Baby Bearington features products from the makers of BEARINGTON BEARS. The Bearington Baby Collection offers award winning baby products at the best prices online.

Baby Bearington products are perfect gifts for a baby shower or a newborn’s arrival.

Bear at Home is proud to be an Authorized Bearington Collection Retailer.

Grundy, IA. – The Collectors’ Information Bureau, a trade organization for limited edition collectible manufacturers, honored 2009 Collectors’ Choice Award recipients in 11 categories, including this year’s two new divisions, Halloween and Prints/Original Art. Finalists were selected by a panel of industry judges including Caroline Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Gifts & Decorative Accessories. Winners were determined by a public vote.

In Dolls/Plush, Gund won first place for Treasured Teddies “Gregory”; Bearington Collection took second with “Polly & Prancer”.

Collectors’ Choice Awards

1. Turn teddy bear over to see if their is a washing instructions label. Some synthetic bears can actually be machine washed on the most gentle cycle. Do not wash with other colored clothes or items. Using a mesh bag to put the bear in is not a bad idea. I would not use much detergent if any but maybe a little fabric softener would be a nice touch. Allow it to air dry. Do not put in dryer or use a hair dryer. Machine washing is not something that would be recommended for antiques or real old or fragile teddies. Remember that bears that talk or make sounds probably have a device inside them that may get ruined if machine washed.
2. Let me say that for the next steps “patience” is a must. For a really dirty teddy bear the human instinct is to get some strong cleaner and put it in a spray bottle and spray and scrub the heck out of it. While this may get some good results some times, it may also ruin certain fabrics by changing color, texture, and overall appearance of the teddy bear.
3. For the many teddy bears that are not machine washable, The material of an old teddy bear is really not much different than the care you would give to an antique piece of upholstery or tapestry. Brush gently with a soft brush to loosen particular dust and soil. Carefully vacuum it by putting cheese cloth or using a nylon over the vacuum head of your vacuum tool to remove loose soil.
4. Using a clean damp cloth (warm water only-no soap as soap tends to leave a residue that can cause quick re-soiling) wipe down the teddy bears fur. You’ll be surprised how much soil can be removed with simply wiping down the bear. This should help restore some of the shine and brighten the color like it had when it was newer.
5. If teddy is severely soiled you may have to repeat this process 2-3 times to get as much soil removed as possible. Do not soak the teddy bear. If you have to, allow it to air dry then repeat the process.
6. The next step is allowing the teddy bear to air dry. It is best to lightly brush the teddy bear’s fur before it dries, so that the nap is all laying in the same direction (usually laying down) . If you let it dry first before you brush it it may change the texture and appearance and you may not be able to get it back after it’s dry.
7. At times a little mending may be needed.
8. Don’t forget to hug them at least once a day.
9. Make sure to allow as many kids as possible to admire and maybe hold them. Teddy Bears love children.
10. For teddy bears that don’t get used much and maybe sit on a shelf for a long time, you can either buy a case to put them in or you can use a large clear zip lock bag or freezer bag and slip on over the bear’s head & body. This allows you to still see the bear but will help keep the dust and dirt for getting them dirty.

Hopefully some of these tips have helped you care for your teddy bears. Remember the older and more antique the teddy bear the more caution and care needs to be used.

Bruce Simmons is a Teddy Bear Designer for “Mainely Bears Collectable Teddy Bear Gifts” checkout some of the different designs at http://teddy-gift.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruce_Simmons

2002 marked the 100th birthday of the teddy bear. During this time the world’s favorite stuffed animal has come to symbolized loyalty and friendship. It only seems appropriate to designate a special day to celebrate teddy bears and all they represent.

Most of us can remember our favorite childhood teddy bear. Teddy bears are timeless and often invoke memories of our youth. We will never forget how our special furry friend gave us comfort as a child.

The history of the Teddy Bear is believed to have started in 1902 with President Theodore Roosevelt on a bear hunting expedition in Mississippi. During the hunting trip he refused to shoot a defenseless bear cub. This story was circulated and was eventually captured in a political cartoon by Cliff Barryman. The image then sparked shopkeeper Morris Michtom imagination and he created the first known stuffed bear in President Roosevelt’s honor.

