and his name is ....

WOLONG BOO BUMPKIN, or for short "WO-LI BOO".....

THANK YOU all so much for taking the time to think of the sweetest names for this lickle baby panda, he wanted to let you know just how hard it was to decide. We had so many suggestions here on my blog and on the Pandas Unlimited forum on Flickr. Wo-Li Boo wanted to use all the names but I had to say that it would just take too long to call him in from playtime in the garden!!

In the end, being the kind hearted panda that he is, he wanted to honour all those pandas and staff at the Wolong Panda Reserve in China. Then his middle name was named after Tai Boo, the sweet panda at the National Zoo in Washington whose 3rd bearday it will be at the Gala Evening in July where this little chap will find his new mummy. There were so many lovely names I think I may have to make some more baby pandas to use some of them if anyone is interested :)

Wolong Panda Reserve was only 18 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake in china just over a week ago. The poor pandas were of course terrified, baby pandas had to be rescued over make shift bridges by the wonderful staff there. All the panda buildings are damaged, the babies were moved to the ticket booth! Sadly 5 members of staff lost their lives in the earthquake. Also 3 pandas were missing, one has just returned.They are in major need of medical and food supplies, if anyone wants to donate then Pandas International are the people to go to, http://www.pandasinternational.org/ My thoughts go out to all the thousands of people that have lost their lives and their loved ones left behind.

Here are some photos of the rescue at Wolong, thanks to Y.Heng and China News.





I am busy finishing a pretty pink bear as a commission right now and just starting work on a sweet sailor bear, then getting ready for a week's holiday next week. We are going to Provence in France, so I am hoping that the lavendar fields will be out in flower :) Hugs, Catherine xx

Can you name this little guy?

Well, here he is the little baby bundle of panda joy that I've been bringing to life. He is created to be auctioned at Tai's Bearday Panda Enrichment Fund Gala, July 9th 2008, Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington (available for attendees only).

A while back I was approaced by Elise from the Panda's Unlimited Group on Flickr if I could create a panda to help with their fund raising. Last year they raised more than $12,000 for the Giant Pandas. The National Zoo does amazing work, their scientists’ contribute hugely to saving giant pandas. Their scientists have been working diligently in China since 1996. With the help of funds they assist Chinese colleagues in improving the health and reproductive success of giant pandas in Chinese breeding centers and, of critical importance, working in the field to help save the species in the wild. They visit China 3 to 5 times a year and work alongside the Woolong Panda Centre in China. This centre was right in the heart of the recent earthquake in China, despite the centre being damaged so far all the pandas and staff are safe. Sadly of course there are many in China that have lost their lives and loved ones, my heart goes out to them all. I will bring more news of the pandas at Wolong over the coming days, including some incredible stories of bravery of the staff at the centre to rescue the baby pandas. To learn more about the National Zoo's efforts and to see the panda cam, click here


? is a wee little panda bear cub taking his first steps into the big wide world. He would love his very own name and I am holding a competition here on my blog and at the Pandas Unlimited Group on Flickr.com from now until Tuesday evening(6pm Belgium time). Then together with this little fluff ball we'll decide which name he likes the most. I will then have his naming ceremony here and say who named him.

He is a little unsure and sometimes not too steady on his paws , but it's funny to go rolly polly anyway. He is finding out that it is really rather fun being a panda and he loves to play hide and seek behind the bamboo! He is a cheeky little guy with a heart of gold that loves to be hugged as much as he loves to play.



You can see more photos of him on my website click here


So, what do you reckon? Will you be the one that names him? I can't wait to see all your ideas. Panda Hugs, Catherine xx

Here's Fuzzy Wuzzy!

Look who appeared out of this wild mohair, it doesn't take much imagination why I called him Fuzzy-Wuzzy!! He is the kind of bear that would much prefer to be out climbing trees and hunting for honey and berries rather than having his photo taken! Everytime I took a photo he kept asking "pleeeease can I go outside to play with my friends"! It didn't take very long for me to fall for his pleading eyes and oh so sweetly polite question!



