Monday, December 09, 2013

December Daily #9: A Putz House For Natalie

Natalie's birthday was on Tuesday and I made a Putz House for her. I don't usually give Christmas related birthday presents, but I decided that this was a reasonable exception. Afterall, she seemed to like the ones I made for myself last year.

It all started with my mother's Putz village. They were Depression Era decorations made from cardboard from crackers and cereal, the windows being plastic from other packaging.
We had to add glitter, of course.

I made a a small village of them last year. They are not hard, but you do have to plan accordingly when making them. There are a lot of small steps and lots of down time while the glue dries in between the steps. You also have to have an eye for detail and be accurate with your hands, as well as the knife.

The inspiration for Natalie's house started with a really cool box that contained a lovely bar of soap. I bought it back in April. I let that idea sit in the back of my brain for a long while, thinking about what style of house would be best. Would it need a fence? What kind of animal, if any, should be included? Then I picked a building that would fit nicely and began the process. I use a push pin/ thumb tack to transfer the main points of the design, which I then connect with a pen and then cut it all out with an Xacto knife.
I then traced over the places where I needed to create a bend or a crease with a pen. I made sure that it all fit correctly. Next, I glued on the windows. Sometimes I use pieces of frosted vellum. This time I used plastic from a box of Christmas lights. Once those were dry, I fit it together and glued it with Tacky Glue. I could have used a hot glue gun for this part, but I wanted to be a bit authentic, if possible.

Once the building and the roof were ready, I began adding the glitter. First I glittered the underside of the roof. I applied the glue and spread it out with a brush, generously sprinkling it with art glitter from the Martha Stewart line. I did not knock off the extra glitter for a little while.
Then I glittered the roof. The first coat was spotty, so I touched up spots and added more glitter as needed. If you make the glue too think, it will simply slide off.
The same goes for the walls. You really need to do one wall at a time and leave time for more touch ups.
Once that is done, I begin to plan the base. Most of the time my bases are simply squares of corrugated cardboard. I poke holes for the trees to go into, I make where the house will go. I try out animals and props. I glitter in some snow on the ground. I also add thick Tacky Glue or white Puff Paint onto the roof and the trees then sprinkle those with special iridescent glitter. I also cut a hole where the lights can go. I made the hole large enough for a fake, flickering candle.
I decorated the base of the box with sheet music and fun tinsel ribbon. Once that dried, I glue the house in place, let it dry, added chocolate into the box and gave it to Natalie.

(I had intended to include the links for the free patterns. However, it is late and I have work tomorrow. You can find the patterns by Googling for them, looking at my board in Pinterest, or leave me a comment and I will link them up later.)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like the house.





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