Christmas Craftiness

I know it's only August but I've got Christmas in the back, the far corners, of my brain. Last year when I got my Christmas issue of Better Homes and Gardens they had these super cute patterns in there for little house ornaments. When I saw them it really reminded me of these little cardboard houses we used to put on our mantle at home when I was growing up. Each house was different and each was a sort of cottage or bungalow design. Some had cellophane at the windows and some did not. Most all had snow on the roof. Most had holes cut into the back so you could put a light inside.

Whenever we decorated the house for Christmas, the mantle was always my favorite part. Of course I loved doing the tree, but my mother was a maniac about the icicles (ONE at a time!!! -- sadly, I do the same thing now) and the mantle was always a safer bet. I couldn't screw it up. First went the long piece of glittery cotton for the snowy ground. Then I'd pull out all the houses and the bottle-brush trees. I could spend hours rearranging the houses to build my perfect little community (I guess it was like SIMS in the 60s...). After the houses were perfect, in went the trees. Big ones, small ones, snowy ones, decorated ones. Through the years they all started to get bunged up looking, but I loved them.

The best part came at the end when the reindeer part came. We had all the reindeer (in lovely white plastic in running poses) and even a Rudolph with his red nose. He went at the front, of course. I lined them up side by side in front of all the houses.

Today, the houses have long since bit the dust but I still have the reindeer (although one has a leg amputated at the knee - probably an unfortunate roof landing...). And this year I've been making the little house ornaments from Better Homes and Gardens except I blew the scale up to make mine mantle sized. Mantle sized isn't very big, maybe seven or eight inches tall. I have bought new bottle-brush trees and I will use my white plastic reindeer. And so this Christmas my mantle will have the same sort of display as the one in my childhood. My first house (pictured here) is sort of sloppy and is a ... spec house... I guess you'd say, but I'll keep working on them! Check back in December and see how they all turned out!