Do you have Shopkins? We sure do. After our attempt at creating them ourselves here, we have come to own so many of these tiny creatures that we don’t know what to do with them all. Usually they are all tucked into the toy bucket, but they are a favourite so they often come out to play.

They have been everywhere. They go outside, they play in the bathtub, you name it, these little guys are a big hit. They even have little playsets to go with them – a bakery, a veggie stand, a supermarket, as well as a little fridge.

So Santa gave in this year, and got a couple of these little playsets at a very discount price, and that was superb. There was a huge hooray on Christmas morning, and they have been played with for countless hours ever since.

There was only one problem, and mostly that problem was mine. I don’t know why I create problems where problems don’t actually exist. What was bothering me the most about these little playsets was the actual amount of storage space they provide. I understand that the sets themselves are not storage units, but it is difficult to play supermarket when you can’t fit all of the play foods onto the shelves.

Big problem for me, no problem at all for the little. She could care less. She just wanted to slide the little guys down the slide, and line them all up in a row, etc. She was not interested in storage. And the playsets only came with two little characters anyway, so really none of what was bugging me was even what they were aiming for. I put it to rest, for a while.

A few weeks ago, my little girl was busy making videos. She has begun to do that lately. She has her own device, so she is able to freely create videos, and snap photos at will. I am a bit flabbergasted at how far our technology has come. My childhood looks completely neanderthal by comparison. I might have had a stick and a rock to play with when I was a kid, but I turned out okay, right? Of course, that’s besides the point.

Anyway, the little had all of her Shopkins playsets out, and she was busy lining up all the little guys in a row, but while she was taking video of them, she began to get frustrated because they were all falling off of the shelves, not to mention that very few of them even fit on the shelves to begin with. So like any good producer, my little girl was getting quite upset, because she couldn’t fit all of the pieces in one shot.

“Mom, they keep falling down, and they just aren’t fitting. What kind of grocery store only has two shelves?”

Well, she had a point, and of course my gears had already been going for weeks because it was a dilemma that I had been secretly contemplating on my own for quite some time. I went to the pantry to stare at the pile of little boxes that I had been hoarding there. Something just had to give.

Fast forward a few months. I had finally finished a major project for work, so I had some free time on my hands. Free time in my world is very flighty. It comes, and then it goes again in a wink. I have to be quick about grabbing onto it, and using it as wisely as I can.

Free time, what to do? Back to the pantry I went to stare at that little pile of boxes. Do you do that, or is it just me? I am beginning to wonder if I am the only one who stares at random stuff trying to turn it into something useful in my head.

And then I had a breakthrough.

I started out with these boxes. I usually have a ton of them, and so I try to find ways to use them as much as I can.

I usually cut them in half to store things in. I even made a doll sewing machine out of them here, but this time I cut them like this.

I cut eight of them in this way. Then I started to think about how to construct the thing. At this point, I was still unsure of what it was exactly that I was doing. There usually isn’t a real process to my madness. I was just fiddling about, lining up the boxes, and seeing what they looked like. I began to see something take shape.

It wasn’t anything exciting to me yet, but it was coming along. I started to add shelves to each of the boxes. I wanted to have plenty of shelves, so I glued three shelves inside each box. I just cut strips of cardboard from the leftover top pieces of each box. They fit perfectly.

Just put hot glue on the tabs, and press them in. Easy.

Next I hot glued the whole thing together. I lined up three boxes back to back on either side, and glued one box on each end. I wanted it to be double sided. I don’t have a picture of it before it was covered in duct tape, but you can sort of get the point.

 

Every grocery store needs a sign. I poked two short dowels in the top, and in fact these boxes already have little holes in their tops, so I just used them as guides. Then I printed out a Shopkins label, and glued it onto a piece of cardboard wrapped in purple duct tape. I am loving coloured duct tape!

Here is the back view of the sign.

 

The only thing left to do was to fill up the mini mart with Shopkins! What fun!

 

 

 

 

I made this while the girl was asleep, so it should be a fun surprise for morning. It was a surprisingly quick, and very easy craft to do with a significantly gratifying outcome. I think that anyone can make it if they have a few of these little boxes lying around. We always do. It’s also quite mini and compact, which is a nice bonus.

It is sturdy, it fits all of her Shopkins, and it takes up very little space. It’s just what I was looking for. At least now my girl can film to her heart’s content. She can have all of her little grocery store adventures, without all of the misadventures.

I hope you enjoy making your own Shopkins mini mart!!

Just look at how mini and cute it is!