My baby girl is nearly 4!

It's Chelsea's 4th birthday tomorrow (sunday the 21st). I still find it hard to believe that this gorgeous, VERY cheeky little girl is the same little baby that I used to feel rolling around in my belly. The same baby that refused to sleep on her own for the first 6 weeks of her life (until mummy and daddy got so tired that a new technique was necessary!). The daughter I dreamed about when I was still a little girl myself... But it is true. And she is indeed very much a little lady now.

Her daddy and I have been busy this week planning and preparing for her party. There was a lot of pink. And a lot of sugar!

I think she had a blast. She and her little brother certainly both went to bed very well tonight - the sugar had worn off and we were all feeling quite exhausted I think! And on that note I'll leave you to head to bed myself.

(No bear photos to show today! I don't think I even got a chance to look in at the sewing room today! lol)

Collaboration Bears (and a massive box of bits!)

You might remember the gorgeous pink bear from a few weeks ago? The one I finished for a daughter who's mum passed away before she was able to complete the bear for her... well, we got chatting and made the decision to take on ALL of the mum's unfinished bears. One Hundred and Sixty, approximately.

We had a few conversations about how this was going to look - ie. 'Emma's Bears' would be purchasing the unfinished bears to hopefully complete them all - but how do we make sure that the original bear maker got her acknowledgement? After all, this humongous box represents a bloody huge amount of time, and effort and love. A lot of the bears are mostly sewn, some are simply cut out, some just drawn onto fabric, some cut and pinned, some even have stuffed heads, just waiting faces...

We decided that the best way was to name the original bear maker (with approval from her family), and to start a whole new line called 'Collaboration Bears'.


(this shows my attempt at storing the massive box in my sewing room... lol. Organised chaos!)

So this is the write up we will put with each of the completed bear's listings:

- a 'Collaboration Bear' ( Initiated by 'The bear lady at Forbes' - Joan Neowhouse, and completed in remembrance by Emma's Bears following her passing). 

This is a whole new range of bears by Emma's Bears. They are an eclectic assortment of bears in all shapes and sizes, and all types of fur, in various states of completion, and cut from patterns and designs that are unknown/unfamiliar to us. We've taken on these initiated teds after their original crafter passed away, and her family were unsure what should happen to all her unfinished work. 

A lot of the packets of bear bits have hand-written notes with details about the pattern/design (ie. puppy/ monkey/horse etc), or that one bear might still need paw pads, or the bear's name.

This gorgeous bear was named 'Toby'.

His fur looked very much like mohair, but as I was finishing his sewing I noticed just how soft and shiny it was - and I second guessed myself. Maybe it was a really nice plush fur? So we did a little trick - a 'burn test'. Man-made fibres like those found in faux fur fabrics will melt when put to a flame. Natural fibres like mohair actually burn, disappearing into nothing but dust.

This is exactly what happened when we burnt a few scraps of fur. So I can say with confidence that this bear is made with a lovely rich, soft, distressed dark chocolate mohair.

~*~

This was actually the 4th bear I made (photos haven't downloaded in order!). She was pre-named 'Pansy', which also seemed perfect so we kept it.

I haven't worked with a wispy mohair like this in many many years, so it was a little bit of a challenge, but I am pretty happy with her end result.

We gave her a pair of our hand painted glass eyes with our sculptured lids, and a HUGE big embroidered nose. I actually made her on Saturday morning while the kids climbed all over me as we watched 'Lassie' on the TV. (I was personally most chuffed about getting her nose so straight embroidering free-hand while dealing with the boisterous kids! lol)

I just loved the choice of paw pad fabric too - and decided to highlight it by stringing together a mini-bell necklace in a cascade of similar colours. (Pansy is my favourite Collaboration Bear so far!)

~*~

I actually just finished this little guy a few hours ago! He too was pre-named 'Pippin', which was perfect. His is made in a lovely traditional gold mohair - and a very tiny 6" design.

Once he had petite black glass eyes and we'd embroidered his little nose, the rest of him just fell into place. He needed no extra accessorizing other than his sweet blue bow. (oh - and some tiny claws! Pippin has a bit of 'small-bear syndrome, so this helps him feel a bit more mighty!)

~*~

'Sophie' was the only bear so far not to have a name in her bag - so we selected one that felt right. She is made in a very pretty soft lilac faux fur with slightly darker tips. Her pattern in unlike anything I've ever worked with before... I think the words 'beachball' might have escaped my mouth at some point as her body is literally rounded like a ball! Her arms and legs are short and chunky and her head is massive!

All in all it gives a unique look to this stocky little lady - and combined with a pair of our hand-painted blue/violet glass eyes and a big heart-print hair bow, she really is a lovely bear.

~ * ~

And last for our post here, but certainly not least, is 'Suki Panda', also pre-named. When I spotted the black/white mohair in her bag I just expected a traditional panda bear - but Miss Suki is certainly not traditional.

We've given her large lemon/lime hand painted glass eyes and tied this splash of colour in with a bright yellow satin hair bow and a lemon/lime button-flower pendant.

