What Happened to the Blue Rabbits (and All Cuddlies!) when They go to Forever Homes or Work

Hello Everyone:  Cy Bear back again, despite things still taking a little longer to happen than they used to when the laptop was functioning before the new hard disk was fitted.  We're delighted to tell you that the Blue Rabbit Saga has come to an end, with the departure on - Friday - as planned - of Blue Rabbit No.7.

Here is No,7, standing on top of the radiator in the living room, under a silk-printed picture of The Fobidden City in Beijing, China - which has been a feature in Isobel's home since the 1980's when she and Peter lived in Canada, and is a present from a Chinese scientist who became a friend of theirs, although - alas - they have lost touch with that family since.  It happens, unfortunately:  and the picture is part of what is known as "The China Wall" in our Family.

We thought you'd like to see what happened to ALL  the Blue Rabbits - including the two Oscars -), who were part of the original packages) once the Farewell Ceremonies they all went through had happened.

First of all, they all move to the Bedroom, where the bed becomes the focus of attention.
 

I then get out of the way, and Isobel  gets the wrapping materials together prior to getting the Blue Rabbits (or any other COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toy for that matter) prepared for their respective journeys - whether within the UK or globally.

Here you can see, in the foreground, the polyester Mail Envelope (the biggest size we can lay our hands on!) plus the reel of cellotape and required scissors to get the job done. On the left in the back ground is the chemical free tissue paper (Blue Rabbits required two separate pieces, cellotaped together, because they are such long legged - and with big ears too!- toys) and the box in which the bubble wrap which every travelling toy is encased in before being put into the envelope.

Because we didn't want the ears to get unnecessarily bent in transit, Isobel cut off a piece and wrapped the ears separately before wrapping the Rabbits in the tissue paper.  Then the wrapping process began, until the package looked like this:

With me in the background (I supervise EVERY package that leaves the COLDHAMCUDDLIES premises!), here's Blue Rabbit No: 7 in the tissue paper, and the next photograph shows the roll of bubble wrap the parcel ends up being finished with:

The bubble wrap roll is conveniently just wide enough to place a Blue Rabbit in the middle of it, so Isobel just cut off sufficient for a single overlap and then cellotape was used to join up the package on the sides and at the end.  Then the Toys are put into the Mailing Envelope, which is then folded in such a way as to make it easier for the postal authorities to cope with, put into Isobel's shopping trolley (the Blue Rabbits were actually longer than the trolley bag, usually) and ended up in the local Post Office the next time (usually the following day) Isobel was going shopping.
Because of the size and shape, all the Blue Rabbits had to be treated as medium-sized parcels (instead of  large letter-sized packages!) so they all ended up being sent Second Class, but Signed For - which Royal Mail promises to deliver within 3 Working Days of dispatch.  As it was Friday morning that Blue Rabbit No.7 was dispatched from Kirkby in Ashfield, it will likely be Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week before he gets to Oxford.   Ms KA, our Oxford Against Cutting contact, will likely have to pick him up from the Sorting Office so it may well be Thursday or Friday before they meet each other - because Isobel was told that MsKA is very busy organising a Poster Campaign aimed at schools in their local area before the summer holidays begin.  Apparently, it is at that time in the year  that the information warning about the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation is most required.
Isobel and I are already missing the Blue Rabbits - they did take up quite a lot of space and time, however enjoyable it has been getting to know them!  However, we've already started on another long-term project - Teddy Bears.  This coming Monday, Isobel is going to a meeting of a newly-organised Craft Group set up at St.Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham (where we've already attended a Christmas Bazaar in the past) where a group of congregation regulars are using their various crafting skills to make things for sale - with a percentage of their cost going to help fund the cost of the Building's maintenance.  Isobel is making  small dressed Teddy Bears, based on these two friends of mine - 

Little Ed Ted (L) and Little Red Ted

One of the Ladies in the group has already said she will make Isobel a pattern for a Priestly Cassock and once received, we'll make them up in Black, Maroon and - if requested to do so - in White as well.  Then, possibly, these new additions to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Shop will be called Padre Bear, Bishop Bear, and Papa Bear.   Keep watching this space, Folks!  Meanwhile - have a good week Everyone.  I'll keep you posted! Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Returning from a Technology Wilderness.......

Hello there Everyone! 

