A flying start

 

A FLYING START

2023 is off to a flying start, but aside from the rather dashing Albert teddy bear I introduced at the start of the year, I am aware my website has had little to show for it!

There is plenty of bear-making activity happening behind scenes but nothing quite ready to share...

I am currently working on a group of traditional teddy bears for The Bear Shop in Norwich and will be finishing the final bear this week. I also have a big bear in progress, to share on my website shortly. Last week I received a fabulous piece of gold mohair for a very special birthday order and am very much looking forward to starting work in time for my collector's big day.

I also received another piece of the beautiful blue mohair I created Wynter teddy from at the tail end of last year and plan to use it to create a completely different style of bear from Wynter. The mohair was such a pretty blue I couldn't resist ordering it again when I saw it was available!

Lastly for now, I should receive a parcel of Harris Tweed in the next few days ... it is definitely time for some of my Tweedy Teds to make a return this year, as they were a little too quiet in 2022!

I think I made my very first teddy bear from a child's kit in 1992 and after making a couple of mohair teddy bears also from kits, attempted to design my own bears in 1994. I plucked up courage to begin selling a few locally in 1996. I would never have dreamed that almost thirty years later, my teddy bears would be living all around the world and I would be excited about yet another year of teddy bear making! 

The Bearmaker

It's been years since I last had a photograph taken of me with one of my teddy bears, so I thought it was about time to remedy that. With the aid of my trusty Iphone a few moments ago, I snapped this quick'selfie' with my latest teddy 'Lisette' in my workroom, with the idea of using it to introduce myself to visitors on my 'All Bear' website ... 

'The Bearmaker'

 Anyway,I hope you like this photo of 'The Bearmaker'! Previously such photographs always involved travelling to my sister's studio in Hampshire, so this little pic was much quicker to sort out; I really don't know why I didn't think of doing this sooner!

By the way, if you would like to visit my website, here is a link:

 www.allbearbypaula.com

:-)

Far and wide ..

I was just about to tell you about my latest teddy bear 'Barleycorn', who I released onto my website only moments ago, when my Iphone buzzed to tell me he had been adopted. Huge thanks to the power of the World Wide Web!

14" Barleycorn has been adopted

So this introduction is also now a goodbye and 'bon voyage' to little Barleycorn, who will be flying to Singapore to meet his new owner shortly.

It made me ponder, how did we bearmakers ever find new homes for our creations before the WWW?!  The plain truth is, it may well have been a more complicated marketing process back then, but in the days before the birth of internet websites, our teddy bears still managed to travel far and wide to find new owners around the globe. Teddy bears and their makers have always been a most resourceful bunch it would seem!

:-)

An inviting decision

I um-med ah-ed for quite some time when invitations for next year's Hugglets' shows arrived, because after so many years exhibiting at their lovely London shows, committing to a change of plan, had me feeling very torn, but the truth is, I have been struggling to create enough bears to set aside for shows since Polly, Betty and my Grandson arrived and to be absolutely honest, after twenty years of bear-making, much as I have enjoyed the shows, I no longer have an appetite for the inevitable deadline crisis that always has me in a last minute twirl of bear-making madness.

Preparing to exhibit at bear shows is time consuming and costly, so I have come to the conclusion that in preparation for 2016, it is time to put on my big girl pants and make a firm decision about how to move forward. The result is, I will be taking a break from shows for the foreseeable future.  

There. I've said it, so that makes it real. Phew!

So, I am looking forward to working at a more gentle pace, creating bears from the heart, walking each day with my girls, taking care of home, hearth and  husband and of course, sharing time with my precious Grandson while he is still little enough to need me. 

Yes, I think it's time to put the brakes on a little and maybe even smell those roses!

I will continue to share new bears via my website and will of course, keep in contact as usual, through my blog, mailing list, Facebook page, Twitter, Bearpile and ... well, you get the picture. 

You can take the bear-maker out of the shows, but you can't take the bear-maker out of the ... er bear-maker!

:-)

Mapping out my stationery

The trouble with change is that it can sometime catch you out. After building my new website, www.allbearbypaula.com and organising a smart new dot com domain address, it took a little while to dawn on me that I should also update my hang tags and advertising postcards to avoid sending collectors to my old website now that it is defunct.  My apologies if you have already had one such wasted journey!

