Showing posts with label shoebox house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoebox house. Show all posts

19.3.21

Paper roll armchairs

toilet paper roll armchairs

Back to squishing toilet paper tubes flat to make these sweet little armchairs! They're to add to our shoebox sitting room, but you really don't need a shoebox house to make one.

24.12.20

Fireplace for Shoebox Sitting room

Shoebox fireplace

It's taken a while...but now the shoebox kitchen has been updated, it's time to move onto the sitting room, and a fireplace seemed a good place to start. This one is made from a stock cube box

4.12.20

Shoebox kitchen units

shoebox kitchen

We made a shoebox kitchen a while ago, and fully intended to add more rooms, but then got sidetracked, as you do.. And when I looked at it again recently I felt the kitchen units could be improved and simplified. So the old ones

25.11.20

Toilet paper roll oven and washing machine



Forever flattening toilet paper rolls, that's me! It's really quick and easy to do once you've got the hang of it, and this simple technique opens up no end of possibilities.. 
Like these sweet little kitchen appliances.

25.8.18

Pots and pans - shoebox kitchen


This is probably the last kitchen project before we move onto another room (though there might be a bit of an animal interlude before we get going again.. ) So these are just a few accessories - plates, saucepans and a bowl of salad. 
Bottle top lids are really useful for kitchen extras! 

Plates

We cut these out of some spare cereal box card. You will need something small and circular to draw around like a bottle top lid or a coin. We used a smaller coin for the centre of the plate (5p). 


Before cutting them out, have fun with felt-tips! If you want to space your pattern evenly around the plate, start by drawing marks opposite each other, then keep making marks halfway between the previous ones until you’re happy (see pics below)








When you’re cutting out the plates, cut them out roughly first, then cut as carefully as you can around the circle, turning the card towards you, rather than trying to turn the scissors.




We then glued our favourite plates to the shelves on the wall in our kitchen.




Draw food on some plain plates to put on the table.



Saucepan

Choose a bottle top lid for the base of your pan and draw around it on some spare card (for the lid). Cut a strip of card for the handle too. 




Use a strong glue, like UHU to stick the cardboard lid onto the plastic bottle top and the handle on the side (let the glue dry before you bend the handle down, into place).

We glued a small bead on top of the lid and when the glue had set, sprayed the whole thing silver (best done by an adult or under supervision). It’s tempting, but don’t over-spray! Best to do one quick coat, let it dry, then apply another one.




Salad bowl 

Another bottle top lid, brush glue inside - cut a piece of green tissue paper and lightly scrunch it up before putting it into the lid. When you’re happy with your lettuce, use a hole puncher to punch a few small round tomatoes out of some red paper (or plain paper coloured in) and glue them on. 





Add more if you want, or put something else in the bowl. You could make some fruit out of modelling clay and have a fruit bowl. 
And if you have any little stickers why not use them to decorate a bowl.








9.3.18

Shoebox kitchen - table and chairs

toilet paper tube table and chairs

Sometimes a craft idea just makes me happy... and this is one of them.

They're often the simplest ideas, and though the chairs mightn't look that simple, honestly, they really are. Each one is made from a single toilet paper tube, and you won't even need any glue.

You will need:
Toilet paper tube (for each chair)
Toilet paper tube (for the table, narrow if possible)
Cereal box card (for table top)
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Paint
Craft glue

1. Flatten a tube with the palm of your hand and press firmly all the way down the two creases.


2. Squeeze the tube back into shape, carefully line up the two creases you've just made, and flatten again with the palm of your hand, pressing firmly along the new creases. You'll now have four evenly spaced creases.


3. While the tube is still flat, draw a line across the tube, 4cm from one end. (This will be the height of the seat part of your chair. Check this in relation to your kitchen - you may want it to be higher)


4. Cut down all the creases to the line (from the longer end) and bend out THREE of the flaps, pressing firmly along the fold.



5. Shorten the two flaps either side of the one you didn't bend (the back of the chair). The flaps should be about a cm or so.


6. Bend the front flap inwards, creasing it where it meets the back of the chair, and then snip off the extra, leaving a cm or so (to tuck into the back of the chair). Press firmly along this crease.


7. You can stop here for younger makers - just bend the side flaps inwards, and tuck in the front flap (trim the sides of this flap a little if you need to, for a neat fit). Move to step 13.


