Christmas Card Wreath

If you’re trying to figure out how to display Christmas cards this year, whip up a Christmas card wreath! Take a large piece of cardboard and cut out a large circle (mine is 10 inches wide). I used one of my biggest bowls to trace. Then trace and cut out a smaller circle inside. Paint it white, or whatever color you want and let dry.

Train from a Cardboard Box

Do you ever set your kids loose on Pinterest? Sometimes, I open the “kids crafts” board and let my boys pick what project they would like to do that day. One day, my 4 year old saw this train and wanted, so desperately, to make a train of his own. I don’t tend to collect toilet paper rolls, but I had a cardboard box, so we set off to make a train of our very own…

Dog House from a Box

If you’ve been to my house recently, you’ve probably heard a lot of barking! My boys are both in crazy doggie obsession phases and love either pretending that they are dogs or playing with their stuffed animal doggies. And now, we have a real, live puppy, so the barking level has only increased :).

So, why not make those stuffed animals their very own doghouse?!
To make our doghouse, I cut the inside flaps off the bottom of the box (the outside flaps are still taped together).

Pick-Up Truck from a Box

I bought my husband a ladder for his birthday and it came in a gloriously huge cardboard box! This time, we created a pick-up truck :)

All I had to do was cut the flaps off the back half of the truck to make a bed.

The flaps on the front half made the hood and side of the cab. I then used the flaps I cut off to make the roof of the cab.

Cardboard Castle

When we moved, we got an amazing assortment of large boxes and I saved all of them until I had a chance to make this:
K & C had so much fun in their little castle. It was hilarious listening to the two of them interact. K was naturally the king since he’s bigger and since C is smaller, he had to be the queen.

Starry Cave

We moved about a month ago and have a fabulous pile of cardboard boxes which my boys made me swear we would make cool things out of…first off is a starry cave.

All you have to do is poke holes in the side of a large cardboard box, stick white Christmas lights into the holes and climb into your starry cave. It would be fun to make constellations with older kids, but my boys just loved laying on their backs, staring up at the “stars” :).

Thanks Play at Home Mom!

Pirate Ship from a Box

For some reason, my boys have been very interested in pirates so when the delivery truck dropped off a massive cardboard box, the chosen remodeling project was a pirate ship (after, of course playing in the box for at least 1/2 an hour)…

Make a Spin Drum for New Years

Is everyone ready to welcome in a new year? We are going to a party at my brother-in-law’s house and I figured we’d bring all the noise we could, so my boys and I made these cute little spin drums:

Inspired by Disney Family Fun, these little drums are easy to make, and you can make them from whatever you have lying around…we used a juice canister, the accompanying lid, cardboard, hot glue, yarn, beads, paint and sticks from outside for our drums. Look around to see what you already have on hand!

Parking Garage Revisited

Honestly, when we moved and I had tons of boxes, I had all these grand plans of what we could build with them. After one trip, cleaning our old place, unpacking and getting ready for another trip, I just didn’t have the energy to bring those plans to fruition and I took all of the boxes to be recycled. I know…bad Mommy!

So, when FedEx dropped off a box and K begged me to turn it into a parking garage, I did…even though the box itself was only 3 or 4 inches deep.

To extend the box, I taped the top flaps to each other. I then used other cardboard and hot glued it into the box to make the parking levels and ramps. Hot glue is my new best friend when it comes to cardboard crafting! I don’t now what I used before, but so far the hot glue has lasted all sorts of vehicles driving up and down :).

What would you make with a box?

Make Your Own Lacing Cards

I was at the store recently and saw a box of lacing cards which got me wondering how hard I would be to make some for my boys…turns out it’s pretty easy!

Cut Out Bird Feeder

If you have a bit of cardboard, peanut butter and some sunflower seeds or bird seed, you and your kiddos can make a cute little bird feeder…

Box Ball

It seems that cardboard boxes become a part of my home décor until we find a good use for it…beyond it’s original purpose and wear it out. We’ve been reorganizing, which means I now have 3 more boxes to figure out something to do with. Maybe I’ll just leave them be and let them pass as some sort of modern décor… :)

Most recently I taught K the wonders of using a box for throwing balls into, and I am so glad I did! He threw balls into that box for half an hour, which should also mean he’ll sleep well after such rigorous exercise, right?

Disclaimer: The link in this post is sponsored, but all content, and every attempt at humor is my own :)

Parking Garage from a Box

In case you didn’t know, we love cardboard boxes around here. Quite often when the UPS man delivers a box, K starts spouting off all the things he wants me to make out of our new box.
K keeps asking me for a blacktop (aka road), but we’ve already made one, so I wanted to try something new.
In the two days we’ve had this, K has spent several hours driving his cars up and down the ramp and parking them on the upper level. Crafts are always more rewarding when the one you make it for enjoys it :)
I just cut off the top flaps of the box and used those to make a ramp, an upper parking level, and support beams under both of them. It took 20 minutes max and is still reaping rewards.
Does anyone know how to make a motorcycle out of a cardboard box? That’s my next request :)

I’m linking up to Tot Tuesdays @ Delicious Ambiguity, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm,  Whatcha Got Wednesday @ The Pumpkin Patch, and Toot Your Horn Tuesday @ A Silly Little Sparrow.

