Raman Noodle Room Boxes

 This is the easiest room box you will ever make!  Especially if you like Raman noodles like I do.  I made it for dolls that are about 5 1/2 inches tall; you can see one of them sitting on the bed.

All you need for this project is a Raman Noodle box, some colored Duck Tape (or for the purist among us, Duct Tape), box cutters, fabric, fusible interfacing, and glue.  If you want join several boxes to make a simple doll house like above, some large pieces of cardboard will be necessary.

First thing to do is even up the edges of your box with the box cutters, then with the duck tape, tape around each edge.  I do this for strength as well as aesthetics - I don't like the raw edge of the box to show.

Next, measure the box for your wallpaper, which is the fabric you chose with fusible interfacing backing it.  I only 'papered' the back and side walls, and left the ceiling and floor with the cardboard exposed.  Cut your fabric slightly larger than your measurements; you can always trim it to fit.

My chosen fabric (making a library here) and the interfacing.  Apply the interfacing to the BACK side of the fabric per the interfacing instructions.  Always use a damp cloth when applying interfacing so you don't scorch the fabric.

Interfacing applied to the back, and what it looks like from the front.  This will keep the edges from raveling and gives you a stiff, but not too stiff, material to work with for your wallpaper.

Next thing to do is to fit your wallpaper to the sides and back of the box.  With the edges covered by duck tape, you don't have to make the fabric perfectly flush with the edges.  In fact, I let about 1/2 inch of tape show.  I hold it in place with clothespins, and measure what needs to be trimmed off.

After you have cut the wallpaper to fit the inside of the box, glue it in place.  I do this by using clothespins to hold one side of the fabric to the edge of the box, fit the fabric into the box and crease the corners with the end of a paintbrush.  Then, pull back the side of the fabric that is not secured to the box with clothepins and smear glue over the back and sides.  I use an old paintbrush after I've applied to glue to spread it thinly but evenly over the surface.  Carefully press the fabric into the glue, creasing the corner and making sure you get right to the edge of the fabric on the side wall.  Use clothespins to secure the glued section to the side wall, turn the box around and repeat on the opposite side

One side pinned with clothespins, all glued in and ready to pin the other side.

I made three boxes, a library...

a bedroom,...

and a parlor (more like a window seat), then glued them together to make a simple dollhouse.  To do this, I placed the library and parlor together and duck taped them on the bottom, back, and top where they joined.  I then cut a pieces of cardboard to fit the joined bottom and top and glued this in place.

I added the bedroom to the top of this assembly, glued it to the top and taped it along the back joining.

Once this glue was dry, I cut a larger piece of cardboard to cover the entire back side of the dollhouse and glued it in place.

Back side of the dollhouse

Front side of the dollhouse!

The bedroom has a small closet with four hangers, made from clothespins taken apart and cup hooks

Once the dollhouse or roombox is finished, then you get to decorate!  I used two inch foam for the window seat, and just covered it with denim from an old pair of jeans.  The rug in the library is crocheted from size 10 cotton; the bed crocheted from sportweight yarn, and the chair in the library from a tutorial on this blog somewhere (this might link you to the tutorial)  Any bits of fabric, foam and stuffing can make some easy furniture.  

Enjoy your new home!

Crooked Cottage

I spent the better part of August working on this little cottage for the tiny bead dolls.  Amazing how insistent a tiny doll can be!

I love using cardboard, partly because my woodcrafting skills are nill, and partly because there is so much of it around for free.  And, making dollhouses keeps it out of the landfill.

This wee house was made from one cardboard box, with a couple of strips of cardboard glued to the side to make a ledge for the second floor.

There is always an incredible mess when I start playing with cardboard and glue and paper and paint.  This is laid out on the floor, and you can see the basic doll house shape already done.  I painted the entire thing with gesso, then used scrapbook papers to paper the inside walls, and sponge painted a fern green to the outside walls.  The floors are carpeted with felt, and the roof is shingled with old dollhouse shingles I've had for decades.

