Old Book House

Post by **Lucy** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 10:38 pm

Yep. Another Halloween House. This one was inspired by a box my brother generously saved for me. He thought I could use it for one of my houses. It was such a sturdy little box that I decided to use it as a book base with a drawer in it.

The house itself is made from offcuts from the very first custom die I had made. I noticed that the gable offcuts would probably make a pretty cute house so I saved them. I attached them to a base for the sides and then put some siding on the house to cover up the seams. This crackled siding is leftover white crackle paint siding.

The bottom of the house has a hole in it so you could put a little LED light in the drawer and it will light up the house. Once again the windows are pieces of packaging that I stained with alcohol ink and smeared 2 layers of a clear glue to look like wavy glass.

Have a good day, everybody.
Lucy

https://paperglitterglue.com/?s=Old+book+house

Post by **Howard** » Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:28 am

Lucy...another winner!...how about some Halloween Candy in the drawer?...i'm sure there's room!...

my very best regards...

howard...

Clinton · Post by **Clinton** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:16 pm

Lucy, this is a wonderful concept! I went to your blog to post, but when I do, it suddenly disappears. Do I have to sign into my Google account to post? Thanks!

Post by **Lucy** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:56 am

Will, I do think you are supposed to be signed in to make a comment on a blog made in Google's blogger. I'm glad you identified yourself. I just blog for fun to spread information in a different setting. I started blogging 2-3 years before I joined this forum.

And yes, Howard, you are right. The drawer would be a good place to hide some candy. It would be a fun surprise.

Lucy

Post by **Lee** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:23 am

Hi Lucy,
I love all of your houses! Could you tell me please, what kind of craft cutter you use? I'm interested in getting one with the village dies as I have trouble cutting out the patterns anymore. I think I could mix and match the various dies to create different houses.

Thank you very much,
Lee

Post by **Lucy** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 3:41 pm

I haven't ever used an electronic cutter such as the Silhouette which is what Burghgal and Debquilts use, I think. I use a cutter where you roll the dies through - it's called a Big Shot. There is a smaller version which will work with the Village dwelling dies called the Big Kick. I am pretty sure you can find them online fairly cheap. The least expensive Big Kick I've seen on eBay is $35. All of these are made by Sizzix including the Village Dwelling dies.

I really like the Village series of dies. They are actually a little harder to put together than the ones I design because they had to fit so much on a single die plate. Oh, and I had 2 dies custom made by a company called Accucut, but they are expensive -$125 to $150 each. Since I make a lot of houses, it is worth it to me.

I hope this helps you get back to making little houses. Also I bought an arbor press from Harbor Freight tools that cost $60 and use dies from Pete and some eBay dies that cost about $12 to cut out windows and doors (http://www.ebay.com/itm/39-Shapes-Set-S ... SwfjhZdq4n) on my other houses.

I hope this helps you get back to making little houses.
Lucy

Post by **Lee** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 5:26 pm

Lucy,
Thank you for the information. I will investigate the Big Shot.

Lee

BurghGal · Post by **BurghGal** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 1:33 pm

Lee - as to cutters, as mentioned, I use a Cricut. They have come up with a new super-duper one that cuts tons of stuff which would be a good tool if you do crafts and need to cut fabric, wood, foil, chipboard etc. The bad part is, it costs about $400!! Not in my league. Their more basic machine, the Expression line, comes in below $200. The good thing is you don't have to invest in a ton of dies to make things. There are sites that have software (some of it free) that will allow you to make your own cut patterns, as well as friendly souls here that would most likely share their personal designs with you. Cutting files to buy are very reasonable - tons for a dollar or two and collections for under $20. You will have to get replacement blades occasionally, but if you shop the sales at the big box craft stores, as well as Cricut online, you can find sales and stock up. You needn't be too computer savvy to use these machines - the design software runs from the cloud - but an old computer won't have the oomph to do so. MAC or PC, the platform works.

That said, I still use my trusty Xacto for many things. The Cricut is great for those of us with carpal tunnel, arthritis, etc. Also if you are mass producing houses to sell, they are a great timesaver. I have discovered I enjoy making cards for folks using my machine and for my stepdaughter's wedding last year, I cranked out a ton of stuff that would have taken a lot of time otherwise.

In short, I think the cutters are a nice addition to our hobby, but not a necessity.

Post by **Lee** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:29 pm

Hi Burghgal,
Yes, I am developing arthritis and also carpal tunnel problems with my hands. I love making houses but it is just gotten to be too much trouble to cut them out these days. I am able to use an exacto knife for small things but a whole house is pushing it these days. It is so frustrating for me as I am only 61. I will look into the cricut as well as the sizzix.
Thank you so much for your input,
Lee

Clinton · Post by **Clinton** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:03 pm

Hi Lee! So sorry for your arthritis problems. I own a Sizzix "Big Kick" (it's basically just like the Big Shot) and I have several die cut plates. If you would like to build some of the houses I cut out, please contact me here: therealwill65@gmail and I'll send you out some! They are really fun to build and can be intermixed to make several different designs for you to build and embellish. Yeah, it's "purple-ish" (that's all they had left at only $49!), but it doesn't matter to me as long as it does the job!