Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

STUNNING!!!! they are adorable.  
Hugs
Jacqui

I love these two little bears.  The black one is my favourite (I collect black bears) but I must say his pal is very charming too.

Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Sue

What a sweet little girl Amelia is.  She reminds me of the books I used to read as a child by Enid Blyton "Amelia Jane".

Hugs and best wishes
Jacqui x :hug:

Hi Chloe

Its Tunnock here  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  I have been following your travels with interest, you have been having some amazing experiences.

Major Sloth!  you are so clever making these Sloths.  I will look forward to seeing you at Hugglets.  I wish you all the very best.
Hugs
Jacqui x

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs
Jacqui

Beautiful bears, I love the eyes and the clothes, wonderful

Hugs
Jacqui

Happy May to Everyone!

I would like to show you what I have been doing for the last few weeks, URCHINS, URCHINS and more URCHINS, I am now counting Urchins instead of sheep to get to sleep these days :crackup:  :crackup:

I have done a few little different touches to Willy and Boo, but so she does not feel left out I have put a picture of April on for you to see too, can't have the boys taking over LOL!  and a family shot of Urchin tearaways

Hope you like them.
Hugs and best wishes
Jacquix

Thanks everyone for being brave enough to peep at Clawdius.  I will try on the next one not to get a scowl :crackup:

Have a super weekend.
Hugs
Jacqui

This is Clawdius a rather grumpy looking wacky cat.  I hope he makes you smile.  I have been having a go at some needle felting and dyeing my own wool, gosh it is fun.

Hi Roxanne

I have just passed the link onto my Son...I am sure he will find inspiration from these hairdo's LOL  he is not practicing on ME!! thats for sure :crackup:
Hugs
Jacqui x

Throw NOTHING away :crackup:  :crackup: the amount of times I have lost the back of an ear is incredible, I now have enough odd ear pieces that I have found after the bears had been finished that I could sew them altogether and make a bear from them  :crackup:  :crackup:

Hugs
Jacqui x

This is Prestbury a 23 inch traditional style bear made from a beautiful imitation Sable, who is available on my Open Editions page on my website.

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead.
Jacqui xx

Hi Karen

You are so right, auctions are getting lost because of all the store items are now in the listings, this is already happening on the UK site.  It has had a big effect as you seem not to get as many views on your item (well it might just be me LOL) or watchers as people have to go through to much now.  I know you get your normal followers who search you out and add you as a favorite still, but we are always trying to attract new followers and if they are getting fed up looking through all the pages that they have to do now, it is a bit of a waste of time and money listing.  I for one miss how it used to be with the Featured listing, those were the good ol day

As mentioned in my earlier post about Charlie bears, I did a search myself under Artist Bears, and 300+ came up in the search out of 645 artist bears, fortunately only 1 was in the One of a Kind bit, but they are being sold as Artist Bears on Ebay and even at Hugglets yesterday, which is so mis-leading, I understand some are artist designs but they are still mass produced and not by the artist.  Perhaps this should be another thread    basically because of the alterations to eBay and all store items being shown Charlies are swamping us, and you are quite right Shane I have noticed the same about R John Wright, I do believe in competition, but these bears should go under their own category like Steiff, Deans etc as there is more than enough of them listed to qualify for one.

Edie is quite right, I can understand this happening when people opt for a 2nd category for more exposure but as a main selling category its misleading and I thought eBay was keen to make sure items are listed correctly.  Well I have had my moan AGAIN!!! sorry Karen for interrupting you thread for my moaning session  :hug:    I know Bearpile and Etsy are great but spreading yourself around the internet for maximum exposure is good, and thats where eBay has been good in the past.  The trouble is one voice to eBay is no good, I have even thought a petition might help saying how much their changes are affecting us, not for the good as they so want to put over to everyone.

Its so sad that more of us have moved away from ebay, when we used to like using it.  I used to love going on and seeing how many views my bear had and watchers and maybe the odd bid  :crackup: it was a bit of excitement, gosh I must be a really sad person LOL!!!

Well I am back off to my hole again,  Sorry again Karen!

