My bearhouse nr. 1 closet with drawers

Saturday, March 15th 2014.

My bears-house! Please scroll down to follow this project!

A new experiment! I really like to make a bears-house or, if you like, a dolls-house. Inspired by pictures in the magazine DollsHouseNederland.
It took me a few months to think about this. Never made something like that before. What am I going to use? How much money will I spend?

Low Budget! Best thing to do for me just incase everything goes wrong. Until now I spent 7 euro.

Maybe I better start with a little closet filled with mini-bears!  If I like it and succeed I can start with a "real" house!

I bought a little closet in the colour white and brown. It has little hearts on it. Also I found some adhesive decorations and a mix of cheerful papers. Don't know it so it is completely new to me.

These are adhesive strips. Each strip has 2 layers of plastic and the decoration is between them.

You must cut out a pattern and leave some plastic around it.

You remove the bottom layer from plastic and place the decoration where you want it. There is glue on that side!

Now you must firmly press a stick on the pattern to glue it to the closet (or whatever).

Very carefully remove the plastic layer on top and check if the pattern stays on the closet. If not, go on pressing it.

Because I use white on white I have used some pastel-chalk to make the decoration more visible. No idea if this is going to work! If not I've learned something again! I want to spray lac on it tomorrow by daylight. Outside!

I glued the lovely paper I bought (it's called Spring! how nice!) into the drawers, piece by piece and used a children/safe glue. It took quite a time to do this.

This is what it looks like now.

and one more picture..

At this moment I have 1 little bear that fits into a drawer so I also must make bears.....and I'm working on a project with 2 bigger bears too......
I don't want to hurry but work relaxed on both projects! Making these things must be fun!

Please come back but give me some time! I try to up-load news every week!

Thanks for your visit!

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Sunday.

This morning I took a brush and some water and brushed over the pastelchalk. After letting this dry I sprayed one layer of lac and had to wait 2 hours to let it dry. Then I sprayed again. Waited 2 hours again. Done! I like the result. I was kind of curious to find out if the "stickers" I glued on the wood would be damaged by the lac....No! How kind!

While I was working in my "bear-palace" I found little Kareltje who had climbed on a cork and looked into a small drawer......"what are you doing Kareltje?"    "I look into this little drawer! what is it for?"  "it is part of my bears-house Kareltje; there will be living bears inside; each will have it's own room and furniture"  ... "Aha!!!!   can I live in there too????!!"     "if you want to: yes!"    "Ahhhh.....!  Hurry Pink, I want to join the others in the bears-hous!"  "Now my little friend, you must be very patience! It will take time to finish the house and find your new friends!"   "hmmm.....ofcourse.....I can wait and every now and then sit on your desk and see what you are doing!"  "sure Kareltje, that will be very cosy!"  .....so it be!

curious Kareltje!

here you can see the top;  it shows subtile decorations  and that's what I tried to reach. So far so good again!

Work to do! Later!

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Monday!

Kareltje said he likes a blue room......because he is blue himself. OK!

his room has a carpet now from white woolfelt

and he has a mattress! made from a piece of fabric and stuffed with polyester. Some lace added for decoration

and a little pillow made from felt and stuffed with polyester

this is what it looks like now; there has been lace added in the edges and Kareltje made a painting from a car! He used a wooden disc with some paper and everything has been glued to the wall

is it comfortable Kareltje?  yep!

Kareltje seems to like it!

Friends!  BabaCool made by Annabel.....and Kareltje together, how cute!

I wonder if Kareltje needs a blanket.....I think so! Until now this bears-house is still made low-budget. Next thing I want to add is a bookshelf and a book.......must think about how to!

The rest of this evening I will spend working on my other project, the 2 panda-bears! 

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Monday March 24th.

The last days I have been working on my other project (the 2 bears) mainly. What I did for the bears-house:

I made the mattress look more like a mattress...also because it was so thick. Kareltje made a little book himself, complete with drawings. Together we made a blanket.....from an adorable red hand-dyed mohair. 

