A Thousand Splendid Suns - The Bears' Interpretation

Hello there, Horace here in casual dressing gown mode, relaxing over the Easter weekend, any excuse not to dress! I've been far too busy to bother with such trivialities anyway, as I was chosen to create the bears' challenge piece, this month based on the book A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Before I show you my humble little creation, I'd like to thank

Morning AJ

Lauren


Alison at Teddybobcrafts

Alison at Words and Pictures

and

Ike

For taking the time to join in with us with their wonderful creations. Do go and look at their work as there are some really great interpretations of the theme.

So, what did I come up with? Well as we said before, we always post the challenges with absolutely NO idea of what we will create, we think it makes it more fair, and fun (and worrying when we realise we have blank minds of what to create and it's 3 days to the deadline!!!!) Anyway, I started by misting a page with Dylusions yellow mist (I can't remember the name of it and am far too lazy to get off the sofa and go and look!)




Wilbear made me some sun ray strips, so I placed these over one side of the misty page




Then re misted with Dylusions Pure Sunshine mist, what a serendipitous colour for our challenge. I pressed the misty strips into the opposite page, to represent weaker rays.




I then printed a sentiment, this was a quote I found on the Internet. It reads 'Never let one person's darkness dim your light'. I thought this was a perfect quote, and although it didn't come from the book, it could have been written for it, as no matter how dark and terrifying Maryam's world with Rasheed is, she never loses her sense of hope and her capacity to love others.




I decided to use the new Stampers Anonymous face stamp on the page, to represent Maryam.




Stamping in the bears' own inimitable style.




I used an arrow stencil, to depict that Maryam would feel she had no where to turn to. I inked through this directly onto the page.




I thought it came out a little too light, so re inked in Walnut distress ink.




Podgy allowed me to use his special glue (I am not worthy.)




I perused my page before beginning gluing, to make sure I was happy with the placement of all my elements.




A few hours inking and drying time later......




My page is complete, the sentiment may need to be highlighted in some way, I'll give it a day or so and see if it fades any more.




The left hand side has a brick effect stamp, to depict Maryam feeling trapped in her predicament, as an Afghan woman abandoned by her father, she would have had no say over her life. The arrows go every which way, to show that she would not have anyone or anywhere to turn to. The word freedom is included to represent her wish to be free of Rasheed and the word Abominable to depict Rasheed's treatment of his wife.




The right hand side has Maryam's face covered in chicken wire, to depict the fact that she is imprisoned in her life. The butterflies represent the fact that she gave her life in order to gain Laila's freedom.




After spending most of the month with a very blank furry head and no idea of what to do (and panicking slightly when I realised it was 28th March and my page was as blank as my mind) the page eventually came together quite easily.
We hope you'll all return to play along with us next month, when we choose a childhood classic that we still read to this day.
Wishing all our lovely friends, followers and any visitors stumbling into The House of Bears a happy Easter. Xx
With love from the bears.

The April Calendar Page

Hello there, Horace here with you again today, I've sneaked up to craft on the desk while Podgy has a snooze, he seems to think he is the main blogger now, what with his fame, and all his product endorsements. I think it may all be going slightly to his podgy little head, but what can we do? He won't listen to our warnings about the higher you climb.....

Anyway, enough about the swelled headed bear. I'm here today to show you the bears' April calendar page for the journal every day challenge, hosted by the very talented Kate Crane at The Kathryn Wheel. As you know we do love our challenges, and the great thing with this idea is, you get to look back in subsequent years and know exactly what you were up to each day. Although the bears' journal pages so far are alarmingly similar 'ate chocolate, ate biscuits, slept, ate dinner, crafted.....'

For April, i considered journalling in the form of raindrops as I'd seen a very pretty page made by our cub this way, but my pawdrawing is so appalling that even a raindrop would end up looking like a poor excuse for a scribbly splat. Instead I perused the bears' dies, to see if we had anything that could be used as journal frames, and came up with a Cuttlebug butterfly die, i cut 31 one of these, in matching patterned paper


After much die cutting, and a very achy arm, I placed the flutterbyes onto my page. I adhered them with a small amount of repositionable Herma, to ensure there was no movement as I misted.


Then watered and misted directly over them with Tattered Angels mists in pink and blue.


I dried my page like so


Then, with the flutterbyes still in place, I stamped a flower stamp directly over them, and the misted pages.


I then began carefully removing the flutterbyes, rubbing away any Herma residue.


Oh look, a blank journalling spot!


Now, what will I do with 31 misted flutterbyes?


I think I'll use one at the top of my page.


I've since gone over my April letters with a white journalling pen, as I didn't think they were obvious enough, but my camera has decided to die, so I can't show you that effect!



With love from the bears.

Birthday/Bloggerversary Bonanza

Hello there, well it's the 28th March, which is our very first Bloggerversary, and as promised on Podgy's birthday post, we have our draw for our candy. I had my special birthday trapper hat on for the occasion.




