Imagination Booster: Cardboard Box Doll House

My daughter spied an old wooden dollhouse in a thrift store last week that she begged to bring home...we decided to leave it there since it was in pretty bad condition. But since she has dollhouses on the brain now, I thought we'd work together this week on making a fun little home for her Barbies.


We had a perfect, extra-heavy square box around, and I pulled out the craft tub with fabric scraps, felt, lightweight wire, beads, chenille stems, a catalog, glue gun, and cardstock.

We turned the box on its side and cut off the top flap. She wanted the sides left for doors, and the bottom flap was left to extend the floor. For windows, I had her trace around a rectangle of scrap paper and then I cut them out with box cutters.

Now for the fun: decorating!!


She chose her favorite fabrics and we cut 2 rectangles of each. I turned the top edge under 1/2" and quickly stitched it to form a "rod pocket." Then I had my daughter thread both curtains on a chenille stem. I poked holes above and to each side of a window and poked the stem through.



Then on the outside, I hooked the stem through a paper clip on each end, which I had my daughter wind up tight to the box to hold the "curtain rod" securely in place.


Now the curtains could be opened or closed. She found a piece of ribbon and made tie-backs for one set.


For a mod little chandelier, we threaded a length of light-gauge wire through clear pony beads, looping it through each bead once, then coiled the length a few times to look like a light. A three-inch length of the wire was attached to the top and then poked through the ceiling. Again, we wrapped the wire around a paper clip to fasten it tight on the outside of the box. Admittedly, there was a little disappointment when it was discovered the light wouldn't actually work.


We had a piece of brick-colored felt that made a great fireplace. We cut it in half lengthwise, then used a black marker to draw a square at the bottom. We cut little "flames" out of red tissue paper, and yellow & orange felt (use what you have!). They were hot-glued over the black square to make a cozy fire.

For a mantle, we cut a rectangle of white cardstock and folded it to make a right triangle that could be glued in place. It took a couple of tries to get the angle right (my math teacher was right--I really WOULD use geometry after 9th grade!), but we finally got a straight shelf.

My daughter was then put in charge of Art for the room.

She drew a butterfly picture, which I "framed" by gluing it to black cardstock.


Then we shot a photo of one Barbie to hang over the mantle...I guess she's the tenant.

Cut-out catalog pictures function as more fireplace art.

The piece of checkered felt made a perfect area rug. Now we just need to make some cardboard furniture using Tara's clever suggestions here.


The Barbies, homeless until now, are quite enamored with the new digs, although I overheard the blonde say she wants her own place too. Guess I better go search out another box....

Imagination Booster: Paper Doll Furniture

When I was little I used to love going to my grandma's house, not just because the cookie jar was always full or because I loved the smell of coffee even when I was 11, but because she always had fun and creative ways to play together.  My innovative grandma was a second grade teacher for over two decades, and always had amazing stories since she grew up as the baby in a family with no father during the Great Depression. To this day, one of my fondest memories is creating paper dolls and paper doll furniture with my clever grandma from scraps around her house.

To make your own Depression Era paper doll furniture, start collecting boxes from around the house. You will only need a few cereal and/or food boxes to get started. I also saved some of my son's birthday cards to make a few colorful pieces. Anything that is made from thin cardboard material will work.  You will also want to have scissors, scraps of felt or material and any old magazines or catalogs you may have lying around.

This craft is geared towards older kids who can cut and glue well, but younger kids will also enjoy playing!

To make a simple table, cut your cardboard in the shape of an "H" then fold the legs down.

Finished Table made from an old birthday card!

To make your couch, take a large rectangular piece, fold it in half and cut slits in the middle. Then fold down and up- voilà. Couch!

Next, I cut up a few felt pieces to make a bedspread and pillows.

To make a chair, follow the instructions on the couch, only make it half the size!

To finish decorating your room, the possibilities are endless. I like to keep old issues of Pottery Barn, for example, and the pictures are perfect for decorating. If you like to play with Mod Podge like I do, then you and your big kids will have lots of fun cutting, gluing and decorating to their heart's content.  You can break out paint, stickers, cotton balls, anything! 

I used large cereal boxes for my walls here, but another option is to glue walls onto file folders or sturdy folders that you can use to create a space for your furniture. The folders also double as storage if you want to keep your room design for longer than just a few hours!

The final step is to make  your very own paper dolls from catalogs and/or printouts, but we will save that for another day. In the meantime you will notice that Taylor Swift and a Yoga friend stopped in to see our Paper Doll room.  They had a great, relaxing time in our creative new living space!