Folding Cardboard Play House

Posted on October 8, 2012 by jewelsathome

The kids love a playhouse, and so do I! I don’t like to perpetuate gender stereotypes, but there are some of the boys’ games that I simply can’t get excited about, so I’m glad we can all agree that play houses and play kitchens are great fun.

When I saw this collapsible playhouse by Jennifer Kirk at She Knows Parenting I was in love with the idea and just waiting for a way to use it. With baby J’s birthday coming up, I decided to make him a play fire station. The folding house was a perfect foundation for a fire station. I used the concept from She Knows Parenting but built my house differently, so here’s the tutorial.

I started with two big and sturdy boxes I had saved from some living room chairs I bought. I had deemed them TGTR (Too Good To Recycle) and they were taking up a lot of space, so this was a perfect use. They are very similar to the “dish pack” boxes used for moving, if you want to try to recreate this project more exactly.

Materials
Besides the boxes, you’ll also need

duct tape. I used two complete rolls.
box cutter or craft knife
long straight edge ruler or other tool
glue. I used tacky glue.
scissors are also handy for cleaning up the edges

Building Tutorial
Here’s a sketch of the basic design. You can assemble it in more than one way, depending on what pieces you have. As a general tip, I think the house will fold more smoothly of you leave a gap between the panels you tape together, so the joints have more flexibility.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. From Jewels at Home.

“Plans” for a DIY folding cardboard house.

Since I had already broken down my boxes, I started with two pieces with two panels each. You could use a single whole box, opened flat. The two center panels will be the front of the house, and the side panels will form the side walls of the house. (shown below, top left)

Since the floor only connects to the sides of the house, I cut the bottom panels off the center panels. (shown below, top right)

I then taped together the center seam. This isn’t necessary if you are using a single piece, though you might still want to reinforce the seam. (shown below, bottom left)

For the front of the house, I cut a peaked roof and an opening for the door. My door is wide, because I am going to make it a fire station, but you could do a smaller and maybe add some small windows for a regular house. (shown below, bottom right)

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Forming the walls.

Next, I made jointed panels for the floor and roof. I spread glue on the bottom flaps of the house and attached the floor. I put some heavy objects on the floor of the house to make sure it was glued securely. After the glue dried, I reinforced the joints with tape. (shown below, left)

I attached the roof by spreading glue on the top flaps of the sides of the house and clamping the roof in place with binder clips, while the glue dried. (shown below, right)

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Adding the floor and roof.

I finished the house by gluing some cardboard to reinforce the front of the house above the door and then taping all the joints and raw edges.

Here are some pictures of the finished house. My floor doesn’t fold upwards very smoothly, and I didn’t want to force it, so it’s quite large when folded, but it is completely flat. I think it would fold more compactly if I had left bigger gaps between the pieces of cardboard, but then again, that could make the house less stable. Overall, it works well.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Front view.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Inside view.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Tada!

The next step is decorating the house to look like a fire station. I hope I can pull it off this week!

“Jewels”

Racing Stripe Magnet Boards

Posted on September 17, 2012 by jewelsathome

Steve took our two older boys on a camping trip this weekend. I wanted to surprise them all with a few little projects when they got home, so this is what I did for the boys’ room. They have lots of pictures, cards, and art that collect in little piles, and I wanted to make a place for the boys to display and enjoy them.

The boys’ room has a huge wall of closets that made the perfect blank slate for this project. The closets, by the way, are amazing. This is a favorite trick of the design-build team that did our renovation – they take Ikea Pax closets and frame them with drywall, for inexpensive built-in closets. Since all the parts are pre-cut, the cost is a fraction of custom cabinetry, and Ikea has tons of options for customizing the insides to maximize storage. We were able to eliminate the boys’ dressers completely, since all their clothes fit inside the closets, with plenty of room to spare for other storage. I chose the Bergsbo closet doors, which match our paneled doors well (Steve commented the other day, “Hey, our closet doors go really well with our regular doors.” Yeah, honey, do you think that was an accident?). I added these 10″ square bar pulls for a clean, contemporary look.

Ikea Pax wardrobes used as built-in closets.

