TACDA Nominee

This is Aurora, she's an Arctic Angel and she's been nominated in The Australasian Creative Design Awards. I used a gorgeous piece of Japanese alpaca fur fabric for this bear, it's incredibly soft. Her wings are fashioned from Japanese silk velvet. A very "tame" interpretation of the fantasy theme, but I think a beautiful bear none the less :) If you visit the TBACA website you can see a slide show of all the entries.
On Monday 31st, the ball begins and you will be able to view and vote for your favourite critter in the TACDA's. I'm keen to see how the other ball participants have interpreted the fantasy theme of this show, I had a real struggle but in the end I was pretty pleased with my efforts. I hope you will all find the time to drop into the ball, it will be open for a whole week.

A Bingle Bear Up For Grabs

Take a look at this gorgeous little bear. This is Sammy and he's Cheryl Hutchinson's Anniversary Giveaway. If you click on his button in the sidebar you'll be taken over to Cheryl's blog where you can enter the draw, but don't bother he's MINE!!!!!( (only kidding) He's such a sweet little fellow don't you think?

AAAAARH! What Have They Done?

It was "crazy hair" day at my grandson's day care, and this is what they did to him! He apparently wasn't too impressed. It reminded me of when his daddy and aunty were little, they were both very bald (my father nicknamed them a "bucket of whitebait" because they were all big blue eyes looking out of the twin stroller) Anyway people used to stop me to admire the babies, and on being told they were boy and girl, assumed Sam was the girl because he had a little more hair than Laurel. So, as soon as I could drag Laurel's hair up into a top knot, I did so, denoting her as the girl.......only trouble was, when Sam saw it he wanted one too! :D He tried a dress once too, but I think he decided that it was too inhibiting for boisterous play (or is that "boysterous"?)

Late yesterday I walked with Lily down to the lake, it had been a gorgeous Autumn day and (very rarely for Tasmania) there wasn't a breath of wind, so I knew it would be lovely to watch the sunset over the water. As we strolled along, the pastels of the sunset were reflected perfectly in the still waters of the lake. We saw a group of swans, they were calling out to each other and their voices carried easily over the glassy surface. There were trout leaping, breaking the surface with mighty splashes as they fell back into the water. I love these gentle autumn days, there's a little bit a sadness and introspection about them as the days draw in, but there comes with them the welcome relief from summer's arid heat. The only thing that spoiled the idyll, was the clamour of logging operations in the distance, the noise carried rather loudly through the still air over the lake.

Fab Flynn Fun

I have returned from Bear Essence in Victoria, after two very full Flynn workshops. It was a very tiring, but also very fulfilling four days of intense bear teaching. The girls all went home well pleased with their achievements, while in the evenings, despite my exhaustion, I was able to make progress on my pieces for the Fantasy Ball.

Off To Melbourne

I'm off to Melbourne later today, for four days of workshopping. We're making Flynn, a lovely brown, alpaca bear with a gorgeous face and wrist joints.

As usual I will have my work cut out for me, with lots of new techniques covered over the two days of each workshop. I will hopefully have some photos of the completed bears when I get back next week. I had better go get myself packed, I need to take plenty of sewing to do in the evenings with the TBACA Fantasy Ball photo deadline looming large. I have had lots of trouble with the fantasy themeof this show, my feet are just too firmly planted on the ground! Still, it will do me good to get out of my comfort zone and try something a little different, which is Sandi's intention.

A Desertmountain Bear Giveaway

Joanne Livingston is giving away a gorgeous little repro girlie on her blog. If you want to take part, click on the button in the sidebar and you will be taken over to Desertmountain Bear's blog, where you'll find the instructions for the draw.

Off To A New Home

Just letting you know that Luna has found a new home. He will be flying off to keep company with quite a few other Benson Bears in a very special hug :-) I thought I would show you just how cute his feet are before he goes. This leather is a beautiful deep, reddish brown, and I have added oil paint to enhance the sculpting.

Some New Bears At Last!

Wow lookie here! I've got two new bears to show you :) I haven't been idle at all. I have just sent my photo to Sandi for the Australasian Creative Design Awards, it was really hard to get a good photo of that creation. Some things just never seem to come out so well in a photo, unlike the house which always looks alot tidier and cleaner than in real life ;-) I guess the camera doesn't really focus on the dog hair balls hiding in the corners or the drifts of bear fur floating around............. Ah the bears! Here we have Luna (the brown bear with contrasing ears) and Rosa. Each has a double neck joint and Rosa also has joints at her wrists. They are both made from beautiful tipped Schulte alpaca. Luna's fur is brown with black tip while Rosa's is a gorgeous chocolate brown with an almost dusky rose tip (hence her name). Of course they both have some really cute sculpted leather feet, made from some wonderfully soft leather I brought back from England with me last year. I'll try to get them up on my website with some more information a little later, right now the dog is hassling for a walk and I need the exercise.

Ginger's having a Giveaway!

My dear Blogging friend Ginger Brame is having a Spring giveaway. The sweet little bear in the photo is Blossom, and she's up for grabs over at Ginger's Blog. Just click on her photo and you'll be whisked away over to the right place :)

You've Gotta Try This!

I have been using this thimble for some weeks now and I'm totally converted! It looks very insubstantial, but therein lies it's practicality. It is a small, concave and dimpled stainless steel disc which attaches to your finger with strong double sided tape. When I'm sewing it stays there for hours, in fact the longer it is attached to my finger the stronger it's hold, and I forget it's there. I have quite a collection of various thimbles that I have accumulated over the years, some are homemade leather protectors, some I have bought. My mother gave me a lovely antique silver thimble many years ago, which I used constantly until I wore through the tip. I took it to a jeweler for repairs and he thought he was doing me a favour when he smoothed out all the dents on the tip! Obviously he had never sewn in his life and didn't realise why they were there, the thimble was rendered useless and now resides in a display cabinet with a few other "treasures". And no I'm not left handed I just popped the thimble on my other hand so I could hold the camera for the photo without contorting myself and doing myself a mischief :)