We spent some time on the east porch Saturday afternoon. The twins found the cat brush and they had a great time grooming Zak.
The first few strokes were a little hesitant.
Zak is so compliant and easy-going that it didn’t take the twins long to relax and enjoy brushing the kitty.
The girls also enjoyed playing with the collection of rocks we keep on the east porch.
And Saturday afternoon DQ treats were much appreciated.
Just another day at Pa and Ma’s house.
~~Ma
We are enjoying beautiful weather and the garden is full of bloom. Quince and daffodils with hints of coral made up the Sunday bouquet. Hard to choose what to use when there is so much available.
This week’s menu will be fairly easy as we have a lot going on. DH has several meetings and our son and DDIL are visting from Seattle.
Monday
Homemade Pizza
Tuesday
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Rice
Wednesday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Green Salad
Sweet Pickles
Thursday
Soft Tacos
Friday
Taco Salad
Saturday
Grilled Chicken Wings
Grilled Pork Steaks
Coleslaw
Baby Baked Potatoes
Green Beans
Sunday
Pork Chop and Potato Casserole
Green Salad
Crock Pot Apples
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
My favorite time of year is when spring finally arrives. This year it’s a few weeks early. No complaints from me! Yellows, pinks and blues…refreshing after the browns and grays of winter.
Magnolia ‘Jane’
Hyacinth
This small spirea has tiny sweet blossoms on it. I don’t remember the variety.
Daffodils…such happy flowers.
The blossoms of the mini daffodil ‘Minnow’ are about an inch wide.
The Star Magnolia has a wonderful scent.
Sure sign of spring…the Spring Beauties.
The peonies are stretching upward!
The apricot trees are blooming about as early as we’ve ever seen them.
In the woods, the bloodroot is blooming. One of the purest white flowers I know.
Even the veggie garden is getting a good start on spring. The lettuce is up and we’ll soon have spinach and radishes sprouting.
The refreshing beauty of spring always reminds me of God’s generous goodness and provision.
You can visit other gardens at Tootsie’s blog party.
~~Rhonda
When crafting Putz houses (or little glitter houses as they are also called), the details are up to you. These little buildings have their own charm, from the simplest to the most ornate. When crafting your own, you are free to detail and embellish them as little or as much as you like.
I have discussed making fences for Putz / little glitter houses in my post “Tutorial for Making Fences for Putz Houses.” The addition of fence posts for Putz fencing adds another layer of detail.
For a fence that is made from a 1/2″ wide strip of cardboard, I make posts that are 5/8″ high and usually 1/4″ wide on each side. That can certainly be varied. I’ve made fence posts in other sizes, but for the purpose of this tutorial, they will be 1/4″ on each side.
I use cracker/cereal box cardboard for this project. It is thin enough to fold well, but thick enough to hold its shape. This piece is from a Ritz cracker box. The printed side will be folded inside the fence post, so there is no need to paint over it with a base coat. The first thing to do is trim the cardboard piece. Cut off any folds in the cardboard, making sure to keep the cut line straight and the long and short sides at a right angle.
Cut a strip of cardboard 1 and 1/8″ wide and as long as you like. The extra 1/8″ is for a tab to glue the post shut. I make posts with and without the flap. If gluing with white glue, the flap is easier for me. If using my glue gun, not having a flap is easier, as the hot glue hardens quickly.
Cut 5/8″ pieces from the cardboard strip.
Score the cardboard in 1/4″ sections, ending with a 1/8″ piece. I use the back of the X-Acto blade for scoring.
Fold along the crease lines. You should end up with this:
Add a line of white glue to the flap.
When using white glue, the post will have to be held together until dry enough to hold on its own. Doesn’t take long.
To make caps for the posts, cut a strip of cardboard just a bit bigger than the post is wide. Glue the post down.
When dry enough to stay together, cut the end of the strip off.
Give the posts a base coat of white acrylic paint. Soon you’ll have a nice stockpile for future Putz houses.
