Santa's Sack is now open!

I can hardly believe we're nearing the end of 2009 already ... the year has raced by!  Christmas and bears go hand in hand and I love the festive inspiration this season offers, but I do have a problem at this time of year because taking photographs while the weather is so dark and the garden so bare, is a nightmare!  I recently had a long chat with my sister Tina and she pointed me in the direction of a set of basic studio lights to enable me to take the bears' photographs in my lounge - perfect!  Needless to say, I also had to master the manual settings on my camera with Tina's guidance and after several long hours yesterday, my first three Christmas bears had been photographed and uploaded to 'Santa's Sack' on the All Bear website.

My indoor photographic studio

Creating new web pages for the site is also very time consuming and I must admit, I do occasionally wonder if collectors realise how much work is involved in presenting new bears online.  To give you an idea, yesterday's photo shoot and website update took all day and well into the evening to present just three bears!  Then as soon as the Christmas bears went online, email enquiries had to be answered and sales processed ... I finally logged off and staggered from my swivel chair to bed, at about eleven o'clock last night.

23" Christmas Rose

I nervously submitted my first studio shots to Tina for assessment and you could have knocked me down with a feather when she cast a critical eye over them and gave them the thumbs up!  There's hope for me yet!  I must admit I have missed being able to visit Tina in Hampshire this year because it's lovely to catch up in person, but we're both so busy with our businesses, this seemed a sensible solution to my immediate problem.  I'm happy to say Tina will be popping up for a pre-Christmas visit in mid December and we're looking forward to having a good ol' natter over a festive mince pie then!

21" Yuletide

By the way, I am absolutely delighted to be able to tell you all three of my Christmas bears were adopted from Santa's Sack last night and they will be spending Christmas in Singapore and America!

17" Robin Red

Time for me to head up to my workroom now to work on my next Christmas offering, a pretty lilac bear this time ... I will let you know when she's ready to hop into Santa's Sack!

A Perfect Ending!

I was so thrilled when my copy of 'The Teddy Bear Annual 2010' dropped through my letterbox this week.  I couldn't wait for it to arrive in WH Smiths on the High Street, so I pre-ordered it from Amazon and luckily for me, they dispatched a few days prior to the offical publication date!  This is a very special magazine for All Bear as not only have I been honoured with a lovely three-page feature and invited to create a special Christmas Bear for a lovely 'Teddy at Christmas' article, my bear 'Morris' is also the magazine cover star!  As you can imagine, I'm over the moon!

'All About Paula' ...

This bumper (one hundred pages!) Annual has been created by Kathy Martin, well respected teddy bear authoress and editor.  Kathy has put her heart and soul into this project and worked hard to produce a fabulous new publication for the bear world and in particular, for teddy bear collectors.  The magazine offers a super balance of bear related features, including vintage bears, artist bears and manufactured bears, together with fascinating, well researched articles.  Believe me, if you love bears, you really do need a copy of 'The Teddy Bear Annual'.

The Teddy Bear Annual 2010 starring 'Morris' on the cover!

To purchase your copy of the Annual (cover price £5.95) please visit:

http://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Bear-Annual-Kathy-Martin/dp/1907292012/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258628884&sr=1-2

Also, if you live in the UK, you can find it in branches of WH Smiths from today!

The best news is that if 'The Teddy Bear Annual 2010' sells well this year, the publishers have said they will support its publication next year too, which would give the bear world such a boost.

On a personal note, I'd like to say a big thank you to Kathy for supporting my work and also to Jo Rothery, for writing such a super article about my life as a bear artist.  These wonderfully dedicated ladies have generously given me the perfect ending to my year's work!

Festive findings!

Hobbycraft is definitely one of those stores in which a girl should shop alone.  I'm a magpie moocher and rarely visit with a set plan ... (after all, I'm not a man!)  If I shop in Hobbycraft with Stuart he finds it soooooooo hard to behave himself ; the poor old stick trails around wearing a woeful expression behind me, checking his watch every couple of minutes and raising his eyes heavenwards if I so much as suggest we need to visit the first floor - honestly, you'd think he was being tortured to see him!  No, Hobbycraft is definitely to be tackled solo ... it requires time to browse, time to ponder, time to ignite the creative flame!