You see he has made friends with the wild bunnies in my garden and he spends hours hopping along with them. He whispered to me (so that the other bears did not tease him) that he would rather like to be a bunny, but he soon changed his mind when I said bunnies liked carrots and not honey!! He is a really fun bear that will bring a lifetime of delight to your home and heart. You can see lots more photos of him and all his adoption information on my website - Click here to take a look. (UPDATE - FUZZY WUZZY HAS BEEN ADOPTED TO A LOVELY LADY IN THE STATES.)

We had thunder storms and rain last night, I can almost hear the plants in my garden sighing with relief after the heat wave we've been having! I took some photos of the bunny family yesterday, I'll post them soon. In the meantime back to working on a little panda. Hugs, Catherine x

My Special Guest!

Look who came to visit my garden!! This precious little wild baby bunny decided to make an appearance in my garden when I was at the kitchen sink doing the washing up! As you can imagine this was a great distraction and taking photographs was far more interesting than washing dirty dishes ;) So I got my zoom lens and took these shots through the window standing on my tippy toes! I often see the adult bunnies running around in the field behind my garden but this is the first time I was graced with a garden appearance!


Whilst waiting for fabric orders to arrive for my commissions I couldn't resist starting on a new bear from my new mohair stash. After sketching some wild grizzly bears lately I felt inspired to try my own Bumpkin twist of a wild bear. So I'm using this incredible long pile sunkissed blonde mohair - this one's going to be kind of crazy and cute all rolled into one!

It's a public holiday again on Monday here so a nice long weekend again :) The sun is blazing here in Belgium, being the highest temperatures across Europe, yesterday we were even 10c warmer than Spain and Portugal! Just like Summer already!

Enjoy your weekends, Hugs, Catherine x

more flowers

I'm all excited that a mohair order has arrived, with gorgeous pretty spring colours, inspired by my garden. I have to tell my hands to stay away from it until I have worked on some commissions :) I have started on my new charity panda today and have been able to sew outside with the Spring sunshine. I also did some overdue gardening this morning and before I knew it I was digging out plants and transplanting other ones! I'm trying to germinate some seeds of pretty pink poppies at the moment. I love growing from seeds and cuttings, I get such a buzz when I see them growing.


Right, back to sewing, but as promised here are some more photos from my garden. I also had a special visitor to my garden yesterday evening, photos to follow soon :) Hugs, Catherine x
**(I had an email from a lovely lady from Helsinki, Finland asking to join my mailing list last week but my emails to her can not get through, if you are reading this could you send me an email again, maybe with another email address?)**

All sorts of everything..

I've been so busy this week. Thanks for all your nice comments about Bramwell, he will be going to meet his new mum in France very soon. I've also just finished a commission of two miniature ponies and their teds for a lovely lady that has her own gorgeous black and white horses which I used as inspiration for these minis! Very tricky creating the pattern for the ponies with all the different black and white pieces but I am happy to say that my customer is really pleased with them so that makes it all worth while :)

It was a public holiday on Thursday and Friday which has been filled with seeing friends, yesterday we went to an international tournament for Ultimate Frisbee in Brugge, there were teams from as far as America and Ireland. I never even knew that these kind of tournaments existed, it was great fun to see and a fantastic atmosphere. There were in total more than 50 teams playing and such good sportsmanship that there is no referee! A friend of ours plays for the Belgian national team.



As promised here are also a few photos from my garden. I've taken lots lately so I'll add more during the week. I was also very sweetly nominated for two blog awards from Tracy of Pink Purl, The Arte Y Pico Award, given for creativity, design, interesting material and good contribution to the blogging community. As if this wasn't enough she also gave me the You Make My Day Award! THANKS so much Tracy, this is a real honour and the first Blog awards I've had :)

Next week will be filled with starting a very special panda for a charity auction, more news on this very soon, as well as starting on some new commissions. So watch this space!




Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, Catherine x

Here's Bramwell

wow, another week has flown by! We've had some beautiful sunny days here and then some rain, so perfect for my plants and veg patch. I planted some radishes 2 days ago and already they are popping their heads out of the ground! I've been very busy this last week with new commision orders and bringing this new chap to life, his name is Bramwell -

He is a cheeky bear with an unusual beary love of pies, he especially loves apple pie and just can't wait to help pick the apples in the garden in the Summertime. He's a real english ted with his old English name, lovely heritage wavey mohair and vintage lace neck trim. I designed this to be removable so you can wash it if he gets any cherry pie on it!! He is a one of a kind 17" Bumpkin Bear and available for adoption from my website. - (UPDATE - Bramwell is ADOPTED.)

