Life

Movie crew on New Avenue, 1989*

In the sage words of my cousin Loren, aka the Groovy Movie Man:

LIFE

is a cereal.

And indeed it is:

Life cereal box showing "Mikey" from the TV advertisements**

Source: crookedhaloblog.com

I would like to suggest that, more often than not, this is really the case:

LIFE

is a serial.

In my 44 years, I have found that life is truly a series that happens in multiple parts and sometimes has reruns of the episodes you'd much rather forget.

Though I love creating my bears, life often interrupts and doesn't allow me to have any time for creativity. I designed my first teddy bear pattern and created New Avenue Crew in August 1996, 16 years ago, but I have had to take many periods of hibernation from bear making, both long and short, because of life's reruns. I recently noticed that the last post here on this blog was posted five months ago!

I don't know whether life will be settling down anytime soon, but with the cooler fall weather, I am feeling the need to pick up the fur and fluff and get busy creating a little someone. And I'd like to share more with you, like the sweet hairless bear I finished back in the spring. I'm thrilled to say that he's been included in a publication...but I'll save that news for another blog post.

Happy autumn to you, dear readers! I hope you can pause to enjoy the colorful leaves, cooler air, pumpkin spice yummies, and a little Crew in your life every so often.



*The movie crew, left to right: Dana, Jennifer, Loren, Sid, Debora (me), Cynthia. And yes, most of us are related: siblings and cousins--and one friend.

**Here's the Life cereal TV commercial I remember. Enjoy!

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time (or as my uncle Lyle would say: "Once a-punce a time"), I had a website for New Avenue Crew. I started it on Geocities, and then I made a full-fledged website at my own domain: Newavenuecrew.com. Neither site was fancy, but I created them in HTML all by myself.

After a few years, I found that it was hard to afford the monthly fee for my domain and the web hosting, so I had to let them lapse. Unbeknownst to me, the domain was then quickly snatched and a high price set for anyone who dared try to buy it. (I told the story before, and a little more, on the first post on this blog.) I was so sad when I discovered I would not be able to get Newavenuecrew.com back, and I still regret it. And then, a couple of years ago, Geocities ceased operation. My sites were gone for good.

But then I did a search for Debora Hoffmann on Google today,* and I found this:

New Avenue Crew's Geocities site

It is my old New Avenue Crew Geocities site, recovered by Reocities!

I had no idea that Reocities was working to recover Geocities sites, but I am thrilled that they are and that I found my site so I can share it with you. It looks like I last worked on the site in 2008. I am unable to make any changes to it now, so it is a marker in New Avenue Crew's history.

I hope you will visit and enjoy looking around. Please let me know what you think. It was fun for me to take a walk down memory lane and see what my bears and I were doing once a-punce a time.


*My search was prompted by my curiosity after reading this blog post by Tami Eveslage, an artist whose work (in many media) I admire.

Two More Lovely Ladies

I was a bad blogger for a while, especially last year. Sometimes, life throws curveballs, and you find yourself in the outfield. That's what happened last year and why I didn't write on the blog or make bears for a while. But once again, I have found that I really need to express myself artistically, both in designing and making bears and in writing. My doctor told me on Tuesday that I am right-brained...I think I had better get busy creatively, then!

Anyway, while I wasn't writing last summer, I did travel back to New Avenue to see my parents and my husband's parents (who live in a nearby town). It was so nice to see them again and also to spend time on the beautiful California coast. On our drive back to Colorado, I got to meet up with two lovely ladies in the Phoenix area: Joanne Livingston of Desertmountainbear and Janice Woodard of Booh Bears. Look! I even have a picture!

Joanne Livingston, me, and Janice Woodard

Though it was about 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) there that day, it was refreshing to meet them and talk teddy bears. (And we ate lunch in a nice, cool ice cream parlor.) Joanne had one of her bears in progress with her; I enjoyed seeing how she uses armature to give her bears movement, and the sculpted feet were wonderful.

I hope we can get together again if I'm driving through Phoenix this year. Thanks for the memories and friendship, Joanne and Janice!

The Crew Loves Comments

Now you've gone and done it...the Crew members know you've been leaving comments, and they're all excited and want me to write more on the blog. Goodness, there are only three (completed) Crew members here in the studio now, but they can be quite adamant about something when they are excited.

