FALALALALAAAAAA LA LA LA LA
As a lover of all things Christmas (and quite a penchant for glitter too), this was one of those projects where it was difficult to finish. You could go on forever really, a touch more glitter, a few more beads, another light…but I forced myself to stop. It’s only paper, but this was the most fun I have had crafting in ages. 🙂
I began my village with this kit.
This turned out to be great in some ways, and shite in others. For example, the glitter containers included were awesome. They made little ‘puffs’ of glitter that you could control. But the glue that came with it never dried. However that might just be a Queensland humidity thing.
There was also no way it was going to turn out like the picture on the box, which is heavily photoshopped. The upstairs dormer windows and some of the entrances were solid all the way through, unlike the picture, so amongst a few other problems, I had to work out a way to get light to them. Also there are no street lights in the kit.
Before I punched out the houses, I photocopied them all. There are extra templates to copy in the instruction book, but they are to a different scale. Instead, I photocopied all the large ones onto cardboard so that I had extras. I ended up using two of the extras.
I also used two buildings downloaded from christmas-village-displays.com, a town hall and a thatched cottage. These had more detail printed on them, but didn’t fit together perfectly and weren’t as three dimensional as the others.
I used vellum and a Sharpie for the window panes, and did some stained glass effects using ordinary textas.
Once all the buildings were glued together, I decorated them with glitter from the kit plus my own assorted beads and dried moss. I used PVA wood glue for everything. The pipe cleaner for the wreaths came with the kit. I made one of the pine trees into a Christmas tree.
I used small pieces of wadding for the smoke in the chimneys. I was inordinately happy with how that looked. Note wind blowing same direction. N.B. This is the kind of thing that happens when you don’t have TV. 🙂 I have issues.
The book recommended ‘flocking powder’ for a snow effect. I duly bought some on eBay without having the faintest idea what it is. Having used it, I am still none the wiser. It was a bit like asbestos. I threw it out after one try, preferring the glitter. It lives on though, in the form of our favourite new swear word. Eg For flock’s sake, this flocking glue won’t set!
Initially I had intended these houses to be lined up on a mantelpiece with flickering battery-operated tea lights inside them to look like fireplaces. Aaaah, pretty. What I didn’t factor in was that most of the houses are two storey, and an orange, flickering light inside makes them look like they are actually burning down. So rather than a very un-Christmassy replica of the the Great Fire of London, it was back to the drawing board.
I decided to fix them permanently to a cardboard base instead. That way I could run battery operated fairy lights through them. At this stage I thought maybe – just maybe – it was getting a little out of hand for a basic paper village. And it turned out I was right, the base was the most time consuming job overall. 🙂
I had three pieces of old box cardboard the same size. I painted the first board, and added a slightly raised platform for the church out of an old canvas.
I loosely laid out the village and marked the lights placement, then ran them under and through holes punched with a knitting needle (what else?). I made a couple of mistakes, but I patched them with paper. I set it up so there were some lights backlighting the trees and snowman, and a couple front lit, like the Christmas tree.
To hide the wire and make a flat base I did the following – much easier to photograph than to explain.
Then I glued the final solid piece onto the base, weighed it down with assorted pots and waited for the glue to try.
After affixing the buildings and the trees, I covered the base with ‘drifts’ of polyester quilt wadding. And just a bit more glitter with a border to neaten the edges.
