Christmas Notebook

blue and yellow putz church

June 24, 2018 – 3:28 pm

This Putz church is the second one I made from this pattern. I drew the pattern with inspiration from a photograph of a vintage Putz church. You can see the first church here: Yellow and Green Putz Church

This church features a metal, free-swinging bell in the bell tower, two bottle brush trees and a miniature deer.

I made the wreath from a piece of wired chenille. The chenille stem is about 1/2″ wide. I trimmed it back to 1/4″. The bow is made with a piece of tiny wired cord.

I love the color combination on this card.

The tiny deer in the church yard is 3/4″ tall.

We’ll leave the lights on!

And the door open!

This Putz church has been listed in 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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (2)

red and tan putz barn

June 23, 2018 – 10:59 am

The newest Putz barn is finished and I’ve listed it to my Etsy shop.

ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

Just for fun, here’s a picture of it “pre-snow.” The barn and the fence haven’t been glued down yet, either.

Corrugated cardboard makes a great ridged metal roof.

I drew the pattern for the barn without the inspiration of a barn pictured on a Christmas card, so I used this Christmas card for the base and used the colors of the card for the barn.

Detail of one of the bottle brush trees. I used Aleene’s True Snow on the tree and dusted it with irridescent glitter.

Putz are so appealing when the lights are on…

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

Christmas diorama ornaments

June 21, 2018 – 11:35 pm

Using plastic ornaments, which are pretty easy to cut, I made some Christmas diorama ornaments last year. I just found six of them in a cabinet and decided to list them to my Etsy shop.

ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

They are fun to make. I used tiny vintage figurines, artificial foliage, bottle brush trees, etc., to embellish them.

This ornament is 2 1/2″ wide.

The pink ornament is 2 1/4″ wide. The tiny bottle brush tree is about an inch tall.

A little lute-playing, vintage angel sings among the stars.

This tiny angel is about 3/8″ tall.

The ornament is 2 1/4″ wide.

A jingle bell dangles from the bottom of the ornament.

Jolly Santa and his Christmas tree.

This is a larger ornament at 3 1/4″ wide.

These ornaments have been listed to my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

While visiting my shop, take a look at the Putz houses. 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 crafting process. Please ask, if you have questions!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Christmas | Comments (1)

green and red putz house

June 21, 2018 – 3:52 pm

I like the little Putz houses the best. This one is from a pattern I drew in 2012. I call it the “ski slope” house. I haven’t made one for a while.

I found this cute card for the base.

I had planned to make the door red, but forgot to do that while I was painting the door and window frames.

It’s hard to find embellishments that are small enough to work with these small houses, but I did have this wee little snowman and it worked.

Here’s a picture for scale…

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

ivory and blue putz barn

June 20, 2018 – 1:38 pm

This barn is made with the same pattern as the brown and blue barn. It is 20% larger, though, and I left off the lean-to on the right side. I also made the loft door into a window on this barn.

The round window over the doors is covered with a bead cap that I carefully flattened and glued over the hole.

Most of my Putz barns have a barn on the card used as a base, and I use that barn as the inspiration for the pattern I draw for the Putz barn. If I want to use the pattern again, I try to find a Christmas card that is also about barns. Barn Christmas cards are few and far between. This is a cute one. Not a barn picture, but a picture about a barn.

The roof is made from corrugated cardboard to simulate a ridged metal roof.

I ran out of tiny horses and didn’t want to put a cow in this barnyard because there is a cow in the first barn from this pattern, so I let Mistletoe in the barnyard. She’s just visiting.

The board and post fence is made from heavy-weight poster board and wooden skewers. You will find the tutorial here: Make a Board Fence for Your Putz Barn

The bottle brush trees are decorated with blue and silver vintage mercury beads. You can check out my tutorial for decorating bottle brush trees with beads here: Decorating Bottle Brush Trees

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

brown and blue putz barn

June 19, 2018 – 10:14 am

I drew the pattern for this Putz barn and, when it was assembled, realized it was too wide for the card I used as inspiration for the pattern. I reduced the pattern by 20% using the printer, and that worked perfectly.

The little cow’s name is Noel.

