And the winner is...

I had intended to do a reminder post for the giveaway bear as the last few days came to a close, but we've all been quite unwell with a nasty flu/chest infection this week. Well, all of us except for Chelsea who has somehow managed to dodge the germ with Byron, Mark and I coughing and spluttering around the place! 

It was actually Mark's birthday yesterday, so we dragged our diseased little family out of the house, and took our germ for a road trip! It was nice to get out and sit in the sun for a few hours, and I think the kids enjoyed a bit of fresh air too. The best birthday present we could give Mark - a semi-normal day!

So with our last bits of energy last night Mark and I tallied up the enties for all of those who had helped us share Mackenzie's picture and who had purchased from our Fur Addiction store (and our ebay store and etsy store). We got Chelsea to pull a name out of a bowl, and the winner was...

...Glenda Pagacs!

Glenda has been contacted and Mackenzie is all packed up and ready to make her way to her new home! A HUGE thanks to everyone who joined in with the giveaway! We had over 80 comments and shares on our facebook page and nearly 40 comments here on the blog too. 

We will be organizing a new giveaway for August once we're feeling a bit better to celebrate hitting 400 likers on facebook too! I'll post details of that once we have them set :) 

Three new bears to show off

We've been a bit busy again in the Emma's Bears studio. I found a stunning piece of fushia tipped cream mohair in my stash that I just HAD to work with immediately! So we've ended up with two very different girly bears, and one very old-man looking bear to show for this weeks efforts!

This lovely girl is 'Avignon'. She's approx 12" long from her high-set ears to her bendy little toes. 

I wanted a name that was feminine, but still strong for this pretty girl - and Avignon seemed perfect. Especially when said with a French accent! lol 

~*~

Then this little lady was finished over the weekend. (Mark was away for a few nights on a boys weekend, so I'm actually a little bit proud of myself for getting her finished while watching the kids on my own too. Lets just say that as cute as this bear looks, my house now looks the complete opposite though! lol)

We called her Phoebe, and I borrowed Chelsea's new baby doll bed (one of her 3rd birthday presents) to take some photos with. Chelsea wasn't too impressed mind you... 

~*~

And this crazy big guy is 'Archibald'. He's made in one of our bear supply fur fabrics, our 'Vanilla Yeti' - so I could show an example of how it makes up into a bear. 

I really love how this fur sits actually. The pile isn't crazy-dense, so it gives the finished bear a lovely scruffy/shaggy look that works well for this big guy. 

I thought I'd give him some white fur cheek inserts too, and had planned to trim them back to be nice rounded cheeks... but I got this far with the trimming and couldn't bring myself to cut anymore! He wouldn't be an 'Archibald' without those long whiskers! I think it definitely makes him quite unique! 

Kingsley, one hell of a custom bear!

I purchased this incredible piece of super long pile mohair from Seraphim Bears a few months ago. I just couldn't resist the rich colour and 3" pile! I've been holding onto it since then, undecided as to what we should make with it. 

Then we got a custom bear request... and all the pieces fell into place. I knew exactly how I wanted this special bear to look, and made up in this mohair I could see that he was going to be awesome.

Mark was away this weekend, so it was just me and the kids (and my mum for the day on Saturday - helping to keep me sane!). So the process of crafting this big bear and getting him to completion was a long and slow one. I updated the progress with quick phone pics on my facebook page along the way. This was his head after the first day. 

Then we got the face finished and head attached to the body. 

A friend of mine came around for a girly night in on the Friday night, so we ate Tim Tams and strawberries and hot chocolate and I finished stuffing his body. 

Then, another 24hrs later I finished his final details -seams were closed, toes and fingers were pulled and all the shading was done. It was getting quite late by this stage so the photo is a little dark, but I was so happy with him!

Then it was time for his final photo shoot. The sun was playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds so we didn't get a consistent amount of light for his photos (which is why he looks like he's a different shade of gold in each image!), but at least you can see his detailing better. 

The extreme length of his mohair lent itself to many different possible hair styles too... I had a bit of fun giving him different personalities... 

He was named 'Kingsley' by his new mum, and is heading off to his new home in the UK today. I can't wait for him to arrive and be lifted out of his box.

This is one special big boy! 

Show Bears.

Seems crazy to me that it's nearly been a week since the Friends of Teddy online show started! Goodness time has flown by. I had all these plans to get photos uploaded here of the bears/critters we made for the show while it was still running... but that didn't happen! 

But, better late then never! And we have some still available too, so if you are interested there's still a chance to adopt one. 

Eliana was our lady elephant in one of our mohair fabrics 'Porcelain Frost'. This has a creamy pile with a subtle blue tip. A really pretty and unusual effect, and perfect for aged style teddies/creatures.

Eliana is now sold.

This is Eliot. The boy partner to our lady elephant. He is made from our custom colour mohair 'Emma's Grizzly' (which we've currently sold out of!). This piece is a rich chestnut with a blue tip. Which worked wonderfully with the blue cotton print inner ears and paws. 

Eliot is currently available. 

