The Last Christmas Details

A couple of things happened in the last week that inspired one more Christmas installment!

First, I had a birthday, and, with that, I received money and gift cards from those cheering on my new house habit! Second, more Christmas things are on a bigger sale at the craft stores now, so, if I stumble upon such a sale, what am I to do but look?! And, third, one of the interior projects came to a screeching halt (see next post), so, already being at the craft store and striking out on what I needed, it seemed browsing what is on bigger sale today versus last week was just the right thing to do. LOGIC.

So, here are the latest and, likely, last additions for Christmas this year! The exterior can only hold so much stuff, so I'm serious that this is likely it! (Can you imagine what I'm going to do to the interior next year?!)

First, I found a nativity set that I REALLY like!

Could it have more animals?! This was a mini tree ornament
set that I pulled the hangers out of.

I had to move the presents under this window to the roof to make room:

But, then, there was just too much stuff on the very front of the house, so I moved the nativity upstairs:

The presents stayed on the roof, though. I dig 'em there.

I also found the kind of candy canes I want to use next year for the walkway(s):

All set for next year!

And, I scored these bows to add just one more punch of color!

My super-favorite additions are the trees my boy gave me for my birthday. He picked out a set of three, snowy evergreens and a strand of lights, and the strand of lights was the *perfect* length to put on all three trees!

Okay! For real! That's IT because I'm out of decorating space!! I've so enjoyed putting the build on hold to focus on these details! It's just fun! But, some things have progressed inside! Take a peek ...

It Had To Be Done

Most definitely, this house called for much more decorating love than I was able to give it the other day!! So, yesterday, I totally went for it!

You know how you have those things that you think, "I really need to just pitch this," but, you don't because that thought is often followed with, "I can see actually using this someday, and I'm going to be mad that I threw it out ..." That's how I felt when I acquired a great, big piece of cotton batting from my parents who once used it for a snow village display. It's been in a little storage space for years ... until yesterday when I made it ...

SNOW!

I draped the piece over the top of the roof sort-of-intentionally-sort-of-haphazardly, and I just started fitting it as best I could while snipping away at the excess. (You know how the Grinch just recklessly snips out his costume or how Snoopy makes his scissors fly around while making the intricate Valentine? Picture that.) It's all randomly adhered to the rooftops with loops of masking tape, which isn't the best choice nor the most reliable, but it worked for me! Let's take the tour!

I bought the potentially last strand of multi-colored mini LEDs to go around
the conservatory rails, and presents were put on that ledge that I assumed
would be used for Christmas decorations!

Foam sticker candy canes in a small pool of hot glue makes for a fabulous
walkway! The snow is piled higher here because, of course, it was shoveled.

The little kit to make the front stairs has been sitting to the side forever. This
seemed the right time to dig it out!

The hooks I put in to the porch ceiling came in very handy for these super-fun
bulb buttons I found!

I redid the green garland from my first effort. I twisted three pieces together
instead of using just the one. It's much more full and fabulous now!

And, upward!

The snow covered rooftop on the conservatory is
just what this little display needed!

Just a little touch above the door completes this space!

Among other items cleaned out of Christmas aisles are the mini wreaths that
are hanging in the windows. So, I went with these instead! A little thread and
masking tape made these easy to hang!

These little creatures just kind of stick into the snow which is awesome

because I really didn't know how I was going to get them to stand up when I

bought them! But, I knew the rooftop needed reindeer, so I knew I'd

figure it out!

And, my favorite, with the lights out!

I bought the last strand of 60-light LEDs which worked to go around the rooftop!

There was just a little extra length on the conservatory strand which worked
perfectly to come down and light up the "inflatable"!

There are a handful of things in life that give me that completely warm-fuzzy, cozy feeling, and lots of Christmas lights shining in the dark is one of them! I'm heading back inside to continue getting this place move-in ready, but this just had to be done now!

Ahhh ...

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas ...!

While the interior painting is most definitely coming along, I hit the pause button on it today so I could decorate the outside with a little Christmas! I've been collecting this and that over the past few months as the craft stores not only put their Christmas goods out but also tempt me with 50%-or-better coupons! One of the things I most looked forward to in the immediate for this house was Christmas decor, so I made sure it happened! I'm not quite finished, particularly as I need lights to go around the porch railings, but I have used everything I have on hand. Take a look!

While I love all of the decorations, there are two in particular I must highlight as they are the ones that make this that house. First is the sign on the porch roof:

The only thing that would make this better would be for it to be much bigger!
And, flashing!

The other notable is Aaron's idea that this house needed one of those big inflatables! The perfect answer to that is the "snow globe" our daughter made a number of years ago:

The rest of the decor is rather traditional and fun and lovely!

A little twist of the red and silver "tinsel stems," as they are called on the
package, was just right for up here!

This strand of garland beads ended up the perfect length to fold in half and
twist for this railing!

I loved these little guys! They are the perfect ones
to say, "Welcome!"

And, of course, it's a must-see with the room lights out:

And, to all a good night ...

The Brick How-To

So, let's take a closer look at those bricks under the gable because I'm pretty proud of them!

