My two little girls have been asking me to make them each glitter houses, since I made the village last Christmas, see how here. This year I decided to surprise them with their own. I worked hard to get them done by Christmas, and was anxiously awaiting a spare moment to share them with you all in blog land. Unfortunately I got really sick Christmas day, and spent four days in bed with a sinus infection. I am finally feeling better, and want to share them before Christmas decorations and celebrations are officially over and we all go back to school, work, and normal life without all the glitter.

I made them using my new Cricut Expression. I just got it in November for my birthday, and this was one of my first major projects. I used the “Winter Woodland” Cartridge, and this little house is building number 5.

They are easier to make than the ones that I hand cut, but I did have to use a thinner cardboard, so they’re not quite as stable as the others. I haven’t had too much time to play around with all the options, but I am really pleased with how this first project came out. Even with the time saver cutting them out, the houses are still really time consuming with all the steps involved.

After they’re cut out, you need to glue them all together. I made two houses for my girls, which I decided to mount on some cute paper boxes I had, since I didn’t want to start an entire village for them. I also made three of these new ones to add to my village and the villages I’ve started for my Mom and sister last Christmas. These ones I attached to the same kind of base I made last year, you can find the pattern here.

After everything is all glued together, you need to paint the base and house with a couple coats of white craft paint. Then choose your colours.

The houses I was making to go into the villages, I decided to use the same glitter that I used last year so they would match, but for the girls I experimented a little with different sizes, colours, and shapes of glitter.

This house has a rectangular shaped “tinsel” glitter in pink. The other house has silver on the roof, and I also included some small snowflake and star embellishments.

These two little houses were so much fun to make, I was like a kid in a candy store with all the little embellishments! I found some cute little snowmen at Michaels and changed out their red scarves for some pink ribbon.

I also made a little pathway to the front door with white buttons.

The trees were originally green, dollar store finds. I had heard around blog land that you could bleach them so I thought I’d give it a try. I love how they turned out. I just hot glued on a few beads and balls.

A final fun detail, is the little wreath on the front door, and a sweet little present left by Saint Nick

The girls loved them, and although they were fairly quickly put aside for new dollies, Zhu Zhu pets, and fort building kits, I’m sure that each year when I set up my village they will be delighted to unpack these from storage and give them a place of pride in their bedrooms.

The house I made for the village turned out really nice too.

I love its creamy yellow and white, with its light pink door. It joined the rest and looks quite “at home”. The glitter is all packed up for another year, when I’ll try to add another new one. I can’t help but smile and think as I look down on this beautiful little village, how God in heaven looks down on our little houses with delight, and such love that he’d send his own son to us. I hope you had the Merriest of Christmases and on this New Year’s Eve consider him looking down with love.

This post is linked up at Tatertots and Jello.

I am now blogging for my sister’s store La Petite Fleur. Our blog there is called “The Buzz“, since it’s a flower studio, and you know how bee’s love flowers! Check out two cute holiday table ideas here.

The first is this beautiful Christmas Tree Inspired Holiday Table. With table top trees being so popular, and with the trend of all things green and rustic, I think you’ll enjoy this beautiful holiday table.

This post also includes a great tutorial on how to make your own beautiful chair swag arrangements.

And along with these great ideas, there is also a Kid’s Snowman Holiday Table. There is still time to put something cute like this together for your Christmas celebration, or anytime this winter.

This post also includes a tutorial on how to create this really fun and whimsical snowman centre piece.

I hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Today I want to share with you my village of Christmas glitter houses, or Putz houses, as they’re sometimes known. I made them last year, and couldn’t wait to get them out of the box this year

They’re all made out of old cereal boxes. I found a great site with step by step instructions and free patterns! If you’d like to make your own village, check out Big Indoor Trains. The houses were originally set up around nativities, train sets, or Christmas trees. Howard, at Big Indoor Trains, has a great history, if you’re interested. The original houses are still available at antique stores, or on ebay, but you can also create your own version.

I have to say, this was a very time consuming project. I made several smaller sets for my family and friends last Christmas. They are simple to make, but involve many, many steps, and lots of time waiting for glue, paint or glitter to dry between steps. I just love how they turned out though, and hope to add one more house each year.

All three of these houses are based on Howard’s “Cottage” plans, which you can get www.bigindoortrains.com/primer/glitterhouses/small_glitterhouse/beginning_glitterhouse.htm . The only variations are with the colours, fences, and door designs. He also includes a pattern to turn the cottage into a church.

I found these little people at Dollarama this year, they’re the first I’ve found that seem the right scale for the houses.

After cutting the houses out of cereal and other old boxes, they are glued together. I found this great, inexpensive set of exacto-knives at Dollarama.

A tip I can pass on is to use clothes pins to hold the seams of the houses together at various stages, while the glue dries. After they are all dry, and the bases have been made and covered in white paper, it’s time to paint them. I used various craft paints, again just from the dollar store. I wanted mine to all be quite light, so I often lightened the colours by mixing the paint with some plain white.

