Santa’s Village Tutorial & New Collage Sheets

Ho! Ho! Ho! it’s off to the ice and snow of the North Pole where Santa’s Village awaits.  I love presenting projects that have lots of options; you can start by making just one piece, or make them all.  And this is the kind of project you can add to overtime, perhaps making one special piece each year.  I’ve started mine off with a Toy Workshop, Santa’s House, Reindeer Barn, and Sweets & Treats Factory.  I’ve also added a few other small things like a snowman made from ping pong balls and a North Pole sign.

I used all kinds of things for bases and houses (a paper pattern, a Masonite kit, a chipboard kit, and paper mache boxes).  I’ve also created new collage sheets and digital image sets that fit with the project.  I’ll walk you through the details of how I made each piece and include a supply list that corresponds to the piece.  At the very end of the post is a master supply list with everything I used for the project.

NEW COLLAGE SHEETS & DIGITAL IMAGE SETS

You can find all of my collage sheets and digital image sets at Alpha Stamps.

SANTA’S VILLAGE COLLAGE SHEET

The Santa’s Village collage sheet contains all kinds of goodies like toy soldiers, signs, candy, wreaths, cookies and more.  Click on the image to purchase.

SANTA’S VILLAGE DIGITAL IMAGE SET

The Santa’s Village digital image set contains all the same images as the collage sheet plus a large candy cane.  Click on the image below to purchase.

WINTER WONDERLAND COLLAGE SHEET

The Winter Wonderland collage sheet is filled with deer, trees, birds, icicles, and snowflakes.  Click on the image below to purchase.

WINTER WONDERLAND DIGITAL IMAGE SET

The Winter Wonderland digital image set contains all of the images in the collage sheet (except the bird feeder) plus an additional deer and tree.  Click on the image to purchase.

SNOWMAN

This cute little fella is made from ping pong balls and a cap from a bottle.

I cut away the bottom of one of the ping pong balls so that that it would sit on the other ball.

Next, I glued together all of the pieces.  It doesn’t need to look pretty as it will be covered with flocking.  If the objects you use are not white, paint them white before applying flocking as the color will show through the flocking.

Next, I painted the snowman with Glossy Accents.  Notice how I poked an awl through the bottom of the snowman to make it easy to hold the snowman while applying the glue and flocking without touching the snowman.  I then sprinkled the flocking on the snowman and allowed it plenty of time to dry.

Once the glue is dried, I attached the gloves with a sign, hat, carrot, beads for eyes and tied a piece of ribbon around his neck for a scarf.

TOY WORKSHOP

I started by gluing together two bases from kraft boxes, covered them with paper and trimmed them with ribbon.  I cut a piece from one end of a kraft box lid to make the step.  Nex,t I poked holes in the boxes to accommodate the LED tea lights and glued them in place.

For the windows, I used the base of 3 paper mache houses.  These were leftover from the Christmas Ornament House project where I used just the lids.  I papered the inside and out.

I painted the tops white, added glue and sprinkled them with Diamond dust. Inside, I added holly berry garland and wreaths from my stash. 

Since the center window did not have a light, I when ahead and filled it with presents and a horn.

Lastly, I glued all of the houses together.  After lining them up with the base I marked and punched holes for the LED tea lights.  The hole does not have to be pretty as it will be blocked by the images in the window.  I then glued the boxes in place.

Finally, I added the toy images to the windows that have lights.

The windows are made from Masonite gothic arches that are painted red.  For glass, I used transparency film.

I glued the windows in place starting with the center window.  The end windows will hang a little off of the ends of boxes.  Next, I covered the tops of the windows with garland to cover the gaps between the windows and to add color.

The final touch is the clock in the center from the collage sheet and the Santa Hat buttons.

In front are a couple of elves congratulating themselves for a successful year of toy making.

Flanking each side of the workshop are toy soldiers holding swords that are really plastic cocktail picks painted black and gold.

The sign attached to the back is made from chalkboard signposts.  You can use chalk to write on them or as I did, use one of the signs from the Santa’s Village collage sheet (they are sized to fit these signposts).

In addition to attaching the signpost to the back, I also attached trees from the Winter Wonderland collage sheet and applied the white flocking to the white parts of the trees. 

In these pictures, you can see how the workshop looks lighted.  To turn on the lights, just lift up the Workshop and flip the switch.

REINDEER BARN

For the Reindeer Barn, I stared with a chipboard house kit (very simple to assemble).  I covered the outside with paper which I inked and scratched.  I figured the reindeer would be using the wood as a scratching post for their antlers like cats with claws.  I trimmed out the windows with paper tape.

Next, I glued the sides of the house together using the tabs.  Below you can see the house put together without the paper.

Roof

I assembled all the pieces of the roof.  I glued icicles from the collage sheet to the sides of the roof.  I painted the chipboard parts of the roof white (except the chimney).  I covered the chimney with the same paper as the sides.  I applied glue to the roof and the icicles and then sprinkled them with Diamond Dust.  Once the glue was dry I attached the roof to the house.

Chimney

I assembled the chimney cap, glued icicles from the collage sheet to the sides of the cap and painted the chipboard parts of the chap white.  Next, I added glue the cap and sprinkled it with diamond dust.  Once dry, I glued the chimney cap to the chimney and then the chimney to the house.

Weathervane

The weathervane is made using a needle, two arrows, and a reindeer button.  I used E6000 glue to combine the pieces.  I poked the sharp end of the needle through the roof and glued it in place.

I also added Rudolf to the roof where he is practicing his takeoffs.

The hay trough is made from two pieces of chipboard papered and glued in a “v” shape.  The legs are flat toothpicks.  I filled the trough with a piece of raffia.

Just like with the Toy Workshop, the base is made from a kraft box with an LED tea light underneath. To turn on the light, lift up the barn to get to the switch.

SWEETS & TREATS FACTORY

For the Sweets & Treats factory, I started with the Glitter House Template Collage Sheet.  

I cut out the house and papered one side (the side without markings).  This made it easier to see where to score, fold and cut.  Next, I assembled the main part of the house using the tabs.

Just as with the other pieces I used the icicles and Diamond dust on the roof.

The base is a kraft box bottom but this time I installed a mini LED light with a switch instead of the LED tea light.  The light pokes through a hole in the base and the wires and battery are taped under the base.  To turn on the light, just lift the factory and flip the switch.

The house is glued to the base.  In the back, I attached gingerbread and peppermint trees to make a candy forest.

SANTA’S HOUSE

Santa’s House started with a mini votive house shrine kit.  Notice how the back is open.

I painted the walls red and the roof white.  The roof got the same Diamond Dust and icicle treatment as the other pieces.

Patches of Snow ono Areas of Colored Paper

To add patches of snow to this piece and others, I cut out pieces of white paper to which I glued flocking.  Then, I glued the paper to the bases.  

The base is a kraft box and since the back is open the LED tea light is accessible from the back of the house.  As you can see, I added trees to the back but made sure there was enough room to insert my fingers to turn on the light switch.

NORTH POLE

For the North Pole, I painted the lid of a box white, applied glue and then sprinkled on flocking.  I attached flocked trees with birds to the back of the box, and the reindeer and elf to the front.  I added the icicles to the sign and glued on Diamond Dust.  The finishing touch is the Santa Clause cabochon.