Festive findings!

So, with the seed of Christmas beginning to take root, I quietly slipped away from my sewing machine and had a lovely time shopping for twinkly trims and twiddlings all by myself this afternoon ... ho, ho, ho!

It's beginning to feel a little like Christmas ...

The days are galloping away and there are only a few weeks until Christmas!  I braved a visit to my local Hobbycraft store yesterday, to find some Christmassy trims for my first 'Santa's Sack' bears.  It was a glorious day, so Stuart and I walked over the Millenium bridge into town (against all my principles on a Sunday, but needs must!) for a spot of shopping.  It's only mid November, but already the town is decked in festive lights, windows are decorated with colourful baubles and Santa tunes are warbling from shop doorways.  I can't say I'm in full festive spirit yet, but yes, it is beginning to feel a little like Christmas!

Maidstone's 'Millenium Bridge'

The little chap below will be going into 'Santa's Sack' on my website in a few days ... he's not quite finished yet, but I wanted to share him with you because he is the result of the new design I was working on last week.  Rather than use a traditional three piece head pattern, I've drawn a six piece pattern to create a lovely round head shape ... he is still a classic bear, but with a very different look.  I think I'll work with this shape again, I really like it!

Head in progress!

Profile

Back view

Aw!  Cute eh?!

So, as you can see, I have been hard at work lately!  My new bear is not quite ready to debut - I will be finishing him this week so that he is all ready to hop into Santa's Sack in a few days' time!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November!

Christmas is clearly on the horizon now, but before I embrace the tinsel bedecked festivities, there's one more traditional celebration to honour - Guy Fawkes Night!  I can't imagine how our overseas friends view the UK celebrating the 1605 Gunpowder plot, which was designed to bring down our monarchy all those centuries ago, but such traditions are what make a country unique, don't you think?!

I have loved to see the fireworks each November 5th since I was a little girl living in Titchfield, back in the early 70's; Titchfield is an ancient village in Hampshire and every year since the early 1800's has celebrated Guy Fawkes Night with a spectacular carnival which my sisters and I always enjoyed when we were kids.  This year Stuart and I walked with my kids and their partners to our local community display in Allington ...

My daughter and her boyfriend

My son and his girlfriend

... big as they are now, they still enjoy wrapping up warmly on Bonfire Night to 'ooh' and 'ahh' as fireworks explode across the night sky!

Traditional British poem

Remember, remember, the 5th of November

The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow.

By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah!
Hip hip Hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed ol' Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol' Pope is dead.

The Witchypoo School Photos

So here she is at last, better late than never I suppose.  Wisteria Witchlet finally deigned to put on a frock and do her hair yesterday, but only after I had promised to take her Witchypoo school photographs - talk about witchypoo airs and graces! 

20" Wisteria Witchlet

Wisteria and Hatty Halfwitch are now 'bezzy mates' and in the best tradition of naughty little witchlets, are giving poor old Witch Hazel the right run around during spelling lessons! 

Hatty Halfwitch with 'bezzy mate' Wisteria Witchlet

I don't think I've introduced you to the witchlet's teacher Witch Hazel yet, so here's 'Witch Hazel', a good witch charged with using a little green-fingered magic to take care of the woodland ...

20" Witch Hazel

And here is she is again, proudly posing with her witchypoo students ...

A proud Witch Hazel with her two favourite students.

These witchypoos have been such fun to make, but with Christmas looming fast, it's time to get back to work on my bears ... and fast!

Waylaid witchlet

This meddlesome witchlet was supposed to be dressed and ready for All Hallowes Eve, but she hid at the bottom of my basket, right under the Magical Mayhem bears and the silly girl missed her big night out! 

