A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS HOUSE

Happy December everybody!  

The countdown is ON!  Only 22 days left until Christmas!

This week, Simon Says Stamp and Show is hosting a challenge themed "House Rules".  This could mean a number of things, but since it's so close to Christmas and I love creating Christmas home decor, I decided to make a sweet vintage style Christmas house.

This house began as a plain and simple paper mache house that I bought on sale for $2.00 from a local craft store.  With some imagination and some great products, I turned it into a winder wonderland.

Here is just the basic house.  It measures apporoximately 7" wide by 8" tall.  The top is removable.  I added some chipboard pieces to create a front porch and a yard .. but I will get into all of that as I go along.

As with most of my pieces, I had an idea what I was going to do before I started but things seldom finish out the way I think they will when I start them.  I began by painting the entire house with Claudine Hellmuth's Dash of Red Studio Paint.  It's a beautiful and traditional Christmas red color!  I painted the roof in Martha Stewart's Pesto Sateen Paint.  No particular reason...it was just a good green acrylic paint that I already had.

I knew that I wanted to add lighting to this house but I don't like the bright bulb shining through the windows.  So, I added a piece of tracing paper, cut into 2" strips.  I added the 1/4" Scor Tape as shown in the picture to all of the windows and then laid the tracing paper over the tape to hold it in place.  Wha-lah!  Windows! 

Such a festive colored house with so many windows needs shimmering shutters!  I created these shutters by cutting a plain Grungeboard into 1/2" strips.  Then, using Tim Holtz Mini Scallop On The Edge die cut, I created the scalloped edges.  Then I painted the strips with the same green paint I used on the roof and sprinkled them with Martha Stewart's Crystal Fine Glitter.  When dry, I smeared Stardust Stickles over the shutter and let it dry.  Then I attached 1/4" Scor Tape to the backsides of the shutters and pressed them into place on either side of the windows.

Every house needs a front door.  In this case, I cut a 1"x2" piece of Grungeboard and embossed it using Tim Holtz' Stripes Texture Fade.  I painted the door with a Gold Paint Dabber and added a Tim Holtz Long Fastener for a door knob (leaving space between the "knob" and the door).  I added a piece of Tyvek to the backside of the door and secured it with 1/4" Scor Tape-see the white piece to the side of the door). Then I added a piece of Christmas cardstock to the backside of the door to finish it off.  I added more 1/4" Scor Tape to the side of the Tyvek visible in this picture and then secured it to the inside of the door opening of the house.

Here is a picture of my little house early in the construction.  Shutters are attached to the windows and front door in place; with the ability to open and close, thanks to the Tyvek hinge.

As I said earlier, I wanted my house to have lights.  So, I used a Stickles bottle as a pattern and drew a circle centered in the backside of my house.  I cut it out using an Exacto Knife and created a hole where I could insert a bulb to create light that would shine through the windows of my house.

I wanted to give this little house even more dimension ... so I decided to add a front porch.  To do this, I measured across the width of my roof and cut a piece of chipboard just under 7" long.  I determined that a length of 3" would give my porch a nice, proportional width coming off of my house.

I am in LOVE with Tim Holtz' little battery operated lanterns and I wanted to add one hanging in the center of my porch.  Here is how I did that:

  

I determined where I would want my lantern to hang from the roof of the porch.  I then cut a slit to accommodate slipping the plug end of the cording through the chipboard.

Then I added another piece of Tyvek to create a hinge where my porch roof would attach to the house.  I secured the Tyvek to the chipboard using 1/4" Scor Tape and I also added the tape to the free end of the Tyvek to attach to the house.

I then added a 1/4" piece of Scor Tape to the house where the porch roof would attach with the Tyvek.  Before I added the two together, I decided it would be cool to make the porch roof look like a tin roof!  So, I used a piece of Ranger's Metal Foil Tape Sheet and embossed it using Tim Holtz' Notebook Texture Fade.  It looks alot like a sheet metal roof.  Then I lightly painted it with the same green paint I used on the roof of the house.

I was also able to tuck the cording from the lantern underneath the metal foil sheet to secure it in place for the hanging lantern in the center of the porch.  Next I added a 2" strip of chipboard (painted the same red as the house) to the front base of the house to give my front porch a floor.  I also added a base of chipboard that measured 7" x 11" to create a "yard" for my house.

My porch needed support posts for the ends of the roof and it also needed a fence around the porch area.

I cut two dowel rods 4 1/2" long.  I cut two strips of Tim Holtz' On The Edge Picket Fence out of Grungeboard and painted all of them with Picket Fence Crackle Paint.  When they were dry, I determined where my fence needed to bend to create the corners of my front porch and I glued the posts (dowel rods) into place.  Then I decorated the posts and fence with a miniature holly garland that I entwined with red ribbon and glued it into place.  Finally, I added some little pine cones, berries and bows.  How festive are they and ready to hot glue into place on the front porch!

Here is a picture of the "yard" and the front porch of my house during the construction.

Next I was ready to do more of the detail work on the roof of the house before putting it all together.  There are two peaks on the front of the house....

Just perfect for Tim Holtz' Mini Rosettes.  I created these two rosettes out of some scrap Christmas paper that i had.  I found the vintage Santa image online and sized it to be the center of my rosettes (3/4" when punched out with a circular punch). I added Platinum Stickles around the perimeter of the rosettes and along lightly the ridges.  Then I also added a little Platinum Stickles around the perimeter of the circle centers.  This picture doesn't really show it that well, but they sparkle like a Christmas ornament!

They really look festive "up on the rooftop" when hung with Tim Holtz' red 

Winter Tinsel Twine. 

Now things are really starting to come together! The house top is placed upon the house and the posts help support the newly added front porch.  See the little lantern hanging from the porch?  So cute!!  And it's not even got the batteries in it yet!

Here is a better view of the front porch and the hanging lantern.  

The eaves on the sides of the house looked plain in comparison to the front porch.  So, I opened up a couple of my Tim Holtz' Woodlands packages that I've been dying to get into!  These packages have cream colored bottlebrush style trees and a wreath.  I sprayed the wreaths and trees with Leap Frog Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist spray to give them that beautiful green color.  Then I hot glued some miniature little balls that I found at a craft store.  Finally, I added another red Tinsel Twine bow and hot glued them into place on either side of my eaves.

Here are the trees, sprayed with the Glimmer mist and little ornaments added.  One with a big of snow...the other without so show you the difference in what a little detailing can do.

But there is STILL something missing!!!  SNOW!!!  What is a Christmas eve without SNOW? And there still needs to be things out in the yard...like trees, reindeer, presents and SANTA!  Like magic...the snow started falling (thanks to Snow-Tex).  I worked sections at a time with the Snow-Tex and then added Martha Stewart's Crystal Glitter to give the snow that fresh, new fallen snow glisten.

The front yard is covered in snow! The trees are in place and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  The lights are warmly glowing from inside the house and the little lantern lights the way for Santa to make his Christmas Eve visit!

 Snow is piled upon the roof...

And even the tin roof manages to keep some snow...

as the little lantern burns brightly below. 

All dressed up for Christmas ...

Santa and his reindeer arrive with presents!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Join us at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  The Design Team has made such beautiful house images for you this week!  Then enter our challenge.  YOU could be the winner of our 

$50.00 credit voucher! And you could be recognized as one of our TOP THREE entries for the week!  Have fun with this one!!!  I can't wait to see what you create!

Here is a list of the products available at Simon Says Stamp that I've used in this project:

InLinkz.com