Seraphim Bears

Michele and Nancy

2012-02-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hello blog friends:

It has been a long time since I have been this excited and I must admit even a bit scared to write a post!

Have you seen the movie or read the book Julie and Julia? Well... I have decided to do something similar on my blog! I am hoping that it will not only be an excellent journey for me as an artist but also for you.

I am not sure if my journey will take me 365 days but I will continue on until I am done!

For those of you who follow me on Facebook you will know that today I had a meeting with an acquaintance who has been given a fur coat. This coat was purchased for a friend of hers from a Saudi Arabian princess and she asked me to make a bear out of the coat!

I don't work in fur and have explained this to her before but she doesn't seem to understand that there is a big difference in working with fur and working in mohair and alpaca! Well, there is a big difference and I know that! Needless to say she arrived today with the coat and in the end did not want to pay the price I required to take on the task of making a bear from the coat! So instead she has simply donated the coat to me...

Now I have read on making bears out of fur coats and I have really mixed feelings about ME making one... and although I do not condone the killing of animals for fashion and luxury I have come to terms with the fact that the vintage coats came from a different time and I would essentially be giving meaning and bringing love back to an act that was once acceptable and no longer is! If I bring a coat back to life by making it into the most loved toy in the world... I can live with that!

So in my possession I have not one but four fur coats that I have either been given or rescued myself.

I also have a wonderful book called Teddy Bears With a Past by Nancy Tillberg... so I have decided to take this book and work through it just as Julie did with Julia's.

I will not be following Nancy's patterns, I will use my own and in the cases of patterns that have things that I have never done I will make adjustments to my own patterns to allow me to learn even more in the process! This should be an exciting and challenging experience and I will surely come out the end an even better artist. I have several of Nancy's books and have even taken a course or two in the beginning of my bear making with her online Teddy University: Ebears University

Nancy Tillberg

You can still purchase this book used through Amazon and possibly online somewhere else if you are lucky and the price ranges from $24 to $99 for a copy.

So I am going to call my posts "Fur Friday" just to give them an identifiable name! I will post on Friday each week and you will be a part of this journey in which ever way the journey is taking me.

If all goes well, by the end of this journey I will be a more well rounded artist weather I choose to work in real fur or not. At least then I will be making the choice to not work in fur or work with fur with something to base it on! Right now it is all based on fear! Hahahaha

So on Friday we will start the journey and until then this is your heads up to start following my blog now. I will not hold anything back and I will share lots of pictures and talk all about the trials and all the errors I am having! I will be sure to mention the great tips that I learn from Nancy and will put them into my real life living in a small town where access to things can sometimes be a challenge!

So as I have read this book several times over the years... I thank you Nancy for standing by me virtually while I take this journey. You are a pioneer in this business, a fellow Canadian and a wonderful business woman whom I have admired over these years working in the business myself. I can only hope that your view of me does not end up the same way as Julia's in the movie towards Julie. But if it does I am sure mine will be as Julie's was... I will still love you and be grateful for all you have shared and all you have given to this business!

Big Hugs to all and I will be back on Friday with the first "Fur Friday" post!

New Article in Teddy Bear and Friends

2012-02-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Seraphim Bears has been once again blessed to have been included in a lovely article in Teddy Bear and Friends. The Article is titled "The Delicate Art of Soft Sculpture" and was written quite some time ago by Elaine Looney. I am simply thrilled to have been included in yet another article and thoroughly enjoyed reading about my fellow artists also in this article: Jutta Michels, Karen Lyons and Cindy Malchoff.

I am writing this post today to correct a few things for my readers and collectors as there seems to have been a few misunderstandings and mis-translations in my part of the article... I wouldn't want anyone thinking I had told fibs in the past so here it goes:

I do not use plush fabric! I have but I have only done so once in the time I have been creating so I don't really feel that is a fabric that should be listed and certainly not listed as my soul fabric used. I am not sure but I feel the cotton and leather must have come from the way I create my paw pads. In actuality I use high quality mohair, alpaca or viscose for my creating and have done so from the beginning!

I am a hard working gal who lifts 40lb buckets of wine all day long every day... and when I get some free time I spend that working on the design and creation of my bears! I am not lucky enough to be a stay at home gal who can show up to our family business whenever I have time. For me it is the other way around even though my bears are 100% a love and dedication that gets worked on each day... it is done in the evenings after a long hard days work! The article states:

When she is done and she has nothing else to do, Seraphim helps run the family winery.

Boy, we all had a good howl about this today at the family brew on premise! Wouldn't that be nice... if I could just come in when I had a minute to spare! Hahahahaha what a hoot!

Anyway, my bears are my passion and my love but they do have to come second to my family whom I love most of all!

And lastly: my website address is not www.seraphimsattic.com and no matter how many times I try to explain that if you type this in it will not come to me they keep printing it that way! When you type in my correct address www.micheleseraphim.com you will reach me and yes in the address portion it will change to seraphimsattic but if you type that in you will not reach me... one day I will have to sit down with someone and try to figure this out!

All in all I am absolutely thilled and thought the article fun and interesting! It took a long time for this article to make it to publication... about a year so it is no wonder with our lives all so busy that things do sometimes get mixed up.

Some of you may remember me talking about my award winning ELVIS quilt that hung in Graceland? Well, when this all happened there was an article in the Toronto and local papers reaching as far as Edmonton and Calgary about this quilt and how I had KNITTED it! Yes... you are reading that correctly! The person who wrote the article thought that Knitting and Quilting were somehow interchangeable words! Hahahha
I received so many emails about how in the world I was able to knit this blanket with such detail. Hahahahahaha! It was a struggle to explain to everyone that I did not knit it but had in fact quilted it!

Anyway, my point is, we are all human and mistakes happen but I must at least do my part to try to clear them up as I don't want anyone thinking that I get to work on my bears all day long while my family slaves away at work and then I just come and go as I please... I just cannot stop laughing at the thought of that!

Just call me Cinderella and you will have a better idea of how my day really is! And I have a loving family who works just as hard right along side of me too!

My bears are my much needed escape and my relaxation at home in the evenings! Speaking of which... I better get into that studio of mine and get to some of that creating!

BIG BEAR HUGS to sweet Elaine Looney! Thank you for such a wonderful article and I cannot wait to read more in the new joined Teddy Bear Review and Teddy Bear and Friends magazine combined! We're off to a great start!

Be back soon with WHAT'S ON THE ARTIST TABLE... a blog post I hope to incorporate to let you all know what I am working on at the moment!

Meet ~ Penny Whistle

2012-01-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

In my traditional style bears this is my latest made out of alpaca and 20" tall. His belly is filled with copper pennies and his Victorian Ribbonwork boutineer is also handmade by me.

TOBY Industry's Choice Winner - Toodle Pip

2012-01-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

I hope you were all able to join in the fun with my card announcement!

I wanted to share a picture of the my winning bear for the TOBY Industry's Choice awards:

I would like you to meet Toodle Pip

Seraphim Bears has wonderful NEWS!!!

2012-01-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

Seraphim Bears has something very special to share with you...

SIMPLY CLICK THE LINK BELOW...

What's the NEWS at Seraphim Bears

THANK YOU so very much!

Teddy Bear'sTea Party with Teddies Worldwide

2012-01-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to announce that Seraphim Bears will be participating in the Teddies Worldwide "Teddy Bears Tea Part" this March!

There will be 100 artist participating in the show and with such a fabulous theme it is bound to be the best show yet!

Seraphim Bears will be participating this time in a NEW category! I will be in the miniature category so look for me there! Don't worry, I'll remind you when it's getting closer to the time!

Oh oh... I heard a few groans among those many cheers. For all those of you who have been asking me when I will do my mini bears again... this is for you!

FOR ALL THOSE OF YOU WHO collect my full size bears... they will be in the show too... you just need to look for me in the miniature section of the show. And also note that there will be more mini bears than full sized bears this time around!

I have reworked my mini bears to reflect the new Melancholy style as well as the original minis in the traditional style so this will be a fabulous show for all of you who have been patiently waiting for the mini to return.

And there may even be a rabbit ... it is a tea party so one never knows!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of this show... just as much as Alice going to Wonderland!

Now... lots of work to be done before now and show day!

Big Bear Hugs from me and the bears

Mark the date on your calendar and I will see you all there!

MARCH 23 - 25 2012

Teddy Bear's Tea Party

Visit to The Olde Cheese Factory

2012-01-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

A few days ago we went for a drive to a nearby town that happens to have this really cool shop...

It's called the Olde Cheese Factory which is a bit misleading as although they have a few, and I do mean a few, cheeses from other local cheese shops the store is not what you might expect from it's name! It is a fascinating shop with tons of unique gifts and prim items! I honestly could have spent another hour there but we did have a schedule to keep.

I went because I had received a gift basket from my real estate agent when we sold our house and in that basket were these really sweet mini square plates but only 4 of them. I liked them enough to use them as dessert plates and so hoped to get a few more. She was nice enough to let me know where she gets her baskets made! I was lucky enough to find 4 more at this visit!

I'll have to show you the plates another post but here is the shop... I just had to share it with you as I was so surprised to see this was not your average Olde Cheese Factory!

Don't ya just wanna get into these pictures and shop around a bit yourself? I wish I could do that for you but this is the next best thing!

A Garden For Anytime

2012-01-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over and people have received their gifts I can begin to show you the things that I was able to make this year! It is soooo hard not sharing this stuff with you as it is being done but I couldn't take the risk that someone might see their gift ahead of time!

This is a table runner I designed and made for my MIL. She loves hot pink and Kaffe Fassett is the fabulous designer of the fabric I used. His fabrics are so beautifully designed that it is generally not necessary to do much in the way of piecing your quilt. Nice easy squares, in this case I used a charm pack, go together beautifully without too much time! This table runner could easily be made in a day. It is also reversible although it seems I forgot to take a picture of the back! I will try to do that in the future! The side you are seeing here also has Swarovski crystals... you know how I love those as they are often found somewhere on a bear or on the clothing of a bear. The binding was a little tricky with all those twists and turns but as long as you do your binding on the bais it will stretch and you just need to pin and take your time!

I named this runner: "A Garden for Anytime"

And here is a photo of this awesome designer... one of my absolute favorites!

A Beautiful Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a really wonderful day! We spent time with my husbands family in the afternoon and the morning and evening were our own to share.

I wanted to share with you some of the highlights of the day as far as gifts go and then I will be back to share more as today my Mum, Step dad, uncle and friend are arriving for yet another dinner!

This is our pug The Butcher, I just love this time of the year as we lay all our animal beds under the tree among the presents and they love to sleep there. They look like little angels all nestled under the magic of Christmas!

This year my tree was all done in mercury glass vintage ornaments! I was lucky enough to have inherited these from my MIL this year and of course now wish to begin a collection of these fabulous ornaments! So this is only the beginning!

This year I requested handmade gifts... if you have ever been a part of this you will know that this is not an easy request! I made most of my gifts for my family and will post images of those gifts soon but this was what they made for us... MATCHING OUTFITS for us and our babies! Hahahha ... so fabulous.

This is my J with The Butcher and they both have a new black scarf! And J has a hat to match too!

Jonesy and I got matching leg warmers! Hahahaha We love them!

That is sooooo cute!

Then MIL who insists how untalented she is on a continual basis, created this matching set for Jonesy and I! WOW! He got a full jacket with fur and I got the matching hood and mittens! Oh my goodness, we are just the image of fashion! I think he is simply adorable in this outfit and simply cannot wait to take him out for a walk!

Jonesy is my IG and so NEEDS coats at this time of the year especially! Now all we need is a sleigh!

Be back soon with more images of our Christmas!

Love and Kisses from us to you

Happy Boxing Day! Time to go prepare the pineapple squares, roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddin'!

Merry Christmas to all...

2011-12-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas or if you and your family celebrate another Holiday, Happy _________________ (You fill in the blank)!

Thank You for another wonderful year with the Seraphim Bears!

May you and your families enjoy a safe and joyful holiday season!

VIEW YOUR CARD FROM SERAPHIM BEARS BY CLICKING HERE

Big Bear Hugs
Michele Seraphim and the Seraphim Bears

Teddy Bear Affair Calendars available now!

2011-12-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:

I have 7 Teddy Bear Affair calendars left for 2012. They are $10 Canadian each and all of that money will go directly to the Children's Aid Foundation! I will not make a penny on this... it's all for the children.

I was able to sell 8 today in our wine store and I have 7 left. I thought I would offer them to you, my collectors and bear friends. There will be a small shipping charge but I will get the best rate possible. The calendar is 8.5" x 11" per page and has nice size boxes for each day so you can write your events in. The Calendar is sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada and beside each picture of the monthly bear there is a thank you message letting you know how your money has helped and will continue to help!

If you would like to see the bears that will be in the calendar visit this link and you will see all the bears that were created this year to raise money for this foundation! Seraphim Bears Anne Shirley bear is on the month of September and there are 11 other fabulous bears created by artists: Sue Burgan, Lydia Massarelli, Sharon Edwards, Dianne Blencoe, Lesley Mallett, Shane Elliot and Steven Clark, Betty Dunford, Vesna Sheffer, Andrea Marcucci, Gail Hancock, Susan Conacher. The calendar is beautifully made and the theme for this years calendar is Canada!

Children's Aid Foundation 2012 Bears!

If you are interested please contact me via email and I will send you an invoice for the calendar so you can pay securely with Paypal or you can simply send me a cheque written out to "Children's Aid Foundation".

The calendars only arrived today and I don't want the children to miss out and as Christmas is almost upon us... I must offer them in as many places as possible and quickly! Thank you for your support of this fabulous charity!

Have a very Merry Christmas

Christmas at Montrose Inn

2011-12-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

Today we enjoyed an afternoon tea at our local Montrose Inn

I thought you might enjoy seeing this lovely manor! We were very fortunate today and were the only guests so we had the tea room and the rest of the manor to ourselves... what a very special treat that was!

The woman who runs and owns the house, Diane, just so happens to LOVE bears and this is one of the highlights of my visits! She has received several ... actually ALL as gifts from her cherished guests! They line the staircase and can be found here and there throughout the home!

Hoping your holiday preparations are going well and that you are able to take a little time for yourself to sit back and enjoy the magic of Christmas!

Montorse Inn ~ Belleville Ontario Canada

A beautiful welcome...

Diane and the bears...

The bears of the stairs... heeeheee thats a rhym

The receiving room...

R and L enjoying a cup of hot cider...

Me taking a cider break to get you some wonderful shots of the Christmas experience...

L and R sitting at the dining table awaiting the glorious tea...

A bear while we wait...

More of the tea room...

Diane explains each sandwich... Yummy!

Delicious! And so beautifully presented too...

More Montrose bears...

I must apologize... right here there should be a photo of fresh baked lemon scones with jam and clotted cream... but there simply was no time to take a photo! No sooner were they placed on the table and all three of us were licking our lips with only crumbs left on our plates before I remembered to pick up the camera... they were melt in your mouth fabulous!

Then came the sweets.... oh my!

The tea room tree...

Tea room mantle...

Receiving room mantle...

Library mantle...

Receiving room tree...

Tree on the stairs...

Another Montrose bear...

Beautiful glasses to dress the table...

Crystal lights to guide the way...

The Honeymoon suite bed... WOW!

And just one of the hundreds of lovely tea sets... this one is a family heirloom!

Thank you L for an absolutely wonderful afternoon and I hope you all enjoyed your tour of the Montrose Inn

Click above to see even more about this stunning inn.