Image source: Graphic by my friend Shelli Heinemann, Potbelly Bears

So here I am, sharing about comments to make them happy. But really, my motivation is twofold: (1) I want to thank you for your comments. (2) I am curious to know whether you receive notification when I reply to your comments. OK, my motivation is threefold: (3) Wayne said he missed reading my blog. (Hi, Wayne!)

There is a new feature in Blogger that allows visitors and blog owners to reply to comments on a blog, right there in the commenting section. I used to e-mail everyone (when I got a chance) to thank them for their comments. But now, I can comment right there on the blog. Do you receive a notification e-mail when I reply to your comment? Or is this the first you've heard about it?

Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your comments make my day. (And they make the Crew happy, too.)

Leap Day: Riding Along

The strange and mysterious day is finally here: Leap Day! It comes around only once every four years to keep us all in balance of some sort or another.

I had grand plans to finish the little bear I'm working on right on this day...but life got in the way. Still, I have been trimming fur from his seams and am nearly ready to sew his pieces together. I can't wait to see what he looks like--I designed a new pattern, and he's the first bear I've made from it. His fur is pretty brown-tipped golden mohair. In the photo below, Crew member James the jammie bear is wearing blue "pajamas," and his head and paws are made from the brown-tipped golden mohair that I'm using for this new bear. Love it!

James the jammie bear, 2001

The other day, I received a lovely email and photo from a dear collector friend. Sweet teddy Logan lives with her, and she shared this picture of him riding along in a small pedal car. To let you know how small, Logan is only about 10.5 inches (26.6 cm) tall.

Sweet teddy Logan riding along, 2012

I so enjoy receiving pictures of Crew members in their new homes (or vehicles, as the case may be)! If you have a Crew member living with you, I would love to see a picture or two.

Enjoy your Leap Day, dear readers!

Then and Now

See the photo above? Garth found it today and scanned it into his computer. I just love it! It was taken 11 years ago this month (April 2000). It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed! Let me tell you a little about the picture. (You can click on it to see it larger.)

The blond bear in the foreground is Trudi. Early in 2000, I created a pattern I called Bear 2000. The first bear from that pattern is named Trua, and she looks very similar to Trudi. The bears from that pattern had the look I had been wanting to create since I started New Avenue Crew in 1996! The pile of black fur and the tiny pile of golden fur next to me on the ottoman became Gunnison (pictured down near the bottom of the right-hand sidebar), also a Bear 2000 bear.

Behind me (yes, that really is me!) is Garth's setup for painting. We were newly married, and this was our first apartment. We had the living room set up for painting and bear making--it was our very first studio. I really enjoyed our time creating together! And to my left, out the window, was a balcony, and beyond was the Santa Ana River (we lived in Southern California). We were able to watch so many different varieties of birds visiting the riverbed, such as cormorants and falcons and pelicans. Beautiful!

And above is a picture of me in our home in Colorado. I'm pictured with Sprout; he is such a sweet, cuddly bear. I finished him in early March of this year, and he was adopted during the Blooming Bear Show. He is not a Bear 2000 bear, but I suppose you could call his pattern Bear 2010!

A Little Birdie Told Me...

...that it's somebunny's birthday tomorrow! Happy, happy birthday to my sweet, talented, rabbit-loving friend Michelle (Shell) May of the Raspberry Rabbits! Much love and many blessings to you on your birthday and always, Shell! (Why not hop on over and visit her little corner of the blogosphere? Her creations are darling, and so are her rabbits, Sugie and Sir Harrington.)

You're also invited to hop on over to birthday party central to see everyone's birthday wishes for Shell.

This is just a little sketch I was inspired to do last year.
Two of my friends love bunnies, and one of them also loves dragonflies.

The Bears Bounce with the Raspberry Rabbits



Today, I am so touched and honored that New Avenue Crew and I are featured on Michelle May's beautiful blog, the Raspberry Rabbits. Michelle has so graciously put me and the Crew in the spotlight for the day! I hope you will hop on over to see her lovely needlework creations and her sweet rabbit assistants and take a peek at her blog post about the Crew.

Thank you so much, Shell! xoxo

A World Awash with Color

I've been finding lately that I've been enjoying color immensely. It's not that it wasn't there before, lurking in a shadow, warming up a cloud, beaming and refracting into a prismatic rainbow. No, I suppose it has always been around me, delighting my eyes, but recently I've been more aware of it.