To make the magnet boards, I started with these 11.5″ square magnetic white boards. They cost half of most of the others I saw. You can’t pick the colors (I got three white and three different colors), but that was okay, since I wanted to paint them anyway. I sacrificed the dry erase function when I painted them, but I actually find dry erase stuff a bit creepy with all the black dust the markers make when you wipe it off. Finally, I will say that they are a bit lightweight (tin wrapped around cardboard), but mine arrived in overall very good condition, and again, it worked well for me, because I wanted to mount them on the doors, so the lighter weight was perfect.

Painting the racing stripes:

sand the boards lightly, including the sides, with a fine sandpaper
spray a coat of primer over the whole board, including the sides. I used white primer, which made the next step easier.
spray a band of white (or your choice of color) about 3 inches from the top. This may take a few coats for good coverage. Let it dry thoroughly, even overnight.
Using a ruler and painter’s tape – I used 1.5″ wide designed for delicate surfaces, tape over the white area. I placed the bottom of my tape 4″ from the top of the board. (top left picture below)
Spray a band of red (or a color of your choice) above the tape. Again, this will take a few coats and should be thoroughly dry before moving to the next step. (top middle picture below)
Using the ruler, place painter’s tape 1.5″ from the top of the board, so that you are masking off a 1″ band of red. (top right picture below)
Spray the whole board with grey. (bottom left picture below)
Peel off the tape and spray your finished product with a couple of coats of clear paint. (bottom right picture below)

Tutorial: painting racing stripes on a magnet board.

Here’s a close-up view of the finished board:

Magnet board with racing stripes.

And here’s how the boards look in the boys’ room:

The boys were very excited to see their new magnet boards, when they got home. Here’s how our 6 year-old personalized his board, with Pokemon cards and Ninjago Lego figures.

I was looking for pictures to put up on the boards this afternoon and found this photo from 2007 of our older boys with our old dog, Cooper. He looks so big in the picture, but it’s only because they were so small! We miss you, Coops.

And what did I do for Steve (and myself)? We were overdue for some new reading lamps for our nightstands. Our toddler, who stayed home with me – we hope to make it camping next year! – didn’t mind going out to Marshall’s for the lamps, especially since we also found some new fruits for his play kitchen. He was “feeding” them to me all weekend, and he cracked up every time I “ate” the lemon and made a sour face.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. Jewels at Home.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. “His” side.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. “Her” side.

Well, I’m very happy to have Steve and the older boys back home. It was just a day and a half, but I missed them so much. I guess, I’m used to a full house these days.

“Jewels”

DIY Pencil Tins: Desk Set

Posted on August 28, 2012 by jewelsathome

I recently picked up some beautiful wrapping paper at Lavish in Hayes Valley. This is the same store where I found the perfect red and white graphic paper for lining our nursery bookcase. The new paper I found is for my craft room. It’s called Hydrangeas by Kate & Birdie. This company has lots of very sweet original prints – my six year old bought himself a sheet of pirate ship paper while we were in the store. They started in Winnipeg, Canada, so even dearer to my Canadian ex-pat heart.

Hydrangeas (WP02) wrapping paper by Kate & Birdie. Click the picture to see their site.

The blue, green, and grey color scheme of this paper fits my craft studio perfectly! The blue is just the same as the great print on my newly upholstered Queen Anne chairs, and all the colors are found in the stenciled lampshade I made for that room.

I’m amazed what a long way this one sheet can go. For $4, I have enough paper to create several great accessories and accents for my room. I started a clothespin wreath and moved on to these pencil tins – and I still have more projects planned!

I love reusing old items, though it’s always a fine line between clever frugality and looking like a preschool art project. I’ve definitely seen more “primitive” versions of these pencil tins, but I like to think that mine fit into the feminine, elegant, slightly funky studio I am creating.

Turn used cans into beautiful pencil tins for your office.

This is a very simple and quick project that needs very little explanation. I started by using pliers to flatten any sharp edges along the inside of the can. To cut the paper neatly, I used the quilting ruler and mat I showed in the fabric growth chart tutorial.

DIY pencil tin tutorial from Jewels at Home.

Flatten the sharp edged on your can. Cut out paper and glue with a glue stick.

