Holiday Crafting

So, growing up we had these little glitter houses that came out every year at Christmas.  I remember my sisters always telling me to lay under the tree and look up at all the lights.  I always wanted to be on the side where those little houses were.

I've come to know now that those little houses are called "Putz Houses".  These houses are heavily rooted in the Pennsylvania Dutch traditions, which makes sense that we had them, since my mom's side of the family is PA Dutch.

Since the houses from my childhood are probably lost in Dad's attic, I figured that I'd take a shot at making my own.

I started with the trees.  Got a big pack of green flocked bottle brush trees from Michaels and followed Ms. Polly Roger's tutorial on how to bleach and dye them different colors so that they look vintage.  You'll find lots of different trees out there.  The kind with the little round wooden bottoms work the best.

Then I made the houses.  I will caution you, this is a time consuming project.  All in all it took me like 2 weeks off and on (maybe a total of 8 hours for the whole project).  I got templates from the Inspired Ideas Christmas Issue and also from retrorenovation.com.  The cutting is both time consuming and boring.  When you first assemble the houses don't be discouraged.  Glitter solves everything and makes them look absolutely fabulous.  I promise!

Here's some shots of mine in the various stages