June's Team Thursday: PuzzledOne

I came across this jigsaw on Etsy today

How awesome is he?!  And so colourful

You can see him here

Team Thursday - Etsy Kids Favourites

Not a lot of people know, but I am a member of the Etsy Kids team.  So here's something straight from my favourites.  I really want to get these for Little Bear!

You can find them here!

43 of 52 - The Mini Bear Army is not all about world domination you know.....

Every so often, I get a photo of one of my bears getting it's fair share of love in it's new home.  But this one has extra cuteness built right in there for you.

Maisy of OneLittleHouse is a big fan of cats.  Some would say a crazy cat lady but not me, nope, not a bit ;-)  Recently she has been volunteering at a cat foster home and making lots of new furry friends and blogging about them here.  Needless to say, it didn't take her long to start fostering herself and she gave a home to Pip just last week.  Maisy is also a regular bear adopter and one of the mini bears met Pip yesterday.  And I think you'll agree, they get on well!

All together now...... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

41 of 52 - And the winner is......

There were 37 entries for the little giveaway!  And there was a great selection of names for my poor sad sock bear.

And the winner is (randomly picked using Random.org) .......

Tia!!  (who apparently is a Rottweiler) and she said:


I think you should call him Edward Sockbear... after Edward Scissorhands, who was a scarred gentle soul who just wanted to be loved... also he said "I am not complete" and the sock he was made from was flawed... besides the movie makes me cry and Sockbear deserves his happy ending :)


So Edward Sockbear it is!!  Check your emails Tia and send me your address :)


Thanks to everyone who entered and shared the blog post.

40 of 52 - GIVEAWAY! He's the bear with no name....

Poor chap.  He has no name at all

See, he's all sad

Now, he's not going in my shop at all.  There was a fault in the sock that I didn't notice until I'd nearly finished him so after fixing that which left him with a rather fetching scar across his head, I decided he wasn't going in the shop.  But, I have plans for him.  He's going to have some adventures along with us and I'm sure he will get acquainted with Baby Bears in the coming weeks but he doesn't have a name!  And our naming efforts are exhausted by trying to come up with names for Baby Bears.

So, drop your comments here before Wednesday 3rd November at 5pm and tell me what you think I should call him.  And if your name is chosen, you can choose a mini sock bear from my Etsy shop to be all yours!

39 of 52 - WIP busting continued

So yesterday I showed you my WIP bucket and my mission to clear as much of it as I can.  Well, I have success to report!

Not only did I finish a number of WIPs but I also found some finished things that needed photographing for listing!  WIN!!

The pile of finished things looks like this:

So 4 bears, 1 waterproof bag and 4 waterproof lined purses, a pile of padded hexagons for baby spills etc, 3 gonks, an embroidered bag (I found this finished but it needs ironing today) and a sale!!  Oh and I should have added a pair of gloves that i've finished for my Father-In-Law's Christmas present, but I'd hate to spoil the surprise ;-)

I call that a very productive day.

So the remaining WIPs look like this:

So that's the Pooh kit (GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!) the dress (in the Fenwick's bag) and the embroidered shopping bag to be ironed.  That means that the ironing board will be out and I'll probably end up tackling the ironing pile as well.  This morning has mostly involved preparing this blog, doing some work for UK Handmade and trying to work out what socks to knit my Dad for Christmas.

So keep an eye out in my ClareBears shop for those new things coming soon!

38 of 52 - WIP busting

I have had the worst case of start-itis just recently.  Too many ideas, with too few chances to do them.  As a result my WIP bucket is looking like this

And it's not a great picture but there is a waterproof lined bag for things like wet baby clothes etc there, some quilt wadding (which will be used along with the rest of the pile of hexagons from this post) and there are some bears, gonks and a dress to complete.  And with Baby Bears' arrival now imminent (less than a month to due date - eep!) I really think now is my best chance!

