{designed by you}

Over the past few weeks, I've worked with a number of lovely people on custom orders for all sorts of animals. What fun! Though the foxes, bears and deer never get old, it's refreshing to have a big old wolf to sink my teeth into.

It's been so much fun, in fact, that I've got a permanent spot now for anyone wanting to design their own custom piece of art. What will it be next -- armadillos? meerkats? wombats? I can't wait...

P.S. As it's the last week to order before December, all advent calendars in the shop are now 15% off! 

The First Day of Advent

Who says you can only have one advent calendar? Round here, advent is an all day event! 

We'll start the day with a cup of advent tea (Lipton's Asian white tea, today)...

...turn over the first letter of the advent message...

...have a chocolate from the advent train to keep our energy up...

...discover what our little mystery Christmas activity will be...

...and we'll finish it all off by picking who will be adopting little Mr. Bramble the grizzly bear! In case you're not subscribed yet, go ahead and do it now. You've got until I go to bed tonight!

Simply enter your email address here:

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WANTED: Home for a Grizzly

This is Bramble.

He is a would-be-adventurer, a budding explorer, a rambler in the making. This year, instead of curling up for his annual hibernation, Bramble has decided he wants to see the world. He's seen all the fun that Potato is having in London with his new family -- Paris nights at the Eiffel Tower, horse-back riding, IKEA meatballs -- and he wants a bit of that.

So, what I'm looking for is a kind volunteer to give Bramble a new home. He's pretty low-maintenance; he finds his own food, he'll sleep anywhere dark and cave-like, he is good with children and dogs.

Oh, and he's very excited about Christmas. He loves singing "Jingle Bears" and can't wait to bake his special minced pies for his new friends. Bramble would be very excited to climb into a stocking, or jump out of a present to surprise someone, if you wanted him to.

Bramble wants to make sure we stay in touch, though, and has insisted he go to one of the lovely people who are subscribed to the blog by email. So, if you'd like to give him a home and aren't already subscribed, please sign up (by entering your email below) by December 1st, when we'll pick a winner!

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Stockings

I recently hung up the felt stockings I made last year, and felt a resurging of pride! I'd really wanted to make stockings that we'll keep for a long time, and I definitely still love them one year on!

Here's Justin's, with a grizzly bear and Christmas trees:

And mine, with a moosie and folky hearts:

I need to make one for Bella, too, for this year, and now that work is over, that should be easy to find time for. I can't decide whether to put her one of her favourite animals on (a beaver or a hedgehog) or do a dog that looks like her. Maybe both? I do know that I want to do little paw-prints on the white band at the top!

So, yay for hand-stitching and hand-made all the way! I hope Santa notices!