Grey skies be GONE

I know that there are many bear makers who embrace the cooler weather (possibly something to do with heat and mohair not being the best of combinations lol) but for me it is warm sunny days all the way :o)

This is what I saw when I looked up a few months ago:

I mean it is beautiful - I don’t deny that.... but the interminable grey... it just doesn’t make me feel cheerful :o(  Quite the reverse, it does my head in.  And the creeping chill of a Melbourne winter *sigh* it gets into my bones and makes me less than rosey in disposition *winks and giggles*

Oh but a change is coming!  Today when I look skyward, this is what I see:

Now isn’t that better.  Happy.  Sunny.  Infinate blue skies bursting with the promise of long, lazy summer days *happy sigh*... Oh Yes, that is more like it :o)

So what does a girl do to celebrate the long awaited appearance of Spring?  Why, grab a pile of brightly coloured fabrics to turn into bears of course!  

Doesn’t that blue fabric echo the sky perfectly!  The pink is bang on for the magnolia flowers, and such a sunny yellow... it is like a pile of (albeit furry) sunny days :o) :o) :o)  

So what is it that I will be working on when this post goes up?  Nothing less than my brightly coloured army of summer toned happiness.  Bliss!

2010 TOBY's Industry Choice winners

Last Saturday, the Crossroads Doll and Teddy Show in San Diego saw the announcement of the 2010 TOBY Industry Choice nominees. Here are the talented, and lucky, nominees:

Miniature Artist Bear

• JoJo – Michelle Lamb, One & Only Bears

• Cuddle – Byunghwa Ahn, ansbear

• Bonds of Love – Erika Knirsch, Crunchy Bears

• Sleepy Bear Cub "Tiramisu" – Kumiko & Masaru Nakano, Ma'Sal Creations

• Giddy Up – Katherine Hallam, Katie Rae Bears

Small Artist Bear, Dressed

• Little Coconut, Forgotten Angel Series – Tami Lahey, Dolls N Dreams

• Calin – Denise Purrington, Out of the Forest Bears

• Pfeifer The Patriot – Ron & Kristy Northman, Captain Ron’s Bears

• Lilly – Robert Formon, Bear Hearts

• Celestina – Jenny Johnson, Three O’Clock Bears

Small Artist Bear, Undressed

• Grizwald – Denise Purrington, Out of the Forest Bears

• Cassey – Linda Joan Chiasson, Bear in Mind Collectibles

• Snezhana -- Ina Smirnova

• Moses – Annei Leung, Merry Bears by Annei Leung

• Flurry –Cindy Cherry, CC Bears Australia

Large Artist Bear, Dressed

• Katarina – Michelle Lamb, One & Only Bears

• Peter – Lori Simon, Furbearsake

• Little Red Riding Hood – Harumi Kajihara

• Miss Emmaline – Karen Brady Hammontree, Brady Bears Studio

• Diago – Kim Russell, Russel Bears

Large Artist Bear, Undressed

• Mira – Britta Helberg

• Teddy – Linda Joan Chiasson, Bear in Mind Collectibles

• Knutely – Karin De Lorenzo

• Neopolitan – Helen Gleeson, Bare Cub Designs

• Radcliff – Lori Simon, Furbearsake

Artist Set or Vignette

• Thomas' Big Present – Karen Lyons, K.J. Lyons Design

• My Best Friend Stinky –Petra Schöpe, Heartbear

• Cuddles - Aiko Kawamoto, Aiko Bear

• Guardians of the Flock - Carol Thompson, Thymeless Treasures

• We Are Family – Britta Helberg

Small Artist “Friends”

• Belle – Jutta Michels, Mic Bären und Hasen

• Gina – Silvia Gilles, Gilles Baeren

• The Squire – Shelly Allison, The Rabbit Maker

• Diego – Krista Griffiths, Pawz Creations

• Gosling – Cindy Malchoff, My Apple Tree

Large Artist “Friends”

• Ferdinand – Michelle Lamb, One & Only Bears

• The White Warrior – Gordon & Peggy Hayes, Unicorn

• The Stray – Karen Lyons, K.J. Lyons Design

• Racker – Karin De Lorenzo

• Charlie – Krista Griffiths, Pawz Creations

Artist Creation, Nontraditional Materials

• Phinneus – Kelly Graham, Ted E. Graham Originals

• Bottles & Bugs – Glenda Rolle

• The Last Dragon – Gordon & Peggy Hayes, Unicorn

• Sugar – Sue Peterson

• James – Carol Thompson, Thymeless Treasures

Small Manufactured Bear

• Beefeater – Hermann-Spielwaren GmbH

• Tea House Keeper– Gloria Chan

• Alexandra The Butterfly Bear – Steiff North America

• Elf Bear – Ganz

• Holly N. Ivy – The Bearington Collection

Large Manufactured Bear

• Wiesenwirt "O'zapft is" Oktoberfest – Hermann-Spielwaren GmbH

• Sonneberg Museums Bear 2009 – Hermann-Spielwaren GmbH

• Prince, The Trademark Bear – Steiff North America

• Giant Nicholas Northpole – The Bearington Collection

• Lots of Love Ladybug – The Bearington Collection

Manufactured “Friends”

• The First Dog, White House Series – Hermann-Spielwaren GmbH

• Gloria The Springtime Bunny – Steiff North America

• Fifi – The Bearington Collection

• Piggywinkle Toeshoes – The Bearington Collection

Best of luck to all :o)

It's Show Time!

OH WOW.... how insanely fast does time fly by... I can't believe it is show day already :o)

So, wondering what to do with your Sunday? How about

heading to Woodend and saying hello to the teds? Behind my

table you will find my mum (whose name is really Joanna)

and Ric ... well mum definitely *hehe* I did notice Ric

slipping his mountain bike into the boot of the car, so you may have more luck finding him up in the hills :o) He will be the

one on the white Turner, wearing lots of trail dust and a big

grin :oD

What's that you said? Ahh, where are the bears?

