The Careworn Celtic Collection

'McTavish', 'Morag' and little 'Logan' are wrapped up warmly in preparation for their impending journey to Abderdeen in bonny Scotland, where they will make their official debut at http://www.sillybears.co.uk/ from September 1st.  Before they wend their way north of the border though, I couldn't resist showing them off a little here first!

'The Careworn Celtic Collection'

Perfect places

Now and again it doesn't hurt to stop the world and reminisce for a moment or two, does it?  Perfect times, in perfect places, here are a few of mine ...

Polperro, Cornwall

I have spent many wonderful holidays in this enchanting fishing village

Pagham, Sussex

Memories of a special holiday with Stuart and his grandson

Old Pollensa Town, Majorca

Our wonderful holiday in the Spanish sunshine

Mote Park Lake, Maidstone

More than thirty years of walks, beautiful in all seasons

Clovelly, Devon

Wonderful memories of this unique fishing village

Myrtos Beach, Kefalonia

Our fabulous Greek holiday this year

Boscastle, Cornwall

Happy family times - usually in the rain! 

Visits to my favourite pottery

Teston Bridge, Maidstone

Quintessentially English, a lovely stroll

The River Medway, Maidstone

An integral part of my family life in Maidstone across three decades

Watersmeet, Devon

Beautiful scenery, walking with Stuart in Devon

Knowle Park, Sevenoaks

A stunning Autumn walk

Port Isaac, Cornwall

Visiting Doc Martin, laughing in the rain!

Polperro to Talland Bay cliff walk

So many walks, over so many years ... always breathtaking

War Memorial, Talland Bay, Cornwall

The most perfect spot for a memorial

Talland Bay, Cornwall

Rock pooling with my kids, cliff walking with Stuart

River Avon, Stratford Upon Avon

Watching the world sail by on a perfect summer's evening 

Mousehole, Cornwall

Happy holidays in pretty South West Cornwall

Heddon Valley, Devon

A stunning cliff walk with Stuart on a clear day and yes, we could see forever ...

All things advertising

It occurred to me this morning, if I want to have promotional postcards available for the Teddies 2010 show on September 12th I'd jolly well better organise myself and design some!  So, with a cup of coffee to hand and specs perched on my nose, I've twiddled and tweaked in Photoshop and this is what I've come up with ...

My new promotional postcard for 'Teddies 2010' show

Ad copy for the 2011 'Teddy Bear Annual'

While we're on the subject of advertising and promotion, I recently designed the above ad for the 2011 edition of the 'Teddy Bear Annual' which is now on sale. I used a very similar advertisement for 'The UK Teddy Bear Guide 2010' too, but had that one printed in black and white as colour ads can be pretty costly and we teddy bear artists have to keep a careful eye on our advertising budgets!

If you would like to purchase a copy of the 'Teddy Bear Annual' please visit:

http://www.collectors-club-of-great-britain.co.uk/magazines/default.asp?magazine=5

And 'The UK Teddy Bear Guide 2010' can be purchased from:

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

Happy bear reading!

Biscuits and good fortune!

This collection of bears has been fun to make!  They will be heading to 'One More Bear', a lovely teddy bear shop in Stoke on Trent, tomorrow.  I think I must have been obsessing about biscuits when I named the first three bears ... names like 'McVitie', 'Strawberry Shortcake' and 'Hobnob' give the game away eh?!  I sure do love a biscuit!

20" 'McVitie', 14" 'Strawberry Shortcake' and 12" 'Hobnob' have been created exclusively for 'One More Bear'.

Tracy, the shop owner, also put in a request for a classic panda bear, so I created the handsome 20" 'Fausto' to travel with the biscuit bears ... he's quite majestic don't you think?!  His name means 'Lucky', so let's hope he brings good fortune to Tracy by finding his special someone quickly!

Fausto will also be available exclusively from 'One More Bear' in Stoke on Trent.

I'm continuuing with my shop exclusive theme for a little while longer as I have another shop waiting for an order too and once those bears have been brought to life, I will need to start work straightaway on the 'Teddies 2010' show bears ... I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy!

Nesbit is a 2010 URSA AWARDS FINALIST!

I am delighted to be able to tell you dear ol' Nesbit has been voted a finalist in the 2010 URSA Awards.  Thank you so much for taking the time to vote for him, your vote really did count! 

Nesbit is a 2010 URSA AWARDS FINALIST!

Now the time has come for the final round of voting.  This competition is judged solely by public vote, so your vote is very important. If you would like to choose the one special bear you think deserves to hold the title of  '2010 URSA MAJOR', please click the link below to cast your final vote!

2010 URSA AWARDS FINAL VOTE!

Good luck Nesbit!

Does the breeze blow a kiss?

