Travel Trailer

AKA "Canned Ham". I love these little retro camping trailers. I am still working on my stump off and on but I just got it into my head to make one of these. I've been looking at pictures of real campers and although I've never owned one for real, I think they are so cute. I had to make one. I couldn't stop just long enough to take a few pictures. I was obsessed.

So first I cut out from my never ending cardboard supply, a shape I just drew freehand. Usually I'm a stickler for the 1" scale but not so much with this one. I just kind of guesstimated it. It was fine. I put down a popsicle stick floor and made a soft wood frame for the shell. I did move my door over more to the left later to make more room for my little sink/burner cabinet.

I made the wheels out of a wooden dowel and layers of corrugated cardboard circles. I glued the circles together and filled the sides with white glue. When it dried, it looked like tire treads. I cut my sidewalls out of poster board and made my hub caps out of posterboard covered with aluminum duct tape. I shaped them with a ball tool.

I used soft hobby wood sticks for the undercarriage. You can see my cardboard taped with masking tape. I used a hot glue gun to glue most things on.


That's the start to my little project. I was inspired by the Sam's Club Christmas decorations I saw online. I am not a member. They had a pickup truck, a VW bus and a camper all decorated with lights for sale this year. I think they are all sold out now though.

So I thought they were so cute, I just had to make my own little camper. I will probably put lights on mine too. There looks like plenty of room for a battery pack under there.

The Front

First I had to patch some places on the tree that have been pulled off when I removed the bushes and bird nest. Then I covered the porch with little paper clay stones I made and spackled them. I fit everything into the opening and glued it from the inside.

I made a step out of wooden popsicle sticks and glued it in place. Then I added the finishing glue and spackling trim on the edges to stick it in place.

I also filled in the front with paper clay to match the bark a little better. I'm considering a balcony and cutting a few windows out while it dries. I need to put some better hinges on the door. The cat climbed in and messed the door up playing around.

He thought I made the house for him. Silly cat.

Maybe he knows it's going to be a house for mice.   > ^^ <

Making Floors

I learned about making hardwood floors from my other remodels. First I had to use paper to make a pattern to cut out some card. Then I fitted the card in the space and finally cut and glued popsicle sticks down to the card.

I have a great hand-saving tool for cutting popsicle sticks. It's called 'Super Easy Cutter' by Midwest Products. It saves me from getting hand cramps. That's a lot of popsicle sticks to cut and I used to do it with sharp scissors. I like this tool better.

On a ground floor one layer is fine but on a second story floor, you have to do both sides to get it rigid enough not to bend. So I ran the sticks in opposite ways for each side. I thought about cutting a hole in the floor for a ladder or steps but I know from experience that although it might be cute, mice don't need ladders to climb walls. :)

The first story floor was pretty easy to measure but the second story was nearly impossible to measure so I stacked DVD's into the stump to the height I wanted and started piecing cards to the edges and taping them together until I had the whole second story floor covered. That was my pattern. So I cut out a single card shape and glued sticks to both sides.

Then I glued the first floor in and set a weight on it until it dried. I stacked the dvd's back up to set the second floor in and glued it in too.

The next day they were dry. I haven't decided how I want to finish the interior walls yet but I will probably use sticks on them to reinforce and help prop up the second floor. I might keep everything wood colored.

I have decided to cut out some windows and add some lighting. Next, I'm going to be working on the front.