X-mas house part 10: outside

I didn't succeed in getting my little Christmas House ready before Christmas, but the winter is not over yet. In fact, it still hasn't started, just one night of snow, which was also the night our central heating stopped working... Here some pictures of how it is now:

The little light clamped at the side of the door is made by my husband, could he be infected with the miniature virus as well?!? It's really lovely, better pictures of it will come in a next post.

I love those lighted pots in 1:1.

The snowman excist of 2 styrofoam balls, with fake snow glued on them. He still needs a face and clothing.

And here is how I made it:

The path is made of airdrying clay. I used a pattern-sheet to make bricks. Let show that a bit closer:

See? This sheet is bought, but a lot of packages for food have texture as well, similar to tiles.

While drying I fitted the grass.

It comes from a shop for model trains. I choose the darkest shade, but I still think it's too light of colour. So I make a mixture of water and watercolourpaint, and spray it on it, as brushing affects the texture of the grass. I use an used and empty hairspraybottle, as the paint will block the nozzle eventually. 

When the clay was dry, I painted it a brownish greenish shade, trying to get a mixture of colours. Then I applied darker colours between the "stones", a very easy job, as the paint flows into the channels.

The stonework itselve got a reddish padding on it.

The dried result.

The snow shovel was made of a tealight cup...

... and pressed carefully into some more airdrying clay at the borders of the path the snow shovelled of the path.

Then fake snow was glued all over the place, except for the cleaned path. The thingie in the grass is the lightbulb for the pot of the Chrstmastree.

The pot was made of a piece of plastic foil, painted in white, a plastic bottle-cap to wrap the foil around, and a border made of a tealight cup, using pattern-scissors and a punch.

The end result.

I wish I could visit some of your blogs, but I don't get the pages loaded. I didn't get into my account at first as well, and it took 6 times to get the pictures uploaded. So now I first get some sleep, and hopefully tommorow blogger will make me a happy blogger, instead of the grumpy blogger I am now!

Marit

X-mas house part 9: side table & more deco

I wanted to make a miniature scene for my miniature scene. The 'glass' is the cap of a spraybottle.

And the house needed a side-table, to put the decorations on. I just love lasercut wood, so easy for a beautiful result!

And this is the endresult:

The inside is getting cosy, the outside is still bare. And I still need a window and a stove. I need to get busy to get it all done for Cristmas. I have the day off tomorrow, so I hope it will be more complete in the evening.

Have a fun Thursday!

Marit

X-mas house part 8: starry etagère

The technique of the previous post can also be used on tealight cups. This metal is thicker and stronger, not suitable for detailed features, but very suitable for... a etagère, for example. I have a etagère of Riverdale, with plates in the shape of stars. Left the etagère as sold by Riverdale, right my miniature version, 2,3 cm in height.

This is what I used. The blue thingie is a piece of soft plastic foam.

I punched a bigger and a smaller heart. I used the big embossing pen on one side of the metal, on the entire star except for the borders.

Then I turned the metal upside-down, and worked on the borders with a small embossing pen.

I repeated both treatments 2 times for the best effect. It makes the metal smooth and shiny. A hole is pinced in the middle,  first with a needle to make the hole, and second with the earring-stud (if you understand what I mean, it is visible in the second picture) to make it fit.

Time to assemble, using a bit of glue to stabilize it. The top-ornament is also from jewelry-making, to make a hanger of a sphere.

Hope you like it!

Marit

X-mas house part 7: mirror

This post is about a technique I love, and I used it to make the angel-ornament of the mirror. Every fireplace deserve a beautiful mirror.

Start with something to eat, something which needs a new package to be opened, a package with a thin metal foil, like this. I collect these foils, together with other waste which might be useful for miniature-making in a box in my kitchen. Anyone reckognizes this? ;-)

Further I need my embossing pens and an nice ornament. I use a standard ornament here, but it could be anything: a beautiful relief on a winebottle, jewelry, etc.

Place the foil over the ornament and start with the largest embossing pen on the outside of the ornament, then the smaller ones for getting the details in the foil. Be careful, don't make the foil crack. Because of the bit of texture in the foil, it is quite capable to fit sharp bends, but not instantly.

I rubbed a bit of white paint on it, and cut the edges, and then took the ornament out, back into its jar for the next time or another project.

The foil-ornament can be bend to fit the shape of the mirror, unlike the original ornament.

The mirror itselve is made of mirror-pieces and wooden lathes. A bit of white paint and silver wax finishes it off.

I love this technique as it uses waste, nothing else, and gives such stunning results. The possibilities are endless. 

I hope you find this useful too,

Marit

X-mas house part 6: door & wreath

This week I have been working on the door, from time to time.

On the door are some leftover sticks, made for the walls. I find it so hard to get a 45 degree angle on them, to fit them in a square. And with 8 sticks on each side of the door, each with two angles... pfff! The doorhandles come of a halogen light bulb.

The wreath is made of a sort of brush stick, don't know the English name (pijperager in Dutch), painted green, and Lycopodium green glued on it (leftover from making the Christmas tree, see part 4).

The door has had three different colours thoughout the week. First I painted it white, which was good for the inside, but too much white on the outside, with the white wall. Then I choose a very light and pale shade of green for the outside of the door. I thought it would look faded and interesting, but it didn't. It was just plain ugly. I ended up with grey. And guess what: the green shines a little bit through the grey and I just love it! Not visible on the photo though... Anyway: a bit of sanding on the edges and here it is:

Enjoy your Sunday!

Marit