And a happy winter to you Internet!
 
I thought I’d share a little fun project that celebrates the season. Personally I’m a fan of winter. Clouds, drizzles, wind, fluffy jackets… awesome. Not everyone agrees however.
 

I don’t always frolic but when I do, I prefer to

do it after drinking Dos Equis.

 
I’ve never been so much into the shopping or decorating thing around the holidays, but this year a ‘client’ (hi mom!) requested a little decorative miniature scene over the fireplace. When the word ‘decorations’ were suddenly turned to ‘miniatures’, my brain got interested. I had been under the weather so long I started getting bored, and actual work was still beyond me, so under a mountain of sweatshirts I braved the cold of my workshop for some distraction. As always, things started with some doodles.

For this project, I was able to put about the same amount of effort into calculating scale as I do my meals. I wish I could take more time making them fancy but when it comes down to it I’m probably just going to make a sandwich. Instead of going exactly 1/4″ scale, I settled on making my scale “small”.

The numbers are really just there to look like I did some math.

This was going to be your basic DIY paper craft project. For the stock I decided to use scraps from the templates of my cardboard guitar project. It’s a nice sturdy poster paper, glossy on one side and matte on the other, and dirt cheap. For the first pieces I began by drawing out some very detailed plans, these are the walls for the church. Let’s just say by the third house they weren’t looking quite this organized, but they did their job

The building process was pretty much a make each piece as you go so I started with the big bits to get a basic framework going.

Come Jebediah, we must raiseth the walls before winter!

As I was holding the first piece I had glued with glue stick proper paper adhesive I instantly realized I didn’t have the patience, and busted out the hot glue gun. Everything is better with hot glue. Plus it kept my hands warm.

After the houses were constructed I wandered around the neighborhood with a pair of scissors looking for some nice bits of foliage that would serve as my miniature trees. Of course after walking all around, the best candidate ended up being a bush in my own front lawn. A little white paint, some pillow stuffing, a mirror, and some bitty lights later and I had my scene!

Makes me want to build a snowman. Happy winter-tide!