Daviess County Teacher Crafts Incredible Barbie Mansion From Scraps For Students (GALLERY)
Vickie Hamlet has always been artistically talented. As the After-School Director for an elementary school, it's like a prerequisite to be creative. During quarantine, she has been extremely busy crafting up a major project for her kiddos when they return to school.
Vickie is the After-School Director for Burns Elementary School here in Owensboro-Daviess County. She loves seeing her students happy and enjoying afterschool. Before the quarantine period, she started a project for the young girls in her program and took it to a whole other level with newfound time on her hands.
This weekend on Facebook she shared a gigantic Barbie Mansion she crafted out of scrap materials from this year's Daddy-Daughter dance.
Vickie told me the girls just absolutely love to play with Barbie stuff. One day one of them mentioned they didn't have any furniture so she decided to look for a box to make them a bed. They were over the moon with it and so began Operation Barbie Mansion.
Not long after the coronavirus pandemic hit and Vickie had a whole lot of time on her hands to brainstorm and create. Here is what Vickie had to say about her project;
One thing led to another and after many ideas found on Pinterest, Barbies new home evolved from there. If they had a bed and kitchen table, they needed a living room, and then a bunk bed idea gone bad got switched into a teen bedroom upstairs. If you have beds then you need a blanket and some pillows. If you have a couch then you need a Big Screen TV on the wall. I couldn’t just leave the printed parts of the Styrofoam showing, so that meant wallpaper and if you have the walls done, then you must have rugs. If you have a bed then you need a table and a dresser and some kitchen appliances. Quickly this became more than the furniture, walls and rugs. You must be able to see in this house so ceiling lights were created, then beaded table lamps and a floor lamp then a hanging bead in the teen room for a chandelier. Let’s move to the outside. I couldn’t just leave it so plain when the inside is fit for a queen. So I drew siding, which turned into a few bricks here and there. You gotta have windows and they need curtains, then you have to add window boxes with flowers. I have to stop!!!! Just like any house, there’s always more you could do. And there probably will be. I can envision a garage to park the car, some patio furniture made from popsicle sticks, maybe even a pool. Hold on…. Barbie lives better than I do! Now I have to create something equally as fun for the boys. I’ve been “Pinteresting” already. Maybe a Matchbox car garage that has a ramp for the cars to race down, and they’ll need a place to park and a city to drive thru…
The intricate detail of this Barbie House is amazing. Vickie has true talent and the kids at Burns Elementary are so lucky to have her. We will definitely have to check back in with her when she finishes her project for the boys.