| Mi Castle Su Castle |
From "DIY Crafts"
episode DIC-221 |
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Materials: Cardboard castle (Mixed Nuts #30053)
Decorator sponges (included with castle)
6 oz. lime green, purple and teal acrylic paint
Paper plates
Large bowl
Scissors
6 yds. white tulle wired ribbon, 6" wide
3 yds. tulle and rose trim -- purple flowers, white netting
Glue gun
1 yd. kraft paper
reinforced tape
Freddy Frog decorative foam stamp (from Rubber Stampede; optional)
Alphabet sponge stamps (from Plaid Enterprises)
Extra-strength self-adhesive Velcro (TM) strips - Take the castle out of the box and identify all the pieces.
Exterior Texture - Cut one sponge in half.
- Pour lime green paint onto a paper plate, spreading it out to create a pad of color large enough to coat the big sponge.
- Paint the outside with bricks -- sponge bricks around the windows and doors with the half sponge (figure A). Use the full sponge lengthwise to make the full-size bricks. Start in the lower left corner of each panel with one full brick and go across the bottom, leaving a 1/4" space between the bricks. The next row of bricks should be offset by impressing the sponge so it ends in the middle of the brick below it.
Exterior Greenery - To make the heart-shaped ivy, fist your hand. Dab the pinkie side of your fist down in the teal paint pad made on a paper plate (the pinkie is the top of the leaf.) Press down (figure B). Using the other fist, press down another image closing the heart shape. This is the ivy leaf. Place ivy leaves around the windows. Flower buds or grapes can be made by making fingerprints with the purple paint. Cut an S-swirl from the sponges and add tendrils coming from the ivy leaves.
- Bushes can be made by using your hands as leaves and stamping teal handprints over and over -- starting full at the bottom and tapering at the top. Use 1, 2 or 3 fingers at the top of the bush.
- Trees can be made by using the entire forearm and hand as the trunk and initial branches of a tree (figure C). Making an L with the thumb and forefinger adds another branch option to open up the width of the tree. Do these in purple. Thumbprints dipped in teal make playful leaves.
- The hanging greenery (figure D) from the turret tops are made by dabbing your pointing finger in teal and quickly brushing up to make a round leaf. Start at the bottom of the strand and build to the top of the castle's edge. You can use a teal colored pencil to draw guidelines if needed.
- The grass is random streaks of teal made by dragging your fingers upward to make the grass. (This method makes thin tips of grass.)
- The wood grain for the door involves dragging the end of the sponge down the length of the door. Where the streaks of paint end, and the new starts, imitates the piecing of the wood. Once the door has been streaked on both sides, dip the end of the sponge in the paint and dab until there is a faint trail of paint when the sponge is dragged. Run this over the panels, as if you were making Cs forward and backward. This simulates a curved wood grain.
- Using 4 3" x 3" strips of kraft paper reinforced tape, glue 2 pairs together, making 2 double-thick squares. With the door in place, position the squares and glue them in place on the outside. (The doors open to the outside.) Cover them in teal paint and add lime green circles, fashioned as bolts.
- Glue the door handle in place with the glue gun. The handle glues on the outside of the door.
- Hand-letter or hand-stamp the words Happily ever afters - inside!using lime green paint.
- The frog prince is composed of a decorative foam stamp and the crown from the Mi Castle sponge shapes.
Interior - Windows are stamped with the cut sponge shape to make teal bricks. Using the half-window, trace a fireplace at the bottom left of that same wall panel. Stamp the exterior of the fireplace with teal bricks.
- Wallpaper is made by using the same S-swirl punch and making a stripe by flipping it over and over. The next stripe uses the full sponge, but with the small width as its size, unlike the brick pattern. Do this on all the panels.
- Cut 1' panels of the white tulle wired ribbon for each small window. Fold the wire in half and tie a bow with an 8" tulle and rose ribbon strip. Hot-glue this curtain in place by centering the bow and securing it to the center of the arc of the window. Hot-glue one spot on both sides of the arc to create a rounded curtain top.
Tips: - To accommodate the curves when making the brick pattern around he windows, squeeze the ends of the sponge together, then press it onto the curved area. This makes a tapered brick.
- When you reach an odd space in the brickwork, use the side of the sponge or lay down a part of the brick and press the sponge down slowly, while keeping the rest of the sponge lifted. This creates the shape of the brick you want.
- The hinges can be made with fabric or reinforced clear tape. For sound effects, extra-strength adhesive Velcro makes a great sound when active kids "rip" off the door. Window ledges can also be used as handles for shields, or to create mini tables inside. The window cutouts can be hinged or cut and hinged as shutters for the windows. Save the tulle rolls to use as chain drawbridge holders.
- You can cut sponges into the shapes you prefer, and use any colors you like.
Products: Mi Castle Su Castle, thrones and other cardboard creations, as well as decorative sponges and paint, are available from Storyopolis (see Resources, below).
RESOURCES :
Cardboard crafting material (Mixed Nuts)
Mixed Nuts
Old Hickory, TN 37138
Phone: 615-847-8399
Fax: 615-847-1167
Email: mixednuts@mindspring.com
Website: www.kraftables.com
Mi Castle Su Castle Cardboard Creations (Storyopolis)
Storyopolis
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Website: www.storyopolis.com
Let's Create: Plastic, Cardboard, Fabrics, Clay
Model: 0764118196
Author: Parramon Studios
(September, 2001)
Barrons Juveniles
Look What You Can Make With Tubes
Model: 1563976773
Author: Margie Hayes Richmond
(September, 1997)
Boyd Mills Press
The Most Incredible Cardboard Toys in the Whole Wide World
Model: 1579901379
Author: Stefan Czernecki
(October, 2000)
Lark Books / Altamont Press
Website: www.larkbooks.com
Cardboard (New Crafts)
Model: 1859675328
Author: Emma Hardy
(September, 1997)
Lorenz Books / Anness Publishing Inc.
Website: www.lorenzbooks.com
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