Monster Craft and Monsters University!

How many of you have seen {and loved} the movie Monsters, Inc.?  I have to confess that hubby and I saw it when it first came out, way before there was a Little Crafter in the picture.  In fact, I searched online for the release date, and it was 2001, which made me feel kind of old…  Little Crafter has seen it too; he watched it at a friend’s house a few months ago and thought the monsters were quite hilarious. {They are.}  So, all of us were pretty excited to hear that there’s a sequel hitting theaters this summer, Monsters University!
Recently, as we were running errands at Walmart, Little Crafter got excited to see the monsters all over the store!  They were everywhere; on Band-Aids, Jell-o boxes, mac and cheese cups, Juicy Juice, t-shirts, and of course in the toy aisle! {If you want to see the full story of our shopping trip and feel like you were right there with us, hop on over and check out my G+ album!}

He begged for one of the toys; he had his heart set on Roll-A-Scare Mike Wazowski, and I couldn’t resist.  It was less than $6, and Mike is my favorite too…  You push his little feet up to roll him into a ball, then when he hits a magnetic surface, he pops open and “scares” you.  LC thinks it’s hysterical.  It kind of is.

SURPRISE!!  BOO!
Of course, once Mike was a part of our family, we had to “take good care of him,” according to Little Crafter, which translated into Mike needing a bed and then a room of his own.  Luckily, LC had just gotten a new pair of shoes and the shoebox was the perfect size for Mike to “live” in.  So, we gathered up some supplies and created this just for our new monster friend:
Yeah.  I know.  You want one too.  Well, here’s how we made it, using only things we already had around the house.  It cost literally nothing and took about an hour.
Materials:
– child’s shoebox {LC is a size 11}
– scrapbook paper you like for wallpaper
– cardstock: brown, tan, white
– scissors, paper cutter, square paper punch
– magazine
– felt {we used purple, brown, and white
– polyfil
– glue stick
– hot glue
– crayons
– Roll-A-Scare Monster!
Step 1: Measure the sides of your box.  Cut scrapbook paper to fit the walls and cardstock for the floor and ceiling.  Glue in place.  We also added a little window made of white cardstock.
Step 2: Create a bed.  The hardest part of this whole project was finding something to use for Mike’s bed. I finally found a box I had from some business cards that looked about the right size.  I cut a piece of brown felt and glued all four sides down with hot glue.  Then, I wrapped the edges around and glued them in place. I cut a second piece of felt for a blanket that just lays on top.  For the pillow, I cut a white rectangle, folded it in half, and glued two of the edges together.  I added a tiny bit of polyfil inside, then glued the final side shut.
At this point, LC decided that Mike needed to test out his nice new bed.  Apparently he approved…he napped while we completed the next few steps.  I have to say I was a little jealous.  Mama could use a nap.

 Step 3: The Bookcase.  We cut a rectangle from brown cardstock, then I cut smaller rectangles from the pages of an old magazine to represent colorful books.  Then, we glued them in place on the shelf.

Step 4: The Dresser.  We cut another brown rectangle for the dresser and I drew some lines and circles on it to represent drawers and knobs.  Little Crafter helped get the furniture ready to be glued in place.  {Of course, he wanted to drink his “Monster Drink” {the Juicy Juice apple juice we bought with Mike on the label} while he worked.

Once the dresser and bookcase were in place, I used crayons to create a little outdoor scene so the window looked like a window and not a random white square.
Despite Little Crafter’s repeated protestations that Mike needed clothes, stuffed animals, and more, at this point we I was finished.  We put Mike in his new room to see what he thought of it.  He likes it!  Mikey likes it! {Flashback, 80’s kids!  Remember that?}
We had a lot of fun with our project and both of us are anxious to take little Mike with us to see himself in Monsters University in the theater!  In the meantime, we made sure to redeem our product code to enter the Juicy Juice Monster-Sized Sweepstakes…because who wouldn’t want to win a Family Trip to Pixar Studios or a $5,000 cash scholarship?!  

Here’s hoping we’re the lucky winners!  And if not, maybe one of you will be!  In the meantime, we’ll just keep enjoying all the monster fun around here…looks like Mike’s awake and ready to play!

Hugs & Glitter,

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