show was....Oh my, my!! First, it was a scorcher of a day. When we left at 1:15pm it was hovering around 90 degrees!!

Secondly, there were throngs of people. So many, in fact, that in many booths you simply couldn't move. That many people tend to make me just a wee bit uncomfortable. Couple the people with the heat and I tend not to linger in booths as much as I would normally. So, I actually didn't bring much home with me this trip. That's okay though!! That simply means I'll find lots of treasures at the Fall Celebration at Monticello Antique Marketplace this Friday!!! Oh, and then there's the Willow Nest Harvest Sale on the 22nd!! Both are NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

Okay, time to get into the studio now. My supplies finally came late Saturday afternoon and now I've got to really get busy and finish up some bears. First one to finish? My Truly Silly Celebration bear, of course!!! I simply must post a picture of her. Second in line? A bear that will be auctioned off for Alex's Lemonade Stand.....a charity organization for childhood cancer. More on that later this week!!

Now I've really got to skidaddle........Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

The Queen of Works in Progress!

If I hadn't made this sweet little crown for a bear last year, I'd be wearing it myself right now. I would, however, also need a sash reading The Queen of Works in Progress!! Not only do I juggle several different decorating projects at once, I do it with my bear design as well. Why is it I just can't seem to do one thing start to finish like those HGTV decorating and project shows?

Take for example the fact that I had four bears nearing completion. Well, dingaling me forgot to order supplies to finish said bears. So, what do I do? I start more bears, of course! Now I have six more bears underway!! Yeah, 10 bears now!! Guess what? The supplies I ordered still aren't here. What exactly does that mean? It means I go shopping for drape fabric to soften the lines of my new canopy bed and pick up the lamp for the bedside table. Hey now, there's a project that's almost finished!!

Scary how my world rotates, isn't it? I just work in circles!! That's what I call getting 'round to it!! Ha!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta