Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures Preview

The Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures Online Show preview has begun! As always there's some fabulous pieces to drool over and get us all excited for the main event which starts on November 21st ( or early 22nd in my neck of the woods )
Here's my little offering, Sugar Plum Fairy, which I hope captures the preview theme "Sparkle and Shine" -right up my alley! She's made from vintage long pile, with a silk tulle tutu sprinkled with Swarovski crystals, a silver tiara and a crystal topped fairy wand.
As always, you can vote for your favourite piece- and it's a hard decision as always!:)

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Getting Ready for Woodend!

Boy how fast has this year flown? October already and won't be long before it's Christmas! Before then though, two shows for me- one close(ish!) to home, at Woodend, and the online Christmas Treasures show run by Teddies Worldwide.
At the moment I am hard at work on new creations for Woodend- here's a sneak peek of a few of them- as you can see they need a wee bit of work yet!:) A giant Panda...an elephant...a bunny... A pink koala.....a kangaroo, even a squirrel will hopefully be part of the lineup on my table, fingers crossed!:)


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Chloe

I'd like to introduce you to my new bunny, Chloe! I've been loving the distressed viscose fabric lately, such pretty colours and unique texture. Chloe is a bit of a giant for me, standing at 6" not including her ears, and she's wearing a little lace vest made from lace I found in Paris, real genuine antique French lace.... I always feel like I've struck gold when I find it!:)
Chloe is listed on Bearpile, http://www.bearpile.com/item/88683

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Finis!

I'm loving this new design body, even if I do say so myself!:)
In honour of Spring, I've named this little girl Blossom, and she's now available on Bearpile:)

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Work in Progress

Bears have taken a back seat for quite a few weeks now- only time to squeeze a little sewing in now and then, sadly. Hopefully things are a little less hectic now and I'll be able to finish off some of the poor little creatures who've been waiting patiently for me to return to my workbench:)
Here's one of them- this little one has a very different body shape, with bent arms and legs, a big pot belly and cute chubby cheeks. I can't wait to get back downstairs and figure out how to dress her:)

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Teddies Worldwide Online Show now open!

Thought you might like to see my Teddies Worldwide online show pieces... The theme is Teddy and Friends on Vacation, and I created some new critters I've never attempted before- including a kangaroo, koala, seahorse and mermaid.
There's some wonderful creative pieces in the show, do pop by before it's closed and check it out! The way many artists have interpreted the theme is terrific, so many brilliant ideas!

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So, now I'm coming back down to earth and trying to knuckle down and be productive... Easier said than done, which I'm sure you can well relate to!:) For some reason I've been inspired to try some needle felting. Now, like many I'm sure, I've had felting supplies for many years... Always intending on having a go but not really achieving much... So I thought this time when I give it a go, if I put pics up on my blog, it might push me to actually finish something!:-D
Whether my plan works or not is another thing, but here is one of my experiments so far. Not perfect of course, learning new techniques usually doesn't result in perfection first time out does it?:) But I'm encouraged enough to plug away and have another go- or two:)
I had already redesigned my head pattern a little, to reduce the snout area to allow for the felting, but I soon discovered to get the depth in the mouth that I was hoping for, I needed to remove yet more snout from the mohair parts. So, another head was sewn up and felted snout begun- only to have the mohair backing fray away, meaning my second head had to be tossed....
In front of me now I have another snoutless mohair head, with extra fray stopping on the face seams, waiting to be stuffed.. Wish me luck!:)
(Please forgive the not-quite-focused pics, I took them for my own entertainment not intending to post them, but I thought someone might find them interesting even if they aren't perfect- sort of like my felting attempts in general! lol)

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What I've been up to....

You may have noticed in the sidebar that I was heading to TeddyBear Total in Münster Germany in April... As usual I was bad in blogging and here I am home again after a great show and a lovely trip... I was lucky enough to be able to squeeze in some time in my 'favouritest place in the world' ( yes I know that's not really a word hehe), Paris! as well as a few days in Amsterdam after the show..... What a perfect time to be there- Monet's garden in Giverny was in full bloom with gorgeous bulbs as well as pansies, lilac and other beautiful spring flowers, as were the tulip gardens in Keukenhof, Holland. We got the tail end of the blossom trees and the beginning of the peonies... And beautiful weather, only a few cold days. We also squeezed in a day trip to beautiful Bruges where we indulged in some yummy chocolate and waffles!



