Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sparkles Everywhere

As promised, here is the other snowman box I created.
I like this guy much better, his head is better proportioned with his body... I used an old wool sweater that I felted for his top hat and scarf.
For the tree, I used silver pipe cleaners to acheive a vintage tinsel look. It's a lot of fun playing with this Fast Mache' stuff. I even have a few more things drying right now. I hope to buy some Celluclay which Lori recommended using for the snowman. Hopefully my craft store will get some in soon...Don't forget to stop by the Joli Paquet blog. There are a few more fun tutorials already posted that I can wait to try. Oh, and they will be selling some kits this week too!

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Besides making snowmen, I been working on a cardboard Christmas town.
I've always been inspired by old Putz houses. I love this picture I found in my Grandparents photo album. A little hard to see, but if you look closely at the mantel, you can see Mrs. Ekblads beautiful display of Putz houses, bottle brush trees, celluloid Santa and reindeers. I tried to find a picture of my Grandma's Christmas mantel because she decorated her's very similar.
I just love pictures from the 40's!!!

I decided to try and make my own "Putz" like snow town this year. I found a couple unfinished cardboard ornaments at the craft store to play with and this is how they turned out. I started by painting them my favorite non-traditional Christmas colors. I then built the base platform for each out of cardboard from cereal boxes. I used cereal box cardboard to construct some fences too. After I added some bottlebrush trees I covered each piece entirely with mica flakes. You can never have enough sparkle!!! I really love all the new fancy cardboard houses that are out on the market, I especially love the ones by Cody Foster, they are truly delightful! I just don't have the budget to spend $50 to $100 on one, so for $1.99 I created my own. I think they'll be just fine...

18 comments:

LiLi M. said...

Ooh Karoline, I'm drooling over my desk! Already when your blog starts and I saw your new banner, I started drooling. I loved those rhinestone alarmclocks but those houses...
Yes you are right, this snowman is better, but I thought the first one was already awesome, this one is just a little more terrific! I like those houses very much and I was planning to make some myself and now I see that you already have done that, unbelievable, I didn't think from the look of your banner that you made them yourself, whow, chapeau and thanks for inspiration.

Anonymous said...

...you ought to be very proud of yourself for that one. That is a great and very inspiring post. You village is absolutely gorgeous.

~Becca~Bluebird Rose said...

Cute snowman, and your little houses are adorable!! I have some of those I bought to paint, and I really like your idea of making "platforms" for them!!
Thanks so much for sharing!
:)
~Becca~

Amy said...

I just bought the house and church at Michaels tonight!!! Love, love, love how yours turned out. What a clever idea of making bases!

Unknown said...

Oh, your Christmas Town is fabulous! I LOVE that you made your own! Your are inspiring. Your snowman is adorable, too! :)

Scrap for Joy said...

Your houses are confections-love the colors you chose to use. I love non-tradional Christmas colors, too. I may try these myself. And your snowman-he is adorable! Thanks for sharing him. (I found you through the Joli Flickr pics)

Anonymous said...

I love the black and white snowman and those houses are gorgeous! I bought a bunch of cardboard houses last week at Hobby Lobby (40% off, gotta love that!)... we're going to be using them for my daughter's birthday party, each girl is going to turn one into a candy-decorated gingerbread house. Wish me luck and no icing on the ceiling :)

vintage girl at heart said...

These are AMAZING!!!! I love them and you did a wonderful job.. when I saw your header I thought they were the expensive ones!! I hear the glitter calling my name!!!
Oh the snowman is wonderful too!!!!
I feel the Holiday spirit coming on!!!!

Heidi Ann said...

They are very FINE, indeed!

Linda said...

Your snowman is wonderful and I love all your houses....just so beautiful...hugs, Linda

Patina said...

Wow, your houses turned out great! Love the colors too! That is a great photo, it's fun to see the vintage Christmas in the background.

Anonymous said...

I love your little houses!!! Just precious!

The Little Miss said...

where did u get the little bottle trees? the colors are lovely

Unknown said...

You are so talented! I LOVE THESE :)
I wonder if I could make one? Probably not. hehe
Pretty!

Caroline said...

I adore those little houses. I have bought one in a store here in town but not even as nice as yours.
So sweet!!
Caroline~~

Anonymous said...

These houses turned out DARLING! I love them! Great job!
xoxo, Tiffany

Protector of Vintage said...

Wow! Your houses are gorgeous!! I enjoyed browing through your blog posts and will visit again.

Rochelle said...

Love your little village......my daughters and i used cereal boxes to construct ours years ago from a pattern that Martha Stewart had....i cherish ours as it was made my my little girls hands and mine!