British Bear Artist Awards 2010

British Bear Artist Awards 2010

I am delighted to share some good news this week. I am really happy to have been nominated finalist in the British Bear Artist Awards 2010 with Apple and Blossom. Seeing these two mohair colours together reminded me of apple blossom in spring time and I decided to make coordinating apple blossom bears. I had great fun creating them and making their outfits.

The next step is to take them to Brighton on the 13th December 2010 to be inspected by the judges and the results will be announced there. Fingers crossed that they will do well. The venue is the Brighton Race Course which will incorporate the British Bear Fair, it's a new venue for this fair as it used to be in Hove Town Hall. I have a feeling this will be a very popular fair and well worth putting it in your diaries.

Hugs
Pauline

Anyone for a Cuppa!!!

Anyone for a Cuppa!!

I thought I would bob in and post a picture of my latest miniature bear, so enjoyed creating this little cutie. I am always on the look out for interesting bits and pieces for the bears and when I came across this little cup and saucer I knew exactly who was going to sit inside it. I already had some black and white mini bear fur that was waiting to be cut out, once the little guy was finished, I went around some craft shops until I came across the right size of matching ribbons for around his neck and also to decorate his little saucer with. I named him Cup-O-Ty and I have listed him with Ebay this week hope you can take a peep, there are lots of pictures on his auction.

I do have another two cup and saucer bears in the pipeline, but I have the Leeds bear fair coming up in a few weeks and in the process of a few vintage style bears for this, I managed to find some vintage velvet and vintage style mohair, will be having my first go at wobble neck joints which should be fun.

Have a good week
Hugs
Pauline

A New Bear Design

It's been a very busy couple of months in our home, jobs in the house, garden and bears. I eventually have time to play about with new bear designs, do a little bit of much loved knitting and hopefully start on the jewellery making kit I got from Charlotte for Mother's Day back in March.

I just designed a new bear pattern, tweaking the last pattern I designed for a 4 inch bear and having a go at pattern slicing for the muzzle. I had a look in my fabric stash and found this lovely tan and cream long pile which I thought would be appropriate and with the tinge of Autumn that is in the air at the moment thought she needed a little wool dress. I am really pleased with how she turned out and want to make more sisters and brothers similar to her now. I called her Olga and she is listed with Ebay this week. I just realised I only have just over 4 weeks to my next bear fair so after my little play this week I will then have to push on with some bears or my stand will be empty.

Hugs
Pauline

Another Bear Creator in the Family!

Another Bear Creator in the Family!


Its being a long time since I up-dated my blog, time flies by too quickly, and with a feel of Autumn around the corner now my mind is more on bear making and less on gardening and sitting in the sun although we have only had a few weeks hot weather it has been lovely.

There have also been a few changes with my family, my Daughter is back in the bear making world after a break of 2 years due to the demanding work she has been doing dancing and singing in shows every evening. She has now decided it's time change direction a little, she is still connected with dancing but is opening a little dance school in September and is going to be teaching instead of performing. This will give her time again to feed her passion for bear making as instead of rehearsals through the day time she will now make her little bears and teaching dance in the evenings and Saturdays.

I was thrilled to see this little bear she just has completed, the first in two years, I think he is megga cute, his name is Bon Bon and he is a tiny 3 inches high. Charlotte's little bears can be found for adoption on her new blog Bears By Charlotte, do pop over to have a look.

Hugs Pauline xx

Stratford Show

Stratford Show

We had a very enjoyable few days away incorporating the Stratford Bear fair, setting off on the Wednesday before the show we drove down to Corton village, which is 3 miles from Lowestoft and around 9 miles from Great Yarmouth and a little further to Norwich. Our daughter is based in Corton at the moment so we stayed in a hotel near there and she joined us for days out in the area, we had a day in Lowestoft which is a small seaside place with docks, a nice beach and shopping area.

The weather was fantastic and we had a day in Norwich which is fantastic with a beautiful castle and cathedral to visit, the shopping centre is one of the best I have ever seen, and we were extra pleased to fall upon the Norwich Bear Shop, we spent quite a while in there as Charlotte is just as keen as me to talk bears, and as well as the usual manufactured bears I was pleased to see a good amount of artist bears in there too, I was espcially pleased to see Laurie Lou bears there, Laurie and I chat on line sometimes but havent met, if I had more time there I would have loved to arrange to meet up for a coffee, her bears are so cute and even cuter in the fur. There were also Bisson Bears, Blee Bears, Hoblins and many more.

