As evidenced in our cardboard stable and now our DIY llama’s we’re definitely soaking up the country and letting every last ounce of it inspire us. I remember as a young girl I was completely intrigued by llamas. When walking home from school I would often pass by a field where a couple of these seemingly bizarre yet stunningly regal creatures resided. To me they looked like they could have stepped off of another planet and then somehow found their way to ours. Needless to say, I’m still in love and still very intrigued by these creatures.

While recently sifting through a vintage craft book I came across a llama made from an oatmeal box and new right away that we had to make our own crafty version of this fun, long necked, leggy, pack animal. We had a few cardboard paper tubes lying around so we used those instead of an oatmeal box (which worked great as we wanted more than one).

To make your very own set of DIY llamas from paper tubes, gather the following supplies:

• Thick colored card stock for the head and legs (large paint chips or cereal boxes would also work)
• cardboard paper tubes
• acrylic craft paints
• an X-acto knife for cutting small slits

To create the llama:

1. Cut out llama head and two sets of legs from thick card stock (If using fiber board [aka a cereal box] paint it all one color and let dry) 
2. Paint on eyes and hair to llama’s head and neck
3. Paint cardboard paper tube all one color and let dry
4. After cardboard tube is painted and dry, paint on a shawl saddle of sorts. Have fun decorating your shawl with shapes and bold graphics. Let this dry.
5. Once everything is dry you are now ready to create your slits to assemble your llama.
6. On the back side of the llama’s neck, cut a small slit a little less than half way into the neck at about 3/4 the way down the neck.
7. Insert neck onto one end of the cardboard paper tube (I ended up using a bit of hot glue to keep the head from moving around too much but if you use fiber board you shouldn’t have this problem)
8. Now cut a few slits on the bottom of the cardboard paper tube for the legs.
9. Insert your paper legs into the bottom slits you just cut.
10. Your llama is now complete! Repeat this process for as many llamas you desire to make and play with!

And play is just what we did. I love that the kiddo’s toy figures can ride on these llamas and I equally love that Little O insisted on having a “llama train”.

And when the littles are done playing, they make for some nice room decor. I mean who doesn’t want paper tube lamas in bright colors lined up in their bookshelf?  OK, I do. And perhaps I’m the only one, but they make me happy whenever I see them upon entering a room.

And a word about this little kiddo. I thought I was a pretty big toy lover, but man oh man is this kid is obsessed with toys.

Particularly one’s that he’s seen on screen somewhere, so I have to work with him on helping him to learn the fine art of unique and well crafted handmade toys. He’s oh about 1/3 of the way there. In truth he’s really all about the story behind the toy. But if it’s a toy of any sort, he’ll love it. He feels deeply for his toys. They are his playmates. His creations. His friends. He becomes them. He’s truly living the the real life Toy Story and I love this about him. I have mom dreams that some day he’ll grow up to be a toy maker or at least a character designer for animated films, but we’ll see if this obsession sticks. For the time being, I’m enjoying this little soul and his obsessions and our little time we have together at this fleeting time of life…