Mostly Bears

Steve Schutt's Newest Creation

2009-06-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

A limited edition of 50 pieces ..."The Flag Bearer" from Steve Schutt ... now available for preorder from Mostly Bears. This 11" bear features red, white and blue mohair, fully jointed, with flag pin on chest. He has a ruffle around neck, jester style, and holds an American flag. $195.

Contact us by phone (toll free 1-877-709-7191) or email to order.

(Photo courtesy of Beth Phillips ~ thanks Beth!)

Enjoy!

Teddy Bears Looking To Pay It Forward

2009-06-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Visit our latest ebay listings to read about these 5 free bears waiting to go to good homes... Enjoy!

June 1st, 2009

2009-06-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

New This Week:

We now have Gund Snuffles in 3 sizes.
We have received our first shipment of North American Bear baby items.
We have some really amazing, soft horses in stock from Steiff!
We have Clover awls in stock. Special introductory offer $6.75 (regular $7.75)
Join us for bear making this Wednesday, the 3rd, with Mary Ann, beginning at 11!
We're awaiting our 500th Positive Feedback on ebay! (the count is 499 as of now) We invite you to visit our ebay listings ~ many of our listings give a percentage to charity via ebay Giving Works.

(yes, we have this little guy in stock too!)

Visit www.mostlybears.com for more info on all of the above "new stuff".

Have a great week!

p.s. there's still time to guess the answer to the burning question below, then log into Blogger & enter to win the Steiff hedgie...just scroll down...

A Handful? A pack? A Gaggle?

2009-05-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow teddy bear lovers!

There's so much to report about the comings and goings here at Mostly Bears, that I have posted a newsletter for your enjoyment, here.

(If link doesn't work for you, it's at www.mostlybears.com/newsletterfrommostlybears.htm)

I do hope this finds you looking forward to the approaching "lazy days of summer"...and that you may be as blessed as I am...with youngsters & grandkids close by to enjoy them with!

Today, dear reader, I pose a very important question indeed. Those of you who are willing to post an answer will be entered into my special drawing & I guarantee you will love the winning prize!

So, without delay, I must ask...

What is a group of Hedgehogs called?

You see, we find ourselves, indeed, surrounded by hedgies here at Mostly Bears, with more to come soon, when Mary Ann offers her summer bear making, uh... I mean hedgehog-making class!

So, you must find a way to become "Blogger literate" ... hurry! ... and type your answer to our burning question in the section below to be eligible for the prize! (click below this blog entry on "comments", you will be prompted to sign in to Google if you haven't already... sign-in is free & easy ...)

The winner will be randomly chosen from the correct entries, and will receive:

As my grandson would say: Ta Da!

Steiff Sniffy Hedgehog Keyring...mohair...very cute...everyone needs one!

Best of Luck!

Divine...

2009-03-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow teddy bear lovers,

Apologies to those who were expecting to follow along in our travels...we skipped home to Tucson earlier than expected, just in time to welcome our new granddaughter...little Miss Emma Elizabeth...into the world!

The divine Miss Emma arrived 7 weeks early but is doing, thankfully, quite well. And she is Beautiful!

Nana (me) and Papa (Ron) are happily plotting some new spoiling in the very near future...

And NO MORE TRIPS OUT OF TOWN for awhile!

No baby pics yet...but here's the next best thing:

A happy, happy big brother for Emma!

More later...

Enjoy your weekend!

Mostly Bears On The Road

2009-03-12T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow teddy bear lovers!

We're "on the road" for the next few days...so I'll be blogging along as we go.

Today we are in Albuquerque, where it is cold & rainy...

We've only been gone one day and I am already missing Tucson's sunshine and warmth!

Our usual traveling bear "Marvin" isn't tagging along with us this trip, so "Tucker" is taking his place as our travel companion.

Luckily Tucker just happens to have a brand spankin' new pumpkin colored, cable knit sweater from Mary Ann and Whoo-Whee he's lookin' good!

Here's how Tucker got his new duds:

When Mary Ann brought her newest Tucker into the store a couple of weeks ago,

(This guy:)

...with his beautiful sweater...I noted (maybe a little too loudly) that MY Tucker didn't have ANY sweater...and wouldn't he look just awesome if he had his very own pumpkin sweater too.

And the next thing you know...he did!

(Thanks Mary Ann!)

THE BEAR NEWS!

Mostly Bears has been hoppin' lately...and not just with bunnies.

We're havin' a Hedgehog of a time here...

