Wendy's Little Inklings

Wendy's Build a Bear Felt on Etsy

I'm very excited to announce that I have opened my first Etsy store!  My first you ask?  I'll likely have two, but I'll get to that in a minute...

The first store is all about felt Build-a-Bear playmats, bears, clothing, and accessories.  A few items were added this afternoon, and I'll be adding more in the coming days and weeks.  How do you get there?  There are lots and lots of different ways!

Direct link - head over HERE to go directly to this Etsy store

Blog - if you look in the right sidebar, you'll see two of the items currently up for sale with a link underneath them

Facebook - A link has been added to the left sidebar, just under my photo

I hope that you'll stop by and see what's new in the shop.  Once this one is really up and running, I'll be working on the other shop - papercrafts.

Cheers all!

A Girly Build-a-Bear "Beary Best Friends" Card

Sunday was my monthly Mom & Me Stamping Class.  This month we had a crop of girls come over to make some birthday cards.  Every once in awhile I see a boy or two, but most of my younger stampers are girls. 

Today was a lousy, grey day to take photographs, so I didn't bother trying.  I really need to put together a good set-up to take photos of my projects inside of the house, and for tonight this table suited the purpose.

The girls stamped the bear from the Beary Best Friends stamp set, as well as the envelope on a scrap piece of paper.  The envelope isn't in the main Build-a-Bear set, but can be found in the new Beary Best Times set.  This is a great companion set as it includes many additional accessories that you can use with your Bear.  I stamped the Beary Nice Wishes sentiment using Brocade Blue ink ahead of time.  It was a fairly narrow strip of paper, and I didn't want any of the girls becoming frustrated with the process.

My sample card was coloured using ink and blender pens.  For the class, I left a pile of pencil crayons on the table as the bear is a tricky thing for adults to colour with Blender Pens. 

Watch for my Build-a-Bear special in March!  I will have some great Easter kits, as well as a promotion on the stamps themselves.

It's Olympic Hockey Time, and Team Canada is on the ice.  Happy Stamping, and Go Canada!   

Build-a-Bear Christmas Ornament Kits

I packed up a bunch of these Build-a-Bear ornament kits for Christmas this year, and gave them away to some of my friends.  I still have a few left though that I'll hold onto for next year.  I will also make a few more and pack them into a slightly nicer cello bag to list in Etsy.  These ended up on bags that I had on hand.  They fit the bear pieces, but were a bit scrunched from sitting around in a box.  The header was made using the always-useful Top Note die; the sentiment comes from Warm Wishes, and the bear and pawprint images come from Seal of Pawthenticity.  

I forgot to mention that we made these in Michelle's class last week.  I took a pile of bear pieces into school with me, and the kindergarten students used copious amounts of glue to put them together.  It was soooo cute because some of the boys actually made Mrs. Claus bear ornaments to give to their sisters or moms.  Love it!

Now that Christmas is here, I'm packing away the Beary Merry Big Shot die until next year.  But... I have two new Sizzlets in a box, waiting to be opened, for Valentine's Day and Easter.  Who needs rabbits when you can have Easter Bears!

Merry Christmas Eve!!! 

Build-a-Bear Gift Bag

Many of your are on my mailing list and have been receiving my 12 Weeks of Christmas e-mails.  Quick sidenote... If you're not on my mailing list, make sure that you sign-up now to receive the last couple of e-mails before Christmas!!!  Anyhow, I was lucky to part of a group of 12 demonstrators that all worked together in a co-operative effort to put this fun bunch of e-mails together.  I only had to design one project, and this was mine! 

I was responsible for designing a Christmas Gift Bag, and I chose to put together a Build-a-Bear Christmas gift bag.

Isn't this the sweetest gift bag?  All of the kids that have seen my Christmas Build-a-Bears this year at workshops and classes have loved them.  This would be the perfect gift bag for a child that loves Build-a-Bear!  I have used Merry Moments Designer Series Paper, and the Beary Merry Big Shot Die to create the bag.  Time is getting short, but if you'd like to order one of these finished bags, e-mail me and I'll see if I can get one to you.

I need to finish this month's newsletter!!  I'm hoping to send it out shortly as well.  I really need many more hours in each day at this time of year :)

Happy Stamping!.