Hugs To All.
Jacqui

I have an ebay store which I used to list my bear making materials, I did this for a number of years, and used the auction format for my bears.  I thought it was great until I found out late last year that because years ago when I registered to be an ebay member I had signed onto the .com site instead of the .co.uk site (I did not think at the time it would have made a difference, silly me!)that if I list an item for sale on .com it is a bit better and I get the offers that are available, but when I list on the .co.uk site (where my store is as they have recognised the address for this) I pay double to list every item and a higher final selling fee in the UK it is 20p per shop item in the US it is 40p per shop item, this soon mounts up when you have 100 items in your store.  You can imagine the shock I got to find this out that other people who list bear making materials were paying a lot less than me, so I rang up ebay and what a joke it has taken 3 months for them to find an answer for me.  After being told they could see the mistake that I was being overcharged for over 3 years, they would get their investigation team to look at it and  give me back all my over payments, which is quite a bit of money.  Well I bet you are not surprised to hear that after another phone call I had to make to see what was going on, I was told I was not entitled to any refunds I pay more because I list on .co.uk and that it would be cheaper if I listed on .com.  I said but my store is registered to uk etc, they said they can see my point but even though I live in the UK I first signed up using the ebay.com page.  To add insult to injury they then said if I was to close my store and my account and re-open on the UK site I would pay the right price, as if I was going to do that after all the feedback scores with 100% to throw them away, and all my favorite sellers.  So with that I do not list my materials anymore and only put the odd bear onto ebay when I feel like it to use it as an advertising spot.  I think ebay has caused us all problems in one form or another especially in the pocket, it is such a shame.

I have a question to ask if anyone can help, why do Charlie Bears get listed in the Artist section when they are not artist made bears?  Shouldn't Charlie bears have a heading for themselves, because all us artists are getting lost amongst the shops listing every Charlie Bear they have.

Well back to my point...sorry waffled on a bit, just be careful when opening a store check you are on the right site that you originally joined.

Wishing you all a super weekend
Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Sue

Don't feel daft, I know what it is like to worry over fishy emails, the turmoil you get yourself into whether you should reply or ignore.  Its best to be on the safe side and cover your corners. 

Very best wishes
Hugs
Jacqui x

Hi Sue

These messages will not appear in your orders folder unless the collector orders the item and adds their address and how they want to pay etc.  These automated messages are just enquiries, more often than not the collector is just checking to make sure the bear is still available and how they can pay, plus what shipping charges might be etc.  I have a lot of people who contact me off Bearpile who do not add messages onto the automated one but do communicate back when I send out a reply to the first contact poitnt.

Best wishes
Jacqui x

Hi Sue

The message you have received is an automated one that comes through to you when a collector shows an interest in you bear.  Sometimes they add their own wordage to this message, but others do not.  In most cases they are genuine emails, but you do get the odd one or two which lead to nothing.

Don't ignore them just in case they are for real.  Good Luck.

Hugs
Jacqui x

Hi Brenda

It is ME!!!    The bear is called Adam.  I do sell this pattern if that is any help, its a good traditional style bear pattern.  If I can be of any help just let me know.

Hugs and best wishes :hug:
Jacqui

Hi Jane

I will be exhibiting again STAND 112 ... THE BASEMENT.  I will look forward to seeing you again.  If we do not get to chat, wishing you a brilliant show  :hug:

Hugs
Jacqui

Thank you everyone for stopping by and saying hello to Dolly Mixture, you have cheered me up with your kind words as I am feeling a bit under the weather at the moment..typical with Hugglets around the corner

Hugs to you all :hug:
Jacqui

Thanks everyone for all your lovely comments, you are such a lovely bunch  :hug:

Have a super weekend.
Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Linda

Fringo's face is brilliant, his expression makes you smile.  Good luck with the show.
Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Jeanette

Sebastian is wonderful, such a soulful looking bear, I love him    
Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Amanda

Marsha is lovely, I like the colour combination too.  A real cutie    
Hugs
Jacqui

Hi Tomi

What a stunning face this bear has, you have done a wonderful job creating this lovely bear :clap:  :clap:  :clap:
Hugs
Jacqui