The Last Day In December - It Must Be Challenge End Day

Hello there, after a few shaky moments we have come up with a creation for our Christmas Carol challenge. We were all unwell over Christmas and had the dreaded bug, we think our Christmas visitors - who, incidentally, haven't left yet- brought a street-bear bug with them.
I (Horace) decided to brave the craft stash, and try to create something. After all, it's a bit much if you post a challenge hoping others will join in, then neglect to make something yourself, isn't it?
Talking of people joining in, before I show you my creation, I'd like to thank Lauren who posted her piece super-quick in order to join in with us, and AJ who took time out of her Yule celebrations to join in with us. Also, thank you to Ike for her contribution to our challenge.

We love your creations, and we really appreciate the fact that you took time out of your busy schedules to join in with the fun.

If anyone has a last minute entry please feel free to post a link and we'll add it to our list.

Onto my disastrous attempt....I think my mood was a little dark initially, as my first attempt produced this awful piece..




Which I scrunched up and deposited in our furry bin! Next I decided I would be a little creative, and made this....




Which I thought I could link to the Christmas Carol challenge by the fact that it was made entirely with our new 'Christmas presents'!!!!!!

But finally I decided I should make one last effort (just call me Horace the Brave for my valiant efforts despite my malaise).

Before beginning my task, I fortified myself with my favourite snack of Pom Bears.




Then I set to using the bears' Sizzix, which was our lovely Christmas present.




I die cut some corrugated card hearts, which I sanded, then stained with Tim Holtz seasonal distress stains, to match my stained background page.




I used a few stamps and inks




Which were stamped in my own inimitable way




To produce this.








I deviated slightly from Scrooge's quote, to fit in with my journal theme, which was basically the wish that the so called spirit of love and generosity associated with Christmas could be applied to the rest of the year. Wouldn't the world be a nice place if it was?




Scrooge's ledgers feature as a border, to link back further to the challenge. The Christmas tree links with Scrooge's intention to honour Christmas, and the inked hearts because I, Horace, believe that there should be more love in the world. The quote was chosen because it illustrates the theme of love and generosity, as suggested in the initial challenge.

I've yet to adhere my hearts to the page. I decided to try out a crackle glaze effect, which I think should have been attempted on something other than inked card, as one it isn't drying, and two it just looks like gluey blobs. Ah well, art is all about ex'bear'imenting, isn't it?

Hopefully the bears will be back to their usual furry selves soon, in the meantime, bear (did you see what I did there?) with us while we sit in bed and feel sorry for ourselves.

I even look ill, don't I? My fur is a funny colour!




With love from the bears.

WOYWW - The Last One In December

Hello there, better late than never.

Happy Christmas from the bears. Podgy here to show you what's on our workspace this week. Look Hereto see how you can join in.

Here's our workspace. I have on my very posh new chef outfit, as befits a bear who cooked Christmas lunch.



Our desk has a die cut vintage car, from our new TH die, a lovely Christmas present, as well as die cuts from the Movers and Shapers tag and the sewing room dies. Fab presents.


We also have a lovely pack of Sparkles, which we were inspired to buy after trying our advent Stickles present, and some cross stitch canvas, donated by our lovely friend Florence. We will use this to make a scrapbook LO.


Lastly, some TH Kraft cardstock and a chipboard alphabet.


We'll be back with some Christmas show and tell soonest, but unfortunately, another thing the bears got for Christmas was ill! Pah.

Happy Christmas to all and we shall attempt to visit some desks before a short nap under a fleece large enough for us all. Xxx

With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 24 Bonus post - Santa Arrives

Ho ho hello. The bears are all sleeping, so it's time for me to leave some presents under the tree with the aid of my trusty reindeer....


It's quite hungry work delivering gifts you know, but at least the bears have left me some sustenance in the form of chocolate, mmmm, just one or two before I carry on my way to more bear lairs.....


Slurp, oops, hope the reindeer can still pull the sleigh!


Happy Christmas all

With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 24 (we made it) - Bear Mail

Hello there, yay, the bears achieved their one post every day in December up to Christmas Eve, it was a bit last minute at times, and there were occasions where the bears were so busy peering out the window to see if Santa was on his way yet that we wondered if we'd ever manage to write a post, let alone actually upload it!