Cy Bear back with you all again!  Do very much hope that you've not forgotten and/or given up on us!

Blue Rabbits 3 & 4 before being wrapped up and prepared for their trip to Oxfordshire.

 Isobel has been suffering many technology-related travails during the month-long absence from these pages, and we're still not completely back to normal.  We're nearly there, but with Bank Holidays in both the United Kingdom and the USA (where they are commemorating Memorial Day this Monday), the various Help Desks that have become a feature in Isobel's working life recently are not working at their usual rate(s)!


Our trials have included problems with both the laptop, and smartphone, both caused by a shaky input of a Google password via the latter, which caused that august organisation to upgrade EVERY ACCOUNT we are linked to on Google to the "new" email address, and it then not syncing with sites like our Etsy.com shop.  On the laptop front, we had  hard disk failure, corrupted operating system and finally, when they were replaced, the need for updates on the latter, and different browser system versions operating nowadays, compared with when we first started on Etsy.  At least, that is what Isobel believes the problems to be.  She thinks that the Google bit is now righted.  We still await help from Etsy Support, who have sent back a Recovery pathway for Isobel to follow - but she has sent back some further questions about which password she has to input, and where/when: she doesn't want to have to start out all over again!!  And, we THOUGHT Technology was supposed to speed things up!!!!(NOT!!!).

In the meantime, sewing has continued apace and we are now at the point that Blue Rabbits 4-6 have been completed, posted to (and received by) the Oxford Against Cutting (OAC) offices. We then received a bonus order for Blue Rabbit No. 7 - which MsKA (our OAC contact throughout the Blue Rabbit Saga) has decided will become a prize for her good work to the Young Girl Star in the OAC film which features the Original Photographs on which Oscar, the original OAC Blue Rabbit Mascot 

is based.

Blue Rabbit No.5

 Blue Rabbit 7 is currently at the sewing-the-individual-pieces-together stage (which we've shown in our recent posts) and Isobel hopes to have him en route to Oxford by the end of this week.

As a reminder - here's the pieces being putting together bit of the process illustrated

Once Blue Rabbit 7 has been presented, we're going to ask MsKA for permission to upload pics from the OAC website, of all the Blue Rabbits together at work (or have one taken), and some of their newly acquired friends.  If granted, we think that it will round off this latest saga in the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Shop life, and we can embark on pastures new.  Of course, we'll always be prepared to return to the Blue Rabbit "world" should other schools or interested parties, who use the Special Tutorial Pack (which includes the Blue Rabbits as an optional extra) want their own Blue Rabbit Models to enhance their presentations on the important facts about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) - which is at the heart of all this activity on the OAC and COLDHAMCUDDLIES parts.

In the interim, Isobel finally managed to figure out just how to make our leggy Cuddlies stand up better.  That part of our Toys' anatomies has always been a weak spot for us, and Blue Rabbit 5, as well as No.6 (shown immediately above here) are now made in this new way (as well as in the future!  The result of an 0530 brainwave one morning in this production process!!).  I'll let you into the secret at another, suitable time, but believe me, it does make a world of difference!


I ended our last post at the end of April, with some photos of a potential new Cuddly offering - Unicorns.  The following week, Isobel handed over some more of her non-fitting wardrobe to the Samaritans Charity Shop here in Kirkby in Ashfield, and met another new potential Cuddly.  He was purchased, and will follow Pink Unicorn into the Toy Animal Hospital to undergo the same "treatment", during which Isobel will "harvest" another Toy Animal pattern - to be used to introduce another new Member of the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toy family.

He looks like this  - and when ready to be displayed in our Shop (COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com) will become the FIRST Dog Toy we've made since our 2010 beginnings.  However, the planned future of both these sample toys has been slightly amended.  Instead of joining the Cuddlies'Shop, to find a new home for them, Isobel is going to give them both some additional stuffing and give them back to the Samaritan's Charity Shop. That way, they can make a little bit more  money from them than they already have by Isobel's purchasing them.  Their original labels will be retained too - hopefully this can be a truly win-win situation all around.

Here's to this week's new beginnings.  Thanks to all the hiccups recently, the administration of the Shop is hopelessly behind, and Isobel is going to take the opportunity of re-vamping the whole thing - new descriptions, new tags etc.  The summer months are traditionally a quiet time for us and we're determined to be back to normal routine well in time for the September Holiday occasions.  We'll keep you posted as we go along, of course.

