Christmas Houses

It's that time of the year: let's ramp up that Christmas crafting! Using a Tall House Shelf set from Alpha Stamps, I made a couple of holiday houses. One, a gingerbread house with happy kids, and one a retro looking house using my favorite color combo of turquoise and red (plus pink!). Each house is 6" tall with a 3" by 1" base.

The gingerbread house features two happy kids, laden with sweets. The ground, window sill and roof are all covered with an icy layer of glitter, and then encrusted in candies. How cute is that little girl's gingerbread house hat?

 

The tree is decorated with festive holiday lights; these kids are ready for the big day. Both of the trees used in these projects were a little wide for the bases, so I trimmed their backs flat so they sit flush against the houses.

 

 

The occupants of the retro house have used the same lights to decorate their roof line. I separated the lights from their strand, and attached them with an epoxy glue that sets instantly with UV light. It's my first time using a glue like that, and I love it! I used an old kit that my husband had, but if you're interested, I did find several different brands when I searched online for "epoxy glue UV light". I highly recommend adding this to your selection of glues.

 

Don't you just love this pink tree? It's decorated with colored beads. And who's that peaking out the window at Santa? Looks like someone's wrapping up more gifts. Santa is outside, ready to deliver the goodies he's packed in his bag. Ho ho ho, merry Christmas!

 

The houses were super easy to make and decorate. The backs and sides of each were painted to match the paper used to cover the fronts; the windows, icy roofs, and bases were all painted white and covered with glitter. White glue was used to decorate the trees and add the embellishments like the snowflake on the Santa house, and the candies on the gingerbread house. (Yes, the base is blue in this photo; I repainted it when I decided to glitter it to look like snow.)

 

Here's how the figures stand in front of the houses: I held each cutout where I wanted it to be place, and used a pencil to mark the spot where each foot hit the ground. I inserted a straight pin into the base at each mark, and then snipped the pins down to size. White glue was used to attach the pins to the backs of the legs of each figure.  Below, the pins are glued, waiting for Santa. You'll need to hold him in place while the glue dries, but it just takes a couple of minutes. Once your figure is set on the pins, you might want to remove them from the base and put a little drop of glue on the pins before you reinsert them. Now your figures are able to stand away from the house without the use of foam tape. 

 

For a list of supplies, click here!