My first award!

My sweet friend from Linda from Bears in the Bush passed along the 'Over the Top' blog award! Thanks Linda! I'll keep the trend going and pass it along to some wonderful bloggers!
The Rules:
1: Use only one word answers
2: Pass along to 6 of your favorite bloggers
3: Tell them you have given them the award
4: Have Fun!


1. Where is your cell phone? On the charger
2. Your hair? Intentionally messy
3.Your mother? Nosy
4. Your father? Wishy Washy
5. Your favorite food? Ice Cream
6. Your dream last night? Can’t recall
7. Your favorite drink? Coca Cola
8. Your dream/goal? Retirement in a cabin by the lake
9. What room are you in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? Sewing, Graphic design
11. Your fear? Losing someone in my family
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Still here, only richer *grin*
13. Where were you last night? Went to dinner with Hubs
14. Something that you aren’t? Crabby
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. Wish list item? My own craft room
17. Where did you grow up? All over the place (Air Force Brat)
18. Last thing you did? Went grocery shopping
19. What are you wearing? Bath robe
20. Your TV? On as usual, I rarely watch it but like the noise.
21. Your pets? Mickey and Sam, my dogs and Archie and Nacho, my parrots
22. Friends? The best
23. Your life? Busy, Chaotic, Tiring, but fun
24. Your mood? Bewildered, haha
25. Missing someone? Yes, but my aim is improving
26. Vehicle? Gas sucking SUV
27. Something you’re not wearing? My glasses
28. Your favorite store? Mine!
29. Your favorite color? Red baby, red
30. When was the last time you laughed? 10 minutes ago
31. Last time you cried? A few days ago
32. Your best friend? Chris
33. One place that I go to over and over? Walmart, sigh
34. One person who emails me regularly? My grandpa
35. Favorite place to eat? Red Lobster and Taco Bell
I will be picking out 6 blogs to award this to and posting them soon!

Ashleigh, a miniature kitty cat

Here's the latest and greatest.......well the greatest thing I've made in the past couple of weeks anyway! This is Ashleigh and she is a tiny 3.5 inches tall and made from a super soft fur in white and a light smokey gray. She is fully jointed and stuffed with poly and steel for a little added weight. Ashleigh has ultrasuede paw pads with embroidered claws and onyx bead eyes. Her face has been needle and scissor sculpted to give her a sweet expression and I've also lightly shaded her face as well. She has tiny black whiskers that have been coated in shellac to help them stand out and she has silk ribbon bows and headband around her tiny head. She is available for adoption for $155 plus shipping. Email me if you'd like her to come live with you!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We had a slumber party at our house last night! Complete with dress up make overs, games, movies, and plenty of popcorn. Here is a pic of silly girls posing for the camera. I would love to have even half of their energy! They had a lot of fun trying on hats, jewelry, and makeup, and Bailey fixed everyone's hair too. Plus we finished earning a girl scout badge at the same time!

Speaking of Girl Scouting, we have camp coming up in a few weeks! I'm so excited! I have so much to do to get ready. We're doing a CSI type theme, complete with forensic type clues scattered around the camp that the girls will have to locate and collect so they can solve the mystery at the end of the day! I'm so happy that my girls are involved with girl scouting. I only got to go to girl scout camp once when I was young but I remember how much fun I had and the things I learned there. It make me glad to know my kids will have that same opportunity. I am SO looking forward to the night hike and of course the smores!

We went to the corn maze last week and that was fun as usual. The actual maze was muddy and gross though. I preferred hanging out around the campfire and visiting with the other leaders instead of tramping through the mud. The girls on the other hand.........well, I spent a good 45 minutes at the sink to clean mud off of shoes when we got home. You're only young once though, right?

It seems I've been non stop busy lately. Now that the magazine shoot is over, bears have been put on the back burner and I've been busy sewing up holiday goodies for the shop! We're all decked out for fall now and pulling all of the Christmas merchandise out of it's boxes and getting trees fluffed up and ready to decorate. It's hard to believe the holiday season is upon us! It always seems that once Halloween arrives, the rest of the year seems to fly by. I can not believe how fast the year has seemed to fly by so far. When you're young everyone always tells you that time seems to go by faster as you age. Of course, when you're young, you don't believe it because a year seems so very very long when you're a child. As an adult however, I have come to understand what they meant! It seems to go by faster each year. It makes me wonder how fast time will fly by when I'm even older. I feel like I'm losing time each year.

Speaking of the shop, recently some students from Oklahoma Baptist University came and painted the building for us! All we had to do was buy the paint. They did several buildings in the downtown area. I love the way it made the front of the store look! It's a warm toasty brown that almost looks like an old gold and it matches the color of the sign I painted perfectly! It gave the shop a nice little facelift. Those OBU students ROCK!

I just finished watching 'Kingdom Hospital' on dvd. Strange movie. Did I expect anything less? No. Stephen King has always had a fascinating ability to stretch the mind in weird ways. I liked it, but not something I'd want to watch again. I'm sure the book is better, but who has time to read? I watched the first season of 'Carnivale', which again....strange, yet intriguing enough that I sat and watched every episode. I wonder if there will be a second season, because the first seemed to do nothing but bring up a dozen questions and curiosities in my head. All unsolved at the end of season one. At the same time, it didnt seem like the story line was strong enough to warrant another season. Maybe it's just too slow for me, but then again.......if there is a second season, I'll definately watch it. Time to find a new series to watch. I could rent all of the Seinfeld's and watch them all again just so I can play 'spot the Superman'! Hmmm...Nah!!