I used a glue stick to affix the paper to the tin. For my kids’ tins, I also added a layer of clear contact paper to make the tins more durable. Finally, I use tacky glue to attach bias ribbon to the top of the tin, for a polished look. (I tried hot glue, but it cools very fast on the metal and gets lumpy.)

Beautiful pencil tins made from old cans, decorative paper, and bias tape.

Craft room desk set: DIY pencil tins fit in with ceramics on a vintage tray.

DIY pencil tins.

While I was making these tins, I added some for the boys’ homework area. These have a layer of clear contact paper over the scrapbook paper, since I know they will get more (ab)use.

Turn old cans into pencil tins with paper and bias ribbon. From Jewels at Home.

Pencil tins for the boys’ homework area.

What else do I want to decorate with my beautiful Hydrangeas paper? A pennant banner, some magnets, magazine files, and some storage boxes for the craft studio. Hope to share those projects soon. Meanwhile, go raid your recycling bin and make some new accessories for your own office!

“Jewels”

Baby Shower Scrapbook Project – Wishes for Baby

Posted on August 11, 2012 by jewelsathome

Wow, we did a lot at the recent baby shower for my friends Nicola and Victor. I wrote about the tea party and cloth diaper cake, and there’s even more to come. Since the shower had a “Storybook Tea Party” theme, it was fitting that we made our own scrapbook storybook for the new baby.

The inspiration for this scrapbook came when I was collecting ideas for the shower and came across the idea of a list of “wishes” each guest could fill out for baby. This was such a sweet idea that I knew I wanted to incorporate.

Here’s what I prepared:

scrapbook – I took a plain scrapbook and decorated the cover with ribbon and stickers
blank pages – I made some simple backgrounds by gluing patterned papers onto solid colors, so that even if people simply glued in their wishlist, it would look complete.
“wish lists” for guests to complete for baby
photos – I asked Nicola and Victor’s parents to send some baby pictures of them and collected photos of their family, their wedding, and other events
old storybook(s) that can be cut up for pictures – the best part of a craft project at a party is when your guests think up something creative that you had not even planned! This happened when a few of our friends took pages out of a book that were were cutting up for wooden blocks (more on that later) and cut out pictures to add to the scrapbook. I hadn’t thought of it, and it looked great!

Scrapbook and Blank Pages

Decorate a scrapbook for a baby shower.

For a scrapbook party, prepare simple backgrounds to inspire guests.

Wish List

Did I mention that I love these baby wish lists?! You can buy them on Etsy, and there are other free printables out there, but I decided to make my own to fit with the Storybook theme. The beautiful castle graphic comes from “Lita Lita,” a teacher in Spain. This graphic and others can be found in her store on Teachers Pay Teachers, and the picture of the books is free clipart.

Storybook-themed wish list for baby. Free printable.

Click here to download a PDF of the Storybook-themed wish list for a new baby.

Pictures and Pages

The pictures from Victor and Nicola’s childhood, wedding, and friends really made the book come together. Here’s the first page of the scrapbook that I made. I pulled it out and put it up on a recipe holder as part of the decorations for the shower.

Gather old pictures of the mom and dad to make a scrapbook at a baby shower.

And here are the pages made by the shower co-host, Maura, and our family. I loved reading what my 8 year-old wrote. It’s always a treat to get a little insight into a child’s mind.

This scrapbook was so much fun to create at the party, and we all enjoyed reading the touching – and often funny – wishes. It was also a lovely way to include family and friends who live out-of-town and cannot attend the shower in person. I mailed a blank wishlist with each invitation, so people could return it in the mail or bring it with them. I also e-mailed electronic versions and printed extras to have on hand at the party.

And they all lived happily ever after…

“Jewels”

DIY Custom Gift Bags

Posted on July 7, 2012 by jewelsathome

Here’s another easy idea to make a gift that is unique and meaningful from things you might already around the house. We just celebrated my twin nieces’ first birthday, and I wanted to make them cute gift bags. They were born in the year of the rabbit, so this paper that hubby bought for me in Japan years ago was perfect.

I almost always make my own gift bags by reusing paper shopping bags or party treat bags. I add decoration (and cover up the writing) with wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, or art paper. I finish off the packaging with coordinating tissue paper and ribbon. It’s easy to make matching cards with the same paper, too.