Teddy Bear Toss

2011-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

I just have to share this with you for those of you who may never have seen this it is quite and event and it is done all over the place! We even do one here in our little town!

All the bears are donated to children in need!

I grew up in Calgary Alberta and as you can see... they both love their hockey and their bears!

Just look at how many bears are on that ice!

Here are some other shots of this event in different cities!

This last one is my favourite ... just listen to the excitement in the commentators voices! Awesome! And if you stick it out and watch the entire thing you will hear just HOW awesome it really is!

Fabulous weekend

2011-11-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

Well hello everyone

Seraphim Bears would like to thank all my collectors who visited me this weekend at the Teddy Bears On Vacation show! It was great too see you all again! Many bears were adopted out in both this show and the online show making it a grand total adopted of SEVEN bears! Some are have gone home to new places, some are meeting other Seraphim Bears when they arrive home and all were happy to be wrapped in their receiving blankets and placed into their new Mum's arms... I did not have any Daddy buyers this time around. Then there are those bears that had to travel afar... they are carefully wrapped in their blankets and packaged for a long journey out of Canada. My bears are seeing lands that I have yet to see myself and I am always so excited to think of their adventures! Those bears have not yet arrived at their new homes but will soon be there to be greeted by loving arms!

All in all it was a very busy last month what with our move etc and we are of course still trying to unpack! Unfortunately also the buyer for our old home did not get their financing so we had another offer that was waiting in the wings but now we must begin all over again with inspections etc...

But lets continue on a positive note: Today I managed to unpack some more boxes and it was a bit slow today at work so I got some re-designing done of my mini bears. A new body to match the new line of Melancholy bears and some new legs and arms too! I am anxious to get one cut out and tested but I think this will be a great design! I had several requests for my miniatures at this past show and thought I better get to my reworking of my pattern so I would have those request filled for the next show!

I changed the design of my table this past show also... I like a wobble head on my bears and I find having them at table level or only slightly higher is a bit of a back ache for my collectors to try to see their sweet faces so I purchased some nice tower shelves and this seemed to work magnificently! We also won 2nd place for best costume and table combo ~ so thank you for all of you who voted for us!

Setting up time...

New table set up

My lovely neighbour Laurie Brady with friend Woo Bears

and the fabulous table set up by Ingrid Norgaard Schmid

Be back really soon with more from Seraphim Bears Studio... and we actually have a real studio now~

Three bears are now available for adoption; Cherio on eBay, Nitty Whiskers on Bear Pile and Amelia on Bear Pile!

Teddy Bear Affair

2011-11-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

Some of you might remember me making a bear for the Teddy Bear Affair some time ago... you all took the time to guess who she was... Anne of Green Gables. Well the affair was November 5th and though I have not heard back as yet as to how the event went I can only imagine that great things were achieved for the Children's Aid Foundation.

I wanted to share with you a link Teddy Bear Affair 2011 so you could see for yourselves All of the bears that were created for the show under the theme: Canada. There are 12 altogether and they were photographed to create a 2012 calendar also! The bears are all simply amazing and it was such an honour to be a part of this event!

"This year’s Teddy Bear Affair raised $1.5 million, due to the generosity of 1,100 guests and our sponsors. This money will go towards improving the quality of life of thousands of vulnerable Canadian youth."

Have a wonderful and creative day and don't forget to visit the TWO shows coming up this coming weekend: Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures show online and The Toronto Teddy Bears on Vacation!

Teddies Worldwide online bear show preview

2011-11-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

As you all know, Seraphim Bears Studio and all of us in it are in the midst of a big move to a new location! Our new home is lovely bit we are not moved in yet... although we have possession of the house now and we have been sleeping on the floor for four days... but broke down and moved the bed ourselves a night ago! Tomorrow is the big moving day! But needless to say... I have two bears shows coming up and the shows will not wait...

So, with only a few days to go... the PREVIEW and VOTING have begun for the Christmas Treasures hosted by Teddies Worldwide! I hope you will all take a minute to vote for your favourite bear! It is going to be a fabulous show with 75 international artist and lots of Christmas spirit!

Here is my preview of, not only my bear for this enchanted show but it is also the release of the new style for Seraphim Bears! In the beginning I made a bear that I loved but it needed reworking and this is the outcome! I hope you love Toodle-Pip and I will be back to remind you of the show with any luck ... hopefully our computer will be up and running in the new location by then!

It's almost time for the Online Bear show

2011-10-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:

Well, it is almost time for the Teddies Worldwide online bear show! I am participating in this show again this year and I have FIVE very special bears to offer you this year.

In the beginning of my bear making I based my bears on some sketches that my husband created for me based on my descriptions to him of what I was hoping to create. I made them for a short while and then started to create a more traditional style of bear which ended up winning me the TOBY and URSA. But I felt a longing for my Melancholy bears.

With a few more years experience under my belt I finally felt ready to address the issues I had with the original bears... ie. they would not sit on their own and were leaners. I had wanted to fix this issue in the beginning but was not sure how to do so without changing the image of the bear I had in my mind. So now, with much more experience of bear making I was able to redesign this pattern.

I am so very happy with them and so excited to share them with you... but of course I cannot until the show.... RULES, don't ya just hate em. Anyway... I am happy to announce that the design is now flawless and the bears are adorable! They sit on their own and their little feet are wonderfully cute as are their faces. Their clothes are handmade by me with my signature hand dyed material and I just cannot wait to share them with you!

I will have 3 in the new design, 1 traditional and 1 Kitty cat in the new design also... FIVE new Seraphim Bears will be up for adoption at the show. Please come and visit as there are 75 artist participating so this is a great opportunity to see a lot of talent in one spot without ever having to leave the comfort of your home.

The last day of the show I will also be participating in the Teddy Bears On Vacation show in Toronto Ontario so if you can make it to that we can say Merry Christmas in person!

The link to the online bear show is on my side bar at the top and looks like this so bookmark it and put it on your calendar! It is an event not to be missed!

Have a great night and I will be back soon with the gallery sneak peak image of one of the bears that will be ready for adoption in this show!

See you soon!

Honourable Mention ~ Sundae

2011-10-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sundae has received and Honourable Mention in this years URSA awards! Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for all of the amazing entries this year! We are all blushing a bit here at Seraphim Bears this evening!

Another Charity Bear

2011-10-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

I just wanted you to meet Mildred. She was given to a local Charity called Cougars for Cancer that will be raising money this year to help find a cure for lung cancer!

I absolutely enjoyed making her. Her hat is handmade by me out of grain bag material, which is my signature material for outfitting my bears of late. All the flowers have been handmade by me out of ribbon. Her wee dress has also been created with a grain bag base with added flapper style tassels. Mildred's nose is hand embroidered and waxed and her eyes are green buzzard style glass eyes! She is a really pretty bear and I hope she brings a bit of sunshine to who ever adopts her... as well as making some well needed money for a very good cause!

Thank you for accepting Mildred for your charity bear!

Practical Magic... part 2

2011-09-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be hosting a small party... The Practical Magic party is happening again and I am not sure how I am to pull this off tonight but I will do my very best to do it! So please come to my other blog...

Seraphim's Diner for the Practical Magic party

I was a part of this last year and with all that has been happening lately I almost missed out completely but I still have time! See you there tomorrow!

The Melancholy Move

2011-09-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

Some of you might know from my Facebook log ins that I am in the process of moving. We purchased a new house and now are in the process of trying to sell ours! Our offer for our new house was unconditional but we still don't want to end up carrying two mortgages. So things have been pretty hectic around her lately to say the least. We had a viewing before our house even went on the market two days ago and the house is officially up as of today and it seems the person who came through wants to come with their family to take another look through. So last night we continued to do more on this house for him! We painted the basement bathroom... a job I had wanted to do for a year and never got it done for me! Hahahaha and we also put up all the rest of the baseboards for the downstairs area too. Needless to say we are both tired and my hubby might be sick... oops, is sick, he just came in for his morning hug! Oh darn!

So with all this going on my bear making has been put on hold! I am hoping to get something done tonight and I did manage to get one cut out last night. I have three in the final stages and a new/old design is coming back! I am really excited to show you these new bears as they are reaching back to my very beginning when my husbands sketches were the inspiration! These are the Melancholy bears and they have a ton of character and personality! They make me smile every time I look at them and I hope they will do the same for you too!

I have several bears to get ready and I do have a few on the go but it is proving difficult lately what with packing and showings of the house etc. I have a few Christmas shows this year; one local, one online, and one in Toronto so I need to get movin on the bears but I am hopeful that it will all come together soon! Unfortunately I cannot show you the bears that I have so far as there is that big rule of no viewings until the show. But I can tell you that I am doing my best to give you something wonderful for Christmas!

I have to go and get the bathroom restaged before I run off to work as we painted only last night!

Big bear hugs and I will be back soon!

Binghamton needs a bear hug!

2011-09-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I was recently in the very beautiful Binghamton NY participating in the Teddy Bear Artist Invitational bear show! Have you heard the latest news... they had a flood! My goodness! My Mum wrote to the Binghamton Riverwalk Hotel to ask how they were making out and they said the entire bottom floor including their brand new gym was flooded. The Lost Dog, a fabulous restaurant across the road said they had no damage but had to close as no one could get across the bridge to get to them! Binghamton needs a big bear hug!

You can see our hotel in this first video!

News Article on Binghamton's Flood

We had a pirate theme this year too.... so sad! We are sending wishes to you for a fast recovery of all damages! Big Bear Hugs from Seraphim Bears!

Reaching for the stars with Pooh

2011-08-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this amazing video from Veronica Miller making a Winnie the Pooh cake! Yummy and so much fun to watch!

She has a fabulous blog: Veronica's Conucopia

"Where was I going? Ah, yes, Eeyore." He got up slowly. And then, suddenly, he remembered. He had eaten Eeyore's birthday present!
"Brother!" said Pooh. "What shall I do?"
"I must give him something."
For a little while he couldn't think of anything.
Then he thought: "Well, it's a very nice pot, even if there's no honey in it, and if I washed it clean, and got somebody to write "Happy Birthday" on it, Eeyore could keep things in it, which might be useful."

" You can always remedy an awful mistake"

Have a wonderful day and be creative... reach for the stars!

You're invited to the Seraphim Bears 1st adoption sale - Tomorrow!

2011-08-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

Tomorrow is the big day!
Seraphim Bears 1st private online adoption sale!

This is the first time I will be having an official sale on my new website and I hope you can all make it! I will have four bears up for adoption and they are all so excited to find their new forever homes!

Just head on over to my Website and click on the AVAILABLE tab!
It's that easy! I am loving my new website... everything's is easy to use and easy to navigate.

See you tomorrow

Pirates and Parrots

2011-08-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ahoy me heartys:

With a theme likes pirates you can imagine how fun the costumes were... but why leave it to the imagination

Me and my Parrot

My Mum after she received her tattoo!

Tracy Lee and Family... do you know I talked to Tracy throughout the weekend but this was the first night there and it took me till I got home to realize that this was her! Awesome costumes!

Dancing to the YMCA...

My favourite hat of the weekend

See that BIG bag... inside was a parrot egg and she was dressed as a parrot with fabulous wings!

If you were lucky enough to find her other half you could adopt a bird. You got a little egg that you opened and inside was either a boy or girl rubber ducky. It had a name and if you wanted you could change that name on your adoption paper that came with your bird! I got a boy... his name is Merl!

There was a stage filled with teddy bear pirates...

And lots of loot too...

Here is a lady who was throwing away money coins all night speaking of loot! She was fabulous! And of course the lovely and talented Darlene Allen from Raspbeary Bears

One of the raffle bears

This bear was on the sneak peek table the first night... please let me know if you know who the artist was! He is fabulous!

Check out those costumes ! Fabulous!

Captain Jack Bearrow by Sharron Barron... he stole my heart from the first time I saw him online...

He was to be auctioned off the night of the dinner.

Here is the lovely and talented Sharron Barron with me saying hello to Captain Jack!

An excerpt from my Bear journal:

on the night of the dinner:

After we got through all the draws it was time for the auction of the two beautiful pieces of work by two different artists. One was a gorgeous miniature Hansel and Gretel set. The next was a beautiful pirate bear that was created by Sharron Barron of Barron's Bears. The auctioneer (Martha Burch of Martha's Bears) started the bidding request and so I raised my hand to get things going. Then it took off like wild fire... bids being yelled from here and over there. Then suddenly it stopped...

This bear was worth far more and my heart began to race... should I bid again?

Then I heard "Yep" just like Dave from "Storage Wars". And suddenly I realized that "Yep" came from me!

I am thrilled to say that this beautiful bear is now a member of my hug and was welcomed with open paws by all his brothers and sisters.

Thank you Sharron for such a beautiful creation. He sits in a place of honour in my home.

A New Bear Available for Adoption

2011-08-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

New bear now available for adoption on Bear Pile:

Bear Pile Adoption for AMELIA

TBAI #1 - The Gallery night

2011-08-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

The opening night Gala:

There are so many photos to show and so very many artists. Please do not take offence if you are not shown here... as a matter of fact... my entry is not about to be shown here... hahahaha

The room was filled with excitement and magic was in the air! The collectors and artists alike were bustling about looking for that perfect bear. We were all casting our votes on which bears we thought were the best of the best and let me tell you, the choice was not an easy one to make!

Many of us came in full costume - Pirates and landlubbers were everywhere and the atmosphere was like a ship about to enter a stormy sea... we were ready for the challenge and all hands were on deck!

Cheryl Hutchinson

Cindy MaGuire

Allen Hsu

Armelia Dana

Barbara Burke

Bev White

Dianna Watts

Cindy working away as usual! She put on a fabulous show! Thank you Cindy for all your hard work! It truly paid off!

Okay I guess I should really post a shot of my entry... hahahaha

Michele Seraphim (that's me) hahaha

Many of my bears found their new homes but Magic has not found her forever home yet so I will be listing her shortly! All the detail of this very special Fairy Godmother bear will be listed at that time.

More to come but for now I am off to spend some time with my family! Be back soon with more from the show!

Back from the TBAI show

2011-08-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone:

I am back from the TBAI show that was hosted in Binghamton NY. It was a fabulous show and we are happy to announce that many bears were adopted to many really lovely new homes! There was so much to do and see and participate in I am exhausted. I met many new friends like, Susan and Ian from Kesseys Bears in from north Wales, Katherine and her other half from Katie Rae Bears in from the UK, Lulu Tatum from Lulu's Bears, Tracy Lee from ThimbleBeary Originals, Vicki and Pat from Raspberies, Betty J. Franks from BJ's Bears, Dian Pete from Bears for Pete's Sake, Cindy McGuire from China Cupboard Bears, Dolores from Bearied Treasures and so so many other wonderful artist not to mention all the new collectors that I met!

I will have photos for you up really soon. With 10 hours of driving under my belt, and having been away for four days I must attend to my family! I have missed them terribly and they me... as my puppies showed me with wagging tails and whining voices for 10 straight minutes when I came in the door. My little guys are attached to me at the hip currently and hubby is waiting to snuggle on the couch!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and I will have some bears up for adoption in just a few days! See you tomorrow.

A muffin to travel with

2011-08-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

If you would like to see the recipe and picture of an astounding muffin recipe come and visit this blog post: Seraphim's Diner - Apple Pumpkin Breakfast muffins

TBAI Sneak Peak

2011-08-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ahoy me hearties:

Well blow me down... it's but a few days till the Teddy Bear Artists Invitational show begins. I thought I would share a sneak peak of some of the bears that will be coming to the show! It's only a few days now till we will all meet for four glorious days of pirate and teddy fun...