I posted this poem when I first started writing my blog.  It still makes me smile, so I thought I'd share it with you here today ... I hope you enjoy the read and yes, in case you are wondering, it was written by my occasionally whimsical self!

DOES THE BREEZE BLOW A KISS?

Will the world stop turning

If the sun stops yearning

To shine

Each and every day?

And does the breeze blow a kiss

When the sky’s all a-mist

To cheer up

Its miserable ways?

Do the stars ever croon

When they gaze at the moon

As they float

On their Milky Way?

And does thunder ever wonder

If it's really made a blunder

When it rumbles

Through a Summer's day?

Can the wind really tickle

The leaves of a thistle,

Pick berries from the mistletoe?

And when all is said and done

Can a moonbeam truly hum?

These are the things

I'd like to know.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Autumn on my mind

Autumnal Dolly Doodling ...

So here we are at the start of the school summer holidays and already I have Autumn on my mind!  It's not so surprising though, when Stuart and I walked through the woods yesterday we noticed brambles carpetting the ground already, so I'm guessing it won't be many more weeks until those prickly creepers are laden with juicy blackberries and we can return with Stuart's grandson to gather a bucketful and stain him purple in the process!

I'm still up to my eyeballs in teddy bear creations, so there haven't been any dolly doings in my workroom for far too long, but that hasn't stopped me from planning my next project - after all, Autumn is such a great time for Prim Dolly Doodling.   I am determined to find time to make an autumnal dolly or two this year and as you can see, have started to harvest a few seasonal bits 'n pieces in readinness ... progress pics to follow shortly, with a little luck!

Under pressure ...

With six new bears in my work basket waiting for me to wave my magic wand, two shops waiting for orders and a major show imminent, I must admit to feeling a little pressured this week! 

Time to take a breather and not exactly smell the roses, but rather enjoy my dahlias ...

'Roxy'

'Melody Mambo'

'Melody Dora'

Ah, that feels better! 

Back to work now Paula ...

Casper, a brother for Casabian!

This is 'Casper', brother bear to 'Casabian', (the bear I mentioned I was finishing in yesterday's post) ... he will be hopping on a plane and following 'Casabian' to Singapore shortly. 

After stuffing two such large bears one after the other, I can honestly say I am looking forward to working on some slightly smaller designs.  I used to make much bigger bears in years gone by, some even as large as 32", but these days 23" is about all I want to handle!

23" 'Casper' will soon be heading to Singapore!

I have another shop order to fill next week, this time for a UK shop in Stoke-on-Trent.  I'm really looking forward to making these bears ... I get to make a panda (which I haven't done for a while!) a pretty pink careworn girl bear and two careworn boy bears - should be fun!

Casabian

I should be stuffing this chap's brother bear today, so this post will be brief! 

Introducing 'Casabian', a chunky 23" bear destined for a super new teddy bear shop called 'A Bear Place,' which has recently opened in Singapore.

23" 'Casabian' will be flying out to Singapore tomorrow!

What with bear orders, the Guild of Master Bearcrafters, my blog, website updates and so on, my days seem to fly past way too quickly at the moment and  I have two more shop orders to fulfill before I can start work on my next collection of show bears.  'Teddies 2010' takes place in London on the 12th September and although it sounds as though there's still plenty of time to prepare, I know from past experience the weeks will disappear in a flash and before I know it, I will be in full panic mode, yet again!

Putting the world on hold ... for a little while.

It's hard not to feel a little cut off from the outside world when you work from home and since our lovely holiday in Kefalonia recently, I must confess to feeling more than a little 'cooped' now that I'm home again.  To put this to rights, I decided we'd take a stroll around Leybourne Lakes with my daughter and Stuart's grandson on Saturday afternoon, to breath in fresh air, enjoy a change of scenery and take a little gentle exercise in the sunshine ...

Fay watching geese on the lake

Stuart and Calvin say hello to a passing swan

Fay and Calvin chat about life, the universe et al ...

View across one of the beautiful lakes ...

A little Fay and Calvin fun!

Stuart and Fay taking their 'end of walk' ice-creams very seriously!

I think we are very lucky to have the lakes so close  by ... it's such a great place to put the world on hold for a few hours and share time with family.

A Kefalonian Memory

At last I have a new bear to show you .. it seems ages since I have been able to finish a bear!  I have called this lovely clown 'Kefalonia,' because her palette reminds me so much of the soft pastel shades of the Kefalonian villages we drove through on our holiday ...

'Kefalonia'

This pretty clown already has a new owner here in the UK, but I thought you might like to see her anyway!

A past life present.

Have you ever wondered what bear artists did before they were bear artists?  Thanks to the amazing reach of social networking technology, I recently received a reminder of a past life ...

