Magazine Rack Doll Crib

Make your own wood baby crib for under $10!

I love to thrift shop. We live on a tight budget and so if I want to add anything to my home it's usually from a garage sale, thrift store or found used online. While the kids and I were shopping for baskets and bins and such we came across this magazine rack. My 6 year old daughter immediately said what I had already thought in my head but didn't want to say aloud (so I didn't spoil the 3 year olds birthday present),

 "It's a crib!" 

Proud mamma moment. She could see the potential this dusty object had.

So I bought it for $5.60, on sale and stored it at home until I had the right moment to clean and fix it up. 

With one can of spray paint, handmade bedding and a birthday later, she now has a sturdy doll crib. I have to remind her that she is too big too sit in it or it will break. And the girls have discovered that Otis, the rabbit, likes to comfortably lay in it too.

To make your own doll bed from a magazine rack takes about 1 hour of your time.

First clean off the magazine rack. Then cut out any middle dividers. 

As you can see this one had a divider on the bottom too. This took the longest to remove because the base of this rack is very thin wood (hence the reason Cecily can't sit in it). So I finally figured out that it was stapled (and not glued) and I was able to pry it off with a metal scraper. 

 Then spray paint the whole thing! And don't do it in windy weather (like it says on the can) or you'll get drips! Ugh. I hate drips. If you want, embellish with a sticker or silhouette (I used my cameo to cut the vinyl to create a silhouette). Cecily is our little butterfly (she has blossomed from the caterpillar she was 2 years ago here). I used nearly an entire can of spray paint. I think this was apple green by Rustoleum.

Then make some bedding. If you'd like me to post a tutorial for this bedding leave a comment and I'll add some more photos and details. It's basically a reversible pad with batting in the middle and embellished with piping (I thought it was safer to try do do piping for the first time on a doll bed instead of real bedding). It was fairly simple to do.

 The reverse side of bedding.

Total budget:
$5.60 for magazine rack
$3.50 spray paint, with coupon at Joann's
FREE fabric and batting from stash
$9.10

Happy Love Day!

For reasons just beyond the lack of motivation this year I wasn't into Valentine's much this year. I did not make a new fancy breakfast, I didn't decorate our mini mailboxes and put sweet notes out for the kids or hubby. I should still do the latter. I've kept it pretty simple.

But I did manage to come up with something different with the kids Valentine's this year. We were going to do the lightsaber valentine, the crayon heart or army man. But I couldn't get the photo uploaded in time. I didn't have time to melt and make crayons and I couldn't find army men that were inexpensive enough or were too large or too small. (of course, this is all the night before because that's the way I roll). So I bought what was available (beyond candy and usual cards). These only took a few extra minutes to create beyond signing names on the pre-made kind. And I like that they are a candy alternative.

So I found these little stretchy lizards and frogs in the party aisle at Target when I was looking for army men.  My son loves lizards but we couldn't think of a saying that involved lizards and Valentine's Day (other than this one). But they were stretchy! And with my 2nd grade sons concerns that he didn't want to give the wrong impression that he loved the girls in his class we decided to keep it to a friendship. Hence the saying.

I don't have a color printer otherwise these could look way cuter. So cardstock from my stash, scissors or paper cutter and a printer are all you need. $10 to give out 54 cards between my two school aged children.  ($2 for a pack of 12). And not only are they stretchy but they're sticky too! So I didn't bother with tape, ties or glue. They stick right to the paper.

"Our friendship stretches every day!"

Perhaps I should have added, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Next time.

 My daughter dug this idea so much she changed her mind about the light saber card and I went out and bought more of these little critters.  They each signed their names and chose a specific color for each classmate. Hmmmm, sounds like how their mom shops for gifts :)

Here's looking at you kid.

No need for tape. They stick right to the paper. However, they do stick to each other.....so my kids were very concerned about being able to pass them out quickly enough and not get confused about who got which color. I'll guess I'll hear about it after I pick them up from school today.