Hoppy Easter!

Wow, where has the time gone!  Sorry for not posting here so regularly I am rushed off my feet with lots of orders and working on some very exciting new projects, yes I promise I will share soon ;)  By the way if you want to keep up to date more regularly with this Country Bumpkin then I post most days on Facebook. 

So, how have you all been, I do hope the days are treating you kindly?  Spring arrived with beautiful balmy sunny days for a week, blossom on my plum trees, lambs in the field behind us, birds busily nesting and now I'm sat here with a wooly jumper and slippers on with the weather folks threatening snow showers!

I've been so busy I'm not sure if I showed you my new pdf pattern for this Rabbit feeling very smart all dressed up.  With just a little felt you can make these sweet ornaments to hang in your home, I'll be making a few more this Easter break.

Recently I've been shown some beautiful items that my clever customers have created with my Bumpkin Embroidery Patterns. So with their kind permission we can all enjoy their creativity and with these Bunnies I wish you all a very Happy Easter x

Bunny & her Teacups created into a beautiful gift by Karen Kimshel 

Precious Baby Quilt by Stephanie Sidoti 

Embroidery, love her use of fabric, by Ming-ru Lee

Stunning Quilt in progress by Caroline Macdonald

Droplets of sun

We are having lovely sunny Spring days and our daffodils are glowing beautifully! I took some shots after a rain shower, I just love the way the raindrops glisten like little drops of silver. I can hear little lambs in the barn behind our garden, so Spring really has arrived at long last! I must create a new Spring Banner here, another item for my To Do List!


I've got so much going on behind the scenes here I can't wait to show you everything. I'm working hard on new product photographs to update everything and have so many new delights to share including lots of new party items. But first I have custom Bears to finish and new embroidery patterns to start. On the 31st March I'll have a feature of my embroidery patterns in the gorgeousBustle & Sew online Magazine, you can subscribe to it for only $2.50 a month and there are a beautiful variety of patterns from other people included, just such fun. Right, back to work for me, thanks so much for visiting, Hugs, Catherine x

Easter on the way!

Anyone getting in the mood for Easter Eggs yet?! Well if you are planning an Easter Egg Hunt why not have a bit of extra fun with my new Custom Hunt Invitations & Bunny Decorations Kit. The daffodils have kindly come out into flower just in time for me to take some photos of these new friends nestled in amongst them with their Easter Eggs, all ready to be found! Not sure what the neighbours think of me but who cares ;)

These Bunnies would be just as adorable as part of your indoor Easter decorations, popping out of a flower pot with Spring blooms in, nestled amongst a group of Easter Eggs.

These delightful Bunnies even love to be part of puppet shows, how about that for an Easter project, making a little theatre out of cardboard boxes, paint them up and let the Bunnies perform!

You can find these new friends, along with Easter Cards, in the Easter section of my Etsy Store.





Thanks for hopping by! Hugs, Catherine x

Hello!

I'm still here!

It's been all go behind the scenes, I nearly have a new Bear ready to introduce, I must say I'm loving this chap! He's a new design and a sweet old time bear in a beautiful teddy gold. Just a day or two and he'll be ready, can't wait to give him a proper hug and share him with you all. I've also been putting a lot of thought into my paper products photos to keep improving on them, the sun has been kind enough to provide some nice natural light. I've also got some very exciting news to share next week! So lots to come I promise. In the meantime here are some photos of the Castle in our local forest, can't you just imagine how it must have been when ladies strolled around the lake in their grand dresses!



Thanks for visiting, your comments always mean a lot. See you back soon, Hugs, Catherine x

Sunlight captured in a Raindrop

Just as my daffodils decided to flower the rain has hardly stopped! But what delight this can bring when the sun peers through the clouds, creating little drops of silver on the petals! I have been so inspired by the beautiful photography of Georgianna Lane that I have been getting back to my photography lately and have just started a new Flickr account just for my Bumpkin Photography. I will enjoy sharing lots of images showing my love of nature.


Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, I hope the Easter Bunny will visit you all! Catherine x

An Easter friend!

I was rather sick last week so behind in my Bear making plans, but I now have a new design to try out and hope to start cutting out the pattern tomorrow. I have some gorgeous mohairs I can't wait to create with. I have been really enjoying knitting lately and just finished this little Easter Egg warmer! She stays quite still and only hops around if she smells chocolate!! I made her for my little 2 year old niece so she will be heading off to England for Easter.

I'm also thrilled to say that my Bunny & her Teacup Print is currently being featured alongside other gorgeous Bunnies over at this lovely Blog, thank you Mary x

Right I'd better hop back to work! See you soon, Catherine x

Spring Delights!

I'm thrilled to finally be able to share my new Spring time creations with you.

It had been a long winter, the Bears were all rested and the rays of Spring sunshine brought the village to life. The wild flowers brightened up the hillsides and the tress were full of Cherry Blossom. This could only mean one thing to the Bumpkin friends - the Blossom Hop! This dance had become quite a tradition with the first flurry of Blossom in the air - come along and join in!


This Print would make a charming Easter gift instead of chocolate, a gift that lasts all year long! Also in my Etsy Store you can find this adorable set of Easter Cards, showing The Blossom Hop, The Easter Egg Race and My Favourite Springtime Moment.








