Carrying on, carrying on: replacements, and some new looks.

Hello Everyone:

Cy Bear greeting you, in the hope that you've all had a great week-end, and are ready for the oncoming week and it's developments.

In the spirit of the replacing regimen Isobel embarked upon last week, there are some new things to show you.

As our Profile picture (sometimes referred to as an avatar, I'm told) had been in existence throughout our Social Media sites, as well as here on the blog and in our Shop (www.COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com) for almost 2 years, Isobel decided the time had come to think about a replacement.


Accordingly, on Wednesday morning last week - and taking advantage of a really lovely sunny day - Isobel asked daughter Clare to take photographs of herself and me (reflecting the dual nature of our activities related to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES),  and then she took some new photos of me in Clare's garden.

  

The second one is currently being used for the intended purpose:  we might well move to the first one later on in the year.  (Isobel was not too keen on all of her right arm being shown - so went with the second one, apparently!)

Isobel then "borrowed" some of  GrandsonE's outside toys - and took some up-to-date photographs of me.  Until now, she'd been using pictures that she took when we lived down in Wiltshire, shortly after the COLDHAMCUDDLIES business first became operational. They were taken about 6 years ago.   Although I don't think I've changed that much, the background scenery definitely has.

While GrandsonE was quite resigned to me sitting at the top of his slide, I'm not so sure that he was quite as happy to see me taking a spot in his prized Dinosaur Car:

While this picture was being taken, GrandsonE was standing by with a very dubious expression on his face, so he was very happy to watch Clare position me among the flower boxes on the nearby patio  -

I didn't sit there for long - and the pansies were not hurt during the session!  Finally, Isobel tried me sitting on the patio table.  We don't think this one will feature very much, because I don't stand out too well - probably too much glass and a crowded background maybe.  But, if we don't experiment, we don't find out!

While all this photography was going on, we were all being "supervised" by Isobel's "Grandog" Dotty.  She's been part of the family for about 5 years now, and has become an inseparable "partner in crime" with GrandsonE.

The process of familiarisation with the new Etsy Shop format has carried on all week, and everyone seems to be getting used to the idea.  Lots of comments are being read by Isobel, but she's buckling down to getting herself around - and at the same time, the changes have coincided with a lot of re-listing being needed for many of  the existing Cuddlies.  Isobel has recently discovered how one "re-lists" our Shop contents - as opposed to "renewing" them every quarter. (It costs the same, but the newly acquired skill means that the Buyers can't see how popular (or not, as the case may be) each Toy has been - which apparently can make a difference when potential customers are browsing the scene.  Isobel may have been operating the Shop since 2010, but she's still learning new things almost very day.)  

Before completing this week's bulletin from Nottinghamshire, Isobel was thrilled to get an update about the Easter Duckling (ED) who now lives with our Friend, AndyB in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Apparently ED (equally shorthand for Edmonton Duckling, I think) accompanied his young friend when AndyB spent time at his "daytime home" recently:  he had tremendous fun, and ended up looking like this:

Amazing photo, isn't it?  To think a little chap like our Easter Duckling could carry a "load" like he's shown doing here - and NOT TAKE OFF himself, eh?


Hope you all have a great week - see you all again soon, I hope.


Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Embarking on the replacement regime- Stage One

Greetings Everyone - Cy Bear back once more.

What with new layouts to cope with on the Etsy Shop front, and a steady stream of orders since Christmas, plus other activities in support of our Shop, COLDHAMCUDDLES.etsy.com,  Isobel has been building up a list of replacements that need to be done so that our stocks get replenished. Over the past few weeks, she's been finding a bit more time to sew, as well as attend to all the on-line social media activities required of anybody trying to operate an on line shop, and we thought we'd tell you about some of those this week.

Two of the replacements actually are not really proper replacements of the Toys - but replacing their listings in our Shop.  In an excess of activity a few weeks ago, Isobel inadvertently deleted a Fox listing and a Wolf Toy from the Shop. As the original photographs were not easily found (on a separate disk, somewhere in the flat, is what she told me!) she decided to wait for some more sunny days to arrive - and to take the photographs outside in the gardens here.  (The originals had all been taken inside the flat after they'd been made last year.  We try to take pictures outside, if we can, because we think they look nicer for visitors to see in our Shop, too).

So, after a few trials and errors, we recently re-listed our Fantasy Fox - seen here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/526389261/fantasy-fox

It was a bright sunny day, as you can see - and Isobel found a nice bench on which  Fantasy Fox could be perched.   

