Don’t you love it when you have 100 things to do by Saturday and yet you find yourself throwing it aside for an hour while you make a doghouse?
I was about to throw out a Huggies Wipes box this morning and thought, maybe Lucy wants this? I can cut a door out for her dog to sit inside. (she’s majorly into Clifford right now). Of course a simple door turned into a couple windows, a second story hang-out, and a coat of yellow spray paint. Well, the dog got the second story while Lucy carefully lined-up all her favorite “people” inside.
It was a hit! And though it’s a pretty sorry looking house (the paint doesn’t even cover the ugly Huggies pics)….it got me to thinking more about cardboard houses and creations. I’ve been looking on Craigslist and in thrift stores for a dollhouse for Lucy for Christmas. With a tight budget, I don’t want to spend tons of money and yet I still want something cool and unique, right? I know, I’m asking for the impossible. So I thought, hey! I’ll make her a princess castle out of boxes, pringle cans, oatmeal containers, etc. This will be really fun! Well, we’ll see if I can get to it before Christmas. My back-up plan will be to shoot for her birthday in February.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to do kids’ Christmas gifts, cardboard and felt are great options. And there are many inspirational sites out there with cool ideas:
* Here is a great tutorial for a felt/cardboard castle (brought to you by Confessions of a Sewing Dork).
* Who can pass up this felt playhouse from the talented, homemade by jill?!
* forty-two roads has been a favorite site of mine for a while. At first I was floored by her cool artwork. But she also makes kids kitchens and doll furniture that are remarkable. She was even on Martha about 6 months ago showing how to make a doll chair (instructions are here). If you’re looking for ideas, check out her site!
* And if you feel like tackling a kitchen out of wood or MDF, check out this adorable creation. I love it!)
I’m certainly a novice when it comes to this stuff. I’m very impressed with what others have done. We’ll see if there’s a castle down the road! In the mean time, here’s to the army of Disney figures lined up for some sort of Alamo battle.
* Thank you all for the great comments! Many of you left fabulous ideas on making cardboard houses! Make sure you check the comments section to see what others have said.
