Beary Sweet November Winners!

We want to extend a huge "Thank You!" to everyone who played along with our final challenge: "Your Beary Best"! We absolutely loved visiting your blogs. Thanks so much for your support!

Our winner of the $30 gift voucher to The Beary Scrap is...

#: 41 Joanna M

Congratulations Joanna! Please email Kimm and she'll set you up with a voucher to go shopping!

We would also like to congratulate our Beary Sweet Top 3:

#12 Leoni
#21 Joanna

#132 Knor

Ladies - thank you so much for joining us! Please take our Top 3 badge from our sidebar for your fabulous blogs.

On a more serious note, we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for your support throughout the last 2 years. While the challenges are ending, our creativity goes on. Please visit our blogs when you find the time. We would love to share more with you!

Susan ~ Killam Creative
Gini Cagle (Beadz)
Patricia Stewart
Jamie Cooper
Lori Williams Leng

Cheers,

The Beary Sweet Design Team

My Thanks to You

Well, my dear crafty friends, the day has come that I've been dreading for awhile and it still makes me a little teary to think of the end of our DT. I couldn't say it better than it has already been said this week-- these wonderful ladies have inspired me, encouraged me, made me laugh and truly blessed my life. I will forever be grateful for the cyber-friendships we have created by working together-- Kimm, Susan, Gini, Patricia, and Lori (as well as our past DT Elise), I LOVE YOU ALL and want you to know you all hold a very special place in my heart.

But more especially, I want to thank YOU, our followers whose support has given us the opportunity to share our ideas with you each week. Wherever you are, across the county and even through the world, I have felt connected to you each time you left a lovely comment or entered a project in our challenges giving me the chance to visit your blogs and view your talents. I am truly in awe of the vast community of creative women out there-- you are all amazing! One of the things I love best about scrapbooking and paper crafting is the connection it creates between crafters; it doesn't matter where we live, our age, job, education, family life or anything else-- creating something beautiful and sharing it with each us other gives us a special bond. And that is what I will miss more than anything. I hope I will continue to see your projects and comment back and forth out there in blogland.




My farewell project had to be a Tear Bear and so I created this Thank You card to go out to all of you! Thank you sincerely for all your support and best wishes to you all!!!

Thank You

Hi folks - as you probably know by now, Kimm and I have made the tough decision to stop the challenges and retire the design team. There were a lot of factors that went into this decision and as hard as it is to say goodbye, we believe it was the right one.

Today I want to send out a cornucopia filled with "thank you's". I owe a lot of my creative growth to this team and our challenge participants. I don't think I would have stretched (or been pushed!) in so many different directions without all of you. Thank you!

Gini - I give you credit for inspiring me to broaden my horizons and not always default to a character stamp on my cards. I love coloring my Magnolia stamps, but I also really appreciate the beauty of die cuts using Spellbinders and others. You are a whiz with the dies and I always look forward to your next project. And any time I rough up edges of my layers I think of you. You are the Queen of Distressed Edges!

Patricia - I've always been amazed at your talent with the Tear Bears and Critters and now you're wowing me with the Beary Sweet Designs cutting files. You have a great eye and a wonderful spirit, and I cherish the friendship that has developed outside of the team.

Jamie - You have inspired me over and over that there is way more "out there" than cards. Your 3D projects are amazing and I love seeing your family in scrapbook layouts. I can't believe how much your kids have grown while this team has been together!

Lori - Your designs are always beautiful! I'm so glad you were able to join us and sad that our time together was so short. I look forward to keeping up with your blog and being inspired by you!

Thanks so much to Elise, our beautiful former teammate and to our wonderful guest designers Brenda and Debbie. Wow, I look at these 7 names and see 7 very different styles. I've taken a "stroll" through each of our posts and really can't get over how lucky I've been to have such a talented team.

Kimm - We've had a great run here, haven't we? Thank you for allowing us to offer these challenges every month and giving out great prizes. You have been very generous to me and the girls, and I am grateful. I look forward to continuing the friendship that started years ago when I discovered tear bears and you were so generous with your time.

Challenge participants and blog followers - THANK YOU! It's been wonderful to visit your blogs and see your projects based on our challenges. With all my heart I appreciate your continued support of our challenges and The Beary Scrap.

Card Recipe

• Paper: My Mind's Eye Lost & Found "Breeze" 6x6 pad; Bazzill card stock
• Medium: Ranger Seasonal Distress Ink "Gathered Twigs"; Glossy Accents
• Embellishments: Ivory seam binding distressed with a little Gathered Twigs ink & water; flowers, etc from stash
• Adhesive: 1/4" Scor-Tape

There is still plenty of time to enter "Your Beary Best" in our challenge. You could win a $30 gift voucher to The Beary Scrap!

