When creating projects for a series of holiday workshops I'm running in the studio, I kept coming back to one of my favorite holiday decorations in our home, little cardboard Christmas houses made by Putz.
(not mine, but could be yours if you check out Ebay)
I love all the old vintage Putz houses and whenever I'm lucky enough to come upon one, will scoop it up immediately and bring it home to add to our holiday decor.
While staring at the one I have sitting on the desk by my computer, I thought why not create a class around one? After running a birthday party where the kids created watercolor birdhouses, I figured it wouldn't be too hard to construct a project inspired by these sweet houses Putz created through the years.
9 year old
So I found a template online for a simple house construction, transferred it onto watercolor paper and cut them out for the kids to design their homes. Each child started with a piece of cardboard and had to make a decision as to whether or not they wanted a fence around their house (they all did).
I had them add a light layer of white paint on the cardboard and then while that was drying, each child designed a fence to go around their home. These were created on a strip of 1.5 X 12 inch watercolor paper. A quarter inch of the paper was folded so that it could be glued down on the cardboard and then they cut any type of edge they wanted for the top of their fence.
I also had some hole punches and other punch designs I have collected over the years that they could add to their fence design. This was a great exercise in pattern making.
They then painted both sides of the fence and dried it with a blow dryer.
By the time they finished their fence, the white paint was dry and the fences were hot glued onto the cardboard. Then it was time to start designing their homes.
9 year old
Each child drew their designs on the INSIDE of their houses. I did this knowing they would without doubt want to erase some things and by doing the original work inside the house, we wouldn't have to worry about any of those pencil lines on the finished house. When they were finished, they took a sharpie pen and then drew their final design on the side of the house that would be showing.
I then cut out all the windowpanes they had designed with an x-acto knife. I figured it was best if I did this part as I didn't think the workshop would be that successful with children running to the emergency room for stitches.
When all the panes of glass were cut out, they glued on some gold color tissue paper on the inside of the house over the windows so when they added a battery operated votive candle at the end, it would have a warm glow through the windows.
9 year old
Then they began painting their homes in acrylic paint. When the kids were finished painting the house, they went over any areas that were still wet with a blowdryer. When completely dried, it was time to glue the houses together and also glue them onto the cardboard.
Then I gave the kids some modeling paste to add some snow clumps with a palette knife. This was again dried to the touch with the blowdryer.
It was time for the glitter. Each child covered their entire sculpture with a mixture of white glue mixed well with a bit of water. I had a couple of stations set up where they could dump iridescent glitter over the houses on large cookie sheets. I figured this would cut down on the amount of glitter that would be scattered all over the studio.
Feel free to laugh here.
Then the part they had all been waiting for, adding lots of trees and other bit of holiday fun to their homes.
They worked right up until the end of the workshop, which was two hours. They were all so happy with their creations. Each one came out darling and rivaled anything Putz ever made. I know I would scoop them up and put them into my collection!
I'm guessing they will quickly become cherished pieces of their families holiday decor for many years to come too.
And here's a quick video I made of my sample house with the battery candle inside so you can see how pretty they look at night.
Next Sunday we will be creating beautiful silk painted scarves in the workshop to give as gifts. For more information, check out the website at KudzuStudio.com
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