Doll Playsets

My dolls have been having a lot of fun this week at Camp Doll Diaries. This week's theme is Take a Bow. It's all about the fine arts. I set up a dance studio based on the tutorial by Karen of Karen Mom of three craft's blog. The tutorial is on the Doll Diaries website. My dance studio wall is one of the play sets that I have made for my daughter's dolls. They are inexpensive to make and they store away easily under the bed or in a closet. Here is the tutorial for them:

A large box

First you need to get a large box from a place like Walmart. You may be able to get this free if you ask them. But if you can't it was only about $3.00 for this one.

Cut off the ends

Next, cut off the end flaps of the box. Next you will want to cut the box in half down the long sides. This will give you two panels that you can make doll rooms out of.

One of the panels that has been cut

Now that you have your box cut, you can take one of the panels and start adding scrapbook paper for the wallpaper. You could if you wanted to use contact paper or wrapping paper but I like using the scrapbook paper because there are so many different designs. I use three 12 x 12 sheets of scrapbook paper. In order to make it fit on my panel, I cut one of the sheets in half and glue each one on each side and the other two between them. 

Placing the scrapbook paper 

Now to glue it down with a glue stick

After I have the scrapbook paper where I want it, I will now glue it down. I use a glue stick. It takes more than one glue stick but it's less messy. Now I will pick out another pattern of scrapbook paper that coordinates with the top ones. I do this the same way as I did the top. After the bottom pieces are glued on, I will use a solid color of scrapbook paper to make the chair rail to the room. It makes it look pretty and hides the line between the two papers. I cut the solid piece an inch wide and the length of the panel. Glue this piece on the line where the two papers meet.

The solid piece is glued in between the two pieces

Next, to make the room more like a real room, I added a window using an outdoor scene cut from an old magazine. The magazine Southern Living has a lot of pretty scenes. Then I took another solid piece of scrapbook paper and I cut it in 1/4 in. wide strips and glued them onto the magazine scene to look like a window.

Finished play set