Vintage

Some people have asked me how can I give up something that I have worked so hard on. It's worth it all to see the look on the recipient's face when they open their special package. My daughter, granddaughter and I wanted to do something special for Ms. Laura, the manager of the day care where Liz attended. Here is the story behind my making this play school music box.

The basic box is the same as I use for my other musicboxes. Stain the outside of all pieces. Paint the ceiling white. Glue the top piece in top of the sides with an overhang which is where the plexi-glass will fit. Measure 8 inches from the ceiling and place a mark to show where the floor will be. The bottom fits inbetween the side walls. Glue a piece of 1/4x1/4 strip of wood on the inside walls making sure the floor piece will fit still leaving 8 inches of wall space. Glue the floor piece resting on these pieces of wood.

Add your choice of wallpaper and flooring. I also chose a miniature paper border in ABC blocks for the top of the walls. For the flooring, I chose a grayish white colored miniature vinyl flooring. the best wallpaper is the kind that comes pre-pasted. Adhere this to the inside walls. Allow to dry then glue the wallpaper border across the top. Glue the flooring down using craft tacky glue.

The Table and Chairs

To make the table, I used basswood 1/8"x2" cut to the length I wanted for a classroom table. The legs were cut from 1/8"x1/8" strip of basswood cut to the hyeight minus the thickness of the table top (1 3/4" total). The legs are set in about 1/4" and have a bracing made from a strip of wood that is 1/8" thick and 3/8" wide. The length is determined by the length of the actual table. The chairs I actually purchases at a craft store that sells miniature supplies. Hey, for $1.00 a piece, you can't beat it.