Today teddy bears are loved by the young and old. Often the first gift given to a newborn is their very first teddy bear to love. Teddy bear collecting has become a popular and profitable hobby as well. Collectors of antique and vintage teddy bears come from every age group and every area of the world. Books, magazines and clubs have been formed all out of the love we have for stuffed bears.

In honor of our most beloved stuff animal May 19th has been declared National Teddy Bear Day. A celebration of our personal childhood best friend and special companion. National Teddy Bear Day fittingly coincides with National Bear Awareness Week. Be sure to check with your local zoo. Most American Zoos will have special events for children and their beloved teddy bear. Activities often include arts and crafts, storytelling, teddy bear hospital and costumed characters.

It is mind-boggling that over a century has passed since the first Teddy bears have been made. During past 100 years many of them have been well loved and for them it is time to retire. But where to put those old stuffed bears since as you know, there is no retirement home for teddy bears. If you have some teddy bears and don’t need them anymore, you can sell them to collectors, or put them in a museum where they will sit comfortably and be admired by teddy lovers.

The very first Teddy Museum in the world is in Petersfield (Hampshire) England. It was open back in 1984. It was opened just with teddies from Judy Sparrow’s collection. Today teddy bear toys are in museums due to their long history of how they came about. If you love teddy bears and have a buddy who loves bears too, try heading out to one of these museums.

A good place to visit is the Dorset Stuffed bear toy Museum in Dorset. This teddy museum is opened 7 days a week opening each morning at 9:30. In this museum there are teddy bear toys around every corner. You can see the whole teddy bear collection from the very old to the latest and greatest. Enjoy the trip back through time as you watch your favorite fictional stuffed bear toys come to life right before your eyes. Walking through this museum you can find even life sized teddies to keep you company. I would suggest you to visit the house of “Mr. Edward” teddy bear where you can sit with his family. Equally impressive as the museum is the museums gift shop. It has everything you could possibly want from character teddies to one of a kind teddy.

England in teddy community is a special place because that is where the first museum popped up. However, England isn’t the only place in the world that has teddy museums. Most famous stuffed bear toy museum in the east is Jeju Teddy bear Museum. It is based in South Korea on Cheju (Jeju) Island and it opened its doors to the public in 2001. In this museum you can find all types of different teddy bear types and complete information on each of them. Visiting this museum is a whole day adventure so for parents there is a café bar, and many resting places in the museums beautiful gardens. Museum also has two galleries and a gift shop.

The largest teddy bears museum in the western United States is the Dancing Bear Folk Center. This magnificent museum is located in Thermopolis, Wyoming and is ready for you to come and explore its collection of teddy bears. If you ever get out to Vermont You should definitely stop at the Vermont Stuffed bear toy Company. Be careful though, they have so many amazing stuffed toy bears you won’t want to go home without at least one. For the visitors a tour of the factory is also possible so I would suggest you to take one since you are already there.

A teddy museum which is certainly worth visiting is the Stuffed bear toy Museum in Naples, Florida. This museum has over 4,000 teddy bears on exhibit and there are nearly 40,000 visitors from around the world visit this museum yearly. Visitors of this ‘dream home for stuffed toy bears’ can see many displays, including, antique and limited edition stuffed bear toys, as well as, stuffed teddy bear paintings, sculpture, posters and collectibles. On the special display of the museum is one of a kind work by some of the worlds most imaginative bear designers working with various materials. The museum is the Mecca for teddy enthusiasts so this museum hosts community events throughout the year including, teas, workshops and stuffed bear toy shows.

Among many stuffed bear toy landmarks there is on if far away Anchorage, Alaska. There you can find “Teddy bear House Bed and Breakfast”. In this B&B teddy bear toys are displayed in every room of the house. The cost for this one of a kind vacation spot is $45 a night per person with breakfast included. Make some very “bearable” memories and seek out those teddy bear toys.

