Last week after I made the dinoland playset for Tobin, we had such a fun time making it that I wanted to make another one. I haven’t gotten my nerve up to start on the giant Samsonite city that Luke wants to make, but I did get another briefcase from my awesome mother-in-law.
My nieces (Anna and Ellery) LOVED the Dino playset – Anna’s response when Betsy told her that I was sending it with Tobin to Grammie’s so the girls could play with it too: “I can’t wait to play with that! I’ve always wanted to be a paleontologist!” I thought about using the second briefcase to make another dinoland for the girls. But how could I resist the opportunity to make something more girly??
Here’s what I started with:
And here’s what I’m giving to the girls (tomorrow):
It has a castle for the princesses (made from the popcorn box in the before picture):
And a little fairy hut and lake for the fairies to play in:
How cute is that, I ask you?? Matt asked if I was going to give it to them for their birthdays. Which are in October. Nope. It’s a just because present. An Easter present, maybe? Or just a “I needed you as an excuse to make something girly” present.
Now unlike our very large tiny dino collection, the girls don’t actually have any fairies or princesses to play in this awesome playset. I looked around, but the only little figures I can find are boy – army guys, knights, dragons, and all the stuff that comes in “toobs”, dinos, farm stuff, all the animals you could think of…. but no fairy princesses.
So…I looked around on Etsy.com, and found these awesome little flower dolls. I copied the idea behind them (hers are MUCH more well-made than mine, and bigger…I just used pipe cleaners and yarn, along with a little ribbon and some embroidery thread.) But I love them. Look!
I didn't really care for the first princess I made - she was too big for the briefcase, and I didn't realize how much the yarn I was using was going to unravel and get frizzy (I ended up looping it, then tying little knots in the ends so the 2 pieces that weren't looped wouldn't unravel.) Anyway...good thing I wasn't planning on giving try #1 to the girls, because Tobin claimed her as his own. He says, "I WOVE her, Mommy, she's my Anna!" (that's right, he named her after his cousin.)
p.s. In case you'd want to make one of these on your own...I followed Kaleen's tutorial At Second Street. She has step by step instructions and pictures of the dino suitcase. I basically did the same thing, just with flowers this time...
I'm linking this post to the weekend wrap up party on Tatertots and Jello!