Teddy bear hang tag

Those of you who already own an 'All Bear', will know that besides the satin stitched in 'tush tags', each of my bears wears a card hang tag tied around his neck detailing my contact details, bear's name, date and materials on the reverse side.  The tag also states the legally required 'This bear is an adult collectible and not suitable for use under the age of 14', because components such as cotter pins and glass eyes are not considered legally safe for young children.

Advertising postcard

I spent yesterday afternoon engrossed in 'Photoshop', working on new advertising stationery for my bears, whilst trying to fathom how to keep the text inside the required parameters for www.vistaprint.co.uk printing.  After several unsatisfactory attempts, I eventually arrived at this hang tag and postcard, featuring Twig, Logan and little Acorn. I do hope you like the new artwork as these cards will be accompanying all new bears in future ... just as soon as they arrive from the printers!

And just to make absolutely certain you all know exactly where to find us in future, here is a link to our lovely new dot.com website!

www.allbearbypaula.com

An important business

It has been a very positive week for All Bear adoptions with Tuppence, Papa Bear and Marshmallow all finding lovely new owners over the past few days.

Papa Bear and little Marshmallow have been adopted in the UK!

Tuppence has been adopted to the good ol' US of A!

Robinson and Tootsie waved their pals off with exceptionally good grace, but were naturally a little envious as they hopped back onto my workroom shelves to wait patiently for their own someone special to invite them home ...

Robinson is still waiting hopefully to be adopted ...

And Tootsie is looking forward to meeting her special someone ...

We have received a great deal of enthusiastic interest for both Robinson and Tuppence, but adopting a new bear is an important business and not to be undertaken lightly, so they understand the need for patience and I have told them there is always the right person for the right teddy bear, but sometimes it takes just a little while longer to find that special person!

If you would like to find out more about either Robinson or Tootsie, please pop over to my new website as they are very eager to meet you!

www.allbearbypaula.com

29/6/14 Update: Tootsie has been adopted!

The Fabulous Four!

I am delighted to tell you that at last, I have uploaded some lovely new bears to my lovely new website!

Tuppence & Tootsie

There are four really rather fabulous teddy bears in all (if Ido say so myself!) the two Summery clown bears in the photo above, a dashing sailor bear and a magnificent alpaca fellow.  I'd love you to see them!

All my latest bears can be found at: 

www.allbearbypaula.com

Thank you so much for visiting!

Sunday Sundae

Clear blue skies, steamy sunshine and an inviting waft of barbecued sausages rumblin' my tum ... Summer it seems, has arrived in the UK this Sunday!

19" Sundae

So today is the perfect day to introduce my own 'Sundae', a pretty pink and white alpaca teddy with velvet paws, which I've been working on recently.

As you can see, Sundae is a girl with a twinkle in her eye ... her hand painted glass eyes really bring her to life!

Sundae is now available to adopt from my brand new 'All Bear by Paula' website and can be found at: 

www.allbearbypaula.com

Update: Sundae has been adopted.

All Bear by Paula dot com!

I'll admit, there were moments I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew ... building a new website for my bears has been a steep learning curve!  But the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became it was time to teach myself something new and make a clean sweep to give my bears somewhere comfy, but a little more modern to hang out ...

A brand new website for All Bear!

I am hoping that, combined with the fresh new look, I have also succeeded in retaining a comforting sense of familiarity, so that you feel 'at home' as you browse.

Before I invite you to visit I must remember to mention the change of address! My old website will shortly be deleted, so rather than transfer that address, I decided to create a completely new one ... one I hope gives a more personal touch to my little corner of the World Wide Corner.

'All Bear by Paula' is now open and you are ALL invited to visit.

Please let me know what you think ... I'd love to hear from you!

www.allbearbypaula.com

And just in case you are wondering, I will have a new bear available on my website later next week.  Now this website is completed, I am looking forward to having time to sew again!

Coming soon ..

Weeks seem to be flying past me lately and I have so much to do - not least of which is to build myself a brand new website and work out how to set it up on my current domain after losing all my graphics on my defunct hard drive.  It's good to have a new challenge, but goodness me, I sure could do with more days in my weeks!

