Minaiture Glittered Houses

Let me start by saying I am not a big fan of Martha Stewart but I often bought the Holiday issues of the magazine because they were so pretty....

Now, onto business. Yesterday, I stumbled across some little cardboard glittered house in a local gift shop. They were to be used as Christmas tree ornaments and I remembered that my Grandmother had some that were her mother's.... and now my mother's. I think they came from Germany.

I recalled seeing an article about making them in one of the old MS Living mags so I started hunting through my collection and found it in the Christmas 2000 issue. I reduced the template by 45% and copied it onto colored cards stock. The directions say to paint both sides but I chose the colored cardstock instead. I didn't cut out the doors or windows. I will glue on a different color. Here are my steps:

I scored on the lines and glued the basic house toegther (this is actually the church). The I put the roof on, first one side then the other.

Then I made the steeple. and glued it to the roof followed by the steeple roof. This was a little futzy.

I also made a roofed entry ....

Not bad for a quick and dirty sample. I think I will use a different color for the roofs. I will stick with card stock, though and not paint it. I will thin the white glue just a bit, brush it on and then glitter.

I think I will reduce the template down to 35%. This church is 1in by 2in by 2.5 in high. It is ok for a table decoration but I think I'd like it a little smaller. There is a smaller house template that may be ok. I haven't tried it yet.

I would love to share this template with you but I am not sure how to do that. I have the fullsized template saved to my 'puter as a pdf. Any advice how to make that availlable?

Actually, I have found the article on line and it includes the template. You can reduce it to any size you wish. Just go here:

Glittered Houses

Tabitha

Remember Mug Drumpus....?

...The snarky little Troll went Trick or Treating by himself...no adult supervision! Bad boy..

....and look where he headed first thing!

But there were lots of nice treats inside...event though a the remains of who knows who were lurking off to the side. The resident witch has left her new broom from Kat leaning against the door so I imagine she'll be back to hand them out soon. He'll have to be patient...a trait he, like most trolls, is in short supply of. :-)

Seriously... Remember back to the first show I did way back in July? The pitiful one where the highlight was winning the purple ribbon for best overall exhibit? This is the little "inside/outside" roombox that won. I couldn't get a really good longshot so there isn't one but I think the close-ups are good.

The outside porch light, smoldering cauldron (see in the corner behind the cobwebs) and inside chandelier illuminate with a battery pack hidden under the roof (not shown but it is a mansard with gargoyles and a vulture on the top).

The pumpkins on the table and floor also light up. I made the vignette from a tutorial I found on line. The lights are a string of 10 with a battery pack used for Christmas decorations.

Kat the Hat Lady made the broom. Mug's trick or treat pail and the skeleton parts are from Micheal's. Other that I made everything else. I've had the box for ages. Used styrofoam trays from the grocery for the stone on the inside and outside of the box. Light weight, cheap, easy to use and paint.This weekend, I traveled to another miniature show.

Very few dealers (with little stock) and only 3 artisans but I did manage to pick up a few items. My biggest coup was this Abbey corner from a company called Earth and Tree. There was a club table where members could sell things they no longer wanted or needed. Someone started this project and decided it wasn't for them. I snapped it up for a song. It's a sturdy piece but not too heavy.

My friend Larry Bolduc from Unicorn Studios (designer of the Great Hall and class instructor) was there with some of his new medieval castings. I love this fireplace surround and will probably add a third wall to the Abbey and use it there.

You can see Larry's things at www.larrybolduc.com

I am sorry that I haven't been blogging much myself lately. I've been up to my elbows in alligators (as they say) with costuming for the Merry Wives of Windsor. This tech week so it's crazy and opening night is Friday. All I can say is that it is a boatload of work for three performances. I have been reading what everyone else is up to though....so many busy people!

Tabitha