An Unbearably Cute Door Hanger

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I wasn’t actually planning on making another door decoration so soon – the Let it Snow Snowman was doing a great job holding down the fort as an after the holidays theme.

But there was a little problem. It’s been the coldest and snowiest winter in years, and I began to fear I had brought it on with that snowman. Sort of a “be careful what you wish for” situation.

So I decided to make a new one, with a twist. I’ve made this bear door hanger have special three dimensional hands which let him carry things, so he can stand for several months and keep current with events and holidays.

These door hanger projects are really simple, and extremely inexpensive which makes them a great learning craft. Practice is what brings better skill, and cutting and painting on cardboard means less pressure to get it right. If the project turns out as a flop, either paint it over and start again, or just toss it and find another piece of cardboard.

To start this project, grab a piece of cardboard and pencil in the head and body shape of a big friendly bear. I’ve added a hat at the top, similar to the snowman. The pencil lines all get hidden under the paint so take your time and draw/erase/redraw until you are happy with the shapes. If you aren’t comfortable freehand drawing, it’s super easy to find some online clip art, print it out the size of your cardboard, and then use your X-Acto Gripster Knife to cut in your lines.

I use an xacto knife to cut the main shape. It isn’t safe to try and cut it all in one pass. I recommend three – the first go around just lightly cut along the lines. The second pass poke deeper, and then it should be easy to saw through on the third try.

Keep your eyes on the project and be very aware of where your fingers are so you don’t get cut. And either put a self healing mat or styrofoam under your project so you don’t accidentally cut your work surface.

Since this bear door hanger is made of cardboard, acrylic paint is a perfect choice. It’s inexpensive, easy to clean up and easy to mix your own colors.

I finally discovered a use for the daily contact lens pods I’ve been saving. I knew they’d be good for crafting, I just wasn’t sure for what! But they make the best single use paint trays.

Because it’s a cartoonish bear, it isn’t important to get the body color painted even and smooth. The brush marks become the texture for his fur. Paint in the other details (I used a simple color scheme of white and red), and then edge everything with black paint. Outlining looks harder than it is – go slow and don’t put too much paint on the brush.

This whimsical style of illustration and painting is great for crafting because it’s very loose on the details. It really doesn’t have to be perfect; in fact the charm is in the defects.

To make the bear’s hands work to hold objects, you’ll need to cut and paint a set of mittens from additional cardboard. Then add a small square of cardboard to the backs of those mittens, and glue each to the bear arms. It’s those little hidden squares that give a little room to fit another item into the bear’s hands.

Next up is crafting treasures for the bear door hanger to carry!

I made a football out of a cereal box, which was super easy since the box was already light brown. I just added the white laces and a wide line of brown to give it the dimensional look of an inflated ball. Mr. Bear proudly held that for us through the Super Bowl.

For Valentine’s he is holding a striped heart, also made from a cereal box with some digitally printed scrapbook paper glued on.

He will get a four leaf clover for March, and probably some paper flowers for Spring.

What will you make for your bear?

Pin this so you’ll have a plan for making your own bear door hanger.

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