Click here to visit him and all his photos on my website, just click on his photo in the bear gallery.

I've been taking photos of my garden so will be back soon to share some pics. Have a great weekend, Catherine x

Decisions, decisions

sorry it's been a week since I've posted here, don't know where the time has gone! Thanks for all your sweet comments, it really means a lot hearing from you all :) I'm in the process of placing (well trying to place!) an order for a new order of mohairs. When it comes to deciding what to choose I'm hopeless! There is so much choice and it is all sooo lovely, I have so many ideas of bears swimming around in my head it's a job to narrow my choices down. Especially as mohair is an expensive luxurious fabric, I can't get too carried away!! Anyway, I think I'm nearly there and can't wait to get my order to start, mmmm some lovely colours and finishes. There are so many different finishes to mohair from stringy, sparse, semi sparse, straight, curly, wavey, distressed, tipped...... see my dilemmas ;) I tend to prefer the denser mohairs with some wave to them.

Wendster was so very kind with her comments about my bears and how I was an inspiration to her following my bear making dream (my gosh, you made me blush!). She asked me to explain how I create my 3-D creations, well this is my thought process a bit. When I very first started out bear making I bought a couple of really good books about design of bears as well as having lots of books about antique bears. I have spent many many many hours studying the looks of different bears both real and teddy. I do lots of sketching and have beary images always floating in my head (yeah I sound crazy don't I!). I love the kindness and soulfullness you see when you look into the eyes of real bears (not that I have ever been THAT close to look right into their eyes!!). These majestic wild animals have such a tenderness that I try to capture in my bears. I am not of course trying to re-create a realistic bear like some amazing artists do, I just take the essence of character and try to get this in their faces! I was sketching a grizzly bear the other day from a photo I have...

The design part takes practice and more practice, after a good few years of trials and errors (the errors from my early bear making days are in my craft room smiling down at me from a shelf, of course I would never call them errors to their beary faces!). My recent bears have got wider foreheads which I am drawn too from wild bears. As much as I love wild bears I love the sweet innocence and friendship of a teddy bear, so I try to combine both in my Bumpkin Bears.

I'm currently working on a commission for a set of 2 mini bears with their little black and white ponies! I'll try to explain the pony creation process soon.
Hugs, Catherine x

Meet Rufaro, full of Springtime happiness

Well as promised here is my latest Bumpkin Bear - Rufaro -

He is a happy bear that loves Spring with it's clear blue skies and soft sunshine, you can see this in his colours. He is brought to life with faboulous heritage style English mohairs which I hand dyed in soft blue and gentle old beige gold which gives a really sweet 'patchwork' look.

He loves to sit underneath the blossom trees smiling as the little petals gently fall in the breeze. Springtime brings such a renewed hope and joy of new beginnings with it that I named this sweet bear Rufaro which means Happiness and Elation.

Click here to visit him and all his photos on my website, just click on his photo in the bear gallery.

Have a lovely day,Beary Hugs,Catherine and Rufaro

Helping to save money

well, I've just finished my next bear I made with different coloured dyed mohairs, I'll add photos of this chap tomorrow. As well as on my website and mailing list I always list my new bears on a great website called Bearpile. It is run by a fab guy in the States, Dave Stack. He has also just started a wonderful new money saving coupon website. A great way to go shopping online for top brands in a vast array of stores and save money with coupons and promo codes. I'm all for any way of saving money when you can :) Click here to find the coupons and codes on couponsaver.org

I'll be back tomorrow with new bear photos, Hugs, Catherine x

Henry, the King I am!

I brought my latest bear to life yesterday and he found a new Mum at lightening speed, he was rather fun to create...

Henry dreams of castles surrounded by deep moats where dragons sleep and knights defend! He is a one of a kind 15" Bumpkin Bear. He is brought to life with faboulous heritage style English mohairs which I have created into a rather regal ginger coloured outfit set off with a genuine antique lace collar. I have had this lace for many many years and Henry seemed like the perfect bear to wear it.
I called him Henry after King Henry VIII of England due to his love of castles. Henry was King from 1491 to 1547 and according to many paintings he was on the large side so Henry bear has a lovely big beary tummy too!