I've been meaning to finish this bear for the past week, so without further ado, I am about to plonk my bum in the armchair, switch on the TV and pick up my knitting needles, so hopefully, tomorrow I should be able to squeeze some time to photograph him properly and show him off on my website ...

New website, new bears, coming soon!

A touch of Autumn

The nights are drawing in, sparkling dew covers the grass and spiders are busy spinning intricate webs across my roses; yes, Autumn is definitely creeping into my garden.  It won't long before our beautiful English countryside flames with orange, red, plum and gorgeous golds and we all start wearing woolly pullys and thick socks again ... I love this time of year, everything feels so cosy!

Yesterday I worked on giving my website an Autumnal makeover.  It took a good few hours to change all the backgrounds and tweak everything, but I think it was worth the effort. 

I do hope the new look gives you a flavour of Autumn in England and makes you feel snuggly and warm when you visit!

www.allbear.co.uk

Springspiration!

After a major show, I always feel the need to take a few days away from bear-making to recharge my batteries, so this week I have been working on the computer rather than in my sewing room.  It is starting to feel as though Spring is just around the corner here in the UK, so I've been inspired to give www.allbear.co.uk a fresh new lilac look.  While I was about it, I introduced three new bears for sale on the site, then one thing led to another and I decided to teach myself how to add Paypal buttons to make payment easier for customers - but as always with all things website based, what I thought would be a simple task, of course, proved otherwise.  Several frustrating hours later, I eventually managed to sort things out and thankfully now my website is working efficiently again!

8.5" Chip

Once I'd sorted out the website and a few other marketing bits 'n pieces, my thoughts turned to Spring bears.  As you know, I'm far better known for creating substantial, armful sized bears, than tiddlers, but the little chap in the pic above was such fun to make, I've decided to dabble further! Although I've always steered clear of making little bears because there are many other bear artists who already do the job exceedingly well, I've decided to be brave and try to include little bears in my 2012 range.  With that in mind, I spent several hours hunting on the internet for suitable fabrics earlier in the week and was thrilled when they were promptly delivered from Germany yesterday!

I would like to create some colourful little bears for the Spring, maybe in clown style, so these pretty shades will be perfect!

And this more realistic brown bear mohair should result in some very handsome tiddly teds!

I was exactly like the proverbial kid in a sweetie shop while I um'ed and ah'ed over which fabrics to work with and although I had chosen plenty to be going on with, just couldn't resist this gorgeous selection of alpacas too! I'm hoping they will make really cuddly little bears.

I still have a couple of larger bears in my work basket to finish before I can start on the tiddlers, but once they are finished I'm going to make time to play with my lovely new fabrics ... please watch this space for progress updates!

Spit Spot!

So, it will be New Year's Eve on Saturday and then thankfully, I can wave 2011 goodbye.  I'm not usually so lacking in enthusiasm for any entire year, but this past year has been a battle too far as far as I'm concerned ... 2011, I freely confess you have sapped me!  At last it's time to let you fade away so I can look forward to the brighter days of a shiny New Year.

My website has now been de-Christmassed in preparation for 2012! 

www.allbear.co.uk

First things first though, I need a little 'spit spot' to help me tidy Christmas away and ready myself for a fresh start ... so off with the tinsel and sparkle, this bearmaker intends to get organised!

Finding the key ...

I may have said before ... this year seems to be flying past, with me clinging to its coat tails in a rather undignified fashion.  I don't remember losing an entire year before - usually my years are punctuated with family fun and well defined seasons.  There has of course been an element of both, but in truth my head has been pretty much on auto-drive this year.  Much of it I am sure, is to do with losing Dad just over a year ago ... as you can imagine, such a profound event swallows you whole for far longer than you could ever imagine and leaves you wondering where you parked your sense of self ...

Christmas will be with us in less than five short weeks and with or without the key to said sense of self, it really is the one time of year which is categorically impossible to drift through in oblivion ...  even this woolly headed bear maker can't fail to notice the arrival of twinkle and sparkle heralding the impending festivities!

So this week, I have taken my festive bull by the horns and decked the All Bear website in preparation.  Inspired by that small token, who knows, next week I may even feel the urge to begin some Christmas shopping!

