Bearing All Seasons ~ Monthly Bear Hug! January 2004 I am so excited for a new year!  A wonderful time for reflection and for setting new goals...right?  One of my goals is to get a newsletter to you monthly!  So I am calling my newsletter the "Monthly Bear Hug".  That should do it!  I am hoping that this year you will see more new pattern packets, and of course I will be working on another book as well!  Our little business is growing and growing!  It is a wonderful adventure! We are hoping to get painting supplies in our online store in the next couple of months.  Won't it be wonderful to buy everything you need in one place?  I have turned into an online shopper, because my time is so valuable!  It helps so much!  I hope that you will feel that this can benefit you as well.  You will be able to order paint, brushes, and other important accessories for convenience in one stop shopping.  You can see all of my favorite supplies!   In this issue: What's "beary" new in our neck of the woods! "Beary" helpful hints!  The Honey Pot: "Beary" special friends! Want to Resell Our Books and Patterns? What's "beary" new in our neck of the woods! It's Finally Here!  "Paw" On The Patio All Through The Year!  Hot off the press!  A new, fun, painting instruction book (full sized patterns included!) You'll love this super-sized Bear and Cubs, 44"t x 24 1/2"w, with 13 fun changing seasons outfits!  It looks so cute in my entryway.  I get so many compliments!  My kids can't wait until it is time to change outfits!  The pre-cut wood for this "beary" big project will be ready to ship within the week!   We are just waiting for our custom sized boxes to arrive.  Visit our catalog for pricing and to see all of these darling outfits!  "Beary" Helpful Hints: Will you be cutting your own "Paws" On The Patio Bear?   If you are cutting this new bear out yourself, the large bear is cut from 1" x 12" x 4' pine wood.  Use the whole width of the wood for the body section of the large bear.  It seems that the width of each piece of wood varies, so I find myself adjusting the body section of the pattern a little with each piece of wood.  Yes...I have cut out a few!  It is easy, just big!  Because the body section is so large, you will need to cut counter clockwise on most of the head on your band saw or scroll saw (you could also use a jig saw to cut this piece).  Since the body section is the full width of the board, you only have to cut from one shoulder to the next!  Easy huh?  The rest of the pieces are a breeze!  I cut the outfits from 1/8" wood.    Another very helpful item to have is a little disc sander for the edges of the outfits.  It cleans the rough edges so easily.  I use those little sanders constantly.  You can purchase them by the paints and brushes at your local craft store.  I found that because some of these 1/8" pieces were so big, the wood bowed a little with the wet base coat of paint, but as soon as it dried they were better than ever!  Just one other trick to simplify this project...you could copy the large fold out sheets at Kinko's.  They have a great copy machine for large paper.  It really is nice for tracing the pattern onto your wood. That way you don't have to ruin your fold outs from the book!  I hope that some of these ideas are helpful to you as you venture into this fun, new project!  You can email me if you have any questions, any time! A call for your helpful hints!  I would love it if you would email me with any "beary" helpful hints that you wouldn't mind sharing with my readers in future additions of "The Monthly Bear Hug" that have helped you in your painting and creating adventures! The Honey Pot ~ Calling all "beary" special friends! This is a new section that I want to add to my newsletter.  I would like to spotlight you!  Just email or send a snapshot of you doing what you love and a short paragraph on why you love to paint, and how it enriches your life.  Anything that you feel you would like to share with us would be wonderful!  It would make me "beary" happy to hear from you!  You are my honey pot!  So...get sending those pictures! Want to Resell Our Books and Patterns? To learn more about reselling our books and patterns, please send e-mail to:reseller@bearingallseasons.com Sincerely, Colleen Parry Bearing All Seasons, Inc. E-mail:colleenparry@bearingallseasons.com Web:www.bearingallseasons.com Phone/fax: 801-768-8278 Copyright 2002-2004, Bearing All Seasons, Inc.