I'm making her frock and bloomers today, so when she's decent and ready for a little hocum pocum, I'll snap a pic to share with you ... that's if I can catch her before she flies off to play on her broomstick!

An early Christmas Carole!

When I was asked if I could create a special Christmas bear back in August, I glibly said yes without considering how tricky it might be to transport my creative self into full festive mode - after all, I hadn't even finished work on my autumnal bears, let alone the Halloween show bears at that point.  Nevertheless, a promise is a promise and for weeks I avoided eye contact with the looming October deadline ...

20" 'Christmas Carole' will be featured in 'The Teddy Bear Annual 2010'

Eventually though, I realised I would have to get to grips with this piece of work if it was ever to be published in The Teddy Bear Annual 2010' - with or without a tinsel bedecked workroom to inspire me!  My plan was to create a classic bear with a subtle Christmas twist ... finally inspiration struck just in the nick of time!  I found an unusual cotton fabric printed with the lyrics to 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and happily it worked perfectly with the beautiful peachy mohair and twinkly eyes I had planned for this special bear!  'Christmas Carole' may be subtle, but she is most definitely festive and full of Christmas sentiment ... I hope you like her!

By the way, in case you are wondering, I will be making 'Christmas Carole' available for purchase when I open 'Santa's Sack' on my website later this month ... ho ho ho!

The best laid plans of mice and bear makers ...

suspected there might be an unwelcome chance the gremlins might snag my 'Magical Mayhem' webpages, but no, the webshow uploaded with ease and worked smoothly - in fact Saturday's show went exceedingly well ... but Sunday's?  Oh dear.  I hadn't banked on AOL meddling with my internet connection on the last day of my show!  There was nothing I could do but wait until this morning to close the showroom and tidy up.  Never mind, the Mayhem show was such fun and a lovely success with all of the new bears and Hatty Halfwitch finding new homes ... in fact, queues formed for some of the bears!  I still have my lovely ivory ellie 'Starlight' to find a caring new home, but that's fine by me, because as you know I love ellies and Starlight is one gorgeous slumpy cuddle of an elephant!

16" Starlight ... currently available from www.allbear.co.uk

Well, that's Halloween done and dusted, I guess it's Christmas next!

3/11/09 Starlight update:  I am delighted to report Starlight has now been adopted and will soon be heading across the Atlantic to meet her new owner!

Magical Mayhem webshow tomorrow!

My MAGICAL MAYHEM
mini webshow will be hosted live at www.allbear.co.uk
tomorrow! 

The exact opening times are: October 31, 2009 at 12:15pm to November 1, 2009 at 11pm

I will be donning my witch's hat to introduce my latest bears, fresh from the All Bear's cauldron!

I do hope you will be able to visit and share the Halloween fun!

UK Teddy Bear Guide 2010 Available Now!

The UK Teddy Bear Guide published by Hugglets

This is the 23rd year of publication by the Hugglets team and it's a terrific resource for anyone who loves bears both in the UK and overseas.  The cover price is a mere £5.95 plus postage ... so go on, why not treat yourselves! 

Click here to visit the Hugglets website:

 http://www.hugglets.co.uk/guideindex.php

Oh and just in case you are wondering, the beautiful bear in the picture holding the Guide is my lovely 'Dudley', a wonderful 25" bear created by Frank Webster of Charnwood Bears.  Sadly I haven't seen Frank in a while and can't find his work online; unfortunately he isn't advertised in the new Guide, so I can only assume he is no longer creating his wonderful bears ... please let me know if I'm wrong, I'd love to see Frank's bears again!

Magical Mayhem peekaboo!

It's so close to Halloween and I'm still working hard to finish bears for my mini 'Magical Mayhem' show which I promised would take place over All Hallowes weekend.  To be honest, I would have preferred to have one or two more bears in the pipeline, but never mind, the select few I have created so far are pretty magical, even if I do say so myself! 

I hope these peeks whet your appetite for a spooktacular weekend!

