Deck the Halls with Handmade Mixed-Media Art Houses

My house is full of houses, and never more than during the holidays. From the vintage paper village houses lit up on the tree to the ceramic Dickens village my husband and I started collecting the day after we were married.

A sampling of the mixed-media houses from the
Home Sweet Home reader challenge, featured
in the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.

I’m rather obsessed: In my house there are pictures of houses, books about houses, house-shaped knickknacks, house motifs on my kitchen linens, and house-themed art.

I’m always looking for house art to make and add to my collection. Here are some old and new favorites.

When I saw the results of the Cloth Paper Scissors Home Sweet Home reader challenge in the November/December 2011 issue, I thought I’d died and gone to house heaven.

Ninety-five little three-dimensional art houses decorated with fiber arts and mixed media, paint, embellishments, paper, polymer clay–you name it. Each one absolutely adorable.

The pages of results shown in the magazine offer endless inspiration for mixed-media art, and you can download the pattern for the houses free from the Online Extras gallery on our website.

Chubby House by Debi Harris Babcock, from the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of
Cloth Paper Scissors.

Another favorite of mine are the Chubby Houses by Debi Harris Babcock from the January/February 2010 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. Not only do they remind me of little English cottages, but they are easy to make from upcycled materials: Styrofoam® packaging cut up and covered with papier-mâché art techniques, paint, and old text. (Be sure you wear a mask or respirator when you’re cutting Styrofoam®.)

Finally, I think I’ll create a fantasy version of my house decorated in the kind of Christmas finery I can’t actually afford, using Staci Swider’s mixed-media art technique.

Staci demonstrates her technique for collaging a house portrait then painting and drawing in fanciful details in Art Lessons, Collage and Paint Series, Vol. 11. In fact, I could see creating an entire series of these house portraits, one for every season.

I’m working on my new house-themed mixed-media art projects now, and you can, too. Both magazine issues and the Art Lesson can be downloaded so you can start creating a whimsical village of art houses immediately!

P.S. Do you collect or make houses or villages? I’d love to hear about it. Leave your comment below and a link to a photo, if you have one.

Categories

3D Art and Assemblage, Blog, Mixed-Media Techniques

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