Bear Crafters Challenge - DEADLINE tomorrow!

We're nearly at the end of the Bear Crafters Challenge for 2013. Today is the last day to get your entries in (email a photo of your finished bear to sales@furaddiction.com).

These are the entries we have so far - such an incredible mix of bears all made in the same pattern and white fur!! I love it!

Mark and I will choose a winner tomorrow (when we get back from a wedding we're just about to head out the door for!) - and that lucky person will get $150 gift voucher to spend at www.furaddiction.com on anything they like: mohair, faux fur, eyes, joints, accessories, artist bears, kits and/or patterns!

Aurelia and Cora

We have literally JUST finished Aurelia a few hours ago. She's been cut/pinned and waiting for sewing for quite a while (I actually forgot about her!). But after re-discovering her pieces, I didn't need much more motivation to get her done!

I just love this fur - super long pile mohair in a rich auburn/chestnut tone. We've chosen a pair of our OOAK painted glass eyes for her in nearly the exact same shade of copper as well (they have photographed a bit ligher in colour then they actually are).

Aurelia is a decent 19" tall, and she's quite weighty. We currently have her available for adoption in our etsy store. (But I will say that I'm not going to be too upset if she doesn't find a new home any time soon! :P)

~*~

And this little lady is 'Cora'. Made in our 'Husky Pup' faux fur - which was just the perfect colour match for this sweet pink jacket. She too has a pair of our hand painted eyes, but is a much smaller 12" in size.

We gave her quite low set ears as well so that her hoodie can come over her head, but her ears stick out the side. She too is currently available in our etsy store.

Peaches and Verdi

We have another two collaboration bears to add to the growing collection! This tiny 8" cutie is 'Peaches' - made in a really unusual (possibly hand-dyed) straight pile mohair.

And this unusual girl is 'Verdi' - so named for her shimmering green eyes! She is definitely a little different - but one of Mark's favourites so far.

Inspiration from a little white lace dress

As the mum in this household, the task of grocery shopping falls to me (most weeks). Mark does it when I'm feeling lazy, or sick, or I'm busy with more exciting things like sewing bears :)

Last week it was just me, shopping on my lonesome. Doing the modern hunter-gatherer thing, when all of a sudden I stumbled across a display of girls 'party dresses'. This caught my eye because Chelsea's 4th birthday is coming up next month, and we're in the process of negotiating what she wants for her party. I thought she might appreciate a new party dress too.

Rummaging through the available sizes I found a size 4 in the gorgeous off-white lace, and also a size 0 (baby-size). I immediately had visions of a gorgeous, vintage looking bear in a short-pile mohair wearing the dress.

I got home (put away the groceries) and choose a piece of mohair to make the bear out of (I decided 'Red Brick' looked best). The dress was still too white though, so I pulled the very outer skins from some brown onions and threw a few tea bags into a pot of hot water, let it steep for a while, then soaked the dress.

It literally only took about 10min for the colour to stain the dress. A quick rinse and half-a-day on the clothes line, and the dress was ready for the bear...

... meet 'Florence' (named by some very creative facebook likers!). She comes complete with her 'aged' new lace dress, a stunning white flower headband, and a string of white beads. She's also a BIG girl, standing at 23" tall - and nearly 2kg in weight.

Florence is currently available for adoption.

The 'Strange Things' is now 'Winston the Cat'

This is Winston. He's a cat. I'm thinking 'Persian' probably most closely fits his breed description.

The design of the animal (specifically the way it is sitting) just seemed to say 'CAT' more than anything. The strange forked hands got me though - so we made them more rounded like real cat paws.

He's a BIG cat too measuring in at a decent 27" long from nose to tail. I do believe that he was supposed to be a cat all along - I just hope I done him justice!

He's currently available in our etsy store. 

The Strange Thing

Meet 'The Strange Thing'.

I found him in one of the bags rattling around in the 'bear-bits-box' last week.

My first thought was maybe he was a cat, or a dragon? But then I pulled him out, and laid him down as he looks like he should be assembled... and I'm stumped. I have no idea what he's supposed to be!

His head and ears look quite teddy-like, and have been sewn and turned already. He also has a very long, narrow tail sewn and turned from the same long pile faux fur.

His body has odd little pointed arms, all positioned sightly differently - making him look like he's mid-crawl.

I sewed all that needed to be sewn on his body - and this is how he looked before being turned right side out.

And this is after. I am even more stumped now!!! What on earth is this! With the forked hands/feet/claws? And the large body, long tail, rounded bear-like ears and snub nosed-face... I have no idea where to go from here!

Would love to hear what you guys think? If you've seen a design like this before, or have any suggestions as to what he should look like when finished...

I kind of need to decide what he's going to be before I give him a face! :P

Baby Piggy Plushies

In the midst of making all of our Collaboration Bears, we've also been working on a small army of baby guinea pig plushies - 15 to be exact! We went with lots of pinks and purples this time - lots of long sparkly furs and funky coats.

A number of them have already found new homes, but you can see who/what's left on their listing in our furaddiction store.