You can see the sponge painting on the sides; striving for a look of moss on stucco, and the shingles glued to the roof.  I tried to glue long twigs to finish the raw edges of the house, but the glue wouldn't hold.  In desperation, I looked around for another way to fasten the twigs to the house, and found some waxed linen used for macrame jewelry that I could tie the twigs to the raw edges.  I used a pinvise to drill tiny holes in the cardboard and threaded the cord through these and around the twigs.  If you look at the picture below, you can see what I mean (better than my trying to describe it).

A bit crooked, but sweet.  And quite a mess!

Tiny furniture for our tiny house; chairs and a bench from wooden blocks and twigs; table from spools and wood cut-out; quilt on a bed from spools, twigs, and a piece of cardboard.

Something to hang on the walls!

Living room, furnished.

Bedroom furnished.

A bit cozy, but we're happy.  And so is the owl in the attic!

And looking a bit spooky with some camera manipulation.

I just grabbed and box and started playing.  Bet you have plenty of boxes to play with as well.  The wood bits are easy to find at the craft store, and the twigs came from our own tree trimmings ( a brush pile is a wonderful thing).  It is great fun to make something from nothing!

Tiny cottage for tiny dolls

If you have a family of tiny dolls, they must be in need of a home!  What I wanted to do was purchase one of those cute CD storage containers that look like a house...I made a dollhouse out of one of these several years ago  (See this post).  Sadly, they don't seem to be made anymore...what to do?

Well, since I hoard boxes (to my husbands dismay), I decided to see what could be done with a single box and some craft sticks collecting dust in my stash of craft goodies.

Here is a photo tutorial on Flickr on making this dollhouse, for the 2 1/2 inch Bendy dolls I've been making:

Fairy cottage tutorial

And here are the steps in a nutshell

And here we are at home :-)

What can you make today!

Cardboard Construction

About once a year I get bitten by the cardboard box bug...hate to throw them away!  It is inspiring to look around and see how many different things can be made with cardboard boxes.

With the advent of multi-colored duck tape, the construction ends up being tidier, easier, and pretty good looking.  Of course, you don't want to sit on your construction...or leave it in the rain... or throw it at your annoying sibling.  But if you play carefully, you can have a dizzying array of doll houses for pennies, and a bit of your time.

This two room cottage for Mini Hitty was made with boxes we get our vitamins in.  Since they come monthly, I have an impressive stash of boxes; probably enough to make a village!

In addition to the boxes, I used scrap book papers and colored duck tape, both from Michaels.  Modge Podge for glue, and a couple of old paint brushes to apply the glue with.

I papered the ceilings first, then the walls and finally the floors.  I also papered the outside, then taped the first floor to the second floor with white duck tape.  

I used the duck tape to cover all the raw edges of the cardboard.  If the tape was too wide, I laid it on my cutting mat and sliced it with my boxcutter the width I wanted it.

To support a craft stick fence on the balcony, I used lengths of basswood glued to the edge of the balcony, for the fence to then be glued to.

One of the box flaps was left attached to the upstairs, to form the front of the roof.  I used a bit of cereal box cardboard to make a rafter to support the top of the roof:

 you can see it here on the roof of the barn; and this is what the finished roof looks like:

The living room furniture is made of a cardboard frame, then covered with a crocheted slipcover.   Instructions for making the chair and sofa are here:

Crochet and cardboard furniture

The coffee table is a wood plaque with four small wood spools for legs.  I glued a piece of lace to the top of the table, then glued ric-rac around the edge (this was the hardest part of the entire construction!  the ric-rac would not stay put!)

The bed is made from four clothespegs glued to a cardboard frame the size of the mattress.  To make the mattress frame stronger, cut two pieces of cardboard and glue them together, then glue on the clothespegs at the four corners of the bed.  One side of the peg is sawed off, so the frame fits onto the stub of the sawed off peg.  The bed is dressed with stash lace for skirting, and Warm&Natural cotton batting for the mattress and pillow.  The coverlet is knit.

I added a peg rack made from a craft stick, with tiny wood spools as the pegs, covered with colored mini buttons.  Mini Hitty can hang her clothing here.

The LLama's needed a home of their own, so with one box and some red duck tape they now have a barn:

Two box flaps were cut down to half size and used for the barn doors.  Another box flap was left in place and trimmed to look like the gable front of the barn roof.  I used a separate piece of cardboard to make the back side of the barn and roof; cut the top to the same shape as the front gable of the roof, then glue this piece of cardboard to the back of the barn box.