Custom gift bags for my nieces’ first birthday.

Custom gift bags

While I started making these bag to make good use out of paper bags I already had, I’ve also done it by buying a group of plain bags from the craft store. Not only are you conserving resources, the handmade result will be one-of-a-kind and beautiful!

“Jewels”

Helping Kids Write Great Cards

Posted on June 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

A brief and belated post from Father’s Day. I wanted to share the cards the kids and I made for hubby. This is not an original idea for cards, but I really enjoyed trying it with the boys and look forward to using it for other holidays and birthdays.

We took each letter in “Father’s Day” and wrote an adjective or short phrase about hubby that started with that letter. I think this project was good for helping the kids expand their writing skills. It was an easy template for them to create something more personalized and creative than a standard “Happy Father’s Day.”

Here’s the example I made:

Father’s Day card idea for kids

As you can see, our six year-old started with this concept – he wanted to write “awesome” for the “a” in “dad,” spelled it phonetically as “osum,” and then got sidetracked into other adjectives that started with unrelated letters. The result was very sweet.

Father's Day card by kids at Jewels at Home

Father’s Day card by our six year-old. He did all the spelling himself – “fantastic” came out a little more clearly than “awesome.”

Our eight year-old came up with some cute phrases as well as impressive vocabulary words.

Fun way to help kids write great cards at Jewels at Home

Our eight year-old came up with some sweet and creative words and phrases to describe his dad.

And last but not least, baby J’s contribution:

Baby J’s card for dad

Some other ways I would love to use this idea would be

Using the letters of a friend’s name for a birthday card
Finding words and phrases to summarize our year in a holiday card based on the letters of “holiday,” “happy new year,” “joy,” “love,”… the options are endless!

Love,

“Jewels”

Kindergarten Graduation Party!

Posted on June 15, 2012 by jewelsathome

School is out! I feel sad about this, but there were points this year where I began to resent the winter holidays and the end of the school year. Somehow, the things that I normally love – like preparing gifts and planning parties – just became too much of a good thing. There were too many late nights and deadlines. But, we survived, and we did have some fun along the way, too, of course! I’m thinking about how to make the next rounds less hectic, and I have to say that traveling right after school ends may not be the best idea. No point in adding packing suitcases to the already long to-do list!

One of the big events of this month was planning a Kindergarten graduation party with my friend Ari. Our children just completed their K year, and we wanted to celebrate this big achievement with them. We started with some ideas from this article Ari found over at Yum Sugar: Fun Party Ideas for Your Little Graduates. Plenty of inspiration there, though we didn’t want quite that much sugar!

We held a small park playdate for our kids and their closest buddies after the half day of school.

Yummy Treats

Since, it was after lunch, we didn’t need a lot of food, but we knew the kids would need some fuel after all that running around.

We had fruit in ice cream cones, an idea I had spotted on Pinterest:

Serve fruit in waffle cones for a healthier snack. You could add chocolate or nuts to the cones for a treat! We served the fruit on the side, and let each person scoop their own, so the cones wouldn’t get soggy.

Cupcakes were the sweet indulgence. I made the cupcake toppers using coffee stir sticks and paper. You can download the PDF I created in Powerpoint here: Kindergarden graduation cupcake toppers. It’s actually in color, but I didn’t have easy access to a color printer, so I printed them in black and white and added color in the background papers.

Cupcakes with Kindergarten graduation toppers.

Download printable: Kindergarden graduation cupcake toppers

Decor and Favors:

These bubbles were Ari’s idea, and it was brilliant and adorable! We made the hats out of construction paper and yarn, and it looks like the little faces are wearing graduation caps! A lot of the parents were taking pictures of the bubbles, since we certainly had no hope of getting the kids to line up for a picture.

Bubbles decorated for Kindergarden graduation.

The party favors had a school theme, with these bookmarks that Ari created to give along with some pencils and notebooks.

Bookmark graduation gift.

Kindergarden graduation favors

Looking back on the chaos of the week, I’m really happy we did this for the kids. Once the planning and work was done, it was a fun way to unwind at the end of the school year.