Now...look at his face!

Kareltje reading his book.....he can use the blanket as a pillow too

Aha..!!!! he made a drawing of me!!!!  well..well!

it is late already and Kareltje must go to sleep now!

The book-shelf: maybe there is not enough room for it but I still try to make one to find out!

I'll be back soon. Thank you for your visit!

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Monday 31 March.

It was time to make a little person for my bearshouse again. First I tried to design the right size and the right person:

it must fit into an appr. 7 cm / 2,7 inches drawer. Phew...! I know that when it has been stitched it will be a bit smaller.

I started with the head.....and had to throw it away! I made the opening too small and could not get the fabric turned to the right side anmymore...well, I hadn't been stitching for hours! A little change to the pattern and here is the result:

whatever it may be...it is a happy chap!

time to go on!

*****

 Tuesday.

This morning when I looked at the little one the first thing I thought was: wrong embroidery! I changed it into a soft pink colour.....it is a girl for a pink room! I mean: little girls.......pink......!

All parts have been hand-stitched. It was hard to do. There is a little problem with my eyes...I see all kind of moving black spots and waterdrops....and the brighter the light the worse it gets. It is not dangerous but very inconvenient. Sclerose of the fluid in my eye-balls. Both eyes give a different look....read: different moving spots. I got used to it, really. Nevertheless it bothers me a lot while making bears. Hmm.....older! NOT complaining! Things are the way they are and I will not (can not) (don't want to!) give up making bears! I'm proud because I succeeded to make this little girl so far:

Must stuff the limbs and give her sweet ears! ...have a lovely fabric....!I did disc-joint the head. I think little girl is a bit funny and very happy! Well, if SHE is happy I am happy!

Enough for today! Time to chill......drink some tea and eat some chocolate....and have a nice sleep! I hope the sun will be shining again tomorrow (gosh did I bike today! I saw cute new-born lambs! It felt like I was all alone with them, nobody else there! Beautiful little roads surrounded by trees and meadows....WOW!)

Thanks for your visit! Hugs from Holland! Pink

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Thursday.

Little girl is finished....and it was quite a struggle to close everything! I thread-jointed the limbs with floss-thread. Did a bit of shading too. Added glass-beads in her tummy, one by one.....
Her ears are made from felt and I added 2 layers of fray-check to make them stronger. I did some scissor-sculpting.

she is dancing in front of the transistor radio.....

Her little room has a carpet from 2 layers of  lace and I crocheted a flower-basket for her and added some (paper) flowers.

She has inspected her room and is happy with it if you ask me!

Next thing I want to make is a mattress-blanket-pillow-in-one. Looking forward to it!

Little girl is appr. 6,5 cm / 2,6 inches and she can stand alone!

I'm still working "low-budget"! The lace was packaging-material and the paper flowers were a present from my Danish friend (we send each-other "things" many times, saying: "I'm not going to use this, can you use it?"  or something like "I'm out of disc's......" "I have enough, I shall send to you!"
ahhh......FRIENDS!!!!!!

More to come!

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Friday.

Little girl's room is finished. Little girl has a name now: Babette. 

Babette is too big (!) to lay down straight in her room.....so there was not enough space for a mattress-blanket-pillow! No problem, I gave her a nice pillow. It is made from felt. Babette has a little painting now....as she adores flowers I could have guessed it should be a flower-painting!

A little lace blanket covers her to keep her warm at nights.

I think she is "at home"!

I have 1 more pink drawer and 2 more blue ones......and must design a new person again. I will be back next week!

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Tuesday.

Last weekend we visited the DollsHouseNederland show and it was so nice and such a surprise! Found the bearshouse for the lottery and was allowed to take a picture! My friends' and my little bear are in there...somewhere!  Sorry for the bad quality of the picture, the house is behind glass and I'm not a good photographer at all....

Well, someone is very happy now being the new owner of this bearshouse! Aww....all these lovely mini-bears and the house itself is stunning in my opinion!