Instead of scoring the cardboard for the roof, I used the edge of my work table to crease it, then glued it to a cereal cardboard rafter.

Try to keep things simple and let the boxes do most of the work :-)

Enjoy!

From shoebox to roombox

I love shoeboxes; I save them all!  Though I haven't actually done anything with them (same with those round oatmeal containers).  So it seemed  time to do something with one of them :-)

Trying one on for size, it looked like a good fit for a tiny cloth doll.  Jane Noelle is six inches tall, and fits very nicely inside a shoebox for a pair of walking shoes.  And it looks like a Celestial Seasonings tea box will make a nice wardrobe.

All of the printed papers were scavenged from the internet and printed on card stock on my printer.  The picture on the wall is a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) that was reduced to fit a 2"x3" wooden plaque.

The outside of the box is papered as well as the inside; using a mix of paintings that I liked for the outside.  Jane has a couple of comfy upholstered chairs that were very easy to make: there is a picture tutorial on flickr here.

The rug is a crocheted doily, and her knitting needles are a pair of toothpicks.  She's making a garter stitch scarf :-)

The quilt in the hoop and the thread caddy are both Gail Wilson kits I made a long time ago, and little wood findings make up the tables.

Jane has a small wardrobe made from vintage hankies.  The sundress at the upper left and the nightgown at the lower right are made essentially the same way.  Two squares are sewn up the side seam, leaving the upper 1 1/4 " unsewn.  Hem the unsewn part back, then fold over 3/8" at the top edge on both side to create a casing.  Thread a piece of ribbon (silk ribbon works best) through the casing and gather up the neck edge.  Her arms fit through the opening left on both sides.

I cut the nightgown on the corner for the front, as this hankie had such a pretty edgeing on one corner.  For the sundress, make four rows of gathering stitches 1/8" apart below the casing on both the front and the back and pull up to gather the bodice (this is called shirring).  The neck edge is gathered up with the ribbon same as the nightgown.

Upper right are simple smallclothes made from a linen hankie, and lower left is a pinafore cut from a pretty corner portion of another hankie.  All of these vintage, slightly flawed hankies came from LinsAntiques on Etsy.

I'm sure your tiny dolls would love a home of their own!

Happy Stitching :-)

What a clothespeg can do

My growing family of Clothespeg dolls needed a place to live, and some furniture!  The room box is a wine crate that I purchased from this Etsy seller:

The Crate People

The crate was advertised as 13" x 11" by 8" deep.  It actually measured 7" deep, but still works fine.   They have a tremendous selection of crates.  The one I bought is actually nicely finished inside; not rough at all.  It could be painted or stained, or simply sealed with varnish (not a bad idea).

But of course, a roombox needs furniture, and all of the furniture in this box was made with clothespegs and wooden plaques.  If you cannot find plaques the right size, balsa or basswood sheets are very easy to cut and readily available at your local craft store.

The Bed:

The bed was made with a single plaque 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide; four flat clothespegs, and  four popsicle sticks.

Cut one leg off of each flat clothespeg, and make sure the distance from the head of the peg to the point you cut off is the same distance on each peg, and nice and flat.  The plaque will rest on this 'ledge' , and the remaining leg of the peg will be the posters for a nice, four poster bed.

Use the popsicle sticks to make the headboard (three sticks cut to size) and the footboard (one stick cut to size).  Glue the plaque to the clothespegs, let dry, then glue the popsicle sticks to the head posters and the foot posters.  After all is dry, stain or paint your bed, then antique it if you like with antiquing medium, or make a very light wash with burnt umber paint and a lot of water (thank you for this tip, Jenny!)

The mattress is a piece of Warm&Natural cotton batting, folded in thirds and sewn together on the back side, then quilted with French knots.

The Table:

The table is made with the same size plaque as was used for the bed, two spring clip clothespins, and four popsicle sticks.

Separate the spring clips so you have four table legs.  For a Hitty size table (good for dolls 5 to 6 1/2 inches tall) cut 1/2 inch off of the slender end of the table legs; make sure your four legs are the same length.  This also makes gluing the legs to the table supports more stable.

