...what on earth is she up to?!?!

OOooohhhh I can be Such a tease lolololol!!  

Not long before the BIG REVEAL though, I promise :o)  

.... Midday AEDST today!!  See, told you there wasn't much longer to wait!!

Something exciting is coming ....

.... but i ca-aant telllll you coz ittssss a-ah sseeeeec-cccret 

*whispers* I can give you this tiny little hint though *side eye with a knowing look and  raised eyebrow*

*skips off with a cheeky wink and a knowing smile*

Woodend 2012 Bear Show

No more sleeps to go to the 2012 Woodend Teddy Bear Show .... the day has dawned, and in a few short hours the doors will swing wide and the fun will begin :o)

 I for one have some serious sleep catching up to do lol, and maybe as I drift off into the land of nod later today, I shall be pondering the thought “is a show in late October one that welcomes Spring a we bit late, or is it one that says Hello Christmas a wee bit early?”.   Eh *shrugs* who knows, I just hope these two find homes so I don’t have to listen to their  infernal arguing about it :oP

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For more fun and details, check the shows Facebook page HERE, where you can also find the details of a very special radio show that will be on at 10 am(ish) today *whispers* 774ABC

(Not even) One week to the Woodend Teddy Bear Show

It’s kinda scary just how much time going about living ones life can actully take up lol ... I mean, I’ve just been going about my daily tasks - some fun, some not so much - and while I’ve been in the process of getting on with these things, some where along the way, a very large chunk of time has.... well ..... vanished?!?!  

The last time I looked there was heaps - Heaps - of time left before the end of October ... and we all know what the end of October brings don’t we *nods and smiles* MmmHmmmm!   The doors opening on the ever wonderful Woodend Teddy Bear show!!

But nope *shakes head*.   Oh No No NO *waggles finger* those doors .... the ones to St Ambrose Hall in Templeton Street,  they will be opening in a little over 5 days!  FIVE DAYS!!   I know .... How?  When??  Whhhaaaa HUH???  But I kid you not, the show really truly ruley IS in five days lol!

Now, you are going to have to excuse me, because I have bears that need finishing up, and if I dare to blink .... well, those five days are going to vanish as quickly as the last few months have lol, and then my table is going to look rather sad and bare, and that would never do! 

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Friends of Teddies Worldwide ... lots and lots of friends!!

This weee bunny has been utilising his super-sensitive-listening-apparatus to scope out the best happenings on the net, and he thinks that www.teddiesworldwide.com is where it’s at!!  So GO :o) but hurry .... hours rather than days to go now!

Cutting it a little fine ....

Hmmmm, I’m one of the first to admit that I’m an A grade, Gold Level procrastinator lol, but I just uploaded my Teddies Worldwide Friends Show preview pic with just 25 minutes to spare.  25 minutes LOL, now that is cutting it a wee bit fine, even for me :oP

The preview - where you can get a small sneak peek of what will be on offer at the show itself - begins in around 2 and a half days - 4pm (New York Time) on the 29th of June to be precise ... you may want to go and check the time conversion HERE if you want to be one of the first to lay your eyes on the splendours that are guaranteed to abound on the Friends of Teddy show preview!!  Me, I’m going to toddle in a little later, as 4pm in New York converts to 6am Saturday morning where I am, and much as I love teddies, I think I love my winter weekend sleep ins juuuuust a litttttle bit more :oP  

The link you need to follow is teddiesworldwide.com

Tea Party Time

Tea is served and

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There are lots of wonderful teddies waiting for you to come over to share a cuppa and a few moments with them.  You can find them at www.teddiesworldwide.com for just a few hours more!

A few of my teds have popped over to say hello ... they *have* consumed rather large amounts of caffeine this weekend, so you will have to forgive them any silliness :o)

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www.teddiesworldwide.com 

A very special invitation delivery

*door bell*

Twining the Butler has arrived to hand deliver your personal invitation to the Teddy Bears Tea Party show  ... check out that swanky silver tray, pretty posh huh *hehe*!

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At the end of this link you can get an advance peek, aka preview :oP of one bear - but only one mind you - from each of the 90 participating artists.  You can also vote for your favourite Miniature and Full Size bears in the Teddies Worldwide Collector’s Choice Award ... I haven’t voted yet, but that is because there are so many fabulous bears I’m struggling to single out just the one per category lol!!

