Crafternoon + Crafter Hours

Whoa, you guys. This holiday season is flying by. There’s only a week until Christmas and I’ve still got crafting to do! Thankfully I’ve got some great pals that indulge me in my DIY habits.

Last week my friend Kat came over for the late night version of the crafternoon: crafter hours. Like me, Kat has an affinity for midcentury homes and oddly specific decor. This means that when she sent me over to Retro Renovation to check out some putz houses, I knew we had to give these a try.

To get us in the Christmas spirit, we cranked up our favorite Christmas jams and poured a few hot toddies. Then I pulled out a heap of craft supplies. Since this is so customizable and detailed, I won’t call this a DIY post (you can check out Retro Renovation for a complete tutorial) but maybe some inspiration/an intro to putz houses (because now I’m obsessed).

I will say that if you are looking to make these little honeys, grab all the things. Between the two of us we used:

Cardboard – cereal boxes, shipping boxes, anything you can get your hands on
X-Acto knife and mat
Paint
Glitter, obvi
Hot glue
Craft glue
Pipe cleaners – metallic, duh
Felt squares
Tissue paper
Craft foam – I picked up some glittery stuff with adhesive on the back
Mini pine trees – you can find them in the Christmas village section of your craft store

That’s a lot of stuff, I know, but chances are you avid crafters have a handful of it already.

For this project Kat used one of the templates in the links because they are adorable and classy. Because I am a fool, I insisted I make a model of my own home. Word to the wise: it will take you five times longer and test your geometry skills. But either way you go with this project, straight lines and careful cutting are key. Kat was very deliberate about her house and I was – despite my perfectionist nature – less interested in straight lines and more interested in getting the proportions right.

You can also see that I was not interested in a clean workspace. We both needed every possible thing at any given moment. In the end though, I was very pleased with my rendition. Cedar siding? Check. Tiny windows everywhere? Got it. New roof? Done and done.

Kat’s turned out so perfectly. I loved the nontraditional coloring on hers and how petite it is! I can’t get over it. Right now we each only have one lonely house, so I think we might need a second session to build up the neighborhood.

Hope this got you in the holiday spirit! Let me know if you’ve mad these before (or are planning on making one). I’d love to see!

This weekend I hosted the first of what I hope to be many crafternoons. I invited my pals Kellie and Melanie over to make some ornaments, drink some lambic, snack for hours and watch Scrooged – essentially the perfect day.

I’ve been making these geometric folded paper ornaments for years and everyone seems to dig them, so I figured why not hang out and teach some friends how to make some too. It’s perfect for crafternoons because it’s quick enough to learn in a few minutes and doesn’t require so much concentration that you miss all the good parts of your favorite Christmas special or all the good gossip.

There’s also the added bonus that this project only takes a handful of supplies, some of them you probably have on hand. So here’s what you’ll need:

Scrapbook paper
Glue – any clear-drying type will do
Hole punch – mine is 2″
Embroidery floss or thin ribbon
Large-eyed needle
Glitter if it floats your boat

I know that this project isn’t exactly an original, but I recall figuring out how to assemble these at first and it being a real mess. I hope this little run-through makes it easy.

To start, punch out 20 circles and trace a equilateral triangle on the back of each. You don’t want to eyeball this one, believe me. Also, I recommend a nondirectional pattern if this is your first time at the paper ornament rodeo; that way you don’t need to worry about which way the triangles are pointing.

Once you got those all traced out, get folding. Fold the patterned side toward itself, be as precise as possible and make sure to get a good crease in there. If you’ve got a bone folder, break that baby out.

Now here’s where the layout of this comes in. You’ll need five triangles for the top, five for the bottom and the remaining ten form the middle of your orb.

Then you’ll start glueing according to the layout above. You’ll notice that as you add pieces, it will start to form a dome shape. Thumbs up. Try to be as exact as possible when lining up the edges – it’ll help all the pieces fit together in the end.

Repeat that process to form another little dome. Think of these two pieces like the bread of a sandwich. For the PB&J portion of this ornament, follow the layout above (point up, point down, point up, etc.) until you have a long strip. Then just glue the two ends together. It might look a little wonky, but as long as you’ve got five tabs on each flat side, you’re good. The two domes will tie it together and give it the proper structure.

Once your three sections are dry, you can assemble your sandwich – I mean ornament. Just match the five tabs from the domes to the five tabs on that middle section. Easy peasy.

To finish off, just thread a little ribbon or embroidery floss through a flap and call it good!

Once you got this down pat, you can branch out with different sizes, add some glitter to the edges (ooh pretty!), add a bow up top or even use photos. Below you’ll see a photo version I made from snaps from a trip to Montreal and it’s just about my favorite ornament ever.

These are so simple and customizable that they make the perfect little extra present and add some handmade to your holiday. Now go forth and craft a hundred of these!

Crafter Hours: Putz Houses

Crafternoon: Geometric Paper Ornaments

cabininthecity

Crafternoon + Crafter Hours

Share this:

Share this:

cabininthecity