Christmas Notebook

A few days ago, I drew a pattern for this Putz house, using the house on the Christmas card as the inspiration for my Putz house. This photo shows the paper mockup I always make with a new pattern before cutting it from poster board. It’s the best way to see if all the parts fit properly. Much easier to fix it at this stage than after cutting it all from cardboard.

I had the feeling, when I painted the house, that there wasn’t enough contrast between the roof and the house. When done, I decided I was right. Once a Putz house has been painted with textured paint and the glitter has been applied, there is no painting over it. It makes a messy surface if attempted. So, I had to set that project aside overnight, while I pondered what to do. Throw it out and start over? Try painting the roof, even though I knew it wasn’t a good option?

The next morning, I decided to cover the entire roof with snow. An easy fix. I applied the faux snow using a plastic squeeze bottle. I covered one side of the roof first, smoothed it with a palette knife and then sprinkled it with clear glitter.

Then the other side, the chimney, and the roof of the little bump-out.

After it dried a bit, and I knew I was happy with the fix, I attached the porch roof.

I applied a thin line of hot glue to the edge of the roof and quickly stuck it to the house, holding it in place till the glue dried. A matter of a few seconds.

Then it was time to snow the porch roof. I outlined the surface first, being careful to keep the window frames clear.

Then filled in with more snow…

Smoothed it with a palette knife…

Glittered it…

Done. And then it was on to landscaping. The fence pictured on the card is set on an angle, so I decided to mimic that with my Putz fence. I set the house at an angle and ran the fence along the side of the house. The floor of the porch is made out of painted and glittered 1/4″ foamcore.

I painted the two-rail fence and glittered it. My tutorial for making this type of fence is here: Board fence for your Putz

Next, I glued down the house, the porch, the porch posts, and the fence. The porch posts are made from dowel rods cut to size, painted and glittered, then attached with hot glue. When using hot glue, you have to quickly check from all sides to be sure they are straight before the glue hardens.

To continue the sidewalk off the porch, I painted brown on the surface of the base and glittered it.

The trees were speckled with faux snow and glittered, while the snow was still wet, with very fine iridescent glitter.

Then it was a matter of finishing up the snow in the landscaping. I use Aleene’s True Snow. There is plain True Snow and Glitter True Snow. The glitter snow doesn’t glitter, but I get it anyway because it is cheaper than the plain. Go figure!

Last of all, I added a tiny deer to the yard.

This is the first Putz house on which I completely covered the roof with snow. I like the look and plan to make more Putz houses with snow covered roofs.

This Putz house has been listed to my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

All proceeds from my Etsy shop benefit Kenya Mercy Ministries. They work with the urban poor of Nairobi, Kenya, particularly the children and their families who live in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. Thank you for your part in helping these children when you purchase items from my shop!

If you are interested in crafting some Putz houses of your own, check out my Putz tutorials for more information. Putz house tutorials

I am always happy to answer questions about the process. Please ask, if you are wondering about the details of putzing!

~~Rhonda