The 'Magical Mayhem' mini webshow will be live on my website at http://www.allbear.co.uk/ on Saturday 31st October from 12.15pm (GMT) until Sunday 1st November ... I do hope you'll be able to stop by for a little Halloween fun!

The Teddy Bear Annual 2010 starring Morris!

I'm squealing with excitement!  I've just discovered 'The Teddy Bear Annual 2010' available for pre-order on Amazon and there, large as life on the cover is my bear 'Morris' busy being a cover star!!!!!  This is a wonderful coup for 'All Bear' and as you can probably imagine, I am grinning from ear to ear today!

 

The Teddy Bear Annual 2010 - on sale November 19th!

If you would like to pre-order a copy for your bookshelf please visit: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teddy-Bear-Annual-Kathy-Martin/dp/1907292012/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256462898&sr=1-7

Whoo Hoo! Featured Downunder!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  It's arrived at last!  And all the way from Australia!  My copy of the Nov/Dec 09 issue of 'Australian Bear Creations' dropped through the letterbox on Wednesday and please forgive my excitement, but I am so thrilled to have a four page feature published 'Downunder' all about my bears and my work as a bear artist!

Australian Bear Creations magazine - Nov/Dec 2009 issue

If you would like to purchase a copy of this great teddy bear magazine, please visit the Woodland Publishing website at:
http://www.woodlandspublishing.com.au/abc/

Sindie

I was so sad to hear of Sindie's passing. An old friend from way back, I knew Sindie Smith as a girl who could light a room with her laughter, creativity and enthusiasm. Sindie's battle with breast cancer ended last Thursday and at just thirty nine years old, there seems no rhyme or reason ...

I hope Sindie will forgive me for this old photograph taken in the good old days! Sindie Smith and her lovely 'And Finally Bears by Sindie Smith'.

If you knew Sindie and would like to offer a donation to 'The Cavendish Centre' in her memory, (a registered charity which offered much needed support to Sindie, Gary and their two daughters during her illness) please visit the following link. Thank you.

www.justgiving.com/Sindie/

Sindie's husband Gary manning their 'And Finally Bears by Sindie Smith' stand at the Rochester Bear Fair in 2000.

And finally, I'd like to say my goodbye to Sindie by sharing her thoughts on the well documented ailment ...

'BEARMAKERS' BUM!'

In Sindie's own words ...

"My research has a long way to go, however I have discovered some very interesting facts:

1. If you hold your food higher than your mouth, all the calories jump out before you can consume them.

2. Long, thin foods i.e. chocolate fingers, sausages, Kitkat, Niknak crisps, spaghetti Bolognese etc maintain their form when consumed so you will become long and thin too.

3. Ring doughnuts, coconut ring biscuits and bagels have low fat centres so are okay to eat.

4. Anything with lots of air in it is also low fat i.e. Aero, chocolate mousse, Wispa etc .

5. Avoid anything round (see no.2) such as apples, tomatoes, ricecakes, grapefruit, pickled onions etc."

Sleep tight Sindie. You won't be forgotten and whenever we think of you, we'll always hear your laughter.

A spot of autumnal deer stalking ...

It was such a beautiful afternoon here in Kent on Sunday!  We couldn't wait to get outside and enjoy the local landscape which is currently ablaze with rich Autumnal colour, so we drove to Sevenoaks to ramble through Knole Park and do a little deer stalking into the bargain!  I hope you enjoy sharing these photographs of our lovely Autumn afternoon ...

Knole House owned by the Sackville family since 1603

The Knole Estate in October

Knole's beautiful Autumnal woodland

I love the colours of autumn and crunchy leaves under foot!

The Parkland covers a thousand acres ...

Side view of Knole House

Pretty Bambi's wander freely in the park

Stag

Gentle fallow deer

I wish my eyelashes were as long hers!

As you can see, the deer seem to enjoy being the centre of attention!

We had a wonderful afternoon at Knole Park! 

If you would like to learn more about Knole, please visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-knole

and ...

http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Knole.htm

Surprise!

