Yes, another house. This one will also be decorated for Halloween at a later date so I can sell it for my “Halloween Houses for Habitat” fundraiser. Right now I’m leaving it as a regular stone house, hence the name “La Maison en pierre”. It’s official name (as if it were a pedigreed canine) is “La Maison en pierre avec trois pignons” – the Stone house with 3 Gables. I think it looks French so it gets a French name, though if someone visits from France, please forgive me if my impression is inaccurate.
I made this house with several online craft challenges in mind. One is “Count Me In” at Frilly and Funkie. This challenge ends today so I was in a bit of rush to complete the house. I need to do some touch up painting especially around the fence. Count me in obviously refers to numbers. And you can clearly see that there are no obvious numbers in the house. But numbers played a big role in this design – 3 gables in the front, 3 gable additions, 3 windows under each of the front gables and 3 windows on each gable end. I also stamped the base with a Tim Holtz “Papillon” stamp which does have some numbers in it. The “Three” theme was also designed to fit with a Vintage Journey’s challenge this month – “The Magic of Three”.
Three windows on each side.
I started to cut out 3 light holes in the back, but decided against it. You may notice that I used a halloween fence with bats on it, but I painted over the fence several times to make it strong which obscured some of the detail of the bats. The other challenge that helped determine the design was this month’s Country View Crafts “Rust” challenge. That determined what kind of roof I would use. I also used a different technique to make a rusted roof. I used Prima Rust effect paste. I smeared 3 colors of paste over aluminum duct tape (notice duct, not duck. It is a real metallic tape that you buy in a home improvement store.) I did use my alcohol inks a little bit to add some more color. The only downside that I see to this paste is that the grit does come off some. My houses aren’t really meant to be handled, but people can’t help but touch them. Normal human behavior. That’s why I try to make them really strong.
Another challenge I designed it for is the Artistic Stamper’s April creative challenge “Backgrounds”. While I struggle with backgrounds on my cards and other mixed media pieces, I do pretty well with the backgrounds on the house, the house siding, and bases. I think the background of the stone work on the house is pretty cool and the stamping on the base looks good. The base is stamped with Tim Holtz “Papillon” stamp and over painted with a wash of raw umber.
Better view of the rust on the roof.
Here’s the number on the Tim Holtz “Papillon” stamp to fit the “Count Me In” on the Frilly and Funkie challenge and the Artistic Stamper challenge.
Below is a photo of both houses. You can see that I learned something about painting the stones from the new Tim Holtz “Stone” layering stencil. I actually painted the stones on this last house individually to preserve the color of the mortar which is Ranger’s Pumice Stone Distress paint.
Outside of the online craft challenges, I had a number of other CRAFTING challenges such as:
1. Difficulty gluing the windows because of the texture paste
2. Centering the house on the base (one day I will learn to measure before I place a glued object.)
3. Painting the texture paste edges to help make them less obvious around the windows and the corners of the house.
I will learn these things eventually. As I said, I will be decorating this house as a Halloween house which I will post closer to that time, maybe I can cover up some of the mistakes at that time.
So here are the challenges I’ve shared this with:
Frilly and Funkie – Count Me In
Vintage Journey – The Magic of Three
Country View Crafts – Rust
Artistic Stamper – Backgrounds
Thank you for stopping by.
Lucy
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Sara Barker says
April 12, 2017 at 2:32 amLucy, Lucy, LUCY! You are an amazing architect! I love, love, LOVE this French house with it's stone facade, rusted roof (can I say I am in love with this again?!) and the fence and even the base! (How big is this, anyway? Judging by the stamped image, I'd have to say it's pretty small. That makes it all that much more challenging to put together.)
As MUCH as I adore Halloween and decorating any house for Halloween, I'd almost say it would be a shame to change this into a Haunted House, but I guess we'll see, won't we!
Have I said how much I love this? Thank you for sharing it in our Magic of Three challenge (you did good with this) at A Vintage Journey. Hugs! Sara Emily
Lucy says
April 12, 2017 at 2:45 amSara, thank you so much for your enthusiastic comment. I am really tickled wit how this house turned out. I know what you mean about decorating this one for Halloween – it's kind of classic as it is. I don't do gory for Halloween, mostly bats and cats and pumpkins and a leafless tree. Maybe I can just add some Halloween elements that aren't glued down.
You asked about the size – the house itself is 3.25 inches x 1.5 inches. I designed this house pattern so I could cut it out of one 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardboard. I made an insert in the base so 2 LED lights fit inside. I will do another post showing it with the lights on.
Thank you again. Your comments always make me happy.
Redanne says
April 12, 2017 at 12:04 pmLucy, you have done it again – taken my breath away with this gorgeous stone house!! It definitely looks French, it reminds me of a French Gite (holiday home) I stayed in many, many years ago, so to me your house is perfect. The rusty roof is superb and i just love how you tackled painting the stones to leave the mortar colour intact. I fully understand your difficulty in attaching the windows over the stone – not an easy task at all but you have managed it beautifully. I know I keep saying this, but this is my new favourite!!!
Thanks so much for joining in with us at A Vintage Journey for our Magic of Three challenge too. Anne xx
Kathy/NorthCarolina says
April 13, 2017 at 1:45 pmThis is so fabulous! It looks like real stone and rusted metal. The details are wonderful and I love every single one of them! Thanks so much for sharing with us at the Count Me In Challenge on Frilly and Funkie!
butterfly says
April 16, 2017 at 1:18 pmI love your stony house – and what a great place to photograph it!
Alison x
Sara Barker says
April 18, 2017 at 1:14 pmWow, that's TINY! You give me meaning to "tiny houses". Maybe I could just shrink down and live there! I am enamored with your stonework; so sad I don't have that stencil yet, because I am working on a project that requires stones. Will just have to make my own, I guess. Thank you for your reply! hugs!
Hazel Agnew says
April 20, 2017 at 5:00 pmC'est tres chic Lucy. I adore your little house and am so pleased that you shared it with us at Country View Crafts. X
Neet says
April 23, 2017 at 9:26 pmI think you need to do man many more and create your own little village complete with doctors house and pastry shop etc. This is fabulous work and I love it.
Hugs, Neet xx
Julia Aston says
May 6, 2017 at 4:46 pmI just LOVE your wonderful stone gabled house Lucy! the texture on the roof and walls is just wonderful and looks so much like real stone! thanks so much for sharing this with us at the A Vintage Journey Challenge! Julia xx
Jenny Marples says
May 7, 2017 at 10:55 pmUtterly gorgeous Lucy!!! That is brilliantly detailed and textured – so lifelike! Thank you so much for joining us at Frilly and Funkie and at A Vintage Journey! xx
Sara Barker says
May 12, 2017 at 3:14 pmI'm so happy to see your house was chosen as one of the Pinworthies at A Vintage Journey! Yippee!
Team Clark says
May 12, 2017 at 6:40 pmLucy, so so happy to see you as a Pinworthy at AVJ! You are so creative and it thrills me to see your work on display! Hope this starts your weekend off right! Happy Friday!