Tuesday, January 9, 2018

TINY HOUSES...










Are you a fan of the craze 
that has been sweeping the country 
for awhile now? 
 I'm asking about tiny houses.





I admit that I sometimes watch
 the show on HGTV.

 I do like to see 
how the rooms are laid out and 
how they are decorated 
but to live, for any length of time, 
in one would drive me crazy. 

I'm not talking small houses. 
 I know that the time will come 
when we will be looking at those,
 but small houses and tiny houses 
are entirely two very 
different things.





Now,
 I do like little.

  You may have noticed 
that I use that word a lot
 in describing some things. 
 I associate it with the four "C's":
  cuteness, comfort, coziness and cottage.





When we celebrated 
our first Christmas in the Cottage, 
I bought a little Christmas village.
  I used it for a few years,
 having lots of fun making 
snow drifts and arranging bottle brush trees
 around the houses.
  After awhile 
some things were misplaced or broken 
and I sold the remaining pieces
 in a garage sale. 
 I knew it was time
 to make someone else 
happy.






I have always wanted 
a gingerbread house. 
 Not a big fancy one,
 embellished with candy canes and gum drops,
 but a little one
 that looked like a 
Swiss chalet...





...however, 
since I have never had the desire 
to make one myself, 
I thought this cake pan 
would fill my needs...





...and, it did make 
a cute cake that tasted wonderful...
but when it came to decorating it
 with the required icing, 
it was a disaster! 
 I finally finished it
 with a dusting of powdered sugar
 and FYI: 
 to keep the sugar from disappearing 
into the cake, 
add a small amount of
 cornstarch 
to the sugar.





So,
 this year, 
I bought this sweet little cardboard cottage,
 two different shades of brown paint 
and a white paint pen.





I put the finished project 
under glass 
and that fulfilled my wish 
for a gingerbread house 
until I remembered
 one little house that was left over 
from the original Christmas village
 and I thought, 
why not!






I forgot to take a picture before
 I started painting it,
 but you can still see 
the ugly green paint
 that was on it...





...and after a couple of coats of paint,
 some snow and some glitter, and
  even though the transformation 
didn't come in time
 for Christmas...






...the newest little gingerbread cottage 
is done in time for 
the snowmen of
 January.





When Tami and Tim spend Christmas 
with his parents 
they do a basket exchange.

  Tami bought this little music box 
to add to her basket.  
While she was getting things together,
 she realized it didn't work
 so she asked me if I wanted it. 
 What? Are you kidding? 
 I'm not proud
 and it makes the sweetest addition
 to my type of
 tiny houses.


...Judy...





Happy January
 everyone 
and stay 
cozy and warm.

I'm joining a new party today:








15 comments:

  1. How cute. I tried making a gingerbread house from a kit a few years ago. It was a disaster. I love the cornstarch tip. I may try that with my pecan balls.
    I have an old ceramic house. I was thinking of giving it a paint job. This gives me the impetus to give it a try.

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  2. I love your tiny houses. That gingerbread with the powdered sugar just looks like it had a dusting of snow. Janice

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  3. I absolutely LOVE tiny houses! I used to have a huge collection of them but let them go over the years. I kept some of the very special ones that I had but now wish I had some of them back. I am still trying to 'let go' of things that I don't need. lol xo Diana

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  4. I love your tiny houses and your gingerbread house is wonderful!

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  5. Judy, I adore your tiny gingerbread houses. I considered making a gingerbread house as a centerpiece for the table when I took my little grand nieces to the gingerbread house brunch. If I do it again next December, I will plan on a centerpiece of a gingerbread house or perhaps some tiny ones under a dome like you have done. I had thought earlier about a mini gingerbread house under my cake dome, but never got around to it. January is slipping away, but will plan that for next year as well. All so cute!

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  6. Sweet! These are so nice! I love what you did with your old brown and green house, just wonderful.

    I live in a 'small' house, 675 sq. ft. I don't think I could handle living in a 'tiny home', it's just too small. I like space and my things. I totally understand the concept though.

    Happy January dear Judy ~ FlowerLady

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  7. These are really cute Judy. Yep those tiny houses on HGTV of only a few hundred sq. feet would make me crazy. Having to climb up a tiny ladder to a loft bed NOPE!!! I am living very small in a 900sq. foot house with 800 more feet in the finished basement. That is about as small as I could go. Living smaller does have some advantages. Less time to clean, less maintenance and utilizing every inch of living space. Having rooms you seldom or never really use to me does not seem like a great idea anymore like it use too. I am embracing living small and with less stuff. Have a great week.

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  8. I love your tiny houses and that last gingerbread one looks so fabulous with how you embellished it. I would love to know how you make your snow. It looks good enough to eat!!

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  9. Oh, I love all of these houses. I used to have a gingerbread house pan...now where is it? I have a dollhouse in the basement that I would love to refurbish. And I currently live in a very small house and it's small enough. I don't think I could do tiny! BTW, I love your four "c's"...right there with you!

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  10. Your tiny houses are darling! I love how you transformed the green one. And I'm with you as for living in one of those tiny houses on t.v. I would be climbing the walls after a while. :) I also love the house that was gifted to you. Perfect for January! I hopped over from Katies blog. Happy to be a new follower. I have a link party, Share Your Cup. It's about sharing what makes you happy. I'd love if you shared some time. It goes live at 4 p.m. MST on Wednesdays.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  11. Love those sweet houses. I didn't bring mine out this year. I didn't bring lots of things out this year.
    Ginger bread house pan is so sweet. Would love to find one of those.
    Hugs Betsy

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  12. Hi Judy,

    I love this post!! I so enjoyed seeing all the little houses you shared. Your cake turned out really cute. :D Those Nordicware bundt pans make the prettiest cakes. I think the powdered sugar is a perfect idea for winter. I also love your little cardboard house and the music box from Tami. I like this time of the year because I enjoy nesting and being cozy indoors. :)

    I appreciate your visit and comments over Christmas Judy. I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday and Happy 2018 to you. Enjoy your weekend.

    Hugs,

    Denise at Forest Manor

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  13. This was such a fun post to read! I love little houses, particularly those with windows that light up. They seem so inviting and cozy. You have a nice collection here, and you did a fabulous job on your gingerbread house. I completely understand about the icing. I had to chuckle while reading your post, because it took me back to when I was in high school and was participating in the international fair. My job was to represent Germany and make a gingerbread house. I think I got the instructions from the Time-Life series of books. A friend and I set to work and spend an entire day putting it together. It didn't look half bad, but as we sat down to admire our work, slowly, the roof started sliding off. My dad had to come up with a drill and little bamboo skewers to hold the entire thing together .

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  14. I got too much interesting stuff on your blog. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work. Instagram

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Your comments are so special to me...Judy