Would you like to Take and Make… or, perhaps, Make and Take? Because at Tinkertopia, those are, in fact, two different things. And both are equally delightful. Our latest kid-venture brought us across the bridge to downtown Tacoma to explore the shop that bills itself as a creative workspace, thrift shop and alternative art supply store with bins of found objects to use for crafting. We didn’t even touch the retail side on this visit (a choice that required real restraint from me). Instead, we booked a 90-minute Make & Take session.
Clara, Wyatt, Greg, and I all sat down at the same work table with access to the same bins, and walked away with four very different junk-store masterpieces we plan to keep forever and ever.
Clara’s Build
Clara built a dollhouse: a three-level, cutaway home made entirely from reclaimed cardboard. All carefully sectioned and clearly designed by someone with strong opinions about interior layout. The structure stands upright with clean edges and deliberate lines, the kind that say, “Yes, I measured. No, I did not rush.”
Up top, tucked under a sharply pitched roof, is a snug attic anchored by a hand-drawn fireplace set into the back wall. Tiny brick details frame the hearth, and the fire itself glows warmly in marker. Because even cardboard houses deserve ambiance…