My Build-a-Bear Papercrafts Store is Open!

It's been a busy few days, and it doesn't look like it's going to settle down anytime soon.  I've been working on all kinds of different things - my first 12 Weeks of Christmas project went out this morning, working with my local Build-a-Bear store, my October newsletter, and my Build-a-Bear Papercrafts Store!

As of today, you can purchase Build-a-Bear party invitations from my "store".  There are four different styles to choose from, and I will be changing these from time to time.  I also have my Build-a-Bear backpack tags in the store, complete with a new, lower price!  As soon as time allows, I will post some embellished birthday cards, gift bags, and a very cute Build-a-Bear felt mat!  So, keep your eye on the store for lots of fun and interesting items!

As an aside, I also do custom card orders.  If you would like an individual card designed for a particular occasion, or if you need a bunch of cards of the same design, drop me a quick e-mail and we can easily put something together for you that is affordable, but with great design elements.  I can do any size of order, up to 2000 cards.

Hope to see you soon in my "store"!

A Bride and Groom Like No Other...

I've been making bears again!  I was giving my Big Shot a workout a couple of weeks ago, busily punching bear pieces, when it occurred to me that Mr. Bear needed a tuxedo.  So, I took some of the pieces that I had punched, and created a cute little outfit for him. 

Mr. Bear then needed a bride.  I could have given him a bear in a prom outfit, but I think that may come later.  For now a Mrs. Bear would work quite nicely.  The tuxedo clad bear hung around my dining room table for a couple of weeks before I finally found the time to create a wedding dress for Mrs. Bear.  Here's what I came up with...

 

Aren't they a cute couple?  I think they look quite adorable!  We will be making this bear couple at my Build-a-Bear class on Monday, September 28th at 7:30pm.  They will be featured on one of our evening's projects.  We will make 2 additional projects using the stamps and dies from Stampin' Up!'s Build-a-Bear Workshop line.  Class fee is $20, but I'll waive this fee if you purchase $45 in product from the Holiday Mini Catalogue! 

If you'd like to come, please call me at 905-655-9347 or e-mail me at wendy@wendyslittleinklings.com to save your spot!  I'd love to see you there!!!

It's Build-a-Bear Bonus Time!

The Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalogue went live today, and there are some absolutely gorgeous things in it.  Normally I'm pretty restrained when it comes to the mini catalogues, because I don't know what will show up in the larger catalogue at its next release date.  This time however, I went a bit nuts.  There are just too many things in this catalogue that I want to get my hands on!

You've heard about the exclusive Stampin' Up! Build-a-Bear stamps, and dies for the Big Shot.  I've posted a few photos to whet your appetites, and now you can have them too!

From now until September 30th, If you purchase the Beary Best Friends, and Beary Nice Wishes stamp sets (total cost $47.90 + tax & S&H), I will deliver your stamps to you in a super-cute gift bag, complete with stamped tissue paper!   There is an all-boy version of the bag as well, and you will be able to choose which version you'd like to have. 

 

If you'd like to try before you buy, I have two classes on the calendar in September that focus on Build-a-Bear.  The first is Mom & Me stamping class on September 27th, and my monthly stamping class on September 28th.  More information about each can be found on my Stampin' Calendar, and I will post additional details on my blog next week. 

My newsletter will be out tomorrow.  Until then, happy stamping!

Build-a-Bear bookmark - same bookmark, 3 different ways.

Sorry about my missing post yesterday.  Weekends just have their way of taking control, without really taking into consideration what you might like to actually get done!

The Holiday Mini Catalogue is available as of Tuesday.  2 more days!!!  I have tons of fun stamps and paper from the catalogue, but since we're still in Build-a-Bear countdown mode, I have the bookmarks that I promised you a couple of days ago.  Each can be made larger by clicking on the image. 

The first is the one that we completed at my recent Mom & Me Back to School class.  These are very basic as the kids stamped them, and then coloured them in with pencil crayons.  This is a super-easy craft to do with your kids, and they love personalizing their bookmarks with their own colour choices.

It's always nice to have a bit of ribbon on the top of a bookmark, and I've used the slit punch and some Pretty in Pink grosgrain to add a touch of pink to an already very pink bookmark!  The girls at the class loved all of the pink!!!

