Inspired by Stephanie Corfee’s “Pile o’ Princesses” artwork, I wanted to make a “box o’ princesses” and fill it with Disney inspired hand painted dolls:

 

Stephanie designed this adorable printable backdrop for the box o’ princesses that you can print out onto cardstock and include in the box. It folds accordion style and stands up as its own. It can be custom colored with crayons and markers!

Click the image below and a new window will open up to download Stephanie’s box o’ princesses illustration:

I purchased a 4″ x 4″ paper mache box at the craft store to hold all the princesses and the background:

 

The printable by Stephanie also includes the “box o’ princesses” label to print out for the top of the box plus a wishing well and a flower wagon:

 

Here’s how I made the dolls:

First, I purchased these ready-carved little wood dolls from the craft store:

I also purchased little round wood beads for hair buns and hot glue especially made for wood crafts:

I use simple 99 cent acrylic craft paints:

To make sure I would get all the princesses right, I pulled up a photo on the computer as reference:

I used a pencil to sketch a few simple outlines….you can add as much or as little detail as you like:

Painting the princesses takes a little patience because each layer should dry before you paint another color:

The key to painting details is to have some very small brushes. I love Golden Liquid Acrylics for details because they flow very smoothly:

I worked on several princesses at once:

To make the hair buns on a few princesses I used pliers to hold a wood bead in place (a rubber bracelet is the perfect padding so the wood isn’t scratched) and drilled a hole halfway through:

I drilled holes into the heads of the princesses too:

I cut a toothpick into small pieces:

I put a small dab of hot glue (or you can use wood glue) into the hole to hold the toothpick on one side:

Then I added the wood bead:

I added a little bit of bling to a few princesses with some rhinestones and glue:

I printed out Stephanie’s printable:

A little spray adhesive is perfect for adding the “box o’ princesses” label to the box:

I carefully cut out the backdrop and folded it accordion style:

The box and the backdrop can be custom colored if you like with markers or sharpies before you give the gift:

I cut out the wishing well and flower wagon and added some little paper triangles so they would stand up on their own:

Everything fits nice and neat into a 4″ x 4″ box:

Aren’t they cute! You can make your princesses look however you want! Simple or extravagant:

 

A great handmade gift for the holidays that will be treasured forever. The background can be customized with color by the recipient of the gift. I would have colored it but it has to go under the tree for Christmas for Boo first!  She can color it in on Christmas day.

Make sure to check out the BOY version!