Good question :o)

You would like a little peek huh? We-ellll OK, my arm doesn't

need much twisting *hehe* ....here is a selection (but not all) of my little critters you can find hanging out at the Woodend

Teddy Bear Show today :o)

and of course, you will need the details - hard to get where you need to go, when you don't actually know where that is lol ;o)

Hope you can make it over there!!

Woodend is just around the corner...

It’s astounding....Time is fleeting.... lolololol who knows the next line? Hmmmm, indeed *hehe*!

Yup, so it is nearly show time. Again :o) Sunday, October 25th brings my last show for this year. This time we will be in beautiful Woodend, a gorgeous town in the Macedon Ranges of my home state, Victoria. I am, of course madly working on a new batch of lovelies to debut on the 25th. Mum and Ric - my indomitable show team - will be, as always, behind the table for me, and would love you to stop on by!

You can read up about The Woodend Teddy Bear Show on the web the “official” site woodendteddybearshow.com as well as HERE at the Macedon Ranges site, and HERE on the Visit Victoria site. Visit Victoria also has a really handy 'how to get there' feature, where you put in your post code and it gives you a map and list of directions.... mine says to “bear left” onto the Monash Freeway lololol - what can I say, small things amuse me :oP

My critters are in Teddy Bear & Friends magazine...

A rather lovely parcel arrived for me a short while back.... and in amongst the goodies was the current issue of Teddy Bear and Friends magazine :o) This in itself is always cause for celebration - I love browsing my teddy mags - but this one is just a tiny bit more special (for me) than most!!

MmmHHmm :o) *nods* Yup, indeed it is!! Go grab your copies now and flip on over to page 40 :o) YAHHH!! Those are my little critters ...I was so excited to get my hands on this issue and see the pictures that were chosen and the words that were written. I’ve been around the bear world for quite a while now - and i’ve been in my fair share of magazines too - but I’m still like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to seeing my little guys featured between the pages of these magazines. Not to mention how flattering and awesome it feels to be included in the same publications as stories about, and pictures from, other bear artists I admire so much. Life can be So Cool sometimes! Enough babble from me, go check out my page :o) Thats page 40 by the way :oP

The bunny you see before you, by the way, is Godfrey, who spends his days hanging out with me and waiting for a new mum (or dad) to come along and adopt him... Maybe you like the look of him and would be interested in clicking HERE to go say “hi” to him over on the website?

2009 TOBY Pubic Choice winners announced...

The TOBY Public Choice Award winners for 2009 have been announced, and the list goes a litttle like this:

Miniature Artist Bear, Dressed

Samantha Potter, “Grace”

Miniature Artist Bear, Undressed

Donna Griffin, “Pansy and Rosebud, the Panda Sisters”

Small Artist Bear, Dressed

Silvia Gilles, “Marcula”

Small Artist Bear, Undressed

Yoko Nakayama, “Milk”

Large Artist Bear, Dressed

Melissa Zemeski, “Captain Zinfangar”

Large Artist Bear, Undressed

Karin De Lorenzo, “Bubbele”

Artist Vignette

Karin De Lorenzo, “Be Friends? Yes we can!!!”

Artist “Friends”

Karen Lyons, “Cat and the Fiddle”

Artist Creation, Nontraditional Materials

Berta Hesen-Minten, “Elf”

Small Manufactured Bear, Dressed

The Bearington Collection, Ltd., “Ms. Abracadabra”

Small Manufactured Bear, Undressed

Gund Inc., “Zhen Zhen”

Large Manufactured Bear, Dressed

Hermann-Spielwaren GmbH, “Old Bavarian Bear”

Large Manufactured Bear, Undressed

Steiff North America, Inc., “Alexander, the Trademark Bear”

Manufactured “Friends”

Steiff North America, Inc., “Snoopy and Woodstock, the Best Friends”

Best in Show

Karin De Lorenzo, “Be Friends? Yes we can!!!”

Congratulations to all who were nominated, and an extra big round of applause to those listed above - the bears who have been chosen by the public as their favourites :o) The lucky TOBY winners were presented with their awards at the Teddy Bear Artist Invitational in Binghamton, NY last Saturday.

TB&F is on Twitter ...AND Facebook

OK, so I know there isn’t a mass of bear makers out in the twittersphere right now - or if there are I’ve not found them yet lol...but I’m hoping the arrival of one of our favourite bear magazine will help to change that :o) YAH!!

Teddy Bear & Friends magazine have taken the plunge and opened up an account, and you can find them right HERE

I am thrilled that the magazine has chosen to open up the line of communication between themselves and their readers...it can only do us all the world of good to be able to twitter away about the things we love, and would like to see more of between the magazines pages, as well as the magazine reaching out to us for ideas and contributions that we can give to them :o) Anything like this that can revitalize our industry and bring more members into our community is a good thing in my book!

I also love that the list of people following Teddy Bear & Friends will be a wonderful place for anyone with a twitter account to start connecting with other teddy enthusiasts :o) At the time of writing they haven’t accumulated many followers - yet - though hopefully time will see that change and before long their account will be one big, happy hug of chattering bear artists and collectors. Now how cool would that be?!

***ADDED LATER***

Oh dear, I really do have a most dreadful memory lol! As Matilda Huggington Bear has so kindly pointed out (in the comments section) there is another social network that Teddy Bear & Friends magazine can be found on... Facebook :o)

Even better, not only can Teddy Bear and Friends fan page be found on Facebook HERE BUT the Teddy Bear Review magazine fan page can be found HERE Two of our favourite bear magazines in the one place...it just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it!