TMNT Valentine Box

There are 2 things you should know about me:  1)  I love to craft and 2) I don't do anything halfway.  So when you combine the 2, you get something like this.

When Colin's class list came home for the Valentines, there was a sheet attached with instructions for a Valentine's box.  I could feel the smile form from ear to ear.  I had dreamed of this day since I was about 8-years old, playing house (or school) with my Cabbage Patch dolls.  I loved crafting my Valentine's boxes each year and was sad when I outgrew it.  I hoped that one day I'd get to do it all over again.  What I didn't bank on was creating one for a boy!  

I gave Colin several choices and he ultimately decided on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle van.  I thought it would be easy enough.  It was, just time consuming.  I started Sunday morning and within an hour, he was asking if I was finished yet?!

Yet?!  Crafting takes time!  You can't rush a good thing.  After 3 days, 2 trips to Michael's, I finally finished my masterpiece.  For those of you not privy to all things Turtle, here's the real thing next to my replica.

I knew it was all worth it when he looked at me and said, "I LOVE it!"  Now if we can just preserve it for a few years until Sawyer can use it!

In case you want to replicate it yourself, here are some tips of what I used and how I made it work.  The wheels were my first obstacle.  I ended up cutting the bottoms off paper party cups and painting them black. Then, I fretted about how I was going to adhere them.  I ended up threading 2 wooden dowel rods through the box, leaving about an 1-inch on each side for the wheel to rest on.  I hot glued the wheel to the rod and then also glued the edge of the wheel to the van. The headlights were made from rhinestones.  The end headlights were painted ribbon spools.  The warning labels were printed from the web, as was his nameplate - I just added that with Publisher.  The top rails were painted popsicle sticks and were adhered using 2-sided foam tape to give them some dimension.  Lastly, the tanks on the end, as well as the red tank on the side were made from cardstock.   My "wheels" are already turning for what I can make next year!  Let the crafts begin!