Little girls love their dolls, dollhouses, clothes and accessories. They can spend hours on end dressing the dolls, fixing their hair, or just holding them. The average young girl is thrilled to receive anything new for her dolls, whether its a coat or a new purse. Those things are generally purchased but there are lots of things you can make for the dolls. One such thing is a cradle that can hold a doll or even a stuffed animal.
An oatmeal box, and a few craft supplies, is all you need to create the cutest little cradle. Use a jumbo oatmeal canister to make a large cradle or the smallest available canister to make a miniature cradle. Either one will give your girl hours of fun. Best of all, the cradle will cost little, and can be made with any theme or color scheme.
Glue the lid onto the oatmeal box then stand the box upside-down. Use a knife to cut down the center of the canister, starting through the center of the bottom and cutting towards the lid. Take your time and cut both sides the same. If needed, draw a line before cutting, so youll get both sides even. Stop cutting when you get about two-thirds of the way down. Remove the knife from the canister and lay the oatmeal box on its side. Setting the canister on a towel will help keep it from rolling while you cut. Position the knife, about two-thirds of the way down the length of the can, just above the end of the slit you cut. Cut straight down until you reach the area where you stopped the lengthwise cut. When you do this a large chunk of the canister can then be removed, leaving you with the shape of a cradle that has a bonnet. Paint the inside of the cradle or glue satin, or a similar fabric, to the inside. Wrap a piece of decorative paper or cloth around the oatmeal canister. Glue or tape it to the underside of the cradle. Use the scissors to carefully cut the fabric or paper away from the canister opening. Glue gathered lace around the edge of the bonnet. Glue matching lace, or coordinating ribbon, around the opening of the cradle. To hide the raw edges from the inside glue a piece of lace around the opening there, too. The two pieces of lace or ribbon will cover the raw edges, inside and out. If you want, glue the two pieces together. Cut a piece of foam for the inside of the cradle. Youll get the best fit if you start with a cylindrical piece of foam and cut it lengthways down the center. One half of the foam cylinder will be a perfect fit for the cradle. Cover the foam in fabric. This piece of fabric should be glued onto the foam unless you sew. If you sew you can cut the fabric shape, add elastic along the edges, then slip the cover on and off the foam at any time. Set the covered foam into the cradle. Its your choice if you want to make a slipcover, as stated above, and simply set the foam into the cradle or if you want to glue the fabric to the foam then glue the foam to the inside of the cradle. With the latter, you wont be able to remove the cover for washing. Now you can embellish the cradle in many different ways. Use stickers to spell the babys name or to add a theme to a paper-covered cradle. Other embellishments for a paper-covered cradle include rick-rack, felt dots or shapes, colored tape, or even ribbon. If the canister is covered in fabric you can glue on piping, painted wooden shapes, ribbon, bows and more. Each combination of materials gives you a totally different design. Make cradles for little stuffed animals or larger dolls. Create beautiful, intricate cradles or simplistic ones with paper enhancements. There are so many different ways to create the cradles from things you have around your house that you might not need store-bought embellishments at all! No matter how lavish, or how plain, the little girl in your life is going to love it!
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