The house that Annette built

Although Christmas is coming upon me at a much faster rate than I am prepared for, I am actually in the spirit. It's tough in Florida where there are no environmental indicators (except when one walks into a craft store). Heck, I still haven't taken down the Halloween decorations yet. But I've had a lot on my plate getting ready for my big annual holiday workshop this Sunday. Literally been at it since August. I'm very excited for it to finally be here!


Meanwhile, there are still monthly classes and clubs that I must keep up with. Today's project is for my November All Things Tim Club (as in Tim Holtz, of course) and it begins with this papier mache house I picked up at my local Hobby Lobby...

Which became this...

And the coolest thing about this house is...

These mini lanterns ROCK!

I knew when Tim first showed us these new lanterns that I was going to HAVE to make something with them. They are part of his Idea-ology line and they come with a battery pack which holds two AA batteries per lantern. Each lanterns has a generous length of cord, so I was able to weave it through the window and put the battery pack inside the house. The top of the house comes off like a lid, so all I have to do is pull it off to plug in the battery pack when I'm ready to light up the house.

I just got this fantastic rosette die called Mini Snowflake Rosette, by Sizzix Alternations. I cut metallic silver paper to make two of these snowflakes for the top of the house. The tinsel trim on the top of the roof line is also from Idea-ology called Tinsel Twine.

The wreath is another new Sizzix Alterations die called Mini Wreath & Bow. I cut it from Kraft-Core cardstock, then embossed it with my Sizzix Raspberry Frame Set embossing folder for a textured background. I sanded it a bit, then added Xmas Red Stickles. My front door is simply card stock pieces inked and layered, and for the doorknob I used a hitch fastener. The door doesn't actually open. Just for show. And of course, those mini lanterns flank the door. I glued them right to the house with Beacon's 3-in-1 Glue.

My little poinsettia pot is filled with some craft store mini pine cones and berries. The poinsettias and leaves are from the new Sizzix Alterations die called Mini Cardinal & Poinsettia. I cut three out of red Kraft-Core card stock and layered them up with a small foam square between each layer. Then I cut one more out of green Kraft-Core for the leaves. Each cluster has been glued to a toothpick which I covered with green floral tape and then all stems are stuck into clay inside the mini basket.

The windows took the most time do to because there are a total of 12 of them and each one needed a pane and shutters. This made the windows look so much more finished. I used the Sizzix Textured Fade called Collage & Notebook on Juniper card stock to make the shutter effect. Then I layered that piece onto another piece of Juniper. Sort of looks like a shutter, don't you think?

The trees on the right are from the Idea-ology pack called Woodlands. It comes with a small wreath as well, but I'm saving that for one of the smaller houses I bought. (Yes, I'm going to make a little Christmas village and will post when it's finished.) I liked the cream color of the trees with my house but wanted to give them just a little shimmer, so I lightly spritzed them with some Krylon Glitter Blast "Sparkling Waters" glitter spray from the local craft store. A dusting of regular white glitter all over for the snow finished off the house perfectly. 

Each of my class members' houses will look different since we'll be using one paper pack to choose from. I used Hobby Lobby's Paper Studio pack called Old World Winter. It has that vintage look and provides three sheets of each pattern in the pack. The perfect amount to cover the main house portion.

And just in case you wondered, the house is 12 inches high and 9 inches wide.

I'll be sure to post a photo of the group's houses when they are finished. We meet next Friday, November 16th, so stay tuned!