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.