I often cook a stew that is sort of this American's version of Ukrainian borscht.* (We adopted our daughters from Ukraine in 2009, and I loved the borscht in that beautiful, hospitable country!) As I cut the vegetables, the carrots and beets in particular tickle my eyes. Such wonderful color God has created in the simplest of things! So many vegetables and fruits are brightly colored, perhaps to alert us to those with the most nutritional punch.

In our home, we've added splashes of color here and there while leaving a lot of white to reflect the bright, sunny days we have so often here in Colorado. The sun peeking into the dining room and kitchen warms the curtains you see above--a dramatic backdrop for our culinary creations.

Of course, all this color awareness prompts me to use color in my teddy bear creations. My latest bear, Pumphrey the clown, has a beautiful combination of purple and gold. He is looking for a new adoptive home (see his post below), but is content for now to clown around the studio.

As I paw through my mohair fabrics to find the piece I will use for my next bear, I so enjoy seeing the colors and how they work with each other or even clash a bit. How can I use the flaming orange tipped piece? How can I use the red, the pink, the blue?

In my idea sessions for the bears I'll be making for the upcoming ONLINE Teddies Worldwide Holiday Bear Show, to which you are ALL invited, I've been dreaming in reds and golds and greens and twinkly ivory whites, and Christmas carols have been playing in my head. My bears are cut out, and the next task is to get my sewing machine humming. There's not much time until the show, happening November 20 and 21 (mark your calendars, and join the Crew's mailing list [use the box in the right-hand sidebar] to receive an e-mail reminder), so the fur has been flying here in the New Avenue Crew studio. But I can't reveal all the colors just yet!


*My borscht recipe is a simple one, and you can customize it to your tastes. Chop a bunch of the vegetables you like best (include some beets--they are required for borscht!). I use onion, celery, beets, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash, tomatoes, and green beans.

Saute onion and celery in a large pot in some coconut oil (a good fat) or butter over low to medium heat. When they are translucent or browned, whichever you prefer, add ground beef and brown. Then add homemade chicken or beef broth and your vegetables. I fill the pot with broth to just below the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for approximately 25 minutes (more or less depending on how done you like your vegetables).

Ladle hot soup into bowls and top with minced garlic and a dollop of sour cream (also very Ukrainian). When the soup has cooled a bit, you could also add some extra virgin olive oil for its rich taste and good nutrition. It's another good fat. Season to taste with sea salt. You could include some herbs while the soup is simmering, like dill (very Ukrainian) or thyme. Perhaps you would like to add freshly ground black pepper, too. Serve with some crusty bread, if you like. Enjoy!

Winner on Wednesday

This morning, I had a new comment on my blog. Even though it was from Michelle Palmer, I didn't really think much of it. Lo and behold, I read the comment and discovered that I was the winner of her latest blog giveaway for a lovely journal with a bird and quotation illustrated by Michelle herself!

(This image copyright Michelle Palmer)

So beautiful! I love illustrations, and Michelle is so talented. I've been over the moon all day!

When I was 5 years old, my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. She wrote the answer in my "school days diary," and I remember what I said to this day: an artist and a mommy. My first love (artwise, anyway) was drawing. I even earned a bachelor's degree in fine art, though my emphasis was in graphic design. And I had always loved stuffed animals, so when I discovered bear making, I was smitten. Lately, I've been picking up pencil and paper much more often to sketch teddy bears and their friends. Someday, I just might share them with you!

Please go visit Michelle's blog and her Etsy store to see her fabulous work. And let me (and her!) know what you think.

Thank you so much, Michelle!

Inspiring Finds: Cute and Creative

Back in May, I posted about some inspiring finds in Prims magazine. Susan Pilotto of Crowsnest Pass Primitive Folk Art is one creative lady! I so enjoy her little creations, and I know you will, too. She is having a blog giveaway for this darling little mouse on a spool. Pop on over to visit and enter!

It's a Blog Party: Where Bloggers Create II

The time has come for a blog party...a very big blog party! Welcome to Where Bloggers Create II, hosted by Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage. (Note: There is now a blog that archives all the party participants' blog posts so you can visit them whenever you like: Where Bloggers Create.)

