Valentine Candy box 2.0

When I display my miniatures around my house, sometimes they speak to me about changes. This one reminded me that I was going to add chairs for the table. My sweet husband said he would build them. I did a quick search of my saved kits and found some chairs I liked for this. I set the kit aside until he and I were to mini together again.

On zoom mtg we played with miniatures and he built the chairs for me. I was explaining to the group about the chairs. Then when I showed the bottom of the box and how I had put this candy box together to make a room (platform), there were light bulbs going off.

Base that I left intentionally to show using the candy box.

I discussed how that I had considered to do something on top that would show the two hearts but had not concluded how I wanted to do it. After the meeting I decided to change it. I would figure out something because it needed it. I was thinking of inserting a pattern in the carpet.

Renovation

I first removed all the pieces of furniture very carefully. I wasn’t too concerned about the carpet but still didn’t just rip it off. It came apart quite easily without wetting or too much scraping. I think it had a layer of cardboard came away with the fabric.

Next I went to my drawer of fabric and pulled out the white and red bags. I went through them both and didn’t find anything. If I recall correctly I think I used up the last of my white faux suede to put on this project. I didn’t have any new ideas for the red either. Previously I had considered a red cutout design in the carpet but not having an equivalent red fabric, I decided to go with the solid white. This time I was determined to do something and wasn’t willing to purchase anything.

One idea that came to mind was coloring the carpet. Certainly I could have a used a permanent pen, but I knew those fade/turn. Also potential bleeding, which is definitely not what I wanted. Paint was also not an option I was considering because getting it into the fabric didn’t fit my vision.

Platform

Another idea I considered was a platform. I thought of this before but had discarded it. I didn’t want to break the joined together concept. Two become one. This time around I realized it was too subtle and that was the reason I was doing this renovation anyway. My conclusion was to use the existing carpet. Thankfully it was still intact.

My first platform was matt board. I drew the heart and then cut with scissors. Then I pulled my trim box that contained red and found the red bag. I have lots of red trim choices. So I dumped the bag on the lid to sort through it. I found two that I liked the most. One was this looped trim that sometimes looked like hearts. However the hearts would stick up above the Matt board layer and who would want to trip over trim going up a step? Certainly not me. I then decide to switch to foam core board instead of matt board. This had to be cut with the craft knife. Now is when I cut the carpet to match the heart. In considering the platform, one thought was to make multiple steps. This would be to show the criss-cross of the two hearts. I abandoned that because of the furniture and I am happy I didn’t. The one heart is what has been elevated.

Back to the trim. The loops needed a backing so I added silk ribbon to match the carpet color. The looped trim wasn’t as tall as I wanted after switching to the foam core platform so I used my other red trim at the base. Then adding the looped trim above it.

With silk ribbon and red glitter trim

I didn’t figure out the best technique for gluing the loops into hearts until near the end so not as many are hearts as I’d like.

Here it is after the new chairs and the platform is added.
Thankfully there was no marks on the carpet from the table so moving it worked.

Now I’m happy with the project.


Happy miniaturing!

Preble