Never have been to such a show before so I didn't know what to expect. There were a lot of tiny things there! Things for shops, furniture, clothes, SHOES ( love shoes!), thing for the kitchen, the grocery, from the supermarket......paintings.....and so much more to see.
Within 5 minutes I "lost" my husband and found him back.....so much later. He was enjoying the visit too!

It is hard to walk there and see all the lovely "stuff"  knowing you want it all.....but you won't buy it. However, I did buy some furniture:

Balsa-wood as we call it. I love it. I can decorate it the way I like it and it was cheap, 13 euro all together. It is not for the bearshouse I'm making now because I really want to try to make everything myself. But, as you might have guessed, I will make another one in future!

Talking about my current project: didn't do a thing but I will start again tomorrow!

If you like to find out what I'm going to make.....please come back!

Have a lovely day! Pink

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Wednesday.

This evening I started with room nr. 3. It is a blue room again. First thing I did was make a little white open-sparse short-pile carpet. Have been thinking which person shall live there....and it will be a mouse. 

I used the same pattern as for Babette, the little pink girl. Made some changes: more pointed nose and a dart for volume.

all stitched and stuffed, disc added, seem stitched

here is mouse! no ears yet but I already love it! I used embroidery thread for the whiskers and added some fray-checkto keep them this way

if you do your upper-best you can see a part of the carpet! Mousy wanted a little painting of his friend.....a tiny bear! It has been glued to the wall. I'm thinking about how to decorate this room.....need some cheese....and more! Will give it a try tomorrow!

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Thursday.

Oh..oh...!  Little mouse was protesting! "What's up mouse"???  "Well, first of all I think I look more like a seal than a mouse"!

 My brother and I had to laugh about this! Mousy is right! 

"Second: I like the room Pink but you know, I am a MOUSE"! "Yes you are, so what is the problem"? "I want to live in a nest! Mice live in nests Pink! Didn't you know"?

"Yes, you are right again mousy! So, I shall make you a nest and do something about your whiskers"! 

"Phew....!!!!! sounds much better Pink!"

I started needle-felting with Peru-wool and tried to make a colourful nest for a colorful mouse

I needle-felted it "together" in a kind of circle and glued it into the room

4 cm.....1 1/2 inches

whiskers are shorter and wilder now (somehow I think mousy is wild!); the limbs are thread-jointed and I did some shading...

Now it is time to add some details and I must make ears and a tail.

Almost bed-time! Be well! 

*****

Saturday.

Mousy is finished! I am not ashamed to say that I love this little one! 

in his nest...under his home-made blanket

stand alone...

with his home-made collar....

very relaxed

making himself at home....

just climbing back into his home....

  It was a "struggle" and it was fun! Making these tiny ones still is kind of "double" for me. This fabric is awfull pleasant to work with! It also feels very soft! 

The ears are made from wool-felt again. 

Weekend!!! enough time to think what to do with the 2 remaining drawers!  See you next week! 

*****

Monday.

First thing I did was adding a carpet in the smallest drawer. I thought that if I first made the smallest one...the last one would be easier! 

 

 I used a left-over piece of a long-pile lilac mohair

head first

seam done

I think it is very important to make the darts precisly opposite

already looks like a little bear! this always makes me happy! I used a very basic pattern with a center-seam

the knot of the eye on the bottom of the head; I always try to pull the thread into the head

the thread has been pulled into the head and the result is neat

the disc has been added

Hello little bear!!!

I love the shape of the head!

body stuffed

don't run away little bear!!!  ahh...2 tiny legs!

a little late but here is the pic of the stitched body.....

  Tomorrow I will finish the arms and join everything! This night I will probably dream of how to decorate this room......! Sometimes great ideas appear in the middle of the night! Funny!

Later!

*****

Thursday.

Done! Hurray! and we call her: Bella!

here are some pic's!

everything has been stitched and the openings have been closed a bit

the leggs have been attached and she has a little red tongue

I thread-joint this way

put together

ears....decorations....

she is tiny.....

the room......the cube-shaped beads have been woaven (by me)

Bella admires her room

I think she likes it!

yes, she loves flowers!!!!