First it was a little jacketed hedgehog that came to live with me from Sue Quinn...which was so cute & adorable that I just had to order more...and they are on the way as I write this:

I, ahem, acquired that photo from Sue Quinn's website...just to give you an idea of what's coming. I will post more after the little cuties arrive.

Second, a visit from one of our favorite customer's new little hedgie prompted our plans for a hedgehog making class with Mary Ann for later this summer. (Watch for details)

Which led to, of course, the ordering of hedgehog materials and fabric...such fun!

And THEN, a shipment of "Spikes" arrived from artist Heather D'Lyell:

These little interactive dudes have a magnet at each end of the body, so they can roll up in a ball and stay that way 'til you are ready to pop them open again. Spike is $115 and really worth every penny, he can sit in your hand just so...

Uh, Heather TOLD ME she was sending me 3 girls and 3 boys!! I will leave it to you, dear customer, to distinguish which is which!

Oh, and last but not least:

A new little hedgie design from Steiff. Now in stock. $30.

NEXT UP: NEEDLES!

We have negotiated with Piecemakers to carry their needle selection and are very happy to offer several styles of Piecemakers needles, including the very popular 3 1/2 inch, 5 inch and 7 inch styles which bear makers use regularly.

And because we are now ordering direct from Piecemakers, our pricing has dramatically dropped. A win-win for all of us!

EARLY WHITE TAG NEWS FROM STEIFF!

Right out of the blocks, even before Toy Fair, (which is almost unheard of!), we received our first shipment of Steiff Giraffe on Wheels, a beautiful 22 inch tall piece, really gorgeous. Yes, a bit pricey, but already a wonderful collector's item:

We also have the new white tag bunny "Clover", a pretty pale green piece with a felt clover in his paw & carrying a little itty bitty mohair chick in the basket. A superb Easter piece:

And yesterday I got the shipping notice that the new Zebra bear on the way, he will be a great companion piece to last year's leopard bear!

There's a link to the whole 2009 Stieff collection on our (www.mostlybears.com) website!

BEAR MAKING 101, 102 & BEYOND!

We continue to offer free, drop-in bear making on Wednesdays with Mary Ann Neisz. If you ever want to start or finish a bear (or anything in between), for free, with expert help, Wednesdays from 11-4 is "when" and Mostly Bears is "where" you will want to be!

Speaking of bear making, we put together a cool new kit for beginning bear makers, which is available now on ebay:

The kit is priced at $85, which includes enough mohair to make two bears.

And the tools and goodies you need to become a world-class bear maker.

And a great bear making book by Jennifer Laing.

And the best part is: we have included email "tech support" courtesy of Mary Ann, who can answer your questions from afar and keep you going in a direction that will lead to a wonderful collectible bear result!

(I also dispense free advice from time to time...but, I always start out with my usual disclaimer "I only know enough about bear making to be dangerous.")

I guess that's about it from here. Gotta go charge my computer so I can do this again tomorrow. In the meantime, bundle up and stay warm!

Enjoy!

Sneak Preview of Our New Book Listings!

2009-02-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

We will soon have a brand new page on our website featuring Amazon.com book listings related to Teddy Bear Making and general reading about Teddy Bears! We hope you'll enjoy our selections...and...if you click onto Amazon through our website to purchase, Mostly Bears will collect a small kickback (i.e. commission)!

We present a preview of our first offerings; three books from one of our favorite teddy bear making authors, Jennifer Laing:

The Art of Making Teddy Bears

This highly practical guide contains three original patterns of varying complexity, all accompanied by detailed instructions. A complete beginner will be able to create really professional bears in a very short time.

Constructing Teddy and His Friends

This book showcases 12 different animal patterns starting with Mortimer the Teddy Bear, then covering animals and fantasy characters from around the world; including Philbert the Golly, Erik the Elf, Nils the Gnome, Ickabod the four-legged bear, Tom Collins the pack rat, Esme the elephant, Viola the monkey (or chimp), Phoebe the Panda, Bluegum the Koala, Ethel the Emu and Reggie the Rabbit. All animals can be made from a range of different fabrics and styles with ideas for variations. Jennifer provides techniques to give the animals open mouths and realistic tongues, whiskers and tufted eyebrows, waxed noses, extra joints for increased pose-ability, wired ears, toes and tails.

Teddy Bear Art

Expert Australian teddy bear maker Jennifer Laing shows you her techniques for sewing the world's most huggable bears. This is a book for those of you who have tried the commercial patterns, have caught the bear making 'bug' and are now wanting to take that next step -- the most exciting one of all. Designing and creating your own teddy bears can bring magic into your life.

Enjoy!

