Tampa Bear Show review2013

Went down to Tampa on Saturday for Sundays bear show.


Of course I had to play! Went to flea market and to Madeira Beach where we had dinner on the wharf where these pelicans were hoping to get lucky hehe.
The show the next morning had people waiting outside the door eager to see what was inside.



My elephant got lots of attention which was nice.


This cutie,Rusty by artist Gail Griffiths, caught my attention. He's just full of spirit.


Martha Burch had these two steam punk pieces on her table and the one on the right was snapped up quickly!


While artist Nancy Dontigney had many of her Dog Patch Critters on hand I just love this guy, Kazoo.



My new 8" size bear.

Hope you enjoyed your small view into the show. Maybe you'll be able to be there next year.

Tampa Bear Show

This bear will be at the Tampa Bear Show on Sunday.


Come by and say hello. We will be at the Crown Plaza Westshore on Kennedy Ave.
Everybody is packing up for the car ride, they are happy to go see old and new friends! Hope to see you there.

Renningers Extravaganza

Yep, it's that time again! Mt. Dora is open to collectors as Renningers has its February Extravaganza this weekend, the 15th,16th & 17th.


Found yet another Three Bears book. Got there early, great parking. But some vendors forgot to put up their signs and I had to really look for my favorites lol!
Turns out finding them didn't always help either as they had sold whole lots of the very thing I needed. Steam punk findings are so popular and you can't get the old watch pieces anymore so it gets snatched up quickly.
I got good pieces in November, couldn't cover the whole show in January ( my bad luck as the vendor had a run on his stuff) and this month this is all I could find!


Boo hoo! Will not let this happen again! Oh well, onward.
Did find something I needed,


You will see this at a future show :) there are watch pieces in there along with a silver purse handle. Ah, still have some good fortune hehe.


These are wood buttons and will be showing up on new pieces in the works.

Will post pictures soon of the new piece created with the teaser from last months finds!
Good hunting and get to Mt. Dora if you can, Renningers had plenty of people going home happy and the weather was beautiful!

Happy Valentines Day

Be kind to someone today and give them a reason to smile. I'm thinking of you with love in my heart.

Renningers Antique Extravaganza

I met myself today in Mt. Dora! Was enjoying the antique extravaganza when I saw this in a dealers stand:




It's a bear I made in 1995! It's former owner, who had over 100,000 bears, had to downsize when she moved to a smaller place. She had been in 7,000 square feet before with four rooms dedicated to her bears!




These were from her collection too.
It was cold and windy but still a great day to look for treasures. And everybody else thought so too! Such a large turnout and I didn't even see the whole thing this time. There was so much to cover.
But I did find some good things.




Wait till you see what characters these will be a part of. And the ones below are purposely turned away from you, they are from the forties and wait till you see the front! Hehe in a future post, I promise.



Well that's all for now, I've got plenty to keep me busy. I'll show you soon.

Crossroads 2013 part two

You miss so much when you don't attend the shows.


Red Wagon Vintage Toys had such a selection on display.



It included music sheets, books, blocks of all types etc. I bought a book with great illustrations.


This is just part of the beautiful pieces Cindy Thorsen had on her table. There were a pair of doll glasses with case that were exceptional!




Pam Pontious, helping customer at her table.


One of Cindy Malchoff's new bear designs.

The TOBY Industry Award winners were announced by Cari Ferg at the dinner Saturday night and in attendance were winners,


Joanne Livingston, two awards!



Lori Simon in set, vignette category along with,


Ron and Kristy Northman in same category.

I post the winners every year because I am there and know artist are waiting on pins and needles to see if they won. But the light is dim and the slides move fast, please forgive me for not being able to get all the names written down, and misspelling others. Congratulations to all the winners! There is some wonderful and exceptional work being created out there! I will continue to always strive to move forward in my work because of all of you.

Try to be there next year, January 18,19 so you can be the first to know who wins, and get great bears and dolls!

Crossroads Show Review 2013

As usual we start the day before the show. This year our group went hiking in Palm Springs!


Yep that's me, hehe.


There's Sharon Barron on the trail.


The horses for whom I jumped off the trail lol!


Ahh... Lunch at restaurant in town.



Second trail we went on, desert as opposed to first trail,


Which was more lush!

So anyway on to the show!


One of my bulldogs at the show.


John Paul Port talking with collectors. One of his first shows since his mom Beverly Port passed away recently. We were all glad to see him.


Ellen Kislingbury at her table.

This is getting photo heavy, so part two coming up!