Recently, I have made a few Putz houses that are more complicated than I usually make. Most often, I stick to a style of house that is approximately three inches wide and about an inch deep. More or less. But I’ve made a few houses based on the houses pictured on Christmas cards and some of those have more detail than my vintage-style Putz houses usually have. I finished another one of these more detailed little glitter houses today.
Three chimneys and a bay window! The house is also deeper than my usual Putz. This house is 4″ wide and 3 5/8″ deep. It’s 3 1/8″ tall. The entire Putz is 6 1/2″ wide, 4 3/4″ deep and 3 3/4″ tall, as measured from the bottom of the base to the top of the chimneys.
This is the card I ended up using for the house, as the finished house was too large to fit the card I initially intended to use. The house was already painted to match the colors of the original card, but this card worked well enough.
This is the Christmas card I used as inspiration for the Putz pattern I drew. But when I finished the house, it was too large for this card, so I used the birds. I have made another copy of the pattern, reducing it to 80% of the original pattern. I’ll make that one later this week and it should fit this base I made from the Christmas card I wanted to use originally.
I left off the porch and the roof dormer, though I made them and had them ready to add to the construction. I felt the Putz would be too busy if I included them. I was also looking forward to having it done! The snow is dusted with clear glitter, except for the trees. I added faux snow to them and sprinkled them with iridescent glitter.
I used three bottle brush trees in the front. For the very back, I cut some artificial Christmas tree branches to about 3″ long and then cut the needles so they tapered to the top. These “flat trees” were perfect for the very back of the Putz.
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The bay window required some very skinny window frames, which I was concerned about cutting correctly, but they turned out OK. I always cut everything by hand and don’t use any die cuts in my Putz houses.
You can get a sense of how small the bay-window frames are in this picture I took during construction.
The large picture window looks like a garage door to me. I am going to change the pattern so the panes are vertical instead of horizontal the next time I make this house. The tiny deer in the front yard came from Smile Mercantile. The sidewalk is cut from a cheap nail file and painted to match the roof.
You can see this cute farmhouse, other Putz houses and Christmas ornaments in my Etsy shop.
If you are interested in crafting some Putz houses and bottle brush trees 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!
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!
~~Rhonda