Hello, happy to see you here!

I am An Blondeel, the creator behind Furrylicious. I live in a small town called Grobbendonk (about 30 kilometers from Antwerp, in Belgium). I live together with my husband, our daughter and our son. We also have two cats running around our house and garden, they are called Jinx and Vos (Dutch for Fox, he's a ginger cat :-)).

I've been working in sales for about ten years now. It's quite something to combine a full time day job with our household and rasing the kids. But it's possible! Because I take a moment from time to time to enjoy my hobbies. I love listening to podcasts, reading, shopping, travelling, crafting and building camps with the kids... I have many interests, but most of all, I am crazy about ... you guessed it right: artist bears!

You can read about how my love for collecting and making artist bears started start blog. I've been designing and making artist bears for over a decade now, and - fortunately! - the bears and friends I make now don't look like the ones I made at the beginning of my bear making adventure. 

It's really satisfying to always learn new things and try out new techniques. I've learnt to sew quite fast by hand over te years. Which is a good thing, since I don't really know how to use a sewing machine. Yes, every Furrylicious friend is completely sewn by hand! 

Quite often people ask me how long it takes me to make one bear. The answer depends on the pattern and especially the size of the creature, but usually, it takes about four to five hours - spread over several days and sometimes even weeks. 

Inspiration for a new artist bear or other animal is easy to be found. I get it from nature, craft stores, bear magazines like Teddy Bear Times & Friends and teddy fairs like the ones that are organised in the name of Niesje Wolters or Teddybär Total in Germany.

Besides creating artist bears and other Furrylicious friends, I'm also a collector of other artist bear creators. I have gathered a pretty nice collection over the years, with bears and other cute animals from all around the world. Some of my favorites include a cat from Olga Niconchuk (Russia), a panda by Irina Zhila (Ukraine) and a squirell by Yulia Derevschikova (Russia). They are all cherished in our home. But sometimes I feel it's time to get one of them moving to a new place. Those cuties can be found here: orphans.

I can honestly say that creating the Furrylicious friends is the best therapy I could've ever wished for. I am a highly sensitive person and sometimes I need to get into my bear making cuddle cocoon. The world we are living in isn't perfect, some bad things happen which we can't control. When it gets to me, I get comfort from making the cute, soft creatures and I hope people around the world will continue to feel the love that I've put into them. We all need a cuddle from time to time!

I hope you enjoy my website. Feel free to subscribe to our newsletter to receive all Furrylicious related news. You'll find the link at the right bottom of the homepage.

Have a great day,

An xXx