Upon the front you will need to draw two windows and a door. Take your ruler and a pencil. Measure a window space two inches from either end of the box. Make each window space two inches wide and two inches high. Half-way between these, draw a door space with its base at the base of the box. Make the door space two inches wide and three inches and a half tall.
Down the center of each window space from top to base of the square, draw a line which divides it into half. This forms the window-blinds, which you will need to cut open. (To make window with blinds, see [Diagram One, B], page 166.) Cut top line. Cut down the center line and cut across the base of the square. Fold the sections of cardboard outward against the sides of your box, and you will have made a window with blinds.
Half-way between windows is the door space. (To cut door, see [Diagram Two, A], page 167.) Cut across the top line of your square, down one side and across the base. Fold the cardboard outward, and you will have made a door that you can open and close at will.
If you happen to have a round-headed paper-fastener that has two pointed prongs that are meant to press through papers to keep them together, take it and press its prongs through the little door where a door-knob should be. Bend the prongs together to one side and you will have a door-latch. By turning the round knob, you may fasten the door or open it, as you like.
The roof of the cottage is supported upon two pieces of cardboard cut to fit each end of the box. (See [Diagram Three, A], page 168.) To make these, take your cardboard and cut a piece the width of one end of your box and four inches higher. Make a second piece of cardboard like it to fit the other end of your box. Glue both on the box, one on each end. Then, with scissors, cut each piece off diagonally downward from the top at the rear of the box to the front of the box. This cuts off a corner and makes a sloping rest for each end of the cottage. Upon these the cover of the shoe-box is slipped to make half of a sloping roof. (See [Diagram Three, AA], page 168, showing box cover placed upon side-wall pieces.)
Slip your box cover over the two points, when both are thoroughly dry. See, it makes the best kind of a roof for your cottage!
If you wish to add a chimney, any long, narrow box that is small enough to form the right proportion to the roof may be used. Measure its base upon the cottage roof near the top. Cut the cardboard of the roof so that the box end may be slipped through it and stand erect, and you have a chimney. If you use a box which has a sliding cover like a drawer, its outside will be like a real little chimney. You may mark off bricks upon it with a pencil, and color it bright red. A wad of cotton will form the smoke for a chimney.
I painted blinds and door of the cottage that you see in the picture. Blinds were green and the door was brown. You may use almost any kind of paint to do this. The colors from your water-color painting-box will answer. You may use crayons too, if you like. Other paint takes somewhat longer to dry. It is not so well adapted to the building.
In front of my cottage, I made a garden with some artificial flowers that had once been on my summer hat in a wreath. You may easily make a garden for your cottage, or you may have tubs of flowers like the one in the picture. It is the lower half of a pill-box filled with forget-me-nots.
The cottage is furnished with furniture cut from small boxes. These may be three inches long or smaller. My furniture is all painted, but you need not paint yours unless you care to do so.