I have stored this magazine page in my Christmas Notebook since 2003. I wanted to make one for myself. As you can imagine, Martha’s was a little pricey for my budget.
Personally, I think the deer are a bit large for this display. My daughter calls them “deerzillas.”
Anyway, I have been collecting pictures and information about Putz houses for some time. This year, I decided it was time to make my own when I found the Little Glitter Houses web site and Big Indoor Trains with patterns and instructions for making the houses. I also found my way to a blog called Pink Trees with patterns from an old crafting magazine called “Pack-O-Fun.” That blog is no longer available, but the patterns can now be found at bigindoortrains.com.
I had a great time making the houses and churches. Here is my finished display.
And here are some closer shots of the buildings. I used the “Bay Window House” pattern for the pink house.
The little yellow house was made with the “Vintage-style Stone Cottage” pattern. The blue house to the left is made from the same pattern, though I enlarged and reversed the pattern for the blue house.
The house on the right, with the blue roof, was the second one I made. I used this “Little Charmer” pattern.
This yellow house was a store bought house that I repainted and glittered, and then I added the trees. I added the silver beads and the glitter to the larger bottle brush tree.
I made this house, using glitter glue to outline the door and windows. I added the wreath, which I made from a small piece of “evergreen” pipe cleaner. I also made the snowman. This house has a pipe cleaner hedge around it, but it’s hard to see in this photo. I used the pattern titled “Green House” at this site for this house, though I had to remake the pattern as it is incorrectly drawn in the article.
The little yellow house was made with the pattern titled “Yellow House” on the same site.
I repainted and glittered this manufactured church to match the houses I made myself.
The fence around this repainted manufactured house was made by cutting thin cardboard with scrapbooking scissors.
I love the door and windows on this manufactured church. I think this one was all white before I reworked it.
I made the bases and fences for these repainted manufactured Putz houses.
Another repainted store bought house. I like my colors a lot better than the original. 🙂
The church and the small house were made from patterns at the Pink Trees site. The house is the pattern titled “Brown House.”
I had a few houses that ended up too large for the display, so I put them on the Christmas tree in the guest room, including this Cottage Beach House.
The patterns I found online at Little Glitter Houses, Big Indoor Trains, and Pink Trees were extremely helpful! My thanks to those sites and their authors for their inspiration!
I moved from making the above houses to making glitter house ornaments from Christmas cards. They turned out beautifully! And they were faster to make as they have fewer details and embellishments.
Overall, I am very happy with the way the little glitter houses came out. And they were a lot of fun to make!
Click this link to see my tutorial for making a little glitter / putz house.
Click this link to see my tutorial for making little glitter house ornaments from Christmas cards.
Update 2016 / My Putz houses have come a long way since 2009, when I wrote this post. If you would like to see more of my Putz houses, as well as Christmas ornaments I have made from upcycled holiday cards, please visit my Etsy shop.
~~Rhonda
40 Comments
Curious what the tiered “house holder” is
or was made of?
Also what you used and how attached all the
ice cycles from the top of each tier?
Judy, the tiered display is a Wilton cupcake tree. I found it on amazon.com. And I hot glued the icicles to the edge. They were a garland and I just touched a spot to the bottom of the tiers every inch or two. You can see a picture of the process here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christmasnotebook/4096781213/
I plan to post about that, too.
beautiful! i haven’t had a chance to make any yet…once i get back to the states maybe!
RHONDA! I LOVE IT! It’s BEAUTIFUL! I like yours way more than Martha’s! LOL! I hope to work on some of these little houses this upcoming year! I bought the Cricut cartridge that has a few houses on it. I may try to use some of those as well. Also, I saw a tutorial somewhere where they were taking the green bottle brush trees and bleaching them. After they dried, they dyed/painted them different colors! (Like light pink, pale blue, & yellow! Some even did them in Halloween colors!) If you do a google search on bleaching bottle brush trees you will get several results for this! Let me know what you think!
I just found your site!! I’m a nursing instructor, but also a fiber artist and crafter. When I retire (ha ha) I want to build one of these delightful Glitterhouse displays!! How magical!! Have saved your site!!
