We hAVe a WiNNeR !

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and a name suggestion for my bear.
I made the draw earlier and the name "George" came out first. Congratulations to Dee from Icehouse Crafts for being the first out of the hat! Prize will be en route next week. Will be doing another give-away in  a week or so, keep watching.
George is now on Etsy, waiting for a new home.
Thanks again everyone
Jill x

NeW BeAR oN EtSY

I finally got round to putting a bear on Etsy. His name is Herbert and I made him last weekend and finished "vintaging" him tonight and, on a whim, decided to put him on Etsy. He is my first listing and I hope someone gives him a home ! The photos are up to my usual standard, lol. Have just noticed that he seems to have a bluebird growing out of his ear, oops. Herb is entirely hand stitched and the ruffle round his neck is made from some vintage eyelet lace that I liberated from my Mum's stash, lol

I am going to do the draw for naming my other bear on Friday as I'm home from work, yay. I will e-mail the winner for their address and send some goodies out to them. I love all the name suggestions so thanks to everyone who sent a name in for him. He will also be on Etsy once he has a name.

Today's ramblings and small giveaway for naming my new bear

Busy day today. I did the usual exciting things that us ladies get to do on a weekend, laundry, housework and a bit of gardening thrown in for good measure. My other half cut the grass out front whilst I weeded the flower bed. All exciting stuff ! As I'm rubbish at weed identification, unless it's a dandelion, I had to keep interrupting the mowing to ask himself if I was about to dig a plant up, lol. If there were prizes for growing dandelions, we would be gold medal winners. At one point I was tempted just to keep the dandelions and throw the ret of the greenery out, lol.
I managed to finally open an Etsy shop as am beginning to get disillusioned with Ebay. I had some issues with a non-payer and because I refused to give her discount (duh) or accept instalments, she left some upsetting feedback for me. I contacted Ebay and they won't remove it because it's not in breach of any of their policies. Despite the transaction being cancelled, the (non) buyer can still leave feedback, how crazy is that? I do have the option of leaving feedback for her, but don't want to start a war as am sure there will be further problems. I appreciate that Ebay has to protect the buyer, but what about the sellers? Anyone else had similar problems?
Back to the shop ..... nothing in it yet as am photographing stuff and hope to list some dolls and the as yet, unnamed new bear. Any suggestions? I will pick a name from a hat if you'd like to send some suggestions in. I have one already from a good customer of mine so will add that one in first. I'll leave the naming open for a week and his new name will be written on the back of his tage for when he goes to his new home. I will send some vintage lace edgings and some home made tags to the winner. I know most of my followers live in the US but am happy to send prize there, it's only something small and won't weigh much :-)
His photo is below ...yes, I took it as you can see I have managed to incorporate my scruffy corner of the living room, lol. Please leave a comment and a name if you wish. Thank you x

EaStEr BuNnIeS

I finally finished my 2 Easter bunnies to go on eBay today. I made them weeks ago and got carried away with other projects and delayed finishing them. Made the effort yesterday and  after my other half takes some spectacular photos, lol, they'll go on tonight. I'm rubbish at photo taking, I may have mentioned this before. I get so excited that I've finished something and rush to take a photo, usually with camera from phone, and when I load them onto pc is when I notice that I have got strange things in background. You'll see anyway, lol, as today I have incorporated the house phone, cordless mouse, stereo and a tube of lip gloss, oh dear me. On the other hand, Jerry, my partner, does a great job and sets the subjects up beautifully and doesn't get household objects involved in the photos !!
The bunnies were made from a Sweet Meadows Farm pattern and I used some scraps of vintage lace for a collar that I raided from my Mum's stash. I painted the bodies with acrylic pant and sanded it down to soften it up a bit. The painting process started out reasonably OK but then I did get covered in coffee coloured paint before I'd even finished the first one ! Then was the drying dilemma. I really should think things through before I start them as I ended up "hanging" poor bunnies from a small home made line in my kitchen.
New bear is finished too and his photos will go on later, as will a photo of the gift for naming him.

NeW bEaR

I've almost finished my latest bear. I sat and gave him a bit of a grunging last night and now am deciding how to dress him up. I have some beautiful vintage eyelet lace so he may even change inot a she, lol. I will put more photos on here when he's done as he'll be needing a name and I thought I might make a small prize available for name suggestions. It'll be my first giveaway so the prize will probably be small, will keep you posted.

My RaGgEdY AnNiE oN EbAy

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY StRaWbErRiEs ♥ jsdean99

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY StRaWbErRiEs ♥ jsdean99 Just listed a new Annie. She's a 14" blonde with blue eyes this time. She comes with her very own strawberry bowl fillers. I made about 50 of them a few weeks back and discovered them whilst I was looking for something else this evening. Some of them were in the same fabric as Annie's dress, perfect !! I have made the body and legs made for my next bear. He is in ivory sparse mohair and will be around 9" tall when finished. He is completely hand stitched and will undergo a slight grunging to vintage him up a little. The pattern is from Jenny Loves Benny. There's a link to her blog at the bottom of mine. I'll post photos when he starts to look like a bear !!!!

It'S tHe WeEkEnD !!!!

It's Friday at last. Am at work until 5 but will be out of the door like a rocket, lol. I've got bunnies to finish, eggs to paint, dolls to stuff....it's all go ! I'd love to be able to do it full time but have a mortgage to pay and have to do the 9-5 to cover that :-(
I'm going to make some bears at the weekend also. It's something I tried a while back and made a few and then got carried away with the doll making and kinda stopped doing the bears. I was rummaging through my fabric stash when I discovered all the mohair I'd bought last year and fell in love with it all over again. I have some great patterns from Jenny Loves Benny and can't wait to start. Vivienne Galli is another favourite, her bears are cute too. I thinks she sells on Etsy.
Will be back to report on the bear making process in a day or two, with pictures hopefully !