Greeting, crafters! Jennifer, here, with a fun weekend project for anyone in your life who loves dolls!
It's amazing what you can do with an empty box and some packing material–with the right glue!
Inspired by a couple of MyFroggyStuff videos (Secret Garden and Water Fountain), I started with a 14"x14"x28" packing box left over from our move, removed the top flaps and most of one of the big sides, and covered the cut edges with strips of computer paper and Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA Glue.
Then I used bits of pressed cardboard (the molded type you find around small appliances) to simulate stones for the beginning of my fountain area, all glued down with more Helmar Craft &Hobby PVA Glue before painting it. The molded cardboard gives a natural texture to this sort of project, adding a dose of realism to our miniature scene.
After fashioning a semi-circular enclosure for the fountain out of spare cardboard I used the same technique to cover it as well as the shape I sketched out for the back wall of our fountain.
The fountain is constructed of upcycled bottle tops and plastic bottle parts (the tulip-shaped top of the fountain is the neck of a Simply Lemonade bottle!) held together with Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA Glue and a bit of Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots for the more fiddly connections.
When you work in miniature, it's the little details that really sell the scene. To camouflage the box's front edges I cut down an empty wrapping paper tube to make columns, gluing thin strips of card stock along the length to give the impression, once painted, of sculpted ridges.
A bit of scale-appropriate greenery wired to the sides of the box (with printed scrapbook paper behind it to fill in any gaps) and it's ready for play and display!
Helmar products used:
*Craft & Hobby PVA Glue
*Liquid Scrap Dots
Other products used:
*Cardboard packing box
*Molded cardboard packing materials
*Wrapping paper tube
*Bottle tops and plastic bottles
*Acrylic paint and brushes
*Scissors
*Scrapbook paper
*Plastic greenery
*Floral wire
Wishing you creative days,
