Tammy Bears Memorialize Loved Ones and Comfort You While You Grieve

Shortly after my grandpa passed away, my grandma, always the glue that holds our extended family together, presented my cousins, siblings, and me with hand-crafted teddy bears built from Grandpa’s most notable outfits: his “old man jeans” and his flannel shirts. Though we were all past stuffed animal age by that time, the teddy bears were an incredible gift, which I still cherish today.

Simple memorials like this offer a great way to keep a piece of your loved one with you for years after they’re gone. Crafts, quilts, and toys created from clothes and other special items hold the memories of your loved one and allow you to transform these symbolic objects into something new to take with you into a new phase in your life.

We’ve found a beautiful resource that offers you these custom mementos. Tammy Bears memory bears are custom-made teddy bears by Tammy Hendricks.  Left with a special fur coat after she lost her mother in 1996, Tammy decided to learn how to make her first teddy bear and create this comforting creature as a memorial to her mother, and she eventually went into the business of creating these gifts for others.

Read Tammy’s story here.

If you were touched by the story, you might enjoy our post on “Stuffies”, custom-made stuffed toys created from children’s individual imagination that help them express emotions and heal at a time of loss.

Images courtesy of  Tammy Bears.