Christmas Notebook

I didn’t feel well over the weekend and didn’t come up to the craft room on Saturday or Sunday. I think I’m on the mend, though I now have a bad cold settling in my chest. Some coughing and a headache, but better than the past weekend. I had finished the Valentine Putz house Friday evening, but was too tired to take pictures of it then. I had planned to do that on Saturday and get it posted to my Etsy shop, but just didn’t feel well enough to follow through.

But I managed to get the pictures taken today, so here it is. I love to see the windows shining with light.

I usually don’t post the back picture exept on Etsy, but here it is from the back. The hole will accommodate a small light. LEDs are perfect for Putz because they are so small and they burn cool. Here is a link to a string I ordered from Amazon and it works very well with the Putz houses. LED Light String

The house turned out pretty well. I do love the heart-shaped fence.

I would like to make a house to represent each month of the year. The Valentine houses certainly cover February but Youngest Daughter suggested something about Martin Luther King for Black History Month. I looked up the house he grew up in and it would make a beautiful Putz house. Now to draw the pattern!

~~Rhonda

The weather was beautiful today. We had a high of 69 and it was sunny all day. I opened the window in the craft room and let that wonderful fresh air waft in. Smelled so good! Another six to eight weeks and we may have crocus blooming in the back yard.

Today I finally finished all the little Putz houses I had stored in a box from a few years ago. It took longer than I thought it would to finish them, but am glad it’s now done. They are featured in my Etsy shop and you can see more pictures of them there. ChristmasNotebook.etsy.com

The first one is an ivory yellow color with a pink roof and a pink fence. It’s topped with a widow’s walk.

It also has a little balcony on the second floor.

Very cute when the lights are on.

The second little glitter house has the reverse color scheme. The house is pink and the roof is yellow.

It also has a yellow fence.

Now that I am caught up on all the Putz houses from the box, I may do some shadow boxes or dioramas for a while. We’ll see where my interest falls next time I’m crafting. Which will probably be tomorrow!

Thanks for reading my blog posts. And thanks, too, for leaving comments!

If you have an interest in making some of your own Putz houses, you will find my tutorials here: Putz / Little Glitter Houses. If you have any questions, please ask! I am always happy to help.

~~Rhonda

I continue to work on my box of Putz houses. I put window panes in them and made window and door frames for some of them. I’ll finish that part of the project tomorrow. Yesterday (Friday) I spent my craft time making bases for the little houses. I scoured my Christmas card collection to find cards to match the houses. These days, I pick the card first and paint the house to match. Much easier! But I did manage to find cards for all the houses. I stacked them together before moving to the next step.

All the bases had to be assembled, then painted. I had a few done, then realized I needed a way to remember which picture went to which house, so I took pictures of all of them.

I thought the “gingerbread” and the color matched this cute card perfectly. I see this house still needs window frames.

And I love the colors on this pair.

I finished six of the bases. That process includes making a box from the card to serve as the base, cutting cardboard to fill the box to give it stability, binding it with strips of cardboard and rubber bands to allow the glue to dry tightly, giving it a base coat of white paint, and a second coat, then a third coat of paint mixed with sand to give it that lovely vintage texture, and applying fine glitter to the wet paint. The final step is to let the paint dry completely before attaching the house, fence and embellishments. I like to cut the flaps off flat boxes and use the box as a tray to corral projects. I was happy to have one on hand that held all six bases.

I have three bases left to paint. I will do that in the morning before I make window frames. That will give the bases time to dry after they are painted. Hopefully, I will get all the houses attached to their bases by the end of the day.

Here is a link to my tutorial for making bases for Putz houses. I wrote this blog post four years ago, before I began making the bases from Christmas cards, but the basics are all there. Tutorial for making Putz house bases

All day, as I worked on my project, I watched the ice build up on the big oak in the back yard. The birds were in a frenzy at the feeder, and I was glad I could stay indoors. Be safe out there!

~~Rhonda

Our weather has been cold and windy. I made chicken tortellini soup this morning and put four quarts into the fridge. We’ll be set for a few days. I find soup comforting when the weather is bitter.

I have a box of Putz houses that I made a few years ago.

Today I got them out and put window panes in them.

Tomorrow I will add the window frames and make more bases to accommodate them.

~~Rhonda