It's almost time!

5 hours from now, the Teddies Worldwide Online Show begins!  If you are looking for Holiday gifts (or any excuse for gift giving actually!) then this show is THE place to be.  Showcasing the most gorgeous creations from 75 bear artists, you won't want to miss this.  Be a part of history in the making, and make sure you visit the worlds largest online teddy bear show.

"Maxwell" and "Banjo" available from the Teddies Worldwide Online Show.

Teddies Worldwide Sneak Peek!

Click on the bear in the above banner now to visit the Teddies Worldwide Holiday Bear Show website.  You can see a sneak peek of the amazing creations 75 bear artists have created!  The bears in the sneek peek, plus many more will be available for purchase starting the 20th of November.  Don't miss out on seeing the biggest online teddy bear show to date!

Santa arrives in Adelaide!

Santa Claus quite literally arrived in Adelaide today, amongst a mass of children who were hyped up on the excitement of Christmas cheer and the feast of colour from Christmas themed floats.  We arrived in the city centre just after 7am.  We staked out our spot and after a breakfast of pancakes from McDonalds (and strong coffee for hubby and I), we patiently waited until the 9:30am start of the annual Police Credit Union Christmas Pageant.  Hundreds of parents came prepared with tubs of chalk, so their children could draw all over the road and hopefully make the long wait pass by just that little bit faster.  My 7 year old son and soon to be 4 year old daughter had a lovely time adding their chalk drawings to the road that is usually bumper to bumper with traffic.  It wasn't long before the festivities started.  The floats were really impressive, the clowns and people walking with the floats interacted with the crowd, but the most excitement was saved for Santa.  You didn't have to see him to know he was on his way, the cheers and squeals of delight from the children (and adults too I suspect) were all the heads up you needed.  With the arrival of Santa to Adelaide, I guess it's time to think about putting the Christmas tree up!

He's back!

Houston arrived home this morning and he bought ribbons, a rosette and a critique sheet with him.  The yellow ribbon is for participating in the Woodend Teddy Bear Show.  The blue is for winning 1st place in the "Novice - Original Design" category and the purple rosette is for winning the "Best Bear In Section" (Novice).  It's funny seeing Houston sitting next to the other bears i've made since, I can see the difference in my fine tuning already.  I think it's even funnier that if you had've told me 6 months ago that I would have a stash of mohair, sewing needles, stuffing and various other bear making tools, I wouldn't have believed you!  All this time I thought I couldn't stand sewing.  How wrong was I?

What isn't perfect for one, is for another.

A week ago, my nearly 4 year old daughter fell over and hit her head on a doorframe with such force that she split her head open.  It was bad enough that it required a trip to the hospital to have the cut glued shut.  Being a wound on the head (lots of blood), combined with the fact that we were at the hospital, my daughter was a bit distressed.  When we were checking in, in the emergency department, the lady behind the counter asked her what her favourite colour was.  "Pink!".  A few minutes later, the lady came out to my daughter with an arm full of pink teddies like the one above.  She told her that she could choose whichever one she wanted and that it was for her to take home.

I saw it as a lovely gesture from the hospital and I was very grateful to the unknown person who would've spent time making this bear for an unknown child in distress.  For whatever reason, this bear was the one that my daughter decided was going to help her through her hospital visit.  A couple of nights ago, she went to bed and forgot to take her "hospital bear" with her.  There were tears until I found it and tucked the bear under her blankets, along with the other 4 or 5 animals she sleeps with (That's a whole new post in itself!).  She completely believes that each night she sleeps with this bear, her cut gets just that little bit smaller overnight.

The above teddy wasn't the prettiest of the bunch, one of it's eyes is slightly crooked, you can see the black marker guideline for where the mouth had to go and you can see pink yarn from the body tucked up under the white face.  It got me thinking though, it's only natural that you'll see the imperfections in something you create or in something that someone else has created, but there is always someone who is willing to look past all of that.  Something that might be slightly crooked, chipped, cracked or just plain unattractive to one person, is just perfect to another.