The Details:
The kit cost $24AUD from bookdepository.com : ‘Build a Christmas Village’ by Leonard Hospidor
It came with:
3 prepunched houses, 1 church and a wildly disproportionate dog kennel which I didn’t use
1 x premade, preglittered tree
6 x prepunched pine tree
2 x prepunched large trees
1x snowman
Prepunched picket fencing
Glitter x 4
Glue x 1
Pipe cleaner x 1
Sheet of vellum
Instruction book
The town hall and thatched cottage were free downloads from: christmas-village-displays.com
10 sheets 280gsm white cardboard for photocopying/printing extra houses- $6.75AUD on eBay
Flocking powder (unused): $2.30AUD on eBay
Things I used that I already had:
PVA wood glue
Cardboard
White paint
Stanley knife, metal ruler, bone folder and cutting mat
Sharpie and coloured textas
Beads
Polyester wadding
String of battery operated fairy lights
Small art canvas
Dried moss
Colour printer/photocopier
For anyone else contemplating this, I say go for it! It was so much fun! 🙂 I worked on this for a few minutes up to an hour most days over a period of two weeks. My main tip would be to fully complete each stage before you go on to the next (eg build all the houses before you start decorating any of them). Also have a dedicated work space set up just for this project so you can leave things to dry (and where you don’t mind there being a lot of glitter). It would be far too hard to pack it up each day.
In the end, I am very happy with it. It will probably be a gift for someone sans cats. I am already planning another, but a more permanent and realistic model village, such as those used in model train scenery. And I can’t WAIT for Christmas!! 🙂
That looks like therapeutic fun!
I do like Book Depository, they offer so much, AND free delivery. Wowzah!
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Therapeutic fun it was, thanks Yvonne! Yeah, book depository rocks! 🙂
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It’s very sweet and I’m impressed but there are other things you can do when there’s no TV, you know.:)
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LOL thanks for the tip Mary 🙂 this one was just for the sheer joy of it 🙂
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Great job, Bianca. But surely not for a beginner. And……er…….you won’t have any snow at Christmas?
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Thanks Derrick! 🙂 They say you can put it together with children, but I foresee a lot of swearing and glued fingers and spilled glitter…there was plenty when it was just me.
I know, the snow is weird for this part of the world 🙂 …but I couldn’t find an ‘Australian Sweltering Christmas’ kit…I think I’ll always associate snow with Christmas since Finland 🙂
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As it should be, Bianca 🙂
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Awesome! I’d almost be willing to forgo our tentatively-advancing spring to enjoy this winter wonderland 😀 Looks great, and good idea photocopying all the pieces before you started!
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Thank you! 🙂 That Irish Spring looks pretty amazing in your beautiful beastie pics! 🙂 wish it got cold enough for bulbs here.
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They are kind of amazing, aren’t they? I always love to see the first brave snowdrops poking their heads out of the soil… It means spring is just around the corner! Thanks for stopping by 😀
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Absolutely amazing!! You are so wonderfully good and crafty! And patient! I love all the little lights and glitter and snowy effect. 🙂
Beautiful!!!
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Thank you so much, I am very happy you liked it! 😀 there can never be enough fairy lights or glitter! 🙂
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I love your village. I start singing Christmas songs from August so I must congratulate you for beating me to it. This was too funny. xo
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Thank you so much! 🙂 hahaha I LOVE that you sing songs from August! I don’t think it’s ever too early to get in the Christmas spirit 🙂 I don’t go proper Christmas-craft crazy till November usually, but I do love little reminders throughout the year! xo
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This year’s going to be your best yet. 🎉💜💓
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Thank you, yours too!! 🙂 💗
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OMG! OMG – again!! Wolfberry your talents really do know no bounds. This little village is totally awesome!! And all the work you lovingly put into it makes the final outcome nothing short of fantastic. I personally have no real love for the festive season – but seeing this, well, I could be swayed!😊
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HAHAHA thanks so much Cath, I really appreciate that. Yes not everyone shares my love of the festive season, but I’m very glad I could share a little of my craziness with you! 😀
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I love love LOVE this. How you had the patience I don’t know, but it is marvellous. What’s more you can use a photo of it to make Christmas cards.
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Ooooh I love that idea, thanks Nanacathy! You always seem to come up with out-of-the-box ideas I love…now to get the ‘good’ camera out… 🙂 thank you, and I’m very happy you liked the village! 😀
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That’s flocking flascinating!
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LOL fanks very much Bruce, it was a flock of a lot of work, but you know how I love Christmas! 🙂
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Don’t feel odd – I’m already looking on eBay for this years “special treat” Christmas decoration!
