Pumpkin & Pickle Bears©

Well, I DID get offered a place to trade at Hugglets this Sunday, but that was only a week ago and there was NO way I'd be able to get enough bears made in time so unfortunately I had to decline.

I will be visiting though! I'm bringing my 7 year old son, James this time too....his first time at Hugglets and he is sooooooo excited!! He is JUST as excited about the train ride into London too! (What is it with boys and trains, eh?!). I'll be trying to get there a bit before the doors open as there's a certain little creation I have my eye on rolleyes

I HAVE had an invite to trade at Hugglets in September though which I think I will gladly take up!  So maybe I'll see some of you in September??

Anyway, I'd better be off.......laundry to wash, a dog to walk and children to occupy!

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

Both Jasper and Smokey are now available on ebay.co.uk.

'Jasper'

Auction ends on Wednesday 11th Feb @ 7:48pm GMT. Starting bid of £80 and NO RESERVE (originally £135 so saving you £55!!)

Jasper's Auction Link

'Smokey'

Auction ends on Friday 13th Feb @ 7:45pm GMT. Starting bid of £80 with NO RESERVE and also a Buy It Now.

Smokey's Auction Link

....2 of my bears have made it through to he finals of the People's Choice Awards. Unfortunately my little bunny 'Smokey' didn't so he should be up for sale soon.

This is a VERY cool and VERY different competition as you, the public, get to decide who YOU think should win in each category.

I'd love it if you could vote for your favourite in each category (even if it's not one of mine! ...although I'd LOVE you to vote for mine of course!  )

In order to register your vote, please click the link below to be taken to the Sydney Teddy Bear Fair website and then click on the button that says 'Vote Here'. Voting is open now until 15th March.

Please note: This competition requires your email address - this is only to stop multiple voting from the same person (although if you have more than 1 email address you can vote from each). It is strictly against the People's Choice Awards policy to forward your email address onto anyone and as long as you click 'no' when it asks if you'd like to receive more information, you won't get any emails from them either!

SYDNEY TEDDY BEAR FAIR (PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS)

If you WOULD like to vote for me, my bears are in categories 1 (under 6") and 4 (dressed/themed). Artist name: Gemma McKenzie.

Below are pictures of my 2 finalists:

Otto. Category 1

Strawberry Bear. Category 4

Many Thanks and Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

Just to let you all know that Jasper is now available on ebay.co.uk. Just go to the 'available bears' page and click on the link to be taken to his auction.

Hi everyone.

I'm busy, busy, busy at the moment. I've decided to enter People's Choice Awards in Australia....sooo, I'm desperately trying to finish a smokey grey colour rabbit to have in the 'other animals' section.

I'm also trying to finish a little 6" bear that I will put up for sale either here on my website or on ebay when it's finished.

I've also got to complete a little elephant for a swap I am doing with Teddies By Laura Lynn. She's going to make me a little old fashoned ted!

Well, for any of you Aussies reading this blog, you'd know that this Monday (26th Jan) is AUSTRALIA DAY! And as my hubby is a Melbourne lad born and bred, I've decided to throw a little surprise party for him (good job he doesn't come looking on my website, isn't it??!). To honour his 'special' day, I'm having a few people coming over and I'll be cooking some 'Aussie Tucker'. Haven't quite decided exactly WHAT yet though! Thought I could make some 'Snags' (sausages), Chicken Schnitzel's, some Meat Pies or Dim Sims (if I'm brave enough to give the dim sims a go!) and a pavlova. Not sure how I'll go when it comes to Monday morning and I have to cook the stuff! I'm sure it'll be fine though. Stuart (my hubby) won't know anything about it until he gets home from work on Monday! Hope he likes it.....and hope this means I'll get an extra NICE Birthday present next month! LOL, only joking!

That's all for now.

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

Well, I've really gone and neglected my blog again, haven't I? 

I've been busy with everyday life over the past couple of months. I lost my mojo for a while and didn't make any bears for over 2 months. I'm glad to say that it's gradually coming back now though!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year...I did! It was quiet (as quiet as it can be with 2 young boys!) but very enjoyable. Words cannot explain how much I love my 2 little boys (and husband!) but I will be glad to get back to normality next week with James at school, William at pre-school in the mornings and Stuart back at work......I am DESPERATE to pick up a needle, thread and mohair but I can't work with all the noise over the past few weeks!!!! I just need a bit of 'Gemma the Teddy Bear Artist' time now!

I had 2 custom orders to complete for a lovely lady....you can see them below or in the gallery (Blush and Midge). Blush is 3.75" and Midge is wee little thing at under 2.5".

I also had a custom order to make for the lady who owns Lottie (the pink open mouth bear on the home page). She wanted a brother for Lottie so little Luca was born (see below). She has a very lovely husband who treated her to Luca as her Christmas present....and he managed to stop her having a look before Christmas morning too!

I haven't been offered a place at Hugglets for this February so unless a place becomes available, unfortunately you won't see me there trading.

I have a small rabbit to make (approx 6-7") in a beautiful smokey grey colour that I will either be putting on my website or ebay when finished. I'm also doing a 'swap' with a fellow Artist and she has asked for one of my elephants....I do love making the elephants!

I'm considering entering a few of the International awards this year....I fancy a challenge! One of my bears was a finalist in the British Bear Artist Awards in November but unfortunately he didn't win. My mum fell in love with him as soon as he was finished (and she's not even a 'bear' person!) so he now resides at my parents house. I made him into a strawberry bear holding a pink handmade butterfly.