1981: Eighteen, with attitude!

Back when jeans were spray painted, lip gloss tasted of strawberries, the Hairy Cornflake ruled the morning airwaves and Ipods had yet to be dreamed of, my first job at the grand old age of eighteen, was as secretary for an entertainments agency in London.  I used to scrape myself into a pair of skinny jeans, plonk myself on a train and arrive at an office in The Strand by the skin of my teeth each morning, just in time to make coffee for the bosses.

Venigmas' recording 'Strangelove' ... good old 7" vinyl!

There was an mean ol' electric typewriter on my desk with a frustratingly unique perception of the art of spacing between words, oh how I hated that thing!  But once envelopes had been addressed and invoices typed, I was sometimes invited to type song lyrics for 'Venigmas', a job I loved!  Venigmas were a gutsy Glaswegian indie band, busting to make it big in the music industry way back in the very early 80's.  I was eighteen years young, loving my time as a fly on the wall in studios and watching them strut their stuff on tiny stages in smoky pubs and clubs on the indie band 'circuit' ... memories guaranteed to make me smile even now, almost three decades later.

Anyway, to cut a brief story even shorter, I'd like to share a little music with you here today!  

Introducing a very old friend of mine, Owen Paul McGee ... once upon a memory, lead singer with the Venigmas ...

I do hope you enjoy Owen's music. If you would like to know more about his work, please visit www.owenpaulmcgee.com 

... and if the urge takes you, why not follow it and visit,

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2373288/About-Time/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0to to purchase a copy of Owen's album,
'About Time'.

2010 URSA Awards - Vote Now!

The online 2010 URSA Awards are now open for public voting!  Please spare a few moments to vote for your favourite entries in each category:

http://cyberdendesigns.com/URSA-2010/Category1.htm

By the way, I have entered dear old 'Nesbit' in category 6, the 'Hugely Huggable Bear' category ... 

Good luck Nesbit!

In search of Corelli's Kefalonia

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' written by Louis de Berniere first published in 1994, is reverently placed at the top of my list of favourite novels.  When the film of the book was released in 2001 I couldn't wait to see if it would live up to the book and happily for me, it did! Sitting in the dark at our local Odeon cinema watching the charming scenes of Dr Iannis, his daughter Pelagia and the villagers, winding down a precipitous mountain path to the most beautiful beach below, was when I first fell in love with Kefalonia.  I promised myself there and then that if ever the opportunity presented itself, I would one day find myself gazing across the fabulous turquoise waters of the Ionian Sea ...

Agia Efimia

Assos

An evening in Fiskardo

So guess where I was last week?  Yes! Stuart and I booked a lovely villa perched on the northern tip of a Kefalonian mountain and flew from Gatwick on Sunday to find it.  Kefalonia didn't disappoint us, what a spectacularly scenic and sun blessed island!  We drove from the little southern airport across mountains, gasping at sheer drops and dramatic coastline and chuckling at herds of goats mooching contentedly along the roads at a strolling pace, with no respect whatsoever for passing hire cars!

Driving up and up, into the mountain top clouds

Discovering Kephalonia

We have seen some truly beautiful places in Kefalonia and have heartily enjoyed the hospitality so generously offered to us by the islanders, particularly at 'Irida's' taverna on the pretty harbourside Fiskardo, where we enjoyed several tasty local dishes from their extensive menu - I can highly recommend the chocolate and Grand Marnier crepe for dessert by the way! 

Enjoying my chocolate and Grand Marnier crepe at Irida's!

There have been many highlights for us both throughout the past week and for me, finding the sparkling turquoise waters of Myrtos Beach featured in the opening scenes of the 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', has to be one of the most special ...

Mountain view of Myrtos Beach below

The sparkling waters of Myrtos Beach

Paula Paddling at Myrtos Beach!

I also loved our visit to the underground Melissani Lake ... such an atmospheric place!

The underground lake at Melissani

Our boat trip on the underground lake

On a hot, stormy Wednesday afternoon, we climbed the mountain path at Assos to visit the ancient ruins of sixteenth century Assos Castle.  The path wound steeply round the mountainside assaulting our senses with a fabulously heady fragrance of pine as our hearts pounded with the unfamiliar exertion.  Like most men who remain boys at heart, Stuart is a sucker for ancient fortresses and was determined we would reach the summit! 

View from our scented pine walk to Assos Castle

Stuart en route to the castle ...

Taking a breather!

Exploring the ancient ruins on the clifftop at Assos

View from the castle wall

Holidays are never quite long enough aren't they?!   For us, Kefalonia was the perfect island to relax and leave behind the stresses and strains of everyday life.  'Captain Corelli and his mandolin' may well be fiction, but the island of Kefalonia is utterly enchanting in its reality.