Cardboard Creations

One of my favorite childhood stories was Chistina Katerina & The Box, by Patricia Lee Gauch.  It is the story of a girl who loves imaginative play, dressing up, and turning everyday objects into treasures.  Her favorite things in the world are boxes of all kinds.  (Yes, I still have my original copy... and yes it is well worn and loved and has survived its second generation of children!)

The story begins with the delivery of a new refrigerator.
Christina's mother says "Oh, how grand and new," looking at the refrigerator...
"It is!  Oh, it really is!"  says Christina, looking at the box.

The giant box goes through transformation after transformation providing weeks of castle living, race car driving, election scandals, fig newton enjoyment, and a summer ball in the front yard, before falling victim to the garden hose.

Today's post touches on a lifetime's worth of cardboard creations which began with this storybook.  With Halloween just around the corner, I share with you the Haunted Mansion Beanbag Toss from our neighborhood party a couple years ago.  It doubled as a clubhouse as well for a while.

Made from two boxes (one quite large) with windows and doors cut out.  Spray painted black and decorated with foam shapes and spiderweb.  We ran an extension cord to it, to light it up from the inside... so the numbered target holes were visible when it got really dark that night. 

The inspiration for this post was discovered on pinterest.  You can find amazing ways to recycle your boxes at a blog called ikatbag.  Below are just a couple of her creations, click the ikatbag link to see more!  For her tutorial (and tons more ideas!), click here.  For a bunch of additional cardboard links she lists, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Mustache On A Stick

I found this great tutorial from Martha Stewart on Pinterest.  She has a video tutorial here, but doesn't include any pictures in her step by step instructions.  First, you start with fake fur, which is extremely cheap if you are only buying 1/8th of a yard.  I think I spent $2 or $3 on the fur, made three mustaches... and have plenty left over for more.  I also bought some cream color binding which was a couple bucks.  I had all the other supplies at home.

I printed off the templates on the Martha Stewart website, and traced them onto a box we had in the garage.  Martha suggests chip board... so either will work.  Cutting them out was a little tricky with my ginormous box cutter (old magazine under the cardboard to protect my counter) so, if you have a handy little craft knife it would probably be easier... but once again, either will work!



Next, cut a wire hanger as shown, keeping about 3 inches past where it bends on one side.  The bend is perfect for attaching the cardboard mustache!  Then, wrap the wire with the binding as shown, gluing with little dabs as you wind up the stick.  I used Liquid Fusion glue, you could use any strong craft glue.

Glue the wire onto the cardboard, apply pressure and let dry a little... then apply more glue, covering that same side of the cardboard.  Press fake fur (back of it, not furry side) onto glue and put something heavy on the top until dried, probably overnight.

Once dried, cut out the fur close to the cardboard... using only little snips and cutting the backing but not the fuzzy front part.  If that doesn't make sense, you can watch the Martha Video for a visual explanation.  Then, use hair gel or pomade to shape your mustache!  Awesome!  Its a fun and SUPER cheap prop or costume!

Costume Upgrade

Our elementary school has such fun, interactive activities for the students.  In the 5th grade, students gather facts about an explorer from the 1800's, create a costume, develop a persona... and participate in a Wax Museum day.  Parents and students from the other grades enter the classrooms and choose a student wax sculpture... by pressing their "button," the wax sculpture springs to life, reciting an informative overview about the explorer they are representing.

The first photo "Robert De La Salle" was taken 3 years ago when Bailey was in 5th grade.  Suit coat, velvet vest, and white blouse with ruffle sleeves were all purchased at the Good Will.  Now, with Berkley in the 5th grade, we revamped the costume into "Sir Walter Raleigh" by adding a white ruffle collar and a mustache-on-a-stick.  She made the hat in class out of newspaper and Spray Paint.  The ruffle collar was made by cutting a long strip from an old white sheet and doing a different ruffle effect down each side.  Then we simply wrapped it around her neck a couple times like a scarf.

The most fun part of this costume has been the mustache, in fact I made three different mustaches which have resulted in hours of fun (and crazy accents!) around here.  I will do a seperate post on making the mustache because they are so fun I think it deserves its own post!

I'm already wondering which explorer Austin will get, and what fun things we can do to upgrade his costume... but I guess Halloween is right around the corner and I should be concentrating on those costumes next!