On November 14, 1902, the 26th President of the United States, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, went to Mississippi to settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. While there, Roosevelt agreed to join in a bear hunt. Accustomed to a strenuous, physical hunt, he was a bit dismayed by the unfamiliar method of using packs of dogs to track and chase prey leaving the hunter to only wait for his animal

Hunting conditions proved unfavorable for the president and late into the day he still hadn’t had success. Determined to find a suitable quarry for his president, guide Holt Collier set off to find him a bear. Tracking a 235 pound bear to a water hole, he clubbed it over the head and tied it to a tree. Roosevelt was then summoned to shoot the bear and claim his prize. The president was unimpressed by the bound, dazed, and bleeding bear. Saying, “Spare the bear! I will not shoot a tethered animal.” He refused his prize and forbade anyone else from claiming it.

Reporters with the hunting party spread the news of Roosevelt’s fair play nationwide. Among those inspired by the story was political cartoonist Clifford Berryman. Berryman drew a cartoon of the incident portraying the tethered bear sitting innocently with huge, scared eyes. The cartoon captioned “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” was featured on the front cover of The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.

The cartoon was reprinted in newspapers all over the country and Roosevelt’s popularity soared. For the remainder of his political career his mascot was Teddy’s Bear and Berryman continued to use it all his cartoons. It signified to the public how Roosevelt could not be swayed from doing what he thought was right. It is debatable how much of a role it played in his re-election in 1905.

As news spread of Roosevelt’s adventure and Berryman’s cartoon the imagination of New York toy storeowners Morris and Rose Michtom was sparked. Using Berryman’s Bear as a guide, they designed a bear very unlike the toy bears available at the time. Toy bears were typically portrayed on all fours with features similar to real bears. The Michtoms new bear was sweet and cuddly, filled with excelsior stuffing and adorned with black buttons for eyes.

Rose made two of the bears and they were placed in the store’s window. They became an instant success. The Michtoms then asked President Roosevelt for permission to call the bears “Teddy’s Bears” and the Teddy Bear was born.

The demand for Teddy’s Bears was so strong that within a year of its creation the Michtoms closed their candy store. With the help of the wholesale firm, Butler Brothers, the first teddy bear manufacturer in the United States was founded. They called it the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. It remained a successful business and in 1938 changed its name to Ideal Toy Company.

The term Teddy Bear (without the s) first appeared in the October 1906 issue of Playthings Magazine. Soon even the Steiff Company was using it for their bears and it became the accepted term.

The teddy bear is the most popular plush toy and it’s possible it’s the most popular of all toys. While other toys have enjoyed their popularity and then disappeared, the teddy bear has stood the test of time. They are bought for our new babies, our friends, and our loved ones. There just doesn’t seem to be an occasion where a teddy bear isn’t just the right gift. We dress them up, make them musical, and treasure them as collector’s pieces and beloved friends.

Sharon Lauer is a free lance writer and the marketing director for http://www.everyoccasiongiftshop.com and http://www.simplythebestbaskets.com. She regularly writes articles on various aspects of gifts and gift giving. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_Lauer

Teddy bears appear on all kinds of products, from wallpaper to slippers. You can decorate your whole house with bears, wear teddy bear slippers and sleep in teddy bear sheets. You can buy chocolate teddies, cereals promoted with teddy bears and bears have even appeared on some laundry products! But this isn’t just a modern craze. Teddy-decorated china appeared almost as early as the first bears themselves. Early examples are highly prized by collectors since the fragile nature of their materials means that few have survived in good condition, and complete sets are very rare. Some modern makers of limited-edition bears also offer bear-sized accessories for their special bears. And of course, we’re all familiar with images of Pooh Bear and Paddington being used across a whole range of items.

Various other materials have been formed into bear shapes over the last century or so. Early 20th century wooden carvings of bears – often called Black Forest Bears – after the region of Southern Germany where they were made, are very popular with collectors. Some were intended purely for use as ornaments, but others were made into useful objects, ranging in size from pincushions to coat stands.

Silver teddy bears were once used to adorn christening gifts such as teething rings or rattles, and bears also appear on silver spoons and egg cups, also popular christening presents. Early examples again are particularly sought after, and the hallmarking system means that they can be accurately dated.

Postcards featuring bears have also been around almost as long as the teddy himself, and an enormous number have been published. These could once be obtained extremely cheaply, but prices have soared in recent years. Luckily for bear-lovers everywhere, larger numbers of new cards continue to appear at collectable prices, most recently from DevonBear Designs, who offer a whole set of bear-ish images. We also offer bears on e-cards if you want to send other bear-lovers some great English bear images, absolutely free!