I know you must be just as keen for the reveal of all the other wonderful teds  attending the Tea Party as I am,  but we will all have to wait until 4pm (New York time) on Friday March 23rd *drums fingers on desk impatiently* ... to check out just how many more sleeps - or maybe I should say how many more cups of tea lol - it is ‘till the show opens in your neck of the woods, HERE is a handy time converter where you can look up your country.  It is going to be opening at 7am here in Melbourne!  Now that is quite definitely cup-of-tea’O’clock :oP

Right-oh Twining, back to work you go ..... and me too for that matter lol!  The preview may be in full swing, but there is still much more to do before the doors to the party itself swing wide!

Cute and Useful! The perfect combination ....

I’ve long since finished sorting my floss boxes from chaos back into some semblance of order, and the ‘to do’ list I put a big pink tick beside that task on, long since binned ... 

... and so, of course, it was inevitable that now is when I would come across the free download for these little wonders on pinterest!

Photo courtesy of the wild olive blog.  Click to enlarge

Aren’t they FAB!  Even better than that, they are FREE and FAB lol!  I’m not mad/sensible (chose whichever you prefer) enough to unwind any of my already wound bobbins just to give these a test drive .... though just quietly, I *am* thinking of using them as an excuse for accelerating the hunt for purple nose thread to sooner rather than later.  Hhmmmm *thinks*.

BUT (there always is one isn’t there lol) while my floss is now satisfactorily sorted, my ribbons can only be described as being a long way from :o/  ... lets just say that most of the time, the jumbled mess in my ribbon box is Knot amusing :oP which means it is an Epic Win that Mollie from the ‘Wild Olive’ blog has also designed a jumbo version expressly for ribbons and trims.  WooHoo!  

Check out the test print I did of each page:

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These pages are 200gsm, which will be fine for my ribbons (primarily because I have 200 sheets of the stuff lol) but I'd suggest the floss bobbins will need 300 or higher ... i'll report back after I've made a trip to the newsagent and done a bit of experimenting :o)

OK ribbon box, we’re coming in!!   Prepare to surrender your pretty but chaotic state for one of beauty and order *MwuHahahahahaaa*

You can find the printable PDF download for the page with 20 small floss bobbins HERE 

and

the printable PDF download for the page with 6 jumbo sized ribbon/trim ones HERE

TEDDIES TEA PARTY!!

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Tea + Party = 2 of my favourite things!  The chink of pretty china and happy chatter ... Oh Yeah :o)  When you put them together - and then send me an invite - well, I am one happy girl ....

So, it doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to picture my reaction when I saw what the theme for the March Teddies World Wide online show was going to be

... Hint:  It involved lots of *squeeeing* and “So Me”ing, with a good dash of excited wriggling thrown in for good measure lol :o)  Then when my acceptance email came through .... well .... lol!

My head is a chaotic jumble of ideas I want to play around with ... so many fun and wonderful directions I could go in :o)  I’ve been chattering ideas at mum at 100mph - poor darling, I think I’m in danger of turning her off tea for life, or at the very least sprained eyeballs from all the eye rolling she’s been doing in reaction to some of my more, erm,  hairbrained ideas lol.

Y’know, I think I need to sit down with a nice cup of tea as I think on this some more :o)  The kettle has just boiled, care to join me?

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Blast from the past .....

OK, so I was just browsing about in teddy land (translation: not actually working on what I should be working on lol) and I came across this pic which I thought I would share with you

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It was taken by Leah Viola at the “Bears on the Square” show back in 2005 :o)  Thanks must go to Wendy Bergamin for the memories lol ...

You can see fabulous pics of some of the other tables - jam packed with gorgeous bears - from the show at the end of this link 

I highly recommend it if, you too, desire an enjoyable wander down memory lane :o)

Teddy Bear & Friends merges with Teddy Bear Review!!

WOW!  Just wow ... can’t say this is what i was expecting to be reading over my first cuppa of the day :o/  but it's official!  TBR's facebook page has updated with the news, including a link to the story on their website, but TB&F has made no comment/acknowledgement (yet) as far as I've seen.

Basically the story is that the two main (paper print) US bear magazines will now be combining to form the one magazine, publishing under the name of Teddy Bear & Friends (presumably) with a logo that combines the name and font of TB&F and the sweet little paw print from TBR ... please note that last bit is an guess on my part, based on the banner (above) that arrived on the email announcement from TBR.   

