Mini Houses

This week for the blog hop the Imagine If Design team have been working on a set of mini houses and a little church. To start the hop begin with Jo's gorgeous project and then follow the blogs posts to see what the rest of the team has been up to.  Once again there will be a giveaway of Imagine If products for one lucky person. Just comment on one or all of the blogs, one comment per blog will give you nine chances to win.  Enter the draw by using the rafflecopter box at the bottom of each post.

Start at the beginning with Jo's gorgeous creations and follow the links to the other blogs
Check out Carols wonderful mini houses then pop over to see what Tash has been up to.
Tash has made some stunning little houses



Here is my project for this week's theme.  I knew that I wanted to keep the houses together and I also wanted to use up the gorgeous moon with the bats and clouds that Jo had sent me in the design team package.  I couldn't work it into the merry go round or the pdf house last week so I was determined to use it this week.  I also wanted to incorporate the mini, mini houses that Jo also sent in the Design Team project.  These come in a 12" strip and would be perfect for a layout, but as usual I did not take the usual route.  I decided to create a little stand for my houses and church that I could decorate with the moon and mini, mini house strip.  I added (what else) drawers (lol) and because I wanted the project to be functional I made two small albums from recycled books that would fit into the large box part of the project.  So here is my finished project.

I began by making a stand out of matt board and papier mache.  I then painted it black and then blue. While the blue paint was wet I dabbed it with scrunched up newspaper to give it a bit of texture. 

Then using the Imagine if "Rain" stencil I stencilled on the clouds and the raindrops using grey paint.  The impression I was going for was a cold wet, windy evening. 

I then began decorating the box by using chipboard elements from Imagine If.  The mini mini houses, the moon, bats and clouds, bare trees, cats and a rabbit I had left over from the enchanted Forest merry go round.   I painted the houses and trees and I used aluminium tape (my favourite product) for the roofs.  I painted a piece of dictionary page yellow and used that to put to behind the windows of the houses.  I wanted it to look like the lights were on and everyone was warm and cosy inside on a wet night. 

I then decorated the mini houses. One one I used the crackle paint technique, on the other I used a brick embossing folder and on the barn I used strips of card to emulate wooden slats.  I made each of them a chimney as they do not come with chimneys, don't you just love the little mushroom type chimney.  Again I used aluminium tape for the roofs on two of the houses but for the barn I used small squares to emulate tiles.   I added a weathervane to the roof of the barn.  I then added the doors and windows and some plants so that they did not look too barren. 

 I painted the church using white gesso and tissue paper to give the effect of stone, then painted it with black and grey paint.  I used German scrap strips on the roof of the house and the steeple.  I added a bell to the steeple and a cross and again some plants and some trees to give it a bit of interest. 

I then glued them to the base, added some Imagine If chipboard fence and some die cut flowers, made some drawers and pit it all together.

Once the main part was completed I took two Readers Digest books and took the pages out leaving the covers.  I covered the books and made signatures which I then sewed into the covers.

On putting the albums into the box I realised that one they were a snug fit and hard to get out and two that I had not left enough room between the spines and the lid to put a handle of some kind on the spines to lift the albums out.  So necessity being the mother of invention I added chains the to the spines that were not only decorative but could also be used to pull the albums from the box.

And there it is my finished village all snug and tight on a stormy evening.  To give it a bit of stability and just to finish it off really I glued the whole thing to a book.

The thing that I like about the Imagine If chipboard is that it can stand a lot of abuse and handle paint, paper and other mediums really well.  Once it is a bit damp it can also be shaped really well. 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my take on the mini houses and I really hope that you feel inspired to try these products and come up with your own village or individual house or church.  If you have any questions on any of the techniques I have used please feel free to ask and I will be only too happy to help.

Till next time, Ngaere

Imagine If products used

Moon. bats and cloud
Bare trees
Mini, mini house strip
Cat
Rabbit
Fences
Mini houses
Rain stencil


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