Cardboard Play Mat

After our bus met it's last match, there was still one side from that box in decent condition, so K and I made a play mat for his cars. Until I make or find something more permanent, this is a great size for him to carry around, and it stores behind things easily. All we did was draw a road...I used my seam gauge to make the road fairly uniform.
We colored it in with crayons. 
Then I printed off some places K knows and wanted on his mat such as a church, a park and a street view of our apartment using Google maps. We may or may not add to it, but for now, this was all K wanted. We even have real life events such as earthquakes... Which naturally require earthquake prevention...oh yes, there is such a thing :) Frugal, green, entertaining to make, and entertaining to use. I love cardboard!

I'm linking up to Crafty Friday,  Plant a Punkin Seed Friday, Mad Skills Monday, and Tot Tuesday

School Bus from a Box

Shopping for car seats stresses me out beyond reason. It took hours of research to decide on a booster for K because of all the variables, and when I did finally find one I was ok with, the next day, a similar one came out on sale for half the price. Being cheap as I am, I took the first one back (unused) and bought the second one. As an added bonus, the second one came in a huge box! We’ve already made a cardboard boat, and a car, so I was thinking rocket, but as soon as K saw the box he exclaimed that he had to have a school bus. After visualizing for ages how I wanted it to turn out, we forged ahead and had a blast!
For a school bus, it’s best to have a long box. I cut off the front inside flap. Then I cut down the seam or crease of the two front outside flaps until they were level with the flap I cut off. The flap that I cut off was then taped to the front of the little box I created by folding down the outside flaps.
Windows were cut.
The back inside flaps were cut off so K could use the outside flaps as a door. I attached sticky back velcro to them so his doors could stay shut. As soon as the bus was formed, K kept saying he needed lights. So, we gave the bus proper headlights and tail lights… And what’s a bus without tires and a stop sign? Even C crawled inside and laughed at the great fun!
The best part about this bus? K gets to decorate it however he wants! He can color to his heart’s content!
I’m linking up to Tot Tuesdays @ Delicious Ambiguity, Mad Skills Monday @ Super Stinky Boys, Making Monday Marvelous @ CRAFT, Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative, Saturday is Crafty Day @ Along for the Ride, Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven's, and Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

Cardboard Boat

I literally can’t stand the thought of just throwing boxes away, no matter how big they are, though the bigger the box, the harder it is.

So, when we got this beauty with a package inside, it was destined for hours of entertainment. We’ve already made a car and a zoo out of cardboard boxes, so it was time for a boat!

I cut the box in half lengthwise. Along the flaps, I cut a few inches further in and pulled the flaps together. I then held the flaps in the shape I wanted the point of the boat to be and traced it. I then cut off the excess cardboard. With just enough packing tape, I taped the ends of the boat in place, and taped both halves of the boat together. Naturally we had to have fish, complete with a fishing rod. Sadly the velcro wasn’t strong enough for K to catch his fish. I’m still working on a better solution. Add some water… and sail away!

Zoo in a Box

We love boxes around here! They have so much potential! After making a car, K and I decided it would be fun to make a zoo.

K has an abundance of animals, and loves talking about going to the zoo so when I suggested making a zoo to him, I knew I had no other choice because he was so excited.

I used swagbucks to search for animal pictures which I printed, and K colored. Just imagine the pig is a wild African boar :)I cut the top flaps off of the box and cut notches into each piece as shown below.I then pieced them together and fit them inside the box. K helped glue and place the pictures of each animal in the cage he thought they should go in. After each animal was placed, we talked about what all the animals eat.

The only problem was when C tried to help relocate any animals, K got extremely protective of his zoo. BUT it was fun, free, and K loved it!

Box Car

We got a sweet deal on Pampers diapers at diapers.com, and with that sweet deal came a sweet box!

K fell in love with the box and has been playing with it for a couple of days now and today I knew we had to make it something more...

A car!

When I was in primary, or the children's group at church, we all brought our own cardboard cars to the church and had a drive-in movie. I remember playing with those cars for ages afterwards. My husband had to make cardboard cars for scouts and they had relay races in their cars (cut a hole in the bottom and hold the box up to run with it around your waist). So with fond reminiscing and a hope I didn't just destroy the box before making it anything like a car I set out with a box cutter...

Just the effort was worth it because K would periodically exclaim "I like my car Mommy!"

After cutting the flaps off the top I cut doors in the sides and windows in the front and backs.

Using the flaps from the top I cut a steering wheel and 4 wheels. K got to help paint the wheels. I just attached the steering wheel using a pen cap which allows it to turn quite effectively.

I cut out colored circles for the lights and made a little license plate for the back. K got to help glue them on and was the one insisting we have certain colored lights, which were right, and I was so impressed with his understanding of the lights on cars. When I asked him where he was driving, he told me the library and the store. That's my boy!











I even got to take the car on a test drive!