You'll find nice booty (that means treasure for all you landlubbers) at the Seraphim Bears table. My Mum, 13 bears and I will be waiting to meet you there! And shiver me timbers, there will be one more very special bear in the gallery show.

Fair winds and a safe journey to Binghamton, NY! We'll see you when your ships land... we'll be in full pirate attire ready to enjoy a weekend of fun, and as you can see we are already in the sea spirit of this wonderful event... Aarrrrr!

A New Blog - Coming to you soon

2011-08-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone:

As I mentioned before I have been rather busy lately. I created a new website and new blog images and I made a lot of decisions to streamline things for all of you. If you are interested in healthy living and want to continue following my journey in that, I have created a new blog called "Seraphim's Diner - a journey into healthy living". I have literally just finished the preliminary set up so there is not much going on yet but you can join so you will know as soon as I do post something.

Just pop on over to Seraphim's Diner - a journey into healthy living to find really wonderful healthy recipes, hear about new exercises and programs that I am experiencing or to find great information on nutrition and health in general.

From this point forward Seraphim Bears blog will be just that... about me, my family and the bears and our journey together so if that is more up your alley then just stay right here.

I hope you will enjoy all the new changes and I'll see you really soon

New Website

2011-08-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone:

Just thought I would let you all know that my new website is now up and running. I'm sure there will be some tweaking as we go along but I am thrilled to finally have it ready for you to see. I hope you will take a minute to visit.

I am just about to go downstairs and pack for the TBAI show ... it's hard to believe that the time is almost her for us to head out onto the road for our journey to Binghamton, NY. The bears are ready, the pirate stuff is ready and we are almost completely ready. My Mum will be attending the show with me and we are really looking forward to seeing you there. I'm grabbing the very exciting itinerary and heading down to organize... see you soon!

Where I've Been

2011-08-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone:

First let me please thank everyone who took the time to vote in the URSA awards!

While you were doing that I have been very busy! As you can see, this NEW LOOK for the blog is just a part of what's been going on here at Seraphim Bears. I am in the process of designing a completely new website and in that making sure everything matches hence the new image on the blog!

It has been a lot of work and I am not done yet. There is still a ton to do on the blog to get everything flowing again... changing background images and altering HTML code which takes me time to do. So hang in there and soon all will be flowing smoothly again.

These lovely backgrounds and new header were created by non other than Shelli from Potbelly Bears... and she did a wonderful job.. don't ya think! She was fabulous to work with and I am thrilled with the new image. I have been creating the HTML on my own and changing the code in the website and my blog... a learning curve that has been time intensive but I am really enjoying it. Please be patient if you show up here one day and all is a mess as I may be in process of figuring out a new code... it can be tense but in the end, so far, I have come out on top!

As for the bears... I am also hard at work on them! I will be leaving in only a few days now for the Teddy Bear Artists Invitational and I have much to do still. I am also now in process of starting my custom orders for Christmas and getting ready for the Christmas Teddy Bears on Vacation show this November in Toronto.

Three more bears have just arrived in Scotland to Silly Bears and will be heading to the Hugglets in September! I will have a sneak peek as soon as I can!

You will see this graphic from now on to tell you what my next up and coming things are:

Thing are starting to change around here and you are going to see some new bears soon as well as a new web design and a new direction for my blog postings! I think you are all really going to enjoy being a part of Seraphim Bears and I know I love having you all here... so hang onto your hats...and don't be shy... step right up and let the show begin!

(I Want to) Come Home

2011-07-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Recently my grandmother and aunt decided to sell their home.
It is the only "Home" I have really known as we moved a lot
when I was a child. This was a house that I lived in many times
throughout my life and will always be my home in my mind.

Sadly the house was in disrepair and needed to be torn down and
so the contractor who purchase it did just that. Now there will be
two houses crammed together on the one lot... a sign of the times.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to enjoy every moment of my Grandmother's
home. I was even married on the front lawn while she watched from her
window. I was also given the kitchen window out of her house that she used to
feed the birds from for so very many years... I have a plan to use it
and it will hang in every kitchen I ever have from now on. The amount
of times her hand touched the little turn knob of that window... ahhh
sigh...

My grandmother who made bears lived just across the road... her house was
sold a few years back when she passed away and we were lucky in that a
nice family purchased the home and kept it. So when we return to the neighbourhood
that my Mum met my Dad in and grew up in, her home is still there... but
the other house was truly my FOREVER home. I actually live in a house that
is very similar now, with it's creaking floor boards and small rooms... I
am very found of my little house because it reminds me of HOME.

Before my grandmother left her house we were lucky enough to dig up some
of the plants that had been there for many years and I got a Rose of Sharon for the
backyard here... It is doing beautifully and just about ready to bloom!

But today... I miss the home I cannot return to... so I will post this and close my eyes and open my heart to remember running there as a child, dancing to ABBA on the front lawn when I was a teenager and sleeping in my basement room as a young women.

My Heaven will have that house waiting for me ... nothing fancy but filled with all that I love!

The window from where she watched me get married (above)

The Kitchen window from which she fed the birds ~ it was the only thing I asked for from this house and many many years before we knew that it would one day be sold and demolished!

The back yard!

The aftermath:

Paul understood.... this is one of my favourite songs and definitely my fave McCartney song...

It's time!!! Place your votes...

2011-07-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

It's that time again! Placing your votes for your favourite bear in this years URSA Awards is as easy as one, two, three...

Simply visit this link and you will be taken to Bears and Buds Magazine.
In the side bar you will see an image that says "Bears And Buds URSA Awards, VOTE NOW, Round 1" it looks like this...

Bears and Buds Magazine

(Just click the words below the image above to visit the Bears and Bud's site.)

Click the image and you will be taken to the first page of the voting.

Simply follow the instructions and place your votes for your favourite bear or bud.

It was so much fun entering the contest this year and I hope you can take a minute to participate in choosing your perfect bear or bud. You are what make this contest so special and the bears and buds this year are absolutely fabulous so it won't be an easy task... but I'm sure you can do it! Hahaha

This year Seraphim Bears was happy to enter four bears into the URSA contest. I won't spoil the fun ... you'll have to head on over to see what bears were entered!

Enjoy your time looking at all the fabulous bears that have been created by all the bear artists and THANK YOU to Valerie Rogers for once again putting on a wonderfully exciting and challenging contest!

Fizzer Is Going HOME

2011-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:

First I would like to say HAPPY CANADA DAY to you all! Today is a very special day indeed! It is the day we draw for the winner of the Seraphim Bears Free Giveaway contest!

If you all remember ... you had this image to look at and you had to tell me who you thought I was creating.

You were given clues, you knew it was a girl and you knew it was a famous Canadian! This bear was being created for the Children's Aid Foundation Teddy Bear Affair to be held this year.

If you left me a comment you got one entry into the contest

If you put my giveaway on your blog you got another entry into the giveaway

And if you guessed the correct answer for who I was making you got another entry into the giveaway.

Many of you got 3 entries! Congratulations on knowing your Canadians!

If you guessed ANNE SHIRLEY of Green Gables you were CORRECT!

Here is the finished image of Anne and she has now been mailed to the Children's Aid Foundation coordinator for this event! She was 18" tall and is fully armatured with lock nuts and cotter pins. Her carpet bag has a zipper and real leather straps all handmade by me. She really turned out lovely. I am not a big costumer so this bear was a challenge But I made every stitch of her clothing including her pantaloons myself. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!

And what would you win if your name was chosen out of the glass teddy jar... A miniature Seraphim Bear named Fizzer!

It has been a long time and you have all been anticipating this moment! It is the first Seraphim bear giveaway that I am doing on this blog. Fizzer is a mini Seraphim Bear and comes with all the little special surprises that all Seraphim Bears do.

I will not be mailing Fizzer out immediately although he is really anxious to meet his new parent. With the Canadian mail carriers just recently back to work there is still a back log for them to get caught up on so I don't want him to go missing in the shuffle. I will inform the winner once he has been shipped... he is all ready to go so it won't be too long now!

I got out my good luck quilt (the first quilt I ever made...so full of magic)
I got out the old Kraft Peanut Butter glass jar in the shape of Mama Bear and I began adding the names of all the entries for this giveaway...
Look how full Mama got! Thank you ALL for you participation in this giveaway, you have really made us (me and the bears) here at Seraphim Bears feel loved!

Then I mixed them up really good!

Can you see your name in the jar... there are so many!

Without further ado...

Drum-roll please...

Did you notice that the quilt is quilted with the design of Canadian Maple Leaves... perfect for our Canada Day Draw!

The Winner is...

CONGRATULATIONS TO LINDA!!!!!!!!! Looks like Mr. Bungle now has a playmate!

Thank you all again so much for your participation in the first Seraphim Bears Blog Bear Giveaway... Wow that is a mouthful!

Linda please contact me with your mailing address by emailing me at m.seraphim@cogeco.ca. I look forward to hearing from you!

The bears for Scotland are completed.
The bears for the Teddy Bear Artist Invitational show are almost all completed... they need to be photographed.
The gallery bear only needs to be costumed which I am now working on but she is all together, full armature, she can stand on her own and is made of the most gorgeous mohair I have ever purchased! I cannot wait for you to see her!

Have a very happy Canada Day and I will see you back here really soon!

TBIMMT - Day 31... last day

2011-06-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Letter is:

I decided not to think of a word for today. It's the last day of TBIMMT and I am sure you are all as thankful as I am! It has been fun thinking of a word to live my day by for an entire month but I am looking forward to the freedom of just a normal undefined day.

It is almost time to make the draw for little FIZZER and I want to let you all know that although I am excited about this day, the winner may have a delay in my shipping this bear as we are in the middle of a mail strike. I don't want FIZZER to be lost in the mail so I will hold on to him here until I am sure that all have gotten back to normal. We have been on strike now for a week and the work order is not being issued until this Thursday!

I am feeling a bit better today. I rested quite a lot yesterday and got very little accomplished however I did get a pair of pants started for one of the little bears for this line up!

I plan to take some photos soon and maybe when I am ready I will start the alphabet again but do it all in photos instead of words... that would be far more visually stimulating!

My wrist and thumb are still sore! I am a bit concerned but much like an ankle injury it takes a LONG time for healing. I will continue to be careful and enjoy my walks along the waterfront with my family instead of these hard core bootcamp type workouts. Lets face it... this body is older now and I can only do what I can. I can however be health conscious and be comfortable in my skin. OWN what I am so to speak.... I have always found that extremely attractive in a person. That is my next goal. I am not giving up but I am looking at things in a different way!

Bears are coming along nicely!

Happy first day of summer!

Recently I purchased a gift for my cousin... her first sewing machine that is really her own. She had my very old one and had called to say it was making a loud bang sound and would not sew properly. She is off to college very shortly and will be studying to become a nurse! I was accepted into nursing but never ended up persuing that as a career. It cost less for me to purchase her a new portable machine that she could take with her on her trip than it would for us to have my old machine fixed. She is really into quilting currently and this machine although small and lightweight has a ton of fun stitch options too. Here is the first fun photo... it seems so long since I post a picture for you.

TBIMMT - Day 30 Ryan Dunn and Zachary Hartwell

2011-06-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Today's Word:

Reflections of Yesterday...
If you don't know who Ryan Dunn is, he is one of the cast of Jackass...
If you don't know who that is either you might have seen Ryan recently on Minute to Win It raising money for his children's charity accompanied by his friend Steve-o.

Early Monday morning Ryan (age 34 as of last week) was out with friends, celebrating a deal they had just signed. He drove home... or at least he tried to. Unfortunately he did not make it home and neither did his friend, Zachary Hartwell (age 30) who was in the passenger seat of his Porsche. Toxicology tests are being done and to this point they think excessive speed may have been the cause of the accident however, at this time, no one knows for sure, he may have been intoxicated. The car crashed off the highway and caught on fire. Needless to say there are a lot of people in morning today and Seraphim Bears and all here would like to extend our condolences to the families and friends of Ryan and Zachary.

Roger Ebert made a silly post (silly... I am using this word to be kind). He posted his point of view far too quickly on his facebook and twitter accounts only to be bombarded with responses that were all rather unattractive. Maybe Roger should stick to movie critique and forgo adding his two bits where they are not asked for. His point of view was speculative as no one yet knows whether the men were intoxicated. It is possible but still... moments after the crushing news and all a man in his position can say is something which can be taken as hurtful. His words most obviously ring true... don't drink and drive but geesh... the way he said it was a bit cruel.

There are a ton of links if you would like to read more and I will not post photos of the crash here either... there are lots of links where you can view this if you wish to.

My wrist is still sore as is my thumb and I have picked up some sort of bug which is making me feel nauseous! I am home early from work and will now go to sit with my babies on the cough and maybe do some hand sewing if I can stomach it!

See you tomorrow... can you believe tomorrow is the final letter! Z!

I am trying the cutting out of all white food, no grains, and no sugar or added salt to see how I feel. I honestly don't know how I will do with this but it's worth a short term try. I'll let you know how it makes me feel.

There bears are really coming along nicely now! I took some photos yesterday but they are not downloaded yet into the computer so .... soon!

TBIMMT - Day 29 Big Kisses and Hugs

2011-06-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

No workout yesterday... my hand is really sore and I am trying to take it easy.

I don't think I can do the no dairy things etc... so I have decided not to bother. There is too much to do right now with the show coming up quickly and the order for Silly Bears also! But I will be careful all the same!

I had a fabulous day of work yesterday out on our deck in the sunshine and worked on my bears! It was wonderful. I took breaks for my hand several times and did a bit of gardening and finally got my front of the house garden cleaned up.

I thought it was going to be a rainy day today but with a little wish yesterday the day is predicted to be as lovely as yesterday so I will soon be heading out to the deck again with my puppies! I have a few more bears to get together but I got 6 bears stuffed and finished! Whaaawhoooo! Now they all still need their final touched of outfits or bows etc but they are finally actual BEARS! This takes a real load off ... now I can see them and they are alive!

I will post a sneak peak photo soon but for now... it's all secret!

Have a very wonderful day and know that me and the bears are sending you kisses and hugs on this beautiful day.

Today letter is X:

TBIMMT - Day 28 Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

For the last two days I have not done a workout! I have to be honest. My wrist and thumb are still really hurting. I plan to do a workout today but we shall see.

I am a bit discouraged with my weight loss or lack there of. I have also therefore been terrible the last two days with my eating regiment. I will start to write down all my food again as of tomorrow but today I plan to just go along and enjoy. It is Father's day and I made a really lovely breakfast for my J and set a nice table on the back deck for him to enjoy his breakfast in the morning sun! It was wonderful! He felt loved (his words).

So after speaking with our trainer friend, I have decided for the next 30 days to try a new eating plan... I hope. No dairy, grains, sugars etc... very strict and I am not big on these things that cut things our of your diet however I am already allergic to milk and all dairy products so I am use to the taste of soy, coconut and rice... I cannot have rice milk either on this 30 cleanse but you get the idea. I will try. I hope to also do this while tracking... should be interesting but hopefully it will help my metabolism to snap back to attention. I will start tomorrow!