The houses take several coats, and when it’s all done, it’s time to add glitter! I used Martha Stewart’s “crystal coarse glitter” in brillo. It is quite transparent, and doesn’t really alter the colour of the paint. I would like to try using some different glitters. Perhaps silver on the roof, or a more coarse glitter on the roof, and maybe a colored glitter on the house itself. Maybe next time…

After the houses were glittered I added cellophane to all the windows. For the church, I used red cellophane, reminiscent of stained glass. Next, I added the snow. Howard uses white paint, but I went with a textured snow called Snow-Tex. I was pleased to see that the houses hadn’t yellowed at all in one year, and I really liked the raised effect the Snow-Tex adds. Try to add it to the places you think snow would actually accumulate on houses. You spread it on with a small knife.

After all that, it was time to add a few little finishing touches. I made wreaths for several of the doors with pipe cleaners and fine satin ribbon.

Howard has several suggestions for different fences. I found them quite hard to cut out, so I came up with this variation, using a hole punch.

I also used the cute little picket fence, which I found at the dollar store. My tip to you is, if you’re considering this project for next year, get to the dollar store as soon as the Christmas stuff comes out to get the best selection of trees, fences, and people.

After I finished making 21 of these little beauties last year, I made one more, and I have to say it might be my favorite. It’s the “Little Charmer” and the pattern can be found here, www.bigindoortrains.com/primer/glitterhouses/little_charmer/little_charmer.htm It lives up to it’s name!

I’ve added various bottle brush trees, and a few bushes that light up at night.

Here it is at night, with the lights on and the candles lit.

Merry Christmas from my villiage to yours!

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Designs, Deck the Halls at Tinsel & Company, Tidy Mom’s Holly Bloggy Party, Just a Girl’s Show and Share, 505 Main, Tatertots and Jello, The Shabby Nest , Beyond the Picket Fence, and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Every Christmas I make this Christmas candy. My mom likes to give a bag of it to each of her customers at holiday time, and I’m her elf –haha. This year I’m having trouble not eating it myself, so I think I better make another batch for us! This recipe is from good old Martha, from the Dec. 2001 issue of Living. I’ve made a few changes. (I always double it, so I will give you the amounts for a double batch, which fills up one cookie sheet. Martha mixes her pecans into the toffee, and makes it in a baking dish. I prefer it a little thinner, and broken up into pieces. You can always half this recipe, to get back to the original.)

Chocolate-Pecan Butter Crunch

Ingredients

• 1 lb. butter
• 2/3 cups water
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 cups chopped pecans, plus more for dusting the top
• chocolate chips

Method

1. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray, and spread out the chopped pecans.

2. Melt the butter and water in a large pot. Add the sugar and stir constantly until it’s dissolved. Occasionally brush the inside of the pot down with water, using a pastry brush, to help prevent the candy from re-crystallization. Continue cooking and stirring until the candy turns a dark amber. I usually go to around 325 on a candy thermometer, but the original recipe only has the colour description.

3. Pour the candy evenly over the nuts. Use a spoon to smooth it out and completely cover the nuts. Be careful, it’s very hot.

4. While the candy is still hot, cover completely with chocolate chips. As they melt, use a knife to spread the chocolate evenly. Sprinkle with some finely chopped pecans. Let it harden, and then break into pieces.

When it’s done, the toffee has a great crunch to it.

It’s great on your Christmas cookie and treat plates, or package it and give as a gift. Everyone always seem to like it.

Merry Christmas!

This post is linked up at The Scrap Shoppe’s Homemade Christmas Holiday Recipes, and Tatertots and Jello Holly Bloggy Christmas Homemade Gifts Party, Tinsel & Company, Tidy Mom, Just a Girl’s Show and Share, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Weekend Wrap Up, Under the Table and Dreaming, and The Shabby Nest.

I saw these great coffee filter Christmas trees at Crafts by Amanda and knew I had to try them out. Check out her version, where she uses foam tree foams and stick pins. I decided to make mine with a cardboard cone, the same way I did the candy trees, check out how I made the cone shape here.

After I had the cone made, I prepared the coffee filters. I decided to use white for mine, and found them at the dollar store. To make the ruffles, you simply cut out the middle of the coffee filters.

I glued them to the cone using hot glue, starting at the bottom and working my way up to the top.

After it was all done, I decided to add a little sparkle with these great assorted sequins.

Here it is all finished. I really like the subtle affect of using the white sequins on the white paper.

I added it to all the white milk glass on my living room bookcases. In the past I’ve always put my milk glass collection away at Christmas to make room for holiday items, but this year I am really enjoying white as the accent colour, so I incorporated it. You might also recognize the marshmallow tree from the candy tree collection, instructions for it are here.

After I finished making one for myself, I wanted to make one for my sister as well. She has her own floral shop, La Petite Fleur, and has had Christmas decor and Christmas music going since the day after Halloween. She sees so much red and green, and gold, and silver and turquoise, that she wanted something really different in her home this year. So, she’s doing an orange Christmas, with some copper and brown thrown in. When I saw Amanda’s original brown coffee filter tree, I thought it would be great with her orange scheme this year. Here it is grouped with some of my green trees. I love the copper sequins on it.

Thanks for the inspiration Amanda, I love the coffee filter Christmas trees!

Merry Christmas!

This post is linked up at Skip to my Lou, Tatertots and Jello Homemade Gift Ideas Linky Party, Just Something I Whipped Up, The Weekend Wrap Up, Under the Table and Dreaming, and Mad in Crafts.