I actually got the sheet of bricks ready back in September because I was anxious to do something else on top of putting up walls and trying to unwarp things. 😄 I was a fan of the actual construction of this house, but the projects that make it really come to life are more my bag! Besides, I needed something to do while waiting for long lines of glue to dry!

So! Here we are. Now, there are plenty of brick options out there in miniature land that actually use little, tiny bricks that require mortar and individual placement. While that looks very cool and realistic, this option was much more economical and favored getting it finished in a timely manner. (I will have plenty of one-by-one placement when I finally get to the roof shingles anyway!)

I bought this sheet of bricks at Hobby Lobby:

While it's the only option, I wasn't thrilled with it, either. It's just too ... bleh. Super-plain. Looks super-fake. And, we can't have that on the fake house, now, can we?

So, without really knowing what I was doing (not even kidding), I started hitting it with sandpaper:

I folded up a piece and went for it. I figured distressing it was a good start to take the shine off. My real-life house does not have shiny bricks. Does yours? I must mention, in case you ever take this on, that I ended up sanding every brick individually because that was the only way to not make some random scratch across multiple bricks. No one wants the fake bricks to look even more fake. I mean, really. It was a bit of a pain, but, it's not like I ever have to do this again. Knowing there was an end point made this kind of fun!

Then, I needed to add some color. First, I tried to blot it with a mini stamp pad:

That method was not working well for me because I couldn't really figure out where the ink was going. So, enter method two:

THAT was starting to work for me! I blotted and sort of smeared and just worked with the ink to see what I liked. Here's the outcome of that evening's work:

This outcome definitely garnered appreciated ooo's and ahhh's from the family! I was impressed with it myself. But, if you are any kind of crafter at all, you already know the problem I faced: Ink on a plastic sheet will not dry. Like, ever.

I was half-way through the use of ink when I realized this factor. But, I finished the sheet because I was enjoying the project, and I figured some of the ink would settle in the sanded places. So, I figured I'd finish and see what happens.

After letting it dry (ha-ha) overnight, I went ahead and wiped off the wet ink, which was almost all of it, for this turnout:

Even that is better than what I originally bought! But, I wasn't ready to settle as the first outcome looked so good! Solution? Alcohol ink markers!

With a coupon in hand, I headed to Michael's and bought a brown, Artist's Loft marker. I read a number of reviews on alcohol ink markers, and, cutting to the chase, I bought the least expensive one individually (versus buying a set). With a coupon, I believe this cost me $2.

Now that we have the consumer report behind us, let's head to strategy. I definitely needed on because alcohol ink dries super-fast! So, I embraced my brick-by-brick approach and did a little smear from the marker on part of a brick. Then, I quickly smeared that with my finger. Swipe. Wipe. Repeat!

I varied the marker swipe on each brick and just didn't worry about it if I accidentally put too much on one because it was going to dry too fast to do anything about it anyway! And, it's a sheet of bricks. There's nothing perfect about how bricks look!

Here's a picture of it half finished so you can see the difference from the distressed, stamp pad fail and the alcohol ink marker success:

And, as posted previously, I love the result!

So, there's that! I plan to use the rest of the bricks as a little walkway up to the front step when I get to the yard. On the immediate docket: I'm still planning to paint inside!! My paints are literally sitting in front of the computer monitor taunting me, so let's see what I can do to get that party started!

Red! Red! I Want Red!

Today's title is brought to you by the song in my head, as sung by Sammy Hagar, "Red."

This week, I needed to take on a project that wasn't quite as time consuming as others if I wanted to feel any sense of completion! So, I finally went forth with painting the shutters and front door as well as addressing part of the foundation's finishing touches. Check it out!!

For the shutters and the front door, I knew I wanted a shade of red. Of course, I didn't end up using a color that was already mixed and in the bottle because that would be too easy. Instead, I scraped the bottle of Cardinal Red that I had and added a few drops of black to get ...

What's in that little jar is all I have left in case I need touch-ups. Fortunately, the spaces covered are small!

Here the painting is in progress:

You'll also note the sheet of "bricks" on the left. I bought the sheet at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and I reworked it to make it look more realistic (which I will show in the next post). I have been dying to apply it to the foundation under the gable! (The rest of the house foundation will get a different finish.) There's a part of me that was a little concerned it wouldn't end up looking quite right -- like they wouldn't look as realistic as I'd already decided they did, or I'd screw up the corners making them look just weird or wrong. Fortunately, it turned out exactly how I wanted!

After measuring each foundation piece with a scrap piece of paper, I cut 'em out:

Nothing fancy! Just a pencil line and some
scissors doing the work.

As this sheet is plastic, I wanted a strong adhesive that didn't allow for a lot of moving around. It needed to go in place and just stay there! Tacky Glue Fast Grab for the win!

I'm so very happy with all of the results!!

I love the way the door turned out. It has some good dimension
to it. I didn't plan for that, but I am glad it happened!

Hal and his big soda are basking in the loveliness.

I'll post what I did to the sheet of bricks to show the transformation in the next post. I'm pretty proud of it because I went forth knowing what outcome I wanted without really knowing exactly how to do it. 😁 And, after that, I'm definitely headed back inside to begin the second story colors!