How To Make a Putz House

More information on Putz Houses available here.

I started out with three plain cardboard ornaments from Michael's. Note the ugly jute hangers!

I painted the walls and roof with acrylic craft paints. Then the glittering started! 

I prefer Martha Stewart fine glitter. It goes a long way and covers nicely. The crystal glitter allows the colors underneath to show through.  I discovered this as a problem on the church roof, because the glitter looks less like snow than ice. Anyway, I decided that for the other ones I would add white paint before the glitter to give the snow more dimension.

 I started to run low on the crystal glitter and I went looking at Walmart for a suitable replacement. Not much luck there!  I did find some puffy fabric paint that looks white in the bottle with irridescent glitter.  I used it here to add snowdrifts next to the path, around the base of the church and icy drips to the eaves.  As it dries, it gets less white and more clear with glitter, but still holds its shape well. I was a little worried that this type of glue/paint would not work for this project.

Here you can see that the windows are now covered from the inside. I used an exacto knife and popped the bottom off of the houses to gain access to the inside. I cut scraps of patterned scrapbook paper to fit and taped them in with scotch tape.  I did not cover the church windows because I placed a Christmas tree inside and wanted it to be visible.

 After adding all the paint and snow that I wanted on the house, I used a small brush to cover the walls, roof, windows, etc. with Elmer's glue, just a thin layer. Then I covered it all in a final layer of Martha Stewart Fine Crystal glitter.  I cut off that horrible jute hanger.

 The church has a larger base than the others because I substituted the original base with a new one made of layers of cardstock.  I painted a pathway with gray paint and outlined stones for the walkway using a silver Sharpie marker.  I left plenty of room for bottlebrush trees and a figure, when I find some in the future.

These are fun to make and look so nice when they are finally done. I will be making more of these in the future!

Gale

Thrift Store Treasures

This is an August Moon collectible I found for a very reasonable price.  I think that she needs some sprucing up with crystal glitter. She is just not shiny enough yet!

 I love this paper mache Santa Box. It probably had some ornaments or something packed in it at one time. And when the holidays are over, I will probably pack some ornaments away in it again.

So, I am aware that this is a Coca-Cola puzzle, but I got it because Santa is shushing the Schnauzer!  My Schnauzer would certainly bark at the red-suited stranger on Christmas Eve night.  I briefly thought about putting this together and gluing over it to make a framed picture, but I think I will just display it as is. 

 I found several of these hinged ornament teddy bears in a bag full of other ornaments. Some were junk, others were cute enough to keep and use.

This glass egg was in perfect condition and abandoned at the Goodwill.  I had to bring it home and give it a place on the tree. 

 What an adorable ram!  His horns are seashells.

Here is a tiny bird feeder with a tiny bird perched on the side-- too cute. 

These were all found at a couple of local thrift stores. I love it when they put out the Christmas stuff they have received as donations all year.  It is a great time to find some kitschy and some wonderful decorations.

Gale 



Snow is Falling

These are the snow pictures from Monday's storm. Most of that melted, but it is snowing again today.  We already have more than we got on Monday.  It is very pretty, but is interfering with my Christmas break from school.  We will probably have to make up two days next week, when we were supposed to be off already.

Gotta finish my Christmas shopping!

Gale

Getting My Decor On!

It's starting to look festive at my home!

Gale

Countdown to Christmas

I made these countdown cards using a sheet of scrapbook paper that had the numbers printed on it and assorted shapes of more scrapbook paper cut with my Sizzix. 

I did not add ribbons to these yet because I am still thinking of how I will display them in my classroom.

Like the other ornaments I have made recently, these are stitched on the sewing machine.

Earlier today I finished up some placemats for lunch at school. It makes eating at your desk a little nicer.  I love how they coordinate, but do not match.

Back to school tomorrow.  This was a nice break.

Gale

Paper Santas

More can be seen on my Flickr photostream.  These are like potato chips-- you can't just make one!

Gale

Papers and Threads

Last night, while still digesting the Thanksgiving Feast, my aunt and my cousin and I went out on a shopping mission to Michael's.  I picked up a new pad of scrapbook papers and a set of die cut embellishments in a Christmas theme.

This morning I made these ornaments with them.  I used my Sizzix machine to cut out the scalloped squares and lots of circles of many sizes.

I layered the circles and squares with the pre-made embellishments and glued them in place with some Martha Stewart gel adhesive.

After letting them have plenty of time to dry, I added another layer of scrapbook paper to the back, along with a ribbon hanger. I stitched the layers together using my sewing machine.  As some have recommended I increased the stitch length to prevent the paper from ripping.

Sewing layers of paper is not that difficult. The trick to remember is to go slowly and to keep your thread ends out of the way as you start to sew. Otherwise, you have a mess to pick out on the back.  I made sure to overlap the beginning stitch point, in some cases, I stitched around the perimeter 2 or three times.

Mostly I use my Sizzix for fabric (and I have even ordered a half square triangle die for it) but you can see it make wonderful paper objects as well!

Yesterday morning I made the first batch of Papers and Threads ornaments using Santa images and more scrapbook paper.  I did not get a chance to photograph them because I took them to Thanksgiving Dinner to show off and my cousin immediately purchased them all.  So those ornaments are on their way to NYC with P.'s family and I will post photos after I make some more of them.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and that you got some good bargains today.



Gale