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Haha I love it! 🙂
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I spent a LOOOOOONG time hovering over the “like” button for this post. I am not sure whether to congratulate you or have you committed. It’s MARCH. My Christmas cheer lasts for a few weeks at the end of the year and no more. I would have massive panic attacks if it lasted any longer. It’s almost Easter. Hook us an egg or two. Impressed with the similitude of the directional pointing of the chimney smoke (OCD…You?) but the end result is lovely. You do have Steve panicking now as he thinks it’s Christmas again and he hasn’t even chopped the wood for winter, let alone gotten ready for summer.
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Lol thanks narfie, oh I do understand, my craziness is not shared by all! It’s just always brought me so much joy, I can’t resist revisiting throughout the year! I couldn’t even pinpoint why, food, family, laughter…and the music of course…all a good distraction too from the perils of midsummer 🙂 oh the thought of chopping wood, that gets me excited for winter too, our favourite season!! Woohoo!! So much to look forward to..I don’t really do Easter eggs because we’re all paleo but I generally make something special with raw chocolate…I do really miss those eggs though! The darrell lea nougat ones were my favourite, followed closely by rocky road and peanut brittle…eek, hungry now! :))
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Having begun with the thought ‘Good God, she’s lost it altogether!’ I end with an ‘Harrumph! Genius girl!’ Obviously the Finnish experience holds sway – and I as an outspoken critic of anything Northern appearing within our Southern Festival celebrations am silenced and just saying ‘Brilliant!. Brilliant! Brilliant!!’
The first bit of genius was photocopying everything [and I ask myself why I never have such commonsense at the start of projects!] The second bit was downloading extras – the third laying it all out and figuring out the lighting template. The chimney smoke!!!!!!!!!! Moving into blast-off genius territory here……………… I could rave on and on – in short the whole thing is absolutely wonderful.
Bowing down to crafty genius 😀 xoxo
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LOL oh thank you so much Pauline, you gave me such a laugh…:D I’m really glad you liked it and can forgive me the snow…a Southern Hemisphere- style village may be planned for down the line too…Crafting rocks! 🙂
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Oh what fun! Don’t you have a “Christmas in July” festival in Australia? That would be the perfect time to set up you beautiful little village…
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Thanks Cynthia, excellent idea! 🙂 will be much more picturesque with a log fire going than with an air conditioner 🙂
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Looks like you’ve had loads of fun – although also a lot of persevering. The end result is fantastic. Although I do like the idea of a replica Great Fire of London on your mantelpiece – would be a great talking point 😉 Have you put it away now or are you leaving it out until Christmas?
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Thanks Bekki 🙂 I had it out for a few days because I couldn’t stop playing with it, but I think it will be gifted to someone (then I can start another one!) 😀
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Sounds a very generous gift after you’ve put all that love and work into it. Not sure I’d be able to part with it if it was me.
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It all looks sooo beautiful…💕💕
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Aw thanks very much Nee! 😄💗
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Wow… that Christmas village is stunning… was it hard to build it , I am wondering…
Now you need to get some paper peeps to populate it…
Sending love and best wishes Aquileana ⭐️…
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Thank you so much! It was really quite easy to build, just cutting, folding and glueing :)) yes I think it needs people too, a little choir in front of the tree will be first! 🙂 thanks for your comment! 🙂
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Oh what fun and your finished village is Awesome!!!
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Thanks Tina! :))
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It is very beautiful!
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Thanks very much Matti! 🙂
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This is magical and reminds me of a little village my grandfather made for each of his daughters–whose collective children remember the houses and church all lighted up at Christmas.
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Thank you Lisa, oh what a beautiful gift, that makes me want to cry! :’)) I’m hoping the next one I do will be a more permanent arrangement that might last at least a couple of generations 🙂
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So sweet and Christmas glow all over! When the hot Cincinnati summer seems not to end in September,I often start doing Christmas things, just to get feel of cozy winterness ;o)
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Hehehe exactly! :)) thanks Johanna 🙂
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