Onto my next bear today, I wonder which character will appear, I do love seeing how they appear when I am making them. Beary Hugs, Catherine x

Lamykins!

I wonder if any of you got taken in by an April Fool's joke?! Well, I did by BBC TV!! They showed a very small documentary, amazingly filmed (so I thought!) of a colony of penguins they had discovered that FLEW!! Well they got me totally, I excitedly told my fiance about it that evening!! Well the next day I found out it was all done with computer graphics, how convincing can that be!! Silly me (blush blush!).

Cherry Blossom has been adopted by a wonderful new mum in the States and I am busy finishing another chap, trying out a new chubby tummy design so stay tuned!

I just ADORE lambs, growing up I would spend every Easter break with my Granny in the English countryside helping at the next door farm with their lambing season. Despite being quite squemish about blood etc I helped quite a few lambs being born, and any that were rejected I hand raised with the bottle. I loved feeding these little sweeties and always gave each one a name. So you can imagine my delight when I saw that the sheep in the field behind our garden had little lambs, they are too cute as you can see in the photo :)

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives, Hugs, Catherine x

Cherry Blossom

I have just taken photos of my latest bear and sent out all the details to my mailing list first. Her name is Cherry Blossom and she is a wee little Bumpkin Bear at only 13". She is a peaceful bear and was brought to life to celebrate the beauty of the Cherry Blossom festivals and with them the coming of Spring. She is created with luxurious rich brown and pale pink tipped faux furs. She has adorable pink facial features and chubby cheeks with little pink button nose and a Bumpkin soulful expression. Her colours make me think of the delicate tones of the cherry blossoms against their branches. Cherry Blossom just adores the company of her family around her and would be the sweetest companion for a lifetime of love. She is available for adoption from my website, where you can see lots more photos - www.bumpkinbears.com -.

I have found all sorts of details about the significance of the Cherry Blossom in China and Japan, I'll write a bit about it over the next few days here. Beary Hugs, Catherine x

The simple things in life..

Time seems to have flown this week, can't believe it's Friday already. I've been working on a new smaller bear design and cut the pattern out today in a gorgeous combo of faux furs. I love the soft feel of furs, but oh boy you sure do run the risk of disappearing behind a mountain of fluff when cutting it out!!
I think the colour combo will be rather sweet, think strawberries and chocolate!

Over Easter we went to Ikea, we needed a new office chair and I got some really pretty pink fabric covered storage boxes to help tidy my work space! Our cats thought that the box that had held the chair was just brilliant, I cut out some other holes underneath it to make it even more fun! Isn't it funny how you could spend a fortune on toys but it's the simple cardboard boxes that are just the best!





I have been busy packaging bears this week to send to their new homes, I always get attached to my bears but I feel so much better when I hear how loved they are by their new family. I'll be back soon hopefully with photos of a new bear. Have a great weekend, Catherine x

Dreaming of a White... Easter!

Well, I hope you are all having a nice Easter Break. I bought some chocolate Easter friends for my fiance (I can't eat chocolate right now due to health probs!), I thought they were too cute to eat so I took a quick photo before they disappeared for good!! mmmm Belgian chocolate is too yummy! Yesterday morning was beautifully sunny so I got out in the garden to do some Spring pruning, then last night what did we have .... Snow!!




It had mostly melted away this morning but I got a few photos. The plum blossom seems to have survived, a few years ago we inherited a few smallish Plum trees from an allotment. I wasn't sure they would survive being moved, but last Summer we had juicy plums :) I love watching plants grow, love to take cuttings and grow from seed. I've got some cuttings in my cold frame and some seem to have survived through the winter, so can't wait to see them grow on in the Summer in the garden. Will be starting a new bear next week, so will be back soon. Hugs, Catherine x

Snow and Blossom!