It really was so much fun again making a little bear and her room! Now, 1 more to do.....!

Thank you for your visit and I'll be back soon!

*****

Friday May 9th 2014.

Finally, the last room! It took some time before I started with this one. Made a few rabbits in between, bigger : )))

Now, I'm not sure if I will leave this room the colour it is. Maybe I should because of the other rooms....so, the best thing to do was start with a new mini-bear and see if it likes the room!
It came to my mind to make a carriage of the room, make a little horse and a bear but in the end I decided not to do so because where could I leave the wheels? Bet I'll make a seperate one, once!

For this bear I used the Bella-pattern which you can find on my page free patterns. I love that pattern.

This is the back-side of the fabric ofcourse!

Talking about low-budget: this fabric was 1 euro, (sale!), from a great supplier. If I count right you can make about 4 or 5 bears from this fabric in this size...WOW! THAT'S  low budget but still top-quality!

The colour is soft pink but the pic's don't show it very well. In the end I shall add (try to) the right colour....asking the photographers in our home to help me with their camera's and knowledge (mine is 0,0  if it comes to photographing!)

2 tiny legs!!!   yes!!!  disc-joints! thought I had to try this! maybe the cotterpins are a bit too big but I can make them shorter? I'll see!

head, as you can see the dart has been stitched backwards

done!

I'm always very surprised to see how it looks like when stuffed!

1 arm ready!  here the colour is almost ok. The white thread is from the seam.

Just a few more parts to stitch and then I can joint the bear and start stuffing. I got this great mini steel-shot!

Must go now but I'll be back soon!

*****

Saturday.

Rain....reain...rain! a good day to do some "bearing"! 

the joint is added to the head

5-way disc-jointed! there must be smaller disc's available!!! somewhere....!

never add a leg where the arm must be jointed! it was so stupid! but I also share the mistakes I make with you. It was very hard to get the cotterpin out again! Phew!

jointed

half way stuffing! I used mini-steelshot for the tummy and the foot and for the foot I must put in the steelshot almost piece by piece......one leg and two arms to go......thanks for this rainy day!

Hmm.... this fabric is thicker than the blue one for Bella and I notice it is not that easy to get my needle thrue this fabric when I want to close the openings. Maybe that's why they are not going to sell this anymore?  In my opinion the seems from the blue fabric are more neat too so I prefer that fabric!

 I need a nice cup of tea now!   aha.....!!!! there must be some apricot-pie in the kitchen!!! Later!

*****

Sunday, May 11th 2014.

Done! The bears-house is complete! Here are some pic's of the last room and bear!

baby! wearing a needle-felted diaper with tiny buttons! baby can stand alone.

bottom with a heart..

in her room...I made a "play-carpet" for her

I love you too!

I want to get into my room......phew!

hand in hand.....true love!

  It was fun. Really fun. Not always that easy but still...fun.

 I learned a few things too:

•  it is easier to stuff the limbs before you attach them....once they are attached it is hard to stuff them and even more hard to close the openings in a neat way!
• every fabric gives an other result and a completely different bear..
• I need patience. I am a woman with so much patience....but I need some more to make these little ones I think. Making progress tho!
• it is really important to get smaller disc's and especially cotter-pins; it is very hard to hide them while stuffing or even get the stuffing inside.
•  Most important thing I learned? I LIKE this! 

Made with love!!!!

Thank you SO much for following my project and coming back all the time. It feels like a kind of support! 

Next thing to do? I designed a bigger bear and cut some fabric.....and in the meantime I'm thinking of making a milk-bottle for mini-baby  and I am thinking about how to make my next bears-house! One thing is for sure: I'll make the bears just a little bit bigger.....just a cm I think.

I wish you a lovely day!!!  Hugs from Pink in a rainy and stormy Holland (I love that weather!)

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