How to make a mini light-up mixed-media collage Sizzix die cut house

All sorts of exciting news here! First, were you surprised when came here and saw our new banner? Pretty spiffy, eh? Not only is it Book Giveaway Day (scroll down for the question and book info), but I am excited to share with you my design for Week 1 of the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop! (Click the button to the right to hop to 60 designs.)

Here is my light-up mixed-media house.

Here it is with the light off.

And now I'll show you how I made it.

First, as I stared at the blank white cardstock die cut made using Sizzix House Die, I asked myself how I wanted to decorate this fun house.

For a little inspiration I went to my book stash and started flipping through this book:

Collage Lab:

Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects

By

Bee Shay

I'll take a break from the house making tutorial and say this is this week's giveaway book! And the question you answer to get yourself in the running is:

In light of our "redesign" of the Craftside banner... What have you redesigned lately? It can be anything from your thoughts to your living room!

Leave your answer in today's comment section by midnight ET November 11th 2010 and you are in the running.

OK, now back to house making.

Collage Lab is filled with all sorts of ideas for using different materials in fun ways, so my theme was going to be "mixed-media" in 3-D (because isn't everything coming out in 3-D lately?).

I covered the house with a remnant of a plaid dress. Fabric is great for decoupaging dimensional objects since it has a bit of stretch. I then went to my vintage magazines and found 2 fun "interior house images."

Since the house die cut has open windows and a door, I thought it would be fun to decorate the inside so you could peek in (we here at Craftside are big fans of the "inside peek" ya know).

Then, since my house is full of plaid and books, I thought it would be fun to substitute the roof with an actual mini book.

I colored the window frames and door surround to match the tone of the roof with some colored pencils.

And to light up my house, I popped in a little battery powered tea light.

I hoped you liked my little house and you will hop on over to the 59 other blogs to see how they made their houses. We built this city! Giggle... Starship song reference. :)

For a full list of participating designers, you can hop here.

And don't forget to enter to win Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects!

Comments

[Denise]

cute idea to use the book as a roof! I saw a doll at quilt market that was completely made out of books, head, arms, legs, all stacked it was impressive! cute!

[Brenda Pinnick]

Stephanie, this is really a fantastic project. I love the detail of seeing inside the house!

[Mod Podge Amy]

Great idea for the roof - and who wouldn't love that light!! Awesome!

[Tiffany]

That roof idea is SO clever! Love it!

[Jen Goode]

Such a fun idea to use the book for the roof - great project!

[wen]

Very clever project! I'm in the process of redisigning my craft room, since it's spilling out into the rest of the house! I spend more time moving stuff around in there than I do actually crafting, so I'm categorizing items and areas in the hopes of making better use of my space.

[Shari Jensen]

I am constantly rearranging my plans for the day, the week and the projects I am working on. It is like "Why bother to plan anything...it is always going to change one way or another". LOL. I like to say I am flexible, my home is flexible, my job is flexible, my kids are buy my hubby is not!

[colleen]

Amazing!

[NancyW]

I just rearranged my crafting area. Hope to make it more user friendly. I love the book/roof!

[Michelle Cummings]

so clever! I love the roof best!

[MelodyJ]

I like the new banner and love the mixed media house. I'm going to check out the other houses. Now that song is "We Built This City" is stuck in my head.

I rearranged my thoughts about getting work. I have new ideas about it and I need to act on it. Just take a chance.

melodyj(at)gmail(dot)com

[eileen hull]

Stef- the plaid is all you! Love the book roof too. Thanks for working with my die :-)

[Suella]

I redesign my clothes and my wardrobe on a regular basis.I've used a lot of book suggestions here to get ideas about aspects of upcycling garments in colour shape or detail. I've even turned things upside down and backwards to make quite unusual jackets in an eco-garment class.

I love you house with an interesting book for a roof. Now I need to work out how to involve the concept into a handbag or purse. Hmmm....

[Cheryl]

What a fun idea using a book for the roof! Very cute!

[Roxi Phillips]

I love every detail of your project! Who would thunk to do a plaid house?:)

[Pat]

I like how you adorned the inside walls. Clever idea.

[Karen Little]

Just moved into a new house so in the process of rearranging all my crafting areas - paper, sewing, yarn.

[Theresa Cifali]

Love that book roof. It really shows the strength of that mat board!

[Jessica]

Beatuitul house! I love the book ontop!

[Rebecca Minor]

WOW. Thanks for being part of the hop
Rebecca Minor
buzzybeedesignsATyhaooDOTcom
http://buzzybeedesigns.blogspot.com

[Rexann]

so clever and the roof is something else!!

[Birgit]

I redesigned the garden -- it's ready for winter now...

Thanks for the chance to win that awesome book!

[Ginigin]

This is my favorite post so far!! I love this idea and will use it with families who have housing instability. Would absolutely love to win this book!!! Thanks!

[Ann in PA]

Love this house. The book roof is wonderful!Today I will be "redesigning" my work week, as a new assignment came up.

[Roberta]

I'm seeing these houses popping up all over the internet ;) Love the new banner...very fresh and bright. I've also been redesigning my BLOG...making it navigate better and cleaning up the sidebars. By the new year I'll be launching the new site with a new banner and acutally 7 blogs so that I can have all the links I want for all my interests. Thanks for a fun giveaway. Fondly, Roberta