I am so glad you dropped in for a visit. Come on in, and I'll show you where I create! But first, let me tell you just what it is that I create.

I design and hand make original soft sculpture teddy bears and other works in my home studio. Though they are not meant for children because of the small parts, I hope the members of New Avenue Crew remind you of the joyful parts of your childhood and help you remain a kid at heart. (Pictured above is Herr Grünhosen, one of my favorites, who was adopted by a lovely lady.)

And now, on to our tour!

Out here in the Wild, Wild West of Colorado, there are wide open spaces for wide open thinking. I enjoy this bright, sunny room and its mostly empty floor space for thinking about new designs, occasional sewing, stuffing bears, oh, and...

...spreading out.

Here you can see many of my pieces of mohair and alpaca, which is the "fur" I use for my bears. These fabrics feel so lush and soft.

Sometimes ideas come just from seeing and feeling a piece of mohair and its texture, color, and finish. (Mohair fabric is made from the hair of the angora goat. The goat is shorn, and the hair is cleaned and carded much like wool would be. Then it is spun and woven into a cotton backing before being treated to a dye bath and texturing techniques.)

I have had this particular piece of mohair for many years. Holding it makes me think I would like to make a sweet, traditional-styled bear from it.

And then there are the bold colors. This orangy one makes me think: clown bear.

Most of the time, my mohair stash is kept neatly folded in boxes. But it is fun to spread out on occasion!

Come on in to the family room and my favorite chair.

Here, I can draw out my ideas and sketch and doodle away. Drawing is a lifelong pastime for me. You'll often see me here accompanied by a cup of tea and a bear or two. I've even been known to stuff bears here, and you can occasionally find me sitting on the floor surrounded by bags of stuffing, plastic pellets, and excelsior (wood wool), bear and stuffing tools at hand.

Let's climb the stairs now. I understand if you're a little winded at the top; we live at approximately 6,700 feet above sea level!

This is the loft, where many ideas become reality. I work on my sketches here, draw out pattern pieces, cut the pieces from fur, and write my blog. (I also work here full-time as a proofreader for a fabulous advertising firm, Garrigan Lyman.) Of course, my desk isn't always so neat and tidy.

It usually looks a little more like this when I'm in the middle of an idea session. You should see it when the fur's flying!

The loft is also a favorite place to get down on the floor with fabrics and stuffing materials and to be inspired by the old playthings that belonged first to my uncle (the big bear) and my mother before I played with them as a child. I remember taking Uncle Bill's bear out to the sandbox with me. Such a patient bear! Yes, the Steiff truck is new--from the '80s?--as is the little brown bear, but they belong together. And the coat? I believe my mom made it when she was a girl. My dollies wore it when I was young.

Let's wander down the hall to what's officially known around our house as "the studio." I share this space with my sweet husband, who likes to paint landscape paintings when he has the chance. (You can see one of his paintings above my favorite chair, above.)

Here, armed with my trusty Pfaff Hobby sewing machine, I sew my bears' parts. (A bit of trivia for you: a basic traditionally styled teddy bear typically has 21 pieces that need to be sewn together.) After a few frustrating years of using hand-me-down sewing machines that liked to create huge thread balls on the back of my mohair, my wonderful husband bought me this Pfaff shortly after we were married. Bless his heart!

Teddy bears need a lot of hand sewing, too: embroidering the nose, attaching the ears, closing the body and limbs after stuffing, and more. You can find me in any of these spots around the house doing handwork if there's enough light. And sometimes, I'll sew outside in the sunshine.

Back in the loft with sweet Logan the bear is where we'll part--for now. Very soon, I'll share Logan's special story with you here on the blog. And, I'm excited to say, I'll also be offering a few of my bears for adoption very soon. Three of them have made appearances in this blog post. They just couldn't pass up such a fun party.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to New Avenue Crew's studio. We sure enjoyed having you! Please feel free to make yourself comfortable and stay for a while. (Here is the link to the full New Avenue Crew blog. We hope you'll become a follower and come back to visit often!) And be sure to visit the archived party blog so you can see more places where bloggers create. Thank you, Karen, for putting together such a fun event!

Party Preparations

I've enjoyed arranging and rearranging things for my photos for the Where Bloggers Create II party. And I admit to a little cleaning for your benefit; one must clean when one will be having guests! The work table still appears a little fuzzy and fluffy, but I know you'll forgive that because it's all a part of making bears.