I think that's about it for now. I'll be busy this week getting ready for my son's Birthday next weekend....I can't believe he will be 7 years old in a week....it only seems like yesterday he was born! My dad found a short video of my 'nearly 7 year old' last week of when he was just 2. He was singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and saying 'cheese' to the camera over and over again......I cried when I saw it!

Okay, here are the photos of the bears....

Blush and Midge....2 custom orders.

'Luca'...a brother for Lottie. My BBAA finalist who lives with my mum.

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

Well, I FINALLY got Bramble on ebay.com after first trying to list him on Wednesday. Unfortunately Auctiva (who I use to compile my listings) had a major problem with their site which was only resolved this morning.

So, here are a few pics of Bramble and a link to his auction. He will be on ebay.com for 5 days:

BRAMBLE'S AUCTION

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

Hi everyone,

I've been very busy since Hugglets with our puppy and also making my entry for the 'dressed' bear section of the British Bear Artist Awards. I am entering the following 2 bears:

This is Delilah (some of you probably remember her from my Hugglets preview). She is 15" tall with my hand painted glittery eyes and hand made clay eyelids......yes, she has eyelashes too!

And this is a bear who is yet un-named (I was thinking of 'Strawberry Shortcake'). I am REALLY pleased with the way he/she (this bear can't decide what gender it wants to be!) has turned out. I had a vision of making a bear with a strawberry body, holding a butterfly. This bear certainly exceeded my expectations! My mum has fallen in love him/her so I have promosed her that she can have this one. His/her body is made from a short pile bright red mohair which I hand embroidered with stitches to look like seeds (I think I counted 90 seeds that i embroidered!). His/her head, arms and legs are made from alpaca which is just sooooo beautifully soft....I love, love, love the stuff!! He/she has my handpainted glittery eyes too.

Thought you's like to see another picture of Nara that I took last Friday (nearly a week ago) aged a day short of 10 weeks. We are just totally in love with her! We're taking her on her first walk in the woods when my hubby gets home from work (she had her 2nd jab on Tuesday so is now free to go out!).....isn't she just scrummy??!

That's all for now, I'm off to do the boys dinner....then to finish off a miniature bear that a customer ordered!

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

P.S. I'm hoping to get some more pictures of Bramble the bunny this weekend so he should be on ebay early next week.

Hello everyone,

I'm sure some of you are wondering how Hugglets went? Well, it was quieter than usual but still had a wonderful atmosphere. I had lots of interest in bears but only 2 sales - I think everyone is really feeling the pinch of the Credit Crunch as most Artists had lower sales than usual (some Artists who usually sell out still had more than half of their stock left at the end of the day). There were still the regular serious collectors there but instead of carrying 6 or 7 bags with bears inside, as they usually do, they only had 1 or 2......I just think times are hard at the moment as far as 'luxuries' are concerned. At least the 2 bears i did sell gave me enough money to pay for our puppy which we got the day after Hugglets - the bears also went to brand new customers which is just fantastic! I am hoping to get a cancellation place at the February Hugglets, and possibly a place at the one next September, so watch this space!

Well, next we go onto our new puppy.....

Like I said before, we went to pick her up the day after Hugglets so she has been with us now for 8 days. We EVENTUALLY decided on a name....we wanted an Aboriginal or an Australian slang name and it was SO difficult finding a suitable one - if we had a male puppy we'd have had no problems at all! Soooo, we have called her 'Nara' which is Aboriginal for 'companion'.....pretty, dontcha think?? Anyway, I'm sure you'd like to see a few piccies of her (these pics were taken the day we brought her home aged 8 weeks...she is now 9 weeks).....

And finally, just to let you all know that i still have my first Pumpkin & Pickle bunny available and he will be on ebay.com within the next week.....

Bye bye for now!

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X

I am sooooo excited about our new arrival - we went to view the puppies last Saturday and there were 2 we had to decide between...well, I just couldn't decide as I loved them both so that job was left to Stuart! The puppies are called 'Golden Boxers' - Golden Retriever X Boxer. My husband Stuart has wanted a Boxer for ages but I though this mix would make a wonderful family pet - he's pleased that they look more like Boxers than Golden Retrievers!! They are nearly 6 weeks old now so we still have to wait another 2 and a bit weeks until we can bring her home....all I can say is that I'm glad I'm busy making bears for Hugglets at the moment otherwise the next fortnight would go soooooo slowly!! She will be ready on the 12th Sept but we probably won't pick her up until the 15/16th - I wouldn't be able to concentrate at Hugglets on the 14th if I knew our puppy was as home so I think it's best that we go to get her a day or 2 after the show!!

Anyway, I'm sure you'll all like to see our little girl.......

These are the 2 girls we had to decide between...we went for the one on the left (with more white on her face):

Me giving our newest family member a cuddle:

Isn't she just ADORABLE??!!!:

I love this picture...you can really see the Boxer in her:

We haven't decided on a name yet - we want either an Aboriginal name or some sort of Aussie name (Aussie slang etc). 2 names we have come up with is 'Bundy' (after Bundaberg) and 'Dinkum' (as in 'Fair Dinkum'!!! hehe). Any suggestions of Aussie/Aboriginal names??

Beary Hugs,

Gemma X