Or, as my grandson would say: Ta-daah!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T14:20:00.001-08:00

Brrrr........

2009-02-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

Winter in Tucson...Enjoy!

A Bear Story

2009-02-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

I have carried Dean's Bears at the store for many years now. Way back when, in about 2000 or 2001, when Jill Baxter's "J.B.Scruff" came in, this JB came home with me!

At about the same time, I spotted "Ragamuffin" on line so I decided to order one from Jill. A few weeks later, I received #3 of a limited edition of 4 pieces.

And this scruffy ragamuffiny pair has been together ever since. (Residing in my home)

Which brings us to the auction. In my effort to Reduce,Reuse&Recycle, (and as part of a negotiated settlement with my hubby to make room for people in the house***), I am semi-reluctantly posting this pair in a charity auction on ebay. You can follow along here in my ebay store! Enjoy!

***I made that up! There's a whole bear-free sofa in the living room!

Just look at that face...

And this one...

awwwwww......

A couple more days on ebay....

2009-02-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

...for this fave of ours...

Mr. Beddie Bye Teddy (by Steve Schutt) and a little dalmation puppy (from Steiff)
Enjoy!

Oops, ebay link here.

A Message For You

2009-02-07T12:59:00.001-08:00

Yippie Oh Ki Ay!

Have a great Saturday!

A Fish Story

2009-02-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Hello from the "blog"...
Today's Artist & Friend offering is a story about a boy, er, I mean a Bear and a Fish.
The bear was a happy little bear, with a boyish grin and some curious Tom Sawyerish looking overalls. He stood a whole 13 inches tall when he stood up on his tippy toes. And he liked to go "bear-foot".
(sorry, I couldn't resist.)
One day the boy went out a-fishin' and you cannot imagine what he caught:
A fish as big as big can be!
(comparatively, that is.)
And he took out his trusty measuring tape. And he found out his fish was the biggest fish he had EVER seen...a whole 5 inches, excluding his tail. And he was also the most beautiful fish ever. (seeing as how his fish was made in Germany from lovely mohair by Steiff!)
So, the little bear, who incidentally was named Sandy decided to keep his friend, the fish, forever. And he even slept with him at night. And the little fish never, never, ever smelled even the tiniest bit fishy. Why, that fish had the best manners and grooming habits you ever did see. And that's undoubtedly the happiest bear and fish "tail" (sorry, again) you'll hear this week.
Enjoy!
(This pair is listed here on ebay as of a few moments ago.)

Bear and Friend of the Day

2009-02-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

Being the punctual person that I am (ha ha)...(those of you who know me...no comments!)...I've jumped ahead of myself and listed our latest installment of "Bear & Friend" on Ebay already!

Here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=330305973273

And a little bitty sneak preview:

Enjoy!

Hot Off The Presses ~ New Worldwide Limited Editions from Steiff!

2009-02-04T23:30:00.001-08:00

Enjoy the show...and If anything Jumps Out At Ya', Just Let Me Know!

Teddy Bear And Friend!

2009-02-04T16:37:00.001-08:00

Happy Wednesday to all! With V-Day a mere 10 days away, I thought it was time to feature some of our favorite Bear & Friend Pairs from Mostly Bears. (You know, the bears like to play when we're away!)

Today's selection is one of my all time faves...from one of my all time fave artists, Ellen Kislingbury of Kislingbears. "Chester" is a purely FABULOUS tipped mohair with airbrushed details. He's 18 inches tall and has Great Paw Pads.

And Chester's Mostly Bears friend? A 4 inch mohair ladybug made in Germany from Steiff.

What a pair!

Chester and "Friend", together as our first offering for Valentine's Day, are priced at $285. Shipping to anywhere in the world is free! (asterisk: if you live in the far reaches of the world, your package might not arrive by Valentine's day...I speak from experience when I notate this!)

Enjoy!

And...stay tuned for our next installment in which we reveal yet another Teddy Bear and Friend. (P.S. Not affiliated with Teddy Bear and Friends, the magazine, except that we sell them here, read them ourselves & recommend them to our friends!)

Oops...

2009-01-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

Forgot to blog yesterday!

We were left with the unanswered burning question of the day: What is a Knarf? And what is this Knarf thinking? (or something like that...)

Answers:

Drum roll please......

Thinking...

As you may have guessed a Knarf is a really wonderful bear by artist Maria Devlieghere of Knarf-bears from Belgium. And this is Father Grimm, a great scruffy bear who just happens to be a "millenium" kind of a guy...he's dated January 2000 and is #1 of 3 LE. F.Grimm is about 14 inches in size, made from a really amazing scruffy, long, sparse mohair. Though he doesn't have super tight joints, he sits up quite nicely. His original price was $125, now on sale for $75.

