Little Cracker House
I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to craft my own Christmas Cracker and had an idea of a pull/snap coming out of a chimney. Well, it took some time as I pondered different shapes.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make a conical tree out of toilet paper rolls or fashion a house out of cardstock paper. Here are some of the considerations:
Had to be sturdy but designing a 3 D house with functionality is beyond my scope… I am not an engineer.
Decently sized to hold my very select and personal gifts.
Re-usable for the next couple years.
Had to fit in with my table décor
Look like I crafted it rather than my kids.
I also really wanted to craft it from my supplies. I am trying to minimize shopping and honestly, I do have a serious arsenal for crafting.
I mulled and rifled through my stock but I couldn’t do it from what I had at home.
There is something to be said of browsing new materials and inspiring great ideas. I looked at a tiny bird house at the dollar store. Got me thinking… but it was too hard to disassemble the house and make the roof lift up but it led me to a gift box with a lid. Working the roof idea…I spied some foam in a conical shape which spoke of castles… what if I cut wedges out of florist foam and attached popsicle sticks like shingles…
So here are the supplies laid out. Now at the upper left side of the pic is a mess of gnome materials that sat on the Island for days before. I was going to craft a different idea with Oonah but we had an argument and we both walked away! (read, I told her to go to her room! and I walked away). I promised Glenn I would clean it up...
And here's what happened rather than cleaning up... More MESS. But what you cant see on that busy granite counter is dust from the florist foam. And the shrapnel from the popsicle sticks...
The gift boxes were festive however their colours didn’t fit my table scape. I played with fabrics – cutting them and wrapping them around the box. I was doing things pretty rough while being careful with that glue gun!
Here the roof is brown. But I hated it. It didnt speak to my decor and looked dirty.
I spent a good 6 hours creating these little houses. The part I so looked forward to: working the snap/pull. I was constructing the chimney and just itching to fashion some “fluff to the snap to look like smoke”. I think my heart was set on that one “touch” while I constructed everything else.
It is bizarre to go to the length of creating four little houses, cutting up over 100 popsicle sticks, hot gluing, painting and repainting so I can pull at some fluff to get it look like smoke. But it truly did give me joy.
I think we will have fun with it on Christmas Eve.
I will hot glue the end of the snap inside the box after I have filled it with the personal touch. I may write a love note or a joke, add a caramel or two and their gift.
I know they are a bit crude but I love the fluff/puff.
And finally...
Pamela
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