Gone to the Dogs USA

Bingle Bears giveaway ----- I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-11-16T16:28:00.001-08:00

Please stop by Bingle Bears blog at http://www.binglebears.com/2011/11/my-st-nicholas-giveaway.html#comment-form for her adorable little mouse giveaway.

I am soooooooooooooooooo excited to be the winner of little Benvolio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much Cheryl!!!!!! It is a honor to have one of your little ones!!!!!!!!

Sheryl

A Stuffed Life is having a blog giveaway

2011-10-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Please stop by A Stuffed Life's blog for a chance to win her wonderful little mouse "Caution"

http://blondheart.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-give-away.html

She will be drawing the winners name on October 25th which just happens to be my birthday!!!

Kayla's 6 years old today!

2011-08-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kayla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Shadow, Lucky and Mom

This is Kayla..................

2011-08-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

And this is a Bug - (A cicada to be exact)

AND THIS IS.............................................

If you are even a bit squeamish do not read this story.

As many of you know I tell stories about Kayla. Well this one is no different, well maybe a little different. As you all know if you have read my post's in the past I call Kayla my special little girl, one of a kind, unique and so on..................I know get to the point.

Every summer here in Missouri there are Cicadas (locusts) that come out from the ground and climb the trees and come out of there shells (we used to put the shells on our shirts as jewelry when we were kids) and then make the most annoying sounds. Well Kayla being a Basset/Beagle mix a Hound dog or scent hound which ever you prefer. Her natural instincts kick in when these start coming out of the ground to make there way up a tree. My great hound dog hunter goes into action. She searches the yard, trees, bushes, flowers, window sills (yes the bottom of window sills) and any other place she thinks they are hiding for these things. OK now I know what you are saying Big deal so she hunts Cicadas, Well she is not only hunting them just for there good looks!!!! (and by the way I think they are UGLY) NO she has made them her prime targets for outdoor snacks. Yes she eats these things like they are candy. I know she could eat worse things, (yes I could tell you what all she eats, but you can use your imagination) Now I know that in some parts of the world they are well lets just say good to some people and I have nothing against that, but sorry I am not in to eating bugs of any kind.

I know that you are asking are they OK for my dog to eat? They can be harmful to dogs if they eat more than a few of these critters, and I advise you to watch on how many your dog eats as it might upset there tummies and the wings of the Cicadas can get caught in your dogs throat. Check with your dogs Vet and you can check online as well if you have them in your area for more information.

I do not want everyone to worry I have checked with her Doctor and he does know that she eats them and has been for years now. I do watch her very closely and make sure she is not going overboard on her outdoor snacks. I do think it is a bit funny watching her hunt these critters down. Her mind is in one mode and that is get that bug!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not sure why dogs eat them, maybe they taste good or maybe it is the sound they make, or maybe because they fly but she likes them. I know she is happy and healthy so I don't mind if she wants a few. Besides there is no way I can get to her to get it out of her mouth, it is gone in about a second flat. And it's not like I can build a bubble around my house to keep these things out. They are God's creatures and they are out there for a reason. One is not for Kayla to have her fill of them though.

Oh and yes I have had a couple get into the house before. That is not fun at all for me but Kayla oh my! I am not afraid of any type of bug or animal but I can not stand to have Cicadas, June Bugs (Kayla eats these guys too), Water Bugs or Spiders (Shadow is allergic to them) or any bug for that matter in the house.

So the moral of the story is Kayla likes Cicadas and Me her Mom thinks she is one special Hound dog who brings love, joy and laughs into my life every minute of every day!!!!!

Until next time!!!

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs to all,

Sheryl

P. S. Love to my Shadow, Kayla and Lucky

June blog give away WINNER IS

2011-06-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

And the winner is------------------------Katy Cameron!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Katy and thank you to everyone who has entered.

Hi all and Happy June,

Well I have been a little bit busy the past couple of days and have created some pencil drawings. These guys are prints of the original drawings. I have printed them onto small note cards that I will be giving away for June here on my blog. The set includes all 6 drawings below and there envelopes. I have signed and dated them.

The give away will last until June 8th next Wednesday. I will pick a name out of the hat Thursday the 9th and email the winner. Any one can enter no matter where you live!!!!

All you need to do is post a comment here on my blog and make sure you give me the correct email address so I can notify the winner. If you win I will email you to get your shipping address. Good luck to you all on my June blog give away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you wish to purchase the note cards in a set of six your choice of design or all six designs please email me direct at www.gonetothedogsusa@live.com

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs,

Sheryl

Estate Sale Treasures

2011-03-24T10:33:00.001-07:00

Well as you all know that I am redoing my Bedroom to Shabby Chic. Well my version of Shabby Chic that is. LOL I have the colors of my room which is Blue with linen white walls.

My mom and I went to a Estate sale last week and found some wonderful treasures for my room that I thought I would share them with you.

Here is what we found! I am so excited. There is some cleaning and re vamping to do but they will be a great addition to the decor.

As you can see from the photo above this is everything we bought and yes I do like old antique vintage things. The older the better and the cheaper the better.

I have had my eyes on a pair of crystal candle holders for quiet sometime now. I lost out on a couple of pairs on ebay, but look what we found and the price you could not beat at a total of $ .50 cents for the pair. We later went to another sale and I found my two blue candles for another $ .50 cents. Total cost for the pair with candles $2.00. A little cleaning to do and this pair will be complete.

This is a wonderful crystal lamp that my Mom had bought first so we just had to go back to this sale which is where the other items came from. I am on a crystal anything binge which in my eyes means old and a little Victorian. With some cleaning and maybe rewiring and a new vintage style lamp shade this lamp will shine in my room. This lamp was only $ .50. I am not sure just how old it is, but it has the look I am going for.

Now I am also on a Fenton Hobnail lamp binge as well. I had one when I was a kid growing up that I broke so I thought I would set out to find one like it. This is not an easy task to do. I did find a single lamp with the base like this one on Ebay for my room. So when we ran across this lamp as well as the lamp in the next photo. I had to have them. I have never seen any hobnail lamps like these. The price well lets just say they were a steal. As far as I know with the research I did they are both original lamps. They need to be cleaned up and maybe new wiring.

I really like the base of this lamp. It is just a bit taller then the other one. Again it is in original condition. Oh and the lights move too. COOL!!!!!!

Now this is my Vanity bench that I also had been looking for. The frame is in great shape and it looks as if the seat had been recovered at one time. I will also clean and recover the seat. A little elbow grease and recovering and this bench will fit right in to my room. Oh and the price was only $2.00.

We did find one more thing and it is a wonderful vintage crystal candy dish, which I have not taken a photo of yet. It also needs to be cleaned up. I am still not sure if I want it in my Bedroom or maybe I will put it in my dinning room.

As you can see I am off to a pretty good start. I had purchased a few other items before these but again I have not taken photos of them yet. You may just have to wait a little longer for the room to be done and all set up with these wonderful treasures.

If anyone knows anything about any of the items above please email me and let me know. If you have any ideas for my new old room let me know that too.

Until next post

Puppy kisses and Bear hugs,

Sheryl

March updates and New News!!!!

2011-03-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well since my last post a lot has gone on so now it is time for a Update and also some new News........so this post is going to be a bit long bear with me please.

Updates:

Diet Update: Well I am still on the 17 day diet if you can believe it. I have lost so far a total of 12 pounds and still a couple of inches ( I do need to measure). I know I can do much better and now with the weather here in KC getting warmer I can get more outdoors things done. I mean now I can clean out my garage which really needs it. BAD!! LOL

Shabby Chic Bedroom update: I still need to finish painting one wall and then get to the fun stuff "decorating" I have a few ideas running through my head.

Blooming Bear show update: Well the Teddies Worldwide Blooming Bear show was this past weekend and it was wonderful. All of the Artists had a wide range of Bears and Critters for sale. They were great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did sell two of mine which was good! I am hoping to be in the next show coming up this July so stay tuned!!!

Website update: I am going to start working on my polymer clay dog breed pages soon. That is really all I have left to do. So again please keep checking my website for updates.

Now for the New News:

Kayla News: About a week or so ago I noticed she was holding up her back right leg and her foot was swollen. I mean limping and not even walking on it at all at times. Soooooooooooooo we made a trip to see her Doctor. I was not sure what had even happened. I mean Kayla is a very active Basset/Beagle and she gets into things all of the time inside and outside. "One pure little stinker all of the way". Well her Dr. checked her hip, leg and foot not really seeing or feeling any thing out of place. So she received some pain/anti inflammatory medicine. I kept her quit as possible and gave her the medicine. It cleared up and she was running through the house like nothing ever happened within a week. I am happy to report she is still running through the house and feeling great!!!!

Bear News: Some bad news on my bears. I have noted this before and now I am going to note this again. I am going to cut down on the bear making. I am in need of getting my older Bears to new homes due to that I am running out of storage room for them. So please visit Bearpile and my website to adopt.

Now I have some great news on my bears. I really can not cut down on them. I feel like I would be letting them down some how. Besides I really enjoy creating all of my bears. I have decided to design some new medium size bears with lower prices and making one a month. These guys are cute I have two sizes that will be available one is a 14" and the other 12". You have met one, his name was Theodore that made his debut in the Blooming Bear show.
I have been also experimenting on some 5" mini bears. Two of them also made there debut in the Blooming Bear show. I feel that I am in need of a change and a challenge. So for now this is the direction that I am going to go.

I am rethinking on were to sell these new little ones. I am not sure if I want to sell them on Bearpile or go another direction and sell direct from my website or blog or both. I know money is very tight for a lot of people including myself. So I am trying to be as cost effective to myself as well as my collectors.

I think to start the 2011 year I will sell from my blog for a while as a little test. In a couple of days the three that were not adopted from the online show and one or two more will be posted here on my blog with photos, descriptions and cost. You will be able to email me direct with questions and I will send a paypal invoice for there adoption at the time of comment. I will also post photos and a link on facebook and Teddy Talk.

I will have more information here on all links and available bears. We shall see how we do.

I will talk with you all in a few days!

Puppy kisses and Bear hugs!!!

Sheryl

Blooming Bear show preview

2011-03-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Teddies Worldwide Blooming Bear Show preview starts today. Please stop by for a visit and see all the wonderful Bears and Critters that will be available on March 12 & 13.

http://www.teddiesworldwide.com

My preview is Theodore pictured above. He will be available for adoption at the show.

Sheryl

I've Been a Busy Bee

2011-02-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

I think it is time for a update, Don't you think?

Here it is!!! First off the diet was going quite well but like normal I have hit a road block and it is called what was I thinking!!! Really it has not been to bad I have lost 8 lbs and a couple of inches. So I am not doing too bad, but I am not doing too well either. There are just some days I just do not want to eat but I have always done that. Also the diet Dr. Pepper is getting in the way to, because I really do not like water. Oh and the excising is also an issue. Winter is a hard time to exercise. I am so ready for Spring so I can get out in the yard and play. Now it is time to drop all the excuses and get down to business again. Once I finish cycle 3 I will start over again with either cycle 1 the beginning or cycle 2 which is every other day of cycle 1. Yes you can do that. I can tell you that I have learned a lot from this book the 17 day diet. You really do not seem that you are on a diet at all. You are really learning to eat better food choices and in smaller portions. I have also found that I really like the ground turkey instead of lean hamburger. It just seems to taste better to me and of course it is better for you. I have also found that eating better I am sleeping much better and I have more energy as well.
I will say this I do not give up on anything easy or not at all so I am going to stick to my guns and get this weight off!!!!

