Sizzix Village Collection- a little cottage lit by the moon

Hello all…whew, its been a very busy time in my studio over the last couple of months. I’ve been making all sorts of fun things. But today I am back to share a secret make that I made a few weeks ago. Tim announced today a super fun collection that I have a feeling many people will be so happy about…the new Village Collection! If you missed the live over on Tim’s Youtube channel, you can click here to check out the replay.

I was so excited to be a part of the release and to make a project featuring the village…I chose to go in a vintage folk art, shabby chic, farmhouse cottage way. I am a sucker for shabby chic (as many of you know) and couldn’t resist creating a tiny cottage using a combination of all of my favorite things…sticks, vintage buttons, stitches, vintage fabric and all sorts of Tim Holtz idea-ology goodies!

Here’s a look at some of the features of my make.. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I had fun making it. It was a no holds project that I made just to make, it was fun to cut loose, create and just roll with it, in whichever way this project was going to take me. So, let’s take a peek!

To begin with, I first started by building my tiny cottage…everything that you need to use to build one is included in the Village Collection, which I think is absolutely brilliant.

If you are new to the village and weren’t around for the first Tim Holtz Village, all the houses and parts were sold individually, which at times was tricky to find if you were looking to build more than one type of house. This time, Tim has released the village as a collection that includes every single piece to build as many tiny homes and buildings as you would like. The possibilities are literally endless!

My cottage features wood siding, a brick foundation and a cobblestone chimney, all made by using the new mini 3D folders, sized specifically to fit the houses. I told you, Tim thought of EVERYTHING!

The roof of the house was made by cutting the pieces using Distress Kraft Heavy Stock, ink and the Woven 3D Embossing Folder. This created the perfect texture for a cottage roof. I built the cottage using Distress Heavy Stock White paper…it is the perfect weight, not to thick and not too thin. I created my papers using many of my favorite techniques, then cut the pieces using the dies. I built the house using collage medium to adhere the pieces together and added bits of floral moss in-between the layers to give it a more realistic look.

The base of my project is an old cigar box that I tore the lid off of, cut the lid to fit as the base, then began building my scene within it. I distressed both the outside and inside using distress inks and paints, then tore old dictionary paper and collaged them inside the box with collage medium. When the paper was dry, I dry brushed distress paints onto the background to create a night sky. After the paint was dry, I used my sanding grip and roughed up and tore the papers to create a worn and tattered look. I splattered the background with white paint, then dried it with my heat tool.

You can see a better look at the tattered and torn background in the photo below.

My little moon is from the idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Layers pack.

I rubbed it with my sanding grip to take away some of the shine, then rubbed it with some vintage photo archival ink using a blending tool. This gave it an aged look. I drilled a hole into the cigar box and threaded an idea-ology string of tiny lights through the hole that would be directly behind the moon piece. I adhered a small round wood slice within the vignette, just under where the string of lights came through, then wound the lights around it and adhered the moon to the wood piece. This gave my moon a slight glow.

I applied several vintage buttons within the vignette to create the look of stars. Several of the buttons were from my mothers vintage button collection, man, they sure don’t make buttons like this anymore…it makes this project even more special to me!

The outside of the cigar box was finished using vintage fabric and quilt batting that I haphazardly stitched using my sewing machine and thread.

I tore strips of fabric then cut pieces of quilt batting using pinking sheers. The batting was just slightly larger than the fabric strips, then I ran it through my sewing machine using straight and zigzag stitches. I created another piece of fabric and batting to fit the back of the box, and made sure to create a little pocket for the battery pack/switch of the tiny lights.

I applied more buttons to the outside of the vignette using collage medium.

I added an old pocket piece of a pair of denim jeans at the base of the vignette within the box then began building the scene and area to place my cottage. The cottage was adhered and floral moss, sticks, and tiny floral pieces, that have the look of mushrooms, were adhered within to add to the cottage feel.

Did you see the door handle of my cottage? A tiny vintage baby button…could it have been more perfect?

The final touch of the piece were the added words and phrases around the outside edge of the cigar box. These were all found in the idea-ology clipping sticker book.

“a little cottage, lit by the moon, the light of hope. draw near to me, the beautiful stars of the sky. remind me of the happiness, where only the imagination can go.” I couldn’t resist highlighting the breaks of the phrases with more tiny vintage buttons…my favorite!

I absolutely LOVE this project as it completely combines everything that I love…Tim Holtz, Sizzix, Inks, Vintage, Fabric, Sewing, Buttons and vintage goodies that have special memories tied to them! I hope you enjoyed the look at my make and will give the Village Collection a try! It was so much fun to create with!

Thanks so much fro stopping by today, and be sure to visit timholtz.com and check out all the wonderful makes from many of my crafty friends..I assure you, you will be amazed! Have a great weekend!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

Here’s a list of some of the supplies I used to create my project… click here to shop at Simon Says Stamp

Tim Holtz Sizzix Village Collection, Mini 3D Woodgrain, Bricks and Cobblestone Texture Fades, Distress Heavystock mixed media paper in White and Kraft, Woven 3D Embossing Folder, idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Layers, Tiny Lights, Clippings Sticker Pack, vintage cigar box, buttons, fabric, dictionary pages, distress paints, inks, crayons, floral moss, sticks, flowers and more…