Today's post has been sent in by blog follower turned contributing writer Stephenie Weber of
Westfield, Indiana.Stephenie has shared with me some of her AMAZING hand made doll play items and today I will share them with you. take a look at this fun kitchen made with boxes and imagination!
I love to cook so of course, I wanted to create a kitchen for my daughter. I have seen so many posts all over the internet for new and old kitchens that you can use and just don't want to part with that kind of money when I thought I could make something myself. I was inspired by these two etsy shops:
Stove:
First I made the stove. I used a kleenex box as the middle and two Girl Scout Thin Mints boxes on both sides. Why? First, because I couldn't find the right sized box! Then, I had chopsticks around and used them to support the inside racks, that you can pull out. With the chopsticks sticking out either side of the kleenex box, I could camoflage them by putting the cookie boxes on top! But, they were too short so, now I had space at the botttom. Nothing that some mod podged paper can't cover (can you tell this was an item that grew organically?)
I used the back sheet of cardboard from a pad of paper as the backing of my oven. I cut all the stove top things out of cardboard and painted or paper. The dials can turn, they are held on by brads.
The stove door has been my enemy. I cut out the window from some Our Generation packaging. Then I used some flexible plastic strapping that held something in an Our Generation box to allow the door to open and close, sandwiching it between the door and cardboard I covered it up with. But I mod podged some cardboard over it, a bad idea. Now it's too stiff and doesn't want to stay closed. I've used a magnet but, it's not strong enough. Any ideas? I also had a silver painted chop stick glued to the door as a door handle, spaced with some beads so that you could put a towel hanging over it but, it fell off. I need to get my Gorilla glue out to put it back together.
Sink:
After the challenge of making the stove with 3 boxes, I was able to find a good sized box to use as the kitchen sink. Searching for a good sized sink was difficult but, found some small aluminum loaf pans at Walmart which I think is a good fit. I used a separate piece of cardboard as the counter top, gluing and cutting thru both, made the surface to hold the sinks much sturdier.
Inside, you'll see I added a shelf. This is easy, because it's just a bent piece of cardboard, hot glued in. This helps because Lexie has a lot of kitchen stuff, one of my favorite things to buy and make!
The refrigerator is inspired by the box set of drawers by Karen from her post on how to make a dresser from Ritz Cracker boxes http://karenmomofthreescraft.blogspot.com/2011/02/18-inch-doll-dresser-from-ritz-cracker.html
I really wanted to create racks that my daughter could put things in and out.
*Don't use hot glue for the large piece of putting one box inside of each other and also the shelves. Such a big area, I tried to get it in quick, before it dried. It made me a bit sloppier. Also, on the shelves it made them less level, as I tried to get them in quickly.
I'd still use the soda boxes however you may want to use a stiffer cardboard for the shelves and the freezer door. I might also cut the freezer door out of the main door next time but, then you have 2 things to latch.
I really like using the foam on the front, it looks nice and finished, easier than mod podge!
Did you notice my latch? I wanted something low tech that a crafty girl might be able to do. I glued two thin pieces of notebook backing cardboard together and painted them. Then, I put a hole about 1/3 the way thru the latch carefully, using scissor points, and thru the side of the frig, using a needle tool. Then, I attached them with a brad so that maybe 1/4 was sticking out past the edge of the fridge. Then, I used that as a guide to put a hole thru the overlapping foam. The hole is tight, so that it holds the door together. It looks like the handle and holds it together, much better than the magnet on my stove
Best part is the cost: $0 I had all supplies in my craft stuff. If I didn't, 3 bottles of craft paint, 1 large piece of foam, 1 brad, cardboard, hot glue, scrapbook paper for the ice maker and door shelves. That's less than $7 around here.
Tools: Hot glue gun and glue sticks, paint brushes, ruler, foam paint brush, paper trimmer for cutting foam, paper and using as a guide to emboss the paper door shelves.
I want to thank Stephenie and Lexie today for sharing this Kitchen Craft idea with us! Stephenie will be sharing more of her ideas with us through out December and in to the New year I look forward to having her share her very creative ideas with all of you.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
Food might be prepared here, with guests conversing using the host ahead of and immediately after meals, when the sink may also serve as a bar sink for the serving of cocktails.
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