The day after the show before ...

Yesterday's show in London passed in a giddy whirl of chat! I met bear artists and collectors from four corners of the globe and our passion for teddy bears overcame any language barriers.  Needless to say, as is my custom, I arrived slightly later than was probably good for me, so set up my stand in a fluster, with only seconds to spare before the doors opened and collectors streamed in.

20" 'Chestnut' is currently available for adoption

The highlight of my day was meeting so many 'Guild of Master Bearcrafters' members from overseas for the first time.  We were all very excited to say a personal hello, complete with friendly hug, for the very first time!  I am in awe of these brave ladies who travelled as far afield as Russia, Australia, Austria, Germany, Lithuania and Hong Kong ... particularly those who were a little shy speaking English - I doubt I could ever be so brave in a foreign country!

17" 'Hickory' has been adopted!

As far as the business of the day went, I'd say the day was pretty busy in the main, with only the occasional lull.  As always, Glen and Irene did a sterling job with the organisation and the show ran like clockwork.  I didn't have the opportunity to look around at other stands unfortunately, in fact I managed only two loo breaks (!) and other than that, was glued to my stand all day.  One of these days I'd like to visit as a collector again, I miss looking around at everyone's work!

'Rosehip' has been adopted!

On the business front the day went okay, with some of my show bears finding new homes and some travelling home with me again - which given the current economic climate, was about what I expected.  On a very pleasing note, I met up with lovely Tracy Ward of 'One More Bear' and have agreed to create a few shop exclusives in time for her Christmas launch.

'Hawthorn' has been reserved

  
With bears still hoping for adoption, I have been busy updating my website this morning and am delighted to report, interest is brisk!  So, on that positive note, I ought to sign off now and finalise some adoptions ... not to mention grab a sandwich, I'm starving!


UPDATE: 13/09/11 ... I'm delighted to say the only bear now remaining from my 'Golden Season' collection is 'Chestnut', the biggest bear!  He's a lovely bear so hopefully he will soon find someone very special to take care of him.

Mama said there would be days like this ...

It was show day in London yesterday, so I carefully packed my bears the night before, raised a bleary eyelid (just one!) when the alarm went off at 6.20am, then struggled out of my warm duvet and into the shower.  I'm a zombie at that hour of the day and there's no point talking to me until at least 8am, so Stuart packed up the car while I tried to convince my sleep-puffed face to accept make-up and face the day.

It was a beautiful morning, briskly cold, but with clear blue skies and fortunately for us, clear roads too.  We arrived at Kensington Town Hall without a hitch and set up the 'All Bear' stand in plenty of time for the grand opening.  A queue of eager collectors snaked down the road, so all things considered, the signs looked promising ... 

My stand at the 'Winter Bearfest' yesterday ...

But I had a sixth sense and I don't know why, or how it crept up on me, but I looked at Stuart as the collectors rushed into the Hall and I could tell he felt it too ... something was missing. You know the kind of feeling you sometimes get when everything looks as though it should work, all the omens have been good, but then gut instinct takes over and whispers 'I don't think this will be your day ...'  I wonder, does anyone else ever have that feeling? And if they do, do they have a scientific explanation?!  I wish I could rationalise it!

A bear's eye view

Anyway, I pushed all such thoughts to one side,  smiled brightly and began to chat with my visitors.  I chatted and chatted and chatted some more ... then eventually, after seeing my show collection complimented, cuddled and cooed over throughout the five show hours, I realised the day had slipped past and I had to face facts .. every single one of my lovely bears would be returning home with me!

Waiting patiently ...

Now, I know I am far from being the world's greatest saleswoman.  In fact if I'm truthful, selling at shows is something I always dread. I love meeting and chatting to everyone, but selling my own work face to face?  Oh no!  Even after all these years, I'm still a hopelessly well-mannered, slightly shy, English lady at heart, politely terrified that if I invite collectors to pick up a bear for a cuddle, or boast a little about my work, my poor visitor may feel 'pressured' to buy and think me rude.  No, I prefer to believe my bears will sell themselves without any assistance from me, but yesterday proved there always will be times when both they and my visitors, need more of a helping hand than has ever come naturally to me.