F.G. (which he likes to be referred to, by the way) is probably bound for ebay in the next few days. If he is calling to you, let me know! Enjoy!

Featured Artist Bear of the Day

2009-01-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

Q #1: What's a Knarf Bear?

Q #2: What's could this Knarf Bear possibly be thinking about?

Answers tomorrow "In The Blog". See you then!

Better Late Than Never

2009-01-28T20:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something of interest:

Imagine our surprise while listing two distinctly different bears from our older store stock, we discovered a mutual similarity between these two unique creations...

The little guy is an artist piece named, appropriately, "Little Tyke" by Yolanda Levy (Yoyo Bears) and the big guy is a manufactured bear from Effanbee, designed by none other than Yolanda Levy!
For more info...check it out here on ebay...low, low opening bid!
Enjoy!

Saturday's Featured Bear

2009-01-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

Isn't She Lovely?
"Lucia", a beautiful 15" rusty mohair bear from FBS Bears...Fredy and Bettina Springweiler...Germany...This is one of Fredy's I think. Dressed in cotton jumper. Was $320. Now $160 during our January Sale!!
Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon "On The Blog"

Today's Featured Artist Piece and a Love Story!

2009-01-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

"A Tail Of Two Bunnies"

Once upon a time there were two fabulous creamy white curly matted mohair bunnies made by artist Mary Ann Neisz! They both stood tall and proud...at say, oh, about 18 inches in size. They were amazingly limber with their 5 disk joints. And they absolutely loved their smoky pink ultrasuede paw pads.

They kept an eye on each other with their ultrasuede eyelidded eyes...his lids brown and hers (of course) mascara'd with black...

One day, the boy bunny (lets call him Harvey Hare, shall we?), decided to visit the girl bunny. We'll call her Harriet Hare. He brought a bouquet of red roses (Harriet's favorite, no doubt) and with hat in hand, he proposed they live happily ever after.

She accepted.

They romped through the countryside and past a lovely fountain. Once, Harriet even lost her black boa... and Harvey could see that she had the same puffy alpaca tail has he did! They lived happily ever after...

Wait!

I mean, they WILL live happily ever after once they get adopted! A great Valentine pair...Harvey and Harriet Hare.

Regular $420. During our January sale, H&H Hare are just $378! Enjoy!

Thursday's Featured Artist Bear

2009-01-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

This little lady's personality speaks for itself!
Today's feature artist special is made by artist Melanie Nathan, "Maggie" stands about 9 inches tall and is made from a unique rayon fabric. She has ultrasuede paw pads and is fully jointed. She wears a little smocked cream/flowered dress and an oversized bow in her hair. This piece is undated but is probably from about 1999. She was normally $115. On our January sale, she is just $65. Enjoy! Thanks for looking and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Featured Artist of the Day

2009-01-20T15:13:00.001-08:00

Hello there fellow teddy bear lovers!

I thought I'd get a little jump on tomorrow's featured artist bear by posting my Inaugural Special! It's appropriate that today's trio of patriotic bears will help raise some very needed funds for the National Military Families Association, (http://www.nmfa.org/) an organization that supports soldiers' spouses and children.

So here are the candidates, so to speak, for a new ebay auction for 100% benefit NMFA. The trio will be grouped in one listing. I hope you get a chance to take a look and maybe even put in a bid or two.

Enjoy!

P.S. We will be open Wednesday through Saturday this week for our Super January Sale. (see our older posts or visit www.mostlybears.com for more information about the sale!

Today's Featured Artist Piece!

2009-01-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

Our first ever vid-cast from Mostly Bears! We present today's featured artist piece. Click on the forward arrow below to view:

P.S. Your feedback is appreciated!

He ain't Heavy...

2009-01-16T11:10:00.001-08:00

Here's our featured artist piece of the day who weighs in at 1 1/2 lbs!I'm not sure about this "weighty" theme I seem to have going...might not the best choice for the new year (after somehow eating my own weight in cookies over the past month)...however...

"Bismarck" is made from a really awesome reddish brown scruffy (really scruffy) wool fur by The Bear Lady. At 16 inches in size and with his manly leather collar around his neck, he would look great with a handknitted Fisherman's sweater, don'tcha think?

And Bismarck looks like he's a little worried too, so he fits right in here at Mostly Bears...(maybe he's contemplating Jenny Craig)...Originally priced at $249, our super January sale price for this awesome artist piece is $120. Enjoy!