Frozen Theme Pizza Box Paperdoll Playset

My niece is turning 4 this week, and guess what her favorite movie is?  Yes, Frozen.  I was looking up some Frozen printables to add to her birthday package, and stumbled upon the most gorgeous set of Frozen paper dolls made by Corey Jensen.  So, I decided to make her a Frozen theme Pizza Box play set!

I'm still awestruck by the beauty of the paper dolls he makes.  He's the Bob Mackie of paper dolls.
Checkout his Facebook page for the printables.  They're amazing!

After I found those, I decided to make her a pizza box playscape to hold them all.  I'm kind of addicted to decorating pizza boxes to house toys.  They're portable, and they encourage kids to put their toys away when they're done playing with them.

They also look pretty fancy, but are made with some basic dollar store craft materials, and all-told cost about $3.00 for the supplies.

Materials:

• This Printout- it's six 8-1/2 x 11" pieces of paper
• A 12.25 inch pizza box (our local pizza place's small box)
• Spray Adhesive- I like Elmer's Brand.  It's pretty widely available, and about $4.00 a can
• Clear cellophane gift basket wrap (the dollar store has it).  You can skip this step, but it makes it more durable and scuff proof.
• Pretty tape- I used some sparkle duct tape
• Self-adhesive Velcro
• Wrapping paper to decorate the outside of the box

Supplies:

• Box cutter
• Scissors

For the "crystal" paper doll stands:

• aluminium foil
• hot glue
• paper clips
• crystals- I had a box from the floral department of the craft store.  I think they use them to fill vases.

To make the pizza box

Print out this handy .pdf file

Trim off the excess paper- there is some overlap in the file, so you don't have to cut it exactly.  Scissors work just fine.  Just make sure all of the white boarders are removed.

Dry fit it in the inside of your pizza box, then glue it down with the spray adhesive.

Then coat the entire inside with another coat of spray glue, and cover it with the cellophane.

Flip it over, and apply the wrapping paper with more spray glue.  Add any other decorations or personalization then cover it with the gift basket cellophane adhered with more spray glue.

Then use the box cutter to trim the excess from around all of the sides, and slit the paper around any vent holes.

Line the inside of the box with your pretty duct tape, and seal the edges well with some more duct tape (I cut strips in half for this part).

Then apply the Velcro so that the lid stands up, and you're done!

To make the doll holders:

Put a small plop of hot glue on a piece of aluminium foil, and stick a paper clip upright in the middle of it.  Hold it in place until the glue cools

Trim the foil leaving a margin so there's enough to wrap around the glue ball you just made:

Then use the crystals to decorate it:

I'll be filling this with the paper dolls, and some other Frozen theme things- like sparkly playdough, and maybe a lip balm.

This is my first kind of tutorial- let me know if you have any questions!

Upcycled Pizza Box Race Track

Ali is a little gearhead.  Cars, trains, motorcycles, and especially trucks- he loves to run them all over the coffee table, and to line them up on pretty much any flat surface.

Grandma bought him 5 gallon zip-lock bags FULL of cars at a yardsale, and I've been trying to figure out a good way to keep them all in one place so we don't trip on them.

It dawned on me- a pizza box would be *perfect* for a little race track for him.  I looked online for race track printables and didn't see anything that really tripped my trigger, so I made one in Photoshop using Watkins Glen International as the basis.

It's actually pretty easy to put together...I'm guessing it would take about 30 minutes from start to finish if you don't have any "help" :)

Materials:

• Cleanish pizza box
• print out of race track
• Spray adhesive (works best for cardboard crafts because it doesn't have any water, so the cardboard doesn't warp)- you could use white glue, or even wheat paste but it may warp the cardboard.  I like Elmer's brand from Dollar General 
• Wrapping paper, or contact paper for the outside
• Duct tape
• Self-adhesive velcro
• Optional Clear cellophane basket wrap from the dollar store.

Supplies:

• A box cutter for trimming the excess wrapping paper
• Scissors for trimming the printouts

Print out this handy .pdf I made (I'm not a great graphic designer, but this is fine for a toddler).  It's sized to fit a 16" x 34" pizza box, and prints out on nine 8-1/2 x 11" pieces of paper.

Trim off the white edges, and dry fit it inside the pizza box.  There is some overlap so the printing/cutting isn't quite as critical.  Then spray the box with glue, and attach the prints.

I did put a layer of clear cellophane basket wrap on top of the printout- adhered with more spray adhesive.

Then decorate the outside.  I used some shiny red wrapping paper I had laying around, and covered it with more cellophane for a little extra durability.

When you've covered and trimmed both sides seal the edges well with some tape- duct tape, packing tape, washi tape.  I found that if they aren't sealed well the paper does start to come loose from the box after a while.

The handle, and closures are just folded over duct tape with a little bit of Velcro to secure it.

The car storage bag is just a slider zipper sandwich bag covered in more duct tape for stability, and because well...duct tape.

I think he needs a train track next!