Bubble, Clementine and Yue - plus some Piggy Panties!

This little sweetheart is our very latest bear 'Bubble' - finished about 3hrs ago this afternoon! She is something a little different, and a little anime/cartoon. Despite not really liking how she looked when I first finished her face, I'm actually quite proud of her now. All of her accessories and shading have pulled the look together.

She was made with a small piece of this stunning tipped mohair I had saved in my personal stash from some years ago. So she is most definitely a one off. We used our 'Booth' pattern, but reduced it by 50% (ie. print two pages of the pattern document onto one A4 page). You can check out all of her details in her etsy listing currently. 

And this fluffy boy was made yesterday. This is Clementine, so named due to his citrus coloured fur. I have used this fur some time ago for a trio of bears, but decided to use up the last of it for this big guy. He's made using our 'Booth' pattern, but we've placed the eyes a lot closer to the front of the face then is called for in the original design. The longer-pile fur helps give a more modern teddy look as well.

And lastly little 'Yue' - also made in the 'Booth' pattern reduced by 50%. He is made in our matted mohair range with a ribbon ruffle made from our new cross-grain spotted ribbons. 

Tiny Yue is currently available in our etsy store.

~ * ~

Amidst all of the bear making and general life, we adopted a new guinea pig that is just Chelsea's pet. She has been named 'Kobe' and is the most chilled out, relaxed little pig I've ever met. Chelsea was doing the whole 'watching TV while feeding Kobe grass on the couch' thing she likes to do most days, when we got the idea to see if one of her Cabbage Patch doll nappies would fit on Kobe.

This was the result!

So after posting this picture on our guinea pig facebook page, we got lots of questions about the possibility of making some of these for other people's pets. I set about drawing up a pattern that would fit a piggy a little better. The end result is shown below:

 We also made up some 'Ruffle' Piggy Panties for the more feminine pigs out there. These are especially cute! They are a little bizarre, but if you're interested you can also find cavy related goodies on our website too. 

my amazing MamAmor birthing and breastfeeding doll

I've recently stumbled across an amazing handmade creation called a 'MamAmor' doll - there is a facebook page and a blog and a store if you wanted to check them out too. Basically, these incredible creations are cloth dolls with very clever detail that allow them to birth and breastfeed their babies in a tastefully blend of stylized realism. Which is just a fluffy way of saying 'I love this doll'!

This is my doll 'Pamela'. I should really correct that and say Chelsea's doll.... but I think i bought her just as much for me as for Chels. Chelsea's only 3yrs old, so the birth questions haven't really begun yet. She knows she grew in my belly and then she 'got out' - but that's about as much detail as we've gone into so far. She was too young when Byron was born to understand (she though everyone had babies in their bellies)... so i figured this could help me answer questions when the time comes.

Plus, I just had to have one. Handcrafter to handcrafter!

(doesn't she have amazing hair!) 

So this is what these gorgeous dolls look like undressed. I love that she looks like a woman - real mumma curves. The genius of this design for me are the press stud nipples - meaning the baby can actually 'latch on' (photo to come).

The photo above shows the mumma with the baby in her belly. There is an extra piece of fabric, kind of like a pocket that the baby can be slotted inside of like a real belly. The baby can also emerge as if being born as well.

I also love the detail of the placenta and umbilical cord - also attached with a snap clip so that it can be removed after birth (the base of the clip then acts as a belly button! So cute!). I think this really appealed to me after my attempt to make a pregnant mumma and baby bear back in 2010 who also had a removable umbilical cord).

Then mumma and baby can get down to the nursing. 

And cuddling. 

The doll was going to be a christmas present for Chels, but I couldn't help myself from showing it to her when it arrived. She had a mixed reaction - all wide eyed with wonder at first - then got distracted by a toy her brother was playing with (that was hers). So I think I might put her away for now with all the chaos of christmas and the many commercial, plastic toys the kids will get over the next week or so... I think Pamela will be overlooked. So she can be my doll for now. Until I hear those curious words 'Mum, when i was a baby, how did i get out of your tummy?'...

Marshmallow (and Chelsea!)

This is my latest creation - 'Marshmallow'. Quite appropriately named by Mark! [Please Note: Marshmallow is now SOLD]

He is made from one of the last pieces of this stunning choc-tipped faux fur that I had left. I do have some of this same fur in a pink tip, and a violet tip in my etsy store though, if you're looking for something similar.




Marshmallow has a needle sculptured face... which I did whilst chatting away to my mum last week during one of her visits. I even surprised myself at how it turned out... especially considering I was talking and cutting at the same time. Maybe I really can multi-task!?

When I was getting his photo's, Miss Chelsea (now 2 1/2yrs old!) decided she wanted to pose with him. Once upon a time she made the big bears look big... now they look quite petite sitting next to her!



Marshmallow looks out through a pair of my hand painted eyes too. I just loved the depth of colour against the lighter fur. I have just recently added a new batch of 20+ pairs with some new colours (ice blue, purples, silvers, black etc) in my esty store as well. These are more of the bigger size (10-14mm), so have some very nice definition and detail.