I hope you'll drop in here on Saturday to visit the New Avenue Crew studio. The bears and I are eager to show you around. And be sure to visit the blog link above for the other party participants. This will be such fun! I hear there will be an archive blog after the event, so you won't miss the festivities if you're away this weekend.

See you Saturday!

On Seeing Clearly

My eyes and I get along just fine most of the time. I can proofread all day on the computer, fix dinner, go for a walk, read a story in a magazine, and so on without much trouble. But come time to do something that's truly close up, something I really like to do, like drawing or making teddy bears, and my eyes and I don't get along so well.

I first noticed that I had a big problem in 2001 when I was making Ha Lee (the Christmas panda pictured in the sidebar). My eyes had a lot of trouble staying focused on the close-up work I was doing on her. I had to look up a lot and got quite frustrated because I was working against a deadline for sending a picture of her to Teddy Bear and Friends magazine for their Christmas bears feature. (Happily, I was able to finish Ha Lee, and she was chosen to travel to the TB&F offices for a photo session. That was the first time one of my bears appeared in a full-color teddy bear magazine--what a thrill!)

A few times since then, I have put my bear making on hold because of my eyes and other life events, such as adopting our girls from Ukraine. But a few months ago, I was bitten by the bear bug--hard, suddenly, and out of the blue--and found I had to make my bears again. I missed being creative! I missed all the fur and fluff! I missed the sweet little faces looking up at me! And I missed the friends I had made, both artists and collectors, in real life and on the internet.

Now that I am a few years older, my eye problems haven't disappeared, but a few weeks ago, I got new glasses. (There I am, at left, in my new glasses. Like them? And with me is my little bear friend, the first bear I've completed in nearly four years. I'm out of hibernation now!) To my delight, my new glasses have helped a lot in my close-up work. And another great tool I've discovered is the sun: when I can sit in a sunny window or outside and sew a seam closed or shade a bear's face or perform some other close-up work, I find I can see it ever so much better in the sunlight than under all the indoor light I can shine on the subject.

This weekend, I have been creative, worked on my bears, played in the fur and fluff, enjoyed the little faces looking up at me, and made some new friends. These new friends are teddy bear artists who live right here in Colorado. Thank you to Michelle Lamb of One and Only Bears and Stephanie Sarsfield of Sassy Bears and Fabrics for putting on an event called a BearBee (reminds me of a quilting bee).

It was such a treat to meet teddy bear artists Michelle Lamb, Tami Lahey, Beth Hutchison, Kelly Dauterman, and Stephanie Sarsfield. (There was another lady there for a short time whose name I didn't catch--shame on me!*) I didn't get a picture until the very end, so not everyone is pictured, but here we are: Beth, Debora, Michelle, Stephanie.

We had a great time talking, eating, shopping, working on our bears, and sharing our creations with each other. Because there are no bear shows in this area, and the last one I exhibited at was in 2002, I haven't seen another artist's work in person in about eight years. I was delighted to hold these special bears, some so tiny, some so large, some very teddy, some very realistic complete with claws, and some award nominees/winners.

Thank you, Stephanie and Michelle, for the BearBee.

Thank you, dear eye doctor, for helping me see more clearly.

And a huge thank you to those who have sacrificed so our country remains free. God bless America this Memorial Day and every day.

*Update: Her name is Kim Klintz! Thank you, Kim, for leaving a comment so I know your name. It was lovely meeting you--I want to see your bears next time!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my very beautiful mom! You shaped me during my formative years on New Avenue and loved me always, whether I was lovable or not. You shared your love of sewing, antique dolls and other antiques, crafts, music, and laughter. Thank you for everything--I love you!

And Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! Today is my very first Mother's Day as a mother. Though being a mom is not quite what I thought it would be, I thank the Lord for His blessings and His patience with me.

Blessings and bear hugs to you today!

It's Moving Day! Welcome to Our New Blog Home!

The big day has finally arrived. The "old" blog has been packed up and moved here to the Crew's new home on Blogger, which I've been decorating to make it more homey. I'm sure I will be making adjustments every now and then; a home is never truly finished, is it? Hang a picture here, move the couch there...