Welcome to summer!

“Jewels”

Inspirations from Daily Life – June 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

I’ll keep updating this post through June and plan to start a new post each month with some of the photos I’ve taken of inspiring projects and scenes I’ve encountered in daily life.

Coffee can napkin holder

This would be great for a picnic buffet. The Cafe du Monde can is especially cool, but you could print vintage labels for a similar feel. Could also cover cans in coordinating labels for utensils, and your casual summer party is complete!

Low water landscape
We only have a small patio at home, but here’s how to add a ton of beauty and charm with little maintenance. It’s a dry creek with grasses and a pergola above.

More ideas to come!

“Jewels”<

DIY Wall Initials – This time, for the Girls

Posted on May 31, 2012 by jewelsathome

Remember these wall initials I made for my kids? I put one up in the nursery already, using 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips. Besides hanging them on a wall, you could make these letters part of an artful arrangement on a shelf or stick them to the door. I made mine as big as a 12×12 inch sheet of scrapbook paper would allow, but I would love to make a really large one some time with wrapping paper or fabric.

DIY paper-wrapped wall initials by Jewels at Home

These oversize letters were also the May Giveaway, and Jenny won them for her two girls. While I was working on Jenny’s letters, I made two more for my twin nieces, who are turning one next month! It’s often easier to do several of any project at once, while you have the motivation and all the supplies out. You definitely learn a lot as you repeat projects, too. Don’t you wish you could always start with the second one, after all the mistakes have been made?

I already posted the instructions for making these letters, so I’ll jump straight to the final result!

DIY paper-wrapped wall initial decor by Jewels at Home

DIY paper-wrapped wall initials

With this combination of letters, I just couldn’t resist!!

DIY cardboard wall initial decor by Jewels at Home

Close-up of this pretty paper on the “C”

Close-up of some more beautiful paper on the “m.”

As you can see, I used lower case letters this time and a different font: American Typewriter Bold.

And I’ll add one tip if you have to wrap around a small opening. I cut the tabs in a zig-zag pattern, so that they don’t get too short.

Cutting tabs to wrap letters in paper

Beside the fact that I nearly glued all my fingers to each other in the process, it was so fun for me to make something for little girls, since we have a house full of (wonderful!) boys. I’m also really glad to give Jenny’s girls a piece of home that they can take as they move overseas and just as thrilled to have something unique to celebrate the big one year birthday with my nieces!

Looking forward to another fun giveaway starting next month!

“Jewels”

Powder Room Reveal – Tiny Silver Gem

Posted on May 23, 2012 by jewelsathome

I am so pleased to finally show you our new powder room! It took longer than I anticipated, but it turned out just as I hoped. I used lots of silver in this small space, to make it feel brighter.

The finished powder room has lots of bright and elegant details, like the Imperial Trellis wallpaper and new chair rail.

We did not want the hassle or the expense of a full renovation, so I did not take out the walls or floor, even though they were far from perfect. I worked with what we had and

hung silver imperial trellis wallpaper
installed a chair rail and extended the baseboard
painted (tips to come soon)
and, finally, changed the sink and fixtures and added accessories

I’m very happy with the result. Before, the room felt unfinished (because, as hubby points out, it was unfinished) and plain. I would actually avoid it and go upstairs to a “real” bathroom. Now, it’s still small, but it feels polished and pretty, and I occasionally peek in just to take a look (okay, that won’t go on for long, I hope).

BEFORE: The whole room was very white – blah – with dated gold-tone fixtures.

I got the help of a handyman to change out the old pedestal sink for this new vanity. Our half bath is very small, so I looked for a long time to find a small vanity that didn’t feel undersized. I am happy with the look and functionality of this Covus vanity found on Overstock. The new towel bar and toilet paper holder add a shiny touch in polished chrome. The art is a print from an Henry Evans calendar (more of those to see in upcoming posts, too). I picked the color of the flower and picture mat to tie in the old floor colors. The frame was a thrift store find and brings more silver into the room.

Here are some more views of the finished room:

I’m very relieved to have this powder room off the to-do list. It was getting embarrassing! Now, I can get on to some more fun projects that I’ll post soon.

“Jewels”