On Saturday we said our goodbyes and drove from Corton up to Stratford where we stayed in a hotel not far from the fair, we had a lovely afternoon and night in Stratford, it's a gorgeous town, plenty of shops and spoilt for choice of places to eat. Sunday was the Stratford Bear Fair which was held in the Civic Hall, I have to say it was one of the best bear fairs I have ever exhibited at, a great party atmospere, lots of visitors came through the door and lots of bears found new homes. I spent the whole day chatting with visitors and artists. I hope to do this fair again next year and perhaps see a little more of the Stratford area.

Break

Break

It's been a long time since my last blog up-date, doesn't life get busy sometime, didn't mean to stay away so long but I thought I would start my up-date with a few pics of our break in the Lake District last week. I can highly recommend this area to visit, we only had a long weekend but packed so much in that it seemed a lot longer. We stayed at the Shap Wells hotel in Penrith as a base, a lovely big hotel that is set well away from anywhere having it's own 1.5 mile drive, with fields and sheep walking all over, being May each had lambs and we had to stop many times driving down to the hotel as they meandered in front of the vehicle. The Hotel also has a red squirrel sanctuary so we took along a stash of nuts to feed them.

We visited Bowness where we went on a boat around the Lake and a steam train ride to take in the views, Keswick.. which is a lovely town and was our favorite. We also visited Coniston and took a ride on a Gondola around the Lake there. For shopping we went to Kendal, it isn't a big town but big enough to have a few of the usual chain shops and have a nice lunch and on the way home we stopped at Kirkby Lonsdale (another of my favorites) and Settle in the Yorkshire Dales before arriving home late Sunday night. I did take along some bear making to do but didn't mange to get any done as we were so busy and I got a little bit behind with my bears for the Stratford Bear Fair which is on the 6th June and am now sewing my fingers off to get ready for this event. Will post a few pics of the bears soon.

Pauline

Give Away

Give Away

Hello, just wanted to let you know that Joanne from Desertmoutainbear is giving away this gorgeous little girl Ruth. Please pop over to have a look, besides being in with a chance to win Ruth, Joanne's interesting blog is such a treat to read.

Have fun

Pauline

A Good Fair

A Good Fair

It was the Leeds Bear fair on Saturday and despite lack of exhibitors this time because of the economic climate, it was better than I expected, its funny because I usually don't do very well at this fair but have continued to support it as it is local to me. A lot of people came through the door, maybe because of some stands missing this time and the fact that we were more condensed in the one room is why I thought it was busier but a few times I was glad to have my Mum to help as I was chatting to people about the bears and getting a few into bags for collectors my Mum was at the other end of the stand attending to the people who wanted bear clothes. I did find that people were buying smaller less pricey bears but that is better than none at all.

I do enjoy this fair despite the lack of sales in the past,as I said it is local to me and because of this my Mum comes along and just being the two of us,we have a good girly chat and catch up without the hubby's chatting over us about sport and cars etc.

I did work hard for the display even taking the week off my afternoon job to work on bears so I still have quite a few left needing homes and will be putting them gradually onto the website and a few on Ebay over the next week or two. These are a few at the moment needing homes. Tozzi the larger panda is on my website at the moment and the two bunnies are Hoppy (brown one) and Nipsy (pink one) are both just about 4 inches are I have listed them onto Ebay for a week. Details of all and ebay links are on my website.

The next fair will be Stratford Artists Event and it isn't very long at all, lots of preparation for that one, it's new this time for me, a round table to contend with and to decide if to stay over the night before or not and if yes where. Best make a start on the planning I think.

Pauline

A New Craft!!!

A New Craft!!

Hope everyone is well and had a nice weekend. I had my head down working on the bears for most of the weekend as it is the Leeds Bear Fair on the 27th March and it seems to have come around so quickly since the beginning of the year when I thought I had loads of time. I have booked a week off from my afternoon office job the week before so get a bit more time then.