Whether to use white glue or hot glue is a personal preference. White glue gives you some wiggle room for getting everything arranged just right. Hot glue is now or never. It bonds so quickly that you may not have time to position the pieces where they should be.
If you prefer hot glue, cut the post pieces without a flap. These are 5/8″ tall and the sides will be 1/4″ wide.
Apply a line of hot glue just inside the edge of the cardboard. I use a small glue gun that produces a thin line of glue. Much easier to control than a big runny glob.
Quickly bring both sides of the post together to adhere the glue.
Prepare pieces of cardboard cut to the right size for post caps, then apply hot glue to one end of the post.
Stick the post onto the cap piece.
When bonded, cut the cap piece to fit.
White glue / hot glue…one isn’t better than the other. It’s all about which one you prefer. When making Putz houses, I prefer white glue for most applications, but do use hot glue for things that can happen quickly. Like making fence posts, gluing posts to the base, etc. I find white glue better for those things that need to be done carefully, like gluing roofs to the house.
Once again, details make the post long! I’ll close here and put up another post with helps and hints about attaching fence and fence posts to the Putz base. This is what we’re going for…
When I have the next post up, I’ll link it from here.
Here are links to some of my other tutorials for making Putz houses.
Making Putz house ornaments from Christmas cards
If you would like to see more of my Putz houses, as well as Christmas ornaments I have made from upcycled holiday cards, please visit my Etsy store.
~~Rhonda
Saturday we enjoyed a day at the farm. I sat in the sun and watched everyone cleaning the yard, pulling weeds, digging out honeysuckle vines, building the base for the chicken coop, and other general garden/yard work. It’s hard for me to walk over uneven ground, so I was happy to watch. The twins were great entertainment, too, as they ran from here to there, explored, planted sunflower seeds, used Pa’s little shovels to dig in the dirt, climbed trees, etc. Lots of fun!
Pa’s short garden shovels are just the right size for little gardeners.
DH and DS pulled the old plow out of the barn and hooked it up to the mule…I mean the lawn mower… They plowed a furrow for the grands to plant flower seeds.
Planting sunflower seeds (and digging, digging, digging).
Lots of weed pulling, lots of raking, lots of burning leaves and sticks.
And lots of clambering up and down her favorite climbing tree. She kept checking with anyone who had a clipper in hand. “Not my climbing tree. Don’t cut down my climbing tree.”
Concrete was mixed for the posts of the chicken coop.
The base of the coop made a perfect stage.
And when you live in the country, the hose is a good place to get a drink. No time to waste by running inside on such a beautiful day.
We’re looking forward to many more fun days on the farm.
~~Rhonda
Spring weather and temps are predicted for this week. We’re looking forward to that! Lettuce is sprouting in our garden and the yard is full of daffodils. The bright, cheery bouquet in my craft room smells so good!
I tried a new recipe Sunday, instead of having the spaghetti I had planned. Chicken and Dumpling Bake casserole was a big hit. Comfort food. It’s very easy to make. I added freshly ground black pepper and chopped fresh parsley. Adding pearl onions, carrots and green peas would make it taste like chicken pot pie. This casserole would work well for a pot-luck dinner or to take to a family who needs a warm meal. I wish I’d taken a picture to share with you. Next time!
Here’s the menu for this week.
Monday
Roast Beef Sandwiches
Homemade Buns
Tuesday
White Cheese Chicken Lasagna
Garden Salad
Steamed Broccoli
Corn
Wednesday
Taco Salad
Baked Tortilla Chips
Thursday
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Rice
Friday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Saturday
Fridge Food
Sunday
Alton Brown’s Pot Roast
Homemade Buns
Chips
Celery / Carrot Sticks
Sugar Cookie Bars
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
As in other crafting and artistic projects, each crafter has a personal style that marks the Putz (little glitter houses) he/she makes. The details and embellishments added to your own creations, as well as the level of craftsmanship you develop, will mark your work as yours.
