long time no blog : )

Hi every one!!

hope you are all prepared for Christmas..... I still have to wrap all the presents but that's my fav bit.. apart from the un wrapping :) and the roast :D... he he.

I actual had the roast last night.... as my family all have partners and are spending time with them this Christmas i am spending Christmas on my own : ( well I'm kinda looking forward to it I live in house with 6-9 people so time on your own is hard to come by.

well I got a new job and have been working super hard so i have not had to much time to work on my bears..... but I have done allot of tweaking patterns and try new things and will be selling some bears in the new year.

one of the new things I have been doing is making sock monkeys :0

they are sooo cute,..,..,.., the picture below is my first monkey called +Oogaly Boogaly st Claire+

i just love him!!!

well hope you all have a very merry Christmas x's Matthew

New Bears : )

so the end of my holiday has come and i am all ready to go back to work tomorrow :) i have taken a picture of my bears to share with you (except 1 because my battery died on the camera) so i hope you like them.. i will be putting them on e-Bay tonight on a 5 day auction so fingers crossed ....

x's Matthew

The BIG Flop :)

hi guys the end of my 2 wees is finished :( and I'm getting Ready to go back to the real world! so as you can probably tell by the title i didn't finish the big 10 but i have finished 5.... its not that i didn't work hard enough its just that i am to hard on myself.... i have completely sewn 14 bears nearly made 11 but only finished 5..I'm sure i will finish the rest some day but if i am not 100% on the bear i will just put it to the side and start another. On the plus side i did try lots of new things and i lent a lot i have even more stuff to try out and can't wait to start :) i will put some pictures up for you tonight or tomorrow...

x's Matthew

New bears on eBay : )

hi all!!! just a quick one to say hi and to let you know that i have two new creations on eBay... both are o.o.a.k and are super cute :)

if you want to check them out their is a link at the top of the page........

hope every one is enjoying the sun/rain sun/rain i wish it would make up its mind :)

x's Matthew..

and also my 10 bear challenge is going good i am having soooo much fun will take some pictures for you all as soon as i can.

x's Mattthew

NEW BEARS COMMING SOON :)

hi all!! hope every one is ok....

i wanted to "blog" and let you know about my 10 bear challenge....

i have to take 2 weeks holiday from work and have decided to put this time into bear making, so i have set myself a target of 10 bears.

i am soooo excited to do this and can't wait to get started...

i plan to make 2 bigger bears, 2 bun buns, 4 little bears and 2 pandas!!!

yep PANDAS!!! as promised

so i will keep you updated on my progress as i go and i can't wait to see them all finished.

i have also been working on 2 new one of a kind toys that i plan to put on ebay on Friday...

well speak soon x Matthew..

p.s. the photo is of *PIP* and *BOW*...pip is my bun bun (he is still unfinished) but i wanted to shoe you anyway :)

smiles from *BOW*

I was sitting on my bed the other night just checking my e-mails when i noticed something moving out the corner of my eye!! when i looked their was nothing there?? just my usual shelf of bears.... nothing strange... except when i look closer *BOW* who has been sitting there among some other crazy bears had moved and instead of looking straight ahead he was now looking towards me. I immediately ask my family if anyone had moved him, the all looked at me as i was crazy and told me they hadn't touched it... sooo?? how did he move?? i guess i will never know for sure but i am a strong believer that bears have a life off their own, one that we will never be able to properly see but we get glimpses of if we are really lucky :)

i would love to know if any thing like this has happened to anyone else?

let me know

good night x's *MATTHEW*

New bears on eBay

New Bear on eBay!!

i have finally decided to share the smiles of **Tommy** the sailor bear, he has been sitting watching over me for a few weeks now and helping me out at my work desk where he can! :) but i have decided to let him go and let him be inspiration to someone else...

he helped me created my other bear for sale on eBay **Jo-JO** the clown bear who i just love!! i love the way he came out looking so old and frumpy.. and i just love the colours in his hat... very 1950's!!

i have always loved clown bears and hope to do a whole circus one day soon!!

but i have sooo many ideas swimming around my head at the moment and i am just trying to find time to try them all out..

well i hope you enjoy the photos of **Jo-Jo** and cant wait to get my head onto fabric and show you all my new ideas :)

hope every one is enjoying the sunshine x's Matthew...

**Tommy the sailor**

say hello to **TOMMY** my newest bear:)

he looks soo cute sitting in my book shelve watching over me as i work.

i cant decide if i am going to sell him just yet or if he is going to keep me company at my work desk???

but i wanted to share him with every one and i hope he will make you smile as much as he makes me :)

my next big project is to make some pandas! and i cant wait to start, but first i have to find the perfect mohair. I have been looking on the web but it so hard to do it that way because unless you know what you are ordering it can be a bit hit or miss.... so i think i will have to wait until i get the chance to go and see the mohair at a bear fair :(

well i hope every one is enjoying the bits of sun we keep getting

and i will speak soon :)

x's Matthew

Check out my Slide Show!