I got a surprise in the post a few days back, a Mother's day present from my daughter, this craft kit of making jewelery! I do feel a bit daunted as I know I must find time to have a go as she will be asking. She knows I do love everything crafty and she teaches jewelery making where she works at Warner's Leisure Hotels through the day time in addition to her dancing/singing in the shows at night. Whilst were were visiting her last summer I sat in one of her lessons and made a pair of earrings under her supervision and was so thrilled she must have remembered and had supplies on her list for future gifts for me. I look forward to stealing a little time on my week off from the afternoon job next week to make a start, though I wish I had my Daughter here to help, I used to watch her a couple of years ago when she was at home and wish I had taken more interest then. But I am determined to make her proud of me and it is only fair as I taught her to make bears which she was at home which she took on with such eagerness and ended up selling them, I was proud of her but she just has not got the time just now for bears with the hours she works and constant rehearsals but I am sure it will still be there when she has the time to take it up again. Would'nt it be a boring life without crafts, nothing nicer and satisfying than creating something from scratch I think.

ps!! How do you make the text smaller, I went to edit post, change the font to normal, published and it is still the same...... large, oh isn't technology great!!!

Have a good week
Pauline

A Good Week

A Good Week

Last week was a good one for me, the weather was a bit better than it has been for a few weeks, there was a couple of snow flurries but it did not last long and I can see the first signs of spring, snowdrops budding in the garden, holidays advertised everywhere, easter eggs and gifts in shops, it does make me feel better.

I seemed to have more energy last week and it was very productive as a result, I completed this little elephant Florrie who is listed on Ebay this week, also I have 5 new bears cut out and half sewn for the Leeds bear fair. I finished my lovely cardigain but just have beads to sew on before I take pics. I also have a few little bear cardigains that I had been on with for the Leeds fair finished, just need to add buttons and press. I also had time to join Facebook which I have been planning for the last 6 months!

So on Saturday I thought I had deserved a break and so we went for a drive to Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, one of our favorite places, really would love to live there when we get around to moving house. It was a nice drive, no ice on the roads for a change, we called at the local creamry which Hawes is famous for and bought some fancy cheeses, some with caramalised onions in and another was a nice cheddar with port, they also have some nice chutneys in bottles so we had a few of those too. We stayed there for a coffee in the creamry coffee shop. Then we walked down the high street shops and found a craft fair open, not many stands but the ones that were there had some nice quality items. On the way back we stopped off for early dinner near Skipton at the Craven Heifer Hotel which I can highly recommend, good homemade food and an extensive menu. It was very full being Valentine weekend but luckily we managed to find a table.

Anyway, back to work now, need to get a bit further with the bears for Leeds this week. Bye for now

Pauline

A Little Off Track

A Little Off Track

The bears have taken a bit of a back seat since Christmas. Alan bought me this brilliant little book... Inspired to Knit by Michele Rose Orne for Christmas, I can highly recommend it. It's a long time since I knitted anything for myself as the bears have been very demanding over the last few years as not only do they want sewing, they beg for knitted and crochet outfits to keep them warm despite their fur!
Anyway, I was very inspired to knit and bought some lovely yarn just after Christmas in a nice cotton mix, I decided to give myself about an hour a day (inbetween work on the bears) for some me time to perhaps finish this lovely cardigain in time for late spring/early summer. However it somehow turned into more me time than I planned, I haven't been able to stop and am already on the last sleeve. It has been such a pleasure. I would like to go through the whole book and make everything but I won't start anything else until later in the year, as I have bears to make for the Leeds fair in March and a new batch of bear outfits that I have planned.
I did however finish little miniature Buddy who is listed on Ebay for a week to find his new family, his little hat is made from beautiful fine shetland yarn and finished off with a little heart button as it's nearly Valentines Day.

Hugs

Pauline

Back To Work

Back to Work!

Well, a belated happy New Year to all. I have been a bit slow getting off the ground since Christmas, these two bears are the first ones I started and finished in the New Year, Sage and Onion are listed with Ebay at the moment looking for their new Mum or Dad.

I took a much needed break from the bears after Christmas as my Daughter came to stay for a week. She worked every day throughout Christmas, inbetween and the New Year entertaining holiday makers with her shows and was glad to come home to Mum for a well earned rest. So we had some nice together time with a few girly chats. The weather has been terrible and we were snowed in for most of the week so even more of an excuse to have a rest without feeling guilty.

Anyway, we are both back to our work now and I am busy with new bears for this year's shows, also fitting in some orders and bears for Ebay inbetween. I have an extra show in my diary for this year which is the Bear Artist Event in Stratford on the 6th June. It's a lovely area, we spent a lot of time there when my Daughter was at performing arts college near there and am looking forward to visiting again in June.

Well, the mohair is calling to be cut out, bye for now

Pauline