Adding Flair to Generic Bottle Brush Trees

Adding Flair to Generic Bottle Brush Trees

Photos from around the web

    When I first started my village I thought that I should stick to a specific style of bottle brush tree.     Buying a couple of bottle brush trees here and there over the years eventually results in owning a ton of different styles of bottle brush trees, and to my surprise, they look great when mixed together. 

Benefits of mixing and matching bottle brush tree styles:

1. Differentiates the various areas of the village
2. Defines property lines
3. Add depth to the landscape

So, if you're just starting a village or you find that you don't own many variations of trees, the good news is that with just a little time and creativity you can add a unique flair to even the most generic bottle brush trees. 

Glistening Glittered Fir Trees

One easy option for upgrading trees is to add a layer of glitter... So many things look so pretty when draped in glitter and the light catches the shimmer. 

There are multiple ways to add glitter to your bottle brush trees. Purchasing trees already covered in glitter is the most obvious. But, if you already have bottle brush trees on-hand and don't plan to purchase more trees then my preferred method is a great way to upgrade what you already own. 

1. Create a thin glue mixture by mixing a small amount of water with craft glue (Elmer's school glue, tacky glue, etc.) on a plate.

2. Without applying pressure, roll each tree thru this mixture a few times, so that the tips of each branch has a small amount of glue.

3. Sprinkle your glitter over the tips of the branches then let dry.

4. Shake off the excess glitter then spray the trees with a thin layer of acrylic protective spray. (you can also use hairspray or starch spray in a pinch). 

Building A Paper Mache Mountain & Cavern for Your Holiday Village

Building A Mountain and Cavern for a Holiday Village

I always wanted to incorporate a mountain and a cave into my miniature holiday village display, but I hadn't included one because I didn't want to store it afterward, so the method I used was one that I could dispose of the mountain after Halloween because it was cheap and easy. Building the frame of the mountain was a learning experience in itself, but ultimately the results looked fantastic and hardly cost me anything.

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Spooky Spectral Swamp Tree How-To

Glowing swamp trees illuminate a spectral blue when under UV blacklight

I've tried to use the trees from my Christmas display in my Halloween Village but found that they ruined the Halloween ambiance I was aiming for and I didn't want to spend a bunch of money buying retail Halloween trees. 

I researched the various methods that others have used to make their own model trees. Surprisingly the same basic steps were used by almost everyone. Basically, a piece of wire is twisted over and over to create the trunk and branches. So, I decided to give it a go, but I add my own spooky twist to the design.

Spooky Spectral Swamp Trees

Materials

• 3x3 piece of cardboard
• 20-30 gauge wire (speaker wire or floral wire works well)
• Hot glue
• acrylic paints (browns, greens, black)
• Floral moss (any color)
• (optional) a handful of sand

Instructions 

1. Paint a 3-inch x 3-inch piece of cardboard to look like the terrain of your village. Set aside to dry. (You'll notice in my photos that I did not do this step first and ended up wishing I had because the cardboard's color difference was visible beneath the tree
2. Cut 30-50 strands of wire into approximately 6inch - 9 inch pieces. The pieces do not need to be exact & you do not want them all to be equal lengths.
3. Using 5-6 strands of wire, hot glue the end of the strands together on one side to create a "bundle". Make 5 bundles
4. Beginning on the glued end twist the bundles together loosely, progressively twisting tighter and tighter. Do this to all 5 bundles.
5. Glue all 5 bundles (glued ends down) onto the painted piece of cardboard
6. Twist the glued loosely wrapped end of the 5 bundles together to create the tree trunk. Use glue if necessary to hold the bundles twisted together

1. Adjust the tightly twisted ends  of each bundle to be bent in different directions, mimicking the gnarled branches of an old tree
2. Untwist just a few wires from each bundle and bend them in all different directions to create small branches jutting out from the main big branches 
3. Coat all of the branches with hot glue. Drizzle hot glue all over these wire bundles letting the glue drip from the branches

1. Once all the hot glue is dried and you are satisfied with the effect, paint over the glue using browns and greens. 
2. Glue brown or green floral moss to your painted swamp tree 
3. Optional: glue sand and rocks onto the cardboard to blend the tree base in with the terrain
4. Set up your tree in your village under a blacklight to get the glowing effect 

Alternative Methods

I came across this tutorial on www.instructables.com for making wire trees. I haven't tried their method of wrapping the wire around two nails, but it sounds like it would be a great time saver and I can't wait to try it. 