Kathy
Rhonda,
I read the post above and you said that you got the display from amazon.com, The Wilton Cupcake Tree. That was last year. I will go to Amazon and look but maybe in a year’s time they have upgraded this display. Or they don’t have it at all !Please let me know. I have to have one! I really love those putz houses and have been collecting them on Ebay. If you know of a better place to buy them, so I can get a better variety, please let me know. I love those christmas card houses you made too. You’re good. I need your art in my house! Patsy
Rhonda,
How tall is that Wilton Cupcake Tree? In your photo, it appears rather large and tall, but in reality, it is not, is it? I wanted one like yours but I would need at least 5′ tall and 1′ between tiers. Some of my Putz houses are churches and 2 stories. Also, what is the tree made of? When I pulled up this tree on Amazon, the edges were smooth. I like the cut-out lacey edges on yours so you can hang ornaments. I really hope you get around to answering me because I am so very interested in getting one of these. Thank You. Patsy/misshouston/Ebay
Patsy, thanks for your comments on my Putz village. This is the Wilton cupcake stand I used.
http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Tall-Cupcake-Tower-Stand/dp/B000JK106O/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1291656214&sr=8-10
Here’s a tinyurl to the same picture in case that link doesn’t work.
http://tinyurl.com/2983dau
I did not use the top two tiers for my village, so it is actually taller than it shows with my village on it.
I hope that helps! ~~Rhonda
Patsy, with all the tiers on the cake stand, it measures about 35″ tall. To get one much taller, you may have to build it yourself. Would love to see a picture of your finished village, if you do assemble one! ~~Rhonda
I love your glitter houses. I also used the instructions and patterns from big indoor trains. Have a peek at http://www.lifeisaparty.ca
thanks for the inspiration, your’s is truly beautiful!
Dannyelle.
Rhonda – What brand of glitter do you use? It’s beautiful!
Dawn, here’s another post about how they are constructed, including a picture of the glitter brand I used on the houses.
http://christmasnotebook.com/2009/10/29/building-a-putz-house/
I like to use two kinds of glitter. I glitter the house in a fine glitter and, after painting on the snow patches, I glitter it with a coarser glitter that I can buy at WalMart or Hobby Lobby, etc. You can see a picture of both types here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christmasnotebook/5327651100/in/photostream/
And here’s a closeup of the roof, where you can see the two glitters used side by side.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christmasnotebook/5327998930/in/photostream/
The pictures don’t do the fine glitter justice. It does sparkle beautifully.
I hope that is helpful. Please ask if you have any questions.
~~Rhonda
Morning Rhonda! I’ve been working on the little houses from the Pack-o-Fun page, and they looked SO pretty until I tried to put the roofs on…there’s no way for these little guys to stay together! How did you do it?
Thanks
Dawn
Dawn, I remade the patterns. A couple of them had major mistakes on them. I added flaps so the roofs had something to be glued to. ~~Rhonda
Hi, I love your site and all of your wonderful houses. I love the tiered display. I am wanting to start making these little houses. I found the same websites and patterns that you talked about. All of these posts and your answers have been great. I am having trouble finding out where to find the little trees and little figurines. Any ideas???
Thanks
Melanie
Melanie, thanks so much for leaving a comment. The bottle brush trees are available online. If you go to etsy.com, you can search for vintage or new bottle brush trees. Or search google.com for bottle brush trees. When I search google for something in particular, I do the search, then click IMAGES. Helps to refine the search a bit. Green bottle brush trees can be bleached and dyed to be any color you would like.
You can search etsy for the little Christmas figures, snowmen, angels, wreaths, etc., too. You will have to wade through a lot of pictures, but you can find some nice bits and pieces there.
In the picture of the little blue house, you can see a wreath and a snowman. I made those myself. The wreath is made from a “pine” pipe cleaner. I just shaped a tiny round, then daubed it with some white paint and glued tiny read beads to it. The snow man is made from two white pompoms, trimmed a bit to make them the right size. The eyes and mouth are tiny snip-its of paper glued to the face. The hat is made from stacking punched circles glued together. The brim is one circle cut a bit larger than the punched circles. The snowman’s scarf is a bit of wired ribbon.
I hope that helps! ~~Rhonda 🙂
Hi – This is too funny Rhonda! I just saw your article and even though this is August 2011 I think it’s worth sharing. I was looking at Martha’s stand and noticed that her wooden top looked very familiar! Then it struck me. I bought a similar wooden top at a thrift story for $l.50 recently and couldn’t figure out what it was meant for. My hubby thinks it’s a toilet roll holder or a paper towel holder whatever but I guess Martha’s Stewart’s staff incorporated one like minto into their stand but I still like yours better! However – if you would like I will send mine to you as a present for all the time and effort you put into this website. I am now totally motivated into making one myself. Please let me know if you would like this “whatever it is” and I will ship it to you.