Now to my shabby chic bedroom I have one wall left to paint and I can put everything together. I have found a few items to add to the decor as well. I still have a few pieces to get but I can get them as I go.

I have my bears done for the online Blooming Bear show in March. I might add one more not sure yet. I wish I could show you photos but you will have to wait. So Sorry!!! ;)

I have been working on a couple of other smaller projects as well. I am teaching myself how to crochet again. It has been a long time since I have done that. I mean like Jr. High School. Its a good thing I am a quick learner. Now if I can do that with knitting I should be sitting pretty. Again it has been a long time.

I do have another project swimming around in my head too, but it will be a surprise. I know my bad! LOL

Now I have a little story to tell you. I think everyone knows that I use copper coated BB's for weight in my bears and critters. I get them at Walmart or K-Mart or my wonderful Mother picks them up at garage sales. Ok I was at K-Mart the other night picking up a few items and some BB's. I got to the the register to check out and the lady there asked me for my birthday for the BB's. Yes, I was carded for BB's. The funny thing is that you have to be 16 years old to buy these things. It is the state law here in Missouri. Ok I am not 16 not even close. Not only that I do not want to go through my teenage years again. I am 48 I do not look 16 I mean really now I think that is too much. The real thing is that I am short, I mean only 5' 1". Ok yes I was this height at 16 too. So that has a lot to do with be carded. Sometimes it pays in a good way to be vertically challenged. I at least got a good laugh as well as my parents when I told them. Now I wish I was at least 24 again. That would be sweat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now my fur babies update. They are all doing grrrrrrrrrrrrreat!!!!! Shadow is being calm as usual. Lucky is being her old self which is good. Her paw is all healed up. and Kayla well she is being her normal little stinker self. So all is pawsitively purrfect!!!!

Well I think I have covered everything I hope at least.

Until next time,

Puppy kisses and Bear hugs,
Sheryl

The Little Thistle giveaway

2011-02-01T09:21:00.001-08:00

Hi
Please stop by The Little Thistle's blog for her wonderful give away. Time is running out so hurry!!!!!!

Sheryl

Out with the Old and in with the New!

2011-01-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well I have been a busy little bee this past couple of weeks. As you know from my last post I had a to-do list. I have been dieting, working on my re-vamped website and re doing my bedroom to be a very nice and pretty Shabby Chic bedroom.

I have lost as of this morning 7 lbs and a few inches off the old tummy. I have uploaded my main pages on my new website and will be working on the others from time to time, so keep checking back for a peek. I have one wall left to paint in the bedroom and have my canopy made and almost ready to attach to the wall. New curtains are bought and hung up. I would say all in all I am on a roll.....................................

I am going to be working on a few bears in the coming weeks as well. I do have to get a couple more critters for the blooming bear show in March done.

I also want to mention that I will be making less bears this year. I really need to get adopted my little orphans on Bearpile so I can make more room for this years bears and critters. So please drop by and see my friends that are looking for new homes. There are a few of them on sale as well.

Well that is the update on my to-do list. I will keep everyone informed on the diet and weight loss. I will also post photos of my bedroom when it is done. I was so excited to get it started I forgot the before photos so I will only have the after ones for you to see. I will be making a bear for Valentine's day next week so I will post photos of him/her when ready.

If anyone has any comments or questions about my new website please let me know. I am always open to suggestions.

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs,

Sheryl

Started New Diet

2011-01-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

Well I have jumped right in and started the 17 day diet today. I am very excited and a little nervous. There are a few things you eat on this diet that I really do not eat-Vegetables. I am however going to give it my best to get them down. This as anyone knows who has started a diet is a big change in so many ways. I am ready!!! I am going to get a bit sentimental here so please bear with me. My Mom has had a double by-pass my Dad has diabetes my Grandmother's passed with heart disease so as you see it runs in my family. I am not on any medicine as of yet and I would like to keep it that way. I am 48 years old and NOW is the time to get in control. Besides it would not hurt a bit to be that HOT little chick!!!! You never know I might meet my future Husband. Well that I will have to think a bit on. :) You never know whats right around the corner do you?

Now a bit about the 17 day diet as seen on the Dr. Phil show. There are four 17 day eating cycles that you do. You eat certain foods for the first 17 days and then there after that you add new groups of food for the next 17 days and so on until you reach you goal weight. Then on the forth 17 day cycle you will maintain what you have been eating and eat what you like of course within reason. You exercise along the way that is a given.

I will update my progress just once a week to let you know how much weight is coming off or if I gain. I will also let you know how the food is after all I now have to cook instead of using those handy dandy TV dinners you pop in the microwave. LOL

I am now on my way to a more healthier ME!!!!!!

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs!!!!

Sheryl

snow means frozen paws and new boots

2011-01-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

Well we have received about 7 inches of snow yesterday and now the temperature is dropping like a rock. I really don't mind the snow so much but the cold I hate. I dislike it even more for my two babies. They both love going outside but they seem to want to stay out after they have done there business. I have a hard time getting them to come back in anyway no matter if it is hot or cold. I went out this morning to shovel the deck off to give them a path and then I was going to shovel the driveway after that. While cleaning the deck the dogs were playing in the snow which is always cute to watch. I had just finished up and was getting ready to come in and I turned around and Shadow was already in distress. His feet were so cold that I could not get him on the deck. I tried to grab him but he kept turning around and backing up away from me and the deck. I finally got him, but by now he really could not walk, so he just sat down. I know that it does not take long for frost bite to set in and I have heard terrible stories about dogs frozen to the ground. OMG now I am in panic mode. I finally got him to the deck and pushed him up so he was out of the snow. I finally got him in the house and on the rug in the kitchen. As you can see from all of my photos he is not a small dog, he weighs 75 lbs that I can not lift. Kayla I can lift up and carry her in. This does happen every winter when it snows it is either Shadow or Kayla with the cold feet. They stand out there for just a minute to long and then are too cold to walk. They just hold there feet up one at a time. Most of the time I can get them to come to the door and get them in the house. This time was the worst I have ever had happened and now the last. Thank goodness he was alright. After I settled myself down from shear panic, I went out and shoveled the drive well about half of it. I went out later and finished it.

Now it is time for me to act on the frozen paws scare. I was going to go out and buy some doggie boots, but I thought maybe someone had a free pattern on the Internet. Bingo I found a couple of patterns. I gathered my supplies, fleece, ultra suede, Velcro and a few more items and went to work. I was not sure how this was going to go, but I do not think I did too bad for a quick job after all looks did not matter in this time of need. Now the true test was to come "Will he wear them". Lets see with a lot of cookies and praise - Oh yes he did wear them!!!!! I have such a good boy. They do need to be a bit longer and I think a little more stylish LOL but they really worked very well.

Check out the new stylin snow boots Dude!!! Where's mine Mom?

" Please take my picture too!!! I am such a pretty girl".

Kayla was not getting her attention today so she just sat down in front of me while I was taking photos of Shadow.

Look everyone my Mom made me some new snow boots so my feet won't get cold again. I am looking good NOW!!!

Shadow's snow boots made from fleece with ultra suede pad on the bottom. I have found that they do twist a bit when he walks. As you can see on one of his front feet the ultra suede pad is showing. I have found it is how you wrap the Velcro that makes a difference in the twisting. A easy fix.

I have decided to go out to Hobby Lobby tomorrow and get some more fleece and a few more supplies and make him another pair as well as a pair or two for Kayla. I might see if I can find another pattern for dog snow boots. I really think his need to be longer on his legs. I also think that they need two pairs each to change them out. I do know that they do keep his feet quit dry.

All in all they worked for what I needed them for and he is still letting me put them on him to go outside. Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow it will be Kayla's turn. I am thinking it is going to be a little bit harder with her. She is wanting to take off running with Shadow's while I am putting them on him. That's my girl! LOL Who knows she may just surprise me like Shadow did.

Right!

My little diva girl. :)

If anyone has any other ideas for me to try, please let me know.

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs,

Sheryl

* Sale* on Bearpile

2011-01-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I am having a sale on www.gonetothedogsusa.bearpile.com Please stop by and see Takoda, Feathers and Ash as well as a few more of there friends up for sale.

New Year and New Adventures

2011-01-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

I want to say Happy New Year all!!!!

I am going to start the new year with new adventures-----------

I am going to start taking better care of me. I am going to get healthy and fit. I mean after all I am no spring chicken but I am not in too bad of shape either, but I do need to loose a little weight. I am going to start the 17 day diet (as seen on the Dr. Phil show) when my book gets here and see how that does. I hope I can do well my fear is that I am such a picky eater that I will not want to eat some of the food suggestions. I will keep an open mind though.

I am also going to get more organized. I am going to clean this house from top to bottom and get rid of the stuff that I do not need or want. I am also going to redo my bedroom. It is one of two rooms that I have left to do. I am going to go for the shabby chic style. I love old things any way so it just sounds like me. I already have a good start with my Grandma's antique iron bed that we painted white when I got it and with a little of the gold color that she had painted it shining through it says shabby chic.

I have also been thinking about giving my website a major face lift. I mean every thing new. Well it was a thought, now it will be a reality. For some strange reason I have lost all of my files in my website program. I mean there is nothing left. Oh don't worry you can still see it it is on my website server, but I will not be updating it until I rebuild it all over again. I know it will be a lot of hours to rebuild. So look for the new and improved Gone to the Dogs USA website coming soon.

I am also going to be reducing prices on some of my items on bear pile. I am going to need to sell to make room for the 2011 Bears and critters. Most will make there debute on the Blooming bears online show in March.

So as you see I have alot of new adventures coming up and more new adventures to come. Keep checking back often as I will be posting more on updates for the new year.

Puppy Kisses and Bear Hugs,
Sheryl

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T19:31:00.001-08:00

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Gone to the dogs USA
Sheryl

One little girl in the Dog house!!!

2010-12-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

Well I have been quite busy these days making last minute Christmas gifts for my customers as well as designing a new pattern.
As for the new pattern it is for a new critter which will make his depute in the online Blooming Bear Show in March. But this little guy has a story to tell.
I spent a full day working on this pattern. I finally got it done and cut out my fabric and hand stitched him all up. I was also helping my Dad with his computer over the phone when I heard Kayla up to something in the other room. I went to check and she had taken my new pattern off the coffee table and decided to be my little portable shredding machine and just had a hay day with it. I mean she had it strung out all over the place. I even think she ate some of it as well. I did rescue at least 3 pieces of this cute critter pattern, but that was it. I have to say she has a very bad habit of doing strange things when I am on the phone with anyone just to get my attention. Well needless to say she got my attention as well as my Dad's. I was screaming at her with the phone by my ear. I am surprised that my poor Dad did not loose his hearing.
It was also a good thing that she did not get a hold of the finished critter she would have been in the dog house for sure.
I did redo the pattern and kept the few pieces that she did not get a hold of and He is finished waiting for a new home come March.

So I am saying this now and again in March that this is a true ONE OF A KIND piece there will never be another one like it!!!

I will post a few of the items I am working on for my clay customers. It has been a couple of years since I have made any clay dogs. I must say I am a little out of practice, but it is coming back to me quickly. It is a nice change from the bears. I will get back to them after the first of the new year. I have a few more to do for the Blooming bear show March 12th & 13th. I am really looking forward to the show.

Talk with you all soon,

Sheryl

I have been hiding out!!!!!!!!

2010-11-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

It has been quite busy around the old home front here. So now it's time to catch everyone up on the goings on.