Fortunately for us all, several kind collectors were waiting patiently in the wings, hopeful of adopting their special bear but unable to visit the show in person. I am so pleased that today, I am able to make travel arrangements for these bears to ensure they will soon be with their 'forever' owners ... happily, some things are just meant to be!

13" 'Polly' & 'Solly' are hoping to be adopted soon ...

I am working hard to find special homes for my remaining bears, so if Polly, Solly, Maxwell, Bramwell, or Boswell tugged at your heartstrings and you would like to consider adoption, please let me know - we'd all love to hear from you!  Full details can now be found on my website.

www.allbear.co.uk

28/02/11 update: Hooray, Solly has been adopted!

Reading the signs ...

I love playing with my old bear photos and recently found this website for creating collages, so naturally, I had to have a twiddle didn't I?  This little heart shaped collage celebrates Spring and is now featured on the home page of my website: www.allbear.co.uk

If I look out the window I can see crocus flowering in my garden, a tiny pot of snowdrops with pretty white heads and daffodils pushing through the earth ... yes, I think I can safely say, after our long, dark Winter, at last Spring is on its way to brighten the UK!

If you would like to create a photo collage, check out: http://www.shapecollage.com/

Christmas is a-coming!

Following on from yesterday's post, I am happy to report after my efforts to update my website, two of my bears were adopted; little Rudi and Spruce were quickly snapped up and will be spending their Christmas in England, so as you can imagine, I couldn't be more delighted today!

Rudi - adopted

Spruce - adopted



I quite liked the tartan backdrop I used for the show, but I do think it was worth taking new photographs to showcase these bears a little more effectively ... let's hope the work I did yesterday helps Puddin' and Frankie to find special new homes in time for Christmas too!

Puddin'

Frankie

I came to the conclusion there is no point hiding from the fact Christmas is a-coming, so yesterday I took the bull by the horns and gave my website a festive makeover.  If you would like to take a peek, please pop along to www.allbear.co.uk  I have also opened 'Santa's Sack' on the website in preparation for my Christmas bears - hopefully these small steps will tempt a little festive cheer from this bearmaker!

This is the Christmas webpage graphic I created; it features 'Robin Red', a dear little traditional bear I made for Christmas 2009.  He lives in Singapore now ...

www.allbear.co.uk

I have also used 'Robin Red's' picture on my 2010 'All Bear' Christmas cards.  I received them from the printer's a couple of weeks ago and am very pleased with the result.

2010 Official All Bear Christmas Card

Overall, yesterday was a very busy day!  Besides setting up my studio for bear photographs and overhauling my website, I also made a Christmas bear mosaic for my home page, featuring some of my Christmas bears past and present ...

Festive All Bears past and present

Another task this week was to tackle my entry for the 2011 TOBY Industry's Choice Awards in time for the December deadline.  I didn't have any success in this competition in 2010, but as they say, you've got to be in it to win it!  So, I've put my 2011 entry together and will be nipping down to the Post Office to send it to the US later today - fingers crossed eh?!

2011 TOBY Industry's Choice entry

I can't pretend I feel entirely festive yet, but it is only November, so there's still hope for me!

New Tricks for a new decade.

As you may already know, during the past decade I have battled my way through the vagaries of learning to maintain and develop my website, participate on selected internet forums, sell my work at online auction, create this very blog (which has to be my favourite modern 'must have'!) share photographs on Flickr.com, run online teddy bear webshows, join the Facebook network, build 'The Top 100 Best Bear Artist Blogs' and 'The Guild of Master Bearcrafters' and now, she who has never created a video in her life before, has decided to test out 'You Tube' for no other sensible reason, than plain old curiosity ... I know, there's not much hope for me is there?!

My first You Tube video slideshow created 31st December 2009

After a very frustrating morning which began in total ignorance and ended here with you in time for lunch, this is my very first video 'You Tube' slideshow featuring many of my bears past and present - a fitting end to this bear maker's decade of work and maybe even a fresh skill to offer 2010!

So, here's to a forthcoming year full of new challenges, creative thought and much happinness for us all.  Thank you so much for sharing my thoughts throughout 2009 ... I look forward to seeing you again in 2010!

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!