First I paw wrote every entrant's name onto paper, folded those up, and realised I had nowhere to place them. 'Aha' thought I, 'my handy trapper hat would be perfect for this occasion, so I braved the chill and took it off, filling it with the aforementioned paw written names.........




Nicely folded so no nepotism can be suspected!




I then invited an un biased bear to do the draw, enter The Bear Who Changes His Name Depending On His Outfit, AKA Camo today! Last week he insisted on being called Spiderbear!




He had a good rummage around......




Before drawing out the winner.........
...........
.....................
(Imagine drum roll)............
....................
Etc ad nauseum!




Congratulations, please send us your details via our contact link on our profile page in order for us to send you your candy.

Thank you to every one for joining in, we had such fun reading all your bear 'facts' that we may just have to do another draw sometime with the same 'rule'.

With love from the bears.

WOYWW - Paint chip art

Hello there from the ever pyjama clad Horace, here today to join in with our favourite blog hop WOYWW, hosted by the fab Julia over at Stamping Ground. Do go and take a look and find out all about this addictive crafty phenomenon. So, here I am, a long shot of me, busy at the desk, creating. It's all looking disgustingly neat isn't it?


Today I'm attempting an idea in one of our Craft Stamper magazines, to make bookmarks from paint chips.


Here's the original idea, how lovely.


With my small hoard (!!!!!) of paint chips procured by Podgy -I think he told them he was a famous blogger and they heaped gifts upon his person - I set to work. Oh look, you can see my deely bopper shadow in this pic.


Oh, do you like my kitchen roll? I do like to surround myself with fun essentials, it cheers my tortured artistic soul somewhat.


So, back to the paint chips, I stamped a flutterby (as Pooh calls them, and he is the font of all knowledge) directly onto the paint chip, using purple stazon.


I then stamped the image again onto white card, and cut it out, to use as a mask. I placed this on top of the stamped image...


and used various other flourish stamps, again stamping directly onto the paint chip, although, can it still be called stamping with this method? Or is it sitting? I sitted just doesn't have the same ring to it!!


I stamped another two paint chips, then cut them so they were a little more bookmark sized.


I glued the decorated paint chips to coordinating card, and here are some I made earlier.


I'm not sure if I'll use these as bookmark gifts, or as card toppers, a lot of our friends now have Kindles, so have no use for good old fashioned bookmarks. Still, these were a fun and quick make, and if you're stuck for a present for a friend.....

Before I say goodbye, Wilbear says I must tell you, details of our March literary based challenge can be found right here. Please do take a look and consider joining in with us. We love to craft with friends.

Goodness, I nearly forgot, please do enter Podgy's birthday/our bloggerversary candy draw Here. You have until 28th March to enter.

With love from the bears.

Every Inchie Monday

Hello there inchie peeps, It's the Podgster here today to show you my miniature art for the Every Inchie Monday challenge. This week the theme is Map.


My inchie is easy peasy simple pimple this week. In the bears' stash we had a postcard sent from a holidaying friend, which we cut into random inch squares


I looked through our word stash, and found explore, only I ripped the bottom of the P off, and when I tried to rewrite it my fat paws made a smudge! Pah. Oh well, I shall just pretend I wanted to emphasise that letter.



Have you seen our birthday/bloggerversary giveaway? Details can be found righthere.

Also, have you seen our Just for fun literary based challenge? There's still time to enter (just). Press your paw into this word to find out more.


With love from the bears.

The Simple Bears' Day Book

Hello there, today we're sharing our day to day life with you, and taking a bit of a libearty with this website Here. I hope the host will take our post in good fun.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... It's snowing! Wonder if we will get enough for a snow bear?


I am thinking...Cedric's slippers are far too big for his furry feet.


I am thankful...That I don't ALWAYS fall in the craft box


In the kitchen...Podgy is cooking a cheery dinner, to make up for the dismal weather outside.


I am wearing...My pyjamas and dressing gown, it's a dress down kind of day.


I am creating... A page for my 365 calendar journal.


I am going... To laugh at his pic of kitty making a cat-head shaped hole in the blinds


I am wondering...what to do with all the leftover butterflies I used as masks on my journal page?


I am reading...Winnie the Pooh, of course


I am hoping...Podgy decides to share some of his delicious looking jelly!


I am looking forward to... Bedtime, bears like their sleep


I am learning.....not to be as terrified of birds as I was (at least, not tethered birds at the zoo!)


Around the house....we're just chilling on the sofa in our Sunday best!


I am pondering... A light supper after my delicious roasted lunch.


A favorite quote for today... “A bear teaches us that if the heart is true, it doesn’t matter much if an ear drops off.” -Helen Exley

One of my favorite things... Our art journal. Where we can express our feelings with no rules









A few plans for the rest of the week: a bit more crafting and creating perchance.



A peek into my day...



With love from the bears.