Skylark

I have been pottering my way through the summer holidays, enjoying walks with my dogs and funshine days, playing and reading with my grandchildren. Between times, whenever the weather was cool enough, I made time to work on an occasional summery teddy bear.

There is the slightest hint of Autumn creeping into early mornings now, so I don't suppose it will be long before my bears take an autumnal turn and my thoughts turn to knitting needles and cosy yarns. Before Autumn happens though, there is just enough time to introduce a lovely summer clown, created from softest peach and pale bluey-grey mohair. I called him 'Skylark' and popped him onto my website this very morning.

19" Skylark

Skylark is a striking teddy bear, with chunky proportions and a tilt growler in his tummy. If he tugs at your heartstrings, I would be delighted to hear from you...

To find out more about this lovely clown bear, please pop over to my website:

www.allbearbypaula.com

Thank you!

:-)

A vintage Singer

Recently it dawned on me that twenty five years of designing and creating teddy bears is really quite an achievement, so I should probably mark it somehow. But the question was how? Then I had a lightbulb moment...

When I was a little girl, I remember being fascinated by an old treadle sewing machine which stood behind the door of my Gran's living room. Back in those days, the living room was a place in which we kids were under strict instructions to sit politely while the grown-ups chatted, making certain to stay quiet and keep our feet off the settee. There was plenty of time to peer at the myriad of tiny glass animals held captive in a glass fronted cabinet next to the black and white television and of course, to admire Gran's lovely old sewing machine.

I have had a secret yen for a vintage sewing machine for many years, but have never really known much about them.  In view of my quarter century anniversary, I decided to invest some time researching their history, in the hope my investigations might lead me to find one of my very own to commemorate twenty five years in the wonderful world of teddy bears. I wanted my machine to have age, to be British, beautiful and interesting, but most importantly, to be working! It has been a completely absorbing study and did indeed eventually lead me to discover a special sewing machine. So, I have taken the plunge and placed an order for my first ever vintage sewing machine, a beautiful hand cranked Singer 128k, almost a hundred years old. My dream is that one day, this sewing machine will pass to my Granddaughter and hopefully help to inspire her creative journey.

Nana and Izzy

My vintage Singer hasn't arrived yet, but for those interested, I promise to share a pic when she does ... am so excited!

:-)

Castle Canines

We always enjoy a visit to beautiful Hever Castle in Edenbridge and one of my favourite times to visit is when 'Castle Canines' dog show is being hosted in the grounds. There is something completely joyous about seeing the Southern Golden Retriever Display Team strut their formation stuff to music; they always seem such happy dogs!

Naturally, we take Polly and Betty with us as they love to be involved in trips out and always enjoy a visit.

They are such good girls whenever we take them out and they love all the attention they receive from other visitors, especially the children. Hever Castle is a very 'dog friendly' place to visit and although dogs aren't allowed inside the castle itself, well behaved dogs are welcome to enjoy the beautiful gardens with their owners, so long as they are kept on leads.

And those gardens are breathtaking!

I especially love the Italian Gardens and the formal Rose Garden...

In fact, near to closing time, while the garden was quiet, I couldn't resist taking a few photographs of my girls posing rather regally among those gorgeous roses!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Hever Castle this year and after eating way too much ice-cream, mooching around fabulous gardens, seeing the many other dogs visiting and watching the Southern Golden Retrievers display team, we headed towards the lake to spend one last hour strolling right round the water along meadow flower paved pathways. It was such a pretty, peaceful walk!

Polly and Betty enjoyed their visit to Hever Castle too and even though they were on leads, so didn't have a run that afternoon, they didn't seem to mind in the least. In fact, they were both very sleepy when we arrived home on Sunday evening. Trips out are both exciting and exhausting it seems!

Hever Castle is a very lovely, dog friendly, place to visit. 

We will definitely visit with our girls again!

:-)

Summer

Summer is in full swing in the UK and so here is the perfect teddy bear to celebrate our sunshine season ...

15" Summer

Butterflies, flowers, peach mohair and a carnival pink striped nose ...  definitely Summer in a teddy bear!

This pretty girl was snapped up super fast from my website yesterday and I am delighted to say, is now on her way to Germany meet her new family.

:-)

Competitive Investments

The deadline for the 2019 TOBY Industry's Choice Awards has now arrived and after a time away from competition work, I decided to stop umming and aahhing and actually enter this year. Not that I am terribly hopeful of success, as my experience of the TOBY Awards has been mixed over the years. That said, I did have the honour (not to mention shock!) of winning a couple of times with entries several years ago, so I guess you never can tell!

You could have knocked me down with a feather when I received notice that my big clown, 'Billy Buttons' had won a 2008 TOBY Industry's Choice Award... my very first TOBY Award!

And in 2011, I was absolutely thrilled to receive the TOBY Award again, this time for my careworn style 'Lonesome' teddy bear.

That said, it has been a good while since I last entered a competition after a disappointment with another competition, regarding an award I won three years ago. Sadly, despite contacting the organiser many times, my trophy was never sent and as competitions are costly and somewhat nerve-wracking to enter, I felt a little discarded after the initial joy of winning an award. As a result, I decided to take a step away from competing for a time.  Bear artists invest not only their hard earned pennies, but also fragile self belief, into submitting competition entries and to my mind, organisers should respect that investment.

So, why even enter artist bear competitions? 

Well, as I see it, teddy bear competitions are about so much more than who has made the 'best' bear that year. They are about promoting teddy bear artistry as an industry and validating those bearmakers who put heart and soul into their creations. They are also about inspiring creative talent in others, whilst sharing passion for the teddy bear, his heritage and also his future.

My 2019 TOBY Award entries (there are two) have now been submitted so there is nothing else to do but sit back and enjoy the suspense, while judging takes place. I dare say there will be a twinge of disappointment if at least one isn't placed this year, but if that's the case, it certainly won't be the first time and probably won't be the last either!

:-)

The universal language of teddy bears

After twenty five years of creating teddy bears and sending them all around the world to live, I was excited to add a new country to add to my list of globetrotting teddy bears this week ...

This sweet fellow will be the first of my bears ever to emmigrate all the way to South Korea!

I have been trying to list all the countries my bears now live in ... it's not easy to remember after so many years as a teddy bear maker, but I think these just about cover it:

United Kingdom

United States

Canada

Australia

New Zealand

Japan

China

France

Germany

Italy

Finland

Denmark

Belgium

Spain

South Africa

Luxembourg

Singapore

Hong Kong

And now ... ta da ...

South Korea!

Teddy bear hugs, it seems, speak a universal language!

:-)