Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Creating a Christmas Village by Mixing Doodlebug Collections

Hello there!  How are you?  Are you guys feeling ready for Christmas?  I know in so many ways I'm not, but I guess it's coming whether whether I get my act together or not... ;)

Today I'm sharing one last project for Christmas featuring a mixture of some darling papers from several of my favorite Doodlebug collections.

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

I have been wanting to create a Christmas village ever since I received these sweet Sizzix Village dies earlier this year.  I knew if I didn't do something with them now they might become buried under a pile of other things on my rapidly growing "someday" list.  

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

Knowing these would take some a bit of time to create and wanting them to last year after year, I started by first cutting my houses from some heavy weight chipboard.  I then cut them again from some of my favorite Doodlebug Petite prints and other small prints from various 6x6 paper pads.  Because of the thickness of the chipboard, I needed to cut my patterned papers apart at the corner seams so that the windows and other openings would line up properly on all four sides.  To get around this, I matched the patterns with a corner piece that I created for each corner using a small piece of paper, scored and folded in half.

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

To add a fun detail to my roofs, I turned to various scalloped border dies in my stash, cutting them from 1/2" wide strips of patterned paper.  To keep the layers from blending together, I inked each edge with a bit of distress ink using a foam applicator.

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

One of the die sets come with the pieces to cut the snowy rooftops.  I started by cutting them all from white cardstock and then coated them with a Marvy Uchida Snow Marker.  Before heating them with my heat gun to puff them up and make them look real, I sprinkled them with Doodlebug's Lily White Sugar Coating Glitter.  When heated, the glitter becomes permanently adhered and it left them looking so sparkly and pretty!

I completed my houses, with simple wreaths created with a couple metallic pipe cleaners wrapped around a pencil and adhered with a little liquid glue. I love how they added a touch of green and added even more sparkle to my scene!

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

To complete my scene I picked up some miniature trees and an iridescent garland 
at Michaels to act as a filler in the background, while hiding my miniature strand of battery powered lights.

Doodlebug Design: Christmas Village Houses by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Sizzix Dies & Patterned Papers from various Doodlebug collections).

I hope I've inspired you to think outside the box and mix papers from different collections on your next project.  ;)

Before I go, I would like to thank everyone at Doodlebug for allowing me the sincere pleasure of sharing projects using their adorable products for these past four years.  It has been a dream of mine since I first discovered Doodlebug back in 2003 and I while I must step away for now, I hope to be back again someday soon.  They are truly the best of the best and I feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work with them!  

I would also like to wish each one of you a very merry Christmas filled with lots of wonderful memories!



Interested in the products I used to create my projects today?  To make supplies easier for you to find, I have listed them below (affiliate links included). 

Supplies Used (available at Scrapbook.com)


8 comments:

  1. These are so cute!! One question - does the glitter go over the snow marker while it's still wet or do you need to use an adhesive? I am ordering a snow pen now to try this out!

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    1. Thank you. I sprinkled the glitter while the pen was still wet and then used my heat gun to puff it up and lock in the glitter. :)

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    2. Got it, thanks!! Hope to keep seeing your creations in 2018!

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  2. This little village is so AWESOME! I am in love with anything Doodlebug, and this is just precious. TFS and Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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    1. Thank you Eileen! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas too! :)

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  3. I just got Tim holtz paper village dies. Where did you get the pieces for the windows etc? The dies don't have window pane dies. I love your houses

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    1. Hi there! Sorry... I'm just now seeing this message. Are you talking about the window frames or the acetate behind them? The window frames with the slats between them are part of the Tim Holtz dies. There are four separate dies I used though which I linked above that you can click on to see the larger product photos so I'm wondering if you just have a different set.

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    2. Hi there! When googling Paper village I realized you have Tim's newer thinlits dies which I think are smaller in size. These are the 6" x 13" Bigz steel rule dies and each die produces a house that is approximately 4.5" tall. Unfortunately it looks like they have all been discontinued by Sizzix, but you can still see them here and maybe buy them on ebay.

      https://www.sizzix.com/660992/sizzix-bigz-xl-die-village-dwelling
      https://www.sizzix.com/660988/sizzix-bigz-die-village-winter
      https://www.sizzix.com/661205/sizzix-bigz-xl-die-village-brownstone
      https://www.sizzix.com/660987/sizzix-bigz-die-village-bell-tower
      https://www.sizzix.com/661196/sizzix-bigz-die-village-bungalow

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