8. OR, flatten the chair again and use a ruler to draw a line about a cm below the one you drew in step 3.


9. Then, draw chair legs either side of the creases - try to keep them even, and cut up to the line, OR, have a go at cutting up to the line without the pencil guidelines, keeping the cuts as even as you can. It's easier (and quicker) than you think!



10. Bend each flap of card between the legs outwards, fold on the line and cut off.



11. Squeeze the chair back into shape, press along all the creases one more time, and then fold in the flaps. You may need to trim the sides of the seat flap to get it to fit in neatly. You shouldn't need glue, but if the seat part is popping out, put some glue on the flap and use a paper clip to hold it in place while the glue dries.


12. (OPTIONAL) If you would like to add some detail to the back of the chair, you could draw some rectangles (or a different shape) here, and use some small, sharper scissors, like nail scissors to pierce a hole through the card (put a piece of plasticine/modelling clay behind the card, so there's something to push against). Then carefully cut out the shape.



13. For the table, use a narrow tube if you can, place it beside your chair and decide what height you'd like your table to be. Mark this on the tube, but cut the tube about a cm ABOVE the mark.

14. Make lots of small cuts down the tube to the line and firmly bend and fold back all the flaps.


15. Cut the top of your table from a piece of cereal box card. Ours is 10cm long by 7cm wide, and then we made about a cm fold along the length of the table on both sides (to make it look thicker), but leave this part out if you want to.


16. Glue the base to the middle of the table top and leave it upside down with something on top of the tube, to weigh it down while the glue dries. Then, paint your table and chairs any colour you want.

We went for a wood effect..

shoebox kitchen



24.2.18

Shoebox kitchen - walls and floor



The units we made in the last kitchen project are ready to be fitted, so it's time to sort out the walls and the floor!  

You'll need:
Cereal box card
Wrapping paper or paint (optional)
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Craft glue
Glue stick
Plain paper
Felt-tip pens
Self-adhesive postage labels

1. We covered our kitchen walls with wrapping paper - this isn't the easiest job, but it does look great, even with a few bubbles and wrinkles here and there..  But you don't have to cover the walls at all, or you could simply paint them.

2. If you're wallpapering, you'll be covering the two short ends and the back. Start by carefully drawing around the base of the box with a pencil, on the back of your paper - then draw around the two ends. 

Cut the pieces out. They'll probably end up a little bigger than you need, but better too big than too small.

3. Stick the sides in first. You only need a thin layer of glue on the box. I find a glue stick rubbed over the cardboard is a good way to do this with kids, though you will get through a fair amount of it! Line each piece up with the edge of the box and the top (ceiling) corner, so any extra paper will go on the back wall and on the floor and can be covered later.

Try the back piece of wallpaper for size first before gluing. If it's far too wide, trim a little, but make sure it still covers the joins with the side walls. Don't worry too much about the height,  line it up with eh back edge of the ceiling, and smooth down, so any extra paper will be hidden under the kitchen floor. 



4. While that's drying you could make a splash back for your kitchen units, though again, leave this step out if you want.

Measure the length of your units on some spare cereal box card and use a ruler to draw a long strip, about 2cm wide. we measured and drew squares on ours, but there's no need to do this. Paint your strip and at the same time you could paint another corner of card for the shelves.




Cut out your splash back, mark where the top of the units touches the back wall, on both ends - then stick down the strip of card, so the bottom of the splash back is just below the marks you've made.

5. For the floor, cut a large piece of cereal box card that's the length of your shoebox, but make it wider than the sides, about 3cm wider, otherwise we're not going to have masses of room for the table and chairs (next time!). Again, you can leave the floor plain, or paint or colour it in. We measured out squares again, and coloured them in with a felt-tip pen.




(didn't bother drawing squares on the back line, as this will be covered up by the kitchen units)

Glue down the floor. Weigh it down with books will the glue dries.

6. What about a window? Ours is 8x7cm - measure it out on the corner of a plain piece of paper.

Use pens or paint to draw a scene you'd like to see out of your window! Once you're happy, cut it out. Sticky postage labels are really handy for the window frame. Use a ruler and pencil to draw thin strips and cut them out. Peel off and stick around your window. Trim the extra bits away.


Rub some glue stick on the back of the window and stick it just above the splash back, behind the sink.

7. For the shelves, cut out two strips from your painted (or plain) card. Ours are 2cm wide and 8cm long. Fold them in half lengthways, and press firmly along the fold. Then glue the shelves onto the wall. Leave your kitchen on its back while the glue dries.



Next time, a bit of furniture...