Today's word is:

I wish that my hand would heal
I wish my J has a fabulous day filled with every moment he wants and enjoys
I wish my little girl in Uganda has a beautiful day today in the sun
I wish I get all my bears stuffed (I got 4 done already! They are sooooo sweet)
I wish that my decisions today are good ones
I wish that my Dad has a spectacular father's day... I have never really spent father's day with my dad? He has always told me it was his day to spend it with his dad and so he was never available for me and now that my grandfather is gone he spends it with his father in law. I suppose if we had children it wouldn't seem that strange that we did not see him anyway as we would be with our children too!
I wish you all a beautiful day also!

I will be back with more tomorrow!

TBIMMT - Day 27

2011-06-18T03:48:00.000-07:00

I definitely accomplished yesterdays word!

Fridays are insane at work and I am truly forced to be everywhere at once. I don't like Fridays much but what can you do... except try to fit in a bit of bearing here and there to calm the day. Those sweet faces help sooth a tired heart every time.

Today's Word:

I did not do a workout yesterday and I had a few treats too! Oh Oh! I promise I am not going to give up. I did feel a bit guilty but my wrists are sore as was my back and I only had a small treat not a lot. I spoke to our friend who is a trainer and he suggested that I increase my weights and lift heavier ones and decrease my cardio but over half. Muscle burns more fat than spending all that time sweating with cardio. Also drop a few days from the program and do 3 to 4 days a week instead of every day. He may be right cause I am feeling a bit burnt out for sure and my body is older now too so every day is a bit taxing on my joints. Anyway, we'll see how it goes... 53 more days till the show!

I got a nose done yesterday and stuffed a half a bear. I also realized yesterday that I have no steel shot left and we are currently having a mail strike! Hummmm? I will have to come up with some creative ideas if the gals at Uxbearies don't get back to me today. They are only a few hours away so I can drive to them but what a waste of a working day. Ah well... see, things get away from you when you overload your plate.

I am thinking of dropping the shows for awhile and focusing more with my online sales. I think that might be best for me as when you account for time, travel, gas, food etc I think that doing the bear shows, you really aren't even breaking even with expenses. This will be my last out of Country show for a long while and I might drop one local one as well and just do the Christmas show. I of course will stay on with Silly Bears as I love working with them but cutting down with the deadlines would be really helpful also. So that is the new plan which makes this up and coming show even more special! The next show after this will be in Toronto in November and then not again till November of the following year 2012. I will be focusing on online adoptions and am looking forward to the new schedule as I will have time to create new ideas and spend more time focusing on design and character for each bear.

Okay, but that is the future... for now I do have a deadline and things are coming but slowly. With my wrists so sore and the sprained thumb still healing stuffing is a real challenge. I am getting it done but slowly and carefully. Hopefully today at work I will get a few bears stuffed and sewn although it does have the potential to be busy today at work so we shall see. I may only have the two days of Sunday Monday to get some really serious work done but I'm ready either way.

Okeedokey... I am off to work and I hope you enjoy a wonderful Saturday!

TBIMMT Day 26

2011-06-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

Todays words were:

Tapioca is delicious! I only could find the pudding type but it was still great after so many years of not having any!

As for the Tender part of my day... well, I did try! I dropped a carboy right into my husbands gut while falling forward at the same time so there was some real force behind that fall too! Poor guy... I more like tenderized him.

I got the armature done on the gallery bear and I am about to attach some heads. I also did some paw pad painting today. We were semi busy but that is pretty good! Tomorrow is always ridiculously busy so there will be now extra time at work but maybe when I get home!

Today we decided it was time to fight back with our loud neighbours and so we brought our cheep getoblaster outside and cranked up the tunes! They were shocked! We were too but what can we do! Anyway, I think we made our point but only time will tell... they moved their noise inside and we turned off the music. I've never had to do anything like that before but geesh... I mean, you move into a nice area and just take over with your loud music and swearing at the top of your lungs on your deck (which overlooks our backyard)? I don't mind the kids... I kind of like that laughter of the children playing in the back pool but the adults hollering at them and swearing too! No! It was time to fight back. Today was PUNK ROCK... next time well try COUNTRY! Hahahaha Hopefully there will not be a next time.

Not sure about my workout today... sore wrists but I will try to get something in before bed for sure! I am really hoping I can start seeing some bears finished soon! It makes me a bit tense when things are all at that state of incomplete with the show so close now! Deep breath~ I know it will all come together!

Be back tomorrow with more on progress on all accounts!

Tomorrows Word:

Having or seeming to have the ability to be everywhere at once; omnipresent

TBIMMT - Day 25 T

2011-06-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Very quickly...
I got almost everything done that I hoped to today
Gallery Bear: Eyes in, nose embroidered but not yet waxed, ears on, mouth completed, all shading completed and toes stuffed! I even got two other bears paw pads worked on.

Then I came home and did a workout with Tony Horton - weights finally. My wrist is still a bit sore on one side and my thumb on the other but I took it easy on those areas and busted out the squats! No excuses!

I am tired now and although I would like to keep working I think it best to go to bed earlier and get up earlier and work in the morning! I think things will be far more productive that way with a fresh mind and rested body!

We also walked a one hour walk along the waterfront trail with the puppies tonight. We have scheduled walks on every full moon this year on our calendar "A Year Of Love' so even though we go before the moon is visible it is still a fun night to go with the doggies! We did a little excited howling session with them before we left for the walk too... that was me getting in todays word :

Just I did it with the dogs! Ha that was fun too!

So tomorrows words are: (I decided to pick two for tomorrow)

easily crushed or bruised, fragile

easily chewed or cut

young and vulnerable

frail; delicate

sensitive to frost or severe cold; not hardy

Easily hurt; sensitive

Considerate and protective; solicitous

Characterized by or expressing gentle emotions; loving

Given to sympathy or sentimentality; soft ( a tender heart)

I love Tapioca and have not had it for years... Going to try to get some! Yum!

I hope to get some more work done on the gallery bear, armature, nose wax and jointed! It is a big order for tomorrow but I will try plus a workout with Tony level 3 - 4 cardio if possible!

See you then!

TBIMMT - Day 24 A Full Moon

2011-06-15T04:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays Word:

Yesterday I was semi successful with my word! I did try to approach my day with a restful attitute! It worked and I did feel relaxed most of my day...
Until I had to meet up with Jillian! But she doesn't like it if you "phone in" your workout so this was to be anticipated.
I recently switched my workouts to evenings and I wish I could get back into mornings but it is hard to make that trasition with puppies who are barfing all night long. Our poor little Italian Greyhound was sick all night last night on and off.... maybe too many treats or could be grass but it lead to a long night for all! You would think my word for today would be SLEEP but I am going with something a little more playful.

Today's Word:

The bears are coming along nicely. I have finally got all the bears ready and entered into the URSA contest and just in time too! My gallery bear is coming along and I will hopefully get some time to work on them today at work! I was so exhausted after my workout yesterday that nothing got done but I did get the gallery bears head stuffed and trimmed yesterday at work so it was not all a washout!

So today I hope to get the nose embroidered, eyes in, ears on, and paw pads stuffed. We shall see if this happens. It all depends on how busy we are at work today. It is a full moon today so one never can tell what the day will hold! Hahaha It would be nice if I could get this bear jointed and armatured tonight also but...

Only 56 more days till the Teddy Bear Artist Invitational show!

TBIMMT Day 23 - Strange concert and a successful quest

2011-06-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well, still not a single pound lost? Not sure what is going on? I keep sweatin and working out and nothing is happening. I do feel stronger and happier though so I will keep going but it all seems strange to me.

Today's word:

My quest day went extremely well. I got some fab photos of a friends hideaway that my J needs for his graphic work that he is doing for them. I also found some real treasures for the Pirate theme for this up and coming bear show! Got a few new hats and some other stuff that I will keep secret till the show!

Here are me and the T's babies as her and M babysat while J and I went to see Supertramp.

It was a very strange concert! I would not even know where to start to tell you all the weird things that happened! Even the equipment was acting up for the band, with big popping sounds and crew running on stage in the middle of songs with new organs and plugs... curtains randomly opening and closing and 2 minute movies randomly playing in the background. People jumping the fence and steeling seats while those seat holders were in the bathroom, and people were constantly leaving and coming back to their seats. I have never had to get up so many times to let people through... not to mention the outfits that people were wearing... and the hairdo's? It was the most bizarre experience! We had a fabulous time but in a totally unexpected way!

Here we are at the concert! It was super windy and getting J to not make a silly face in near impossible but this is a nice shot I think!

Tomorrows word is:

to make lax or loose

to make less severe or strict

to reduce in intensity

to relieve from tension or strain

TBIMMT - Day 22

2011-06-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

So today's word is:

1
Full of fun and high spirits; frolicsome or sportive
2
Humorous: jesting

It ended up raining all night last night but we still made a date night and headed for the local theatre. We saw Super 8 and it was good but nothing new in our opinion. A nice family movie with excellent acting and some nice effects. It was fun!

Note to self: If all the dogs in your entire neighbourhood start running... run with them!

We decided to have popcorn and pop and I even had a few chocolates out of one of the monstrous bags they now sell at the theatre. All yummy! Then we headed out for pizza and I had a slice. Also Yummy!

Before we left for our date night I did a 40 minute workout with Jillian and worked it cause I knew I was not going to be a good girl on our night out! I have to say there was still a little guilt with my choices but at least I did that workout first.

Now today we will be heading to Toronto to see Supertramp!

Of course Roger Hodgson is no longer with Supertramp but you get the wonderful idea of them in this video! I cannot find a video that does not skip with the new singer.

And the puppies will be going to Auntie T and Uncle M for a play day.
Our very wonderful neighbours will be watching our house until we get back tonight!

Tomorrows word is:

1
an act or an instance or seeking or pursuing something; a search
2
An expedition undertaken in medieval romance by a knight in order to perform a prescribed feat

Now to decide on who to workout with today! I am leaning towards Tony as I have worked with Jillian 2 days in a row. My wrist still in not 100% so I am not lifting weights although I did unload another skid myself yesterday so that counts.

I will also be painting my bear paws and finishing my little bear and photographing her today before I leave so I better get to it!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone... see you tomorrow night!

What's being "Read"

2011-06-11T04:36:00.000-07:00

I am currently listening to this book: Graveminder

I am reading: Bitten and Simple Retreats for a Woman's Soul

You can find my reading choices on my sidebar at any given time!

TBIMMT - Day 21 Opposite

2011-06-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

I had a blog friend write me and suggest the word Opposite for today so I would have a better day than yesterday... the sun is shining even though they predicted rain so we are off to a good start. She also suggested the word OUTFIT as in, you deserve a new one... this was fabulous but I cannot get out to shop today as I have to work so I will be wearing the same outfit I wear everyday. But I will wear something special with it... like some nice earrings or a special necklace.

I don't know if I ever mentioned to you the gift I gave my husband this year for his birthday? He never really wants anything so it is difficult to purchase for him and then when I do think of things for him I often share my ideas with his parents leaving me less to choose from. But this year I thought of making him his own calendar that was a "Year of Love". I did not make him a calendar with family photos etc. What I did was purchased a nice inexpensive one and each month on at least 4 days there was already a planned event that we would do together.. I put cute little fancy stickers on the days with a small description of what we would be doing. Some are more elaborate than others and some are sweet and simple like on Father's Day it says " Daddy sleeps in - your day all day". So the things didn't have to be expensive they just needed to focus on love in some fashion.

Today is one of the calendar days! It is one of our faves actually... when we were courting we would to go to the drive in theatre and tonight we will attempt to do this again however as I mentioned there is rain in the forecast.If not the drive in due to weather we will go to the regular local theatre. If we get to the Mustang (drive in) we will be seeing the new X Men movie... if it is the theatre in town I am not really sure what is playing so we will play it by ear!

Then tomorrow is a really special date and a gift from my J to me. When I was a teenager and living in Calgary Alberta, Supertramp came to Vancouver on their last tour! I wanted to go with my friends so badly but my Mum said I was too young and so I was not allowed. She said the bands always say that they are not going to play anymore but they always do. Well, I guess she was right but it took them almost 20 years in my case so we are going to see them tomorrow night. Our puppies are going to spend the few hours with my girlfriend and her greyhounds (you saw pics of them in an earlier post) and they will have a play day. I am so excited to be going to this concert... it's been a long time coming and this time I will be going with my "boyfriend" and not a bunch of girls with their boyfriends... I had a good laugh at that when I thought about it. I was always the one without a boyfriend while my girlfriends all had... not this time! Hahahahaha

Okay so with today starting off much nicer than the way my day ended yesterday...
my word for today is:

Have a wonderful day and I'll be back later.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that yesterday I met up with Jillian Michaels again and did her Fat Burn workout. That girl is a killer and I still cannot complete all the exercises in the workout to the full requirements but I do my best. I am looking forward to a nice shower though but we won't get into that!

Today I hope to have some time to work on the bears and my hand it feeling a bit better after a good nights sleep! I went to bed super early.

TBIMMT - Day 20 not nice

2011-06-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Lets get right to the nitty gritty shall we...
My words for today were nice and natural
It was neither! And it is just getting worse as the night goes on
I am trying to create this day
But sometimes it is not meant to be!

Let forget about the fact that my wrist is killing me
and the order came in today that I unloaded myself.
Lets forget about the fact that I had a ton of wine to make
to get caught up on back orders and most of them were HUGE heavy
kits that also did a number on my wrist.
Or even lets forget about the fact that there seemed to just be something
in the air today at work!

Put all that aside and not a NATURAL desaster but close enough...
we are currently cleaning up the water in our basement that apparently
did not feel like staying in our water heater tank any longer and decided
to leave and flow all over.

I did get a workout in before I realized that crisis had hit so now I am also
good and sweaty with nice ICE COLD water to wash with as the water had to be turned off immediately!

Okay... I told you, I did try but this was just not going to happen today!
This was not a nice day.

However, I have my health and I have my loving family and I am even having a bit of a laugh and am grateful this is not worse than it is! So... nice! That's finding the positive in a bad situation right?

See you tomorrow with a word that starts with "O"! Like maybe OH NO!

TBIMMT - Day 19 Nice

2011-06-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with this word on my mind

Pleasing and agreeable in nature

Having a pleasant or attractive appearance

Exhibiting courtesy and politeness

Of good character and reputation; respectable

Overdelicate or fastidious; fussy

Done with delicacy and skill

Also heard back from one friend and she suggested this word:

1
present in or produced by nature
2
Of relating to or concerning nature
3
Conforming to the usual or ordinary course of nature
4
Characterized by spontaneity and freedom from artificiality
6
Not altered, treated or disguised
7
Faithfully representing nature of life
8
Expected and accepted
9
Established by moral certainty or conviction

Have a Naturally NICE day!

TBIMMT - Day 19 Almost

2011-06-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

It's 9:41 pm
You got me here...
My right hand is in pretty rough shape with lots of pain.
I cannot sew
I did not workout this morning because of the pain
But I could not write if I did not workout
so you got me her tonight
typing is hurting too but I had to say THANK YOU
I just finished my workout and simply fast forwarded past the power yoga
so I did not have to put pressure on my wrist
But I did the rest - I skipped strenght and lifting weights and did the
sweat routine again without the ab work
Now I am tired
I was tired before I started

My poor little bears are waiting for me and I cannot work!
I am stressed about that!

But for tonight...
I sleep!

PS. I don't know a word for tomorrow...please send suggestions if you're out there reading this. It has to begin with the letter "N"

Thank you again for your support!

