Update on Izzy's puppies

This is in response to those who have inquired about my sister's dog, Izzy, and her litter of 8 wonderful puppies. 

As you can see, under the care of two loving mothers (my sister and Izzy) the puppies are growing and thriving. They actually live in my sister's bedroom so they growing up well-adjusted surrounded by only love and constant care (never a cage). All of the puppies already been adopted and will be going to their new homes next month ... where they will (hopefully) continue be loved and cared for as they grow into to amazing Australian Cattle Dogs ... some who will become Show Dogs, like their mother and her first puppy, Tuffy, who is quickly becoming a Champion.

I have lots more photos to share ... please Click Here to see them.

Update : (Dec. 30, 2014) 

If you go to the link above you will see the "final" update for the puppies along with some recent photos (at 8 weeks old) ... they are on their way to their new homes this week.

Custom-made Twin Bunnies

Custom-made Heirloom Mink Twin Bunnies

I am retiring my "Sweet Little Bunny" pattern. These are the last two bunnies that I will be making using this pattern for a long while ... if not forever. I will be designing a new bunny pattern sometime in 2015.

To see more photos of these twin bunnies ... please Click Here.

Striped Pajamas Teddy

Custom-made Teddy Bear

created from an unusual mink coat

To see more photos of this teddy in "striped pajamas"

please CLICK HERE

"Waiting for Santa"

Christmas Pajama Teddy Bear

I am usually struggling to complete a Christmas-themed creation to offer to my collectors just before (or just after) Christmas ... well, to my surprise I am offering a Christmas teddy early this year!!!

 Of course, there is a reason for this, it is because I was sent an unusual mink to make a custom teddy (see my earlier blog post for photos). Well, I designed a pajama teddy but I did not want to cut into my customer's heirloom mink until she completely understood what I was planning on making for her. So I used my own minks to make this Pajama Teddy with a Christmas theme. I am so very happy with the results! And I have given this teddy lots of Christmas props because props are fun.

This teddy is available for adoption and all of the props are included.

To go to this teddy's ADOPTION PAGE ... please click here

On the Adoption page you will find lots and lots of photos and details ....

and until this teddy is adopted there will be a "Buy Now" Pay Pal button

Work In Progress ...

This is my next Custom Order ... and it will be a challenge!

I was sent two beautiful family minks, a lovely vintage mink stole, and a more unusual and very artistic mink coat with wonderful geometric designs on the back.

What will I make?

Just wait and see ... I have ideas!

Nov. 24, 2014 Update

I designed a custom teddy bear pattern just for this mink ... so this order will take a lot longer than my usual custom orders. I designed a "pajama teddy" where I will use the patterned jacket for the body (which will give the impression that it is wearing clothes) and I will use the smaller mink stole for the head, neck, paws and feet.  But in order to make sure that the pattern is in correct proportions I decided to make the first teddy using this new pattern from my own minks ... the result was a wonderful Christmas Teddy that I called "Waiting for Santa".  This teddy was adopted with lightening speed as soon as I made it available. 

As requested, I will be making these custom teddies larger than my usual teddies. My usual teddies are around 10 inches tall. I am increasing the pattern by 25% which should make the custom teddies between 12 and 13 inches. 

I increased my "Christmas Teddy" pattern by 25%.
You can see the size difference in the head patterns.

There is a reason that I prefer to keep my teddies in the 10 inch range ... it is to give me mink hairs that are long enough on the face to scissor-sculpt ... to give my teddies the sweet puffy cheeks that my collectors have come to love. But these are custom teddies and it has been requested that they should be bigger teddies. 

Taking the mink garments apart can be very time consuming depending on how they were constructed:

This is the mink stole ...

This is the mink stole ... once it has been taken apart you can see how small it really is.
This is one side of the stole.
The hairs on the mink stole are already short, so this teddy will not have very puffy cheeks.

This is the back-side of the stole.
I am happy that this is a full pelt as opposed to a lot of little pieces of mink sewn together.
I prefer the full pelts because they tend to be stronger.
I find that if a pelt is going to shred it is usually where they have been sewn together,
which is why I always line my teddies with cotton fabric ... to give then extra inner strength.

I've taken apart the unusually patterned mink coat 

This is the back side.
There dark fabric strips in between the  thin leather pelts.