I noticed yesterday that the white blossom has started to appear on my plum trees and then today we've got SNOW! It's going to be a very soggy cold Easter weekend so not much fun for the Easter bunny to go and hide all the eggs! I've got a wild bunny that visits my garden, I'll try to get a photo of him to post soon. It's been a busy week, Milo my blue bear will be heading off to his new Mummy in the States, wonderful that he will also be joining some other Bumpkin Bears, a Bumpkin reunion!

I want to wish you all a really Happy Easter, I found this hilarious photo of a bunny and thought I'd add a few extras in photoshop! Chat again soon, Easter Hugs, Catherine x

Softies Easter Parade!

Do pop along to Lisa's Softies Easter Parade, you can vote for your favourites in the different sections - My little ted and Chick set (Sprite and Chirpie) are in the Hot Chicks part of the parade - do pop along for all sorts of Eastery wonders :)

click here to visit the Parade

Milo the Dreamer

Well, here is the blue bear I've been talking about -

Milo is a dreamer, he lives with his head in the clouds imagining far away lands full of wonderous sights. If he's not busy day dreaming you will find him with his head in a book, he tells the other bears that these books whisk him away to magical worlds. Milo is a bear with a sweet nievity that sees the brightness in everything around him, a characterisitc that soon rubs off on those around him. He was brought to life with a unique hand dyed soft as clouds mohair, the colour is a handsome powder soft blue as if gently faded with a life time of dreaming. I made his silk ruff around his neck and hand dyed it in soft shades of blues and violets.

He is 15.5" and available for adoption right now from my website - www.bumpkinbears.com - just click on his photo on my site for all his photos and info.

Signing off from a very rainy Belgium! Hugs, Catherine x

Real bears in my living room!

Hi everyone, well my blue bear is nearly finished, I hope to have brought him fully to life today so check back over the next few days :) Inspired by Wendy's comment on my last blog post that she loves real bears I thought I'd share a photo of a large canvas we have on our living room wall. We visited Canada a few years ago and had the most amazing experience of seeing black bears in the wild, including on our last day seeing a mother with her cub. I wrote an article for a teddy magazine about seeing bears in the wild. We had a favourite photo that we took and gave it a sepia tone and slight painterly effect in Photoshop and then had it printed out on a huge canvas. It always reminds me of this wonderful adventure. Has anyone else seen bears in the wild, do share any photos or experiences on your blogs and let me know :) Chat again soon, Catherine x

Feeling blue ..

sorry I've not been around for a week, I was hit with flu, but am starting to feel better now. I had a lovely birthday with my fiance, we went to my favourite garden centre and he bought me the most beautiful flowers. I have been wanting to make a soft blue coloured bear for a while now and decided to dye some mohair yesterday. I love dying, you never quite know how it will turn out and I'm really pleased with this one, just what I wanted :) It is a gorgeously soft mohair too. I started to sew him this morning so he's beginning to come to life, can't wait to meet this chap :) Chat again soon, Catherine x

Easter friends!

With Spring arriving I felt inspired to create a little miniature set of easter friends so here's Sprite and Chirpie!

Sprite bear measures a tiny 3.5" and Chirpie is only 1.5"! Chirpie chick is needlefelted.

Sprite loves to go on adventures into the wild, otherwise known as the garden! Chirpie and Sprite are such close friends, that where one goes the other is never far behind! With Spring arriving you can often catch a glimpse of them riding along underneath the daffodils!

They are available from my website - take a peek - www.bumpkinbears.com
I'll be back to write more in the week, it was my birthday on Thursday so I'll add some photos soon. Hugs, Catherine

Life long friends...

Whilst I was in blog land over the weekend I came across Jayne's wonderful site, Country Cottage Chic Click here to see her blog. She has a Teddy Challenge at the moment for people to share photos of their childhood ted or toy. My childhood teddy is called Billy, I can still remember when my Aunty gave him to me when I was little, must have been about 5 I should think. She won him in a raffle, he was all fluffy and with a pale yellow ribbon round his neck - he looks a little different nowadays! He went everywhere with me and I slept with him every night, he even came on adventures like a holiday to South Africa with my Granny where she used to live.

My other special toy was a cloth horse called Blue Boy (I've always been crazy about horses) that stayed at Granny's so he was there to greet me everytime I stayed. I have a sweet photo of my Mum as a child with Blue Boy, so he's had quite a life!


