Every year for Christmas, someone always ends up giving me a box of Gudrun Belgian Chocolates which come in really pretty boxes with handles and a magnetic closure.  It seemed a shame to throw them out.  Then one day I had an idea to make them into playsets for my nieces.  I also made the accessories in them.  In the Dog House Playset I made a fence out of popsicle sticks, two dog beds out of flannel and foam, a bowl, ball, and bag of dog food out of polymer clay.  I also added a little black Schnauzer from some other doll set.  For the Doll Closet Playset, I made a shawl, beret, scarf, two dresses, a cape, a necklace, and embellished some shoes.  More details about those below.

The first thing I did was diagram the design, complete with exact measurements of each piece of the structures.  The structures were to be made of heavy cardboard.

I then removed the handles from the bags and put them on the box.  The cardboard is pretty thick, so my eyelets wouldn’t have crimped on properly.  Instead, I made holes for them and glued the eyelets in place.

Original packaging.
Original packaging.
Removed handles from the bags and put them on the box.
Removed handles from the bags and put them on the box.

Then I lined the inside of the boxes with scrapbook paper.

Next I used a Dremel to cut out all the structure pieces from heavy cardboard.  I also covered these with scrapbook paper.  The rod for the closet is made from a 1/4″ dowel.  The “shoe rack” is simply an inclined piece of cardboard with holes in it for the heels of the shoes.

I glued all the pieces to the inside of the boxes, using mini hairclips to keep them in place as the glue dried.

For the Doll Closet Playset, I got to use a lot of old craft supplies (as well as old skills) that I haven’t used in a while.  I sewed two dresses from a pattern, made my own pattern for the collared cape.  I beaded the necklace from scratch, crocheted the shawl using my own pattern, and knitted the beret and scarf with toothpicks.  I used rhinestones or tiny pieces of ribbon to embellish the shoes.

This one was the prototype playset.  Like in my Wine Crate Wardrobe Trunk project, I lined the inside of this one with cedar.  This one also has “baskets” to keep small accessories in place on the shelves.