Cookin' in a Cardboard Kitchen

Two things to know leading up to this post. 1. Jason's parents have a little kitchen in their basement for Sierra to play with when she's visiting. She loves it. 2. I subscribe to Family Fun magazine, which has a lot crafts and things to do with kids.

Thus, when I saw this kitchen in one of the issues, I knew I was going to make one.

I was casually in search of two identical boxes of similar size, but hadn't made any effort to find them when one day, while heading into the dining hall, I saw an abundance of just delivered boxes that were just the right size! I found the woman in charge of the shipping room and demanded politely asked, "Who is the recipient of those boxes out on the sidewalk." After successfully tracking down the owner of the boxes, I had the beginnings of Sierra's kitchen.

It was a process that I worked on a little bit at a time. Sometimes Sierra helped, sometimes I worked on it by myself. I ran out of colored duct tape because I used it to secure shelves inside the oven as well as border all the edges of the boxes, so we had a stall when we had to get more tape. I didn't have nearly the number of plastic caps to use as knobs as the article suggested, so I just bought some inexpensive wooden cabinet knobs and drew on them with a fine tip sharpie to make the knobs on the stove and oven. I made the paper plate burners twice because the first time I free-handed them and they were just too sloppy for my sometimes-a-touch-anal-retentive self. The sink is just a big salad bowl that Sierra picked out at the dollar store.
I like how it turned out.
The cupcakes are done. Would you like one?

I can't take credit for the cupcakes. My mom sewed those, along with two aprons, one for Sierra and one for a friend.

I did, however, recently take my first foray into felt food. A girl needs something to cook if she has a kitchen, right?

I started with a strawberry. At first, I was going to use thread to make little seeds, but then decided it was overkill.
Then I tried a fried egg. The yolk is enormous, but you get the idea.
Sierra wants me to make a banana next.