I've taken a photo of these two friends along with Willem, my Mum's chad valley bear (in the jumper) that she was given for her 21st b.day. They all keep an eye on me in my craft room :) I took a photo of them on my piano, you can also see my lovely horse statue that I inherited from Granny.

I spent yesterday needle felting a little easter friend to go with a mini bear I'm making, so watch this space :) Catherine x

Introducing Benson P. Hamilton

I just heard today that one of my latest commissions arrived at his new home in the states so I can now share this special panda with you. I'd like you to meet Benson P. Hamilton, He was created as a brother to Sim-Sam, who you can see in the photoshoot! Sim-Sam is looking for a special new Mummy Click here to see him.


Benson is a loving soul with a strength of character which helped him when meeting his new Mum's cats for the first time! His name Benson shows his English roots, with P standing for Panda and Hamilton meaning Beautiful mountain, which has a rather nice chinese feel to it. Benson is 17" and brought to life with wonderful heirloom style mohair and with sweet needlefelted toes.

If you would like to commission that special bear for yourself or a loved one then just drop me an email. I'm always happy to chat :-)

Doing the happy dance ..

Well I have to send out a big thank you to Tracy of Pink Purl for the most beautiful bracelet. She had also sent some chocolate but because I can't eat that right now with food intolerances she ever so sweetly made some matching earrings! How kind is that! Anyway I got them last week on the day of my Dutch exam (trying to learn it, now at levell 3), I was rather nervous but wearing my new bracelet must have brought me lots of luck! I got my results and certificate yesterday - good job I was sat down when I got my results, I got 89% and an A!!! A's are not usually sent in my direction so I was really happy if not a little shocked! So THANKS brain and thanks Tracy ;-) Click here to check out her blog.



I woke up today to a misty scene out the front of the house and took a quick photo before my cup of tea! Busy day so had better get on, Happy Beary Days, Catherine x

Meet Huckleberry

Hi everyone, my fiance is recovering well after his accident, just a fair bit of pain from the broken ribs. I've just finished this lovely new bear called Huckleberry. I have been working hard on a new older bear shaped design and I just adore his heirloom style mohair - really tricky colour to photograph though, he is a lovely greyish brown colour, very unusual. He has a lifetime of adventures that he loves to talk about, so you and your family could have many happy evenings all snuggled up together listening to his tales!

He is available for adoption from my website - www.bumpkinbears.com.

We had a buzzard in our garden this week, so I'll share a photo or two next week!
In the meantime enjoy your Sunday. Happy Beary Hugs, Catherine and Huckleberry xx

glowing..

well Spring was in the air today with lots of sunshine so I got out in the garden and took some photos - my first daffodils were unfurling in the warmth and glowing like gold, I do love these moments when the garden starts coming back to life :) I've started a new bear in this gorgeous wavey mohair...so a bit of sewing tonight I think :) Enjoy your weekend Catherine x

Flying high...

I have been doing a lot of drawing lately and just finished this illustration of a little girl on her magic rocking horse! I used a combination of pencil, watercolour and digital colouring. I'd like to get more into illustration so this is one of my first steps...

This morning I finished a commission panda and took his photos, once his new Mum has seen him I'll share him with you all :) I'm also going to be creating a special panda for a special cause which I'll tell you all about soon too..

Lots to do today and the sun is shining finally, so had better get on, but have a good day everyone, Catherine x

birds, birds..

Each year on the same weekend there is a bird counting event when lots of people across Belgium note down how many of each variety of bird they see in their garden. This information is passed onto an organisation called Natuurpunt (Nature Point!) so they can keep track of how the bird populations are reacting in Belgium with changes in weather, loss of habitat etc.


I took a few photos and the sheep in the field behind our garden came to take a peek too!

I've also been doing lots more drawing lately and will share some of my illustrations soon. Catherine x

Warmth of friendship

Thank you so much to everyone sending kind words of support. Marc is doing ok, he has broken one of the bones around the front of his ribs, so just rest is the order of the day. You've all been so sweet. Talking of sweet I just heard that I won THE most gorgeous bracelet from Tracy of Pink Purl, such a lovely surprise :) Tracy is the kindest soul and makes such fabulous jewellery, Click here to check out her blog.

