Barbie Castle!

 

I am so excited to share this with you!  My Princess and I created this out of  a set of three plastic shelves, lots of cardboard and a glue gun.

 

 Here is an up close pic of the center front.

 

Here is our elevator!  We drilled little metal eye rings (I think that's what they are) into the side of the elevator and also at the top and bottom of both sides of the side front sections.  Then, we made a knob that turns to raise and lower it.  The picture below shows the knob (pully) better.

 

We HAD to paint it pink!  Of course.  That is My Princess' favorite color.  This pic shows off all our homemade barbie stuff quite nicely.  On the balcony, there is also a boys' room and the swimming pool you see.

She loves it, and I am pleased with the results.  Yea!  Thanks for stopping by and checking it out! -Dari

Barbie High Chair

Wow! Yesterday was a killer for me.  I had 4 extra kids making 7 in all.  It seems that everything hits with a vengeance.  My kids had a half day of school.  We had Parent Teacher Conferences.  My oldest son had a Jazz Festival, which was at his school, so I went and watched.  They did fabulous!  We went for a walk to take my four year old to preschool, because I couldn't possibly put 7 kids (4 of whom were in car seats) in my car, and because we all needed some fresh air.  We looked like quite the caravan!  One stroller, one wagon, 2 bikes, 1 scooter, a grandma and a mom.  I am so GRATEFUL for my mother-in-law who gave of herself for several hours to be my extra set of hands.  She is an amazing lady.  I love her!  Needless to say, I couldn't get away to post yesterday.  I tried.  I thought about it throughout the day, but it just didn't pan out.

My Princess and I made this Barbie High Chair a few weeks ago.  It is made out of cardboard and covered with white contact paper.  The tray slides out.  She, being very creative, said, "Mommy.  Look, it is the high chair table, but it is also a bed tray so you can have breakfast in bed, and a little stool so the baby can reach..."  On and on she went.  I was quite impressed. 

I am not sure if I can describe the construction easily enough so you, the reader, will know what I am saying, but I will try.  We cut 2 pieces of cardboard for the back (equal sizes) and hot glued them together. We cut 2 so there would be more strength. Then, we cut 2 smaller pieces for the sides.  At this point, we glued the two sides to the back and covered it with white contact paper.  For the seat, I cut a piece of cardboard the width of the inside (between the two sides) and 2 1/2 times longer than the desired depth.  I measured the desired depth for the seat, marked it on one end of the cardboard and repeated on the other end.  We scored these two lines and folded the two ends in.  We unfolded it and covered the seat with contact paper before gluing it in place with hot glue.  This gave a lot of stability to the chair and seat.  Next, we cut 2 pieces for the tray that were equal in size, hot glued them together and covered them with contact paper.  To make the tray slide, we cut 2 pieces of cardboard that were 2 times the depth of the tray +1/4 in. more.  We measured and marked the depth from both ends of each piece, scored the lines, covered with contact paper, bent the pieces, and then hot glued them in place on the bottom of the tray in the spot needed to sit over the side of the high chair.  To finish our creation off, we cut out hearts from construction paper and glued them in place.  Wah Lah!  If you have any questions, leave me a message.

Hope you have a great day and find some time to create something of your own! -Dari

Barbie Bathroom

OK, please look past the Planes poster in the background. My Princess has this hanging on the wall behind her Barbie House. 

 I found awesome tutorials on how to make a Barbie bathroom on You Tube.  I would recommend viewing this.  The creators are MyFroggyStuff.  Of course, we had to make them ours and so modified them a bit.

I used matte board for all the bathroom furniture, my hot glue gun, white sucker sticks for the toilet handle, seat rod and toilet paper holder.  I flipped the matte board upside down to achieve the white counter top and door fronts.  Then I inked the edges with a pink ink pad.  We used some printed scrapbook paper to create the tiles, hearts and rug.  I glued the printed paper onto white cardstock and then laminated it for the rug.  For the tub, we inserted an empty Bolthouse Drink Bottle inside after we cut out one entire side and glued it in place.  We actually covered the outside of the tub with clear packaging tape just in case it got wet.

If you have any questions, just ask.  Hope you enjoy! -Dari

Barbie Washer and Dryer

My little Princess and I have had lots of fun over the past few months creating Barbie necessities for her doll house.  She loves to play Barbies and watch Barbie movies and....  you get the idea.  Anyway, about 3 weeks ago, she approached me and said, "Mom.  We need to make a Barbie washer and dryer, because their clothes are dirty."  She said this in all sincerity.  I had to turn around so that she didn't see the huge smile that burst upon my face!  It was quite the dilemma, so we pulled out two empty Kirkland Brand Soy Milk cartons.  I cut out the top third from the sides and bent the front in.  This formed the washer and dryer tops.  Before closing up the machines with the contact paper and hot glue, we inserted a Dannimals yogurt cup inside the washer and a small cardboard box inside the dryer. Then we hot glued the edges shut and covered them with white Contact paper.  We cut out a circle for the washer and a rectangle out of the dryer. Out of scrap cardboard (double layer thick) we cut the fronts out. We painted these pieces pink.  For the washer:  In between the two circles, we glued a piece of plastic from a package, used a scrap of the soy milk carton for a hinge to attach the door to the washer, glued Velcro on so that it could open and close.  For the dryer: We cut out two scraps of the soy milk container, turned them upside down (shiny metallic looking) and glued them to the door and the dryer.  To embellish both machines, we hot glued various beads for the knobs, hinges and handles.  After we were done, we HAD to wash and dry ALL the Barbie clothing we have.  The Princess rotated the laundry through the machines, then it was my job to hang up the laundry or fold it and put it on the shelves.  How come even in play I have to do my least favorite part? :)

Hope you have a great day!-Dari