Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our wonderful friends and customers. We are looking forward to another fabulous year at Bear Essence. Have a safe and happy New Year.....See you all soon.

IS there anybody out there feeling exactly like us???


Well Christmas is over -- all the hype, all the mad late night shopping, all the outings, all the eating, eating, eating... and now here we are tired, our bellies aching from way too much food and all we want to do is NOTHING but doze in the sun... and you know what, there is nothing wrong with that!!!

Let's make the most of this time to relax, re-energize our batteries and get ready for 2010... We have so much planned for you at Bear Essence -- it is going to be a great year!!!

A little bit more of the wedding...

Over the past week I have had many requests asking me to post a photo showing the bottom half of my dress -- well here it is. The dress was designed and made for me by Neomi Allen of High Street, Armadale. A very very talented lady -- who did an amazing job. It was made from Versace fabric which Neomi had purchased in Europe and just happened to be in my all time favourite colours... It was such a dream to wear!!!

And here are some photos of the happy couple and their young son "Kaidan" who simply stole the show!!

Now that the wedding is over, my brain has gone into overdrive thinking about all the gorgeous teddy outfits I can make when we recycle these beautiful dresses... (mine and Dani's)

**EXCITING NEWS... The wedding bug is about to strike again -- so keep posted to find out WHEN, WHERE, HOW and WHY...

Pre-Christmas Sale

Hi everyone. Now that the wedding is over it's time to get our focus back on bears. We are having a snap sale from now until Christmas Eve.
15% off bear making supplies and giftware. Does not include Bear Tales or artist bears.
Hope to see you!

The 3 bear girls.....

Kim, Josey and Kim.....the bear girls.

Wedding bears

Look at these gorgeous bears who greeted us as we entered the reception at 9 Darling St.
What a beautiful day! The ceremony.... the reception.....everything was just lovely.

weDDinG bEllS aRe RinGing...



Tomorrow is the BIG day... My son Jonathan is marrying his princess Danielle... and as is always the case with weddings, the day arrives quicker than you think. Ours was no different! So with time running out fast, I enlisted the help of my friend Karen Alderson to create the most perfect bears for such a gala event!!!

Karen, being the lifesaver that she is, made the bears and all I had to do was dress them --- thanks Karen. I was supposed to have a photo here, so that you could see how beautiful they turned out, -- but unfortunately when my back was turned, they were delivered to the venue before I even got my camera out of its cover!! So you will just have to come back to the blog next week to check them out and of course there'll also be a few pics of us in all our finery :)

A big thank you to all those people who have helped in the lead up -- you know who you are...

Hugs
Josey xo

New Giftware!

Its been so much fun unpacking and putting out our newest range of giftware. Here is a sneak peek......

"Kiko" workshop number 2 with Linda Benson

5 new gorgeous "Kiko' bears were born during Linda's Monday and Tuesday workshop. Another wonderful couple of days with loads of tips and techniques learnt. If you look closely, you might just be able to see how our pink theme at Bear Essence is rubbing off on Linda.....could it be a pink panda...?

Linda Benson workshop 1

After two wonderful days with Linda, we have 8 new little "Kiko" bears in the world. A fantastic time was had by all. Lots of new tips and techniques! Keep watching for workshop two pics soon....

Beginner's classes "Kringles"

Look at these gorgeous bears made in Josey's 2 beginner's classes! I think there may be a few new recruits to the bear making family.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

A very shabby tree indeed...... "CHIC" that is!

A Daisy a Day

Look what we have in our shop now. My favourite quilt is on loan to us for a while thanks to the lovely Jo from Sewjo Designs. We have some of her gorgeous patterns for sale now. Come and see!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary - How does your garden grow???





Well they say that a picture speaks a thousand words and as you can see our garden is just as happy as we are about being in Tooradin --- everything is BLOOMING... and it is just soooo pretty!!!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Josey has been in her element today.....decorating for her favourite time of the year. Surprise, surprise....our tree has a pink theme!

Merilyn's February Workshops....dont miss out!

We have just loaded the new workshop dates for February onto the website. Places are filling fast so dont miss out....book now. Miss Wilomeena (Edwina pictured) Buster and Trinket.
Details

Bearwildering!

