so wonderful!

Here is my fireplace. The only real difference is the andirons; mine are made from dollhouse stair railings cut down a bit, painter black with gold finial. The garland is made from 2 pieces of ordinary Christmas greens with the tiny red stamens; I ordered mine from 32 Degrees North. The garland is not glued on instead I made 2 L shape hooks from wire, drilled small holes in the front of the mantel and glued them in. I did bend them the hooks up a bit to hold the garland on.

The houses and church each sit on a 2 X 2 inch base. The bases have small hole so the light bulbs can be inserted into the houses. The houses range from approximately 1 & ¼ inches wide and 2 inches tall. I will be posting more details along with the patterns

I am working on stockings to be hung on the fireplace mantel, a Christmas tree and presents., more to come on these.

I want to thank Howard for this wonderful and ingenious project, sharing so many pictures and detailed instructions.

Incredible Lynn. I love it! Great work. Looks so dang real!

Lynn, I can not get over your MINI PUTZ houses!!! The detail in those little guys are amazing!! Awesome project, you and Howard really made some cool putz pieces!!!
-Brian

Lynn,
You are right that this is an absolutely inspired idea by Howard. Both you and Howard have brought it to life so beautifully. Your tiny houses are wonderful as are the other details. I can't wait to make it.
Lucy

Wow looks great.

Must look cool lite up.

Is the santa next to the yellow house, the normal size putz figure.
Or is it smaller?

Steve

Hi Steve, this Santa is just about 5/8 inches tall. I purchased a few from ebay they were supposed to be an inch, but it worked out for this mini. I did have to repaint it.

I'm amzed how much it looks like the santas on the old putz houses.
Spot on.

Here are some close up pictures of the Fireplace Cottage, along with some basic information. I have uploaded a PDF file of the pattern.

The base for this house and all of the other buildings is 2 inches by 2 inches, with a half inch light hole. This house measures 1 ¼ inches wide by 1 ½ inches tall and 5/8 inches deep. This house is just a wee bit deeper than the light hole, so I have marked out the spot where the hole can go, but you can move it up further towards the middle.

I reduce the PWD2s door to fit in the opening, but maybe you have a different door in mind that you would like to use. All four windows are the same size with red cellophane.

I covered this house with a fine cut glass I purchased from 32 Degrees North, but you can find this at just about any craft store. If you haven’t used cut glass before, beware it is glass, so be careful especially if you have little ones that would love to pick it up to play with.

Making a house this small is a lot easier than I thought it would be and lots of fun! Please share your pictures it is always nice to see how everyone adds their own special touch!

Howard and Lynn, this project is just adorable - can you say that about a fireplace? If I could find the time I would love to make one myself as I see lots of possibilities. The fire graphic is so realistic and the lighting looks doable even to me. Lynn, I like the looks of your muted brick. Wonderful houses and fireplace both of you.