Author Archives: ~~Rhonda

Living in a small town, I share my life with my husband Russell (married in 1977), five children (one still at home), and six cats (one indoors, the others outside).

I teach an online class called “The Christmas Notebook” which is about all things holiday prep. The many facets of celebrating Christmas comprises one of my favorite hobbies. Other favorite things include gardening, reading, cooking, and scrapbooking.

tutorial: heart-punched fence

The fence shown below was made with a heart-shaped, hand-held punch. This tutorial will make two 1/2″-tall fence sections. If taller fences are wanted, only one side of the poster board strip should be punched, then the strip can be cut to the height desired. Supplies needed to make the fence: 10″-12″ long piece of […]

drawing a roof for a putz house bumpout or porch

If you have questions about this process, please ask. I will edit the tutorial to reflect points that clarify the instructions. Following is a picture of the simple pattern I drew to illustrate the process. On the pattern, dotted lines are fold lines and solid lines are cut lines. Brown = The depth of the […]

green putz barn

This sweet, ORIGINAL size, Putz barn started with the card I used for the base. The card depicts a winter orchard. The picture is covered with very fine, iridescent glitter. A strip of seafoam green runs along the bottom of the picture and the word “Peace” is colored with the same green. I knew I […]

spring / Easter putz church and a house

I drew the pattern for this church last week. It started as a house, but when I was looking through my stash of Easter cards for one to use to make the base, I found one that would be perfect for a church. I drew some additional pattern pieces to make the bell tower, and […]

mini size Easter putz church

I just finished this MINI size, Easter church. It was a lot of fun to make and I am very happy with the end result. I thought about keeping it in my own collection, but decided to list it in my Etsy shop instead. The base measures 4 1/8″ wide x 6″ deep. The Putz […]

MINI Valentine putz house

This MINI size, Valentine Putz house is the last one I am making this season. It’s time to move on to Easter Putz! It was fun to make and fun to landscape. A lot of little details make it fun to look at. The base measures 4 1/2″ wide x 5 1/2″ deep. The Putz […]

Valentine putz house

I used a cardboard, candy box to make this ORIGINAL size, Valentine Putz house. The base is made from an upcycled greeting card. It measures 5 1/2″ wide x 5″ deep. The Putz is 4″ tall as measured from the bottom of the base to the top of the roof. The back of the Putz […]

summertime putz house

I had a lot of fun making this sweet, summertime Putz house. I had planned to make it a Valentine house, but it kept saying “summertime, summertime,” so summertime it is. I found a vintage dollhouse online that I used as inspiration for the Putz house pattern. So sweet. Not my usual design, but I […]

thatching tutorial

I love these little Irish cottages. The thatched roof on the Putz shown here is my own creation and design. Every time I thatch a cottage, I learn something new and tweak the process to make it better than the last time. The first time I thatched an Irish cottage, I used rafia. I like […]

2018 chalkboard Christmas tree

Last year, beginning in December and going forward about six months, I had a lot of trouble with my blog. Many things weren’t posted last Christmas, including the chalkboard tree for 2018. After posting the start of this year’s tree, I realized I never posted last year’s tree. I’ll fix that now! The theme for […]