This big crazy guy is 'Tarzan', our first gorilla attempt - made from our 'Ace of Spades' faux fur. We took elements from our orangutan design to achieve this big boy. Gorillas have a slightly different face - more prominent nose, heavier eye brows etc. He's still definitely 'cartoon style', but recognizably 'gorilla' at the same time. 

Tarzan is currently available. 

And this is the lovely 'Tertius' our Orangutan. We've made a few like this now, but I think Tertius has to be my favourite. He got lots of facial shading, pulled fingers and toes and looks right at home with a banana cradled in his lap. 

Tertius is currently available.

Then we had a little trio of guinea pigs! I have to admit that I do love making guinea pig plushies. It stands to reason when I consider just how much of my life is spent with these little guys (check out our guinea pig blog if you're not quite sure what I'm on about!?). We had two over-sized long haired breeds with a Peruvian and a Sheltie. And we had a mohair version of our mum and bub 'babushka' style family of pigs. 

Petra, Shakira and Roxanne are currently available. 

Then lastly, because I realised at the last minute that we probably needed a bear for the bear show - we made the gorgeous 'Zelda'. She is made in the last piece of this stunning zebra-print Tissavel faux fur that we had in stock. 

I seriously wish you guys could reach into the screen and feel this girl - it is seriously unbelievably soft! Like thick, puffy silk on your hands. AND - I'm loving the feet! I wanted just a touch of colour on her toes to help set off her lovely painted eyes. So we added some blue Inktense dye with a touch of acrylic 'diamond' (glitter sparkle). She also has a touch of sparkle on her nose too! 

Zelda is currently available. 

Baby Dragons

Now that the 'Friends of Teddy' online bear show is in full swing, I can finally show you some of the brand new designs I've been working on. 

These two creations are Baby Dragons, with their rounded, faces, hatch-ling wings and stumpy horns. This guy is 'Uther' and he is a Baby Water Dragon. 

This image shows both babies together. You can see that Uther has a more boy-dragon look, while Adalind looks a little more girly - just with the lower placement of her eyes and wider set ears. 

Both dragons are made from some of our hand painted mohair with the metallic flecks. It can be hard to see the effect this gives in the photos - but it's beautiful in person. They both have hand painted ooak eyes, with hand sculptured lids, hand sculptured horns/claws, hand made wings (not made by me though), each spike down the spine is hand sewn/stuffed and inserted and they're both fully T-pin jointed. 

Both Uther and Adalind are currently available from the Teddies World Wide Show for the next 24hrs. They are a little more expensive than my regular bear line, but layaways are definitely available. 

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!! (woohoo!)

I am just a little bit excited to announce that we have a new giveaway bear!!! 

I honestly can't remember how long it's been since we did our last one... it was a while ago. And after my last blog entry about Chelsea's birthday coming up on the 21st (and my birthday on the 18th, and Marks birthday on the 30th), I decided that July was the best month to give something back to our collectors, followers and likers. 

The bear we've chosen is not a tiny lady by any measure. She stands in at 21" tall and is made from our own hand dyed mohair in a vibrant lolly-pink and rich purple. She is fully jointed, well stuffed and weighted and looks out through our OOAK hand painted glass eyes. Her name is 'Mackenzie' and she is a one of a kind artist bear.

If you are the winning entry, she will be posted via registered airmail to you anywhere in the world for free.

THE MANY WAYS TO ENTER:

1. Leave a comment here (1 entry)

2. Share this blog post/pic (5 entries) 

3. Share the pic on facebook (5 entries)

4. Purchase any item/s from any of our online bear supply stores between now and the 30th July: 

furaddiction.com, etsy, craftumi, or ebay (10 entries)

You're welcome do to any one, or all of these options. Just let me know via comment/email (eleb2000@hotmail.com) when you've shared the pic, or when you go through the checkout functions that you'd like to be included in the draw. We would hate to miss your entries. 

I'm so excited! I can't wait to see who ends up with this sweet bear! 

Truffle - Open Edition Bear

We have someone a little different to offer this evening. Meet 'Truffle'. He's a long 21" tall and has been made in two of our faux fur fabrics - 'Chocolate Truffle' and 'Fluffy Cloud'. We've decided to offer him as an open edition bear, meaning that we won't set an upper limit on how many of these lanky big boys we make.

Obviously each one will have it's own look - I can NEVER make two exactly alike, but they'll have the same fur/pattern. You will get to choose the eyes/nose/bow though. And even if we used every last piece of our fur in the lines making these guys, there still wouldn't be more than 100 worldwide.

Truffle (no. 1) is currently available for adoption. Or if you'd like to order your own Truffle, feel free to email me at eleb2000@hotmail.com. His adoption fee is only $150, with registered worldwide airmail postage included.

I couldn't resist getting a quick shot of Chelsea with him too. Helps to show off how big this bear really is

I also can't believe that Miss Chelsea is nearly 3! She reminds us everyday that it's nearly her birthday soon (21st July). We've got a dolls house, some mini figurines and furniture and a jointed cloth baby doll put aside for her special day. I asked her what SHE wanted for her birthday, and the reply was 'Ummmm, a Super Hero!'.... so not so sure what to make of that! lol. Maybe I'll make a super hero costume for her and her new baby doll!? lol

My sweet baby girl three years ago...