The dress has been there the longest and will likely be the last thing finished.  I cut it out in January (yes really) but it kind of got a bit put aside in my eventful year.  So the first job is to add a handle to the bag (like a wrist handle thing), hand sew some bears (there's a Winnie the Pooh in there that needs finishing but it's an awful pattern/kit and I don't wanna!) and then onto a couple of gonks that need finishing.

And i'm not letting myself start anything new until its clear.  You have to hold me to that!

37 of 52 - The Stash Busting Soft Furnishings for Baby Bears

Let me admit to it now.  I have a lot of crafting supplies.  My husband will be very pleased to hear me admit to that.  When it became obvious that I wasn't going to be going back to a day job for a while, or the salary that goes along with it, I knew that my plan of buying the ENTIRE Zeddy and Parsnip range from Mamas and Papas just wasn't going to happen.  I should mention I fell in love with that range when I worked there, please don't judge me :).  This meant that I was either going to have to look for a cheaper range, or come up with an alternative.

Fortunately I am fortunate to call some very creative people my colleagues now and I figured that I could just make some of it myself.  Not only that, but since my crafting space was destined to become the, as yet infinished, nursery I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use up some of my stash.  I refer here to two stashes, my yarn stash (which is getting a bit silly but I do love yarn) and my fabric stash which was made up of left overs, scraps and generally acquired fabrics that I was loathed to throw away.

So the fabric stash was the first to get hit.  As a lot of it was small pieces, I decided (in my infinite wisdom) that a hexagonal patchwork quilt was the way to go.  So I cut out this pile of hexagons.

Well, this is just the first pile of hexagons because I still have boat loads left!  Hexagon swap anyone?

But I am pleased with them because they have turned into a cushion.

There is some lovely fabric in there from Lu Summers and some Liberty fabric from ScarlettRose.  And just at the bottom is some fabric that was sent to me in the most awesome scrap bag from Julie of Moaning Minnie Designs.

And the back I added some lovely buttons which were sent when I bought some felt from The Fuzzy Fish

Then I spotted some off cuts that were big enough to do stripes so I made curtain tie backs (can you see where my little brain got a bit out of control?).

Then it was the big things.  The cot bumper and the quilt.  Both were going to take some time and I have actually never completed a quilt of any size before.

But, I think they came out looking good myself.

This is the cot bumper.  The gorgeous handmade binding is from Caro at Overspill and the backing is white with a white floral print on it which I got from a local craft shop.  It's very pretty.

And then the quilt!  I am very pleased to see this finished.  It has pretty binding from Overspill again and the same backing as the bumper.  Now, it's not quite square, and some of my stitching is a tad wonky (fur fabric is very forgiving!) but it was handmade by me and nobody has one like it in the whole wide world.  I kind of like that.

And my last stashbust effort was focused on my yarn.  I had lots of baby colours but with no idea of what the sex is so I decided that a mixed bag was fair game.  So a striped square blanket with a ruffled edge was created. 

There maybe a few more things to come but one thing is for sure.  I've enjoyed making all of this and I can't wait to see it all in the cot next week (I promise i'll share a photo!)

36 of 52 - New Papercrafts Store!

My other shop, LittleGreyClouds, has been around for a long time now but it is getting a makeover.  Once it was a shop for my destash items and the stamps I happened to make.  Now it's going to be a bone fide papercrafts store.

So not only can you get my stamps there but now there are journals and notebooks too!

LittleGreyClouds in on Etsy and Folksy!

35 of 52 - New ClareBears stockists

Just recently, some fabulous new places have started showing off my bears.  All the traditional bears are available through some new outlets.

Firstly, Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous have added me as a designer and I am slowly adding more products to that site.

Then my first specialist bear retailer has added me so you can now find me at Bramhope Bears.  Stay tuned for more bears arriving there soon.

30 of 52 - A diversion into Google Analytics

When I first joined Etsy i'd never heard about Google Analytics (GA) before and had no idea how it works.  But, I have learned a little bit now and then just by clicking about so I thought i'd share some of the things i'd found.

