I’ve been wanting to make a Putz barn for some time. The other day I took some time and googled Christmas barns. I saw a lot I liked, but finally found one that really caught my eye on Instagram. So pretty in its rich red and white. I snapped a screen capture to save the picture and began the process of turning it into a Putz.
I made a rough sketch with a few notes to determine the size and the placement of openings…
Then drew the pattern and made a paper mock-up. As usual, I found a few things that needed tweaking, and made the necessary changes to the pattern.
Then it was time to make the poster board version.
The barn door seemed too large to leave empty. I mulled that over for a while, then decided to find a vintage Christmas card picture online that could be used. I saved the image, then inserted it in Word and downsized it by a lot. It took a few fiddles to get it to the right size, but in the end…perfect!
Next came the paint.
And the door and window frames.
Then the corrugated “tin” roof. I had thought about painting it silver or grey, but decided that white would be more effective for achieving the crisp red and white that I liked so much in the original picture.
I am very happy with the finished barn. There are a few things I want to tweak the next time I make one. Not real changes, but just some finesse in the finished piece.
But I think Santa and the reindeer are happy with their new barn.
The next step is to make the base, then I’ll embellish the barn with some snow covered trees and Christmas greens.
~~Rhonda