Obvious striped pattern

Besides the thin pelts strips and the fabric between them, you can see that the pelts are also small strips sewn together.

This post is getting rather lengthy so as I add to this WIP description I will direct you to another page on my blog ...

Click here to see more of my WIP journey

Custom Teddies for Kathy

Please CLICK HERE to see more photos and details of these teddies

Tawnie ... a final farewell

Farewell dear little friend

Thank you for 19 years of love and loyalty

You will be dearly missed

Tawnie was our amazing little miniature poodle

She was "amazing" because she was born without eyes ...

but she never knew that she had a "handicap"

Tawnie was extremely smart and always sassy ... she ruled our house!

She was our Little Princess

She is now in Doggie Heaven

with Mika, who was her best buddy here on earth

and some of our other doggie-children that preceded her:

Beau and Penny.

Until we meet again dear friends...

Available in my Etsy shop

Sorry, Catober was quickly adopted

This adorable little mink kitten, "Catober"

was available for immediate adoption

through my 

Etsy Shop (click here to visit that page)

or 

if you would just like to see more photos and details (please click here)

ABI Auction-Competition event

Cat, Panda, and Puppy ... Oh my!!!

ALL are available for adoption!

This is a RARE event.

For those of you who have been patiently waiting to adopt one of my creations ...

you know how rare this is.

These are all One-Of-A-Kind creations

exclusively made for the 

Artist Bears International

October 24-26 Auction-Competition event

The event is over ... thank you to all that attended!
The panda and puppy were both adopted.
The panda was awarded "Most Luxurious" of the event

The Halloween Cat is still looking for a new home and
will be listed for adoption in my Etsy store.

My panda was used in the ABI promotion

for more photos of each creation

and details of the event

please follow the links under each photo

Please CLICK HERE to see more photos and details of cat and event

Please CLICK HERE to see more photos and details of panda and event

Please CLICK HERE for more photos and details of puppy and event

Thank you to everyone who attended the ABI online event.
As you can see, my panda was voted "Most Luxurious" of the event

Custom Brown Bear Set

Custom Teddy Bear Set for Paula

To see more photos of these beautiful teddies please CLICK HERE

This is a beautiful rich very very dark brown mink

for a Mother-Daughter teddy set

Two Custom Teddy Bears

Two Custom Heirloom Teddy Bears for Melody

To see more photos and details please click here

Custom Heirloom Puppy

I just completed another of my custom orders. I'm still running about a year behind

on my orders but I'm trying to get caught up ... so patience please if you sent me

your mink stole (or coat) to be transformed into teddies. 

Hopefully you will feel like it was worth the wait.

Terry waited over a year for this puppy and I think it turned out beautifully ... I hope she think so too.

This is a larger version of my Companion Puppy.

To see the details and lots (and lots) of photos

please CLICK HERE

Work in Progress:

 I am still trying to get caught up on my Custom Orders (where I was sent a family heirloom mink stole to turn into teddies). I am starting on Melody's order next. Melody sent me her mink stole last August which means that I am exactly one year behind on my orders. Well, considering that I have been accepting Custom Orders for the entire 25 years that I have been a Teddy Bear Artist, being only one year behind is not so bad because in the 1990s I had so many orders that I had a 3 year waiting time for my Custom Orders!

Of course, accepting so many custom orders has severely cut into my creative time. I just have not  had the time to design and create new mink creatures to offer for adoption. Starting next year I am considering limiting the number of Custom Teddies that I will create each year.

I love this puppy pattern so much that I want to make another using my own minks. In my supplies I found a lovely pale beige mink stole with nice long and fluffy hairs. I want to combine it with another color and I am considering a pretty brown mink that also has long and fluffy hairs for the puppy's spots. I will be working on my next custom order and the puppy at the same time. This spotted puppy may become my competition piece for the upcoming Artists Bears International competition so I want to play with the pattern and give it interesting details. After working on so many custom orders this is my much needed creative time!

Two Custom Teddy Bears

Two custom teddy bears for Karen

Click HERE to see photos and details of these two teddy bears

Work in Progress:

Now I am working on Terry's Custom Order.

There is a puppy hiding in her mink stole.

I'll find it!

For this Custom Ordered Puppy I've decided to enlarge

my puppy pattern by 30% because the mink stole that I am

working with has lovely long mink hair and wide pelts ... so 

this pelt needs a slightly larger puppy.