TBIMMT - Day 18

2011-06-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

It was a day filled with love at least in my heart. We were slow at work today and so I was able to get some bear work done there which always brings love to my heart!

I got up early and did my workout on level 1 -2 today to get myself back into it without injury. I feel tired now but am working on my gallery bear for the Teddy Bear Artists Invitational while I watch/listen to some TV. She is going to be wonderful and I am so excited to finally be working on putting her together. I also waxed a number of noses this evening and will tomorrow start to do the painting and staining for the paw pads. Everything is still in a state of not complete but things are getting closer which makes me happy.

Tomorrows Word is:

The art that purports to control or forecast natural events, effects or forces by invoking the supernatural

The practice of using charms, spells or rituals to attempt to produce supernatural effects or control events in nature

the exercise of sleight of hand or conjuring for entertainment

A mysterious quality of enchantment

So that's it for now. Tomorrow I will do my strength workout and take it easy too. I sprained my thumb somehow so I have been wearing a tenser glove at work and even sometimes at home although I cannot sew with it on so I have to go slow and make no sudden movements! I really hope it feels better soon.

Have a great night and don't forget the draw for FIZZER will be really soon - July 1st - Canada Day! So if you haven't already and would like to enter just send me an email!

I'll be back tomorrow!

TBIMMT - Day 17 I'm Back

2011-06-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

I am back!

So I never actually got to put my DVD in the machine but I did stand there and do my workout from memory at my Mum's place while they went out for a party. I did opt to walk 20 minutes either way to and from the Train station to the ballet instead of taking a cab. We did walk again the next day for about 2 hours also along Ottawa street so I could hunt for fabrics and ribbons for my bears!

I did have some treats! I have to admit that I did but I made good choices. I had a mini blizzard one day but had a very healthy dinner with salad and salmon and some nice potatoes. My Mum and I did really well all in all and just for fun I weighed myself today and although I cannot remember the exact number it was about 1 pound less than when I last looked at the scale!

Tomorrow I will be back into the swing of things with my regular workout and I did track today. I also set up a agility course in the backyard for my pups and we did that for a while... all of us had sooooo much fun and we are all pooped.

However, there is no rest for me as I am behind in my goal dates. I did get some bear stuff done while I was away but not as much as I had hoped. I sprained my thumb and it is really giving me grief so I am trying to push ahead and do other things for the bears that do not irritate the thumb more. Lifting a ton of buckets today was not the best for it either but I have to get the job done. I wore a tenser glove today all day to help support it.

So ... I'm back in the saddle.

Tomorrows word is:

A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

Unfortunately we were not permitted to take ANY photos at the ballet and they did not have a program with any photos either... Boooo! But I can tell you it was fab!

Okay, I'll be back with a new word and more news tomorrow and hopefully some kind of photos ... I know I have not posted an image in some time! Sorry! I will try to do better!

See you tomorrow!

TBIMMT Day 14 - Going away

2011-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Another difficult day but I got through the workout. My muscles feel fatigued.
It's okay, I will stay on course but I cannot promise that I won't complain about it from time to time.

Now, I am going to be away for a few days and planning for this has been interesting. I am going to visit my Mum so I have a very long drive first which use to entail snacking on the way... this will be a different trip and I plan to pack some fruit that is easy to eat while driving. And a sandwich just in case that still fits into my daily points. Planning ahead is a big part of staying on track.

I also think I have a travel book somewhere for my workout exercises and I hope to find that when I am off the computer to bring with me so I don't have to have the access to the DVD player. I can then workout while I am there also. I will pack my yoga mat and am bringing some staple foods also just so I will have access to things that will keep me on track. My Mum is also a Weight Watchers gal so she will understand if I decline something. It is just too early in the game for me to go astray even just a little. Too easy to falter and not go back and I have so little time I am working with too!

I will not have access to the computer or to my blog so I will not post for a few days but will fill you in when I return on how things went. I hope to report back that it all went well but one never can tell.

We are going to see the National Ballets version of Alice In Wonderland on Sunday afternoon which is the main reason for my trip down this time. I will also be visiting my Grandma and Aunts to drop off a package or two that I ordered for them online and then off to a girlfriends on the way home who lives closer to my Mum to drop off her wine that she brewed with us. It will be another whirl wind trip and I really hope to have time to do some bears cause that deadline is looming!

My word for today was:

I think I spent the day being grateful for many things. I actually ran through a large list of all the things I was grateful for consciously today as well! I was going to write them all down here for you to read but I have so much to do and it will take an hour to write it all down!

Tomorrows word is:

Agreement in feeling or opinion; accord

A pleasing combination of elements in a whole
3
Music
4
A collation of parallel passages, especially from the Gospels,with a commentary demonstrating their consonance and demonstrating and explaining their discrepancies

Saturday's Word is:

1
To affect, guide or arouse by divine influence
2
To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion
3
to draw in air by inhalation
4
To stimulate energies, ideas or reference

Sunday's Word is:

1
feeling, causing or indicating joy

Monday's Word is:

1
Having or proceeding from a kindheart

Okay so you're all set and I am getting packed and must work on the bears! I will be back soon with hopefully some fabulous photos of the National Ballets Alice In Wonderland but for now here is a video...

Video Alice In Wonderland 1

Video Alice In Wonderland 2

TBIMMT Day 13 - A new publication in The Teddy Bear Annual 2011

2011-06-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this morning was very difficult. It was confirmed that I have indeed gained weight ... point eighth of a pound. Not bad but not what I was hoping for. I am still going to stay on track and keep with the program of course but it is a bit discouraging... however many of you have written with encouraging words and I am grateful for that!

I also woke up in a bit of pain. Yesterday was a difficult day as Tuesday's almost always are and my back by the end of the day was singing. It was no better when I woke this morning either and probably worse from laying in bed all night. I sat on the edge of the couch and talked to myself. It went back and forth something like this...

I'm really sore today

Ya, but you have to do this

But I'm really not feeling it today

Ya, but you have to do this... the readers are going to want to know what you did

But what if I just took one day off to rest

One day leads to many, you know that! You make an excuse once and then it makes it easier for the next time doesn't it. Just do the workout and get it over with. Look the time is ticking away and you could have been 1/4 of the way through the workout already instead of sitting here THINKING about not doing it... get up!

But I am really exhausted and I don't think I can do it

You can do it! YOU CAN... you just don't want to but you CAN.

Sigh

Stop that wasting time!!! Look ... look at the clock... it is almost too late and you won't have time to do the workout before work and that will mess up the entire system. Then you will really be sore tomorrow cause you won't have the 24 hour break inbetween if you have to do it when you get home tonight. Plus you won't do it then and you know you won't cause you will have already made the first excuse and gotten away with it! GET UP! GET YOUR SHOES ON AND GET UP!

Sigh

Stop that! OKAY, a compromise... do level 1 - 2 instead but do it! MOVE... do something... don't give up.

Shoes are now on and I am slowly standing up to get my yoga mat! deep breath!

NICE!Don't sit down, change the DVD now and you will be standing up ready to go for it!

I walk to the DVD player and switch DVD's to level 1 - 2!

PUSH PLAY! YOU CAN MAKE IT THROUGH and you will be so happy you did it in the end! It will probably make your back feel better too! Stretching and moving will loosen it up! Come on... don't let everyone down! DON'T LET YOU DOWN!

I pushed play! Next thing you know I was done. I was happy. Happy I pushed through. Granted I did the lower level. Granted I did everything at a slower but even pace. I did not take breaks and I sweat but I did not push as hard as normal. My stretches were smaller, my leg lifts a little lower, my reps a bit slower but I did it! I made it through!

Today is the last day of week two! 69 more days till the show! I feel different even if the scale says that I did not loose! I think I am feeling different!
Tonight I did treat myself to two pieces of my favorite chocolate bar! But the rest of the day I stayed on track. I had veggies done on the grill and chicken and mashed potatoes. I think I used my word today to the best that I could:

I think I fulfilled a big task by getting that workout done even when I was too tired to do so! Too sore to do so... too ... fill in the blank with any excuse you can think of! But I did it! I fulfilled the requirements to stick to the plan!

And I got some fabulous news in the mail yesterday! An article on Seraphim Bears has been published in The Teddy Bear Annual. I was contacted by Kathy Martin herself and what an absolutely wonderful lady she is! I knew about the article but never count my chickens before they are hatched and so did not want to mention it. I am just so honoured to have this article in the TBA. I cannot express how grateful I am other than to spread the word of this fabulous publication! And I was absolutely so touched at the title and to see my beloved grandmother... the inspiration for my bear making journey, in full colour in a magazine! Oh I wish she could see this! She would have been so thrilled and filled with emotion over this! I hope she is looking down and seeing that now hundreds of people from all over the world will see her and read about her! This article is so precious to me as it talks all about my family and the love I have for them and the bears! Thank you sooooo very much for asking me to be a part of such a heartfelt article! The article is in full colour but I want to leave something to your imagination! LOL!

This issue of The Teddy Bear Annual is loaded with wondrous articles. Silly Bears has a fabulous article on the workshop done this year with Beatrix Harries hosting the workshop! It looks like so much fun! The article is fantastic and turly makes me want to travel to Scotland to do the next workshop if I can!

To get your copy visit: The Teddy Bear Annual

Tomorrows Word:

Appreciative of benefits received; thankful

Expressing gratitude

Affording pleasure or comfort; agreeable

I will be in better form tomorrow... the start of week three and already I am grateful for sooooo many things! Most of all, all of you and your never ending support. Thank you!

TBIMMT Day 12 - Hard day

2011-05-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Oh man... it was a hard day today and I had a hard word to go along with it!
My word was:

I did my very best to stay very up beat and not slough or drag myself around but I will tell ya it took concentration on that word!

I woke at 6:30 am
I got up and got dressed into my workout clothes
I did my level 3 / 4 Power 90 Strength workout and it was tough!
But I kept my word close to me and I gave it my all! Oh yes I did!
Then I had my shower which was wonderful!
Then took the puppies out and felt the warm breeze on my face!

Last night we went for our walk also, which was the first time we were able to go due to weather and my J hurt his toe also so we took it easy for a few days. But last night was just the right temperature and it was a lovely walk! Tonight however will not be a walking night as the humidity is ferocious and our Pug will not fare well tonight for a long walk! Plus... I don't think I would either if I were to be honest! LOL

Anyway, then I went to work
lifted 15 carboys from the floor onto the counter
made 20 wines
lifted 20 boxes of wine off the shelf
lifted 20 buckets of wine out of the sink and put them onto the cart
washed about 25 - 30 buckets and carboys
helped my J in the back to top up the wine which means I carried 6, 4 litre jugs of water

I ate:
A small sandwich
yoptimal
a banana
lots of water
2 pieces WW bread with lite Peanut butter
and that is all I had time for...
I have a lot of points to contend with tonight so better get started! LOL!

I took a sneak Peak of my weight this morning on the scale which I never recommend doing so I don't know why I looked but I seem to have gained? Hummmm? I will not be discouraged and I am still going to re-weigh on the correct day which is tomorrow and we'll see. I am definitely feeling stronger and maybe it is muscle that is weighing heavy on my scale? I plan to stay on the path and not get swayed. I know how hard I am working and how careful I am being with my eating so something has to turn around eventually! Let just keep looking ahead to the Teddy bear show and stay on course.

I should have taken my measurements as they are a better example of what is happening but I didn't... lazy is all. But I did it in the beginning and seeing as how I basically started all over I would say I can use those as a gage. I will take my measurements tomorrow as well to see if there are results there to share with you.

Now, as if I have any more to give today, I am going to keep my word close and go and make dinner. I will then work on my bears and watch a movie. And finally go to my bed at 10, lights out at 11 with no gagets! Yup, I'm still on that too!

Oh I should also mention that not only am I meeting my requirements for my points plus but I also get all my boxes checked. For those that are not familiar with Weight Watchers, that means that I get all my liquids, lean protein, fruits and veggies, whole grains, multivitamin and healthy oil in as well! Which essentially means I don't just eat junk and stay in my points range. I actually have always loved healthy food best so I am lucky that way! My doctor once told me that WW is the best program because it follows the guides of the Canadian food guide and simply makes you conscious of what you are eating.

Tomorrows word:

To bring into actuality; effect

to carry out (an order for example)

to measure up to; satisty

to bring to an end; complete

See you tomorrow!

TBIMMT Day 11 - Deliciously Energizing

2011-05-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Got up at 6:00am today and was ready to face my workout by 6:35 am! I stayed with the level 3, 4 and man did I work it today! I kicked, punched, ran, sweat, crunched, jumped... I did it with determination to get through that workout!

Then I went to the doctor for some blood tests and then home to get J to do some shopping. This years Teddy Bear Artist International is a Pirate themed event so we went in search of treasure today! We found some really great stuff!

Then Mum sent me a great gift of a groupon for the Body Shop and so I headed out to get some creams and peppermint foot scrub (my fave)!

Todays word is:

And so because I did such a fabulous job of my workout I got 5 points back and decided to treat myself to a 6" ham sub with lots of veggies. The bread was fresh out of the oven too... man was it delicious. I had a bottled water with that. Total points plus = 7. Then when I got home I had a bowl filled to the brim with fresh strawberries and low fat cool whip which came to only 1 points plus!

I have so many points left I thought I better have an early light dinner and had a cup of jasmine rice and 3 oz salmon. I love this meal and could eat this pretty much any time. It is light and fresh and so good for you. It came to 8 points plus!

I still have enough points to have another substantial meal a bit later on.

So right now I am working on bears and still stuffing heads and jointing. But I was out most of the day today. I actually think I am starting to feel different now, lighter in a way and maybe even am starting to see a bit of a difference but maybe not so much that I am smaller but a bit firmer.

So I am off to get some serious work done on the bears! I will have a few images for you soon!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for all your support!

Tomorrows word:

TBIMMT Day 10 - Reaching a higher level

2011-05-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

Got up later today. Did my workout and bumped up to level 3 - 4 on the Power 90 DVD. It was tough but I got through it with the modification of staying on my knees for the push ups. I am really hungry today... I find it harder to stay on track on weekends with the food. When you are at work things are on such a schedule but when you are at home things are so accessible. I am still on track it's just I have to be really careful to make good choices. It's only 5:30pm and I have now eaten my dinner and only have one point left for the day. I am usually at this point around 9:00pm so ... you see what I mean. I do have my weekly extra points that I have not even touched but I really try not to.

I had a very creative day today working on bear after bear. Today I stuffed heads and sculpted fur, jointed the heads, attached ears and this will continue through till tonight and possibly tomorrow. I hope to get all the eyes in tomorrow and start on the noses... and maybe even some shading. Only 72 days left ... Currently I am just finishing up bear head # 4 (attaching the ears) and will be moving on the #5! I have 8 to complete altogether and two that are stuffed but no ears; a total of 10!

Not much else went on today. My Pug has an upset belly. He visited his grandma's house last night and had treats, eat a billion dandelion heads from your yard, had a small piece of my bread, and ate grass so one never knows what exactly went wrong but something did. Poor little man. He has stuck by me all day long.

I ate:

Egg creations, 1 piece of WW bread with margarine, 1 yoptimal yogurt
salad with cheese and nuts and fruit - raspberry dressing
salmon and teriyaki with white wine sauce and jasmine rice

Tomorrows Word:

Highly pleasing or agreeable to the senses, especially of taste and smell

Very pleasant; delightful

TBIMMT Day 9 - Blissful

2011-05-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

It was as Blissful as a work day can be. I has a lot of nice moments and listed to music off my ipod and worked on bears in between customers. We were really busy today so that was not a lot of time but some and every little bit helps me to get closer to my deadline goals! Doing my bears is always blissful to me so having the chance to work on them at all today at work was a really lovely element of my day.