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

more Christmas card shadow boxes

June 18, 2018 – 11:01 pm

This past week, I listed some new Christmas card shadow boxes to my Etsy shop.

ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

Santa and the Snowman

I use Christmas cards for the picture in the background, make a box from the card, and use the space to add embellishments, including artificial foliage, bottle brush trees, figurines, etc.

Frosty

Most of the boxes are an inch deep.

Jolly Santa

The backs are painted a corresponding color and dusted with fine glitter.

Snowman in Red

The bottle brush tree is decorated with red ornaments and irridescent flaked glitter.

Snowman in Red and Turquoise

Sometimes I add a charm to the bottom.

The tree was snowed and sprinkled with turquoise glitter.

Santa and His Reindeer

It’s a very sweet picture.

Santa and the Teddy Bear

Children around the Outdoor Christmas Tree

I used vintage-style tinsel to frame the beautiful picture.

Snowflakes hang from the top.

A snowman sits in the corner.

For an idea of scale…

These Christmas card shadow boxes, and others, have been listed to my Etsy shop with more pictures available there. ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

Check out my Christmas card shadow box tutorial here: Christmas Card Shadow Boxes Tutorial

I am always happy to answer questions about the process.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Christmas, Christmas shadow boxes, ornaments | Comments (1)

yellow and mint green putz church

June 18, 2018 – 9:39 pm

I finished this Putz church today. I drew the pattern for the church with inspiration from a photograph of a vintage Putz church.

I use nativity Christmas cards for the bases of all my Putz churches. My Putz houses usually get what I call “holiday” cards, which is my code word for secular Christmas cards.

The wreath is made from an evergreen chenille stem (pipe cleaner). I trimmed it down to make it skinnier and then formed the circle to make the wreath. I hot glued the ends together and used a tiny wired ribbon to make the bow. The wire makes it easy to form and helps it hold its shape. This wreath is about an inch wide.

You can’t tell it from this picture, but the bottle brush tree is decorated with snow and dusted with fine irridescent glitter.

The tower has a free-hanging gold bell.

For a sense of scale…

I enjoyed making this one. I love the colors. The yellow is Kilz “Golden Feather.” I mixed the green myself.

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

putz barn

June 15, 2018 – 12:50 pm

I have made several Putz barns lately and have really enjoyed them. I generally use the picture on the Christmas card I use as a base as inspiration for the pattern I draw for the barn for that base. This week, I made this barn, which sold before I had finished it.

The customer asked for two black cats to represent their own barn cats, Okie and Dokie.

This is the Christmas card I used for the base for that barn.

I liked the barn so much that I wanted to make one to put in my Etsy shop. I reduced the pattern by 15% to make it a bit smaller so it would fit a smaller card I found to use as the base.

I put two tiny horses in this barnyard.

The rail fence is made from heavy-weight poster board and wooden skewers cut to make fence posts.

Here’s a tutorial for making a rail fence: Make a Board Fence for your Putz Barn

I glitter everything…even the horses…

It was a satisfying project. Now I’m scouring my collection of Christmas cards for more barn pictures…

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

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

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

vintage-style putz house in ivory and beige

June 9, 2018 – 11:48 am

The past few weeks, I’ve been taking note of Putz houses with three-peaked roofs. I decided to draw a pattern to make some of my own.

The house is ivory. The beige color of the roof is also used on the fence. The door and window frames are white.

The base is one I made quite a while ago. It isn’t as green-hued as it looks in this picture.

The bottle brush trees are ivory-colored. I added ivory pearls and Aleene’s true snow. I sprinked the snow with a little clear glitter and then dusted it with Martha Stewart’s fine Antique Silver glitter, which is hard to see in this picture. The Antique Silver glitter is more of a champagne color than a silver, in my opinoin.

Bead strings decorate the eaves of the roof.

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

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!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

Christmas Notebook

blue and yellow putz church

red and tan putz barn

Christmas diorama ornaments

green and red putz house

ivory and blue putz barn

brown and blue putz barn

more Christmas card shadow boxes

yellow and mint green putz church

putz barn

vintage-style putz house in ivory and beige

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