We've had such fun sharing December with all our wonderful followers and would like to thank you all for your support and comments over the year. This blog was started as a little bit of madness and the need to occupy ourselves with something a little bit different. We never thought that we would be lucky enough to gain some human friends along the way, and we love how you all join in with our furry brand of madness.

The bears are even getting their own mail now, here's a card from our summer visitor, Henry Bear.








Here's wishing a Happy, safe, pain free, fun filled, furry, peaceful Christmas to all of our lovely followers, we've enjoyed all your comments over the year.
With love from the bears.

PS, will there be a bonus post from a special red- suited bear later when all the other bears are tucked up in bed? You'll have to be extra good if you want to read one...........

December Bloggerations Day 23 - Wilbear Makes Christmas Biscuits.

Hello there, just a quickie from me, Wilbear today, as we've been busy getting ready for Christmas. this morning we were at the butchers, collecting the meat for Christmas lunch - a nice ham, and a leg of lamb, as well as some sausages and bacon for our Boxing Day breakfast feast.

Now that we have our three homeless visitors we need to ensure we have plenty of food to offer, so as well as collecting provisions from the shops, I made some festive biscuits. Rolling out the dough was difficult, but at least I've had a workout too!


I used all the Christmas shaped cutters


The biscuits had all been complete when baked. Hmmm methinks our visitors have had a pre Christmas sample!!!



With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 22 - The Christmas Visitors Arrive....

....and like most visitors, they're making themselves at home already!!




We opened our doors to any homeless bears this Christmas, and these three turned up, we told them to treat the house as if it was their own, seems they have taken us literally!

Alexander, left (prefers to be called Zander) has purloined Wilbear's crossword, Freddie (middle) wanted to peruse the news on the Internet, and Chester on the right appears to be glued to the television!

Merry pre Christmas weekend, I guess they'll be helping themselves to a Quality Street or 3 too!!

With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 21 - Santa Stays Busy

Ho ho hello again, goodness, it's so busy here at the North Pole. We've not stopped since early September. There are letters coming in every day now, lots from bears living in a certain house, asking for gifts of chocolate and craft goods.

As well as bears. I need to make presents for other good bears and humans. If you need a gift for a friend (or bear) and don't have a lot of money available, here is a lovely, inexpensive idea.

Buy a notebook, preferably with a spiral binding.


Take off the front and back covers


Mark which is the front and which is the back, or you will end up beary confused when you come to re assemble the books.


Glue generously all over the front and back outer covers of the books.


Choose some patterned paper, place it pattern side down on your work space, and press your book cover down into the paper, smoothing over to ensure there are no bumps when finished.


Cut off all but one or two inches of excess paper. Fold the edges of the paper over to the inside covers, and glue into place, folding the corners in for a neat finish.


Poke the holes back into the book with a sharp implement, I used a sharpened pencil. Work from the outside in, then cut any excess paper carefully from around the holes.


Horace bought these ribbons at a bargain price from Papermaze, but you can use any ribbons you may have in your stash to decorate your books.


Ooh, I got carried away showing you our lovely bargain. Back to the book, re assemble the covers, making sure to add the back cover first, followed by the front.


You should now have a book with a decorated front and back, it doesn't matter if your patterns do not match exactly, I think it adds to the charm of the book if they don't.


Squeeze the binding tightly back together, so that the book does not spill its pages.


Decorate the books further, to your, or your intended recipients liking, with any craft stash you have. Pawsonalised books are always well received.


The books can cost as little or as much as you like, being a little paw at this time of year, mine were mostly made with stash I already had, in fact, the only things I bought specifically for this project were the books themselves, everything else came from the craft cupboard.

With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 20!!!! Horace Plays Along with the Dragons

Hello there, Horace here with a Festive tag for the challenge at Dragonsdream blog. I do love their challenges and try to take part in as many as possible, attempting to beat the other bears to the desk when each new challenge is posted.

The challenge this time is for a Christmas tag, no recipe, so I decided to see what I could come up with. I was so desperate to create something before the other bears could that I forgot to take any pictures until I'd finished crafting!



I stamped an image, which had come free with a magazine (I do like my magazine freebies) then coloured it in with my Spectrum noir pens. The tag background was made by smooshing a tag through Podgy's misty glittery mess whilst he was creating his peg card holders. I do like to make use of the other bears leftovers.

After stamping and colouring my image, I die cut a swirl shape and inked it in Barn Door Distress ink, then covered it in clear glitter glue. I glued the swirl onto my tag base, which had been stamped with some random swirl stamps. For a festive finishing touch, I also stamped and glittered some holly images and added a sentiment. I used 3d sticky pads on the fairy girl image, to make her really stand out.

