January 10, 2014

Doll-Sized Endtable

If your house is like mine, there are usually several of these little tiny chocolate boxes kicking around after the holidays! They seem so useful, and yet.... well, I always have a hard time figuring out what to keep in them. So this year I decided to make a fun craft instead.

Get out your boxes, some cardboard and cardstock, a few plastic drinking straws, and some beads or bells.

We're going to turn the boxes into drawers! Start by cutting off one long edge from each box lid. Then, tape over the cut edges so that the inside of the box can slide easily in and out.

Cut a piece of cardstock, and glue it over the top (open) edge of the box; test-fit your drawer.

Do this with four boxes; glue or tape them into sets of two, then join the two sets to make one whole piece.

Cut more cardstock, and glue it over the top, back, and side edges of your table. (Leave the bottom uncovered -- that's the next step!)

Cut a piece of cardboard the size of the bottom edge of your table; mark points at the four corners, then punch holes (carefully) with a sharpened pencil. They should be just the right size for your straws to go through.

Clip into one end of a straw with scissors, then poke the straw through the cardboard. Open out the little flanges, and glue or tape them down. (This picture shows tape, but I had to go back later and hot glue them pretty firmly, to keep my legs from wobbling.)

Put in the other three legs, then trim them so they're even. (Mine are about 3 1/2" tall.) To finish the legs, glue on a bead, or, take the clapper out of a little bell, and glue on the bell body.