Monday, December 3, 2012

Winter Wonderland House

December is such a nice time of the year, and one of my favourite parts is Christmas crafting. This week our challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'House Rules'. You really must check out all the DT projects, they are all amazing. Your project doesn't need to be a holiday one, but I am in the mood for holiday projects at the moment.

I love making little houses and decided to make a winter wonderland house to add to my growing little village.

This house is very wintry and inspired by my maternal grandparents' house as well as by a Swedish Christmas song (Christmas, Christmas, Glorious Christmas). I printed out some lines from it and adhered here and there on the house. The house is made with the fun Eileen Hull Sizzix House Scoreboards Pro die. I have done tutorials for different versions of this house, here and here.

I used almost only white and cream on the house and added lots of texture and glitter. Its embellished on all four sides and on the roof.

The house is die cut from white mat board. To create a fun texture on the house, I smeared a fairly thick layer of modeling paste all over the house and scratched texture with Ranger's scraping tool. The window frames were pressed into the paste, which works as an adhesive. Don't apply paste to the flaps that need to be attached to the roof since that will make it harder to attach the roof. Leave to dry.

When dry, the house was dry-brushed with white paint.

Dry-brush again with cream paint. I thought it ended up a bit too cream, so I added more white paint after this photo was taken. The windows and door were coloured with Antique Linen Distress Stain.

The roof was smeared with an even layer of glossy accents (missing to make it even in a few spots, but that made it look even snowier) and covered with dry Rock Candy Distress Stickles glitter.

The door frame and fence were painted with Rock Candy distress crackle paint. When dry I rubbed some Antique Linen distress stain into the cracks.

Cover a piece of grungeboard with white sticky back canvas and die cut two snowflakes and a pine tree. Ink the edges slightly with Antique Linen.

I added mica as windows and a little lace curtain behind them. It is easiest to decorate the house before you assemble it. The front is embellished with a Woodlands Wreath, the number '5' (for the house my grandparents lived in) and the title of the song.

The door was left slightly ajar, and I added a little heart cut from left over canvas covered grungeboard and a wood veneer snowflake which was first painted white. The door frame is covered with faux snow.

The wreath was dry-brushed with white paint. I rubbed glossy accents into it and sprinkled with dry Rock Candy Distress Stickles glitter. The effect is hard to see on the photo.

Glossy Accents was applied to areas of the tree and dry Rock Candy glitter sprinkled on top. The text translates 'shine over white forests'.

The philosophy tag was inked with Snow Cap alcohol ink. I felt it needed more punch, so I embossed with three layers of white embossing powder, giving it an icy enamel look.

The snowflakes were stapled to the roof. I also glued faux snow to the top of the roof. The text reads 'your white wings'.

This is the back of the house. I used an old photo of Santa, my cousin and me, printed on cardstock. It was a little bit too short, so I placed a little film strip ribbon at the bottom. The wood veneer trees and snowflake were painted white. I also glued some white ric rac around the house.

 The ornate plate got the same treatment as the Philosophy tag.


The last side of the house, with some pretty vintage facets and more snow.

Faux snow was applied on top of the fence with Glossy Accents. Two holly leaves were die cut from left-over canvas covered grungeboard and inked slightly with Antique Linen. The text reads 'light and peace'.

I did a tape transfer technique for the crystals, using Tim Holtz Seasonal paper, and adhering foil tape at the back.

The bells were coloured with alcohol inks (red pepper, cranberry, meadow, pitch black), inked with Frayed Burlap and then embossed with several layers of clear powder.

I hope you will join us this week! As every week, our fabulous sponsor Simon Says Stamp gives a $50 gift voucher to one lucky participant.

26 comments:

  1. Fantastic winter house! Though it's really snowy and frosty, it seems to be very warm. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. seeing something like this makes me just want to dive into some gesso and glitter. love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the stucco finish you created on the outside of your house and the fact that is it all cream and whites makes it just WOW! Beautiful. Sweet photo of you and your cousin visiting Santa!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely Winter Wonderland house, Anna-Karin. Love your stucco base that you created for your house. I love all of the embellishments that you've added to your house...beautifully done. The ornate plate with the photo of you and your cousin visiting Santa is so cute. Love how you've finished off every side of your house! <3 Candy

    ReplyDelete
  5. An amazing house..love the modelling paste and the dry brush technique on the walls...great effect.
    Compliments.

    Greetings, Alie :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your Christmas village is coming along so nicely! I love this white on white house - especially the stucco. And as always you have added tons of cool extras! I love this house and wish I was about 2" tall so I could l
    ive there...

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a wonderful project! A fairy-tale house that looks like a creamy cake and an exciting puzzle at the same time! Outstanding!
    Love from Rusia :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anna-Karin I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVe this winter wonderland house and all it's fabulous details...so pretty!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Anna-Karin, I love your house, I would like to live in a house like this. It's warm, cosy and very inviting. Love your little windows with their nets and love how you were inspired by your grandparents home, akes it all the more special. Fantastic texture and beautifully decorated. I love all the wording too. Tracy x

    ReplyDelete
  10. this is beautiful! I love the tone on tone :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ohh Anna-Karin, your house looks amazing! Love the structure on the walls, and the soft cream tone looks wonderful! And you've put so many beautiful embellishments on it as well! Gorgeous! Hugs, Sandra

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just LOVE this house. Great color and love all the memories you incorporated into it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is absolutely enchanting!! Beautiful, beautiful make. Nicola x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! Love this house and the texture!

    ReplyDelete
  15. WOW!!! The texture you added to the walls makes it look so realistic, and the detailing is exceptional. Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pragtige huis het jy gemaak, dit het jou baie uurtjies gevat om dit te maak, ek is seker daarvan, en dit kan jy sien!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anna Karin, you have made me speechless! This is just amazing, amazing, amazing. I love your crisp clear photos of the little house, too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am absolutely in love with your house. The moment I saw Jul on it, a tear came to my eye in remembrance of my parents and grandparents. I can almost see the children holding hands and dancing around the Christmas tree. I know I am going to make a version of your house. I love it so much.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gorgeous Winter Wonderland house, Anna-Karin! I really love the way you gave the house texture and all the embellishments are just lovely!

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Gorgeous monochromatic color and your texture is fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love love love your winter house project, the texture, colour and detail is just amazing. x

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love the elegant off-whites of this.. and the texture paste on the walls, and the crackle on the fence, and the delicately distressed snowflakes and Christmas tree, and that AMAZING treatment on the philosophy tag... basically I really love the whole thing - it's so beautiful!!
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow, this is amazing! I would love to see the rest of the "village" - what fun!

    ReplyDelete
  24. The shabby look of your little house is just awesome. Love the texture and all the little details, too.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Morning Anna-Karin, WOW your winter wonderland house is absolutely STUNNING, I love it.
    Lots of love from Patricia xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. Couldn't resist coming back for another look... determined to make myself something similar for my own decorations!! Thank you so much for the inspiration...
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!