12 Bears...of the mohair persuasion!

Yessiree!! 12 bears are done. Yay!! Well, except for dressing and or accessorizing. Rather than listing them all at once, I will begin listing two, one large and one small, each week. This will allow me some time to catch up at Monticello, paint furniture, get the nursery ready, plan the baby shower for my daughter, and go back to designing more one-of-a-kind traditional bears while still exploring my paperclay dollies. Whew!! Sounds like a lot, huh?

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

P.S. It should, should I say, allow me a little more time to reply to blog notes and maybe even do a little blog hopping every now and then too!! Yippee!!

A random act of kindness from a friend.

Happy Pink Wednesday!! I want to share with you something that was done for me completely out of the blue the other day. I'm telling you, when I received this banner I burst into tears. It may seem like a small thing to those of you techno savvy lovelies out there, but to me, this is a big thing. A very big thing.

There are times when you need to have things like banners and the like in order to link with other sites. I do not know, nor do I have the time to learn, yet another, computer skill. I'm pretty basic. I know how to right click and save, how to download and upload (or is it upload and download?) and simple things of that nature on the computer. However, even these simple tasks required writing down instructions, referring to them several times over before they stick in my head, and keeping them in a file so I can refer to them in case of a mini-meltdown of memory. I know you know what I'm talking about. ;o)

Anyway, my friend Brenda Power, sent me an e-note the other day and enclosed in it was this beautiful banner. As well as making the most exquisite pint size Steiff looking bears and bunnies, Brenda likes to fiddle with Photoshop. Lucky for me!!! Well, I must have made a comment about trying to make a banner out of one of my photos or something in order to sign onto the 100 Best Bear Artist Blog Sites. Maybe Brenda thought, "Oh dear no, that will never do!" or something to that effect, but bless her heart, she designed one for me and sent it out of the blue. Note the pink background?!! Only my favorite color!! And, she included some of my best dressed bears including my 2007 TOBY winning bear. Bless you a zillion times over, Brenda. You are a dear, dear heart, a kindred spirit and a most treasured friend. Thank you.

Warmest Pink Wednesday bear hugs, Aleta

Treasure hunting!

I found these fabulous chairs at an estate sale on Saturday. The details are simply marvelous! They're old and quite heavy for their petite size. Though the original fabric has obviously been replaced, they still have the original horsehair fabric bottom and nailhead age. Keep 'em or sell 'em? They're not exactly a chair that Bill would sit in (ha!)....even though he does like the way they look in the livingroom.

Gracie gave them her seal of approval right away. She has impeccable taste...in soft cushioned surfaces!

Other lovely French finds: a market basket with leather strap and a beautiful tapestry. I also bought some simply scrumptious white linens that will be made into pillows for my space in Monticello. I'm also waiting to hear if I got the fabulous mirrors we put a bid on. There are three of them. One frame in particular is spectacular!! I've got my fingers crossed!

Speaking of Monticello, I'm decorating the display window there in April!! How cool is that?!! So, while working to finish up bears, I've also been decorating a 5 1/2' x 9' space in my head. Easy to do when there's not much up there to begin with!! Ha!!

Okay, enough silliness. I have a physical therapy appointment and a meeting with a friend and her designer friend to talk about another bit of new business. I'll let you know more about that soon.

So, I'm outta here for the rest of the day. Oh, but before I go, Shantell, Apple Dumpling Diaries bestowed on me another lovely blog award. You sweet girlie you, Shantell!! Thank you!!

Now I've really got to get out of here. Make it a great week!! See you Wednesday!! Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Trying to stay on task.

From the bottom of my heart I'd like to say a special thank you to these lovely women for thinking of me and my blog. Martha, Vintage Trifles; Laura, Dances with Teddy Bears; Melanie Jayne, Bear Treasures; Tami, Dolls n Dreams and Tina, Tiny Bear. They have been so kind as to send me special blog awards and wish for me to participate in a fun game of Random Facts Tag. You girlies are the BEST! Thank you ever so much. :o)

I will do my best in the next week to share the goodness and great spirit in which these awards and games were passed along. This week, however, I absolutely MUST stay on task and finish up these 10 bears!! It's the one thing I have the most trouble with, staying on task. (Adult ADD) There are so many delightful distractions in my life!!

Okay then.....staying on task. I'm off to the studio to do some airbrushing!

A happy Pink Wednesday to you! Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

That look.

Do you ever get that look from your cat? You know the one. It's the "What do you mean, you're too busy?" look. Isn't it amazing how closely it resembles the "Where's my dinner?" look. After spending the last few days visiting with my mom, this is the look I'm getting from the cats today. They just don't understand that I have a zillion and three things to do. Oh, wait. A zillion and four....a fax just came in with a bid to repair the pool. EGAD!!! Are you kidding me? $27,000?!!!! And that's with no upgrades!! Good grief!!

Perhaps I should send this picture of Max along to the pool company with a caption reading, "Seriously?!!" Ha!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Pink Wednesday Wishes!

Take a breath. Treat yourself to something sweet. Best Pink Wednesday wishes and warmest bear hugs, Aleta

The crib is finally here!

It finally arrived! The crib for Nana's nursery! I thought it was hard to keep focused on work before. Sheesh. Now all I want to do is start getting the nursery put together!

The boys, my son Justin (Have I mentioned he's single?) and my son-in-law, Jeremy (daddy to sweet baby) helped put the crib together. Actually, they pretty much put it together while I tried to read the instructions and ultimately ended up just holding parts steady. Ha!

So, here are the colors I'm working with. Shades of pink (who would have guessed?), lime green and white. With this color palette I can keep the walls the pink color they are. One less thing to do! This palette also works with the pieces of vintage Beatrix Potter I have. I found, in my stack of old bed linens, a fabulous old sheet with just the right color bright pink roses with lime green stems. It will be perfect for a crib petticoat! I'm hoping to find a crib bumper in the pink and white check fabric because a. that material shown in the picture above is supposed to be for another project and b. it would be another project to add to the list. Although, I did find a pattern for a really darling bumper with a scalloped top. So, so cute!! We'll see.

This brings me to another project that will need to be finished before baby arrives. Painting the dressers. These dressers were Brittany's when she was a little girl. Yes, we have carted them from house to house because Brittany wanted to keep them for her babies someday. Now that she's having a baby, she's decided she doesn't want them. WHAT?! Are you kidding me? (sigh) Okay then. They're mine to do with what I want. So, I'm going to paint them a soft white and put glass knobs on them. Ha. Mine now.

Actually, my children seem to have an aversion to any decorating style they grew up with. I call it Shabby Chippy. Justin calls it Old and Busted. Brittany used to have a Shabby Bohemian style....until she met Jeremy. Now they've all turned into modern Pottery Barnites. A rebellious lot they are!! Ha!

Make it a fabulous day!! Warmest Saturday bear hugs, Aleta