Cheers,
Susan

Almost Time for a Countdown!

The Holidays are fast approaching and I have one more project for you today to help you with your Christmas preparations! If your house is like mine, counting down to the big day is a BIG DEAL, with the excitement of the little guys growing each day as they eagerly anticipate Santa Claus and all the other fun stuff that comes with Christmas. My project today is a quick and easy way for your family to count down, plus a cute decoration to put up in your house!


I used the gorgeous new Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found line to create a countdown clipboard. I bought a wood clipboard from the dollar store (love the dollar store!) and covered it with one of the papers, using glue stick to adhere it to the wood. (two coats, one on the back on the paper, one on the front of the clipboard). Then I added a bunch of fun ribbons across the top, including some lace, seam binding and a jingle bell. The numbers and "days until Christmas" I printed off my computer and cut to the right size. If you would like to make a similar clipboard for your home, I've listed the dimensions below to help you!


Dimensions:
Paper for clipboard base -- 8 3/4 inches wide x 10 1/2 inches long (round corners)
Numbers -- 5 inches wide x 7 inches long (printed two to a page and then round corners)
"days until Christmas"-- 7 1/2 inches wide x 2 3/4 inches long (round corners)
Mat for "days until Christmas"-- 7 3/4 inches wide x 3 inches long (round corners)

Supplies used:
My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas Collection Kit
(unfortunately out of stock, but check out these other Christmas papers)
Colorbox Fluid Chalk-- Chestnut Roan
Seam Binding-- Kocha
Misc. ribbons
Rhinestones
Jingle Bell

I hope this helps you in your holiday planning! Keep those Beary Best projects coming for our month long challenge, we are loving seeing all your talented work!

Hello friends! I hope you are finding time to join our month-long November challenge. We want to see Your Beary Best!

Today I have a card to share using Authentique's "Wonder" 6x6 paper pad. I got a Beary Scrap package last Thursday and immediately had to dig into this paper. Love the colors and the vintage feel!

All of the patterned paper is from the pad. In addition, I used green and french vanilla Bazzill card stocks. The sparkle comes from Stickles in Star Dust and Candy Cane, and I added Kaisercraft yellow pearls to the flower. The seam binding is Sage and Ivory - I color-distressed the ivory seam binding by dabbing it onto Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The center piece was cut from a cool postcard-themed sheet and painted with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

Thanks for visiting today! Please join our "Your Beary Best" challenge - you could win a $30 gift voucher from The Beary Scrap!

Cheers,
Susan

Time for Christmas Decorations!

Happy beginning of the holiday season and thank you so much for all your wonderful entries so far in our month-long "Beary Best" challenge. I am so impressed by all your great projects, keep them coming!

My project this week is a couple of quick and easy Christmas decorations featuring the awesome Merry Christmas line from Echo Park. I completely adore the color combination in these papers-- traditional red and green but dark paired with BROWN (I love BROWN!) and just a tiny bit of grey. So pretty! I am in a red/green/brown mode this week as I prepare for my Christmas craft shows and I have been painting and embellishing everything in these colors, including both of these:

First is a set of stars, about 4 x 4 inches painted, sanded, varnished and then a little bit of paper added before my vinyl words.


Next is a set of JOY letters, about 12 inches tall, also painted, sanded and varnished then decorated. I added my Echo Park paper to the J by tracing and cutting it out then putting it on with a heavy layer of glue stick (one layer on the paper, one layer on the wood). I glittered up my O using tacky glue and some glitter-- imaging this O done with the German Glass Glitter from The Beary Scrap store; I didn't have any brown but the vibrant hues of the Glass Glitter would be absolutely gorgeous on a wood letter like this!

Supplies Used:
Echo Park Merry Christmas papers (on sale right now, check out the great prices!)Colorbox Fluid Chalk-- Chestnut Roan
Aleen's Tacky Glue

I hope I passed a little of my holiday mood along to you and I can't wait to see what you create this month!

Another Beary Best Tag

Wow have you seen all the entries in our
Beary Best Challenge?
They are awesome. I have another tag to show you this week with another new pattern from Beary Sweet Designs

I used one of the new pattern Mrs Clause Bear, I just love the new patterns from Beary Sweet Designs. I made mine into a Tear Bear using one of the Acrylic Paper Piecing Patterns and Mulberry Paper everything was glued together with Fabri Tac Glue. All edges were inked with Colorbox Ink and I added some Stickles to my little tag and Pearls. My background paper is from Echo Park's Merry Christmas line.

Now lets see your project and enter it ---HERE---

Here are some of the other new pattern from Beary Sweet Designs that I have been making.