Vintage Putz houses, as well as modern interpretations of those houses, come in many styles and degrees of detail. Some are on bases made of a single layer of cardboard. Some are on bases built up to as much as half an inch high. Some new houses are glued on boxes that can be opened or jars are used as bases. Some will have fences (with or without posts). Some will have a plain piece of cardboard as a fence, while others have fences punched or cut with holes and designs. Some fences run just along the front of the base, while others continue along the sides or all the way around the back of the building.
When crafting your own Putz houses, you are free to do as little or as much detail and embellishment as you like. I think fencing is a beautiful detail and enjoy adding it to my creations. Here’s how I make fencing, with a few tips I’ve learned along the way.
The fence height I use most often is 1/2″, so I mark the cardboard into 1/2″ strips. I do use other sizes, depending on the size of the Putz house and the desired size of the fence. When crafting your own fencing, keep proportion (scale) in mind. Think about how big the fence should be, relative to the size of the building.
A medium weight cardboard (chipboard) is a good place to start. Cereal/cracker box weight, at least. Maybe a little heavier. But too heavy and decorative scissors or punches won’t cut through it. The cardboard I used below came out of a package of bed linens. I haven’t used corrugated cardboard for fencing. The cut edge would have to be treated in some way to fill the holes. Perhaps they could be covered with hot glue and dusted with glitter.
Decorative scissors can be used to make a fence pattern. I have a stash of these for scrapbooking and the wavy one (stamp border pattern) and the zigzag are both good candidates for fencing.
Two strips of decorative fencing can be made with one decorative cut down the middle and one straight cut to separate the fence from the rest of the cardboard piece.
Hand-held punches can also be used to make decorative fencing. These fence strips (from top to bottom) were made with a diamond-shaped hand punch, a circle punch, tear drop punch, rectangular punch, diamond-shaped punch again, and a wavy scissor.
In this example, I used a rectangular-shaped punch to construct a picket fence.
To make this fence, use a 1/2″ strip of cardboard. Mark a guide line 1/8″ from one long edge of the cardboard strip.
The spacing from the top of the fence (long side of the cardboard that is marked with the guide line) and the spacing between each hole should be as uniform as possible. Hold the punch so the bottom is toward you, allowing you to watch the position of the punch in relation to the line on the cardboard. Choose a position for the side of the punch in relation to the last punched hole and use that as a guide also, as each hole is punched. Keep the hand-held punch as vertical as possible. The first few times I used this particular punch, the finished holes had a distinct lean to the right. It may take a little practice and a little fudging to get it just right.
If you want the punched holes centered on the strip, measure the size of hole your punch makes. Calculate from that, and the width of your cardboard strip, to decide where the guideline should be placed.
When the strip is finished, give it at least a base coat of paint at this point. A toothpick is a good tool for cleaning paint out of the punched holes. Make sure all the edges get a coat of paint, but do clean out excess paint. Paint left in the punched holes makes those little holes even smaller and also blurs the sharpness of the design.
I like to paint and glitter the fencing before attaching it to the base. That’s a personal call. It may be easier for others to completely assemble and glue the fencing (and posts, if used) to the base before painting/glittering. Do what seems most comfortable to you.
If you paint the fence after it is glued to the base, the cardboard will absorb moisture from the paint, and may warp or bow. If this happens, don’t worry. Just place a few pins to hold the fence in a straight line. With the pins in place, the cardboard will dry straight and the fence will look great. If the pins have been placed into wet paint, twist them as they are removed rather than pulling them straight out. If pulled straight out, they may pull up a chunk of paint that will require a touch up.
Fencing can be glued to the base without posts. Consider where the entrance should be. This particular base was made for a church with a door set to the right side of the building, so I made the entrance in the fence to the right side of the base.
Pinning the fence helps keep it in place while the glue dries. You can use a glue gun or white glue for this step.
This fence was glued with a glue gun. If you look closely where the pins are, you can see that the fence is being extended with a new piece of fencing. The pins hold the two ends together so they will be aligned when the glue sets. Just twist the pins to pull them out later.