You may have noticed that there are navigation elements under the top photo; they will take you to other pages of the blog, just like a regular website. I know I will add more of them! You may have also noticed that there are some fun gadgets in the sidebar, such as a place where you can follow the Crew's blog with a simple click of the Follow button, a Facebook badge that lets you "like" my new page on Facebook, Twitter for reading my tweets, the Guild of Master Bearcrafters, and more.

Gosh, this has been fun! Maybe someday I will be able to decorate my studio. Right now, my studio is all over the house, wherever I happen to be. Sometimes I'm sitting on the floor; sometimes I'm at one of the computer tables, cutting, trimming, trying to keep fur away from the electronics; and sometimes I might be at the dining room table. But I'm glad to have these spaces to work in.

And you, dear reader, have had a hand in making our new blog home more homey. I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you for peeking in on us here and for writing such lovely comments. You have been so encouraging to me, and, as my sweet grandma used to say, I thank you! I thank you! I thank you!

And now, without further ado, I am taking the rest of the day to work hard on my patient little bears. Proofreader by day, bear maker by weekend, illustrator in between, exhausted by night. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sprucing Up the Place

Would that painting and wallpapering one's home were so easy! Some of you may have noticed that I have been trying out different blog backgrounds recently as I've been decorating the Crew's new blog home...you may have even popped in while I was in the middle of the process. I am happy to report that I found some lovely free blog themes out there! Should you be curious and wish to give your own blog a face-lift, I am happy to share the three sites whose backgrounds I enjoyed trying out on my blog:

• Shabby Blogs
• Hot Bliggity Blog
• The Cutest Blog on the Block

(You don't have a blog yet? Simply visit Blogger.com and follow the prompts.)

And now to the job of packing up my old blog in anticipation of moving day. Can't wait to hang pictures!

On Looking Old and Loved

Aging doesn't come naturally to me. I am hesitant. I am far from brave. A dash of color here, a trim there, some sandpaper...

Dear readers, please don't be alarmed. I am talking about aging the little bear who's pictured in the post below (on the left) and having a quiet conversation on my other blog. When I'm facing a little bear with scissors, some form of stain, and fine-grain sandpaper, it sometimes seems that I should apologize to the little soul before I begin, during the process, and even afterward. And, not being the brave sort, I hesitate to go too far, because, gulp, the fur doesn't grow back!

Last night before bed, my daughter entered the room where I was working on aging the little bear. She said, "Oh, he's cute!" and asked to hold him. When she saw him up close, she exclaimed, "He looks old!" I just smiled and told her that's what I was aiming for. I only hope I can get the "loved" part in there, too.

In the Beginning...

...I made a blog for New Avenue Crew on WordPress. Well, let me back up a bit.

In 1996, I designed my first teddy bear pattern and made a bear from synthetic plush from the fabric store. I then moved to using mostly mohair because it was so much easier to work with and gave such a beautiful finished look. Many bears emerged from the studio on New Avenue and found adoptive parents. (In 1999, I got married and moved away from New Avenue, but the love and legacy of my happy childhood is passed along through each of my Crew members. To find out a little more about me and New Avenue Crew, click the About the Crew tab above.)

A few years into my bear making, I set up a website on Geocities, and then at Newavenuecrew.com, my very own domain and home on the web. I really enjoyed meeting collectors and bear artists and sharing my creations and Fun Fur Facts with others. A few years in, because money was tight, I naively took down the site, losing my URL in the process. (I still regret that decision, and I don’t have the nearly $3,000 it would take to buy back my domain.) And then, Geocities ceased operation in late 2009. I know that many people figured I had disappeared, never to appear again!

Enter blogging. I started a WordPress blog in November 2006 and didn't do much with it at first. But then, as the bear bug bit me again, I started writing and sharing photos and bits of my life. I really enjoy writing and creating and making friends, and blogging is a great forum for doing so. But I've found that WordPress is not so easy to use and is not very customizable...

All this is to say that I'm planning to move my blog from WordPress here to Blogger soon. There are things to be worked out here, like a blog theme/design and such, but I'm excited about the possibilities. I hope you'll join me here and consider following my musings from the New Avenue Crew studio (there's a place to become a follower in the sidebar at right). And when there's a bear or other creation available for adoption, you'll find out about it here on the blog--or join my mailing list to be one of the very first to know!

In fact, here's a sneak peek at two little bears in the works. Visit my other blog to hear their quiet conversation.