Thanks for looking

~Patricia~

Merry Christmas

Hiya crafty friends! We're a few days into our month-long challenge and I'm so impressed with all the entries so far! You are definitely showing us "Your Beary Best" and we appreciate it!

Today I have a simple Christmas card made with My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Christmas.

I used one of the die-cut embellishments from the 12 x 12 kit and put a green layer behind it. The card base is the same green, so it's a nice little accent. I spritzed the poinsetta with Glimmer Mist and it's a lot more subtle in person! So is the Glossy Accents over the red "Christmas" and bits on the die cut embellishment. My camera was picking up all kinds of light today!

I used a bit of green seam binding behind the flower and Kaisercraft pearls in the corner.

Thanks so much for visiting today! Our "Your Beary Best" challenge runs ALL MONTH with a $30 gift voucher as the prize. Won't you show us your beary best?

Cheers,
Susan

Grateful

Please scroll down to see out Beary Sweet "Double or Nothing" winners!

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November is such a lovely month-- the beginning of the holiday season, a time for excitement, family and to remember to be thankful for all the wonderful things we have (as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States). It's the perfect month, then, for the great challenge we have going on now, show us "Your Beary Best" and I am so delighted to see all the wonderful projects you have entered so far!
My project for this week is a Gratitude Journal:


I started with this Thanksgiving quote that I absolutely love and altered a composition notebook using papers from SEI's Oasis line-- these are perfect for fall and Thanksgiving theme projects with pretty fall colors and foil accents.

This journal could be used just by one person to record all the things they are grateful for or it could be used at the Thanksgiving table and sent around so that different family members had a chance to write down their thoughts, creating a family keepsake.

Supplies used:
SEI Oasis papers
Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock-- Mint, Burnt Orange, Gingerbread
Tim Holtz Distress Ink-- Vintage Photo
Seam Binding-- Canyon (sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Latte)
Misc. crochet flowers, rhinestones and stick pin

Keep those "Beary Best" projects coming all November long! I love visiting your blogs and seeing all of your fantastic work-- I am grateful for you!

My "Beary Best" Tags

I just love making tags now and get ready to be inspired this month with some great inspiration for some cute holiday tags.
This whole month at
The Beary Sweet Challenge Blog
were mixing it up a bit with a whole month long challenge of you showing us your
"Beary Best"
and evey better you can enter as many times as you want and the prize this month is $30.00 shopping spree at
The Beary Scrap Store.
Now here is my tag I made for you

Tag recipe:

Right now you can get this cute snowman file FREE from Beary Sweet Designs this week ---HERE--- don't wait to long because there will be a new freebie on Friday.

Tear Bear Peeker made with an Acrylic Paper Piecing Pattern and Mulberry Paper. All edges were inked with Colorbox Ink and I added Stickles. The background paper is from My Minds Eye-12 Days of Christmas. I used the ribbon and snowflake button from my stash. Now lets see what your "Beary Best" is and enter it ---HERE---

Thanks for looking

~Patricia~

Beary Sweet Challenge #37: Your Beary Best!

Please scroll down for Gini's awesome project!

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Welcome to our Beary Sweet Challenge #37

The design team sends out BIG thanks to everyone who joined our BSC #36 - we are so thrilled to see each and every one of you play along! We'll announce our random winner Friday, November 4th. Thank you!

Your Beary Best!

The idea for this challenge is simple - show us "Your Beary Best". It's an anything goes-type of challenge where we ask nothing except that you give us your best. Everything else is up to you! There are no restrictions *and* we'll even let you enter up to 10 times. How great is that? We're moving right into the "silly season" and everyone is crazy busy so this month we're having one challenge only. Easy peasy for everyone to play along!

This challenge runs through November 30th at 11:59pm EST. One random entry will receive a $30 gift voucher for The Beary Scrap. Did you catch that? A $30 gift voucher!!

We will announce the random gift voucher winner and our "Beary Sweet Top 3" on Sunday, December 4th.

Here are the simple, standard "rules" to play - PLEASE READ:

• Become a follower if you aren't already (don't forget this one - it's disqualified a few folks already!);
• Link your challenge entry post (not your blog "home page") or your online gallery submission with our Inlinkz frog below.
• Link back to this challenge post (not just our blog "home page") on your blog
• Up to 10 entries are allowed.  Links to projects/cards posted before November 1st will not be eligible.

Additional information:

• Feel free to combine with other challenges;
• All NEW project types are welcome as long as they follow this sketch challenge (cards, scrapbook layouts, etc.);
• International crafters can play, too!

Thanks for playing along with us - we really appreciate you!

Cheers,

Susan, Gini, Patricia, Jamie, Lori and Kimm