Love us some Emily!

Greetings, friends!  How have you been?  I hope you are enjoying some lovely cool fall days!  We are thoroughly loving this cooler weather, planning trips to the apple orchard, thinking about getting some pumpkins on the stoop, and more.  We are still painting our little fingers to the bone in The Dreaming Bear studio...preparing for a few events.....I haven't taken the time to take many photos lately, but thought I would share some of my favorite pics of our dear Emily: an uplifting soul, a hard worker, a positive, unstoppable force in this world.  We are so lucky to have her around to help us get stuff done.  These pics are from an early summer photo shoot.  Isn't she cute?  Photos taken by the equally lovely Karen Seltrecht.   Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Have a great holiday!

Hi there!  Found these pics from Mother's Day weekend of Chalk the Walk in Mt. Vernon! 

Aren't they amazing?

 This was such a fun day for me, just wandering around with the family and enjoying the beautiful day.  Hope you all are having a fabulous holiday weekend!  Any big plans?  I'm going to see The Help with some girlfriends, and then off to a neighbor's Low Country Boil!!!  YUM.  Ta ta for now!!!



Super Cute Aprons and Chef Hats!

Howdy!  Peeps, when you get a chance, check out our friend Diane's Etsy shop....she is making ADORABLE aprons and chef hats out of the latest Dreaming Bear line of fabric, Bubble Trouble.  They are so cute!!!  And it looks like you can have their name embroidered as well!  What a sweet lil' gift for a sweet lil' girl in your life!!!  Thanks Diane, for sharing with us!!!

Various Stages of "Done-ness"

Hi there!  We are in big time, hyper drive production mode at the Bear!  I've got some big events coming up this fall that we are busily preparing for....our studios have piles of projects in varying stages of "done-ness".  Wanna peek?  Above is an old drawer turned into wall art.  Below, a set of pretty wooden bowls.....

A forest of whimsical Christmas trees.....

These "ladies in waiting" stand over me at my desk, waiting for paint and collage to pretty them up....

A coffee table in progress.....

Candlesticks are awating their polka dots and stripes....

Canvases and keepsake boxes also awaiting their details....

And a fresh batch of canvases, not yet out of the bags.....

Yep, we've got a lot to do.  Happy Sunday to you and yours....hope you are staying nice and busy too!

No supplies, so let's play!

Do you ever find yourself with lots of little projects to work on, but you don't have what you need to finish them?  I've got pillows to stuff, but I'm out of stuffing.  I've got sachets to fill, but I'm out of lavender.  And I've got glass items to paint, but have run out of crucial colors.  Argh.  Well, it's going to be a play day with the kids instead....it's our last day of summer vacation....so a little fun is in order!!!

Ice Cream Social 2011

Hello, and happy Monday!  I believe I've mentioned here at least a million times that I love our neighborhood, right?  Well, we had another wonderful afternoon that sealed the deal....again.  :-)  Yesterday afternoon, we hosted the 2011 Ice Cream Social!  I'm a lucky girl....my Lovin' Man has a great hobby...making homemade ice cream.  Yes, it's as wonderful as it sounds.

And he doesn't hold back....we had all of the traditional flavors you would expect...chocolate, vanilla, strawberry....but he also likes to shake things up with flavors like candied bacon, sweet corn, basil and honey lavender.  My favorite combo was a 2 to 1 ratio of burnt sugar and sea salt.  It tasted like a sea salt caramel.  YUM.
 

We had the most gorgeous afternoon....it was so perfect!  And there was bubble blowing.....

Adorable chocolatey faces......

Lots of relaxing.......

And silliness......

I'm hanging on to this guy.......



In Case No One's Told you Lately......

An old journal page.

Happy Birthday Katie!

Our niece, Katie, turns 11 today!  She and her friend, Olivia stopped in for a little crafty goodness today...they created BFF boxes!!!

 Happy Birthday Katie!

Two More Days of Summer Studio!

Hey everybody!  We only have two more days left in our special summer studio hours!!!  Tomorrow, August 10th, and Thursday, August 11th, from 10-2!!  Come by for one more crafty summer fling!!!  We will continue to have the studio open every Saturday 10-4 throughout the rest of the year....hours will extend again when we get closer to the holidays. 

Thursday Morning Rambling

Good morning!  I'm writing this at my dining room table, having just returned from walking Puppers.  It's starting to rain, and thunder seems to be rolling in as well.  It's HUMID out there.  Oh my, is it humid.  I come back from our walks just soaked with sweat....but I will still take this over a bone chilling February day....anyday.  Seriously.  Any day.  Finding as I get older, the less I like the cold.  Although, I don't see myself being one of those little ladies that migrates to Arizona or Florida later in life.  I love Iowa too much...and I love spring and autumn enough to trump the miserable winter.

I've noticed a lot of bloggers are apologizing for their lack of posts due to summertime.  I should be apologizing too...but I bet you're bored with that.  I'm going to keep on blogging....but it is true...there's something different about summertime....it's easy to get off your schedule and routine.  I partly love summer for that reason, and partly loathe it for that reason.  I really love the late nights any old day of the week, sleeping in occasionally, and just not worrying about things like homework, lunch money, and school functions in general.  Ugh....let's not think about that yet. 

Things here at Dreaming Bear have been humming right along.  We've had a nice busy summer, with lots of visitors, old and new...that makes me smile.  As mentioned before, I traveled to the Dallas Gift Show in June, so in addition to running the store and studio, we've been busy fulfilling orders for stores hither and yon.  That's fun.  The last box I shipped out went to Florida.  The one before that, Louisiana!  In the pictures you see above, I'm working on a big candlestick order!!!  Yahoo!  I'm so thankful to my gals, Emma, Emily, Dawny and Angie for helping me with these big tasks.  They just keep on smiling, and jump right into the next task, without missing a beat!  So grateful for that!  We have lots ahead of us this fall....will keep you posted!

Just wanted to say hey!!!  What's keeping you busy this summer?  Do tell.....
P.S.  Photos taken by Melody at Image Nouveau.  Check her out!

My Lon Ornament

Hello pals!  THANK YOU for all of the positive messages you are sending out about our little story on TV!  Thank you!!!  It really was fun, and I love how it turned out!  Just wanted to bop in and show you something that makes me smile.  Last Saturday night, our neighbors, Dan and Bridget hosted a lawn ornament exchange party.  CLEVER!!!  The whole thing was so well done....right down to the decor.  After our exchange we watched Gnomeo and Juliet on a screen in the backyard!  So fun!

 Above is a picture of my contribution to the ornament exchange....the rock...not the man.....the man's name is Lon.  Get it?!  It's a "LON Ornament".  I painted LON on the ornament.  Oh man, I crack myself up.  We had a few laughs over it....but alas, Lon and his wife didn't win his own ornament....Mike and Drinda got to take him home.  (again, the rock, not the man) 

This project has now led me into another obsession...painting faces on rocks.  Wouldn't it be great to have a bunch of funny faces looking up at you in the evening when you weed your garden?  I rather think so.

KWWL visits The Dreaming Bear!

Hi all!  Yesterday we had the pleasure to meet Molly from KWWL, who did a sweet lil' story about our store and studio!  One of our favorite girls, Dani, was visiting the art studio, and was gracious enough to let us interview her!  She's a star!!!  You can watch the video HERE.  Check it out!!!