The first thing i'm going to start with is something that was posted on a forum thread I was on recently.  How do you find out where traffic to a specific page comes from?

So, you're checking you views and an item has shot up without any intervention from you.  You've probably checked Craftopolis and Craftcult and they don't show you as being featured anywhere on Etsy*.  Where do you look in GA to find out?

If you go to the dashboard for the site you're looking at (I'm assuming you know how to get to the first page here.  You have, after all, managed to install the tracking code already so that's a start.  Then look in the bottom right hand corner there is a box called 'Content Overview' (shown below).

Click the 'view report' link at the bottom of that box.

This will show you the full content overview.  In the bottom left hand corner of the new screen has a table of your 'Top Content' or the pages that are looked at the most.

If the item you want to see is in the top five most viewed pages, then select it (just click on the blue link) from the table you can see above.  If you can't see it, click 'view full report' again and you should find the page you want on that list.

So I want to look at my second most viewed pages which is for my new Caramel Long Fur Bear and when I click on it, I see a page like this

I have marked the 'Entrance Sources' link as that's the bit you need to click next.  This tells you exactly where all of the traffic comes from.  You will now see a table breakdown of the top ten traffic sources for that specific page.

So for my item, most of my traffic is direct (which I expected for this item as it was recently on the Etsy Front Page) but I can see that I get traffic from Google, Bronto (the system that Etsy uses for it's emails), Facebook and an interesting site called Demonkidz.com (a site which freaks me out but they regularly link to their Etsy shop so I figure they're coming to me afterwards).

So, now you know!  It's pretty straight forward but the links are a bit hidden.

If there's another thing you'd like to know about Google Analytics, let me know in the comments and i'll find out.

*I use Etsy as an example here, the same applies to Folksy, your blog, or website.  Anywhere you have Analytics tracking installed.

27 of 52 - Bears in the news!!

Well that doesn't happen very often!  Bears are hardly the most controversial of subjects but just look at this!

Yep, you read it correctly, a third of adults still take a teddy to bed. Phew, now I don't feel so bad for it. Though mine strictly isn't a teddy but a rather well loved dog.

Aww bless him! And according to that article, he's about average age too! And considering the survey was done by Travelodge, I'm glad I'm not the only one that worries about leaving a beloved toy in a hotel room!

So, which bear would you take on a trip with you to snuggle up in a hotel with? Go on, I won't tell :-D

26 of 52 - The Gonk Tales

A few Gonks have ventured out into the big wide world.  And a few of them are having adventures along the way!

The first one I heard back from was Diego, who went on a walking holiday up in Scotland!

And he sent us back this postcard from John O'Groats.  I did hear that Diego tried to jump into the sea at John O'Groats but he was held back by his heroic owner.  Diego lives in Newcastle with my Father in Law and is often off on camping trips now.  Diego's adventures will continue :)

The next adventures is from the laydee's man of the gonk family!  The aptly named 'Bonk' (don't ask!).

(Click the image for a bigger version)
He got all spruced up for his date with a ClareBear!  The ClareBear in the photos was made over 12 years ago for a special birthday present.  Oh how they've change in all that time!  You'll be glad to know that the Gonk and Bear are currently living happily together in Northumberland.

This blog post was brought to you with the help of the complete mentalists that are Malcolm Freemantle (My Father In Law) and Allen Hurst (My Dad).  Thanks xx

25 of 52 - From my other handy crafts!

As some of you may know, I don't just make bears.  I have been known to wield a knitting needle, to joust with a crochet hook and thrust an embroidery needle.

When my husband and I got married 3 years ago, I made a lot of the stationery for the big day myself.  From save the date cards to orders of service I made them all.  But the thing I am most pleased with is the place cards for the tables.  I saw the idea in a wedding album at a fair and couldn't resist making my own special cross stitched place cards.  And I made one for every seated guest (about 60) and I made a couple a night as the RSVPs arrived.  On the big day, they looked like this:

Aren't they pretty?  And the best part is that every time I go to the house of one of the guests, the card is happily on display somewhere.  Not tucked in a drawer or thrown away, cherished and admired even after the event.  And that gives me a big old happy!

