Luminaria Village

When I first started volunteering for after school craft programs I presented a list of 25 toys to make using milk boxes.  This list grew longer, I probably have more than 100 milk box recycling activities and never thought I could add more to it, but here I am, 18 years later still finding a use for them.

The idea is to insert Christmas lights and the boxes will look great just as simple lanterns or luminarias, each box can also look like a TARDIS, and imagine all the designs that can be created on the sides by perforating the cardboard.   In this case the perforations are meant to look like windows and doors. 

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 I used a light coat of white spray paint and some leftover batting from a quilt.  The batting had turned pink from a red-white-washing-mishap.  A color that immediately triggered new ideas.  It looked like cotton candy, so this could easily become a candy village with fake ginger bread houses.  It also looked like clouds, so this whole project could be turned into castles in the sky, or better yet, just adding a coat of tan spray paint would turn the whole thing into sand castles.  There have  been good reactions from neighbors, so this village is going to stay the way it is.  

I bought a small train from the dollar store and gave it a light spray too.  I could have added miniature pine trees made out of brushes or include more accessories but I really needed to keep my timing under an hour.  More than anything I wanted to experiment before I dedicated a lot more time to it.  It worked.  These  were taken after a few weeks of rain, ice, and wind.  

Because they need to be able to hold liquid, these boxes are sturdy and waxy and can handle many outdoor projects. I should have used them to cover plants as protection from freezing temperatures.  Maybe that is something to add to the list.