Inspired by all the kindess of friends this week for myself and Marc I have hand knitted a sweet outfit for Georgie bear to keep him warm and hand made a felt button with the words WARMTH embroidered. The warmth of friendship surrounds us and hugs us just as a teddy does. Georgie is available on my website.

I have also been taking photos of the birds in my garden this weekend, so will add some photos over the next few days. Thanks again everyone, Catherine x

too close...

for comfort is how I would describe last Sunday night.. My fiance, Marc, was in a serious car crash whilst driving back from a football match with two of his friends. He was late back home so I called his mobile and heard those dreaded words.." there's been an accident, I'm in hospital..." It was entirely not his fault, some idiot for some unknown reason came back onto the motorway out of an EXIT just in front of Marc as he was driving along.. so it was like hitting a wall.. The motorway was closed off and the firemen had to also cut the top off the car to get a friend out of the back seat that had neck pain. BUT thank goodness all three of them are ok, one friend has got a fracture in his neck but is going to be ok with lots of rest, the other has a very sore shoulder. Marc has got badly bruised ribs and a sore back, but luckily nothing is broken, just very painful. It was a very frightening experience especially as the firemen said that they were very lucky to be in such a good solid car with good air bags too otherwise it would have been a very different story... It is the most horrible feeling to know how close I was to losing my lovely man. Catherine x

A taste of things to come ...

After days and days of dark rainy days we had SUNSHINE yesterday! So out I went into my garden to see what was happening and there popping their heads through the fallen oak leaves were my little crocusses! So I straight away started to clear the leaves and there were bluebells, scillas and even the daffodils starting to appear!



It has been such a mild winter this year that I think all the plants think it is already spring! I love it when the plants start to come back to life, my hydrangea has started to bud too.



For the rest I am busy packaging up some of my bears carefully for their journeys to their new homes. Leo has also been adopted and will be living in sunny Spain. Have a great day, Catherine x

off to their new family ..

It's been a busy time finishing some commissions. I'd love you to meet Jack, this white bear was a special order for a lovely lady in America, he'll be heading off to his new home with his friend Nicolas that had to get in on the photoshoot! It's always lovely when my Bumpkin Bears go together to the same new family! My next project is a special order for a panda that I am working on... watch this space! Catherine x

5 things about me ..

I was tagged back in December by Linda and Kim so finally I've got round to adding this list of 5 things that people in cyberspace probably don't know about me -

1. I love donkeys, I used to visit a donkey every day (that I named Dinkey) that was in a field down the country lane where my Granny lived.

2. I love vintage children's books, especially the illustrations.

3. I'm afraid of heights, but had no fear at all going hot air ballooning a few years ago. But I was terrified climbing up Ayers Rock in Australia when I was backpacking round Australia afer graduating from uni!

4. I adore the old fashioned English roses from David Austin.



5. I used to have my own horse called Skelm, which means "Little Rascal" in Afrikaans, funny that this wonderful chap came into my life because I have a love of South Africa, as my Mum grew up there as a child.




so there you go, a few things about me!

Extreme Makeover -Teddy Edition!

When I was visiting a friend in England she showed me this poor little Ted that her new Puppy, Willow, had found and thought would make a great toy!! Little Ted was destined for the bin being filthy and torn to pieces. Well of course I couldn't let that happen and my friend knew that I would be able to help so the rescue mission began! I brought him back with me to Belgium, gave him a nice long hand wash and he came out a different colour without all that mud all over him! I then set about bite hole by bite hole repairing him, restuffing him him with nice fresh filling and finally giving him a new nose and putting a smile back on his face! With a grand new bow he feels like his old self and is ready to face the world again, this time on a shelf where Puppy can't reach him!

Happy New Year!

well I'm a bit late, but I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! It's been all go here, back in my studio working on a commission bear and a panda. Leo, my bear that was nominated back in December in the British Bear Artist Awards has now returned to my arms. He is now available for adoption and is so excited to find a special new home all of his own.(UPDATE - LEO IS NOW ADOPTED)

Go to- www.bumpkinbears.com - to see all his photos and my other bears.

I'm in a bit of a rush today, but I'll be back during the week to show you a little teddy restoration story! Catherine x