Old adverts and packaging – ephemera – are also very collectable, and even modern items can be grouped together very effectively to create a talking point. Think about Rupert Bear and Sooty, Paddington and Pooh to name just a few. Other collectable items with a bear theme include decorated toffee or biscuit tins and the metal buckets that many will remember from seaside holidays of days gone by.

Whenever bears appear on items, you can be sure that someone somewhere will have started a collection. But for real bear-lovers, the only problem is deciding where to begin – and also when to stop!

Helen Dickson is the owner of DevonBear Designs. She designs and makes a small range of really practical – and pretty – textile items and stationery all inspired by the wonderful coast and countryside of South Devon, England. Helen is a talented watercolour artist and all DevonBear Designs products feature one of her images. Visit her site at http://www.devonbeardesigns.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Helen_Dickson

I don’t suppose King Tut’s solid gold headpiece is any more valuable to you then your son or daughter’s first winning soccer jersey. But King Tut has all manner of people -people with all manner of initials behind their names- tending to all manner of threats. These treats include things like UV light, atmospheric nastinesses, vile little creatures that creep, crawl, & eat, and -last but not least- bad people who would steal the king’s goodies.

If you don’t have fancy initials behind your name, not to worry, nor do I but I have taken upon myself the task of talking to a few such people and read some really REALLY hard stuff these people wrote. Stuff with tables & graphs & Greek letters fer-goodness-sake! On more then one occasion I remembered all too clearly my old chemistry and physics classes. Can’t say I remembered any chemistry or physics, I just remembered being confused in particularly chemical and physical ways. Things like oxidation, frequency, & wavelengths of light and other such imponderables. But now I have some good and -let us hope -comprehensive- advice to pass on to you.

LIGHT:

The first thing you need to know about light is that it is made out of exactly the same stuff as x-rays, gamma rays, micro-waves etc. and other deadly stuff. The only difference between UV rays that are used to sterilize –kill the bacteria on– things -and the look of a “violet -gently bedewed in the early morn” is the frequency / wavelength of the light. It’s like the difference between a soprano’s voice (the dangerous, high-energy, destructive UV end of the spectrum) and a base voice (the IR ‘infra-red’ end.) This is the end of the spectrum that makes a nice crackling fire so welcoming on a cold winter’s night. I’m NOT drawing any inference between the relative pleasantness of a shrill little harpy and a great warm teddy-bear of a man -but feel free to ponder it yourself.

The point here is that ANY radiation -even the relatively benign stuff our eyes recognize as visible light- will damage stuff. Let’s take a priceless medieval tapestry as a hypothetical example. If -for some reason- you wanted to fade it to white and use it to make a nice bed for your dog, you would do well to get a hold of what they call ‘ionizing radiation’. Easily done, all you have to do it spread the tapestry out facing the sun someplace well above the earth’s magnetic field and it’s outside of its atmosphere. If you don’t have a spaceship at your disposal, you are out of luck, but the rest of us are IN luck. Our planet protects us from this ionizing radiation stuff -and a damn good thing this is. The far right side of the spectrum -the very highest soprano of the radiation scale -is deadly to living things -and not very nice to dead things either. Anything more complicated then rock is broken down to its component bits in this ionizing radiation. Let me emphasize this. UV light is parts of that stuff they call ionizing radiation and such breaks down organic matter. Examples of organic matter include most pigments. Oil paints, water-colors, and your kids crayons are all made from organic pigments, and YOU are another example of organic matter. You are certainly made out’a organic matter -unless you have had certain kinds of surgery. (Even silicone is organic, but it’s preservation is well outside of my purposes in this article.)

For that matter, if you were somehow able to spread your medieval tapestry out in direct unfiltered up-in-space sunlight, the sun’s rays would not only fade it, but it would turn it into nothing more then a whiff of gas and a little carbon ash pretty quickly.

