I am currently working on four little glitter houses, all of them Irish cottages. I drew this pattern in March of 2017. Here’s the mini version of this sweet, little cottage.
I made four regular-size ones and two minis. The mini ones are copied at 80% of the original size of the pattern. I am going to redraw the pattern, because I realized I didn’t draw the window frames or the door when I made the pattern initially. Not sure how I neglected to add them to the pattern. I may make the windows a little bigger, too. What do you think?
I went through my stash of greeting cards and found these two cards that work for an Irish cottage base. The larger one is actually a piece of vellum. I mod-podged it to poster board before making the box to give it strength and structure. My tutorial for making Putz bases from greeting cards is here. Bases from greeting cards.
Once the bases are made and the houses are painted, it’s time to glue things together. I add the window and door frames. In the case of the Irish cottages, I don’t glue down an additional roof as I will be adding thatching to the roof.
I love to add the thatching. It makes such a big change in the look of the cottage.
How totally cute is this?!
The next step is to add the fence to the base.
Always check before gluing anything to the base. Is it oriented in the right direction? When you tilt the Putz up from the front, the card should be placed so you can view it correctly.
When I am making a Putz that will not include snow, I do a bit more (sometimes, a lot more!) landscaping than I do for a Christmas Putz house. I have a good collection of artificial foliage. I look for foliage, flowers, berries, etc., that can be cut into smaller pieces.
This is artificial heather. Little stems cut from it make a lovely flowering vine for the cottage.
Pieces like this can be cut to size as small trees. I have even cut the tiny individual sprigs off the stems and used them as itty-bitty hyacinths in a spring garden.
I use preserved sheet moss for the “grass” around the fence and the flower beds. I cut the vining rose in half so I will be able to use it on two cottages. I don’t know where I purchased the one I have, but by googling < miniature rose vine >, I found it is available on dollhouseminiatures.com.
Aquarium stones were used to make the front walk. When first put down, they seemed too large, but after I added moss and tiny bits of “flowers,” they looked just right.
When the walkway was done, I used some gold glitter-glue to wash a little shine over the individual stones.
I plan to do some Easter and spring houses, so I will be able to use the tiny mulberry paper flowers again.
You can see my Putz houses and other 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