The 2 photos above are from instructables.com "How to Make Quick and Easy Model Wire Trees" by lukeaness 

2020 Retail Halloween

2020 Retail Halloween Village Pieces

Target

Lemax Spooky Town Halloween Village

Landscaping: Glowing Slime Waterfall

Glowing Slime Waterfall 

Materials

• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Popsicle sticks
• Cardboard 
• Green acrylic paint
• Neon green acrylic paint
• Neon yellow acrylic paint
• Glow in the dark paint
• White chalk pen
• Can of paint-on Polyurethane 
• Triple Shine acrylic spray 

Instructions

    Constructing a Base for the Waterfall

Using cardboard and popsicle sticks create the support piece for your waterfall.

I created an L-shaped ledge using a piece of cardboard then glued popsicle sticks to the "ledge" and braced the bottom of them by gluing more popsicle sticks to create a flat bottom. Finish the base by gluing a piece of colored paper in front of your popsicle sticks to hide them.

TIP: The hot glue gets really heavy, so keep this in mind while constructing the base. Include a counterweight to weightdown the waterfall, otherwise, it will topple forward.   

   Waterfall Construction 

Once your base is constructed you can start creating your waterfall. This is done by layering hot glue in streams, painting, then adding more layers of hot glue. 

Note: Depending upon your hot glue gun, be careful during this step. If your hot glue gun has heat settings, you will want to turn it to the cooler setting. You will find that you remelt the previously laid layer and it may flow down the waterfall in unintentional ways.

When you have gotten a nice layering of hot glue, pause and add some paint. I used glow-in-the-dark paint to make this layer really pop. Once the paint has dried, layer more hot glue on your waterfall until you are happy with the effect, then paint the waterfall.

    Painting

Choose your waterfall colors based upon your village theme and how you want it to appear. Since I designed this for my Halloween Village I decided to go with a slimy green effect.  To get this slime effect I painted everything green (except the glow-in-the-dark areas already painted) using "Christmas Tree Green" acrylic paint. I then added some neon green on top to highlight the stream sections. To further highlight I used neon yellow very minimally on the edges of each stream section. I finished painting it by adding a light reflection effect. I used a white chalk pen (purchased at the dollar store) to dot on top of the yellow highlights where I thought the light would naturally reflect off a liquid. 

    Seal, Shine, & Protect

I wanted my slime waterfall to have a glossy finish, so I coated it with a layer of paint on polyurethane then topped that with a triple shine acrylic spray-on sealant, and let it dry for 24 hours before handling. 

 

 

Landscaping Terrain

Well-planned town displays have walking paths and roads connecting each section of the display, but not everyone setups their display with a clear plan in mind (including me). A carefully designed terrain is one of those elements that you get a lot of bang for your buck because there so many options for materials to use. The sky is the limit! 

TIP: Use multiple types of paths and roads to differentiate each area of your town (shopping district, residential, city hall, etc). A small change to the material used can make a big difference. I like combining colored sand with small pebbles then switching the color combinations.  

Reusable Foam Terrain

If you reuse the foam display base for different holidays, you probably won't want to carve all of your walking paths into the foam, unless storage space isn't a concern. I don't have a lot of storage space, so ensuring the foam is reusable is something I pay attention to.  

To include walking paths, I place a thin piece of foam board on top of a base piece of foam. that way I can decorate it to my heart's content, swap it out, or toss it if I mess it up. I've purchased most of the foam board at the dollar store, so it is inexpensive if I screw it up.

Gravel Terrain Tutorial 

Materials

• Foamboard
• Various types of glue- Spray adhesive, hot glue, and white glue
• Sand vase filler (multiple colors) 
• