Dollar Store Fun House

Who doesn't love themselves a good dollar store? Until recently I wasn't really aware of the awesome craft potential a dollar store could hold. Dollar Store Crafts blog opened my eyes.

Not too far back I came across this $8 foam board house by Urban Craft. Had to do it for my boys!!

So I ventured out and luckily found the foam board and picked up packing tape. I wasn't really sure how it was put together so I picked some extra materials and went to work.

A fun little house was achieved!!

I used twelve foam boards, a roll of packing tape and a bit of poster board. I took about half hour or so to assemble but provides hours of fun for the munchkins for roughly $13

Here's a peek into how I did it with some visual aides.

The foam board comes 20" in width by 30" in length for $1. Like I said for this house you will need twelve and a roll of packing tape, also a dollar. What's so great is there is barely any cutting.

The highlighted area is one panel. Each wall is made up of two panels taped together except the front wall with the window. It's one panel with a half on top cut to fit.

The top back wall is just blue posterboard cut to fit the opening. I almost left it open as a window, but my oldest wanted alittle more "privacy".

I stood the panels up taping them together and created the base for the house. Each side of the pitched roof is made up of two panels taped together as well.

Once the base was established I taped a side of the roof onto the base and then taped them together at the peak.

Am I making any sense here?

I reinforced all the taped areas inside with more tape.

Lots of tape used here people!

After the structure was up and re-inforced I used an exacto and cut out an opening for a cute window. I really just wanted an excuse to put curtains up:) I cut some cute vintage fabric up into little panels and taped them in.

I have every intention of making a little flower box for the front with some paper flowers someday. For now my boys like to take crayons and markers to it. A great activity for all these snowy days we are having here in the Cincinnati area.

This house is surprisingly really sturdy and pretty big so you have to have some room for it. For now mine is in my living room and at some point knowing my little cyclones, it will get destroyed and it'll find a resting place out by the curb for recycling.

I was thinking though that if you had lots of room such as an adequate size basement, that lots of these little houses could make up a cute pretend village complete with things like a post office, firehouse and grocery store. I'm just salivating over all the craftylicious things I could make to go into that village.

I'm gonna put that on my very large "To Do Someday" list.

♥ Hope you enjoy ♥

Better Late Than Never: Valentines Crafts

Valentines day is just around the corner.

Yay for holidays that celebrate love!

I actually did a few cute crafts for Vday with the kids. I've been meaning to post them for weeks now...but better late than never, right?

No worries there is still time to craft up some cuteness before Sunday!

Caleb and I did a fun craft with crayon shavings and wax paper. We made stained-glass hearts.

A bit messy, but adorable results and easy peasy. This is very adaptable for a multitude of holidays and celebrations.

I found the tutorial for the hearts over at Martha Stewart. We connected some and made mobiles to hang in the window.

I also made a quick wreath for the door with materials I had on-hand. I based mine off the burlap heart wreath tutorial over at Craftaholics Anonymous. I just didn't have any burlap so I used some other red fabric I had and ran a straight stitch through a strip and gathered it on the heart shaped coat hanger. I finished it by hanging it with a remnant of a polka dot scarf. It feels very Betty Boop to me. Don't you agree?

There are lots of other amazing Valentine's ideas on some of the other blogs I'm a fan of. Here are just a few:

Skip to My Lou has a great tutorial for rice krispie heart shaped pops. These would make the perfect Valentine!

How about a super cute lollipop boutonniere for your little man? I bet you could take this further and make corsages for the little ladies! Check the tute out at The Opulent Poppy. What a creative idea!

And heart garland! This is something I didn't get to this year, but so will next. I've seen this done with paper, fabric and felt. Easy, cheap and simply sweet. Oh So Crafty has a great tutorial on her inspiring blog.

Hope you have a chocolate-covered, sugary-sweet, caramel-centered Valentine's day with the one you ♥ !