I got up at 6:30 and did my workout - Sweat and am thinking I might try to bump up to level two next week? Maybe twice a week to start? This program is tough in the sense that there are NO DAYS OFF... ever! You have to do this every day and so the muscles are taxed continually. It does not seem like so much the first week but the second week seems more tiring and then possibly the third more again. I am much stronger than I was the first time I tried this program which was many years ago when I was a teacher. Now I have a job where I lift heavy things all day long and after 4 years of doing that I guess I have built up a tolerance for pain. LOL. Not really pain anymore but I am stronger.

Maybe I will try the level two weight workout tomorrow as it is the weekend and I can rest for the rest of the day if it wipes me out! Good plan!

I also did my sleep hygiene and was in bed on time with no devices and simply read my book for an hour until lights out! WOW... I am really liking it too and don't know that I will ever go back to a TV to sleep with! It has become a real ritual already and seems to really relax my mind and spirit tremendously!

The bears are really coming along! I have all of them jointed that I had started and will work on stuffing heads and sewing on ears, noses and putting in eyes this weekend. Only 73 more days till I leave for the show... I know it seems like a lot of time but I still have the gallery piece remember and I also like to hand make all or most of my accessories if I can so that takes up a ton of time also... time I love but when there is a deadline... not much else to be said really. Oh and I got the new tags all sewn in last night too! They look wonderful!

Food was okay today but seem to be in a craving mood so very dangerous at the moment! I have to be very controlled. I did not cheat and will not but it is so tempting sometimes! Thank God for Skinny Cow! LOL

So tomorrows word... you must be itchin' to know... hahahaha

Having the ability or power to create

Productive; creating

Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative

This one is a perfect one for me to have for tomorrow but I will try to also push my creativity on a different level!

TBIMMT Day 9 - Naming the Day

2011-05-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

I really like themes. I read something inspiring in my new book. the entry was titled - Naming the Day. So I decided to try it for a while. Not sure how long but I want to give it a shot. The idea is that you choose to create your day to lay out the way you want it to. Life cannot be controlled and things will happen but we can choose the way we approach those uncontrollable events.

I'm starting today with the letter A and working daily through the alphabet. It will be a great way to keep me focused also and make some really great choices on how I want my life to flow. I have also decided to keep a journal of my days to see how well I did with following my choice of word for each day. Should be fun!

It basically works like this: You either name your day before you got to bed for the next day or the morning of your day... I chose to name mine last night. Day one for me is "Attentive" That means for the rest of today I am going to try and incorporate the attributes of this word in the way my day unfolds. I will be attentive today in as many ways as I can.

Definition:

mindful, observant

heedful of the comfort of others

offering attentions in or as if in the role of a suitor

You can choose any words you like. Following the alphabet just seemed easier for me and it stretches your vocabulary a bit too. I will post my word each day also so you can see it and if you want to follow my words that is also fine. There are no rules for choosing the words to name your day: if you choose laughter, joy, or hilarity your day will play out very different than if you choose words like caring, passion, or devotion. You understand right? Now I have to go find a journal that is currently not in use for something. I am writing this down in the morning and I will tell you how the day went later today. And YES I got up and did my Power 90 workout but I have not eaten as yet so there is nothing to write about that!

It is now evening and I am now home from a long hard day at work. Not only was it Friday which is terribly busy at the best of times but we also received a two skid order in that I unloaded alone. I did my very best to be attentive today as I always do but it can be hard when there is so very much to be done.

It is nice to be home!

I received my new tags that I had made for my bears - sew in ones. I never found any until now that I liked. These are fabulous and I am simply thrilled with them. I would like to show them to you but I cannot currently. I will photograph them as soon as I can, hopefully sometime this weekend or at least take a close up when the next bear is ready to be photographed.

I am tired. I had to do my Strength workout this morning and then all that lifting at work which I was not expecting today... probably best that I wasn't too. I just tried not to think about it and got it done.

I have to work tomorrow too but Saturdays tend to be my favourite day at work. It has a different feel and definitely a lighter one. So I thought I would also share with you tomorrows word for the day in case any of you want to use my words too. So I will post the last word I used at the beginning of each blog post and tell you how it all turned out and then at the end of each blog post I will post the new word for the following day... sound good?

Everything went well today with my workout and tomorrow I sweat! Food was nothing to speak of really... soup, salad, low sugar oatmeal for breakfast... nothing fancy although tonight I might indulge in a nice Skinny Cow!

I really want to get to my machine and get some sewing done before I cannot from being too tired so I am off for tonight. I will be back tomorrow with bells on and a smile too.

Tomorrows word is:

Serenely joyful or glad

TBIMMT Day 8 - A good book is worth it's weight in gold!

2011-05-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I started my new program which included going to bed early.
Hygiene for the mind, body and soul...
I was in bed by 10:00pm and had no TV, Radio or any other device on.
I did read my book for about a half hour with the windows open and the
fresh air falling across the pages and my face. I was a glorious evening
with the promise of rain hidden in the freshness of the breeze.
I have not gone to bed without man made noise of some kind in a very long
time. I slept so well that I plan to make this a normal part of my life.

The book I am currently reading was lent to me by my Mum who received it
as a gift from a friend. It is called Simple Retreats for a Woman's Soul.
It is exactly what is states and is an absolute must for everyone who wants
to relax for even 5 minutes, who wants to feel, who wants to love, cry,
laugh, who wants to be touched by life. Check it out if you haven't already!

The entries from the book that I read last night were about tea. I was so inspired
by them I brought my tea pot to work today and made a pot of Jasmine tea.
I love Jasmine, the smell is so soothing and it has such a delicate flavour. It
was wonderful!

The other book I am currently "reading" is called Bitten. It was recommended to me
by a very dear friend who thought I might enjoy this authour if I had not already been
introduced to her. I had not and I must say I AM loving the book. I often listen to it
(on my Ipod) at work while I am cleaning buckets or making wine. It keeps my head in a healthy and
imaginative place. I find my stress levels have all but disappeared completely. WOW!
It is incredible what a good book can do.

I got up at 6:30am as usual and with a great nights sleep under my belt
I sweat and worked that workout HARD! It was fun! WHAT? Did I say that?
FUN? Working out FUN? Where's the pod? No ... but seriously, I was looking
forward to being able to tell you all that I made it out to another day!
If any of you are out there waiting and you want to change your life... start
now. Start tomorrow! START! YOU CAN DO IT!

I need a new sports bra! Seriously, I am putting it out there... if anyone knows of one that really is great and works for a gal that has something on top please let me know. Mine are just not doing the job!

I ate:

Yoptimal yogurt by Yoplait and a banana = 2pt plus
1 boiled egg = 2pt plus
Vegetable soup light half a can = 1 pt plus
2 x WW bread, no fat turkey and honey mustard = 4 pt plus
2 x WW beard, light peanut butter and strawberry jam = 5 pt plus
1 cup of pasta with 4 1/2 oz roasted chicken (cooked with bone, without skin) = 8 pt plus
And I still have 8 or 9 points left for later on

I got two noses embroidered today and will work on eyes tonight. Its a bit terrible weather wise so it looks like it is another stay at home night... I miss my evening walk with the puppies. We'll see... maybe we can get out tonight. The two newest bears are almost completed and have been named : Lilian and Eddard.

Tomorrow is Power 90 Sculpt and a new day for the new 10 Day Reboot Camp program... not sure what is in store for me tomorrow but I'm ready! Do any of you watch the Biggest Looser? Wow! What an incredible transformation on the sisters and everyone for that matter! Now that is inspiration!

See you tomorrow!

TBIMMT Day 7

2011-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a tough day!
Woke up due to my J's cell phone at 5:30am
I was very unhappy about this as it was not enough time to go back to sleep if I wanted to get my workout started at 7:00am...
Because once the doggies were awake they wanted to go outside...
and that meant they would not wake me at 6:30am...
which meant I would sleep past my workout time and I could not take the chance so early in the game
So I got up!
I did my workout
I thought "Okay I will get up, do my workout and then go back to bed for an hour"
But then my cat started to have a Barfing fit. He has a very weak tummy (Poor little man) and so that went on for three sessions and then guess what...
it was time to get into the shower and get ready to head off to work.
However... I did get my workout done! Hahahahaha

Today was weigh in day and I am happy to announce that I have lost the first 2 pounds! Might not sound like a lot but think of it this way... If every week goes like this from now until the bear show in August I will have lost 22 pounds... which is actually more than I want to loose so if the odd week I loose a little less it will be perfect! So that was inspiring!

Trying to type this... I should have left it with all the spelling and typo's so you could see for yourselves what rough shape I am in today. It is incredible what too little sleep will do to the brain. I plan on an early bed night tonight.

I am also planning to start a routine called 10 DAY REBOOT CAMP for mind body and spirit: It starts with being in bed by 10pm will all devices off and sleeping by 11pm (Sleep Hygiene). Currently I sleep with the TV on set to go off on a timer. My magazine subscription that I won at one of the trade shows : "Whole Living" (one of the best magazines I have ever gotten I might add and I definitely plan to renew my subscription when it ends!) always has these fabulous things you can do to eat better or take care of you better and this month they have a workout for your whole being not just weight loss and this is one of the elements of this routine... sounds intreguing especially after a sleep deprived night last night so I thought I would give it a shot.

But for now it is off to work on some bears!

Oh, what did I eat today:
WW toast x 2 with lite Cheese Wiz 4 pt plus
Egg Creations (1/4 cup) 1 pt plus
Cucumber salad with lite creamy cucumber dressings 1 pt plus
Tomato sandwich on WW toast with no fat Miracle Whip 2 pt plus
1 Banana - FREE
1 Tbs lite Peanut Butter - 2 pt plus
1/2 glass skim milk - 1 pt plus
Smart Ones frozen pepperoni pizza - 11 pt plus (this one is really fab if you are craving something not so good for you. When I am tired there is always this danger lurking. Not sure why but tired and junk food seem to go hand in hand for me so these little pizza's are a great cushion just in case.)
That was about it today and I will have dinner later on.
I still had 48 extra points left over this month that I could have used but did not need to! Not bad huh!

Have a great night... I am off to watch the last episode of Oprah and cry and sew. Oprah and crying go hand in hand especially when I am tired! Hahahahaha

PS. The squirrels are digging up my "Diane's Garden". We had to lay a piece of lattice over the top of the planter tonight!

TBIMMT Day 6

2011-05-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

One correction written yesterday: The seeds that I planted came from Diane herself not her son.

Now onto today:
Got up at 6:30 and got into my workout gear
Did my PW90 workout and the sweat was pouring off - today was cardio day!
Had a nice shower and then off to work
I made sure to make my sandwich last night and had a lovely salad ready as well with a homemade dressing with one tsp of olive oil!
You still have to get your oil in and I also wanted to comment that in previous posts I have mentioned that I do not like FAT FREE! I have in the last few posts mentioned that I have been using FAT FREE Miracle Whip but I want to point out that I have this left over and will not purchase more... I am just using it up in other words because as much as I don't like that stuff I dislike waste more!

So it was a semi busy day but not as busy as usual at work!
I managed to get some paws pinned into the bears so that means I can just go straight to the sewing machine after dinner tonight and get to work.

This is where I start to panic a bit: I have two deadlines coming up in August and no bears are completed! They are all in mid-completion and unless I see that they are done and ready for the show I get a bit itchy! So needless to say I have no plans other than workouts and bears for the next little while! Hahahaha

I wanted to mention a new treat I found recently in the grocery store. I have had it before but not packaged in a single package like this. Normally I don't think small packages of food are a good way to go. I feel you can do that yourself at home and leave a smaller footprint; however in this case I have a real weakness in the summer in particular for ICE CREAM! So purchasing a single serving is a very SAFE thing for me to do. Then there is no more in the house to be tempted by! LOL!

It is Skinny Cow and so far I have tried the Chocolate Fudge Brownie and the Cookie Dough and they are FAB! I mean it! They lack in nothing except calories! And honestly once done my single serving I am satisfied that I got to have my ice cream.... even though it is just skim milk.

I also realized something else today: I like my morning workouts because I get a full 24 hours in-between workouts as you always would if you workout once a day at the same time every day but the difference of working out in the morning is that you are doing it after a full night of sleep and not after a full day of work! With the exception of last night where I got up at least 10 times to visit the ladies room! LOL. I am drinking a lot of water and my body is in shock and cannot seem to handle it! LOL! So today I drank most of my water intake before noon in hopes of a better nights sleep tonight!

Okay so tomorrow is day 7 and that means the fist week is completed and that means it will be time to hit the scale! I hope to have lost something but I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED if I have not! I promise to stick to it even if the scale is unkind to me tomorrow!

Tonight is BBQ Porkchops and potatoes and veggies! Yummy! I love summer for the fresh veggies!

Be back tomorrow!

TBIMMT Day 5 - Diane's Garden

2011-05-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Day 5 and woke up wanting nothing but bad things to eat.
I got into my workout clothes and by 9:30am I was sweating with Tony!
By the time I was done, the last thing I wanted was bad things to eat!
Yippppeee!
Today was rainy and windy with breaks of sunshine - but few of those!
We made it to the dog park so the babies could run like the wind
made it back to the car just in time - then the storm hit
I worked on paws - incredible isn't it... this is day 3 of paws! But I am finally starting to sew them into the bears! Yipppeee!
Made sandwiches for tomorrow as Tuesdays are super busy and my J hardly has time to eat so sandwiches is the solutions and seems to be working great!
Made a special sandwich for me for tomorrow too... no fat miracle whip and egg on WW bread! A nice 4 pt plus sandwich!
I had egg creations for breakfast and added losts of veggies - actually J made it for me! and two pieces of WW bread with margarine for a nice 5 pt!
For lunch I had a cucumber salad and a tuna sandwich.
You have got to stay ahead on this planning or you can fall off the wagon super easy!
I actually meant to eat more today but was busy... this can also be bad as I have a lot of points left for today!
I also had a banana, Yoptimal, and watermelon!
Tonight we will be dining on Asian homemade beef done in the slow cooker all day...
also a very hard thing to do when you are watching what you eat and have to smell that cooking all day long! LOL! We will be having Jasmine rice with the meal also!
Might get a walk in yet tonight but not too sure... maybe up the big bridge to see the fireworks but depends on the rain!

DIANE's Garden:

My Mum's very dearest friend past away earlier this year and one of the things my Mum requested from her only son was some seeds from Diane's garden. Diane knew me from the time I was in junior high but when I left Calgary after high school I only saw her but a handful of times! Diane had the most infectious laugh and was so much fun to be around. My Mum and her use to make chocolates, B52 shooters and were both stain glass makers also just to name a few fun things. I didn't know how to say goodbye to her after not seeing her for so many years so I didn't.

I sent messages often with my Mum but could not come up with a way to say goodbye. I guess I just didn't want to and that is not to say I did not love her... in fact it is to say I did!

This weekend my J built us a special place to plant the seeds that my Mum shared with me that came from Black Hollyhocks that grew in Diane's garden in Calgary! Some people plant these in the fall but our winters are cold and long so we opted for this weekend to plant ours in order to give them a nice strong root base so they will hopefully make it through the winter this year. By next year we should have a beautiful bunch of Black flowers to remind us always of this wild and fun lady that shared time with us along her journey! I will have a nice sign made up that says "Diane's Garden" next year when the flowers are ready to come!