Well October was a very busy month as you will see below. I had to take Shadow in for his regular Vet visit. He had all of his shots and blood work done for the year. I am happy to say that he is in good health for being 12 years old.

Lucky's Hurt Paw!!!!

Now last week I had a shock, my cat Lucky is never sick but this time she had a hurt foot. I am still not sure what happened but I think Kayla might have stepped on her foot and her toe nail got caught between Lucky's toes and cut it. It was very swollen for a day and then started to bleed. I took her to the Vets for him to check just to make sure nothing serious was going on. Well I decided while she was there I would have her blood work done since she has not been to the Vets since she was 5 and now she is 17. I know me bad for not taking her all those years. The way I see it she is an indoor cat and she has been doing fine for all these years then why take her in. I am sure a few folks are going to be a little unhappy with me about that. I have had her since she was 5 weeks old when she was left in the middle of a road in a box to fend for herself. She has been spayed and her front claws have been declawed. (I do know if I get another cat in the future I will never have them declawed again). I guess my point is I know how she is and when I need to take them in for a visit I will do so in a heart beat.

Now back to the visit. She did very well at the doctors office she was not scared at all. She purred the whole time and let them touch her foot, take blood and weigh her. She weighed a good 9 pounds.
The doctor gave her some antibiotics and I had him wrap her foot up, so the dogs would not bother her little foot. Well let me tell you, if I knew what a good wrap job the doctor was going to do I would not have had him do it. It took 2 days to get that wrapping off her foot. First I had to take the white tape off the top. I pulled gently as possible, but I still pulled out her hair. OUCH!!
So I then cut as far down on the rest of the wrapping as possible, by now Lucky was a very unhappy cat. I mean she was PO'd. Now on top of that the next day I had to give her the liquid medicine. Right like that was going to happen. That did not work out either. I gave that up for the day and went and got some pills instead. I thought I had a better chance to get them down her. I then began again on the wrapping around her foot. So I cut down some more in the front to ware if she just flipped her foot it would come off. I got it to work and when it came off, again she was not at all happy. another OUCH!! I let her settle down and then gave her her pill. It worked out much better this time.
I took her yesterday for her weeks checkup. The only thing that I was very worried about was that she was not eating very well. Her foot looked good and was healing well. The doctor and I thought it might be the medicine upsetting her tummy so we took her off her medicine and I bought some canned food to see if she would eat that (she eats dry food normally). Well today a success she is eating the canned food and doing very well. All of her blood work tests came back great. She is my normal healthy 17 year old cat.

This is a photo of her foot wrapped in a very pretty green bandage.

Kayla was a little sick with something over the weekend, but she is now back to her crazy little self. I am not sure what her problem was. I am just happy that she is doing great. She goes for her yearly visit to the Vets in December. I will have had all three checked from top to bottom and all three in very good health!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Teddies Worldwide Holiday Online Bear Show

Please visit November 15th for a sneak preview of the first Teddies Worldwide Online Holiday bear show. Now you can check out all of the Artists who will be in the show!!!!!!

Click the banner for a visit.

I am very proud to be a part of this show along with 74 other Artists from around the world. I have been creating and working very hard on all new Bears and new friends just for the show. Please stop by and see all the new creations just for the show. I promise you you will not be disappointed.

What's this in my Window?????

Ok, I know this is a strange photo but I just had to take it and share it with you. I heard a nose in my bedroom and walked in there to see this guy in my upper windows. He was chewing on the wood up there. I tapped on the window with my baseball bat (because I am short and that was the longest item I could find at the time) to scare him away, but instead he just looked in the window. Well I finally got him down from there. A couple of days later he was back up there again. Good grief does he not have any manners. "Please do not chew the wood" Mr. Squirrel!!!!!

I am sure he will be back again.

Trunk or Treat for Halloween

Our neighborhood group and the church across the street from me had a Trunk or Treat this year for the kids on Halloween. Here are a few photos of all the ghost and goblins.

This is the first year for me to decorate my car. This is the back of my car that I made into a scary graveyard. I went shopping the day before to pick up a few more items and then used a few things I already had. Not bad if I have to say so myself.

Again this is the back of my car. I liked the witch flying decoration. It was haft price too. It was fun shopping 2 days before Halloween I got all kinds of discounts. Now that's the way to shop!!!!!!!!!!

This little guy is a dragon. He was cute!!! I just love the little ones.

Here is our neighborhood bumble bee girl!!!

I really had a good time. I do not get many kids that come to my house, because I am so close to the main road. They normally go as far as the church across the street from me and go back down the street. So it was nice to see the trick or treaters. There were about 60 kids or more that came.

I will have to do this again next year. Now how can I improve on my graveyard...........

URSA AWARDS

Just wanted to fill everyone in on the Bears and Bud's URSA awards 2010 from October. I am very proud and excited to say that my Dakota Bear has won 1st place in his category this year. What a very big honor for me to have been apart of this event.

Congrats to all of the other winners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope I have caught everyone up on my activities. Please stop by I plan on keeping everyone up to date more often.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Puppy kisses and Bear hugs,

Sheryl

Something COOL on a Hot summer day!!!!!

2010-08-11T20:44:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited, my Dakota Bear is one of the URSA 2010 Finalists. I feel so very honored to have won. Thank you to everyone that has voted for him.

Please click on the banner below and go and vote for your favorite. You only have until September 11 to cast your one vote to determine the major best overall award.

Dakota is a very special bear I named him after my wonderful Nephew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all again for your votes.

Puppy kisses and Bear hugs,

Sheryl

TBAAF Four Seasons Awards Summer 2010

2010-07-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have exciting news to share with you!!!!

My little Meili has won 1st place in the Novice Bear Category in the TBAAF Four Seasons awards 2010.

It is my very first time that I have won an award for my bears. I feel so very honored to have won this award. I am still in shock that I won, but 1st place WOW!!!! I am still doing the old happy dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to thank everyone who voted for me!!!! Like I said it is a honor to have won.

A very big thank you to Lanie and Darrin at TBAAF for all there time and hard work they have put into the website and for making the Four Seasons awards possible.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl

Blog give aways

2010-05-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Oh I have found the most adorable bears from fellow artist that are having blog give aways.

Please click on the link to visit bingle bears give away and read her wonderful blog. http://www.binglebears.blogspot.com/

Visit Emma's bears before tomorrow June 1st and enter her give away and read her wonderful blog as well.

Please visit Emma's bears blog at http://www.emmasbears.blogspot.com/

I will have to check around for more give aways. They are great fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please keep checking back for one of my give aways that is comming soon.

April showers bring.......................

2010-04-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Severe Thunderstorms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week we had some some rain, of course its springtime in April. Well this one was not your ordinary storm it had hail and I mean a lot of hail. I have not seen it hail that much in a long time. It was pretty small, maybe around dime size and a little smaller, but it was loud. There was no way I was going to be pelted standing out in this so I took some photos from my garage standing in the door way.

hail in my front yard around my spring flowers.

If you look close the street and parking a lot are white. It hailed so hard and fast it covered the streets making them white within a matter of 5 minutes.

This is out on my back deck. The dogs had already walked over the hail after it stopped. The white stuff on my swing is hail as well. It took 24 hours for all of the hail to totally melt off the deck in one spot.

Another front yard view. If you look close at my evergreen tree you can see white spots which is the hail bouncing off my gutters on the house. Also the street is covered white.

This is the second bad storm we have had so far. The first one had a lot of wind with it. I had let the dogs out and within a matter of 5 minutes my dogs where at the back door wanting in quickly. Well the rain was coming down hard and with the wind it was blowing the rain straight at them and the side of the house which faces west. I have not seen my dogs run back to the door and want in so fast. I had a little chuckle because they were both pretty much flat up against the door wanting in out of the rain and wind. I keep both of them in when it is bad out side. Kayla has no problem at all with storms. If she had her way she would be out in them just walking around the yard. My poor Shadow on the other hand does not like the thunder, it just drives him crazy. All he does is pace around the living room. It is no fun at all for him. I did find a couple of things that does calm him down a bit, one is we play with his tennis ball. It works for a while but then he starts in again on the pacing. The other is I give both dogs some peanut butter in there bone and kong ball. It gives the storm time to pass and keeps Shadow calm.

I love spring with all of the flowers coming up and the grass getting green and leaves coming out on the trees, but when you live in Kansas City, Missouri and spring time turns to all of the severe storms it is not fun. We also live in the area they call tornado alley which makes all of the storms a little more intense. It does get a little scary around here when these bad storms pop up. I have lived in this area all of my life so I know what I need to look at and what needs to be done to keep safe. Also I can tell by Shadow just how bad a storm is going to be. Animals are a good indicator on storms in the Spring time.

Until next time,

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

3 months in review and catch up

2010-04-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I see that I have some catching up to do here on my blog. So we are going to do the last three months review.

January- Well let me see first off it has been cold and snowing. Oh Boy!!!!!!!!!! I am so ready for winter to be over with.
Next Kayla has been sick again. This time something new not her breathing issue this time. It seems this time she has been eating or taking in more than she has been passing out the other end so to speak. The emergency vet gave her some liquid medicine that you give with a syringe (with out the needle). I thought she would not like, because to me it smelled nasty, but come to find out (of course) she liked the stuff. I lost my head and was not sure what I was thinking. This is a dog that eats anything you know. So after a few days and my scare wore off she was doing much better. All in all that is pretty much for January.

February-Lets see I have been designing and making new larger bears with and without open mouths. I have also made a new smaller version of my open mouth bears as well. They sure have been a big hit. I have enjoyed meeting my new collectors. It has been great to be able to create my bears.
I am still out of work and looking for a new job. A year being without work is coming up quick. It does get depressing at times but I know that I have to keep going and in between keep myself busy with other things and of course my BEARS.
Kayla has been doing great we made it through this month without any illness. I am so doing the happy dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March- It has warmed up a bit and the flowers are starting to peek out of the ground and then we got a March snow storm at the end of the month. That was great. we got about 6"of the old white stuff. Winter just wants to keep hanging on and I know we all want it to go away.
Kayla made it another month. Doing the happy dance again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still creating bears as well.
Other than that it has been pretty quite around here.

This has been your 3 month in review. Now I am going to start fresh with a new post for April.

Talk to you soon.

Sheryl

Valentines Day Heart Dog Breed Pin Give away race game is over

2010-01-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Valentine's Day Heart pin give away is now over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please everyone check your emails I am needing shipping address so I can get everyone there little pins.

Andrea-Dreli Bears-English Springer Spaniel
Heather-littlebearries-Yorkie
Joanne-Desertmountainbear-Weimaraner
Pat-Denby Bears- Basset Hound
Vicki-Westie
Kay-KatieCountryBears-Golden Retriever

Thanks to all you have posted there comments.

Hi all,

Well it is getting close to Valentines day so I thought I would do something a little different.
I made these cute little Heart pins from polymer clay. Yes not only am I a Bear artist I am also a Polymer clay artist too. These pins are of different dog breeds.

So here is how this give away is going to go. I have only six pins which now have been retired (which means I will not be making any more). The first person to leave a comment on my blog requesting which dog breed pin they want (only one please) will get that pin as a free give away.

So the fun of this is to be the very first person to leave a comment again with the dog breed of there choice until all of the pins are gone. I will email each person to let them know if they won or did not win.

Here are the breeds.... Basset Hound, Golden Retriever, English Springer Spaniel Liver and white, Yorkie, Westie and a Weimaraner.

Have fun guys and good luck to all.

