One of my youngest son's favorite books is How to Make Flibbers, etc: A Book of Things to Make and Do, by Robert Lopshire (Random House, 1964).
The book is filled with easy crafts with simple materials -- mostly paper, scissors, and glue. It charmed me from the first read, and my son and I even shared some of the simple to-dos with his preschool class. But, the mini potential did not occur to me until recently, and I was able to give the "Limp Lamps" activity a go!
Here are the pages from the book for the lamp:
Super easy, right? I figured it would be simple to replicate this activity on a smaller scale (I chose to eliminate the handle), and indeed it is. Here is my mini tutorial (not that you need it!):
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| Choose a paper. I used origami paper with a pattern, like these sheets. |
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| Cut the paper into a rectangle shape, measuring about 2-3/4" x 3-1/4", but feel free to experiment with different sizes |
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| Fold in half and score |
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| Cut strips from the score and stop just before the top |
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| Unfold and glue at the tops, with the score oriented along the center |
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| Voila! |
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| The sofa is a new acquisition, purchased on my trip to Denver in July |
I even used one of my flameless tea lights from Pottery Barn as a base -- neat!
Let me know if you do your own "Limp Lamps!"
Two other crafts from the book that have mini potential are these: "Party Mats" and "Stickit Picture"; I might try them next!
By the way, one of the reasons I was able to see this craft through was because I cleaned up my entire mini space. Remember my "struggle with clutter" post? Well, I just got in the right frame of mind and did it! We took some vacation time at home and I had a four-hour block of time to myself and just powered through. The only thing left to do is un-box and sort about 40 sets of Re-ment, purchased over the past two years! Yes, TWO years!
Here's some pics of my newly organized dollhouse room...hope it stays this way for a while.
Phenom! I predict a sea of these lamps popping up on every miniatures blog out there. Ha ha! And congrats on the cleanup. I hope that it will last but the nature of the "creative beast" tends to turn everything back into chaos.
ReplyDeleteI do hope people start experimenting! I am sure many great ideas will emerge. I hope I can keep the chaos at bay, at least for a while. :)
DeleteBrilliant work on your room! I fear mine would take more than 4 hours - but 4 hours would make a good start on it ....
ReplyDeleteI love your limp lamps! That is how we made what we called Chinese lanterns for parties when I was a kid! I made some from shiny red paper for my dolls house fancy dress party, but yours look much more sophisticated. I love the one on the tealight!
And the party mats are made like the paper weaving we did at school - with ready prepared, quite firm paper. I enjoyed it - I don't think I ever thought about how to make it at home, though - it looks quite simple, and fun! Thanks for sharing :-)
Thanks, Rebecca! I was a whirling dervish for those 4 hours. I was actually surprised it all happened! Yes, these are very much like Chinese lanterns. I did the mats at school too, which is probably why I love this book so much...memories of simpler times!
DeleteThe little kid in me is squealing with delight at these projects! What a great idea to use the flameless candles as a base, too. I've been pondering my Caroline's dollhouse and thinking it needs to be done up for Halloween, but had been a little stumped on lighting options. Now I know exactly what I can do.
ReplyDeleteTime to pull out the tons of scrapbooking paper and get to work. :D
Oh, and that picture of the lamp next to the wallpaper that almost perfectly mimics the shape! Pure awesome!
The flameless lights are a lot of fun and do come in handy. Please let me know if you make any limp lamps!
DeleteNice lamps!!!! Will do as sonn as I'm back on the other coast.
ReplyDeleteKeeping up with one's dollhouse collection is no child's play. CM
Let me know what you come up with!
Deletegreat lamps! i had been thinking about these led flames too...seem to be a good solution for lighting! good to see them here! :)
ReplyDeleteI do like the LED lights, but wish I could find them smaller. This base is a bit large. I haven't looked extensively online...I am sure petite ones are out there!
DeleteI bought the lights at Target and had Aaron hack them up for me. The bits are actually quite small and fit nicely inside the lamps we bought off eBay. But mine flicker! I thought I could wax stick it to the bathroom ceiling but the flickering looks like an electrical fire about to happen. I think we need to go to Michaels and try another brand right now! Awesome idea. Can't wait to keep going with this. I posted the pics to Twitter and tagged you.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! My tea lights flicker as well, but look OK in pics. I also wish the light was whiter -- it casts yellow. Let me know if you find some different ones at Michaels! I'll check out the Twitter pics! :)
DeleteAbsolutely fabulous! Such a quick and easy project that looks fantastic. I love all of the sizes you tried out, they really work at all levels. Super congrats on the clean up. I'm like Rebecca, 4 hours would not be, but you gotta start somewhere. I wish the cleaning fairies keep everything in place for you! So much easier to find stuff when it's all put away correctly (I'm still working on that.)
ReplyDelete:D
Sooooo easy. Crazy easy. I want to keep experimenting, too. Yes, indeed, I had a much easier time finding my stuff, and also thinking about the best place to store everything. I felt like I had cleared my head too -- very therapeutic!
DeleteWow, look at all of those dollhouses! Some of them have their own chairs. XD
ReplyDeleteYup! Just the way I like them! ;)
DeleteWonderful idea! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI like the lamps.
Your dolls house room is fabulous.
Kiss Faby
Thanks, Faby! I like my dollhouse room too, these days!
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