Christmas Notebook

Last fall, I had a custom order for a Putz church that replicates the customer’s home church in Nolensville, Tennessee. It is 180 years old and is a beautiful historic landmark. I realized I hadn’t posted about this project, so decided to do it now. I hope you enjoy the process!

While preparing to make a pattern for the building, I found this picture on flickr.com and gained a lot of useful information from it. Click the link to check out the photograph of the church.

I am so happy I tackled this huge project. It was a daunting one, but I enjoyed it! A new Putz always starts with a pattern. After I googled the church online, I printed some pictures to work from.

There are a lot of little pieces to this pattern.

The pattern pieces are cut from medium weight poster board.

Detail of the steeple construction.

Painting and glittering the church…

This picture shows the sand texture of the paint.

I painted the roof red, then realized later that the large roof is actually grey and only the roof on the steeple is red!

I used toothpicks to make the little toppers for the four corners of the steeple.

It’s coming together.

Gluing on the window frames. Clothspins make great clamps.

Notice the main roof is now a dark grey.

Now for the details. The church has a portico. Here’s the dormer for that.

Testing the portico posts.

I decided to raise the base so I could add the steps in front of the church.

The final embellishments.

Detail of the portico.

The front door is 1 1/8″ tall. I made the wreaths with tiny punchouts, glue and glitter. I used 1/4″ tubular beads for the door handles.

Two bottle brush trees flank the front of the church.

I kept the embellishments simple so the church remains the main focus.

Close-up of the bell tower.

The base is a beautiful nativity scene in red and foiled gold.

I used printable glitter paper to make the sign for the front of the Putz.

From the back…

Side views…

I am very proud of the way the Putz church turned out. It was hard to let go of this beautiful church, but it now resides in a happy home in Nolensville, Tennessee. I have finished a few other custom orders and have enjoyed each one! I am hoping to make a few of our local buildings as Putzes this year.

~~Rhonda