MYBIRTHDAY : )

Thank you to every one who wished me a Happy Birthday!!!

I had such a perfect day and went into London city to celebrate.... and that i did!!!

all my brothers and sisters, and their partners came with me making it the best birthday ever....

We started of eating at my favorite noodle bar "Ned's Noodles" !yummm! and even my sister who doesn't even like noodles enjoyed her food... and with big round tum's we headed out towards Piccadilly circus stopping every 5 seconds to take a picture (or 5)...

once we got to Piccadilly circus we went to a lovely Irish pub where they play live music and danced and laughed for hours....

all of us now though are still suffering from cheek ache but i think it was worth it.... : )

so i leave you with some pictures of the best night ever,...

**New Bear and Bun,Bun**

**hello from matthew's bears**

so i have just finished my new bear and bun,bun and i love them. The bear is call *Penny* she is soooo sweet and almost a panda (she has darker arms & legs) : p and the sweet bun bun is called *Dolly* i just love her socks :)

they will be on eBay tomorrow night (28/03)....

hope you all have a nice weekend.....

see you soon x's

Matthew

Happy Easter.......

***SOME SPRING TIME INSPIRATION***

I hope that every one is having a nice Easter and enjoying the snow!!! yes it snowed, ok only a little but it was enough to get the creativity flowing......

i have taken a picture of some other bits and bobs that i have found for my spring update and if you look hard you will see a sneak peak of two of my new toys. :)

i was hoping to have around 6 new creations to show you at the end of the week but i have been called into work to cover sickness.... so i can't do as much but i can't wait to show you all what i have done......

and lastly a BIG thank you for all the wonderful comments about my bears and bun,bun's you have left me. it makes me soooo happy :)

so x's to all and have a happy Easter and i will see you on Friday.

love Matthew

**Matthew's Bears**

Pierre the bun bun is here :)

I have been working on a new pattern for Easter and i am soooooo pleases with how he came out :) he really dose look like a well loved toy.....

i hand dyed his mohaire a buitful pale blue colour that just compleatly reminds me of easter eggs yum yum :)

and his sad eyes make me just want to eat him up :)

he is available now on eBay (eBay name matthewhawkins1984)

I am still having my spring update on march 28th and hope to be making some more bun,buns for then. so watch this space :)

have a nice weekend love ***matthew's bears***

~*~ Easter bun bun coming soon ~*~

I have taken a quick pic to give you all a sneak peek at my newest creation...... :)

i hand dyed her mohair a pale blue (almost a baby blue) and then aged it so the colour looks ultra faded.....

i also found some vintage goodies to dress her with and can't wait to show her off ..... :p

she will be appearing on eBay in the next few days!!! happy bidding.

*Also big spring update coming on march 28th watch this space for more info*

Hello from **Bow & Shine**

Hello from "Bow & Shine"

These are 2 of my new bears available on eBay.

I have always been inspired by old bears, toys, and art and wanted to create bears that looked like toys that have been loved and played with over the years rather than old bears that has been sitting on the top shelf, out of reach from children... and i think these two bears are just that "well loved toy's".

i f you want more info drop me an email any time and i will get back to you.

and watch this space for more info on up and coming bears..... new bears coming at the end of next week :)

love Matthew's Bears x

About me :)

Hello all, and welcome to my first ever blog :)......

My name is Matthew Hawkins from England and I'm 23 years old (until march 28th woooo).

i have been making bears as a hobby for a few years now... I stumbled upon the world of artist bears just by chance 3 years ago when i was broke and my mum was turning 40 (ahhh she will kill me :p) and i decided to try and make her a teddy bear as she love to collect them.... but i had no idea where to start (i didn't even know what mohair was) so i went to the library and search for books to help me..... and i found one!!! but i still had no idea where to get the bits from???? so it was back to the library for some more research. I found a mohair supplier on the Internet and phoned them up for some help and they invited me to come and see them the next weekend at the hugglets bear fair. So i went, and as i walked in the door my mouth hit the floor and i was shocked at how many wonderful bears their were.... so i found some mohair and a pattern and could not wait to start...I made my first bear & my mum loved it..... looking back i can see how bad it was made.... but as soon as i made it i was hooked and have been making bears since.

I started just making bears from other peoples patterns and giving them to family but always wanted something more than these patterns were giving me.. and set to work trying to make my own patterns..... but with little success.... but after time i started to get fluff balls that slightly resembled bears..... and i kept on working until i came up with something that i really liked.... i am still learning with every bear i make but it seems to be getting easier.... and that's it really... well i hope u like my bears to and keep checking back for more info on my bears... :)

love **Matthew's Bears**