If you need me, I'll be scavenging cardboard from my neighbors' bins

Discovering the Cardboard Collective site set me on a mission to the garage for some cardboard and a sharp knife.  If anyone wants to gift me their totem box pattern, I would totally not complain. Lol.

Sure, my friends and family laugh now as I scheme on the next corrugated creation, but I get the joy of seeing everyone open their Christmas gifts this year and then wondering what I can make out of their box. When Amazon deliveries come I get EXTRA excited.

The first thing I tackled was making some sturdy cardboard crowns with the girls.




Crowns, masks, and capes. They're like direct hits of childhood adventure and awesomeness.





I measured their heads and cut lengths of cardboard that were slightly shorter. Then I folded a piece of paper in half to cut a stencil out for the crown spikes. I knew if I eyeballed it and just cut the cardboard first it would be totally non symmetrical.

The holes in the ends are for a yarn tied closure

Then I had the girls put down a layer of gesso and WAIT FOREVER UUUUGH for it to dry so they could paint the color on. Sorry, kids. I'm sure it really did feel like a million years to you.





They chose the paint they wanted and decorated more conservatively than I would have expected.





Yarn is threaded through the back and cinched to fit their heads nicely. I took this picture after many days of play and it's still holding up really well. Cardboard FTW!




But then there were these scraps from cutting the crowns. After a month of looking at Annie Blake's month of mountains paintings on instagram I had snowy peaks on the brain.





At this point I realized that I really didn't know how to paint a mountain, but I just kept fiddling with it until they looked reasonably mountainous.

Then I thought they looked like great set pieces for something. So I shopped our bulging minifig collection for some options and had way too much fun setting up a few scenes.





My girls split a few atoms in their heads when I started setting this up, I think. There was an explosion of some sort in the kitchen. Is there an "enthusiasm" element? They couldn't stop messing with and grabbing at (fighting with one another over) mommy's toys.









The Wampa made a special appearance in this one. And then I basically dropped a match on the trail of gasoline that leads to the car and walked away in slow motion. The flame snaked along and then boom. "Ok girls, you can play with it now." .....So. Much. Screaming..... Minifig parts were bouncing around on the floor. Snarls. Thumping of girls fighting under the kitchen table.

Kids, man. Every day is like black friday between siblings and their toys.


Since then I've made a couple of freestanding painted cardboard trees. Now I'm thinking "shantytown". Clover also wants to make a cardboard paper doll with different skirts she can paint and out on it.

Today is recycling day in the hood. I'll be slow driving past the bins today on my way to Leesburg.