Lil Bunny Frango ...ADOPTED!!!

Lil Bunny Frango preview
Originally uploaded by Laura Lynn - Soft Sculpture Artist

Finally, Lil Bunny Frango has been born! I don't have time to take his official "pawtrait" today (sorry, I LOVE puns!) but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the little guy.

Lil Bunny Frango is 5" tall. He was created from hand dyed mohair with soft upholstery fabric footpads and inner ears. He is fully disc and pin jointed and yes, he IS freestanding. He'll come to his new home with his own artificial chocolate mint truffle.

I'm sorry, but Lil Bunny Frango has been adopted.

Artist Bear Show in Kohler, WI - October 2008

I am excited to be exhibiting at the Kohler, WI doll and teddy bear show this coming October and have already started on bears for the show.

You may laugh, but one of the things I agonize over when doing a show has been my display. I was looking back over my show table photos from the past several years, and although I feel the display has been getting better, I've still not been happy with it.

I've been wanting a table display to be attractive, but showcase my bears. I also want it easy to transport to the show! This October, I will be driving with fellow artist Daphne Blau to the Kohler show. That means we need to fit TWO artists' bears and display items in one car.

Actually, that is easier then when I fly to a show, but the same principles apply :)

I have finally "bitten the bullet" and purchased a set of wonderful clear acrylic displays such as this one.

The ones I purchased are larger of course, as the bears I am bringing to the show are larger than a baseball card :) And they are rectangular instead of oval - for more surface area for the bears. I can't wait till Kohler now! :)

Bear Making Classes

I've had many requests for me to finally start my classes :)

I've decided for my first class bear to use one of my patterns that are currently in production. The class will include pre-sewn bear parts, but as I am currently using this pattern for my own bears, the pattern will not be included with the class. You WILL however be able to go home with a finished bear you made yourself, with my help :) The prototype bear for the class will be ready next week!

New Series of Bears Coming Soon

Coming soon will be my first Halloween bear of the year! Sabrina (shown here) was from a Halloween past, but I love blog posts with pictures :)

I've been wanting to start on those as I LOVE Halloween and the colors of fall. I guess I just needed a little "push" which I got when someone requested Halloween bears in my "Teddy Bear Suggestion Box"

Look for some Halloween bears in the next couple of weeks!

Yesterday I took my daughter back to college... yaaayyyy!!!! Don't worry, she's jumping for joy too ;) It's her third year so we're all used to the drill.

New Mini Bunny This Week!

Last weekend was another beautiful weekend at the Renaissance Faire. I adore attending, but it does make the bear creating slow down considerably. However, Lil Bunny Frango is almost ready for his debut! Stay tuned :)

My Favorite New Toy... an MP3 Player!

I get distracted easily.... but I've found that if I'm listening to music... especially thru headphones, then I am better able to keep my mind on what I am doing. My mind doesn't wander quite as often ;)

I have a portable CD player, but compared to today's technology it is so bulky!

I did some research and decided that I wanted a SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player instead of an Ipod. The SanDisk is compatible with my favorite computer music program - Windows Media Player. I just don't have time to learn yet another program.

I searched on eBay and found a seller I was comfortable with... and with great prices!! There is a handling charge added onto the shipping, it's a flat rate and I was happy to pay what she was asking for. I just got it today and am listening as I type. Just thought I'd share her listings down below.

Sad Goodbye to a Friend.....

I usually prefer to keep my posts upbeat here, but I want to honor a friend who has gone onto a better world on Saturday night. My neighbors across the street - the ones who had the horrible house fire in April - her brother Daryl lived with them the last 2 years of his life.

Daryl was mentally challenged due to a brain condition he was born with, but a nice, loving person! I got to know Daryl these last 2 years, even more so after the house fire.

Daryl was a big Chicago Cubs fan, collected pigs (the stuffed or ceramic kind), and loved to vacation in Aruba. In December of 2007, his sister and brother in law took him to Aruba for the first time. It was Daryl's first vacation ever and he had a wonderful time!

When Daryl's 64th birthday came around last spring, his brother in law asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said he wanted to go back to Aruba! And he got his wish!!

After almost 2 months in the hospital, Daryl has gone onto a better place. We will remember and celebrate Daryl's life later this week. I am very honored to be asked to be a pall bearer for sweet Daryl. Love you Daryl !!!!!

Finally Bit the Bullet!

We finally bit the bullet and ordered our new PowerBOSS generator. We had a lovely Honda generator for power outages, but it was sized for our old house. Our previous home was not only a little smaller, but the main difference is that it had city water.

Our current home is out in the country just a bit, but far enough in that we have our own well. Our poor little Honda (which has served us VERY well) just doesn't have enough power to get that well started. So when we loose electricity, we also loose running water.

In the last 2 1/2 years it hasn't been too much of an issue, as power outages only lasted a few hours (and yes, we've had quite a few!)

But you may have heard about the storms in Chicago on Monday? Yes, we were right smack dab in the middle of all that. IN fact, I was "held hostage" in Walmart as I was getting a Rx filled. Tornadoes were spotted in the area and they rushed all of us to the center of the store for 30 minutes until the worst of the storm had passed.

I had called my hubby to let him know... and to tell him to seek shelter in our center bathroom (with our 2 guests and 5 dogs!!) as we don't have a basement.

When I came home the power was out and we were told to not expect it to be repaired for several days.

Fortunately, we were back online after only 20 hours. But we have decided to just bite that bullet and buy that larger generator.

Anyone in the Chicago area looking for a small generator??? :)

Many Summer Weekends at Faire.....

We spend many of our summer weekends at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Bristol, Wisconsin. For us, it's our vacation - but we can sleep in our own beds every night and don't have to kennel our dogs :)

This weekend I finally brought my big camera and enjoyed photographing some parts of the Faire. I hope you enjoy!

All of these and more can be found in my Faire Collection on Flickr.