Sheryl

New Bears for 2010

2010-01-10T13:13:00.001-08:00

Hi all,
Please met my new bears for 2010. They are all now posted on ebay.

This is Jewel
This is Sammy

And these three are April to the left, Benson in the middle and Harley to the right.

I hope you all like them. Please stop by ebay and check them out.

sheryl

Happy New Year!!!!!

2010-01-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year. We had about 8" of snow Christmas eve and I think it has been pretty much snowing ever since. The other day we got another 5" of the white stuff and today it is snowing again, mainly flurries. I never thought I would be so tried of shoveling my drive way but I am. Yesterday was the 6th time since Christmas day. I am so happy I do not live further north and east. I think I am packing up the pups and cat and moving some place warm. :) Ha Ha I think our whole country is in a deep freeze and there is no place warm at the moment. So I think I will just stay here...............

Here is the snow we got from Christmas. I know not so bad right. Well here in KC, MO it has been quite some time since we have seen this much snow. We used to get this through the winter when I was a kid many many many years ago. :) Everyone was used to it then - and they could drive in it. Most places would be closed over the holidays so there was no need to drive. Just stay at home play out in the snow make a little money by shoveling out neighbors drives. You know the good old days!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a shot of my birdbath and the the little red things sticking out are what used to be my candy cane lights down in front of the bushes. You can see the candy cane lights better in the photo above. I must say now you can't even see any of them at all even my little sign. All Christmas lights will have to come down when all of this melts, maybe in April?????

The Holidays were great. Spent the day with my family and dinner, opened gifts. Just a good old fashioned Christmas. We do this every year. Its great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below are my two pups opening a gift from Santa- (my Mom). She spoils them more than I do sometimes. They got a few more gifts as well from me.

Well again I wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope we all have a good, happy and healthy one.

New bears for 2010 are now on ebay. I will post some photos later this evening.

Until then.

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

Jingles on ebay

2009-12-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Please met Jingles. He is one of Santa's little helpers. He is made from Antique Curry 3/4" Medium density Mohair with a curly finish.

He is now posted on ebay for 3 days only.

Please stop by and take a peek.

Puppy kisses and bear hugs.

Sheryl

First Snow of 2009

2009-12-09T08:45:00.001-08:00

Well we just had our first accumulating snow fall for 2009. I just finished shoveling my drive way and thought I would take a few photos. It looks like in my area we only got about maybe 4" of the white stuff and now it is really cold about 11 degrees out side now. At least the sun is shinning.

This is my house. I just finished shoveling out the drive way. Oh what fun that was !!!! Oh by the way my house is bigger than this looks, my evergreen tree to the left covers that side of the house. I should have stood out in the street to get a better view.

These are Yucca plants in my neighbors yard. They look pretty with the snow on them.

These geese just happen to fly by while I was out front. They said they had enough of the cold so off to the south they go.

This is my boy Shadow out in the back playing in the snow. This is the only time when it gets dark out side that I can see where he is in the yard. LOL

Here is Shadow and Kayla. They were playing in the snow before, but Kayla is too fast to take a photo when she is running around the yard. Those crazy dogs!!!!!!!!!

I hope to take some night photos of my Christmas lights outside. They are going to look pretty with the snow out there.

Talk with everyone soon.

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

sheryl

Blog Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have just noticed that I have been blogging now for 1 year. So in celebration I am having a blog give away. I have been designing and working on something new. Annie Dolls!!!!!

So I am giving away this cute little "I love puppies" Annie. She is 12" tall and is wearing a red dress with paw prints on it. Her little pin is a black and white puppy button. She has brown eyes and brown hair. She is made from tea dyed muslin.

So Please leave a comment below and I will be drawing the winners name on October 25th. Which happens to be my Birthday as well.

Good luck!!!!

Puppy kisses and bear hugs

Sheryl

PS I have listed more Annie dolls on ebay. Please take a peek.

Shame on me......

2009-09-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

for not posting for so long.

There has been quit a lot going around here. First off I was let go from my job at the end of May due to down sizing. So all kinds of emotions have been going through my head. I know a lot of you are out there going through the same thing so you understand what I mean. I know things happen for a reason and God has a plan in mind for me. I do know that he will see me through this and it will all work out for the best.

I have been and still am looking for a new job. It has not been an easy task, but I know that I will get another one. While I am looking for a job I decided to do those little projects around my house that I have been putting off for some time now. As you all know from past post, my wonderful neighbor passed away over a year ago so I have been digging up (with family's permission) some of her flowers for my garden. I am here to tell you I am still digging up flowers. I know I will have to get what I want and soon. It is getting a little chilly here at night and they will soon be fading away for winter. Also her family has put her house on the market so if it sells I will not be able to get any more.
I have also put some lattice around the bottom of my deck so Kayla ( my basset/beagle) wont be able to get under it anymore. Well right......... The little stinker has already broke it and is able to get under the deck. It only took her a week to figure that one out. I did a temporary fix, but guess who figured that out as well. So now I have to redo one whole side again and then try and figure out how to keep her from breaking it again. She is such a stinker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also have been wanting to take out my small pond for over 2 years. Well I did that too.
So I have been moving right along with outdoor projects. Mainly to keep my mind busy while looking for work. As for indoor projects I did some major cleaning out inside my house and had a garage sale. After the sale I painted and fixed one of my spare bedrooms up very nicely. I should have taken a before picture, let me tell you it was a mess. It looks great. I still have a few items left to find new homes for. Now I need to clean up and get rid of more stuff in my other spare room. I think the time is coming up shortly. I am getting really tired of not being able to find anything. It is also my studio and computer room. (even though I work in my living room).

I also got my mojo back for making something. So I made 2 bears and 5 little primitive Annie dolls. They are going to have there debut at the first of October. I think what sparked that was my Mom found a 1928 singer sewing machine at an estate sale for a very good price. (I will post photos of the machine later) So I just had to try that gem out. It worked very well until last weekend. Now I have to figure out what is wrong with it. So in the mean time I have a little hand work to do on my new designed Annie's.
Who knows I might have to make a couple more of them. They are wonderful to design from the pattern to the clothes.

Kayla and I had our dog walk last weekend so I will post a couple of photos from the event. It really was not a good walk this year. Little miss thing (Kayla) had an attitude. I will have that story in a later post.

Well I think I have caught you all up on what has been going on around my little part of the world.

Please keep me in your prayers as I will do for others.

Lots of puppy kisses and bear hugs.

Sheryl

Updates, Updates, Updates !!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-27T09:22:00.001-07:00

Well I thought I had better pop in and give everyone a few updates

Kayla update:

Kayla is doing fine. We went to her regular Vets last week for a I am feeling fine chest x-ray and the shocker was that it looked just like all of her other ones when she was sick. How strange is that. Now I am thinking that her lungs are normal too. So now we are back to square one on trying to figure out why she is having the breathing spells. The Vets tell me she is a medical mystery dog. :) I say she is my special little girl!!!!!

Flower update:

Well we have all of the flowers out of the front flower bed of my neighbors yard. Her son has seeded it and it is looking good. Grass is now starting to come up and the front has a bigger yard.
I have started as of this past weekend digging flowers in the back yard. I really don't have to much more to dig up but it should give them a bigger back yard as well. I will post photos of my flower beds later.

My neighbors Estate sale started today which is a little depressing, but I know it has to be done. I did get to go over this past Monday with the family to pick up a few things I saw I wanted. I did get two old trunks and a chest for storing my bear material and needle felting supplies. They are really cool and old. I love antique stuff like that and have been wanting a trunk for storage. Now I have my neighbors which is more sentimental to me. I will have to post photos at a later date.

Computer update:

Well the old saying is all things good or bad comes in threes. Well it did. First I was sick a couple of weeks ago than Kalya got sick and now my computer is sick. It is still being worked on. I will answer all emails from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at my day job from Monday thru Friday until my computer is well and back home.

I will be posting here on my blog but I am unable to update my website at this time.

I think and hope I have caught everyone up on what is going on in my corner of the world.

Until next time,

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

My little pup Kayla is sick

2009-05-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

Well my little dumpling Kayla was sick last Thursday. I had heard her at 12:30 in the morning sick so I got up to check on her and to clean up when I noticed she was having a hard time breathing. So off to the Emergency Vets we went. Now if you have been following in the past she has done this before and as you all know that the Vets have been saying something is wrong with her heart. In which I keep replying no she is to active and young to have heart problems. I feel in my gut that there is nothing wrong with her Heart. Anyway again he took an x-ray and said that she had an enlarged heart and water on her lungs and gave her a shot and some medicine. I brought her back home and thinking this is going to be a long night. She also has other problems that go along with being able not to breath. They are almost like fainting spells but not. The medicine did not start working until around 4:00 A.M. so I decided to take her to her regular Vet at 7:30. I watched after her until then but seeing my poor little one having these strange attacks is really scary when you do not know what is causing them and know what to do for her to make her comfy. By the time we needed to leave she was doing a little better, but I still wanted her Vet to watch her for the day to see what she was doing. When we got to see him he pretty much said take her to the Heart specialist he could not do anything else for her. Well I was none to happy about that due to the fact that it was about a 45 min drive and she is known for almost passing out and it was raining to boot. So off we went to gather up x-rays and her records for me to take. We left there and of course about 10 minutes away from the place she started to have a spell. I am holding on to her with one hand kind of shaking her and talking to her so she could come out of it. Again very scary!!!!!!!!!

We made it there so her and I checked in and was told if she had another spell to let them know. Of course she did and they came up and took her to the back ASAP. I know it was much better for them to have her back there where they can keep an eye on her. I had spoke to the nurse a couple of times letting me know Kayla was doing fine and she was resting. Finally about 1:00 in the afternoon I got to see the Cardiology Doctor. He had good news and bad of course, but what the good news was that my little Kayla had nothing wrong with her Heart It was NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (To be honest that was really all I heard him say) She also did not have any fluid in her lungs on any of her past x-rays but it was inflammation of some form. That was the bad news he did not know why her lungs were inflamed. He also said that if she was a Cat she would be considered to have Asthma. Well now what........He wants us to run more tests to eliminate any other form of disease.
I have second thoughts about that, because I do believe deep down inside and in my Heart that there is nothing wrong with her. I know she has inflammation in her lungs and I think even though she is a dog she does have some form of Asthma and yes there is something causing it. The Heart doctor gave me some prednisone for when she has another episode. Which again it comes on with out warning at any time of the year. What is very strange is that she now has the Heart Doctor stupped as well as her regular Vet. (I have to laugh inside and say I told you so)

These wonderful doctors do not know Kayla and how she is being what I call her normal, but they are going by what I say and what they see. She is a very active little 3 yr old Basset/Beagle always looking for things to get into too, back talking her Mom (me) very vocal, playing with big Bro Shadow, cruising around the yard, eating anything that she finds inside or out. She even goes non-stop when she is sleeping dreaming away with her legs and feet twitching as if she is running after a squirrel or rabbit.

She is back to her normal now for sure doing all the things I just mentioned above. I really consider her my very Special little one and am not looking at her as being sick or has any crazy disease she is just Kayla!!!!!! Oh don't worry I will have the additional tests done but the Doctor says that she should be OK and we can do them at our leisure. He does want an x-ray of her lungs in her normal state which is a great idea because they would have something to compare to and it might answer a few questions about the inflammation on whether it is always present or not. In the mean time I have checked on the Internet and I have found a few things saying that dogs do get Asthma but it is not common. Anyway I will have to talk to her Vet and see where we go from here. I am also looking around at home and in the yard for anything possible that might trigger her attacks. I am going to start a little journal as well to keep track of what she eats and what I do such as cleaning house and what I use to clean with and so on.... Maybe and hopefully I can find that trigger.