These cards have been selected to feature in the UK Handmade Wedding Gift guide this summer with some other gorgeous items to make your wedding perfect.

Just follow the link above to go and see them!

24 of 52 - Bags of Bears!

And I don't just mean that I have bags of bears hanging around (though I do, it can get a bit scary round here sometimes).  I mean that my bears now come with something comfy for them to travel in!  And possibly live in, if you so choose.

Each of my bears will now come with it's very own printed (by me!) ClareBears drawstring gift bag.

And there will be a certificate of authenticity to confirm that your ClareBear is 100% original.  Get you bears in bags from all of my stores!

23 of 52 - Last few days of sale!

So last week I told you about my Christmas in July sale and it has been fun seeing all those bears go off to a good home.  The sale will be on until Sunday 25th July!

There are still some bears waiting to go off to new homes....

Head over to my Etsy shop to grab your bear before the sale ends!

22 of 52 - It's Christmas!!!!! (In July)

So this is a quiet time of year for retailers.  There's nothing exciting happening, we're in a holiday lull and the schools are about to break up for six whole long weeks.  So, in order to drag us all through the mid year slump (especially when it's raining cats and dogs like it is now!) Etsy sellers from all over the world have a Christmas In July sale.  And well I decided to join in!

So, go to my shop and go and take 25% off everything there!  That simple, i'll refund you via Paypal at the end (that's just cos I can't go through and edit all the prices, i'd go madder).

Head there right now and grab a bargain before anyone else does!

21 of 52 - Oh Blimey!! I didn't realise it had been that long!

Oh dear, I neglected my blog again.  It was the 9th of June when I blogged last.  So I'd best tell you what I've been up to.

I've been knitting!  I love to knit and I now have a really good excuse.  My Twitter followers and friends around the interwebs are probably aware that we have a baby on the way due at the end of November.  I mean that's pretty big news but time is marching on and now that 20 weeks is approaching, you sort of go 'eeep!' and get your butt into gear organising things that you need.  So I started to knit.

And so far, I'm getting head start.  As you might have noticed, we don't know what it is yet (and we don't intend to find out) so it's neutrals all the way.  I've even got a mint green and a white cardigan that need buttons and little finishing touches before they can be photographed.

We also have had a holiday!  woot!  It was a lovely week in a caravan in Moffat, Scotland.  The caravan was kindly loaned by my in laws and we had a lovely chilled out week.  We did go to Edinburgh Zoo and saw penguins and monkeys and lions (oh my!).

And of course there are some new things coming.  Here's a sneaky peak of my latest work in progress.

Now I must go and write a note in my diary about doing a blog post every week.  This Mummy brain is not doing me any good!

20 of 52 - It's not often I win something.....

but sometimes when I do the item is generally awesome and this one is no exception.  A few weeks ago I entered a give away run by Claire of Payne Design on her blog.

And I won!!  Yahoo!  So my prize was this fabulous turtle brooch!

And everyone knows I love turtles.  Just look at the photo my husband took of a turtle when we were diving on our honeymoon.  It's one of my favourites ever.

So if you like turtles too, head over to Claire's Etsy shop for more turtles and felty, geeky marvellousness.

18 of 52 - The pattern is ready to go!

My lovely pattern testers got back to me on Friday with their suggestions and I spent a little while updating the pattern.  Now it's ready to go.  So you can get my pattern over here in my Etsy store.

To celebrate my very first pattern you can win one of the cover girls (or boys - it's your choice)!

There are four ways to enter.

1. Tweet this message:  I am entering @clarebears coverbear giveaway at http://claresbears.blogspot.com/

2. Comment on this post

3. Become a fan on Facebook here

4. Buy a copy of the pattern!

Any of these will get you an entry, do all four, you get four entries!  There will be three winners chosen at random from all entrants and the prize will be drawn on Sunday 30th May at 7pm (UK time).

Good Luck!