Cut two of the popsicle sticks so the are about 1/4" from each short edge of the table top (about 2" long), and glue two legs to each of these.  After these assemblies are dry, glue them to the short ends of the table top, then glue the long popsicle stick to the table leg and the bottom of the table on either side.  Let this sit upside down until dry.

Paint or stain your table, then antique or not.

The Chairs:

Each chair is made with four flat clothespegs, one 2" by 3" plaque, cut in half (one plaque will make two chair seats), and one popsicle stick.

Cut both legs off of two of the clothespegs for the front legs, and one leg off of the other two pegs for the back legs and the back vertical supports.  Cut the plaque in half so that you have two seats that are 2" x 1/1/2 ";  glue the front legs to the bottom of the chair seat.  Let this dry a bit, then glue the plaque into the back legs, letting the 'ledge' created when you cut off one leg hold the back of the seat.

Let this dry, then cut one popsicle stick to make two slats for the back of the chair and glue in place to the back of the vertical supports.   This chair could be made into a bench with a longer seat; it could also have an upholstered seat by putting a bit of batting on the seat then pulling fabric around this and gluing to the underside of the chair seat.

Paint or stain as desired, and antique or not.  You now have a full suite of furniture for your doll.

Occasional tables can be made with wood bobbins and wood scraps; a pegboard could be made with a popsicle stick and a 3/16" dowel rod.   Cut the dowel into 3/8" lengths and glue into holes drilled in the popsicle stick.

The wall quilt and the bed quilts are from some Gail Wilson projects I did several years ago.  The tea set on the table is a set of charms from Michael's, but I had to borrow a tea pot :-)  The rug was made by a dear friend several years ago, and the jug, basin, and chamber pot are bits of pottery I had about.

I plan to add a peg rack for hanging clothes, and maybe a tiny cross stitch sampler.  But for now, Ruby PegHitty and Daisy PegHitty are quite happy to take tea :-)

A couple of other Peg's found a place to explore in my fairy garden...

Ivy Peg (in the ivy dress), and Lily Peg, with the bunny, spending time in the fairy garden;  I hope you enjoy the day as much as they are :-)

Box Magic

A box can be a magical thing.  Before the lid is lifted, it can contain anything!

In this case, it can be a full bedroom and wardrobe for a small doll :-)

I've been working on this project, slowly, for the last few weeks.  It is something I have wanted to do for quite a long time.  I am in love with boxes!  Especially the memory boxes sold at Michael's.  You can usually pick them up for a couple of dollars, and every time I go there, I always come out with one or two more.  

I've always thought they would make a lovely presentation box for a doll, and maybe even a wardrobe.  But how about a wardrobe/bedroom/presentation box!

  

So, I gathered together some interesting items, plus the doll I wanted my BoxBedroom to fit.  In this case I am using Yun Shu, the doll I've been making for the past several weeks; she is about eight inches tall and slender, which is perfect for this project.  I used a dowel rod and a couple of spools to create a closet rod for hanging clothing, and a couple of papier mache boxes to create a  set of shelves.  I also printed out some colorful printables to cut out and paste to the wall of the bedroom and on the shelves.

I painted the inside and outside of the papier mache boxes, then glued them together to create the shelves.  I glued the printables to the back wall, then placed the closet rod two inches from the top and and inch from the edge of the box.  The shelves were then glued into the box, and the printables glued to the shelves.

While all of this was drying, I crocheted a bed that is 5 inches wide and 10 inches long, using three pieces of high loft batting as the mattress.  The bed, coverlet, and pillow were made with Knit Picks Brava Sport in assorted colors.

As you can see, the doll, her bed, and all her gear fit neatly into the box!  Remove the lid and place the wardrobe portion onto it, pull the bed out and put it in the lid and under the closet rod, and now she has a sweet little bedroom all her own :-)

And of course, I couldn't forget an extensive collection of clothing!  Nightgown, shoes, undies, shorts, dresses, skirt, tops, and even a knit short sleeve sweater.  

And all from a simple box :-)

A picture of the bed mattress, for Linda :-)