In the mean time she is back to her old self and her Heart is normal in every way!!!!!!!!!!!! I am doing that big old happy dance now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will keep you all posted!!!

Until next time

Puppy kisses and bear hugs,

Sheryl

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

2009-05-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well I have been the busy little bee lately. As from my last post I have been digging and planting flowers from my neighbors yard for the past 4 weeks in between the tons of ran we have been getting. I have now filled up 3 of my flower beds (that did not have much in them to start with) in the front yard and still have lots more to dig up and plant. I still have the whole backyard to put them in but it is a wet, muddy mess so I can't do to much with it right now. We are still in for more rain this week (like every other day) UGH!!
There really is not a whole lot left in the one flower bed in the front that my neighbors son wants to get rid of. He wants to plant grass seed and let it go back to being a yard. That is better than what I had thought he wanted to do (like get ride of all of the flowers his Mom had). Believe me she has tons of flowers in the front and back yard. I still have a big bed of Daylilies to dig up and plant that are going in my backyard, but I still have time to get that done before they sell the house.
I do want to say that since my neighbor passed away a year ago that me digging and planting her flowers in my yard gives it very special meaning to me. A sort of a healing process since she has been gone. I look over there every morning as I am leaving for work hoping to see her smiling and waving to me as I leave, but she is not there. I do feel that she is smiling and waving and watching out for me from above and knowing that her lovely flowers will remain in my yard and hers for all to see.
Now if I can be able to keep the dogs from eating and digging up the flowers in the back yard when I get them planted I should have a really good start to a very pretty flower garden around my house.

Until next time,

Sheryl

I've been AWOL

2009-04-14T10:12:00.001-07:00

Well I thought it was time to catch you up on what has been going on in my neck of the woods.

First off let me start by saying both dogs Shadow and Kayla and my pretty kitty Lucky are all doing great "knock on wood". Shadow's mouth is all healed up and all medicines are all gone. Kayla has been her little stinker self. You know getting into things like steeling my socks, taking trash out of the trash can and tearing it up. Now days she is dragging things that are under the bed like paper stickers and toys that my niece and nephew when they were younger dropped under there. OK that might tell you that I have not cleaned under that bed in years since my niece is now 15 and my nephew is now 11. LOL I guess with Kayla around who needs to clean it out when she is doing such a great job herself. The only thing is that she keeps getting stuck under there, it is not a very high bed and she well lets just say she does not have that little girlish figure that she should. I mean after all she is a Basset/Beagle mix. So I have to grab them back legs and pull her back out. It is really funning to see!!!!!!!!!! Just get this mental picture in your head of Kayla baying away under the bed trying to reach what ever she is after. Then Mom comes to the rescue and pulls her out just to find out that she is back under there again 10 minutes later doing the same thing. She is a hoot let me tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been cleaning a little here and there, but was side tracked when I needed to get over to my neighbors to dig up her plants so I could plant them in my yard. My neighbor was a great older lady who I really looked up to. She passed away a year ago this past January and I have dearly missed her so. Her kids have been cleaning and going through the house and her son wants to clean up the yard. I mean he wants to mow everything down and turn it back into grass. That is fine but .......... let me start by saying she has a great flower garden. I mean flowers from Spring to fall all over her yard. So the family took the plants that they wanted and gave me permission to dig what I want, but I only have a couple of more weeks "I hope" before they are toast. The weather has not been to great it is either raining or even snowing the past couple of weeks so it has been to wet and cold to dig. Just the thought of all of those flowers that my neighbor has put all that hard work and love into just go by the way side tears me up. I have lived at my house for 15 years and have watched her take so much pride in her flower garden.
I know as soon as it is a little warmer I will start digging again. I will get what I can and hope they will do great in my yard. I know I will have an angel from heaven watching out for them in my new flower gardens.

Back to my Bears:
Here is my newest little bear. Her name is Breena a little fairy bear. She is the smallest bear I have made to date at a height of 9". She is still available at the moment through me so if any one is interested please email me and I will email more photos.

I took a short break from my bears and clay dogs and signed up for a doll class:
This sweet little girl is my first Cloth and Clay doll I made in Jane DesRosier's class on Cloth and Clay dolls.ning.com. I have a link to the site on the right side of my blog.
She is made with paper clay and cloth. I had a great time making her and plan on making a couple more. Also I plan on making a few other different types of dolls in the future so keep checking my blog and website. I might even offer them for sale at a later date. But if anyone is interested in one please contact me.

I think I am caught up for now. I am sure I have more to say but I just can't think of anything at this time.

Please stop by as more fun and exciting things happen on a daily basses in my neck of the woods.

Until next time.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl

Spring is in the air!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-19T10:25:00.001-07:00

and so is Spring Cleaning time.

I have made a very big decision that it is time for some major Spring cleaning. I have so much stuff that I can not find anything I am looking for so in the next couple of weeks or even may be months (LOL) I will be cleaning my house from top to bottom inside and out.

Now this is going to benefit you all as well.

I will be listing a few of my polymer clay items that I made in clay class years ago on ebay at a very low price. I am also going to be listing a few more of my polymer clay dogs too. Again at a very low price. Now don't get to excited I am not retiring from my polymer clay dog sculptures or my Bear and dog soft sculptures I will still work on them in between the cleaning up. Who knows what kind of ideas I might come up with in the process of cleaning. Now with that said. I will start listing items on ebay this Sunday evening so please stop by and see what is for sale on ebay. I will also be listing a few bears in my Artfire studio at the first of April and even a few other surprises too. Now all of the other things that I will not be needing will be put into a Garage sale or the trash. (Maybe I just need to rent a big dumpster and save the trouble of cleaning)LOL

Oh my I do have my work cut out for me don't I. Well it needs to be done and now is as good as time as any.

A major overhaul is coming down and I am very excited to get started. I plan to organize and do a little decorating as well. Of course after the cleaning up is down. Then I get to make a new mess. Oh Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well until next time if I am not buried under a pile of whatever in my house.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl

Shadow update with Good news

2009-03-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

If you have been following me along Shadow my handsome black lab had two teeth pulled last month. Well his mouth had an infection so we have been going back weekly to the Vets. Yesterday was the last visit. I am happy to say the infection is gone and the bump under his chin has gone down as well. It looks like he is back to normal. He even gained another pound he is now up to 70lbs. I am so glad he is better. Doing that Happy Dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully he will not need to go back until his regular check up and shots in October.

Now I do have miss Kayla to worry about it is coming up on that time of the year she gets into trouble. If anyone here does not know Kayla is my Basset/Beagle mix. Her little nose gets her into trouble all of the time. As a matter of fact yesterday she had something in that mouth of hers. So I had her bring it to me so I could see what it was. Well she had been over by my big Maple tree peeling off the bark and that is what she was caring around and brought to me. A very lovely piece of bark fresh off the tree. I told her thank you and off inside we went. She brings me presents all of the time. I am so glad that I have taught her to bring things to me and drop them in my hand. I will say sometimes the things she does bring you do not want them in your hand at all. Now let your imagination take over on what some of those things might be. UGH!!!!!!!!!! Need I say more!!!!!!!!!!

Now if we can all get through this summer with out any trips to the Vets I will be on cloud nine.

Until next time,

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,
Sheryl

Bear Swap

2009-03-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping a little surprise from you all, LOL

A while back I had entered a bear swap from a wonderful forum I belong to called Teddy-Talk that was organized by Peta of Wazza Bears.

Well I just received my little bear this past Saturday. All I can say is what a wonderful little girl she is. My very first Artist bear OMG!!!! Doing the HAPPY DANCE now. She is made by a wonderful lady and new friend Sue Pemblington of FenBeary Folk. I can not say enough about this little one or Sue. It was a great experience and I will be taking part in future Bear Swaps.

Well here is a photo of my new and very first Artist Bear!!! Her name is Fidget Elfwand and is made from a peach/pink mohair. Is she not the cutest little thing!!!!!!! I just long her wings.

Of course what is there not to love about this little girl.

Please stop by Sue's website and take a peek at all of her wonderful bears. Believe me you will not be disappointed. Her link is above and will be adding it to my website and I have her blog site posted here on my blog.

Now here is my Panda bear that I sent to Sue. His name is Shaiming which means "Sunshine". He brought Sue something a little extra with him as well. A little wooden box with a necklace that I had made tucked inside.

This was Sue's first Artist bear as well so I am delighted to say that she is very pleased. She had written me that Shaiming sits proudly among her Steiff's. Which is a great honor for me.

Sue has been the perfect swap partner and I am looking forward to our new friendship.

We both have our very first artist bears and I must say it is a great start to a growing collection.

I would like to thank Peta for setting this up she did a wonderful job. Please take a peek at the other artist bears for the swap on Teddy-Talk. They are all wonderful.

Thank you again Sue.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses

Sheryl

update for Shadow 3-5-09

2009-03-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well all Shadow had his check up yesterday at the Vets. She said that his mouth looked really good and that he does not need to take any more antibiotics. She does want to see him again next Thursday since he is going to be off the medicine. What a great big sigh of relief for me. He still has the bump under his chin, but it could be from the scare tissue and it is just taking a little longer for that to heal or it may never go away. Oh and he did gain 1 lb. Just a note: he weighed 83 pounds last September and had dropped down to 67 lbs from those nasty bad teeth. So with him gaining the pound I was quite happy. I think he needs to put on just a couple of more though.

All in all I have my great big lovable happy boy back to normal.

Until next time

Big bear hugs and sloppy doggie kisses,

Sheryl

Update on Shadow

2009-02-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Well two weeks have just flown by and Shadow has finished all of his antibiotics. He went to see the Vet this afternoon. The poor boy still has a swollen jaw but she had said it was much better than before. It is not near as swollen as it was or as big. I will have to agree. He was feeling pretty good this morning. All full of energy. I do not think I have seen that much energy out of him in months. Anyway we have another weeks worth of antibiotics and then we go for another visit. I hope this will be the last time. I am glad it was not as serious as it could have been but it is an infection which is also not a good thing either. We are going to take it a day at a time. I think he is now finally on the mend. ***I am crossing my fingers****

I will update next week after are visit.

Talk with you all soon.
Have a wonderful evening and a good day tomorrow.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses.

Sheryl

Old family photo

2009-02-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would pop by and share one of my favorite old family photos. This little girl is my great grandfathers niece. OK so what is the deal about this photo. Well when I first saw it I almost passed out. I look just like this little girl at her age. This was so crazy!!!!! Even being older now you can still see that there is a resemblance between us.
The sad thing is I can not find out anything about her other than what I had mentioned before. I do know her name which is written on the back of the photo but that is it.

I just love the little dolls in the buggy and the dogs well I think they are fantastic. Look how well behaved they are and the bows around there neck how cool is that. I am not sure what breed of dogs they are so if anyone has a clue please let me know.

I love to look at our old family photos there is such a wonderful charm about them.

Well until next time,

Many bear hugs and puppy kisses!!!

Sheryl

PET Peeve

2009-02-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

First off let me start by saying that I am not trying to offend anyone. I am one of millions who love animals and would take them all in if I could, but letting dogs and cats run loose or dumped in the city on a busy street is a pet peeve that I just can not understand. Don't get me wrong I have picked up a few strays and found out who the belonged to and took them home. I am sure that I will pick up a few more in my life. As a matter of fact I have two myself one is Shadow and the other is my 16 year old cat Lucky. But when my dogs are in there own fenced in yard minding there own business and a stray dog or cat comes along well I get a little peeved.

