Christmas Notebook

In my last post, the little green Putz house was ready to be attached to the base.

Somehow I missed taking pictures of the pinning process. This one was pretty easy to pin down, though.

This is after pinning and gluing the house. If you look closely, you can see the bead of glue around the house and also a hot glue sidewalk from the front door to the gate. This is prior to painting.

Close-up of sidewalk.

Here’s the house after painting and glittering both the bead of glue around the house and the sidewalk.

I pulled out several different bits and bobs for this house. After working with them for a while, I finally began to see a direction.

The green bottle brush trees seemed too dark for this house. I tried these trees and liked them much better. They have a softer look. I brushed glue over them and sprinkled them with large glitter.

And the finished Putz house…

~~Rhonda

As I said in my last post, I chose this little Putz house for my next project.

I didn’t have any ink jet acetate for making window panes. Added it to my shopping list. Middle Daughter did find some vellum in the craft room for me to try. I used a yellow Sharpie to color the vellum. The little bit of yellow to the left is about how much I did at a time. Before the ink dried, I rubbed it with my finger to even out the color. Worked great.

Measuring against the house, I cut pieces to cover the window and the little hole above it.

I ran a little hot glue around the yellow vellum and quickly placed it on the inside of the house. It takes such a small amount of glue that, if you hesitate, it will set before you try to stick the vellum to the inside of the house. I know this from personal experience… This would be a good time to use white glue, if used sparingly. It shouldn’t show from the outside when the vellum is in place.

All windows covered.

At this point, I decided the house needed window frames, so I made some with lightweight poster board. Took a little fiddling because I was working without a pattern, but it didn’t take too long.

I mixed a bit of sand, glue and paint.

The needle nose tweezers are very handy for working with little pieces.

All the frames got a base coat of color.

When they were dry, they received a second coat of paint and a sprinkle of fine glitter over the wet paint. In this closeup, you can easily see the texture the sand adds to the paint.

When dry, I attached each frame to the house with a bead of hot glue on the back of the frame. Then the house was ready to be attached to the base. First by pinning…

Back…

Then the glue was applied.

When the glue set, the pins were removed by twisting them so they didn’t pull off any glue or paint.

At this point, I mixed sand, glue and white paint and covered the bead of hot glue. I gave it two coats and used the thick paint to hide the contours of the hot glue. While the second coat was still wet, I sprinkled it with fine glitter.

I glued the bottle brush trees down and then decided to put stepping stones to the front door. I used egg carton cardboard to make small circles because they have such a nice texture. One layer didn’t seem thick enough, so I glued two pieces together. Seems to me that egg cartons used to be thicker.

I painted them white. My grand-daughter thought they should be grey because they would be hard to see if they were white like the background. So I sprinkled them with silver glitter.

Here are some of the “bits and bobs” I may use on this house. It’s always a process and could totally change once I get into the actual placement. In case you wonder about the tipsy trees, I took this picture before they were glued down!

The grands are here this weekend, so I’m not sure when I will be able to proceed with the embellishment of the little house. I’ll post the process when I finish it. I hope you have enjoyed the post. More to come soon!

~~Rhonda

This little Putz church is like the one I just finished (you can see it here: little Putz church, continued), though this one is trimmed in blue instead of yellow. This one also has the addition of a bell in the tower. I made both the church and the base last year. I pulled them out yesterday and decided to finish the project.

Cute, huh? I love this fence. It is so easy to make. If you are interested, here is a tutorial for making these fence posts. tutorial for making fence posts for putz houses

I still have part of the acetate window from a Christmas card that I used in the previous church. You can see that application here: little putz church

I cut the acetate to the correct size and attached it to the inside of the church with hot glue.

Close-up…

When pinning the building to the base, I sometimes put the pin through the building in several places, especially if the buildings walls are bowed at all. Once the hot glue is set, the pins can be twisted out of the glue and the walls will be straight.

When pinned, it’s time to glue.

Once the glue is set, it’s time to paint and glitter the glue. I mix paint and white glue 1:1 and add a sprinkle of clean white sand for texture. No need for measuring. I just pour a nickel-sized glob of paint and the same of glue, then add a bit of sand, mixing well. When painting over the bead of hot glue, I try to camouflage it best I can by spreading the paint out, filling seams, etc. While the paint is still wet, I sprinkle it with glitter.

On to embellishments. I am out of the right size of green bottle brush trees (ordered more), and I didn’t want to use a cream colored tree. Didn’t look right. I decided to try some of my silver bits and bobs. This is where I left it Thursday evening. I wasn’t happy with the direction it was taking, so decided to set it aside overnight and try again on Friday.

When I got back to it on Friday, I knew I just had to start over. I pulled the embellishments off and began again, trying to keep it less dense this time. I liked the little blue bottle brush trees, so used them, too.

When the embellishments made me happy, I quit adding more. That’s the hard part. Edit! I brushed some white glue on the bottle brush trees and on some of the bits and bobs and sprinkled the glue with glitter. Here’s the right side of the church yard…

And the left side…

For a sidewalk, I cut small pieces of cardboard and sanded the corners.

I gave them a base coat of white paint. Handling small pieces can be hard. Needle-nosed tweezers make this job easier.

Glued them down with hot glue.

To finish them, I gave them a coat of my glue/paint/sand mixture and, while they were still wet, I sprinkled them with glitter.

Front…

Back…

And a surprise on the bottom…

Which one do you like best? The blue trimmed church?

Or the yellow trimmed church?

Would you like to see another little Putz house brought to glittery life?

My Putz houses and churches are featured in my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook

~~Rhonda