What do you do with your finished projects? Have you ever thought to....

The first set of 8 I adopted were a communications team serving in Iraq....I got the name of a gal off www.anysoldier.com so when I sent her packages I sent for all of them. She said that most of the time the packages were gone in just minutes! For Christmas I made and stuffed 8 matching stockings so they could all hang them up! They loved them. The second set I got after the first went home was from www.splitcoaststampers.com The gal that ran the commisary in Aftghanistan was from Minnesota where I am from.....she wanted cards for the troops to use so between me having a stamping day with my sisters and my friend we sent over 400 cards to them and I included other treats in their packages. The one I have now is my daughters friends husband....I'll be sending his first package tomorrow. I feel sorry for your friend...when you give you get a hundred times back.....

Thank you for the information. I will definitely go to the first site you posted. I just wish people could pick up on my asking for them to just adopt one person and make one extra item to give as a gift to that person who was forgotten. I just finished giving my two mini Dachshunds a bath and am about to start working on a teddy bear that I am giving as a birthday gift on Saturday. I thought I would do a little posting before I got started. I was thrilled to find your answer to my question. Thanks so much!!!! Toni

Thank you for the compliment! I was hoping to open some eyes and minds out there to the fact that it is rather nice to share. I have gotten answers for the most part from people who, like me, find it so much nicer to give crafted items to those people who don't get much. I have been trying to get that point across to a friend of mine, and it seems to go in one ear and out the other with no stops in between. She just doesn't realize that instead of criticizing those who don't have she could give a little and receive a bunch more in return. I am realizing just how unhappy she really is. I know she is jealous of my having my own home and car. She and her husband rent and since they live in town they take the bus or depend on me. I feel sorry for her and the fact of her unhappiness. I tried to tell her that we make ourselves as happy or unhappy as we choose to be. In my choosing to be a happier person, I find that I give more of myself and my crafted items than if I were to choose to be unhappy and grasping. I have found that when I am planning a bear or other craft, I am so happy and excited. It, for me, is simply a total enjoyment of art...I have done photography work (I have a photo in B/W of a couple of piles of cow poop with the phrase "$hit happens...I took the photo close to where I live in the country) Not everyone sees the humor in the picture...but I love it because I created it. Our crafts are from our hearts, and the best crafts come from a happy heart. It shows so much not only to the person making the craft, but also the recipient too. I wish I could give more, but with college classes and trying to finish remodeling the house that Mom left me when she passed away in 2000, I haven't got the time to do the amount of crafting I would like to do. Where do you get the information on adopting the troops? I might as well add more to my plate. If I can make another person happy-or at least get a little smile out of them my day is made.

You sound like such a wonderful person too! I hadn't thought about donating to the local animal shelter and we have a lot! I am going to start doing that too, as they need all the help they can get. I started the bear business with the knowledge and belief that I would do it only if when I got the wild hair that I could remove a price tag from a bear and give it to a person. I had one man in tears because he always wanted a teddy bear and his family was dirt poor and couldn't afford to even buy him a used one. I gave him his very first teddy bear!!! We have been friends ever since. Another bear went to a young man who had had a heart lung transplant. I didn't know it at the time. He kept going by my booth and hugging one particular bear. Towards afternoon I caught him hugging the bear again and I just couldn't stand it. When he put the bear down I grabbed it was he turned to leave, removed the tag and raced from the booth and placed it in his arms. He too cried...he couldn't afford the bear and just "knew" that the bear would be his best friend and would go through the next surgeries with him. I will always have the opinion of if I can't give my bears away when I want to, I won't make them anymore.

I do work at getting my money back from my crafts (especially since I work in Mohair and the mohair fabric for my bears costs between $125 and $500 a yard!!) But I also try to give back to the community that supports me. I brought this up because of the fact that Christmas is coming and even if we were to each adopt one older person and give them one small present, wouldn't it make both you and that person feel better? Christmas is a time of love and giving, and it is so sad when the nurse at the nursing home that my Mom and I dropped the stuff at was so thrilled that some of the patients, that were put in the facility and forgotten like a pair of old shoes at the back of a clothes closet, were actually going to get gifts! The main reason that I brought this up was not to make my fellow crafters feel like they needed to adopt a whole community, but if they just made one extra item and set it aside as a gift for a forgotten person, what a difference it would make for both the crafter and the person receiving the gift.

I sew the bears, although I am currently working on a miniature crocheted one. I crocheted a cat that I entered into the fair and am anxiously waiting for the fair to open so I can see how I did. I also made a "lady" bear out of mohair dressed in a dark blue dress with gold threads running through it. I found a rhinestone brooch that the back was missing on that I sewed to the neck of the dress. I also made a mohair dog that was so realistic looking that I was nearly kicked out of the local Wal Mart for bringing a live dog in (I was looking for a collar for him to wear to the fair!). All my donations are local. I feel that I should donate to the community that has supported my business for all these years. A suggestion about the distribution of your items, contact social services and the hospitals. They will have a good idea of those people who would benefit from your wonderful work! Where do you get your yarn? I find so much yarn at the local thrift shops and have a stash that doesn't quit. Unfortunately when Mom passes away the family just bundles up everything and hauls it to the nearest thrift store. I have gotten yarns that sell for as much as $14 a skein. I have a stash of different colors and textures that I will be knitting a vest for myself in a couple of months when the weather here gets cooler. LOL- right now it is hot enough to cook a steak on the hood of my car...and it would come out well done!