Kathy
I am in love with this tree! I enjoy Putz houses and yours are perfect. I’m thinking about trying to make my own stand, maybe using clear serving trays separated with clear glasses. I’ve tried to search, but can’t find out the sizes of the individual tiers. Can you share that information? My daughter had a cupcake wedding cake that I made a stand for using cardboard, but that was square. I guess I could do this square, but the clear plates sounds easier.
Rhonda, this time of year the craft stores all have those bottle trees. Even the dollar stores often have them.
Beautiful display! What a gorgeous creation you have made. The houses from vintage cards are cool too!
Mary
Thanks, Mary! They are a lot of fun to make. I’m glad you enjoyed them! ~~Rhonda
I love your cottage display idea! Did you build the tiers? Are they cake plates? Thanks so much for getting getting back to me.
Laurie, who is knee-deep in cottages
Laurie, the display is a cupcake stand. I found it on amazon.com, but don’t see it there (or anywhere else online) when I searched just now. I did find, however, this very cute DIY cupcake stand.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/diy-cupcake-stand-for-displaying-items-095610
If made with white or glass plates, this would make a great putz display. And there are quite a few ready-made stands on amazon.com if you search the site.
~~Rhonda
I was so happy to find your Christmas Village pinned to Pinterest today. I was just looking around trying to find the house patterns. Thanks so much for included the source for the patterns in your post!
I absolutely loved your village. I have ordered a few things from eBay to get started. Can’t wait to get it going. This is a project I have been needing. I just retired and now I have something I truely love. Thank you for sharing. It is beautiful. I may be texting you for help. Thank you again.
Thank you, Lynn! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’ve had a lot of fun making the little glitter houses. I am sure you will, too. ~~Rhonda
Wow, I am just trying to get through making ONE glitter house from the Little Glitter house website. How, on earth, did you make so many! You are one motivated gal!! They all look beautiful. You did a great job!!
Thanks, Vicki! I had a lot fun making these houses. I’d love to see yours when it’s done. ~~Rhonda
These are just amazing! I love and collect Putz houses but have never attempted to make even one. Your display is just beautiful. Great job! Pamela
These are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing. I have been drooling over these for years, and slowly gathering materials, hoping to try it this year. I have read directions that insist you must prime with latex paint– it doesn’t appear that you do this? Is it not necessary? Thank you!
Lisa, I didn’t prime any of mine and they look great. Some of them are three years old and they still look new. But I did use cardstock, which has a tight finish. If I used cardboard, I would prime it first because cardboard will soak up a lot of paint. But I’d give it a primer coat with acrylic, not buy latex. Basically, they’re the same thing. If you have some household latex leftover from a painting project, use that. The point is to seal the cardboard so it doesn’t make the final layer look blotchy. I hope you’ll make some little houses. It’s a fun project! ~~Rhonda
Thanks so much for sharing I have been wanting to make these next year is my year to sit down and do it. I think yours is more beautiful than Martha’s.
Holly
Thank you so much for posting these. I’ve been looking for how to do this ever since I first saw the ones in Martha Stewart. A good friend found your site for me and I’m so excited to get started on mine. I’m going to try to use my cricut cartridge to cut my houses. Your’s are so pretty. Hope mine turn out as well. What hight did you make your largest house?
Thanks again, Louise
Louise, thanks for commenting! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. The houses I put on the display ranged from 3-5 inches or so. I have a few larger ones that I put onto the Christmas tree in our guest room. I’d love to see pictures when you make some little houses. ~~Rhonda
thank you so much for all he help, and he other sites to go to.I had a little white church when I was a little girl they some how got broke.I think I am going to make my mother another church for Christmas. And for my son and daughter in law a little house that looks like there house they have just bought.thank you again.Vonda
This is absolutely beautiful!! Thanks for sharing.
This is absolutely adorable! Thank you so much for sharing. I see my “new project” on the horizon…
VERY NICE
I don’t have time this season to make these cute cottages…but starting in January for sure!
Laura, thanks for your comment. I hope you give them a try! They are a lot of fun to make. ~~Rhonda
Love the little glitter houses. Thank you
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