Materials:
Mi Castle, Su Castle (item# 30053)
-6 oz. each of lime green, purple, and teal acrylic paint
-Rubber latex Gloves - examination type (optional)
-Paper plates
-Large Bowl
-Scissors
-6 yds. of white wire tulle ribbon - 6" wide
-3 yds. of tulle and rose trim - purple flowers, white netting
-Glue gun
-1 yd. of kraft paper reinforced tape
Optional - Freddy Frog decorative foam stamp - Rubber Stampede™
alphabet sponge stamps-Plaid Enterprises™

These techniques are foolproof in producing fabulous textures with two of the most common and inexpensive tools - sponges and your fingers!

Exterior Textures:
The entire exterior of the castle is covered in lime green brick, made from one full sponge and a section of another sponge measuring 1/2" less than half of the long side of the sponge. The cut sponge is used for detailing the bricks around the door and windows.

1.Pour paint out onto a paper plate - spreading it out to create a pad of color large enough to coat the sponge size. Sponge bricks around the windows and doors with the half sponge. Use the full sponge lengthwise to make the full size bricks. Start in the lower left corner of each panel, with one full brick, and go across the bottom, leaving a 1/4" space between the bricks. The next row of bricks should be offset by impressing the sponge so it ends in the middle of the brick below it.

Exterior Greenery:
1.To make the heart shaped ivy, fist your hand. Dab the pinkie side of your fist down in the teal paint pad made on a paper plate. (The pinkie is the top of the leaf.) Press down. Using the other fist, press down another image closing the heart shape. This is the ivy leaf. Place ivy leaves around the windows. Flower buds or grapes can be made by making fingerprints with the purple paint. Cut an "S" swirl from the sponges and add tendrils from the ivy leaves.

2.Bushes can be made by using your hands as leaves and stamping teal handprints over and over - starting full at the bottom and tapering at the top. Use 1, 2 or 3 fingers at the top of the tree.

Trees can be made by using the entire forearm and hand as the trunk and initial branches of a tree. Making an "L" with the thumb and forefinger adds another branch option to open up the width of the tree. Do these in purple. Thumbprints dipped in teal make playful leaves.

3.The hanging greenery from the turret tops are made by quickly dabbing your pointing finger in teal and quickly brushing up to make a round leaf. Start at the bottom of the strand and build to the top of the castle's edge. You can use a teal colored pencil to draw guidelines if needed.

4.The grass is random streaks of teal made by dragging your fingers upward to make the grass. (This method makes thin tips of grass.)

5.The wood grain for the door involves dragging the end of the sponge down the length of the door. Where the streaks of paint end, and the new starts, imitates the piecing of the wood. Once the door has been streaked on both sides, dip the end of the sponge in the paint and dab until there is a faint trail of glue when the sponge is dragged. Run this over the panels, as if you were making the C's forward and backward. This simulates a curved wood grain.

A. Using 4 - three x three inch strips, glue 2 pairs together - making 2 double thick squares. With the door in place, position the squares and glue them into place on the outside (the doors open to the outside). Cover them in teal paint and add lime green circles, fashioned as bolts.

B. Glue the door handle in place with the glue gun. The handle glues on the same side as the hinges.

C. Hand letter or stamp the words "Happily ever after's inside!" using lime green paint. The frog prince is composed of a decorative foam stamp and the crown from the Mi Castle sponge shapes.

Interior:
1.Windows are stamped with the cut sponge shape to make teal bricks. Using the half window - trace a fireplace at the bottom left of that same wall panel. Stamp the exterior of the fireplace with teal bricks.

2.Wallpaper is made by using the same "S" swirl punch and making a stripe by flipping it over and over. The next stripe uses the full sponge, but with the small width as its size, unlike the brick pattern. Do this on all panels.

3.Cut 1" panels of the wide wire tulle for each small window. Fold the wire in half and tie a bow with an 8" tulle and rose ribbon strip. Hot glue this curtain in place by centering the bow and securing it to the center of the arc of the window. Hot glue one spot on both sides of the arc to create a rounded curtain top.

Tips:
1.To accommodate the curves when making the brick pattern around the windows, squeeze the ends together of the sponge - then press it onto the curved area. This makes a tapered brick.

2.When you reach an odd space in the brickwork - use the side of the sponge or lay down a part of the brick and press the sponge down slowly, while keeping the rest of the sponge lifted. This creates the shape of the brick you want.

3.The hinges can be made with fabric or reinforced clear tape. For sound effects, extra strength self adhesive Velcro makes a great sound when active kids "rip" off the door.

4.Window ledges can also be used as handles for shields - or to create mini tables inside.

5.The window cutouts can be hinged or cut and hinged as shutters for the windows.

6.Save the tulle rolls to use as drawbridge chain holders.