This past Saturday my two dogs Shadow and Kayla were out side barking away at who knows what so I went to check it out and what I saw just made a knot in my stomach. There was a large dog running around in my neighbors back yard. Now the thing is Shadow is quite the protective type of dog and he has been attacked by two dogs before so you can pretty much visualize what was in my head and that is not what I wanted to happen. I was in no mood to go to the hospital myself or take the dogs to the emergency vets for being hurt. I went outside and without making a sound (can you believe that) I went up and grabbed Shadow's collar. I walked him back to the house hoping that Kayla was a good girl and follow I turned around after I let Shadow in the house and saw that Kayla was following along. I had no sooner shut the back door and the dog jumped over my fence and into my yard. Well I called animal controls emergency number (well what I thought was there number) only to find out that I had called our local police dept. I have done this before when I had no water so I called the emergency number on the back of my water bill which turned out to be the local police dept. A lesson learned is that I know that you do not call any local emergency number on any of my bills because I will get my local police Dept. This is what I would call a brain fart. LOL The dispatcher was very nice and did put the call to animal control for me. Well I did see them out looking. But they did not see anything. I thought I was safe so my two wanted out again, I did let them out one at a time to do there business as I stood guard. I know sooner come back in closed the door and the dog was back in my yard again. I called and left a message with animal control. They called me back 30 minutes later and said is the dog still in my yard, well no it was not. I told the gal on the phone my concern was that there are young kids and smaller dogs in this area and that not knowing the dog or the temperament I was concerned for everyone and all of the dogs safety. I live by a very busy street so I did not want the dog to get hit either. After the third time of seeing and having the unwanted friend in my yard I was at the Animal controls mercy. I know they can't stand outside my house looking for a dog, but I watched for over 2 hours and it kept coming back. I called back animal control to see if any one else had called missing the dog or seeing it but no one ever did. By the time it was starting to get dark I got a little bit more nervous. Now I had to deal with my black dog and the stray dog being a dark color and what light I did have coming from my back porch light I was scared I must say. I stood guard when ever my two were out but did not see our new visitor. The dog has not come back I checked off and on yesterday as my dogs were outside and never saw it.

Now I know a few of you are asking why did you not pick up the dog? Well I had gone out side and peeked around my house as the dog was in the neighbors back yard barking and when it saw me it stated to bark at me. I am not afraid of any dog large or small and I am not afraid of any particular breed of dog either but my inner voice was telling me that this dog was confused, scared and lost. The light when on in my head and said do not bother, this is not a good sign to go after this dog. I am sure that this dog was nice just like mine are, but there comes a time that you have to admit that your dog and yes even mine can do harm.

I know that the other question is why did I even bother calling Animal control? Well I look at it this way. This is someones pet I would hope that if my two got out that someone would be kind enough to pick them up or call animal control. I also do not want to see any ones dog or cat hit by a car.

I try to be a very responsible pet owner myself all of my babies have also been fixed. I know that most people are taking care of there animals but that few that just do not care are why I get peeved.

Again I do want to say that I do love all dogs and cats. I do know that it is not there fault they are running loose or dumped. They are such angels and do not deserve to be treated the way they are and again I wish I could have them all.

As a happy ending to my story no one went to the hospital. I do hope that the sweet vistor did find her way home.

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,
Sheryl

Shadow and Kayla

2009-02-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Just thought I would pop in and show off my two trouble makers. (not really I'm just kidding)

Shadow is to the right and looking like the dapper old gentleman that he is and kayla little miss Prissy down and on the left (yes you have to look down as she is half the size of her big bo). This picture reminds me of me and my Brother and I really have to laugh because my brother is over 6' and I am just little over 5'. The only thing is I am older than my brother so my nephew still thinks because I am shorter then I am younger than he is. What a great nephew I have. LOL!
I know that has nothing to do with Shadow and Kayla right.

This is looking up on my very messy deck. I have a lot of things stored up there for the winter. I hope by the end of March I can put things back out. I am so ready for Spring!!!!!!!!!

Yes this is the classic AHHRRROOOOOO!!!!!! from Kayla. She is very much letting me know that it was time to get that cookie I had in my hand. Shadow is just waiting like a true champ.

And here is Kalya looking at the kids playing ball in the yard behind my neighbors. Yes her little bottom is sitting on the step above.

They are just so much fun and they are really a joy to have in my life.

Talk with you all soon,

Bear hugs and puppy kisses,

Sheryl

The sick pups continued part 2

2009-02-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here we go again with one sick dog, my big boy Shadow. I noticed the other day that his lower jaw was swollen where he had his teeth pulled. I just happened to be home on Monday due to President's Day so I called the Vets. They said bring him in for a check. Well I was none to happy about that mainly because I am really tired of going there for reasons that this should not have happened in the first place. :( I know sometimes things happen, but good grief. She (the Vet) checked him out and said he has a swollen jaw DUH!!!!!!! That was why I bought him in. She then sent us home with an antibiotic which by the way must be made of gold because it was $100.00. It was nice that she did not charge for the office visit though. When the medicine is gone she wants to see him again which is about 2 weeks. Yes I do sound like I am a little miffed. To be honest yes I am. PLEASE PLEASE do not get me wrong Shadow, Kayla and Lucky mean the world to me after all they are my fur kids and yes they are spoiled rotten to the core. They keep me going everyday and they do come first.
What is really kind of funny is I just have to walk in the Vets and they know who I am, don't have to say a word. They have been good to both Shadow and Kayla, but sometimes I think they should do more. Oh I guess I should say that Lucky my 16 year old cat is the only one in the house hold that is not sick. She very rarely does get sick. She is like a Timex she takes a lick'n and keeps on tick'n. LOL

I am so sorry about my little fit about the Vets. I just want my dogs and cat to be as healthy and happy as possible. It is really not fair to them to have to keep getting poked and prodded all of the time. I would much rather it be me.

I will keep you all posted.
Until then,

Bear hugs and doggie kisses,

Sheryl

New Bears for 2009

2009-02-17T13:30:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Well here are the first two new bears for 2009. I have really enjoyed making these two little ones.

Please meet Oliver, he is made from a golden brown mohair and stands at 13" high.

Please meet Susie she is made from a sparse cream with brown tipped Mohair and stands at 11" high.

They are both available until this Sunday evening on ebay. There links are below. Please stop by and have a look.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Oliver-Artist-Soft-Sculpture-Bear_W0QQitemZ370160426931QQihZ024QQcategoryZ3904QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Susie-Artist-Soft-Sculpture-Bear_W0QQitemZ370160422400QQihZ024QQcategoryZ3904QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Until next time,

Bear hugs and puppy kisses.

Sheryl

Time to catch up!!!!!! UPDATE 2-10-09

2009-02-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Well since my last post a lot has been going on. As you all know by now Shadow is doing well after having 2 of his teeth removed.

I have finally got my new Internet service up and running.

The bad news is last Friday my little Kayla girl got sick and I was sick as well. I took her to the vets Friday because she was not breathing very well. Well the x-rays told us she had some fluid on her lungs. OK now let me explain, Kayla is a one of a kind dog if there is something she can get into or catch she does. She has had this before like last January. So far she has bounced back with the antibiotics that she is taking. The only question is what is causing this to happen now for the second year in a row. The doctors do not hear a heart murmur or indicate that it could be caused by her heart which is a good thing. So the mystery is ..................................going to be just that a mystery.

She also gets at least twice a year in the summer an intestinal infection. We take our meds for that and all is well. Again here is another mystery. I have had blood tests and a few other tests done on her. They all check out normal. OK normal she is not, but very SPECIAL she is :). I feel that if all her test come back as normal and she is happy and in no pain then we can live with a few road bumps. I still do have that question to as "Why is she getting sick?" in the back of my head. There has to be something wrong somewhere right??? but then again as some people and other animals maybe it is just how things are going to be. What is most important is that she is doing great we go back to the Vets this Friday so he can take another x-ray and hope that her lungs are all clear.

Please if any one has any suggestions or comments I would love to hear them.

Will keep you posted,

Until next time,
Sheryl

UPDATE 2-10-09

Well Kayla went to see her Vet last Friday and all looked good. He said he does not hear a Heart Murmur. Good News!!!!!!!
She was feeling still a little under the weather Sunday, but oh boy yesterday she was back to her old self. Just like a little kid into everything. All you could hear is me say Kayla leave the cat alone, stay out of the trash, you don't need another cookie, stay out from under neath the deck, I think you get the picture. And then all of that back talk (which is multiple bays and howls and barks) which was music to my ears!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time
Ahhrrrooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs and Kisses
Sheryl, Shadow, Kayla and Lucky

I'm the worried Dog Mommmy UPDATE!!!!

2009-01-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well off to the Vets office................

Well it was a not so wonderful Monday for me to start out.

Last Friday after coming home from work I noticed my Basset/Beagle Kayla was trying to eat something like she normally does ( my little hoover vacuum) so I got it away from her to see that it was my Lab Shadow's tooth that had been split off. I watched him all weekend and decided to call to make an appointment for him to see the Vet tomorrow, but looking at him this morning I thought it would be best to get him in today. Being that he is 11 years old I did not want an infection to set in. I had the worst time leaving him at the Vets. I know what a big baby I am. Well the truth of the matter is is that he is my baby boy and the first dog I have had of my own since moving out of my parents house well over 20 years ago. I do not have any kids but my fur kids so the mother hen that I am I worry all the time about them. So the tears started to roll down my cheeks as soon as I was in the car driving to work. All kinds of things roll through my head like, does he have something else wrong, is it going to bad news, you know anything bad comes in mind and you think it. I am sure I am not along about this. So then my mind went to Kayla Oh my goodness she hates to be left by herself so there is the guilt in leaving her as well. Again there is that mother hen business again. I will have to say that when the dogs are sick I do get them taken care of as soon as possible. Kayla was sick over a week ago so off to the Vets with her. They are both in good health except the allergies and a few other minor strange illnesses that are curable with meds. I do thank God for that. I want them to live long happy lives.

Well the Vet called and said Shadow's blood work looked really great and that we decided to get them teeth cleaned and if any of them needed to be pulled that would be done as well. I pick him up on my way home from work. Happy days!!!!!!! I think more for me than Shadow. I am sure all he will want to do is sleep. On the other hand Kayla is really going to give me an ear full for leaving her all day by herself. She is one of the most vocal dogs I have ever seen and believe me when I say she will let me here about it AHHRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Well that is just a day in my life with my dogs. Never a dull moment.
That is what makes life full of fun along with a few tears.

Until next time

Sheryl

UPDATE!!!!!!!!
Well the Vets decided they wanted to keep my Shadow overnight. So today after work I can go and get him.
It was not easy leaving him there, but I want to make sure just like the Doctors that he is OK.

Kayla on the other hand was not happy with me leaving her alone or not having her big brother Shadow at home. She is a little better today a little sad I think, but she is just fine.
We will all be back to normal this afternoon.

Until later,

Sheryl

UPDATE 2-2-09
Well it has now been a week since Shadow's teeth have been cleaned and 2 teeth pulled. He is doing great. He is eating much better and is now wanting to play which is more like his normal self. I do think the missing teeth are a bit of a bother, but I know he will get used to that.
I am glad the have my big boy back to normal!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs to all,
Sheryl

New email address

2009-01-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Hi all

Just an update about my Internet connection.

