I love and hate this at the same time!

It's actually kinda cute, and I can see it applied to other containers, but I would have to get rid of the screw-top.

This depresses me. As an artist/craftsperson I really wish people would try to make things worth having. Things to keep and treasure. Not kitschy crap. (Sorry. Even when I taught art, I hated the whole "toilet paper tube" crafts concept. This is the same.)

I've been reading A Beautiful Mess for a while now and I think the two girls are a very creative team. But these bears ... they just make me cringe, to put it mildly. The whole look of it reminds me of cheap communist Chinese tchotchkes that I once saw at an exhibition.

There are so many things that look great with gold leaf. I would say those bears are not really one of them for me.

I think they are quite cute! Although I would probably never do that. Good to practice on though.

Sherry, don't yuck someone else's yum.

Kitschy crap? Pshhh! If your style is more conservative, browse elsewhere. I think these are really cute, personally. Making me fall in love with honey bear bottles all over again.

@buckspt, sorry, feel free to ignore my comments. I thought a little honest critique was a reasonable contribution. (If my opinion has that much clout, maybe the "yum" was a little weak in the first place, eh?)

I am a beekeeper and love all things bee and honey.

I don't even like these. Maybe without the screw top showing like someone else said?

I think practicing gold leaf is a good idea but not this. Sorry and it looks like the bears were purchased new? So someone went out and bought new plastic to make more cheap plastic stuff? Really?

Mayhaps a little bow around the heads would solve that screw top issue.

So don't do it.

Being an (occasional) artist as well, I would say part of the purpose of Art is to find new visual languages for expression, so there should be no limit to the forms or media used. Some of us do find objects to treasure and keep in even toilet paper tube crafts, too.

Yeah, I'm not sure why they didn't cut off the screwtops before doing this, it would have been a very quick, easy step that would have improved the final result a millionfold. I do like these, though, I just can't think of a single place in my house that they wouldn't look kind of dumb in. No doubt that these would look amazing in the right setting though.

That is one thing I never quite get about people calling individual items on here tacky: something that looks really dumb and awful in one room, could be the one defining piece that pulls a different room in a different style together. Admittedly, I guess I feel the same way about faux-aging things most of the time, so to each their own. But I have seen a ton of rooms on this blog that these bears (minus screwtops) would really add to in a great way, even though they would definitely look bad with my stuff.

I don't know that this is something I'd put in my house permanently, but I think it could be a cute idea for children's party decor or something like that. (Though you'd have to eat a LOT of honey.)

I don't know if this is something I would want to display, but as Red Zinger says, its cute for a children's party.

they are cute and fun and shiny--and are not these three qualities what separates us from the animals?

Well said @vinty!

There's also someting to be said for making something out of garbage that you can keep out of landfill, at least for a while. These bears will never be heirloom pieces passed down, but the majority of stuff these days isn't. This is better than decorating with oodles of crap from target that was made in China with a similar trendy shelf-life.

And some people love "kitschy crap", so @sherrybin, why is it up to you to define taste and what crafts are "worth having".

I kindof this this is cute, but it's also really troubling to me somehow. How privileged are we that we gold-plate our recyclables as a craft...

I'm a visual artist and I think these are adorable. Sure, there could be more attention to disguising that it was a honey jar, but the idea is sound and you can save them from the landfill. This would make a great kids project.

hate it. except for temporary display at a kids party, that would be cute.