Meanwhile - have a good week Everyone.  It's good to be back again.

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Blue Rabbits No.2 and No.3 Ready for the Off + New Cuddlies in the Offing.

Good afternoon, Folks!  Just a little later than normal, because Isobel has been doing some needed admin jobs before embarking on this week's bulletin here.

Cy Bear greeting you all - and hoping that you've all had a good week, and are ready for what the next one will produce!  We seem to have returned to Winter - we even had to turn the central heating back on yesterday, because the temperatures have plummeted and we're now awaiting the proper onset of an English Spring.

As our head line indicates, the Blue Rabbit production line has continued apace - during a particularly busy work for Isobel - and apart from a few more stitches required to strengthen Blue Rabbit 3's arms so that they will withstand lots of hugs, he's now ready to join Blue Rabbit 2.  Isobel intends to post the two of them off to Oxfordshire tomorrow morning (from neighbouring Sutton in Ashfield's Post Office, rather than our usual one in Kirkby in Asfhield) when she meets with one of the other "Hedgehog Gals" (there are normally three of them - the third lady is away for a few days visit to the Continent) for a fortnightly cup of coffee.  Hedgehogs do form the basis of their get-togethers, but the three ladies seem to cover a multitude of subjects and times goes by in a flash for them.  What with Easter etc. it's been sometime since a chat has taken place between any of them, and Isobel is looking forward to it - immensely.

Meanwhile, before the two Blue Rabbit travellers get wrapped up, there will be a farewell photograph with me in between them - and then they will be prepared for the journey tomorrow:

No.2 is on the right

No.3's arms are currently a little long and he looks more like a scarecrow presently.  When he's had the extra strengthening "treatment", Isobel  believes he will look a little more welcoming  as does  No.2!

Meanwhile, during the week, Isobel made the acquaintance of a pink and purple Unicorn Toy during a visit to one of the local Shops in Kirkby in Ashfield late last week.  She had just arrived on the shelves of the Samaritans Charity Shop - where Isobel had just donated some of her still wearable clothes (which she now is drowned by, following her recent Slimming World membership results). 
 

Her plan for Pink Unicorn is that initially she will become a Patient in our Stuffed Animal Hospital  ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523/animal-toy-hospital-toy-bear-specialist?ref=shop_home_active_1) - because she does require some stiffening up, so that she can stand up better.  But, before that happens, she's going to be taken to pieces, so that Isobel can create a card- board template so that we can become producers of Unicorn Toys in the not too distant future.  As we all know, Unicorns are magical Toys, and one's imagination is thus unlimited  - and from the mutterings I've heard since Pink Unicorn arrived, I think Isobel's is going into over-drive!  We'll keep you posted as to what emerges, of course: but in the meantime, here are a few other views of our new arrival:

View from the rear

Viewed from the front

Whilst Unicorns may not be as popular as they once were - we're pretty confident that when the COLDHAMCUDDLIES version hits the "shelves", there will be plenty of potential Forever Friends for them!  But before that happens, Pink Unicorn will be restored to her present glory - and made to be a somewhat sturdier model than she currently is!  She will then join the future COLDHAMCUDDLIES  Unicorns and seek a Forever Home of her own.

Have a good week, everyone:  see you all again, next week! 

Your Friend,  Cy Bear.

Updated Photograph posts and latest Blue Rabbit Progress Report.

Hello again Everyone! 
Cy Bear greeting you on a lovely sunny Sunday Afternoon from the middle of the UK (or so I've just been told!).  Sitting in Isobel's bedroom, one really doesn't realise EXACTLY where one's home is located - at least if you are a Beaver Lamb Bear  like me, anyway! First I've got to apologise on behalf of Isobel and I for missing out two of the photographs we promised you last week - because, for reasons best known to the technology involved in recording these posts of ours, although they showed up in draft form when we had read and edited the post, the photographs themselves did not show up.  Isobel only discovered this major error this afternoon, and has tried to rectify this today.  They've been recorded in a different way this time around, and hopefully will remain posted in last week's bulletin.  Just in case, and hopefully by repeating them here, we can ensure that the evidence of  Oscar Blue Rabbit 2's arrival (and acceptance as a New Cuddly Friend) by MrSS's grand daughter, MsV can be seen by you, our Followers here as well.