Still having problems getting my Internet connected I am hoping the issue will be resolved today but if not I will be without my Internet at home until January 28th. I do have an email address that is temp for now but can only check it when I am at my work Monday - Friday.

If anyone is trying to get in contact with me through my website I do apologize that I did not have time to update my contact information before I had it disconnected.

Please go ahead and email me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

My temp email is gonetothedogsusa@live.com

Again I will update my website as soon as I have a connection.

Thanks in advance,

Sheryl

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I just wanted to drop in and say a very Happy New Year to everyone and to let you in on what I have planned for the new year.

First off I will be updating my Internet service at the first of February. I will keep everyone informed about that, due to the fact that I am sure I will be getting a new email address.

Second I have some new venues I will be selling my items on. I will still be on ebay and you can always find items on my website. I will now be selling on Artfire and bid for bears as well as a few things on Etsy. As you all know I am most well known for my polymer clay dogs so these little guys will just appear on one or two sites only. My needle felted dogs and soft sculpted mohair and plush fur bears may appear on the other sites. One thing is for sure all sites will be linked to my website and here on my blog. You will be able to find me no matter what.

Third thing is I will have all new designs for 2009 like I always have done in the past. All of my designs whether it be polymer clay, needle felted or soft sculptures are original one of a kind items. No two will ever be alike. They are made by me from start to finish. I will also be taking custom orders for polymer clay and needle felted dogs. Please email me for more details on custom orders.

Fourth I plan on a major face lift for my website. I think a new look for the new year is in order. I know that this will take a little while to get done due to the list above and me working a full time job but I have a lot of ambition.

Well with all of that said I had better get busy and get things rolling. I will be listing a few items on ebay this Sunday (internet access willing to work) that is.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2009 year.

Sheryl

New website Artfire.com

2008-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

There is a new website that is out for selling handmade items it is called Artfire. It is very similar to Etsy which also is for selling all things handmade.

I have checked it out and decided to have a go at it. I have set up my new studio and have listed Glacer that you see pictured below.

Here is the link to my Studio www.gonetothedogs.artfire.com Please stop by and check out there whole site.

Sheryl

Peaches blog give away

2008-12-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I have picked that special someone out of a hat that will receive my little Peaches.

And the winner is Pat Hage of Dendy Bears!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Pat!!!!!!!!!!!! Little Peaches will be on her way to her new home tomorrow.

Thanks again to everyone who entered.

I will be having another blog give away after the first of the year.

Sheryl

"Winter" a little bear SOLD

2008-12-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Please meet "Winter" he is now up for auction on ebay for a 10 day listing. He will be my last little bear for the year.

Winter is made from White Mohair and is approx 13" high. He is designed to sit, but can stand with help. He has a new little friend, a blue jay that I purchased that will go along with Winter to there new home.

Please take a peek at his auction at the link below.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!

Sheryl

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

2008-12-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Well yesterday we got our first big snow storm here in Kansas City Missouri. There was about 4" out there by the time it was done snowing. It sure was pretty, but what a mess to drive in.

I remember when I was a kid we always got lots of snow. I mean any where from 4" and up. It was great we would get out of school and go sledding and go around the neighborhood and shovel driveways to earn some money. Now days you don't see to many kids wanting to make a little money. What ever happened to the good old days????????

Well any who here are a few photos I took yesterday.

This is picture is looking out my front door.

This is my Shadow boy. He loves the snow. When it was snowing heaver he came inside and looked just like a skunk with a big white stripe down his back. He is just too cute.

Here is another view looking out my front door across the street. My driveway is out there some where.

And here is Shadow and Kayla Playing!!!! Kayla is a hoot she takes off running and then slams right into shadow. I know it looks like shadow has the edge, but believe me Kayla has Shadow hands down. He is the perfect gentleman he always lets Kayla win.

We are now in for a wonderful ice storm tomorrow. Oh what fun it is to ride in a two dog open sleigh!!!!!!!!! :)

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!

Sheryl

Introduction blog give away

2008-12-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

As an introduction about me and my bears I am having a blog give away!!!!

Please meet Peaches. She is my newest pattern. She is made from a peach sparse Mohair. Peaches is approx 12" in height and 8" sitting. She is not able to stand alone.
She has been needle and scissor sculpted on her face and paw pads. Her foot pads are the reverse side of her mohair. She has been lightly shaded around her eyes, muzzle, ears, paws and feet pads. She has black glass eyes and a black polymer clay nose. Peaches is wearing a ivory lace ribbon around her neck with a brown button in the center.

I want to get Peaches to her new home just in time for the Holidays so the entries are only running for a week. The give away will run from today Wed 12-10-08 thru next Wed 12-17-08. On Thursday I will draw the name and contact the winner.

Please enter by emailing me directly at smorrow1@mindspring.com or by responding to the comment on this post.

Everyone is welcomed to enter!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also want to say thank you to all the Artist who have helped me in my new journey and making me feel very welcomed.

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheryl

White Elephant party at work

2008-12-10T06:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was our White Elephant party at work. Now for those of you who do not know what that is it is where everyone joining in brings a gift. It can be new or something you already have from your home. There is no limit on what you can bring. We try to keep the minimum amount to spend around $10.00. All of the gifts are set in the middle of the floor and each person will draw a number. The one with the number one will go and pick a gift from the pile in the middle of the room. They open the gift and show it off. Then the person with the number 2 will have a choice to steal the gift from the first person or open another gift from the pile. If they chose to steal the first gift from the first person that person needs to open another gift and the round is done. Now here is where things can get very interesting when each number is called that person has a choice on whether to take a gift from one of the ones that have been opened or open a new one from the pile in the middle of the floor. If they choose to steal then the person they stolen from either has to seal a gift or open a new one. Confused yet??????? The object of this really fun game is to steal a gift that you like from someone else. In turn that person steals a gift from another and then that person steals from still another and so on down the line. Each round ends when a person picks from the pile and then a new number is called and the stealing starts all over again. The game ends when the last gift is picked from the pile. Believe me you can go on and on with this game. The more people you have to play and the variety of gifts you have is what makes the game fun.
We had quit a few things that kept getting taken...a bottle of whine, gift cards, a snowman bowl, a very nice vase, a wood carved elephant head and what I got a dog treat cookie jar with peanut MM's inside. I know its not much but it was cute and I have 2 dogs and can always use another treat jar. I did not have one for the Holidays.!!!

Sheryl

December Bears and Buds online magazine

2008-12-10T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
I have very exciting news I am one of the featured artist in the online magazine Bears and Buds. Please take a peek at the December issue and click on Gone to the dogs on the link below.

That's ME!!!!!

I am very honored and proud to be in the issue.

Thanks for looking!!!!

Sheryl

http://www.bearsandbuds.com/

Have not written in a while

2008-12-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Well it has been a while since I have posted. So it is time to catch up. I have been quite the busy bee.

In late October my Brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew invited me along to Florida with them.
Well little did I know that since my birthday was that week we were going I had the biggest surprise of my life.
I was going to Disneyland for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful most exciting gift my family has given me. Words just can not express how much this means to me. I love them all very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are just a few of the photos and stories of our trip.

Well the trip starts here. Below is where we stayed. At the Port Orleans Resort at Disneyland.
It was great. I shared my room with my niece and the others had the other room. This place is huge. It has 5 pools, gift stores, good food and many other things to do. It is a vacation spot in it self. I would recommend any one going to stay here.

My Brother was the big planer for this trip. He had every day planned on what we were going to see and do. I mean right down to where what rides we are riding first to making sure we had the time to see everything we could in every park. It was pretty cool, but he sure was funny about it. I have to laugh at me brother, oh all in good fun of course.

After checking in to our rooms, we made our first trip out. Oh I bet you can guess where it was. Yes, SeaWorld. Oh, I bet you were going to say Magic Kingdom. No not yet.

SeaWorld:
This little one was just sitting pretty for his/her photo to be taken. These birds were all over the place just running around.

This is one of the toparies of SeaWorld. I love these things.

And of course this is a Sealion, a sleeping Sealion. I could just almost reach out and touch this guy I was so close. There were more making lots of noise on the other side of there pool. But this guy just sat there with his eyes closed not worry about a thing.

I have some photos of Shamu, but were not the best. We did see the show. It was great, what wonderful creatures the killer whales are. I just wanted to take them all home. I did venture out on my own while the others went on some rides that I just did not care to go on. I went to pet the Stingrays. Oh all I can say is what a shock that was the first time I got to touch one. It was a cross between feeling slimy and velvety. I just loved it!!!

Come on lets do this again guys and around comes another one. This is great!!!!!!!! I could have spent all day just playing with these guys. When I caught up with the rest of the family I had to take them to the Stingrays. My nephew and I were having the time of our life playing with the rays. This big boy kept swimming by for us to touch. Again it was great. You could also pet the Dolphins, but they were a little shy. This one just kept swimming just far enough down under so you could not touch him. He was a big tease. It still was great being up that close to one. Again what a great time it was. Now its time to go back to the resort to rest up for tomorrow.

Magic Kingdom:

Well we are off the next day to Magic Kingdom. I have waited 40 plus years to see that famous castle. OH Boy when I first laid my eyes on it that little girl lurking inside of me dreams just come true. It was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said earlier my Brother had the rides all planned out. We rode I think everyone there. I had some favorites of course.

This is the Pirates of the Caribbean, That is one of my favorite movies. Gotta love Johny Depp. Oh Baby!!!!!!!!!!

The wonderful Cinderella's Castle.

I have to say that my brother is crazy. We had stepped into that famous teacup ride. I mean me which I am pretty short, my brother, oh by the way he is over 6 feet tall, my nephew who is 10 years old and little shorter than me and my niece who is 13 and pretty tall herself all in one cup. Yes all four of us in ONE Teacup!!!!! Ok my dear brother figured out how to spin this thing around while you were going around. (Kinda reminded me of one of those sit and spin toys). He had is in tears laughing so hard. You could not look up because we were spinning so fast. My sister-in-law said we were the fastest ones out there. I am sure glad I that I am all ready a dizzy person:)LOL
We got to see the fireworks display too. What a great ending for a great day at Magic Kingdom.

It was truly magical!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now off the the resort and to bed for another fun filled day tomorrow.

Animal Kingdom:
Today was a two park day. We went to Animal Kingdom first. Animal Kingdom and Disney Hollywood studios are the two smaller parks. So we had do problem with seeing them both in one day. The park has very few rides, but I like to see the animals the best.

Here is a tiger of course. I love the big cats. They are so beautiful.

Here is one of the Gorilla's. This guy/gal picked up the blue jug to inspect. I was thinking to myself what on earth was he going to do with it. So I was prepared to duck if he was going to throw it at us. It was an open area between us and him. He finally sat it down and climbed up the tree that is behind him. Not sure what was in the jug.

Moving on we came to these really cool and big fruit bats. Again another open area between us and them.

Here is a cute little Mearcat standing watch. That was his job. The guide there said not to disturb him because he was on duty. How cute is he!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go now on the Safari ride. It was really cool, but we wish they could slow down a little. It was very hard to take pictures of the animals. My nephew got better photos I will have to load them later.

We saw the tree of life. It was really neat. All of the animals carved into it. A must see.

We rode what rides they had. One was the water raft ride. That was great. My niece and I thought everyone else was going to get wet going up a little hill, boy were we wrong that water got us both. By the time we were done my Brother got the worse of it. He was wet from head to toe. I mean really from head to toe. It was great!!!!!!!!

