We don’t do much shopping on Black Friday anymore, as the deals aren’t as great and too many stores have tried to take over family time on Thanksgiving, just as they’ve done on Sundays. But there are a few things I shop for on that day, and after a few years of searching, I FINALLY found a new pair of boots to replace my worn out old ones I’d had for longer than I should have. I knew I needed new ones, but it was hard to find what I wanted, and in my size. So many brands of shoes do NOT make my size…ugh! Any way, I finally found a pair and I love them!
Here’s comes the real reason for this post though. You don’t want a big, long post about my boots, right?! 🙂
Before I throw out things like shoe boxes, I try to decide if there is any reason to keep them, like for storage maybe. So I let it sit as I pondered. (I love words like ponder)! A couple of weeks later I had the idea of making a dollhouse with it for a special 7 year old in my life for Christmas. It sounded like so much fun I couldn’t wait to start brainstorming and collecting items I could turn into furniture and such!! I won’t tell you how many nights I was up too late because I just couldn’t stop working yet. I was having too much fun! 🙂
So I’ll try to share with you all of the details of how I made everything and created this adorable Bootbox Dollhouse that was a hit!
Here are the basics. Because it was a nice large box, I was able to create four rooms and a pretty front yard with the attached lid.
The front of the house with a front door:
And a bonus dollie for her:
She likes toadstools just like me, so I covered her house with this scrapbook paper.
The back of the house:
The side:
And I made a clasp with these pretty flowered thumbtacks I found at a Japanese store in LA and a hair band so she can close up the house:
The yard:
With flower gardens, grass and a path…
A shady umbrella, a pool and a kitty cat..
I made the pool from an idea I found online out of four plastic bracelets with some cardboard and paper glued to the bottom.
And a baby carriage from the Dollar Tree. I also cut the “stem” off of a cupcake pick or something from there to use as a toy teddy bear and threw in a horse.
The kid’s room…
Plastic bottle lid (I saved a lot of these) as a toy holder with baby bottles, a butterfly and a rocking horse. All party favors from Dollar Tree.
A matchbook dresser covered with washi tape and those same tacks as drawer pulls. I glued beads to the other ends to cover the sharp points.
I didn’t take a photo of it, but I made a mattress out of a foam piece mailed with something, and covered it with a piece of stretchy fabric.
Furniture from DT and embellished with washi tape. I crocheted a little blanket for the bed and decorated the wall with some clearance flowers from Michael’s I had. Then I threaded a string through two pom poms, made a tiny loop and hung them with a cut off sewing pin.
I used a little crocheted throw rug and hung two hats that like to fall down, on more flowered tacks I poked through four tiny squares of cardboard and super glued to the wall. The girl’s hat is from clearance cupcakes I bought just for the hats! The boy’s were found by my Sweetie somewhere.
The hat hooks. And I call this little bear a balloon!
The bathroom:
I adore the floor in this room! I glued an aloe vera lid to a white lid to create the toilet, a pizza box spacer with a lid glued to the top for a sink (need to add the faucet I noticed after I gave it to her), a frame sticker for a mirror, another Chinese umbrella for a decoration and a raised yogurt lid glued to a cupcake paper for a bathtub.
I poked a flowered tack through the center of a miniature cupcake liner, attached a string and used my same trick to glue it to the ceiling.
The living room:
A cute washi tape bunting adorns this room. 🙂
Another matchbook dresser, a chair made from a jewelry box, a twig heart from my stash and a frame sticker with Elsa added. (Anna’s my favorite, but Elsa’s my buddy’s).
The lamp was both challenging and fun. It’s probably my favorite of everything I made!
A flowered tack through another mini cupcake liner, poked into the end of a q-tip, with the other end poked into the rubber base and a cardboard square base is glued on so it stands.
The chair is a nut cup glued to lid that is decorated with more washi tape. Washi tape is your friend! 🙂
I created shelves out a of one half of a jewelry box and a couple of cardboard pieces. And my husband brought home two mini frames free from a garage sale. One of these, plus another picture from a Frozen tag became a TV. I wasn’t planning on including a TV, but when I saw the frame, it was too perfect!
The Kitchen:
More Dollar Tree furniture decorated with washi tape and a paper doily tablecloth. A brrom in the corner from an old dollhouse stash I found recently. Another sink. A fridge made from jewelry boxes and cardboard, with food stickers glued inside and a stove made from a box covered in paper, with sticky velcro circles as the burners. Another internet idea. ( I discovered some ideas when I was nearly finished implementing my own ideas). 🙂
I made a cake by gluing two different sized lids together, then gluing some mini pom poms on top. And fused the apron fabric to another piece of fabric so it wouldn’t fray, then cut it out and hung it.
I had SO much FUN working on this and figuring things out! SO FUN!!
Now my 8 year old buddy wants one, so I’m on a search for another bootbox…and the wheels are turning…
Truly Skrumptious 