More on the Christmas Village in Miniature

All Made From Paper for the Christmas Village

I've been folding paper and glueing paper this morning and these are the results - the church for my Christmas village and two types of trees. I must say that the bare branches ones were extremely fiddly to do. I lost count of the number of times they fell apart! But now, as you can see, they are standing at last.
  When I have decorated the church with the snowy stuff and glitter I'll be able to put in the vellum paper windows. I'm wondering if I used coloured highlighter pens on the vellum, would I get a stained glass effect?  There is a generous amount of that paper supplied so I think I'll give it a try. I'll let you know the results.

Mini House for the Christmas Village

All the house parts are pre-punched - no need for scissors!

What a dream it is putting the miniature houses together! They are made of heavy paper which is pre-punched so you just need to push the pieces out of the background paper. And the lines to fold are all pre-scored as well so you know exactly where to bend the edges to make the tabs for gluing, and where to bend the wall lines.

Assembling the house parts

Once the pieces are all folded properly you can glue them together. The glue that is supplied with the kit is VERY sticky and, in my usual battle with adhesives, I managed to get more on my fingers than on the house walls! I needed to stop every now and again and wash my hands with hot soapy water.

The house ready for decorating

Here is the house, all stuck together and ready for decorating. The instruction book suggests putting the 'glass' in the windows after you've finished using the glitter and fake snow so the panes stay clear.
  I'll make the other houses now and get out the glue, glitter and snowy stuff when they're done. Then I can make one big mess instead of several little ones!! I must remember not to breathe in when I'm squirting glitter around!

Making a Christmas Village

A Christmas Village Kit Set

Well, I got quite a surprise when this arrived in the mail. I had ordered it from an on-line store, thinking I was getting a book with patterns and instructions for the little houses. The photo they'd put up had the bottom of the picture cut off so I didn't see the 'includes' part.

Inside the Christmas Village Kit

  What I got was this box with everything you need to build the Christmas village: the instruction book, the glue, the glitter, the heavy paper house patterns, even a ready-made Christmas tree.

An Example of a Paper House

What I really like about the kit is that the paper parts are pre-punched and scored - you don't even need scissors.
  The kit makes 3 houses, 1 church, several green Christmas trees, 2 trees with bare branches, a dog kennel, a snowman and a picket fence. And in the book are more of the patterns so you can photocopy them off if you want to make more buildings.
  It is not dolls house scale - it's more railway OO scale, I think. I'm planning to put it on my (real house) mantelpiece at Christmas.
  I'll keep you up-dated as I build it!

More Photos of the Mini Mice

I've been asked for more photos of my miniature mice so here they are. Enjoy!

Bless This Mouse

Swinging round the bird feeder

Tree Climbing

Playing in the petunia patch

Photographing the Miniature Mice

Miniature Mice and Real Chicken!

Often when photographing miniatures, it is best to work in natural light as much as possible. I was having a serious session taking photos of several minis outside for a magazine article when a mad mood overtook me!!
  I got the miniature mice I had made (see my blog post about them under 'Small Projects') and a handful of breadcrumbs, scattered the bread on the grass and posed the mice around it. Then I hid behind a bush with my camera and waited.
  It wasn't long before my bantam hen appeared. She approached cautiously, had a good look at the mice then ignored them and started in on the breadcrumbs.  I got this great picture!

Mini Mice and Real Mushrooms

I got carried away then. I photographed the mice climbing trees, carrying their little suitcases across the drive, peeping out of the tops of my gumboots and playing ring-a-rosey round these mushrooms. 
  Sometimes you just have to release your inner child and be playful!