But to return to our example or deliberately fading a priceless tapestry. If you don’t have a spaceship, your next best option is to spread it out in the most convenient equatorial desert. Africa is full of such, but your backyard on a sunny day would serve. If it’s a rainy day, your next best option is to spread it out under some special and very expensive UV lamps that are used by set-decorators and special effects people. Or you could use simple fluorescent lights. Not as fast -but they will eventually get the job done. No florescent lights you say? But you have a lot of good-old regular light-bulbs you want to use -what they call “incandescent bulbs”? Forget about it. Incandescent lights don’t give out enough UV light to amount to didley. They do a fair job with the visible light and good job with the infra-red light -the warm cuddly end of the spectrum. Furthermore, if you were to misguidedly put a pane of clear plastic over the top of your tapestry -just to keep it flat- you would slow the process down even more. Plastic is opaque to UV radiation you say? Yep -this is what I’m saying. PLASTIC IS LARGELY OPAQUE TO UV LIGHT AND GLASS IS NOT! (But you will only slow down the process. You can NOT stop it entirely.)

So to summaries, if you can see it -there is visible light bouncing off it and into your eyeballs. If light bounces off of it, there must be light falling on it. And if there is light falling on it, there is some degradation -perhaps very little and very slow, but there is degradation.

WHAT TO DO -on the cheap.

All of this is to say that common sense will take you further down the UV protection road then all the fancy -and expensive – plastics, films, and special light bulbs. You MUST keep your collectable out of direct sunlight. You SHOULD keep it out of any bright light. If there are a lot of fluorescent lights in the room where you keep your collection, you MIGHT buy some plastic tubes or sleeves to cover the bulbs. But wait a minute, if your fluorescent bulbs are behind a plastic panel -perhaps in recessed lights, you are already there! Remember, plastic is opaque to UV light!

WHAT TO DO -to spend money.

Suppose you have done all you can in the room wherein reside your valuables -plastic between the fluorescent bulbs and your art-work, acid free mounting materials, things mounted on the walls so sunlight doesn’t fall on them (and remember -the sun shines differently in the winter then it does in the summer -probably comes farther into your room then it does in the summer) etc. But there is a window. It’s a good window -lets in pleasant light -maybe nice, cool, even northern light and a little fresh air too. You don’t want to brick it up and you don’t even want curtains. Here is what you do. Get yourself a piece of acrylic plastic somewhat bigger then the window -say 20% bigger- and hang it from the ceiling on two pieces of chain. Put it 4 or 5 inches away from the wall and you can reach behind it to open and close the window and allow for fresh air to get in. You might have noticed such things in museums. Museum people call ‘em baffles. They limit the UV and do so unobtrusively. Or use that reflective film they make to cut-down on summer’s heat. Both of these things are sold at the local home-improvement store, but if you need a piece of acrylic bigger then 24″ x 48″ you might need to open the phone-book.

WHAT TO DO -to spend a lot of money but to do things right.

We have to agree that glass is simply better looking them plastic. This is not to say that plastic hasn’t some decided advantages -it’s lighter, stronger, and less dangerous etc. -not to mention that it is UV opaque, but it simply is not as nice to look through as glass. But glass is transparent to destructive UV radiation. There is a rather snooty company that makes all sorts of treated glass. The stuff ain’t cheap but for valuable artwork, it is a must. It will run you between 3 and 5 times the cost of the glass you buy at your local home-improvement store. (Take heart -the stuff they make for museums costs 10 times as much.)

What makes it worth this much? Well, it is covered with a special and proprietary plastic film that kills the UV light. Then it is acid-etched just the tiniest little bit to cut down on glare. Then it is given another coat of secrete-stuff to kill the glare even more. It cuts just like regular glass, but given the cost of either Museum or Conservation glass, it might behoove you to know what you are doing with a glass cutter.* If you don’t know, the good news is that there are all sorts of people who know this and know even more about acid-free this and archival-quality that. (And they are able to deal with the snooty company that makes the expensive glass.) Check out….

Professional Picture Framers Association

*A good glass cutter will cost you all of $5.00 at the hardware store and is not hard to use, but there is a knack. You might see if you can’t find someone to teach you, or buy a big sheet of glass and practice by making it into a bunch of NEAT smaller sheets.

A German teddy bear from around 1954

The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. It is an enduring, traditional form of a stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector’s items.

[edit] History

The name Teddy Bear comes from former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was “Teddy”. The name originated from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already shot something. A suite of Roosevelt’s attendants, led by Holt Collier,^[1] cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike,^[2] but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.^[3] While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.^[4]