Bears' do Guest Blogging

Hello there, just a quickie from us today to let you know that the lovely Gill at Stamping Lemons blog asked us to guest on her blog. Of course we were delighted to oblige. Check out our debut guesting right here.

Thanks Gill, we had great fun thinking of a subject to demo. :)


With love from the bears.

Dragon's Dream challenge

Hello there, I was so excited by the theme this fortnight over at Dragon's Dream challenge blog that I forgot to commandeer a bear to take the 'how to' shots. Not to worry, Wilbear came and took the after shots at least.


This fortnight's theme was pink, a face and fabric. For the pink I scrumpled my tag then dragged it through two misted puddles of distress ink, I then flattened the tag and dried it.

I added fabric in the form of meshy material to the top left corner, then also added 3 fabric flowers,bottom right, just to make sure I complied with the fabric element of the challenge, I wasn't sure that the mesh would count. The face was stamped directly onto the tag to achieve a background, then the main elements of the image were re stamped, cut, and adhered to the tag, to make them really stand out.


Thanks to the Dragon's team for a great challenge, I really enjoyed this one.

Before you go, if you like challenges, why not enter our just for fun, literary based challenge. This month's challenge uses quotes as inspiration. You can find all the details here, and as we merged this challenge into May, you still have a month to enter. :)

With love from the bears.

W is for (Gelli) web

Well hello again. Remember this gelli print I made with my own foam stamps?


I decided to use it for my entry into The Craft Barn's Alpha challenge, which this fortnight calls for the letter W, and an extra little twist of using circles on the page.


I decided that my word would be web, and used a spider web mask over my gelli print, it didn't show up very well so I drew over it with a black Promarker. I then added a scary spider hanging from his web. Eek.


For the circle element of the challenge, I cut Spellbinders Nestabilities circles from the remainder of the Gelli print, and outlined these with the black promarker. I added my web word in rounded stickers, just to emphasise the circle element of the challenge. That's one Gelli print used, only a few thousand to go!!



With love from the bears.

The Frugal bears guide to pawmade Gelli plate stamps

Hello there, Horace here again, still in a bit of a Gelli phase at the moment. I watched a Youtube video on making your own foam stamps for the Gelli plate, and thought 'I can do that'. So I did.

I didn't have the same products as in the Youtube video, so impawvised. I found some Cut n dry foam and cut it into smaller squares.




I added some double sided tape to the black, more rigid side of the foam.




I then got busy with my pokey thingy




Making holey foam




I used both the holey strip, and the holes themselves, and pressed them into my sticky substrate.




Next, I blobbed some red and white acrylic paint onto my Gelli plate and brayered away.




Once my paint was evenly distributed, I pressed my newly made stamp into the plate.




I then pressed a plain sheet of card onto the Gelli plate.




Oh! My print didn't show. I think I was a little too gentle with the pressing of the stamp phase.




I added more paint to the plate and tried again, this time pressing a little more insistantly. Ah, that's better, my stamp, plus my pen squiggles show through this time.




I pressed the first print back onto the remaining paint on the plate, and this time made a much better impression.




Voila. Ooh I do like this Gelli plate. Unique prints and endless possibilities, what fun.




With love from the bears.

WOYWW - Gelli on a desk!

Hello there, it's Horace here to host the bears' desk for the weekly phenomenon that is WOYWW. No idea what the acronym stands for? Press a paw here to see what it's all about, but be warned, just like a certain crispy snack, once you hop you really can't stop.

So, onto the bears' workspace, this week I'm playing with the new Gelli plate, which was a pre order from Podgy's birthday money. He said I could have first go at it as he was too busy signing pawtographs! I'm armed (pawed??) with a pack of cheap acrylic paints from The Range, some stamps, my brayer and of course some card with which to press into my painted plate.


Wow, this really is the best thing since sliced bread, I've had a rather mad play and pawduced all these. I pressed masks in, squiggled patterns with a rubber tipped pen, laid die cuts onto the plate and pressed the paper over them... The possibilities are endless.