Thank you to my Mum,to my J and to Diane's son Aaron for sharing these seeds with my Mum and I. I will cherish this place in my backyard and think of her every day!

TBIMMT Day 4

2011-05-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

Got up at 6:30 am
too sore to do anything
fed puppies
took out puppies
went back to sleep
woke up in a panic
thought it was noon
it was actually 9:30am
did my power 90 workout
ate my breakfast
worked on paws
walked to grocery store - 40 minutes there and back
got a point back for that! Yippeee!
worked on paws
still working on paws
ate dinner - 1 cup pasta, 3 oz BBQ chicken, Frank's Hot Sauce - Yummy
Had two salads and fruit today and lots of water!
Going to work on more paws
see you tomorrow!

PS. If anyone out there is interested in getting a beautiful drawing done of their bear... visit Patti at Patti's Paw Prints!

Patti's Paw Prints

Patti is one of my favorite bear makers and has just found herself out of a job. She would love to do some drawings for anyone who might be interested!

Also don't forget that I have a free giveaway comin up! A mini Seraphim Bear named FIZZER. Just enter your comment etc on the blog post about him and I will put you on the list of potential parents to be!

This Blog is Makin' Me Tired - day 2

2011-05-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Remember I said I worked on bear paws yesterday
Remember I said I was tired yesterday
working on bear paws + tired don't match up
I sewed all the bear paws for my trapunto paws and then cut the right side of the paw
on all of them on my tired day.
In other words I had to re-sew all of them!

I got up this morning 6:30am
took out puppies and fed them
lay on the couch while they ate and watched TV - News
Puppies came to lay with me
I got up off my butt at 7:00am and did Power 90 level one strength workout - +3 pt plus
I woke J to go to Garage sales
I had a shower
I ate a Yoptimal - 2 pt plus and no artificial sugar! These are my faves!
We drove around to garage sales before heading into work
Bought a doll making book for $2
Got to work
Sewed some paws
Lifted 4 buckets of wine
Ate 2 WW bead - with tomato and canned salmon and calorie wise miracle whip - 7 pt plus
Left work
Came home and sat in the backyard with puppies and stuffed paws
Ate a Smart Ones Fettuccine dinner - 8 pt plus
Went for 20 minute walk with puppies and J around the Zwicks park trail - +1 pt plus

So beautiful and puppies so happy which makes me sooooo happy too
About to eat BBQ chicken, salad and not sure what else yet...
Will stuff paws and watch a movie

Have a wonderful night
See you tomorrow

This Blog Is Makin' Me Tired

2011-05-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today I have decided to start a daily account and it will hopefully run on here for the next 82 days. I am hoping that this will help me to stay focused and honest and keep me motivated as I have fallen off the wagon with my workouts and weight loss also. So I thought it might be fun to write down what I did each day on here for the next 82 days... why 82 days? Well that is when I leave for my trip to Binghamton NY for the Teddy Bear Artists Invitational and so after that I am sure I will have a ton to post about the show itself.

You have all seen the before photos and not much has changed but I have done it before and I know I can again... I just need to find that inspiration. So I am hoping that my daily post will do the trick as well as the show coming up and my cousin is preggers with twins and this will surely mean a family get together soon enough... so I would like to be looking better and feelin better by then too!

Okay so are you with me? Here is my first entry of THIS BLOG IS MAKIN' ME TIRED!

Here is what I did today:

Got up after a long night of making bears and took the puppies out to the backyard
I fell back to sleep on the couch until my hubby woke me at 8:15am (that's late for me)
I went to work and lifted about 4 buckets of wine, and 4 carboys of wine and washed 20 wine buckets.
I walked back and forth approximately 80 times throughout the day the length of our store
I stuffed a bear paw or two in-between but not much as Fridays and Tuesdays are our busiest days and there is not much time for anything but working.
I did not sit down from 9am till 4pm except for 2 minutes x 3 to stuff a toe
I carried my bags to the car
J drove us home and I took the puppies out to the backyard
I came in while they were having their dinner outside and started my first workout in a month - Power 90 level one with Tony Horton
I sweat
I wined
I punched
I kicked
I drank water
I washed my face
I stretched
I got J from basement and we went to the waterfront trail for a long 20 minute walk with the puppies - this is my gift to me for getting through my workout

We went to the dog park - I truly love to see the smiles on my puppies faces! A great reward for making it through the workout today!
My pug laid in a mud puddle
We came home
I washed the pug
I made a Healthy Choice Steamer - Balsamic Chicken and Angel Hair Pasta - 5 Pt plus (this one was very tasty. I don't eat these often but have a lot to do tonight)
Oh ya... I also started to track today (New Weight Watchers Points Plus) I still have 11 points to use up today so I will eat some more soon!
I came to type this blog
Now I will go work on bear paws
then a well deserved bath
then to bed at around midnight
With the bear show deadline now looming and only 82 days to go there is much to be done!

See you tomorrow
Have a great weekend!

Pearly Queen a Very Talented Mum

2011-05-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know if all of you will know of this rather interesting phenomenon that occurs in England but as you know my background is British as my Mum was born in London and thought she might like to take on the task of creating her first pearly jacket! For those of you who are not familiar, this is a HUGE undertaking and takes hundreds and sometimes thousands of pearly buttons to create these very elaborate articles of clothing that they wear: Below is an entire society or Pearly Kings and Queens... Aren't they spectacular!

The London Pearly Kings and Queens Society

My Mum has just about completed her first Pearly Jacket with the exception of the steeple on Big Ben. It has taken many many hours to create this sensation which includes ripping and resewing to make things lay out just right.

Bravo Mum! I think she has done an absolutely splendid job of this Jacket... One for me next A Mum! LOL!

Notice that the Big Ben time is set to around 3:00pm... tea time in England! Attention to detail... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as they say! I wonder how many buttons are on this coat?

Don't forget also that I have a Free Giveaway of a mini Seraphim Bear ~ FIZZER to be drawn on Canada Day July 1st so just head over to the post and leave me a comment if you would like to have a chance to win!

Seraphim Bears Fee Giveaway worldwidehttp://seraphimbears.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-giveaway-seraphim-bears-worldwide.html

Best Marriage Proposal EVER!!!

2011-05-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

A Bit Of Italian Fun!

2011-05-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

We have been having the most terrible weather lately and this is never conducive to a nice Italian Greyhound visit but they are so rare that we decided to continue with the plans to have our very dear friends visit and still hold a BBQ.
It is quite common for us to have a get together at our local park for Pug Days but there are no IG's (Italian Greyhounds) in our town so this spectacle rarely occurs. My best girl has my Jonesy's cousin as her pal and has now adopted another IG to go along with him after loosing her beloved Chacha. This little girl is a gift to all of us as she is spicy! Her personality is Greyhound plus and she was a joy to hold in our arms. I think I was smiling all day just as much as my Jonesy was.

We are planning these get togethers with T and M and their babies including of course their human baby F throughout the Spring and Summer so that we can take care of their 2 IGs for a week in October. We want to make sure everyone is on the same schedule. If you don't know much about the IG they make a fabulous companion and were originally bread to be bed warmers. This means that when the angels come to stay our bed will be blessed with 4 doggies and me and J. Hahahahahah Luckily we do have another bed in case we need to split up!

Anyway here are some photos of the first IG visit for this preparation! I am actually hoping that these visits will put us all into the habit of doing this on a more regular basis. I would love to seem my friend more than twice a year! HINT HINT if you're reading this T! LOL!

It is very hard to photograph most IGs as they have constant movements to them unless they are sleeping (Which they are very serious about!) They need little exercise for a few sprinting moments and then would very much appreciate it if you would join them in a snuggle on the couch or bed!

So here is my Jonesy in the background and cousin Milo in the forground. These two love each other so much and remember spending the early days of their lives together. They had so much fun yesterday ripping around the backyard together and really giving their engines a good full run. Unfortunately I could not risk taking my camera outside in the rain to show you all but next visit I hope it will be sunny and I can post a video!

MILO

MILO AND NOLA

Milo is considered a very rare IG and is super tiny! Nola is just a baby at only 6 months and is already much taller and larger than him. Nola is the skinniest of all three of them and dainty in her sleek physique.

NOLA

So after a day full of running and playing with the long legged friends and family we were all a bit tuckered out... especially the honorary IG, our Pug, The Butcher...

The Queen Mother has her do

2011-05-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hiya everyone:

I thought I would share with you my Mum's party for the Royal wedding. She and her Red hat ladies and maybe even some Diva ladies (another group she belongs to) got together and enjoyed a bit of knees up!

Here they are in all their splendour: Get out your Brit Dictionaries...

Blimey now that's an ace table!

A nosh - up of sarny, scones and afters.

Some smashing ladies!

Some magic hats.

All the mates together for a cheers!

Chums having a spot o tea.

A jolly good table.

A bit of alright!

The do was most definitely the bees knees!

Pip pip, thanks for stoppin in to take a look at my Mum's do.

A day of Royal Celebration Part One

2011-04-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

You are invited to our celebration of the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine... and what a wonderful day it has been so far!

Our day started bright and early at 5:00am. The coffee machine set to come on for my husband and the tea pot on the table. The alarm went off and I kissed him on the cheek and quietly said "It's time my darling"! The telly was turned on in the living room and I made a little bed for him, the puppies and kitties to cuddle up together.

I put the three pies: steak, chicken and shepperd's into the oven and set the timer for 1 hour and then settled in with my camera on the couch all snuggled in my soft pink robe.

The wedding began with guests and family arriving: (all photos were taken by me straight off the telly. I felt like I was a little paparazzi and really there). Only the highlights please...

Kate's very beautiful Mum.

Catherine (Kate)

Catherine and her Dad

The walk in

The Queen

Kate's beautiful sister and her little ones

The most incredible hat

The dress

The songs

and our royal guests arrive for tea with a gift of the royal program...

Then back to the ceremony...

The balcony

The kiss

Then it was our time to eat the royal breakfast...

Blackcurrant juice and a toast to William and Catherine!

The breakfast was fabulous and then it was time to take out the pies made for lunch

Now... off to work we go to celebrate with all our friends there and customers

Oh but I can't forget my ring

Playing Princesses for a day

Playing "pretend we are Will and Kate"...

A royal gift for the couple of crackers and cookies ~ with love from the Queen princess

Time to eat pie...

Everyone loves it... and then onto cupcakes...

Oops someone spills the water and so even the Queen princess has to work on the royal wedding day...

Now time for cupcakes

Yummy! Better call the royal guards to watch the cupcakes...

Now seriously everyone, we really have had a wonderful and fun day today enjoying great food and friends in celebration of William and Catherine.

There is still a dinner to go before we wrap it all up and I do have some bear work to be done tonight.

I'll be back with the next instalment in a short while.

Congratulations to the happily married couple! Thank you for a wonderful day and my you be blessed with a long and happy marriage!

Join us for the Royal Wedding

2011-04-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to all:

Tomorrow is a very special day,
A day of love and a day of celebration.

My grandmother was born and raised in Fullum England and was married there as well

As a tradition: Old English wedding tradition calls for the bride to carry a horseshoe, streaming with ribbons, for good luck. Wonder if Kate will have hers?

If you look closely she is carrying her horseshoe as my Mum did for her wedding also.

Mum spent the early part of her life in England and then they all came over to Canada on the boat and with them brought the British traditions along with them.

My Grandma and Grandpa were wonderful people and loved each other dearly. They really knew how to enjoy life and knew the importance of a strong family, trust in a marriage and love.

My Mum and I cannot be together tomorrow to celebrate this wonderful day of the marriage of William and Kate but she sent me a fabulous package in the mail to help me celebrate my day and still have her here with me.

It arrived unexpectedly with a note from the Queen herself: (My Mum is the Queen Mum of her chapter of the Red Hat Society)

Mrs. Seraphim

The Queen regrets that you are unable to attend the Royal Wedding Celebration at your Mum's place on Friday April 29th, 2011.

Perhaps this little box will help you to share the event with us.

Best wishes, your Mum, the Queen.

There were lots of wonderful treasures in this box of Royal surprise! Thanks Mum!

I have set the table ready for our morning royal breakfast:

We will be enjoying: Piccadilly tea, English style crumpets with butter and blackcurrant jam, blackcurrant juice and eggs and sausage.

A real English style feast on the day of the wedding.

The table is set and ready for the days events:

The centre Union Jack is from my Mum as are many of the little favours on the table.

My best Brit teddies will be joining us for the days festivities also

My grandmothers dinner bell is ready on the table to chime out when breakfast has been served

There's nothing says English like a good cup o tea and some crumpet and blackcurrant jam

Instead of putting flowers on the centre of the table (my cats loves to eat those)

I decided to celebrate my love of sewing and use my fave pin cushion designed by

Pinks and Needles

For the rest of the day we will be enjoying:

Lunch:

your choice of:

Steak pie, chicken pot pie or Shepperd's pie

(we will be enjoying these at work and joined by friends)

Snack:

Carr's crackers - By Appointment to H.M. The Queen Carr's of Carlisle Limited

Old fine cheddar cheese

Wedding cake royal cupcakes - homemade by me

Dinner:

Fish and chips with malt vinegar

coleslaw - using Heinz Salad Cream English Dressing

Branston Pickle - Crosse and Blackwell

Devon Custard

Ribena balckcurrant concentrate with club soda

So now it is time to say, sweet dreams to all of you. May you dream of prince charming and be a princess yourself in your dreams tonight.

I will be back soon with more photos of all the days events. What we wore, what we ate, what we watched... etc. Now I have some wedding cake cupcakes to ice and decorate and then it is off to beddy byes for me as the wedding will be starting here at the lovely shining hour of 5:00am!

Blessings to both William and Catherine... may your lives be as happy as a fairy tale. See you all at the wedding!

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

2011-04-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

So the day is finally almost here... The wedding day of William and Catherine!

Have you been invited? Will you be there dressed to the nines and rubbing elbows with the Jones's?

I have a quick little post for this morning but as you can imagine today is a busy day getting all the last minute preparations ready for my attendance tomorrow to the royal wedding. I will be back tomorrow with a fun post to help you celebrate the wedding and will also post more to share how I did also!

Here is a little video for you to enjoy for those of you who have not seen it as yet and if you are viewing this on the hive you will have to pop on over to my actual blog to see it.

Free Giveaway Seraphim Bears WORLDWIDE!!!

2011-04-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

One of my collectors just wrote and thought she could not enter because she did not live in Canada...

THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL WORLD WIDE GIVEAWAY! IT IS AT NO COST TO YOU! THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU! I will pay all shipping cost incurred in this as well so please don't hesitate to enter the draw!

Fizzer is a tiny bear that can fit into the palm of your hand, in a pocket jacket, or sit in a tea cup on your shelf... easy to ship and love!

Enjoy and have a HAPPY EASTER!!!

See the few contest rules for entry at the post below this one. Thank you for your lovely comments... you make us better!

Free Giveaway ~ Who am I ~ Happy Easter

2011-04-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

As promised I thought I would post a before picture of my bear that I am creating for the Children's Aid Foundation Teddy Bear Affair 2011.

The bear now has a full armature as of last night and is jointed and tonight will be the stuffing night. I want to have her completed by the end of this Easter weekend so I can start her clothes as of next week.

