I got the idea from a competitor on So You Think You're Crafty, my new favorite website. Needless to say, she won that week. The same gal, the blogger from At Second Street, won last week with these beautiful hand trees, which are my next planned project. LOVE THEM. A version of the hand trees may show up as gifts at some point in the future, if you happen to be a woman related to me to whom I give mother's day gifts...
I had a lot of help on this project from Luke...He ripped the insides of the briefcase out, I cleaned and spray painted it, then he helped me make the cave & volcano out of plumbing sealant ("Great Stuff", got it at Wal-Mart for about $3.50), and he helped me paint the details. We dry brushed brown over gray spray paint on the cave & volcano & rocks, he painted the blue in the river, and we did the red/orange/yellow of the volcano together.
Over Spring Break next week, we have a giant Samsonite that he wants to make into a city/country scene for T to play with cars in. I'm already like that project a lot less, since it's so much bigger, and I don't think I'm going to like storing it.
But the briefcase dinoland? LOVE IT.
Here's the volcano...
And here's the cave...
Happy Dinos & happy boys. And a happy mom because...
The whole thing packs up and goes away...hopefully leaving the floor clear of spikey dinosaurs that hurt like heck when you step on them. YAY! Now if only I could control the Lego population...
The only things I'd change... I wouldn't paint the handle, the paint is still sticky there (it doesn't come off, but it feels sticky), and I'm planning on putting something scrapbooky on the outside that says "Dinoland."
Here's the tutorial, in case you want to make one yourself. I basically followed her instructions exactly, excepting that I used a briefcase instead of a small suitcase, so my scale is a little less (used a nut can instead of a plastic nut thing; used a ziploc box instead of the capri sun box.)
I'll put up pictures of the giant car village if we end up doing it (which we probably will...I already cleaned out and painted the giant Samsonite...I'm less than enthused. But Luke LOVES it and is very excited to work on it. We'll see....)
In the meantime...I do think Luke enjoys Dinoland as much as Tobin does...