First on the list when we arrived however, was a visit to the local Ladurée shop- a convenient 10 minute walk from the apartment, and a box of macarons to eat by the Seine... While we pinched ourselves, we were in Paris!:)

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I'd like you to meet my little "Spring Bunny", just listed on Bearpile. She's a tiny 2.5" bear dressed up for the season (northern hempisphere of course! :-D ) with a removable bunny hat- her own fuzzy teddy ears 'bearly' peek through!

And the Show Begins!

  At last the Teddies Worldwide show is OPEN! I do hope you have been to visit while you can. While Daphne usually provides a theme for us to work from, this time the specification was just that each piece had to be a bear.. so I thought I'd challenge myself to my *own* theme- April in Paris! Pretty Spring like pastel colours, outfits fit for strolling the Champs Elysees, and each one comes with a teeny weeny little golden Eiffel Tower charm along with her hang tag.

I'd like to share some photos of my pieces- some had special details I thought needed extra showing off:)

All the girls are available at the Teddies Worldwide online show- simply click the banner above and it will take you to the main page, then you can scroll to my name and click to my page. And of course after that, do browse through all the other fabulous pieces:)

Above is Coco.. a tiny 2" standing, with a tiny replica Chanel shopping bag...the lucky girl!:)

And here we have Water Lily, inspired by the beautiful water lilies the great Impressionist artist Monet painted....

This little lady is Gigi, dressed in silk tullle, faux pearls, sitting on a vintage powder box with a miniature Chanel perfume  bottle...

              Gigi's vintage powder box is trimmed in dark olive green vintage ribbon and beautiful                               antique wax orange blossoms from a bride's headpiece, and a faux pearl 'necklace'

And little Belle, who comes nestling in a teeny tiny pink satin pointe shoe, trimmed with vintage flowers and silver metallic embroidery.

Belle really is a tiny girl!

And here is a closeup of her little face...

This pair is called "April Showers"..

They come nestled in their little pink parasol, surrounded by vintage silk millinery flowers....

Two teeny little girls!

A full view....

Odile, a veritable giant at 6" tall!:) I wanted to be sure to show off her beautiful custom made leather shoes..... I also hand crocheted a little cardigan for her...

look at that little face!

And last but not least, Madeleine, who is taking her favourite dolly for a stroll in a pretty pram.

Here is a closeup of the pram and dolly....

Don't forget if one catches your eye, they are just a couple of clicks away via the banner at the top of the page:)

I do hope you enjoy the show- as always there are lots of wonderful pieces from very talented artists- I may be slightly biased;) but I think the Teddies Worldwide shows are the best in the online Teddy show world! Daphne does a fabulous job of selecting the best artists from all round the world, it truly is an honour to participate.

Teddies Worldwide Show preview has started!

Hop on over to teddiesworldwide.com to see the preview of the latest online show..... Over 70 artists from all over the worldwide gorgeous pieces made just for this show- the variety and imagination the Teddies Worldwide artists produce never ceases to amaze me:)
These are my little preview girls, April Showers.. Two tiny 2.5" bears sitting in a parasol surrounded by blossoms ( which just so happen to be gorgeous vintage ones:) ) I do hope you enjoy the preview,mand don't forget to check back when the show opens!
As for me, well I'm back to work on the rest of my pieces for the show of course:)!

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Doh!

Well I'm slow- I just posted two sold pieces to my blog and forgot to add my newest little girl, Pixie the little elephant! Just listed on Bearpile this afternoon, she's my smallest elephant design ever, sitting at 2" small.
Now, back to work on my preview piece for the upcoming Teddies Worldwide online show. As always, I can't wait to see what everyone has in store for us! The creativity artists bring to the Teddies Worldwide shows never disappoints :)

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Some new little ones....

I thought I'd share a couple of my new little ones that I listed on bear pile this week. It's been so long since I crocheted for the bears, I must do it again soon...


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