 

One really fun thing to do with the Beary Best Friends Build-a-Bear stamps, is to used them for paper piecing.  I've stamped the stamps on some plain cardstock and some Pawsitively Prints DSP, and then cut the images out and layered them over the stamped image. 

On this bookmark, the dress, hem, flower, and balloon have all been pieced onto the original stamped bear.  Sneaky eh?

 

Finally, our last bookmark features a watercoloured bear, with some really nice taffeta ribbon!  I found that using the slit punch with grosgrain looks nice, but the grosgrain didn't stay taught when pulled tight.  For these samples I opted to staple the ribbon on, to help the ribbon stay tight and flat. 

Note:  These last two bookmarks are 3/4" shorter than the original one at the top, but the width is the same.  They appear to be a bit pudgier, but there is less white space on the bookmark.

We're coming close to the end of summer (although I know that some of you reading this already have kids in school!), so I'm trying to get some last minute things finished.  Tomorrow's a trip to the car dealership!!!  Hopefully that will leave me some "playing time".  I have two more die-cut bears that are ready to be shown off, but you may only see one of them tomorrow.  The second needs a partner, and that is still a glimmer in my imagination!

Until tomorrow... happy stamping!

Well dressed Build-a-Bears that would would look super cute in any scrapbook!

The countdown continues!  Only 5 days left until the Holiday Mini Catalogue is released, and Build-a-Bear comes to Stampin' Up!  I had promised bookmarks for today, but after putting these cuties together this afternoon, I changed my mind.  They are too cute not to share!

   These friendly little bears have been created using my Big Shot, as well as the following dies:  Stampin' Up! Bear die, Stampin' Up! Beary Essentials die, and the Stampin' Up! Beary Boy Sizzlet die.  

The cutie girlie bears on the right were created using the same dies, except that the Stampin' Up! Beary Girl Sizzlet was used for some of the accessories.  All Designer Series Paper is from the Pawsitively Prints collection.

All of the bears shown above have been CASE'd from the displays at our recent Stampin' Up! Convention.  I loved the bears in the photos, and wanted to see how easy it was to recreate them (VERY easy!).  I have a couple more that aren't quite finished yet, as well as a couple of ideas of other "outfits" that I can add to my bears.  I'm going out scrapping tonight, so maybe I'll take my Big Shot with me, and create some more fun bears.

Happy stamping (and die cutting!)

Customized Build-a-Bear Backpack Tags - Do you want one???

Day 3 of our Countdown to Build-a-Bear!  Today's project is super-cute (aren't they all?), and its timing is perfect!  Customized Backpack tags!!!  Although many of your kids have already started back to school, my monkeys don't return until September 8th.  I have made tags for two of their backpacks, and my younger kids love them. 

If you would like a custom backpack tag for your child, I can make a personalized tag for you!  The cost for each tag is $3.50 CDN, and details for each tag are below.

The girl's version of the tag features a female bear, complete with a hand-stamped, watercoloured pink dress, chocolate brown shoes, and a pink flower in her hair.

Some additional shading has been done underneath her shoes.

Watercolouring on the boy's version of the tag has been done in blue and orange, with a small amount of black at the bottom of his shoes. 

Again, additional shading has been done underneath his shoes.

The reverse of the tag contains your child's information, specifically their name, telephone number, and your e-mail address, in the Build-a-Bear font.  Classroom numbers and teacher's names have not been included so that they tags can be used for more than one year. 

Flowers have been added to the girl's tag, and balloons are on the front of the boy's tag.

Each tag has been laminated using 5 mil plastic, and comes with a loop to attach the tag to a backpack. 

**Note:  I have updated this post as of 9/30!  You can now purchase these tags on my Build-a-Bear papercrafts page here.

Please e-mail me if you have any questions, or if you are looking for something a bit more "out of the box".  I do have a Demonstrator version of the tag for those of you that are Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.  The tag is essentially the same, except that on the front of the tag I have swapped out the balloon/flower for the "Life without stamps is unbearable" image that came with the Convention Build-a-Bear.  Let me know if you would like one of these!!!

Tomorrow I'll feature another Build-a-Bear project on my blog - something simple that can be done with kids, but it can easily be gussied up into a very special project for you! 

Happy stamping!