I’ve lived with the news for a bit now, and I still can’t define how I feel about this ... With out question, anything that makes the bear industry stronger is a good thing *nods*.  I suppose I’ll feel more comfortable when I know who will have the guiding hand on what gets published and the direction the new publication takes... no word on the TOBY's and/or Golden Teddy's for example.  My fingers are firmly crossed for a return to the themed issues of the golden days (no surprises that Junes Mini Issue of TB&F is/was a MAJOR fave lol, closely followed by the friends issue) ... and I am very curious as to who the editor will be.  If anyone does know, please leave the info in the comments :o)

One things for sure - my poor forgetful brain will be very happy it no longer has to remember which bear’s photo was sent to which magazine (because doubling up would never do, oh no no no *tsk tsk tsk* lol!) ...

Anyway, enough of my ramblings - here is the full text from the email that I received:

The two premiere publications serving teddy bear collectors,Teddy Bear & Friends and Teddy Bear Review,will merge into one title in 2012 published under the name Teddy Bear & Friends, published on a bimonthly schedule by Jones Publishing. The deal was announced Jan. 27 at the Debut of Dolls and DOTY Awards Banquet during IDEX trade show in Orlando, Fla. Jones Publishing also presented its Ambassador Award to Barrie and Danny Shapiro of The Toy Shoppe at the same event.

Teddy Bear & Friends (TB&F) and Teddy Bear Review's (TBR) sister publications, Doll Reader and DOLLS, will also merge this year. Jones Publishing will retain the title DOLLS and increase its frequency to monthly, including quarterly Dolls Presents: Haute Doll specials.

"By working collaboratively with our industry partners, we know that we can help make the industry stronger," said IDEX Vice President Susan Fitzgerald. "This new merger will allow us to reach more people and, in turn, grow the publications and their content. We believe this will also help to develop and expand IDEX, which remains the leading industry show."

Teddy Bear Review Publisher Carie Ferg agreed, saying "Uniting two great, long-standing teddy bear magazines into one dynamic title, as well as partnering with IDEX, presents us with a terrific opportunity to use the combined strengths of Jones Publishing and Madavor Media to grow the industry."

The April 2012 issue of TBR, which mails Feb. 1, will be sent to both TB&F and TBR subscribers. This issue features a sneak peek at bear artists' new designs for this year. Beginning with the June 2012 issue, the magazine will be released under the Teddy Bear & Friends banner. The new combined magazine will continue to publish fan-favorite columns and features from both TB&F and TBR, including Evelyn and Mort Wood's Antiques Almanac, Ken Yenke's Teddies Reviewed, and Dot Bird's Bear Hospital.

TBR subscribers will have the remaining issues of their subscription applied to TB&F; readers who subscribe to both magazines will have their TB&F subscription extended by the number of issues remaining on their TBRsubscription. An FAQ is posted on www.teddybearreview.com to answer questions about the merger, and Jones Publishing has issued an invitation to readers to send feedback, suggestions, and additional questions to the magazine's staff. Contact information and links are posted under the "About Us" link at the top left of the home page.

Jones Publishing and Teddy Bear & Friends have committed to have a strong presence at IDEX, which will continue to be owned and managed by Madavor Media. Look for some exciting events sponsored by Jones at the 2013 IDEX show, including the presentation of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award!

I am Australian!

Happy Australia Day to all our sons and daughters spinning ‘round the world!!  ... it’s possibly getting a little late to wish it to the locals (except for the night owls like myself that is lol) but that’s what happens when you forget to hit the publish button *cringes with embarrassment*  

Roo is enjoying a brew on your behalf :oP

I don’t generally make a big song and dance about being an Aussie - the internet breaks down borders so well it really doesn’t feel necessary, but every now and then I do like to shout it out!  I am an Aussie, and I’m damn proud of it *nods with conviction*.

So I’ll take this opportunity to share one of my favourite patriotic songs with you - I don’t mind admitting that whenever I hear this song there’s a swell of pride in my chest .. and when I heard the special version at the Black Saturday bushfire memorial - shell shocked by the images I’d been seeing day after day, with the smoke from the fires still hanging heavy over my home - I’m not sure which was bigger, the pride or the lump in my throat... I certainly made my fair share of tissues soggy that day lol!  But I digress ... the people you see on this video - they are my people, and yeah, I’m proud to stand up and be counted amongst them!  

I am Australian :o)

and p.s. Happy Birthday to my darling baby brother ... well maybe not so baby anymore, but he will *always* be 18 months younger lol!  Hope you are tearing those hills apart dude!!