This fence was glued with white glue. I glob it on. Those piles of glue are future snow drifts! The posts in this picture are made from foam core. Not my favorite. I found some square wooden dowels at the hardware store that would make good fence posts. I’ll try them sometime soon.
Hot glue sets up quickly. White glue has a longer dry time, so it leaves some wiggle room for moving things around till you like it. As I said, lumps and clumps of dried glue can be disguised as drifts of snow when the fence is painted, so don’t worry about leaving lumpy glue.
This is a completed base, with fencing and posts, painted and glittered. Ready for the addition of a Putz house or church and any other embellishments you choose to use.
Here’s a fence I made using decorative scissors to cut the top and a punch to add a design. This fence is on a single layer of cardboard and has two posts at the entrance.
This is the finished house on the base shown above. I used the pattern for the Bay Window House, on the Little Glitter House web site. I modified the bay window just a bit. The web site has patterns for other houses and a lot of helpful information about the hobby of constructing little glitter houses.
I was planning to include making fence posts in this tutorial, but it’s getting too long. Follow the link below for the tutorial for making posts.
If you are making Putz houses, I’d love to see what you’re doing.
Here are links to some of my other tutorials for making Putz houses.
Making Fence Posts for Putz Houses
Making Putz house ornaments from Christmas cards
If you would like to see more of my Putz houses, as well as Christmas ornaments I have made from upcycled holiday cards, please visit my Etsy store.
~~Rhonda
We had fun keeping the girls overnight last weekend, though the twins were a little croupy. This sweet girl stayed home from Sunday School because she was running a low grade temp. Pa listened to her lungs to be sure she wasn’t verging on pneumonia. Thankfully, all clear!
Then she took a turn listening to her heart. All clear there, too. 🙂
I have been working hard on my Putz houses. Had to wait for more glitter to arrive before I could take up painting again. But I’m back in business now.
I’ve been working on fences for the Putz house bases, too. I plan to post a tutorial on that soon.
I’m keeping the menu pretty easy this week. All that putzing to do, you know…
Monday
Fridge Food
Tuesday
Turkey over Rice
Green Salad
Wednesday
Chicken Caesar Pita Sandwich
Homemade Pita Pocket Bread
Thursday
Baked Chicken
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Green Salad
Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots
Friday
Hearty Ham Casserole
Green Salad
Saturday
Fridge Food
Sunday
Spaghetti
Garlic Toast
Green Salad
Corn
Stir-Fried Green Beans
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
The mini daffodils ‘Tete-a-Tete’ are making bright patches around the yard.
I love the color of the Lenten Rose. So welcome this time of year.
A few years ago, I found a single snowdrop blooming under the apple tree. This year, there are five blossoms.
The leaves of ‘Star of Bethlehem’ sprout a bright green under a garden bench. When I was a child, we called this “Easter grass” because it makes beautiful clumps of green “grass” perfect for hiding Easter eggs. The flower stalks will pop up in late April / early May as the leaves begin to fade. After flowering the plant goes dormant for the rest of the season.
This tiny clump of moss caught my eye with its bright yellow-green color. The clump is only about an inch and a half wide. It’s always fun to get a close up look at the detail in nature. So easy to miss as you walk by, but a camera can capture those details for a closer look.
The quince bush is covered with pink buds.
The crocus are still blooming. We find new ones popping up here and there in unexpected places. I guess the squirrels plant those for us.
And the daffodils…so refreshing!
‘Von Sion’ daffodils
This little clump of ‘Tete-a-Tete’ daffs near the back door is only five inches tall. I love the minis.
And many more to come!
The chalkboard over the kitchen table is keeping track of the days until spring, but I think spring has other ideas…
~~Rhonda
I have had a few questions about making bases for the little glitter houses, so I decided to post a tutorial explaining how I do it. Here is an example of a house I made on a base. This is actually a model of the house my son and DDIL lived in before they moved. At the time, I didn’t know they’d be moving the following year, so am glad I made this house and gave it to my DDIL for Christmas.