I had such fun making this tag, and would like to thank the team at the Dragons blog for hosting this fab challenge throughout the year.

Oh, what would the bear blog be without a posed picture of me with my craft creation? Happy to oblige!!!



With love from the bears.

WOYWW - Christmess

Yes, that's right, a big mess of Christmas! Hello, Horace here with you for another WOYWW, a lovely alliterative sounding acronym, which, if you're not familiar with, you can find out more about by hopping over to this fab blog to find out more from our lovely host Julia.




Despite having enough Christmas cards for this year, I felt the need to do something festive, so set to making more, with previously unused free stamps from a magazine. Usually when I make a card I stick to one thing, IE, stamps, or spellbinders or Sizzix, this time I went all out and used the lot - a stamped image, coloured in, then framed using the oval Spellbinders frames, and finally, using a Sizzix embossing folder for a snowy background effect. What fun, and such a lovely big mess. Most unlike me.




Using the bears' advent present of Stickles, I stickled the bobble of the bobble hat to make the cards that little bit more festive. Now I need to find somewhere to store them until they're needed next year.


Just for miniowner, I took a picture of our smiley panda bag, in honour of her smiley pot! She'll know what I mean, even if I do seem half cracked to every one else who reads this.


Before I tootle off in search of snacks, did you know the bears hold their own monthly literary based, just for fun challenge, details for this month can be found by pressing your furry paw here . If you have some spare time over Christmas (cue manic laugh) there's still plenty of time to play.

Lastly, we'd like to wish our lovely friends and followers, and new visitors, a very happy Christmas, we hope it's all you wish it to be. Keep safe, and remember the most important Christmas rule - one chocolate for each paw!!!

With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 18 - Horace Helps Himself to Christmas Cheesecake

Sh, the other bears are all napping, so I bagged a lift to the local supermarket, and found these.




Christmas pudding cheesecake and mince pie ice cream. Mmm mmmm. I would have shared, but there are only two thin slices of the cheesecake, and the ice cream tub is really rather small for a hug of bears the size of ours!
I'd better eat it all quickly before the others wake up, TTFN (time to feast now!!!)
With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 17 - Santa's Winter Cards

Hello there, Santa with you again. Well, it is December so I should feature on the blog a lot this month.




Today I'm making Christmas cards with a lovely stamped image I coloured earlier. Colouring the image took ages as it's so detailed, but it was well worth it for the finished effect.




I used Stickles for a frosty feel to the trees in the background of the image. How handy to have received a bottle in the bears' advent present pile.




Here are my two finished cards. As I've already written and sent all my cards for this year, these will be a handy start for next Christmas.




Here's a close up of one of my makes. I ho ho hope you like it.




With love from the bears.

December Bloggerations Day 16 - Santa Makes Reindeer Noses

Ho ho hello. Santa here with you today to share some of my Christmas makes. You thought the elves were the hard workers at the North Pole didn't you? Well here's the evidence to the contrary


Today I'm making some sweet gifts for good bears - Reindeer Noses. I'd seen various versions of these on the Internet, and thought that as Santa is a little strapped for cash this year, what with the cost of heating the North Pole and feeding all of my resident reindeer and elves, paw made gifts should be the order of the day.

First, I needed a box of Maltesers, it's always best to test one or two, for quality control purposes of course!!!


Also, I bought these fab Rudolph noses, chocolate covered in a red shell, please note, no Rudolphs were harmed in the collection of these noses.


I filled small cellophane bags with 8 Maltesers, and one red chocolate, to represent my eight natural coloured nosed reindeer, and Rudolph's special shiny red nose.


To make labels for the bags, I used the Cuttlebug and some Spellbinders frames.


I folded the frames in half, and added a lighter colour, smaller frame on top of the large frame.


I then used Spellbinders circle dies and some Reindeer embellishments to make these rather cute toppers.


I stapled the tops of the cellophane bags to ensure the sweets didn't escape.


I added double sided tape to the inside of the labels


And adhered these to the tops of my stapled sweet bags, along with a small 'reindeer noses' title, just so the bears know what Santa has made them!


Here is my finished gift.


Do you think the bears will like them? Why don't you make some as stocking fillers for your cubs or friends? They're a cheap and fun present.




With love from the bears.