Christmastime in the Village

Hello! I am honored to be a guest designer on the Frilly & Funkie Challenge Blog today. The challenge theme is 'Most Memorable Gift'. When I was in grade school, I received a dollhouse one Christmas. I was ecstatic! It was a four room, yellow Victorian with real shingles! The inside was completely empty, waiting for my decorating touches. That gift sparked a passion for miniatures that lasted all the way through high school. As I got older, I gave away my dollhouse (my boys weren't interested lol) but I retained that love of tiny houses and settings. These days I indulge it by making little vignette boxes/ projects and of course diminutive settings for Tim Holtz Village houses. For this challenge, I decked out the village for Christmas! The neighbor down below is quite festive. ;-) 

(There are lots of photos!! Scroll on down past the supply list for the tutorial tips.)

I have decided I like the top loading lanterns the best because I can build
the whole scene outside the lantern and then just lower it in. Much easier!

The jingle bell garland around the top is merrily musical!

Here are details of the scene before I placed it into the  lantern:

I wanted to contrast the two neighbors. The house on the hill is a bit on the 'frilly' side while the person living down below is a bit 'funky' with their over the top Christmas decorating. I think it's quite fun all together!

Details:

The little snowman is made from paper clay and
covered with glitter (like my craft table!)

The Mini Christmas Things die set is perfect for making
all the lawn decorations for my little house. I was inspired
by a neighbor's house down the street. Their yard is stuffed full!

I used the Notebook embossing folder to make "siding" pieces to go
on all the walls of the blue house. Also, the pine tree cut hides the
light wire running down the corner of the house. ;-)

aaaand here it is with all the lights shining:

Whew! You made it through the first half of the post. Be sure to head on over to the Frilly & Funkie blog to check out the challenge and all the fab projects their design team made. Enter and you'll have a chance to win a $25 spending spree at the Funkie Junkie Boutique!

(In case you missed it, I completed a huge Halloween Village lantern project in October, check it out!)  

Dies Used: 

Sizzix (all Tim Holtz):

Village Dwelling (Sizzix / SSS) 

Village Manor (Sizzix / SSS) 

Village Bungalow (Sizzix / SSS) 

Village Rooftops (Sizzix / SSS) 

Village Landscape (Sizzix / SSS )

Village Christmastime (Sizzix / SSS)
Winter Wonderland (Sizzix / SSS)
Retro Merry Christmas (Sizzix / SSS)

Mini Christmas Things (Sizzix / SSS)
Paper Snowflakes (Sizzix / SSS)
Layered Snowflake - 660040 retired

A Jillian Vance Design:
Towering Tree Die set
Tranquil Tree Die

Other supplies:

Tim Holtz embossing folder Notebook

Tim Holtz Layering Stencils – Mini Set 28
Distress Ink – Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke, Pine Needles

Distress Oxide Ink – Broken China, Brushed Corduroy
Distress Spray Stains – Pine Needles, Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn
Distress Dry Glitter - Rock Candy
Stickles Rock Candy, Pine Needles
Tim Holtz Ranger Grit Paste
Tim Holtz Mini Woodland Tree Lot
Tim Holtz Small Woodland Tree Lot
plaster cloth
Deco Art Snow paste (house tops)
Main base snow mixture 'goop': Cerulean Blue liquid acrylic paint, Prima Art Basics Light Paste, Prima Art Basics Gloss Gel, heavy body Titanium White acrylic paint

Simon Says Stamp and Sizzix links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also says thanks!)

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All right, here we go with some tutorial action!
There are lots of videos on how to put together the houses, Tim Holtz has several on his blog. I'm mainly going to cover the base construction and lighting. See the tutorial on my Halloween Village blog post for more info as well.

I like to construct the bases out of foam core board (found at office/craft stores).

I played around with the placement of the houses and the trees before
gluing parts down.

I built up the terrain and filled in the supports with wadded paper and tape. Plaster cloth strips are easy to use and form nicely over the base.

oops, I forgot to take a photo after I did the plaster.

The roof lighting on the blue house was a bit tricky! Thanks goodness for fake snow; it covered up all the yucky wires and glue. I tacked all the wires in place with hot glue.

I wanted to have some shingles showing so I glued them around the edges. I also hot glued the bungalow dormers right on top of the wires. There was a big gap but that is what the fake snow is for. ;-)

I used a palette knife to spread on the snow texture paste and then sprinkled it with Rock Candy Dry Glitter while it was wet.

I used part of a garland of star LED lights I found at JoAnn's to light the houses themselves. I glued down a couple of bulbs where they would be underneath the houses and left the rest loose to position in the 'sky' once the base was inserted into the lantern. I then hot glued the houses in place and prepared my 'snow mixture goop'. I adapted a recipe I found on a model railroad landscaping tutorial to use media that I already had at hand (imagine that!) I used equal parts Prima Art Basics Light Paste, Prima Art Basics Gloss Gel, and Liquitex heavy body Titanium White acrylic paint. I added a tiny drop of Cerulean Blue paint. Once I spread it over the base I sprinkled it with the Rock Candy glitter. I had all my little decorations ready to go so I could stick them in the wet snow to glue them in place.

The battery boxes/switches for the light strands I fastened into the lantern lid with heavy duty hook and loop tape. You need to be able to swap the batteries in them!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this really long post! I hope you are inspired. =) Merry Christmas to you all!

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