Bee or bear?

Have you checked out the Teddy Bear Parade Series going on at My Crafting Channel?  If not, you should.  Each teddy bear will have its own linky party, and we can link up new or old project using that bear.  Anyone who plays along with the entire series will be entered to win a prize.  I would love to have been able to do that, but unfortunately I have a few things going on in life that just make me too busy to be able to.  :(  I will definitely be playing along with things I've already made, and probably making a few new things using some bears that I've been wanting to use for awhile but just needed to have a motivation to use.

Anyway, today's project that I have for you is using the bee bear.  I made him back when I first got the cartridge, but didn't take into account that his antennas would make him too big to put on a regular A2 card, so he's been just hanging out on my memo board waiting for me to use him.  A few weeks ago Lettering Delights had a freebie bee hive bag, and I thought that this would be a perfect chance to use the bee bear also.  :)

Geeky bear

I saw a cute picture on Pinterest, originally from Geek Is Awesome, with an equation that ended up being I < 3 u and was inspired to make a card for my engineery husband.

I used a black cardstock base to mimic a chalkboard feel and a white colored pencil to write the equation.  I was definitely having some algebra class flashbacks when I was copying down the equation and trying to make sure I got it right.

Isn't this geeky little bear so cute?  He's called "Teacher," but I used him as an engineer.  Because the bear, which I cut at 3 inches, is holding a black laptop, I stuck a piece of argyle purple paper behind him.  The paper is from Paper Studio's Basics pad (I can't remember if it's the 12x12 or the 8x8, because it was just a leftover scrap I pulled out). I kept a little bit of the black paper still visible around the edges.

Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been four years already since I got married!  I generally don't make anniversary cards- because in the past we've gone on a big expensive vacation to celebrate our anniversary.  But this year we didn't, because we're saving up vacation days for when our house sells and we have to move (and because there's only so many places you can go that aren't a frozen tundra in January), so I thought a card was in order.

I used kraft cardstock for this card with a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye "Love Me" 6x6 pad.  I also used a piece of off-white crinkle ribbon.  Then I cut two bears from Teddy Bear Parade at 3 inches and also cut their outfits.  Fair warning:  The bouquet on the bride bear is not for the faint of heart.  I had to take my glasses off and look really closely to figure out how it went together.

For the inside of the card, I added a strip of the same patterned paper.  Then I used two sentiments from Jaded Blossom's "Wedding Wishes" stamp set.  I'm still amazed at how well things stamp in Tuxedo Black ink.  Beautiful.  

Spa bear

I really like all the occasions the bears can dress up for on Teddy Bear Parade.  This bear is getting ready for a spa day. I cut her at 3.5 inches.  The rubber duck is on a foam dot for added dimension.

This card is actually based off of a sketch.  There are multiple layers, although it's kind of hard to tell from a picture. The first layer is the white base.  The next layer is the burgandy paper, and the next layer is the pink and white stripes.  Next is the oval (cut at 3.5 inches from Baby Steps), which is on a paper with a very faint diagonal stripe.  Then the bear and the tag.  I put some pearls in the four corners.

The sentiment on the tag is from Scrappy Moms Stamps set "Raining Cats and Dogs." I just cut out a rectangle around the sentiment and then chomped off the corners with a punch.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Scrappy Moms Stamps- Teddy Bear Picnic
Die Cuttin' Divas- Sketch Challenge

Bear Birthday

You know when you get a new cartridge and suddenly it's the first cartridge you want to go to for everything?  Yeah, I just bought Teddy Bear Parade. (btw, I had to trek to 3 different Walmarts to find it, and it was the very last copy at the location I finally bought it from...who knew it would be THIS popular?) 

When I saw that Fantabulous Cricut was having a challenge to use a candle on a birthday project, I was like "that bear has a cake with a candle!  woohooo!"

I cut the bear and accessories out at 3.75 inches.  As you can see, although he's short enough, his balloons stick a little bit over the edge.  I used all of the same colors as the handbook, since I'm still getting to know these cuts.  Because his shirt was just plain white, I used some teal ink and stamped three small candles on using Stampendous' Everything Happy stamp set. 

The patterned paper is from the Basics stack by Paper Studio.  I stamped a sentiment in the top corner with My Craft Spot's Birthday Wishes stamp set.  I just got this stamp set, and I am loving it!  So many of the cards I make in real life are for birthdays, so it's great to have a whole set devoted to sayings for those cards.  

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut- Birthday Celebration (with a candle)