I had such a wonderful surprise yesterday when my postman delivered a completely unexpected gift.  I have no idea what I've done to deserve such kindness, but I am so happy 'Lenny the Elephant' has been sent to live with me!  

He was created by my friend Laurie (please check out Laurie's lovely work at www.laurieloubears.com) She decided Lenny and I would be well suited as I have a fondness for ellies.  Well, as you can imagine, I'm totally bowled over and keep giving my special little ellie a cuddle ... he really makes me smile!

Thank you Laurie, thank you so very, very, much!

Better late than never, a book recommendation!

When I saw this bear making book online, I thought I'd order it and take a peek to see if it would be useful to recommend for new bear makers.  'Bearmaking 101' by Carol Lynn Rossel Waugh was first published in 1999 and although I know of Carol Lynn's reputation as a bear maker, I haven't ever had the opportunity to read her book, so I was very curious to see what the book had to offer.

'Bearmaking 1001' by Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh

Now that I have a copy of this hardback book on my lap ten years after it was first published, I can happily tell you it's a lovely, detailed bear crafting manual with plenty of photographs for visual learners and some super patterns, including a bear with a centre seam head gusset and a teddy bear marionette!  If you manage to find a copy of this book on Ebay, Amazon or similar at a reasonable price (I only paid a few pennies for my copy from www.thriftbooks.com on Amazon) I'd recommend snapping it up fast - it's a goody!

A Magical Mayhem Peekin' ...

Eye of glass, sparkle true, pocus hocus, a bear for you!

Posh Paws

I was hunting through my computer files today and came across a tutorial I put together a while ago.  I guess it's not much use to anyone gathering dust in my pc files, so I thought I'd share it here and put it on my 'tips' page in the hope someone might find it helpful!

Starting at the very beginning - a simple tutorial designed to help you achieve a professional finish for traditional paw pads,

particularly on larger bears.

1. Draw out your footpad on the reverse side of your fabric and inside the cutting line, draw a sewing line. This can be done by reducing your foot pad pattern to incorporate your sewing seam, or if you are careful, you should be able to wing it like I do, by carefully using your existing footpad as a template - shifting it to accomodate the seam allowance (I like to use about 1/4" seam allowance for a nice secure footpad.)

2. Cut out your foot pad and fold in half. Using dressmakers' glass head pins (large size) mark the centre of the toe and heel from reverse through to front side of fabric as shown.

3. Pin the toe of the footpad horizontally through the seam of the foot piece - toe end. Then pin the heel of the footpad horizontally through the seam of the foot piece - heel end. Make sure your pins are inserted through the seam allowance area and NOT through the main footpad area.

4. Using the dressmakers pins vertically, pin evenly around the footpad, into the seam allowance, gently easing the edge of footpad into place so that it is level with the mohair foot edge.

5. Oversew footpad in place by hand, removing pins as you sew. Take care to stitch seam of foot at toe and heel, securely and centrally to footpad.

6. At this point your footpad should be securely and evenly hand sewn in place, like this.

7. Transfer your work to your sewing machine. Making sure your tension and stitch length are perfect for sewing invisible stitches (ie they don't show when leg is turned rightside out) sew carefully around pre-marked stitch line taking particular care around the corners.

8. Remove footpad from sewing machine and by hand, tack a piece of quilting wadding/batting (for my big 'uns I prefer to use 8oz wadding/batting) so that it covers the footpad. Take care to stitch into the seam allowance so tacking stitches are not seen when leg is turned right way out. Trim away any excess wadding to ensure a perfect fit, before turning leg the right way out for stuffing.

9. Finally, turn leg piece right way out and stuff foot evenly. If you've done a good job, your footpad will be completely smooth, even in shape and you shouldn't be able to see the stitches ... check the corners of your footpad carefully as this is where the stitches are most likely to show if your tension is too loose.

When drawing out your second footpad, make sure you reverse the pattern piece first. If you've done a really good job, both finished footpads will match in size, shape and finished quality!

In my experience over the years, there are no short cuts to achieving professional looking footpads!