Bailey started her cake decorating class. She is really enjoying it and brought home her first decorated cake last week. It was a simple first cake but she did really good at piping on the icing....buttercream that she made from scratch...and her teacher said her pre iced cakes were the best looking in the class! I'm going to have to let her teach me! Next week she makes a bunny cake. I'm so happy that she is enjoying herself, and I have to admit that it's going to really spoil me having a new cake to eat each week! I'm going to have to work out twice as hard just to keep up! Once this class is over, there's another one for learning to decorate with fondant. We could be looking at the next 'Cake Boss' or 'Ace of Cakes'! LOL Maybe we're at least looking at the official cake baker for our family. I'm certainly no Betty Crocker myself. My motto is: I don't Bake, I BURN! Sigh! We can't all be as good as Bailey! *wink* You go girl!

Libby and Radar

Hiya everyone! It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. I've been dealing with personal issues and been feeling a bit down and didn't want that to come out in my blog so I chose to stay away. However, I have been doing a bit of sewing so thought I would at least take a few minutes to show off some of my new sweeties!

First off is 'Radar', a bear who's gone completely batty for Halloween! (pun intended!!) He is decked out in his holiday costume and comes with his own trick or treat bucket full of clay candies. He is 2.75" tall and made from velvets in black and tan with ultrasuede wings that are wired so you can bend them a bit if you'd like. His adoption fee is $165 plus shipping.

Then we have 'Libby', who is 3.5" and made from a penny colored copper velvet. She is wearing a black and red cherry print dress with matching red trim and red button, plus I've topped it all off with a big ol' red silk bow on top of her head. She is available for adoption for $150 plus shipping.

Both bears are fully jointed and stuffed with poly and stainless steel. Both have onyx bead eyes and ultrasuede paw pads and embroidered claws. If you'd like to adopt one of these sweeties, just drop me an email and let me know!

big ol' hugs,

April Dawn

Couch Potato

That's the perfect way to describe me the past few days. Actually it's more like 'office chair potato' but that doesn't have the same familiar ring to it. I've been sewing like a mad woman, but even more, I've been sewing while watching the entire first four seasons of 'Nip Tuck' on DVD. Argh.......I'm addicted to this filthy show, LOL. I love the drama, I love watching the surgeries, and most of all, I am loving the scandalous story lines! I should have known better to pick it up at the video store. I do this every time. Whether it's old episodes of 'LOST' or 'Desperate Housewives' or 'Sex in the City', I find a show I like and camp out in front of the tv for days, watching years worth of episodes in a few days. It's been great for my sewing, as I've been producing bears in record time! However, anything around my house that can't be done in front of a tv, has been neglected I'm afraid. I knew I was in trouble when I named my latest bear after the sexy plastic surgeon in the Nip Tuck show. I've never been one to watch these types of shows each week. I get far too frustrated with the cliff hangers and having to wait an entire week (or two) to see what happens next. Nope, I wait until the whole season is through and watch it all at once. Sigh...... I'm caught up on the series now and have to wait for the next season to come out, and in the meantime pick a new series to watch..........the Sopranos.....The office.....any recommendations? LOL By the way........here is sweet little Christian, who is very much the angel, unlike the character he was named after! He is available for adoption for $175 plus shipping. Email me if you'd like him to come live with you! I also completed two other bears this weekend. Ross & Raleigh can be found on my bearpile page if you'd like to visit them!

Save those ribbon scraps!

How cute is this belt? And....it's all made with ribbon scraps! You know those tiny pieces you have left over from hair bows, craft projects, and sometimes even gift packages. Well, Ashley over at Lil Blue Boo has created this fantastic belt! She has a complete tutorial over at her blog so be sure to stop in and print this one off for future use and start saving all of those teenie tiny pieces of ribbon that we usually throw away!

Gimme Cake

As some of you know, I'm a reality tv nut. I don't know what it is that captures my interest, but I'll pick a reality show before watching anything else on tv. Perhaps it's because of the predictable and often repeated story lines that occur on most tv shows. With reality, you never know what will happen. If art imitates life, then seems to be that it would be best to watch life to start with instead of an imitation! Anyway, my newest favorite shows are the cake shows! 'Ace of Cakes', 'Cake Boss', 'Amazing Wedding Cakes'.......I love them all!

I found a great new cake blog today! The ladies at 'A piece of cake' do amazing work. Aren't these the cutest? I love the bright colors! My eldest daughter, Bailey wants to be a pastry chef and attend culinary school after she graduates and she loves watching the cake shows too. Just looking at these cakes inspires me and makes me want to try to learn how to make them. Only, honestly I have no spare time to take up a new hobby. But......Bailey does! I think I will have to order her some supplies and let her learn how to make them. I even found instructional videos on youtube! You gotta love the internet! Now I'm hungry.....