This is a project i've been wanting to make for a while now, for like two or three years, but somehow i never did and moved on to ( tons of) other ideas ideas instead.
But with Halloween and Christmas right around the corner, this is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: create something that can be used for both hoildays, and get rid of paper scraps.
To be honest, there was a good reason i skipped this project for such a long time. Was it some mighty power from above? Destiny? Instinctive knowledge that i am in no way able to think dimensionally?
Ain't it funny how i am able to make flowers and all kinds of paper crafts literally within minutes, but then i struggle hard with those little houses? This is supposed to be a kids craft, isn't it? I don't think so...
Nonetheless, let me show you how i spent two ( 2!) full days making my paper putz houses.
Part 1 is dedicated to my battle with the buildings, and Part 2 is dedicated to the actual fun: decorating.
I started with this Martha template, just to warm up.
1. I printed it in its original size, the "ornament" size. Then i cut out the elements, transfered the shapes to black cardstock, and cut along the solid lines with a ruler and knife.
2. To make folding easier, i pressed down a bone folder alongside the dotted lines
3. Next, i flipped the house and covered the windows and door with orange transparent paper ( using a glue roller)
4. Lastly, i folded the carved lines and glued everything together with hot glue.
Quite easy! ( so far...)
The next house was supposed to look more haunted, perhaps a house that Jack Skellington would love to live in?
So this time, i used patterned paper instead of solid colored cardstock, and drew the templates free-hand. At first, i drew a little sketch, and then transferred the shapes to the cardstock.
I cut each wall seperately, which meant more glueing, but other than that the single steps are basically the same as with the Martha house.
For the third house i used this template from http://littleglitterhouses.com ( the go-to site for DIY putz houses).
I got bored of making Halloween houses, but perhaps a Christmas house would be more fun? So let's move on to that.
Totally random, but to bring myself into christmas mood, i wore my favorite old snowman socks...
Um, anyway. The christmas houses are inspired by several pins from my Pinterest Christmas Decoration board.
This one is my favorite- isn't it adorable?? Oh, i would love to move in with my Sweeto immediately!
In order to create a template for this house, i made a screenshot of the picture and printed it. Then i measured the width of the house, added 3cm for each side wall, and ended up with a decent template, similar to the first one by Martha Stewart.
At this point i realized that making paper houses with my own template is kind of stupid. I mean, it worked somehow, but i simply couldn't turn my visions into reality. Let's blame it on my lack of architectural skills. Or because i rarely use templates and prefer to cut everything free-hand, which works well with paper flowers and such, but obviously not with buildings that require exact measuring and cutting.
But perhaps making a house from an empty milk carton and sheet music would be more fun?
No. It wasn't. I'll spare you the details. Let me just say i wanted a church, but had absolutely no clue how to make the bell tower actually fit onto the roof *big sigh*
So, i went back to www.littleglitterhouses.com and used this church template.
1. Print
2. Cut
3. Test-assemble the cutouts, then cut and glue the elements from corrugated cardstock
Et voilà! A church! A beautiful white church!
Eventually I realized that making paper houses is clearly not "my thing".
So i gave up and let my good old Cameo cut a few more shapes: this and this and this.
Once everything was cut and glued together, i could finally add some lovely tiny little details.
Come back tomorrow for Part 2, the "decorating" part