Snake Oil Caravan

How cool is this little caravan and suitcase? The wagon is actually Alpha Stamps' vintage bathing machine, but I think it worked out well for a traveling snake oil salesman and his wares. It's covered entirely with just two papers: the new Good For What Ails You collage sheet and the Wood Flooring Scrapbook paper. Having the digital download enabled me to crop and copy the parts needed, like the red stripes on the side with the door. 

The suitcase is a mere 2" x 1.5" but holds a whole slew of items. I managed to squash in 14 bottles of various tonics, restoratives, strengtheners, liveners, and an ointment! Tucked behind the snake oils in the lid are adverts and such from various collage sheets.

Four of the bottles are housed in tiny boxes I made using the "free building material" from Alpha Stamps. Collage sheets are always mailed with a rigid sheet of card that can be used to construct boxes, shelving, supports, it can be cut and stacked and then used behind fussy cut images to create dimension, or use it as a cutting mat to protect surfaces or a painting mat for the same purpose. I've built shrines, tables, and picture frames with it!

A wooden fruit crate served as an appropriate stand for the case of medicines. I painted the crate with brown and black acrylic paints then sanded the edges for a perfectly worn look. Guess what the sandwich board is made from! Yep, that same free piece of card I mentioned earlier. A little hinge was glued to the pieces and a collage sheet image was stuck on the board.

I decided I didn't want all of the space inside to go to waste, so I hinged the door and lined the wall with shelving to hold additional stock.

And if ever you find the need to hinge a door or whatever, but do not have a hinge, here is a basic way to cheat. It is simply two invisible pins placed in the top and bottom of the door.

Firstly, you need to sand your door on all edges, especially if your door fits flush inside a frame as mine did. On the left hand side of my door, where I hinged it, I also sanded the front edge in a curved fashion. This allows the door to open and not get caught on the door frame. Next, you get to take some sort of implement like a tapestry needle (or in my case a Dremel with a skinny bit) and poke/drill a hole near the edge on the top of the door. You can sort of see where the front edge of the door is sanded at an angle. The sanding is crucial to achieve an opening door; you may have to disassemble, sand, reassemble, and try opening the door several times before it operates smoothly.

After you have a hole in the top of your door, you need to do the same thing in the door frame. Now, I am not one for measuring anything, and if I can avoid it, I do. So to determine where I needed to place the hole in the frame, I stuck a snipped piece of wire into the hole in the door, dipped the other end of the wire in paint, and then placed the door in the frame, scootching the door up until the painted wire touched the frame. That left a nicely placed little dot to drill the other hole. After drilling the hole in the frame, I glued in the clipped piece of wire. This is the top pin that will hold your door.

While the glue is drying your pin in place, you now need to drill the hole in the base of your structure. I did this before the caravan was glued together, which makes it loads easier to do. I set the frame (which is also the wall of the caravan) into the floor and made a small mark on the floor the near the left edge of the frame. Again, I didn't measure to see if the mark was exactly the same distance from the left edge as the upper hole, but if you've sanded your door enough, it won't matter. Then I drilled through the hole, and here you can see a useless picture of that hole.

And now you replace the door and do the same thing as before, using a piece of wire dipped in paint, then stuck through your newly made hole, leaving a mark on the bottom of your door. Disassemble the entire thing AGAIN, drill a small hole at the mark on the door, then reassemble (and finally glue!) your structure together. Clip off a small piece of wire and bend the end, then stick it through the hole. Glue or tape the wire at the bend only, and you should have a functioning door! An alternative, which I have used successfully in the past, is to use a trimmed stick pin. The pointed end holds it in place and doesn't usually require gluing. 

Of course you can just use a hinge. 

If you are curious about what I've used, you can see the supply list HERE.

Happy crafting!

Tiki Beach Bar

Alpha Stamps is hanging out at the beach this month! You'll find cabana houses, vintage beach babes, palm trees, and even mini cocktails for any seaside project. I was pretty enthusiastic about a tiki bar when I saw the miniature martini glasses and tumblers, so that is what I made. 

I converted the little Half Scale Bay Window that Alpha Stamps carries into a little bar by cutting off the front two supports and replacing them with bamboo poles. The bar top is a piece of heavyweight card that I cut to extend past the window. Holes were made to accommodate the bamboo poles, and the edges got covered with trimmed reeds. I guess they are reeds, I don't really know. While thrifting one day, I happened on a set of eight "bamboo" placemats and bought them thinking they may come in handy, and they proved to be just that. (I reused the twine that held a mat together to make the glass boat float. Use everything!) The chipboard palms have crepe paper bark and silk leaf fronds, and I topped the hut with a raffia roof.

Here's the reason I built the bar in the first place...cute cocktails! There is a great tutorial for making your own Cosmo, and I altered those instructions a teeny bit to make a Midori Sour with a seed bead cherry. The straw in the tumbler is masking tape rolled around a sewing needle. 

These two goofy tiki heads are my attempt at crepe paper sculpting. More about those down below.

Here you can see the glass boat float that was made with the upcycled thread and a cool miniature glass globe.

Finally found a use for the string of Fairy Lights that I've been hanging on to. They were strung inside the top of the bar for some nighttime entertaining.

I'm glad that it's acceptable for tiki heads to be roughly hewn in appearance, since my guys came out quite amateurish, but the process of making them is clear.  I cut the lid off a mini Kraft Treasure Chest, scribbled on a face, then cut out the eyes, nares, and mouth. It was hot glued into a cylindric shape before adding the raised shapes.

The features were built up with thin strips of rolled crepe paper dipped in white glue, then left to dry. I covered the rest of the head with wider strips of crepe paper, smoothing out the features as I went.  A round disk was added to the top and I used more of the placemat thread to cover the seam. A set of Tiny Red LED Demon Eyes were placed underneath the base for that eerie Tiki glow!

Here is the handy dandy link to the supplies used for the Tiki Beach Bar.

Other supplies used:

Balsa Wood
Thrift Shop Bamboo Placemats
Floral Foam
Crepe Paper

Is it five o'clock yet? Oh well. Cheers!