I think I went a little Gelli print making mad!


I think I need a little break from print making, and what better way to have a break than to do a little desk hopping? See you soon for more gelli print makes.

Ooh, if you like challenges, do take a look at the bears just for fun challenge Here.


With love from the bears.

Flower making part deux

Hello, what've we got here then?




Ooh, flower making goodies, I think I'll ask Podgy if I can use his pawmade flowers




Now I'll need the wire cutters




to cut this bendy green wire I've threaded through the back of the flower.




Add a few beads and leaves, and wind the tape round the wire, to bind everything together.




Ooh, pretty.




I'll make a flat one too, for a card that can fit into a pre made envelope.




Utilising Podgy's flowers helped me to create these, two cards and one canvas.




I'd like to enter the canvas into Eclectic Paperie's Flower challenge. I dabbed distress inks on the canvas, then added a piece of distressed brick effect embossed card and a fence covered with picket fence distress stain. I then added a Marianne Creatables bird and tree branch die for a finishing touch. Ooh, I distressed the easel that came with the canvas too. This will be going into the bears' present box, ready for a friend for a birthday, or even Christmas present.




If you like challenges, how about joining the bears' literary based challenge? Details can be found Here.

With love from the bears.

The frugal bears' guide to flower making

Hello there, it's The Podgemeister here with you today, do you ever admire the handmade embellishments for sale in craft shops, but realise that to afford as many as you want you'd have to sell your left and right paw? Well I've been searching the Internet for ideas to make your own, and found some fab video tutorials for flowers. Most of the tutorials originated from the 'how to' Tim Holtz video for grunge type roses, and after watching a few of them, ( all except the original TH one which wouldn't work for me), I decided I just had to have a play.

I didn't have the suggested dies with which to make my flowers, but decided to ex'bear'iment with what I did have. First up was this flower die, which we had bought and stashed on the bookcase!



I cut some double sided patterned paper to cover the larger, 6 petal flower, and some green card to cover the leaves - waste not want not!


Whew, this die cutting requires some furry muscle you know.


I then dusted the cobwebs from the George Cricut cartridge,


and selected Flower 2, and the shadow blackout option, with the size set to 2 1/2"


As you see, my Sizzix cut flower has 6 petals, and the Cricut flower has 5.


To make the rose, take one of the flowers and cut one petal off


With your next flower, cut 2 petals off, reserve these.


With your remaining flower, find the centre, and snip a cross into it.



Now you can begin to make your flower into a rose shape, take the flower with 4 petals and glue one petal on top of another, to make a cone shaped three petal flower, like so....


Repeat this step with the 3 peal flower, making it into two petals....


Fold the leftover two petals into a cone shape, and glue together. Now you should have 3 shapes like this...


Now you need to roll back your petals. I used a rather large paint brush for this step.


Snip a little piece off the bottom of the largest flower


Add a blob of glue to the centre, and press your second smallest flower as far into the first flower as you can. Ooh, be careful if using a hot glue gun, as you may get burnt paws when you press the flower down.


Add another blob of glue, and then press down your small cone flower, as far as it will go.


There, one lovely rose shape. To make it lay flat, you will need to snip a little from the bottom of the rose.


Repeat all of the above steps for your Sizzix flower


Cut


Snip


Two snips


Glue, burn paw, cry....


Squidge petal 6 on top of petal 5..


Admire your shapes, or sigh if they've gone awry.


etc ad nauseum.....zzzzzz, oh! Finished.


Now you need a project to use them on. Utilise any flourish or leaf dies to enhance your design.





Oops, I went a little flower making mad!


Here's the beginnings of a card, or a canvas, I haven't decided which yet. If you do make these, and decide to use them on a card, you will need a larger or box type envelope, as obviously they do sit a way above the card. I'm thinking of asking Wilbear to buy us a recessed box frame so we can use one on a scrapbook lay out.



With love from the bears.