Here are three vintage houses that the above DDIL gave me for Christmas one year. You can see that two of them have bases that are about 1/2″ tall. The white house has a flat piece of cardboard with a very simple fence as its base.
The bases for my little glitter houses are made from thin, not corrugated, cardboard. I use poster board, cardboard from cracker/cereal boxes, cardboard sheets from packaging (like those that sometimes come in new shirts or bed linens), greeting cards, etc., to make boxes for the bases.
Before you start, decide how large your base should be. I find 4×6 to be a good size for many of the houses I make, but if a Putz house is very small or extra large, the base may need to be adjusted in size to fit. An easy way to do this is to set the building on a piece of paper, arranging the trees and embellishments you want to use. Keep in mind that you may want to put a fence around part or all of the base.
Mark the size for the finished base. Remove the building and the embellishments. Measure the size of the base. Add 1″ to the length and to the width for the 1/2″ sides of the base. On this particular base, the length measured 6 7/8″. I rounded up to 7″.
Cut two pieces of cardboard the size of the finished base, plus an additional one inch on the length and the width of each piece. Trim about 1/32 of an inch off one long side and one short side of one of the pieces. This will be the bottom of the box that will make up the base. The thicker the cardboard, the larger this sliver needs to be. Cutting the bottom of the box a bit smaller insures the top of the box will fit over the bottom.
Score a line 1/2″ from the edge of each side of both pieces of cardboard. I use the back of my X-Acto knife to do the scoring, but you can use anything you have on hand that will do the job.
When the scoring is done, cut into the cardboard pieces on the long sides, just to the other scoring line. This creates flaps for the box.
Fold along all the scoring lines. Place a little white glue on the inside of the box, where the flap will rest.
Clothespins make great clamps for holding the flaps down until the glue dries.
When the glue is dry, remove the clothespins and put the top and bottom together to make a box. They should fit snugly.
I fill the base with corrugated cardboard from shipping boxes to make it strong and to give the house more stability. Use the bottom of the box to determine the size of the cardboard fillers. Measure the cardboard just a bit smaller than the box bottom.
In this example, I cut the length all at one time, then cut the width.
After one piece of fill cardboard is cut, place it in the box to see if adjustments need to be made.
Layer fill cardboard until it comes to the top of the sides. For a box with 1/2″ sides, I find four pieces cut from a box like an amazon.com shipping box to be just the right height to fill the base. A little glue between each layer doesn’t hurt. If the cardboard is a bit short in one direction, alternate the pieces to meet one end, then the other, as they are layered.
Filled with pieces cut from corrugated cardboard, the base is strong and won’t sag under the weight of a house and embellishments.
There will be a gap between the sides of the top of the box and the bottom. Draw a line of glue in there and hold the side tight until the glue holds it without gaping. If you like, you can bind the box with large rubber bands to hold everything together until dry.
Now it’s ready for painting and glittering. Add a fence, if you like.
To make this fence, I used a hand-held, diamond-shaped punch.
If you have some houses already made, you can try different ones until you find one that seems just right.
To make this fence with no posts, I used a hand-held, rectangular-shaped punch. I cut the cardboard 1/2″ wide, then drew a pencil line 1/8″ from the edge as a guide for placing the punch. Next time, I’m using thinner cardboard. This was hard to punch.
This is the same style fence, but with posts.
This fence was cut from thin cardboard, using a wavy patterned scissor. I cut the cardboard 1/2″ wide, then trimmed the edge. Worked great.
I have a lot of churches and houses under construction. I’ll be busy making bases for a long time!
Fencing and other details are the stuff of other posts. I’ll try to get to that soon.
If you have any questions about constructing bases for your Putz or little glitter houses, please ask. I’m happy to help if I can.
Here are links to some of my other tutorials for making Putz houses.
Making fence posts for Putz houses
Making Putz house ornaments from Christmas cards
Visit my Etsy store to see more Putz houses and other Christmas ornaments I have made. ChristmasNotebook
~~Rhonda