As you can see I designed the original smaller puppy pattern as a 

companion to my teddies. Since this puppy will not be paired 

with a teddy it just needs to be larger!

Custom Teddy

Special Custom Teddy Bear for Debra

To see lots of photos and details on this teddy

PLEASE CLICK HERE

Watching my next Work In Progress

I am starting on my next 

Custom Heirloom Teddy

Click HERE to watch the Work In Progress ...

Eight Custom Teddy Bears

I finally finished my order for eight Custom Teddy Bears.

Click here to see the final four

Two cats for a custom order...

I took lots of photos of these two cats

Please follow this link to see the photos

Mink Kitten Available for Adoption

It is rare for me to offer a cat.

It has been 5 years since I last offered a cat for adoption.

There are many more photos of this kitten on it's adoption page.

Click HERE to go to the Kitten's Adoption page

(which includes a "Buy Now" Pay Pal button for immediate adoption)

Sorry, this Kitty has been ADOPTED ...  
but you can still go to the adoption page to see the many photos of this sweet little kitty

WIP ... cat

This is my Work In Progress Cat

Since it has been 5 years since I made a mink cat

I'm finding that my pattern and notes are

like putting together a puzzle

... but so far so good.

Another Custom Teddy Bear

I have finished another Custom Teddy Bear ... this one is for Dee.

To see more photos of this teddy ... click HERE.

Mink Cat ... soon

I am making another mink cat!

 

I am trying to remember HOW I made these cats and the best way to do that is to make another.

Click HERE to see the last cats that I made (way back in 2009)

I posted lots of my mink cat photos on the link above so please be patient while they load.

Mother's Day Puppies

Available for Adoption

just in time for Mother's Day !

Please click HERE to see more details on the 

Brown Mink Dog 

Sorry the Brown Mink Dog has been adopted

Please click HERE to see more details on the

Champagne Mink Dog

Sorry the Champagne Puppy has been adopted

Thanks to Laura for sending me group photos of my mink dogs that she owns.

The dog on the left is the dog pattern (with floppy ears) that I designed a few years ago.

The dog on the right is the same dog pattern with upright ears.

The dog in the middle is my new sitting dog pattern.

I don't own any of my own mink dogs so it is fun to see them all together.

Coming soon: Mother's Day puppies!

I liked the first sitting puppy so much that I decided to make a second puppy and offer them adoptions for Mother's Day. Since this is a new design pattern I will send Adoption Invitations to everyone on my Mailing List. I should have them both finished in a day or two.

Update (May 1) ... the puppies are finished but ....

I usually take my photos outside and here in Southern California we have been having high winds and a heat wave so I have not been able to work outside. I tried to take some photos but it was just too windy so I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow. Once I have the photos I will be posting these puppies for adoption here on my blog and on Artists Bears International ... and I will send out Adoption Invitations by email to everyone on my Mailing List.

Work in Progress ... new dog pattern

I have been working on a new dog pattern ... inspired by Keli's photo ...
(see Keli's story on my April 3 post ... I am continuing to update her story on that same post)

which reminded me of the old RCA logo of

"Nipper" the Jack Russell Terrier that was listening

for "his master's voice"

So I decided to design a new dog pattern ... a sitting dog. 

Here is my WIP

Yes, this dog will be available for adoption very soon ... to everyone since it is a brand new pattern design. I will send out email Adoption Invitations. (I like this pattern so much that I may make two dogs to offer).

In order to design a new pattern I had to take a break from working on my custom orders. I was just so bored with making the same teddy over and over that I HAD to design something new. I also took a break from the computer ... so I need to catch up with my emails this weekend. Sorry if you emailed me and I did not send a quick reply like I usually try to do.

I did have some set backs along the way: the first mink that I started to use I had to throw out (after working with it for 3 days I realized that the entire pelt was way too fragile)

After carefully taking the mink stole apart I tested it by sewing a head ... which shredded when I turned it to stuff it.

I have been taking some time to do some gardening ... not something I can put off ...

 the desert tortoise that has been in our family for decades (and ended up living in my backyard) has come out of hybernation

I'm converting my backyard to raised gardens for my vegetables

so now the tortoise will have his own enclosure

I have to grow grass and flowers for him to have fresh food daily.

So I have been very busy digging up our old lawn to convert to gardens.

Gardening is hard work!