So, I thought ... I want to build my following here on my blog. How can I do that? And so I thought some more... and I decided, maybe it's time to do a free BEAR giveaway!!! This will bring my charity bears to four for this year! This one is not for charity so much as a thank you for following me and believing in Seraphim Bears but still it will be my forth free bear this year.... and in that, my last for this year also.

In order to be a part of this giveaway you need to make leave a comment ~ a guess on who it is you think my bear for CAF is going to be (see picture above). This years theme for the Teddy Bear Affair is Canada, so take a really good look at the fabrics and the bear itself and see if you can guess who this bear might be. I have already given you one hint by calling it a SHE so you know that it will end up a girl and it must be a rather famous Canadian girl. And now I have said a GIRL and not a lady so that should give you plenty to go on.

Here is your free giveaway image of the bear that you will win:

This is a mini punchinello bear, 5" tall and the name of this bear is FIZZER. Fizzer will come to you with all the Seraphim Bear surprises. Fizzer will be beautifully wrapped, come with a certificate of authenticity, an ATC or ACEO card containing all the specs on your bear and Fizzer will come with the little fabric, handmade by me, pinwheel that you see in the photo. All the button/ pom poms you see on the front of Fizzer are handmade and felted.

Here is what you need to do to enter to have a chance to win FIZZER: You have a chance to have your name entered THREE times...

Leave me a comment with your guess on who I am creating for the CAF Teddy Bear Affair 2011 and you will be entered into the giveaway.
Take my FREE GIVEAWAY image (ABOVE) and put it on your blog with a link back to my blog and you will be entered to win a second time!
If you make the correct guess on who I am creating for the CAF you will be entered three times!

Lastly DON'T FORGET TO EMAIL ME TO LET ME KNOW YOU POSTED THIS ON YOUR BLOG!!!

Pass on the news of this giveaway on your blog and help me to share the love and The Art Of Cuddling.

I hope you will enjoy this giveaway and good luck on your guess of who I am making for the Children's Aid Foundation Teddy Bear Affair 2011!

Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you if you should be the lucky winner!

I will NOT be posting your comments and guesses to keep it fun for all who enter... your guesses have been interesting and fun so far! Make a guess... you just might be correct!!!

I will draw for the winner on July 1st ~ CANADA DAY to go along with the theme for this years CAF theme of Canada. I will also post the completed bear photos shortly before or on that day also so you can see my CAF bear completed.

~ Have a very Happy Good Friday and Easter Everyone ~

Spring show a hit ~ What's next?

2011-04-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

So I have been away from my blog for a short while preparing for the Spring Teddy Bears On Vacation show and it was a very successful show for Seraphim Bears. Instead of a spring show it seemed a Christmas show as the snow came tumbling down but attendance was steady and we were blessed to have adopted out 5 bears!

Mr. Bungle was adorned with Swarovski crystals and hand dyed mohair. He was a large bear and I only finished him 4 days prior to the show so we did not get to spend much time together but I am thrilled that he found his forever home.

Then there was the very sweet and pretty Georgia. She was completed only 2 days prior to this show and wore a lovely vintage dolls dress that I adorned with ribbon flowers and she carried an Easter egg on her wrist. Her paws had Swarovski crystals on each toe in a very pretty Robbin's egg blue.

A striking undressed Cherry Amour found her forever home. She wore only a large satin red bow and her paw pads were created from the tops of kid leather gloves. It is the softest leather I have ever worked with. I loved holding her paws as I am sure her new family will also.

Two very dear minis were adopted together by two very dear friends.

Werther and Lemon Drop.

Werther is a worn mini with two different eyes and a rusty bell. He also had one blue ear.

Lemon Drop was one of my Geisha minis and wore her own mini obi with hand cut flowers and beading.

I am so grateful to all of you who weathered the storm to visit the show.
It was such a wonderful day inside and I truly enjoyed meeting each and everyone and especially hearing your heart felt stories of family, pugs, chihuahuas, survival, rollerskating and so many other touching topics.

It was thrilling to hear your comments on my beautiful Christmas gift teddy bear made for me by my husband, Mortimer. He was especially happy to meet you all as was my Mum's Queen Bolete bear that visited the show. I also have a special order for a bear similar to her now.

For now, I must end this post as I have a very pressing deadline coming up. I am creating a very special bear for the Children's Aid Foundation calender for 2012 and then she will also be auctioned off to raise money for the cause.

I hope to be back soon with more photos of the show and maybe a few photos of the unfinished bear for charity so you can try to guess who I am creating! The theme this year is Canada ~ Whoowhooo!

Thank you again from me, Mum and the bears!

Sprucing up for spring

2011-04-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

We are trying to spruce up the family business and my husband and his friend painted the place the other day. It is the size of a warehouse and we have a ton of wine kits and shelving which all had to be moved one at a time so you can imagine what a huge job this was. Anyway it turned out lovely and we have had many compliments on the nice cheery colour that my MIL is calling "Under the Tuscan Sun".

So anyway, you know how it is... once you start with one thing... then you want to keep going with everything else to make it all look really nice. My husband has been redoing all our signs and framing them all to match nicely on the wall and so I thought I would pitch in and fix up the bulletin board.

Once we are completely done I will post some finished photos for you to see of how wonderful it looks! Sorry I don't have a shot of the finished walls... darn I thought they were on my camera. I will take them tomorrow! At least you can see the final colour on the last photo of the bulletin board!

Here it is:

This was how it started once we painted the frame black. I has already chosen the fabrics and measured the board. I chose to put the fabrics on 3/4 of one fabric and 1/4 of another so I sewed those together first and then hauled it all outside so I could use my spray adhesive with lots of ventilation!

Once I got it all down smooth I wanted the biggest 3/4 side to have the ribbons for holding nice cards from our customers and the other 1/4 smaller side to be for notices and push pins. To lay these out I did them one at a time and pinned them all in place before I began gluing the ribbons. Unfortunately for me I was using our old bulletin board which is already framed to I had to use a bread knife to get the ribbon under the frame as I could not get the frame off!

You can see my helper there in the corner... after running around in the backyard the boys thought it would also be fun to run across the board! Ahhhhhh! I did manage to get the paw prints off although the did add another welcome element as we all adore animals and often have visitors to our wine store.

So here you can see the ribbons all attached. Then I went and found some rope cord which I also had to get under the edge of the frame and then glue it down. I try to use things I have available that I have saved from garage sales or recycled myself in some way so seeing as how my FIL and husband often do cross word puzzles together at work I had a bunch of scrabble tiles and decided to add those around the frame to give it even more dimension!

Here is the finished product with our company name in the centre top on the Scrabble tile holder. The material is wine related also and I think it looks really nice on the newly painted wall! Hope you like it too and this is a really easy thing to do to dress up your old board if you have one!

TIME TO VOTE FOR YOUR PEOPLES CHOICE TOBY BEAR 2011 ~ BETHANY

2011-04-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's TIME TO VOTE for BETHANY for the PEOPLES CHOICE TOBY AWARDS!

As you know Bethany already won her first TOBY Industries Choice awards and now we need you the collectors to help us win the TOBY PEOPLES CHOICE!

Under category: LARGE ARTIST BEAR DRESSED ~ BETHANY, Michele Seraphim, Seraphim Bears. Thank you all for your votes! I am so happy to say that we will be attending the awards ceremony this year in Binghamton NY too! Your votes are truly appreciated!

Here is your LINK to VOTE FOR BETHANY! THANK YOU! and many other beautiful artist bears! Please place your votes in each category and keep the teddy bears happy!

TOBY and TINY BEAR

2011-03-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have a story to tell you:

As you might know my Bethany bear won the TOBY Industries Choice award this year. Well, my TOBY has arrived and so has my Bethany!

My very sweet mother in law could not stand that my fist TOBY winner was sold to Silly Bears in Scotland and so very secretly she bought her back for me! What an incredible gift! I was truly touched by this beyond words and I am thrilled to have her home with me. So here she is with her TOBY:

Also today I arrived home to receive my wonderful gift from Tiny Bear for the Pay It Forward that Tina was participating in! It may be just coincidence but the little girl that is in the centre of the heart ornament ~ a vintage photo ~ looks just like the REAL Alice! You all know how much I love Alice In Wonderland. It is such a beautiful felted ornament that I have decided to hang it all year round! I am calling it my Alice heart. And the heart is white like the white queen... Oh, I can find Alice in just about anything hahahahha.

Thank you so much to TINA of TINY BEAR!

In the last 10 days 4 Seraphim Bears have been adopted! Sundae, Bianca, Bella May and London have all found their forever homes! I have simply got to get back to my machine as I have a BIG Teddy Bear show coming up in 23 days! Three of these bears were suppose to come with me to the show ... but who am I to stand in the way of LOVE.

Big Hugs and Thank you to all my collectors ~ you bring magic to Seraphim Bears!

Spooky Rabbits and Sewin Bears

2011-03-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

It was a long but not long enough weekend. I have been sewing bears non-stop to get ready for Silly Bears and my Toronto show coming up in April. I am also preparing a wonderful bear for the Children's Aide Foundation calendar and auction with the theme of Canada and I will be representing a bear of Anne of Green Gables.

I sadly gained weight this week... .6lbs and I am truly not quite sure why but it happens. I was a bit discouraged yesterday but have woken up ready to continue the journey I started.

I am actually writing to tell you about a really fun giveaway that is taking place;

It's over at ARTISTIC HALLOWEEN QUEENS
So if you love Halloween pop on over cause this giveaway looks like a great one.

I'm really tired and have a really long day ahead so I am going to keep this short for now. I will try to post you some great images of what took place this weekend later... or possibly tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

I like a bear to have a tummy but not a tummy to bear on its maker...

2011-03-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Ahrrr! Jillian and I went head to head again today... after I did a 20 minute shovelling of snow from my backyard. I am pooped.

My skin feels like I just swam in the salt water... all tight and dry. Yuck... better hit the shower but I did not want to get in there until I shared some news with you all...

Bella May found her forever home right after the show closed. I want you all to know that I am HAPPY to do layaway at any time just email me and we will arrange something that works for us both.

The show was absolutely fabulous and I would highly recommend it to all of you.... no wait, what am I saying... there is only room for a few of us so... I take that back. Hahahahaha But really it was a really high class show with fabulous artists and Daphne ran that show like a tight ship! We sailed our way out there and made new shipmate friends.New collectors on the bow looking forward to find new bears to take to their new forever homes! It was fabulous!

I also want to tell you that I purchased two more of Jillian's workout DVD's today: a yoga one (I love yoga. So does my dog... I will try to get photos for you) and a front of the body one and I got a Marisa Tomei workout DVD too! Who knew? But she does have a wicked body, you have to agree.

Okay, again a BIG thank you to all who adopted and all who shared the Enterprise as we sailed into cyber space with all our bears... what is wrong with me? Too much downward dog I think! Hahahaha

Okay I am off to work on bears for the April Teddy Bears On Vacation show in Toronto and then the URSA awards with Valerie Rogers (there's new categories for this competition too!) and my gallery piece for the TBAI show in NY. There is much work to be done.

I do have a bear up for adoption on Ebay and her name is LONDON. She is one of my favourite bears and had been with me for a while but I am ready now to let her find her new forever home.

Here she is:

LONDON on EBAY

What's a Burpie or Burpee?

2011-03-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Abi asked a good question so I thought I would just go ahead and post the answer here for everyone to see.

A berpie or burpee is the exercise that is described in this video:

Jillian Michaels meets Weight Watchers

2011-03-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

So last night after a busy Saturday at work I came home and decided to try my Jillian Michaels Fat Burn DVD again. I took a day off after the last attempt to get my guts up to face her again. The good thing is, I am a bit competitive. I say "good thing" because it's what pushes me to ALWAYS do my very best at all that I do... including my bears.

So anyway: I decided that I would attempt this workout again. "ATTEMPT? ATTEMPT? You are not here to phone this one in! You start strong and you finish strong!" I could hear Jillian saying (in my head) There is nothing that bothers Jillian more than someone who starts strong and craps out at the end of the workout.

So I made her a deal... I will promise to finish as strong as I can JILLIAN. That means that I will have to PACE myself through the workout until I get stronger.

So my goal this day was to not stop! That is the best I can do! Maybe on the Burpies... did I mention that currently I HATE BURPIES? Maybe on the burpies I will have to step out and in and not jump but I will NOT STOP. On mountain climbers I might have to do leg lifts and reaches only and not run like a mad woman the entire time. But I WILL NOT STOP. I also promised that if I had extra energy at the end of the workout I would not hold back. I would give it my all on the last sets and yes... I would run like a mad woman. Well... my curtains are closed... I am not going to offend anyone!

I decided that if Jillian were here with me she would agree that this was a GREAT next step.

So that was the goal and that is basically what I did. Okay I had to stop for a second to take a few sips of water here and there but I kept going. Now I don't know that right now I can do this every day ... Jillian wants me to do this every day. She is like that new friend who wants you to be around them all the time but you have other stuff to do... like make bears, feed the babies, feed your husband... etc. But she's right too, you DO have to make time for you.

It's like the airline Stuarts say, put the oxygen mask on yourself first and then assist the others.

Okay so the oxygen mask is on and I will attempt this workout as often as possible. That means at least 3 times a week for now and if I am up to it I will scream with Jillian some more!

Did you know that Jillian use to be a big gal?

WOW, If she can do that so can I... right? I AM older than her however so maybe a bit more time will be needed but I am feelin it now. I am getting stronger and my mind is too. I am focused and ready for this. I even declined a birthday dinner for myself. My birthday is still a ways away but I'm planning ahead. My husbands birthday is nearly here and already I have purchased my Smart Ones dessert for that night so while they are eating cake I can still indulge a bit without blowing it!

Now I started this some time ago but fell off the wagon. Then the wagon came around again and this time it had some of my family members on it... my Mum and my cousin. My cousin has lost 17 pounds now and my Mum was jumpin on and off that wagon so I thought I better get back on to get her back on too. So we are all doing our own version of incorporating exercise into our lives but we are all on the new points plus Weight Watchers plan.

I like this plan a lot. I did weight watchers before but this time I joined online and I have a tracker that is a hard copy too.. that works best for me as I do not have access to my computer during the day when I am working.

For inspiration on a daily basis there is the beautiful and talented Jennifer Hudson:

Now that is a before and after baby! I find this very inspirational. I am adopting Jennifer into my sisterhood and using her to help me stay on track!

I also purchased a subscription for my Mum and me to Weight Watchers magazine. It is a FABULOUS magazine even if you are not on WW. I have found some excellent recipes in this magazine and made some to keep my eating exciting. I will be posting those recipes and photos under the CHOW page on this blog. Just go to the top of the blog and click the CHOW button to see the most delicious low fat stuff available.

Now, I have to tell you, I love food and don't like to be hungry. But I am also not a NO FAT gal. I have looked at those packages and cannot even pronounce the ingredients so I alter the recipes to have the same amount of points but I use LOW FAT not no fat. I think it's better so just be aware of that in my recipes.

So ... that's the scoop so far. I have lost 5 pounds to date and my next weigh in is this Monday. I'll come back with word on the progress soon. I think I will see Jillian tonight but maybe not till tomorrow night... I'll have to see how much she is screaming at me by the end of the day today.

Close up of Sundae's little feeties

2011-03-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

Debbie Sweren asked to see a closer picture of Sundae's little feet so here it is:

Now I am off to meet with Jillian... ahrrrrr!