Introduction:

Acceptance!

The whole scene is too good not to be broadcast to all of our Friends and Followers, we feel. And, so to the latest news from the Blue Rabbit Production front:  Blue Rabbit 2 is ready for dispatch to MsKA of Oxford Against Cutting (OAC):  because of the interest created amongst our friends here, both at Old Chapel Close (and Isobel's wish to create maximum publicity among them for the cause for which we are all targetted), he will remain with us until Blue Rabbit 3 is ready to go to Oxfordshire - hopefully by the end of this coming week.  They can then travel together - and be used if required while waiting to be joined by the remaining three Blue Rabbits.
Last week, we showed you the components involved in creating a Blue Rabbit Model - for the purposes of creating a cuddly armful for viewers of the OAC Film created to assist in educating young girls in the unnecessary practice that is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).  This is what happens next to the various pieces shown in our blog ("Blue Rabbits:  Progress to Report..." - 15.04.2018):

All the separate pieces get collected together - to form two basic pieces (The Body and The Head).  As Isobel progresses through the ranks of the eventual Six Blue Rabbits which comprise our order from MsKA, she is finding ways of improving on their construction - and Blue Rabbit 2 is no exception.  In the picture above, we've improved on the arms - which hopefully will be better able to withstand any extra stresses involved in being hugged by their future young friends.  They have been much more firmly attached for a start.   The Body now looks like this:

(Slope due to uneven seat on which Blue Rabbit 2 is standing!)

The facial features were then sewn onto one of the Head pieces we showed you in last week's Post - and looked like this - before the head was stuffed and sewn on to the body. This last action happens AFTER the final facial feature is added after the stuffing goes in - the Blue Rabbits' mouths.  

We are pleased to say that our whole relationship with OAC has been a friendly one, and we've made it clear from the outset that if any of the Blue Rabbits do become "victims" of  'over-loving', when Isobel next visits daughter Philippa in High Wycombe, both she and MsKA are going to meet - and any repairs will then be discussed and undertaken.  This is part of the COLDHAMCUDDLIES contribution to the work of the OAC Charity - at least in the initial stages - and because these 6 Blue Rabbits are destined for use by the Charity itself!   Any future arrangements, with other users of their own Blue Rabbit models will be subject to discussion. Isobel does take pride in making long-lasting toys, but this IS the first time in her toy-making career that she has produced Toys that will be working for their living - as opposed to being playthings for children (of all ages!).  So, we're not entirely sure if these Blue Rabbits will last as long as say two of  Isobel's former creations - both made in the 1980's for family members in the UK, while Isobel was living with her family in Alberta, Canada.  These Toys are currently still going strong and living in Plymouth, Devon, UK. This is Madame Lapin (she's spent most of her life living in Normandy, France sitting on a lady's dressing table - until recently going to live with Isobel's great niece).  This photo was taken when she arrived in the Animal Toy Hospital ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523/animal-toy-hospital  - in 2011.  She really didn't need much more treating in the Clinic, other than being washed and having her clothes starched and ironed:

The other Patient, Monsieur Reynard (with a similar background)  looked like this when he arrived with Madame Lapin - and really only required a bit more stuffing.  

However,  his boots did need replacing, as they weren't made with leather (and were splitting beyond repair) - and we had acquired (and still have!) plenty of off-cuts for making Toy Boots, so while we replaced them, Isobel also gave him a new jacket.  We do have photos of both Toys as they looked at the end of the their Hospital visit, but it will take us a bit of time to find and reproduce them here.  Hopefully, next week we can show you the finished photos! Meanwhile, to revert back to the subject of Blue Rabbits - which are occupying Isobel's thoughts at the present time, naturally! - Blue Rabbit 3 is under production:  his feet are ready for stuffing and attaching to the legs, the eyes are ready to be sewn into place on the chosen head piece, and one arm has been sewn (cutting out of Blue Rabbit 3 took place on Friday evening, and sewing started in earnest yesterday).  We will keep you updated as the time goes on! Have a lovely week, every one: we've had some beautiful hot weather over this week, but expect to revert to "normal English Spring conditions" for the up-coming week.  What is that?  Well, usually, April Showers:  these days, we're not quite sure- except that we're not likely to hit the high temperatures of last week for a while, anyway. Good Bye for now:   Your Friend - Cy Bear