At the same time, photographs of our Grey Dressed Wolf were taken, using the same bench, but the other end of it for her new portraits.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/526385477/grey-wolf-dressed-toy

Then a couple of week's ago, Isobel embarked on properly replacing toys in our store, by cutting out and re-creating our Puffins.  Two more were cut out and sewn (usually in the evenings, after Isobel has done her daily stints on Facebook and Etsy - and other places in between).  They were completed last Monday, and after another photography session (this time in daughter Clare's garden mid-week), our Puffins were re-listed, because inevitably they don't look exactly like our original two Birds.   They, as you may recall, are now residing on opposite coasts of the United States of America (Rhode Island - in the case of the former patient in our Stuffed Toy Animal Restoration Clinic -

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES - and Maryville, Oregon in the case of our Dry Run Puffin).  

Here is how they now look in our Shop:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/529212407/puffin-stuffed-toy

The last photo was among some Isobel later took when she arrived back in the flat on Wednesday - just in case the outside ones didn't work out.  They can always be substituted in the Shop, when Isobel decides that a "change of look" is needed.  (Or that's what is the plan, anyway!).

Work on the new Etsy Shop Manager site has continued, with Isobel spending more time on the new version being offered by Etsy.  As she gets more familiar with the layout, she is beginning to get more comfortable with it, so hopefully everything will settle down and life can once more resume a less hectic feel!!  (Believe me, as one who has to deal with Isobel when she gets worried by online developments, that's definitely a plus for this Beaver Lamb Bear!!)

Right, that's it for this week.  Not sure what, or who, is in the replacement plan for the next sortie.  I'll keep you all posted as and when that happens.  Until then, here's wishing you all a good week all round. 

Your Friend, Cy Bear

Some Travelling Coldham Cuddlies - and News of their Easter Homecomings.

Hello there Everyone:  

Cy Bear back once more with good news of the recent departed Coldham Cuddlies Toys - one Duckling - who left for Alberta, Canada a week before Easter,  and the Fox Hand Puppet that was posted to Santa Cruz, California when Isobel returned from her Easter Break.  Both travellers appear to have reached their separate destinations safely - the Duckling having taken longer to get to Edmonton, Alberta than did the Hand Puppet - which appears to have reached Santa Cruz in around 7 Working days - although both destinations are situated on the western sides of Canada and America respectively.  (Just goes to show how much depends on the timing of the Toys arrival at our local Post Office, whether or not they catch the "right" 'plane in which to travel to their individual destinations, not to mention the attentions of the Customs authorities of both jurisdictions!)

A day or two ago, Isobel received an Etsy "convo message" regarding the Hand Puppet from 

A copy of the Departure Photo shown in last week's post.

MsBB  in which we were told that she would try to send us a photograph of the Hand Puppet "in action"  for us to use in a future post here - which made Isobel feel that the Puppet had indeed got to Santa Cruz.  Until we hear otherwise, we'll assume that this is another satisfactory "Job Done"!


On the same day, we got an email, with a series of photographs of the Alberta-bound Duckling,, which had actually left us in Kirkby in Ashfield, UK a week before Easter, but only finally arrived in Edmonton 2 weeks later.  From the photographs, (used with permission of MrsHB, AndyB's mother)  it would appear that the wrapping had done it's stuff, and Duckling arrived in one piece.  He and new Best Friend, AndyB. are now, presumably getting to know each other.

Meanwhile, here in the UK, and almost on the other side of the world, AndyB's Duckling Companion and an Easter Chicken were providing some excitement for Isobel's GrandsonE - who was so pleased with his Easter presents that they accompanied him to St. Barnabas Cathedral, in Nottingham, for the 1000 BST Mass on Easter Day, and is still creating pleasure on an almost daily basis (among a selection of trucks, cars and trains as well, of course.)

Shown with permission of Daughter, Clare

And, now, we can complete a story that actually began around Christmas time last year.  A good Friend of the ColdhamCuddlies, MrsSS - who has bought a Cuddlies Hedgehog in the past - ordered these Baby Bunnies for her two Grandsons, one of whom was celebrating the Festival for the first time..  Although they arrived in plenty of time for that Holiday, given the huge number of other Toy gifts that she knew were being provided for the young gentlemen, MrsSS decided to keep these two Baby Bunnies back and give them when they might appreciate them somewhat more.

So, a few days before Easter, her grand children arrived to see her, and found the two rascal rabbits well hidden among a basket of seasonal goodies.  (I did try to enlarge the photograph somewhat, but it was even more unfocussed than this one - but I think one gets the idea!!  Guess, one does have to "grab the moment" when Little People are around!).

That's it for this week, folks.  Isobel has been doing a lot of work online this week - because there was a big need for her attention to be focussed there - largely because the Etsy "Shop Manager" site is being "re-jigged" for want of a better description.  That has meant Isobel having to find her way around, which she doesn't really like doing - but if we want to continue meeting friends and selling our Toys to those who want them, it's a necessity for her to do it.  (The learning process is apparently not as difficult as she had at first feared!)


Hopefully, things will settle down somewhat soon, and we can return once again to more regular and "normal" behaviour.  Until next week then - wishing you all a good week.


Your Friend, Cy Bear.