The roller coaster was mount Everest. That was really fun. I think that was one of my favorite rides.

There was also a little boat ride we took. It was fun.

All in all we had a good time at Animal Kingdom. Now we have to leave to go to Hollywood Studios.

Disney Hollywood Studio:

This park really did not have many rides. It was mainly shows. We did see a few of them and just walked around and took in the sights.

Here's is Mickey's famous Magic hat.

Another Topiary. I really liked this one. The grounds at all of the parks were beautiful. They were covered with flowers.

After a two park day we got back to the resort a little early so my Nephew and I decided to take a dip in the pool. We had fun playing with a ball and splashing around. It has been quite a while since I have been swimming. Oh Boy what a work out that was!!

Of to bed after a dip in the pool. Tomorrow the last park to see. Epcot.

Epcot:
Here we are the last park Epcot. Here is the famous

Silver ball. We rode the ride in it. That was cool. It was mainly telling you things from the past up to the future.

We rode this thing called the test track. I mean this was fun. It is like you are in a car like those test dummies are in. That might be say something. LOL and you run on this track that tests wind, water, how fast you can go. It was great.

We walked around and say a couple more shows and rode a couple of more rides. By late evening we were getting hungry. We decided to head on back to the resort for dinner. We thought we would take a ferry ride over to downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is mainly shops and places to eat. So we had dinner and did a little shopping and headed back to the resort on the ferry. It was a great end to a great day!!!

Now off to bed. We are going home tomorrow, but first we are going to the ocean. Cocoa Beach that is.

Cocoa Beach, Florida:
We were up and on the road to Cocoa Beach. I have seen the ocean before, but my niece and nephew have not. So it was going to be fun to watch them. It had been nice the whole week we were here until today. It was cloudy and windy. It looked liked it could rain at any time.

We headed to the surf shop and my brother rented a couple of boggy boards. Off to the beach we went. It is always a wonder to me seeing the big wide ocean. I am amazed again!!! The kids and my brother and sister in law went swimming, I just walked along the waters edge. The wind was kicking up the surf, so I decided no swimming for me. I will find some seashells instead and watch everyone else swim and take photos. I love the outdoors and animals as you may have well noticed.

Here are a couple of seagulls.
A shot down the beach. See how cloudy it was.

Look at those waves!!!!!!!

Looking back at the ocean as we are getting ready to head back to the airport to go home.

Oh a beautiful site. Good bye for now!!!

I had the most wonderful time in Orlando, Florida.

A perfect way to spend time with family on your birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paws in the Park 2008

2008-09-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

Howdy all its the 3rd Annual Paws in the Park dog walk in beautiful English Landing Park in Parkville Missouri.
Well its that time of the year for the 3rd annual paws in the park dog walk in Parkville Missouri. The walk benefit the Friends of Parkville Animal shelter. Now why I bet you are asking your shelf why does Sheryl go on these walks. Well for one I am a very big animal lover. I do support local and out of state shelters with my art work. The second biggest reason is that 3 years ago I adopted the cutest little 9 week old Basset/Beagle puppy named Kayla from the Parkville shelter and the rest they say is history. We have been walking since they started the walk of course 3 years ago. Kayla just turned 3 in August of this year so it is our way of celebrating her birthday and have some one on one time with Mom (ME). Her big brother Shadow stayed home and watched over the house. I bet he was saying to himself "I get to have time to myself to take a good long nap without little Sis bugging me.

OK so now we come to all of the pictures of the days events.

This is Kayla (left) my little girl and her real mother Shelby (right). They told me at the shelter that Dad was a traveling salesman so we have no idea what kind of gentleman he is. They both look alike in some was but then they are very different. Kayla does not have any black on her at all. But as you can see all of those spots on the legs are the dead give away on Mom and Daughter. Kayla has 1 sister and 4 brothers which I have not met yet. I hope to some day.

This is me and my little monkey Kayla. I didn't realize that her foster mom was taking the picture of me. Oh well! So I really look attractive all bent over. LOL

This is the walk way in the park it runs right along the Missouri River. The trees here are just begin to change colors which is a little early for this time of year.

Here is another view of the River looking across to the other side.

My poor little girl was so tired after the walk she had to get into the pool to soak her aching feet and of course to play a little bit as well.

Kayla checking out the activity around her.

Here are a few other folks walking around to the booths and visiting with friends and making new friends.

More peoples and puppies!!!

Well just to say that the days events were very nice. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and meeting new ones. Looking forward to next years walk.

Talk to you all soon!

Sheryl

New Panda Design

2008-08-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I just wanted to pop in and show my newest design. Please meet "Ming Yue" which means "Bright Moon". He is my first ever panda. He is completely hand made by me form start to finish and is a true one of a kind. His coat is made from a wonderful soft White and Black faux fur. His paw pads are made from black and brown ultra suede and has individually soft sculpted toes. He is wearing a red shear ribbon with a faux Chinese coin attached. His approx size is 12"long and 9" high in a standing on all paws position. He is 11" high sitting.

I am so proud of how this little guy turned out.
Ming Yue has already been adopted

I will be working on another panda within the next week. He/She will be a brand new design. Here is one hint. He/She will be designed in the sitting position only. You know that wonderful adorable laid back pose that they have.

Until next time.

Sheryl

URSA COMPETITION 2008 begins

2008-07-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Update: Round two has already begun for the URSA competiotion. Please cast your vote for the over all winner. Everyone listed has won, but they have no idea what place the are until October.

I just wanted to add that I had a wonderful time in the competition. Even though my two entries did not win I still feel that they are winners. It was a great honor to be a part of it all. Thanks to every one who voted.

Sheryl 9/3/08

News Flash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

URSA competition 2008 begins!!

Hi All,
Voting is now open to the public.

I am so exciteded this is my first time in the URSA Awards competition. I have just taken a peek and there are so many talented artists with there wonderful entries.

In case you are wondering my entries are in the following catagories.

Catagory 2
Edison

Catogory 8
Angel Beagle

The outcome of the competition is determined by the public vote.

If you think my little friends have what it takes, I would be grateful for your

vote.

Thank you!!!!!!!

Please follow the link and cast your votes NOW!!!!http://http//cyberden.dot5hosting.com//URSA2008/URSA2008-Let-Voting-Begin.htm

P.I. Stachio Bear

2008-05-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Please meet P. I. Stachio Bear. He is now available direct from me at a special price.

He is an artist one of a kind soft plush Bear that I have designed from my own pattern. He is completely hand sewn from a high quality long bright green faux fur. He has a hand needle felted muzzle, paw pads and inner ears from a dark blue wool roving. His nose is hand needle felted as well with a black roving. He has black glass eyes with a white ultra suede lower eye rims. He is 5 way cotter pin hard disk jointed. He is sporting a shear blue ribbon with silver strips and green polka dots around his neck.

He measure's approx 9" in the sitting position.

He will come with a neck hang tag and a Certificate of Authenticity signed and dated by me the artist.

Cost:$49.95 with free shipping with in the United States only. Please contact me for International shipping rates.

Please contact me for payment details.

Please keep in mind all of my items are not toys and are not intended for small children. They are meant for the adult collector!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Updated note: Pistachio bear has been SOLD

Sheryl

My fur Kids Lucky, Shadow and Kayla

2008-05-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in yesterdays post here is a little bit more about my three fur babies and a few pictures.

Lucky is my 15 year old black and white cat. She was rescued by me at 5 weeks old in a box in the middle of the road. She is a very short and stout cat with a personality of a tough alley cat one minute and other times she can be this sweet loving lap cat. Very much like a normal cat I suppose.

Shadow is a black lab that is 10 years old. He was rescued at the age of 3 months. He was left to defend for himself until I took him in from a friend. When I first brought him home I should have named him nightmare. He was the most, well lets just say the most ----- dog I have ever seen. We worked together and now have a very strong bond between us. His personality is the most loving and playful boy. He likes everyone. When I have visitors come over he thinks they are coming to see him. He is just a big ham.

Kayla is a Basset/Beagle mix that is 2 1/2 years old. I adopted her from a local animal shelter at 9 weeks old. If I knew then what I know now about how this little girl was going to be. I would not have changed a thing. Her personality is one in a million and the strangest dog I have ever seen, if she even is a dog. What I mean by that is she is a mini hoover vacuum cleaner as well as part goat. She eats anything and I do mean anything. I have to watch her with eyes in the back of my head. Now that that was said when I post about her again in the future you will understand. I think I should also say that she is very vocal. She likes to tell you all about it in many of her different tones of barks, howls and snorts. There is never a dull moment in my house when it comes to her. Of course she has to involve the other two as well in many of her little adventures.

Which this brings me to last night.

I was taking a walk around my back yard which I call yard patrol to see what Kayla could find to eat or get into. I was walking up by one of my trees when I say something jump. It was a toad. So I picked the little guy up and thought I would see what shadow and Kayla would do with this toad. Well Shadow just sniffed and walked off, no interest to him at all. I held the little toad out to Kayla in my hand, and I never thought that this would happen (remember what I said she wants to eat anything) well she was afraid of the thing. She just backed up away from my hand like the toad was going to eat her up. He jumped out of my hand and she again just backed up, did not want any part of that Toad. I just laughed, because she is a goofy little thing, you will never be able to guess what she is going to do. Well I let the little Toad go back by my tree to be happy catching bugs. I knew if was going to be safe for him because neither dog will bother him now.

Well this is just a a few things about my fur kids. I will be writing more because as I said every day is adventure with these three.

I also want to add that without them my life, heart and house there would be a very empty hole. They are all a very big part of me. I know that there time is limited so I do Cherish every moment with them. We have been through the good, bad, ugly, sad, scary and happy moments. That is what makes them all very special in there own way.

Bye for now.

I will post my new bear making adventures this weekend. I am excited about using that new faux fur I bought earlier this week.

Hello and Welcome to my new Blog

2008-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I thought I would try my hand at blogging so I can share my adventures in polymer clay, needle felting and soft plush dogs, bears and other critters with you.

So here we gooooooooooo.!!!!!!!!!

Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Sheryl. I live and work in Kansas City Missouri. I live with my two wonderful dogs and one kitty cat. (More about these three fur babies later). My passions are making Artists One of a kind Polymer clay, needle felted and soft plush dogs and bears as well as many other critters. Another one of my hobbies is scrapbooking. I also love to spend time outdoors working in my flower beds and playing with the dogs or just relaxing.

I have started a new adventure with the soft plush bears and dogs. The photo of the bear above is named Butterscotch and is my newest design. She is all hand made by me right down to the pattern so she is one of a kind. In her sitting position she is 10" tall. She is hand sewn from a Golden faux fur with ultra suede brown paw pads and inner ears and eye rims. She has black glass eyes and a hand sculpted black polymer clay nose. Her collar is made from a plaid ribbon of green, yellow, red and orange.

Since I have started this new adventure in bear making I have been hitting the stores and websites buying all kinds of supplies. Well the other day I found out that there is a fabric store very close to where I work and let me tell you my eyes bugged out with joy. So on my lunch hour I took a little trip just to take a look to see what they had. I found the most wonderful faux fur that was just amazing and then there was another fur and still another and so on. Well I am here to tell you that I walked out of there with those furs. So much for just looking. I have been thinking of all kinds of ideas for new bears to make with them that my little head is going into overdrive.

I will be posting more about those new furs and how they will be turning into those wonderful little new designs.

Bye for now.

Please visit my website for more of my art.

http://www.gonetothedogsusa.com/

"A Dog wags its tail with its Heart" -Martin Buxbaum