On Saturday, I was working on some decorations for Rosa’s upcoming birthday party. At the same time, the girls were working on some craft they found in the American Girl Doll magazine – I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were doing. The final result was a cute, if not a bit over-taped, little bookcase for their dolls which holds these little books that come with American Girl doll outfits.
Yesterday, when I was working on a craft for today’s post – and failing at it – I thought, “I could put their bookcase on the blog.” So first I got the magazine (there’s a point to this story, by the way, so hang in there) and flipped through the pages until I found what the girls were working from, expecting to find step by step instructions. Imagine my surprise to find only this:
No instructions, and not even the materials the girls used. In other words, they made a bookcase out of cardboard simply by looking at the picture. And better yet, when I said to Elena, “Let’s make another” she taught me exactly how to do the shelves in a way I might not have figured out so easily. So here’s how to make a bookcase for an 18″ (or whatever size, I suppose) doll, according to my very clever 8 year old.
Materials
cardboard box
scissors (or better yet, carpet knife/boxcutters)
ruler
construction paper/markers/materials for decorating
Instructions
First, of course, get a box (the flaps must be intact, and the box probably shouldn’t be too deep). Turn it upside onto a cutting mat (or a safe cutting surface) and cut off the flaps.
A carpet knife/box cutter works best for cutting off the flaps, so obviously an adult should do this.
I took the longer flaps and stuck them in the box, to get a sense of how this was supposed to work, and eyeballed where the shelves should go:
Then I took a ruler and measured the long flaps into thirds and the short flaps into thirds (matching up the short flaps with where they will slot into the long flaps – the picture below should help you visualize).
This is the part where Elena saved me a lot of time: you want to cut a long slit across the width of the long flaps – leaving about an inch uncut. Then you want to cut a short slit, about an inch long, across the width of the short flaps. The key is that the slit in the short flap is equal in length to the uncut part of the long flap – for our bookcase, about one inch:
Once you cut the slits for both sets of flaps, slot all the flaps together and you have your shelves.
Which you can then stick into the box.
(I turned that white shelf over before I decorated the bookcase, but not before taking this picture)
At this point, all that’s left to do is decorate. (Yes, that’s how easy this craft is). We covered the back and sides with construction paper, and then I took some scrapbook paper and covered the bottoms of the shelves. You could also paint the inside of the box (painting the outside of the box is probably harder, because there is likely packing tape in the way).
If you don’t have American Girl Doll books or any other little books, or if you’re having so much fun you don’t want to stop, you can make your own little books. Elena and Rosa did:
The bookcase isn’t meant for anything terribly heavy (you might have guessed that), but if you want, you can tape down the shelves to reinforce them a little.
This is a very quick and fun craft with lots of decorating possibilities. And now our American Girl dolls can learn all about oranges, crafting, jokes, and the Grinch.
Speaking of American Girl dolls, did you know Michael’s carries American Girl doll craft supplies now? It’s pretty cute stuff.
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In the spirit of looking at a picture and figuring out how to make something, here (as promised on Friday) are a couple of Christmas crafty things from my childhood you might want to make, if you feel so inclined.
The first is a pretty clever candy cane horse ornament. See how the candy cane fits right inside?
And here is one placemat from a large set of placemats we had growing up (I have 9 of them still, though not the matching rick rack napkins). The red part is a pocket, where you put the napkin and silverware.
Cute, huh? Maybe these are what triggered my devotion to all things rick rack.
Give yourself a pat on the back if you read all the way through to the end of this post! (Thank you for hanging in there!) If you come back tomorrow, I’m featuring a quick and colorful treat, which can also be used as little party favors or gifts for little friends.
Happy Monday!