We had a wonderful time in Merilyn Pursell's workshops this past weekend. Miss Edwina was a huge hit and they are all gorgeous! Merilyn will be back in Feb and I am sure those vacancies will fill super fast again.

Monica's Saturday Faces Class

Another fantastic day in our new classroom!
Lots of wonderful new techniques were learnt with the very talented Monica Spicer. We had some long distance travellers again. You can see by the happy faces it was worth the trip.
Thanks for another wonderful day!

Thank you!

What better way to spend your birthday than at the place you love with people you adore! Thank you for a wonderful birthday to all the girls in Monics's faces class.

A huge thank you to my very special friend Josey who came to visit on her day off with a yummy fruit flan and gorgeous bunch of balloons (pink of course!!!!)

HaPPy BiRthDaY tO yOu...

HaPPy BiRthDaY tO yOu...

HaPPy BiRthDaY dEAr KIMMY...

HaPPy BiRthDaY tO yOU !!!

Wishing you all the very best and much much more...

(cupcakes courtesy of oohlalacupcakes.blogspot.com)

Monica's first class in the new shop

Monica Spicer's first class at our gorgeous new shop in Tooradin. Another lovely bunch of ladies learning lots of wonderful tips and techniques to make Monica's amazing faces.

New Christopher Vine cards

Look what has just come in! Our gorgeous new range of Christopher Vine cards and stationary. Did you notice a theme.....? So pretty.

Making a night of it

What better way to spend a Tuesday night than a night out with the girls. First dinner at the Tooradin Hotel and then followed by a fun night of stitching in our gorgeous new classroom.

In the Pink...

You know how we at Bear Essence l o v e PINK -- and our new shop at Tooradin is all pink, white and SHABBY...

Well today Sandy (my hubby) surprized us by planting a beautiful PINK weeping cherry just in front of our shop -- and that for us was just the icing on the cake!!!

Between the houses of friends, the road is never long...

Mary-Anne from The Quilter's Nest, in Bunbury W.A. has been a huge fan of Josey's and Heather's work for many years. Today Mary-Anne took some "time out" from her trip across the Nullarbor to come to Tooradin and meet with Heather and Josey personally.

What a wonderful morning it was... Thanks Mary-Anne, it was such a delight to finally meet you and thanks to Duane for being the chauffeur -- can't wait til next time.

Karen's Magnolia...

The classroom was busy busy busy today as the first of the Magnolia Classes took place. As usual there was plenty of laughter and chit chatting amongst friends who had gathered together with one common interest -- the love of bears.

By the end of the day, under the expert guidance of Karen Alderson, six Magnolia's were born and everyone went home HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. It certainly was a fun day -- Thank you Vicki for bringing the MARS BAR SLICE!!! (very naughty but nice)

There's A Bear out There...

If you're driving through Tooradin, along the South Gippsland Highway, don't be surprized to see a huge bear strapped to a power pole. That's our JACK and he's on a mission...

His job is to give every passer-by a dose of the "bear-bug" Not a lethal dose of course, but just enough to tug at their heart-strings and make them feel "warm and fuzzy" inside. A job that only a bear can do!!!

So far, so good -- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...

Craftfest in Melbourne

Xanthe and Melissa Kemp painting on the mural at Craftfest in Melbourne.

One guess what they are painting.....A teddy bears picnic of course!

A small selection of our display at Craftfest. Patches, the Chapeaux Sisters and Miss Daisy have been very popular this week.

Craftfest in Melbourne

Day 3 of the show.....1 more to go. Lots of wonderful things to see and do. Here's Carol painting her little piece of the the mural at the Folk Art Association stand to raise funds for the Clown Doctors.

Our Classroom in Tooradin has now been christened!!!

Break out the champagne... Today our bear circle ladies made the trek to their new meeting place in TOORADIN. Thankfully nobody got lost on the way and as usual the day was spent full of fun, laughter and of course stitching... One of the highlights was strolling down to the Tooradin Bakery for lunch... Soooo many yummy choices -- Ladies this could be dangerous!