Springtime?

This is my latest clown, a pretty Spring clown bear created as a commission order and finished today.  Let's hope her new mum falls in love with her - I'm waiting with baited breath for the thumbs up!

20" Spring clown bear

The weather in the UK is far from Springlike this week with heavy snow in the North and pouring rain in the South.  If it carries on like this, the Easter Bank Holiday will be a wash out ... such a shame!  Even the daffodils and tulips in my garden are refusing to flower.

Despite the weather, I had a lovely weekend visit to my sister's house in the country last weekend.  We sat in her conservatory supping coffee, munching danish pastries and chuckling at the new Spring lambs gamboling in the fields beyond the garden; they are such fun and don't seem to mind the rain!  

With any luck we'll soon have some lovely Spring sunshine to enjoy - it's a shame it probably won't arrive in time for Easter though.  Ah well, I guess that's life in the UK for you!

All Bear's Facebook Fan Page

Technology moves so much faster than I do, but I am trying my best to keep pace.  All Bear has recently joined the Facebook phenomenom and now has its very own fan page! 

So, if you would like to keep in touch with the latest All Bear developments via Facebook, please join me and the bears (and dolls!) at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Bear-by-Paula-Carter/366975611250?ref=nf

Hopefully I'll see you there soon!

Oscar, better late than never!

My bear making has been a little stop/start over the past week, partly because of a twinge in my wrist ... the bain of a bear stuffer's life (!) and partly because I needed to set aside some family time to celebrate my little girl's 27th birthday - my oh my, how the years fly by!  It may be cliched to tell you it seems like yesterday when she was a babe in my arms, but that doesn't make it any less true.

22" Oscar

All things considered, I think it's fair to say I'm a few days' late introducing this fellow, so I hope you think he was worth the wait!  He's a substantial 22" bear, so naturally he needed a good solid name .. 'Oscar' seems to fit him perfectly!

Update: Oscar has now been sold! 

A raffle surprise!

When I purchased raffle tickets to support a school fundraiser, I certainly didn't expect to win a prize, so when Alison of Eteddys told to expect an international delivery, you could have knocked me down with a feather!

  Alison's beautiful bear 'Melina' travelled all the way from Arizona in America and arrived here in the UK a few days ago ... as you can see, she's settling in well!

'Melina' by Alison McKee of Eteddys

Checking out my workroom ...

Making new friends.

Thank you so much for this special bear Alison, I couldn't be more delighted with my raffle prize!

If you would like to see more examples of Alison's enchanting work, please visit: http://eteddys.net/

Mother's Day, butterflies, daffodils.

It was Mother's Day here  in the UK yesterday, a day to set aside and celebrate Mums everywhere.  A day of special cards, Spring flowers and in my case, butterflies and as is traditional, daffodils too ... thanks kids xxx

It was a day to set aside and share with Mum,

... a day to remember Mums who are no longer with us ...

Our Gran holding Mum in the early 1940's

... a day to let our own Mum know just how special she is ...

Mum

... and of course, a day to share chocolate and cakes!

Mum with me and my younger sister Fiona, in the early 60's

Mum's five girls

... a day for happy family memories ...

Me with my daughter in 1983

...  a day to think about the next generation ...

With my son in the late 80's

... a day to know how much we are loved ...

Mum's ten grandchildren

... and a day to celebrate our future generations!

Maintaining a time honoured mother son tradition

 ... thanks son x

Wishing Mums everywhere a Happy Mother's Day!

Liberty Lou and Dewey too!

I'm feeling very satisfied with myself this week, not only do I have a new bear to share with you, I have a new Prim Dolly Doodle too.  Yes, I am happy to say I have been in full productive mode!

20" Dewey is now available from www.allbear.co.uk
Update: Dewey has now sold!

I couldn't wait to start work on this bear, his mohair is simply stunning!  It's a luxury Schulte curl with a pretty tip to the ends, dense, silky and absolutely beautiful ... a big bear maker's dream!  The mohair makes such a statement and suits this classic teddy bear perfectly.  'Dewey' was reserved for a collector shortly after making his debut on my website, so if everything goes to plan, he should soon be travelling to meet his new mum early next week.

20" Liberty Lou is available to purchase

Update: Liberty Lou has sold!

This dolly was sat in my work basket for several weeks waiting patiently for me to make time to finish her, so I was determined I would complete her last week.  'Liberty Lou' has a lovely American themed frock and I found a cute straw hat to finish her outfit.  The tiny red, blue and white button on front of her hat mysteriously arrived in the post a few days ago ... after scratching my head for a while, I discovered my sister Tina had been visiting an antiques fair and sent me some buttons in the post! 

Thank you Tina x

A friend for Rica.

Rica & Willi by Rita Diesing of Ridibears

Do you remember me telling you about little Rica at Christmas?  He was a special present from me to me, after a busy year of bear making.  I stumbled across Rica whilst browsing the orphans page of Abracadabra Bears website (http://www.abracadabra-teddies.com/orphanagegallery.htm) and as a long time admirer of Rita Diesling's (http://www.ridibears.de/) lovely bears, I couldn't pass him by!  Every time I visited the site, there was little Rica, begging me to adopt him in time for Christmas - so eventually I accepted fate and did just that!  Well, as is usually the case with these things, one thing quickly led to another and on a return visit to Abracadabra, I noticed another of Rita's bears had been orphaned.  Fortunately for me, Marsha the owner of Abracadra Bears was able to reserve 'Willi' for me until my birthday in February.  I am happy to tell you these dear little bears are now reunited and have now settled comfortably into my workroom with me!

Kensington - A Sellout Show!

As I pulled back the curtains at 6.30am on Sunday I was met with howling winds and driving rain which is not the best start to a show day!  As is usual for me the night before a show, I only managed about four hours sleep, so on first inspection it was evident that no amount of cosmetic assistance was likely to make me look bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Poor Stuart had even less sleep than me - he had been awake working from about 4.00am because as a Management Accountant, my London show had fallen on entirely the wrong day for him as 'month end' figures still have to be submitted come what may.  Fortunately for me though, it meant that by the time I hauled myself out of bed, he had already packed up the car and put the kettle on to boil ... where would I be without him eh?!

Peeping out from behind my show stand!

We set off at half seven and at that time of the morning, the traffic is quiet so the drive to Kensington only took about an hour and a half.  Unfortunately I was feeling a little under the weather that morning, so on arrival Stuart sent me inside and unloaded the car himself.  We set up the stand, gave the bears a quick brush before settling them in place and then waited for the doors to open.  Despite the dreadful weather, there was a significant queue building outside the Town Hall well before opening time - bear collectors are a hardy bunch!  The rest of the day was a whirr ... there were so many eager collectors determined to secure their favourite bears!!!  I was delighted to catch up with old friends and meet new ones too and the day raced past ... it was 3pm before I even managed to grab a mouthful of sandwich.

My stand before opening ...
unfortunately I forgot to turn the lights on before I took this photo!

I'm so happy to be able to tell you all my show bears sold very quickly and we came home after the show, much lighter than we had set out in the morning!

 

I'm still pretty tired as I had to catch up with a stack of admin yesterday, not to mention buying the weeks' groceries because I didn't have time at the weekend, so I've promised myself a quiet afternoon ...

I think I've earned it!