Next up is starting on a new mohair Bear and sharing photos of a Woodland Baby Shower with you all. Big Hugs, Catherine & Easter Friends xx

Cosiness at Easter Time

I'm so glad you've been enjoying the photos of our short trip to France, here are some more of the sweetest interior shop in Lille, of course I found the teddy bear (yup that's me). What a cosy home you could make from all these delights! Some Spring sunshine is forecast for this Easter weekend so looking forward to discovering a new park for an Easter walk, maybe we'll even see some Easter Bunnies! We've got the cutest wee Spring lambs in the field behind our garden, I'll take some photos of them to share with you all next week. Back to my bear making for now. Have a lovely Easter. Catherine x

Cards, Sales and Cupcakes!

It's been a hive of activity here in the world of Bumpkin Bears. The bears and I have been busy creating individual note cards of most of my prints so you can now pick and choose which you would like from my Etsy store.





I was inspired by a gorgeous pastel coloured set of cupcakes I saw in a Country Living magazine and immediately had this image in my mind -

"One cake is never quite enough thought Bear as he rubbed his tummy. He never could resist Cupcakes and thought if he disguised himself with the cherry on his head that the other bears would not notice if he had just one more!"

This print "One Cupcake is never enough" is available in my store or directly from me.



You may have noticed I created a new banner here with The Merry Band of bears announcing our Easter Sale from now until April 12th. We are offering a bear rolling 25% discount off all our Prints. So they hope you have fun exploring.

The daffodils in my garden are flowering, I'll share some photos over the next few days. Thanks for popping by,
Beary Hugs, Catherine and the Bears xx

Lamykins!

I wonder if any of you got taken in by an April Fool's joke?! Well, I did by BBC TV!! They showed a very small documentary, amazingly filmed (so I thought!) of a colony of penguins they had discovered that FLEW!! Well they got me totally, I excitedly told my fiance about it that evening!! Well the next day I found out it was all done with computer graphics, how convincing can that be!! Silly me (blush blush!).

Cherry Blossom has been adopted by a wonderful new mum in the States and I am busy finishing another chap, trying out a new chubby tummy design so stay tuned!

I just ADORE lambs, growing up I would spend every Easter break with my Granny in the English countryside helping at the next door farm with their lambing season. Despite being quite squemish about blood etc I helped quite a few lambs being born, and any that were rejected I hand raised with the bottle. I loved feeding these little sweeties and always gave each one a name. So you can imagine my delight when I saw that the sheep in the field behind our garden had little lambs, they are too cute as you can see in the photo :)

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives, Hugs, Catherine x

The simple things in life..

Time seems to have flown this week, can't believe it's Friday already. I've been working on a new smaller bear design and cut the pattern out today in a gorgeous combo of faux furs. I love the soft feel of furs, but oh boy you sure do run the risk of disappearing behind a mountain of fluff when cutting it out!!
I think the colour combo will be rather sweet, think strawberries and chocolate!

Over Easter we went to Ikea, we needed a new office chair and I got some really pretty pink fabric covered storage boxes to help tidy my work space! Our cats thought that the box that had held the chair was just brilliant, I cut out some other holes underneath it to make it even more fun! Isn't it funny how you could spend a fortune on toys but it's the simple cardboard boxes that are just the best!





I have been busy packaging bears this week to send to their new homes, I always get attached to my bears but I feel so much better when I hear how loved they are by their new family. I'll be back soon hopefully with photos of a new bear. Have a great weekend, Catherine x

Dreaming of a White... Easter!

Well, I hope you are all having a nice Easter Break. I bought some chocolate Easter friends for my fiance (I can't eat chocolate right now due to health probs!), I thought they were too cute to eat so I took a quick photo before they disappeared for good!! mmmm Belgian chocolate is too yummy! Yesterday morning was beautifully sunny so I got out in the garden to do some Spring pruning, then last night what did we have .... Snow!!




It had mostly melted away this morning but I got a few photos. The plum blossom seems to have survived, a few years ago we inherited a few smallish Plum trees from an allotment. I wasn't sure they would survive being moved, but last Summer we had juicy plums :) I love watching plants grow, love to take cuttings and grow from seed. I've got some cuttings in my cold frame and some seem to have survived through the winter, so can't wait to see them grow on in the Summer in the garden. Will be starting a new bear next week, so will be back soon. Hugs, Catherine x

Snow and Blossom!

I noticed yesterday that the white blossom has started to appear on my plum trees and then today we've got SNOW! It's going to be a very soggy cold Easter weekend so not much fun for the Easter bunny to go and hide all the eggs! I've got a wild bunny that visits my garden, I'll try to get a photo of him to post soon. It's been a busy week, Milo my blue bear will be heading off to his new Mummy in the States, wonderful that he will also be joining some other Bumpkin Bears, a Bumpkin reunion!

I want to wish you all a really Happy Easter, I found this hilarious photo of a bunny and thought I'd add a few extras in photoshop! Chat again soon, Easter Hugs, Catherine x

Softies Easter Parade!

Do pop along to Lisa's Softies Easter Parade, you can vote for your favourites in the different sections - My little ted and Chick set (Sprite and Chirpie) are in the Hot Chicks part of the parade - do pop along for all sorts of Eastery wonders :)

click here to visit the Parade