This week's bears are here...

This week I was inspired to do a bear with Patriotic Spirit...Meet Patriotic Pete! I had been thinking of Memorial Day, Flag day coming up, and then of course the 4th of July. Pete is hand sewn with wool felt and has a "flag" incorporated in his little body. His arms and legs are made of paper clay, scraps of book pages, and an acrylic wash. I really enjoy making these Vintage Style of bears with paper clay limbs. I'm also working on a rabbit...check for photos in a couple of days.

Lil' Dreamer is my latest crochet mini in my Chibi Crochet Bear Series. He is a 2.5 inch beary made of acrylic thread in a gorgeous deep wine red color. He carries his Dream Wand with him.

And finally a little light lilac color bear made from vintage rayon fabric and hand sewn....meet the little Lea Liu flower bear. With her little flower halo she seems to attract a silver color butterfly (charm).

You can find each of these little ones at: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalwalshQQhtZ-1 Enjoy!

Photos from the past...ATC's and Dominoes

I love looking at photographs from the past. I have several CD's full of vintage photos that I can use for art projects and peruse for inspiration. Seeing these wonderful images reminded me that my mom has dozen of old photo albums of her family. This summer I'm hoping to go through all of the photos and scan these cool images of my very own ancestors.

When I've needed to break up the monotony of scanning I've taken some of these familiar faces and put them to good artistic use. My mother and her little brother, along with their cat, made a nice simple ATC. The second ATC on the upper right was a a practice at working with my Adobe Photoshop Elements software. It took me an hour to figure out how to merge a background photo, and the image of my mom (from a separate photo) into one! Then to put the focus on the Lil' Cowgirl I colored her clothes with artist chalks.

The next project was to make decorative dominoes.

Using a template size for a domino 1" x 2", I moved several photos of my Grandparents onto the template. Printed them out, then cut the templates out, added adhesive, then a quick spray of Workable Fixatif, and then gold leafed the edges. I love the heftly feel of the dominoes and the nice little clicking sound they make when they brush up together. I like to display them on flat surfaces around my craft room where I have a chance to admire them as I move about.

A Little Lavender Bear of Thread

Inspired by my lovely purple Iris flowers in the yard, I created "Little Lettie Lavender" a 2 3/8" miniature crochet teddy bear. This little bear practically begged to hold a "fun" sign. So she does. She is from my Chibi Anime series and has a hand sculpted polymer clay nose and a fun clown hat. She is able to stand on her metal stand due to very strong magnets in her feet. And the good thing about her little lavender personality is that she will still be around long after my lovely irises have faded away. You can see more pics at:

http://cgi.ebay.com:80/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150125215892

A Bloomin' Anime Bear...and my Etsy Shop Link

Purple is one of my favorite colors. When I spotted some Purple iridescent faux flower stems, I grabbed one to make a special Flower Bear. "Petals" is the result. She is made from wool felt, an original design and hand sewn. Her oval nose is needle felted with black wool.

I picked up some unique beads at a craft store the other day. The label said "blue/gold beads". Next to the flower petals they seem shimmery purple in the light. Petals is appearing on ebay at: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150124845986

I have also started my Etsy shop and have listed my first Anime Bear on the site. You can visit my Etsy shop at:

http://www.calvinawalsh.etsy.com

Scrap Paper and Cardboard

I've been staring at a left over empty container on my table. It seemed like a nice sturdy little piece of cardboard that I might be able to use someday. I don't like to throw things away, although inevitably I do, then of course decide I need it. I resisted the urge numerous times and decided to finally "do something" with it.

I found a nice little decorative floral envelope that I have saved for several years. I cut the paper to fit around the container, used my handy Xyron tool to add adhesive to the paper and pressed it to the sides. I then took a brown paper bag, cut into a thin strip, cut with decorative scissors for a lovely edge, and then hand stamped a border. I placed this in the middle of the container. To finish off I used a 18 kt. gold leafing pen to give the top edge a little bit of glimmer. Voila'

I liked my new little decorative container so much I made another and stuffed them both with some of the loose tools around my desk. Much nicer to look at and took very little time.

An Introduction...

My first name is “Calvina” pronounced as “Calvanna”. My husband and I live in a small town in Washington State in the US.
I have been “creating” things as long as I can remember. My hands have always found something to make and my mother was always positive that I could accomplish whatever I had set out to do.

I have always dabbled in a variety of arts and crafts and I love the challenge of learning something new or just experimenting with different materials and techniques. For the last 11 years though, I have focused mainly on the craft of making Miniature Artist Teddy Bears. My bears have had the privilege of being featured in Teddy Bear and Friends® magazine and a few of my photos of bears have been published in Teddy Bear Scene® . The majority of my bears have been sold on ebay.

While making mini teddy bears has occupied the bigger part of my creative life I have wanted for the last year to get away from just “producing” bears to enjoying once again the creative process of creating new things.

I decided that in 2007, I would endeavor to slow down my “production mentality”, find pleasure in even small acts of creativity like straightening my Craft/Studio, and take the time to dabble in other artistic interests.

In short, I want to live more creatively…a little bit each day.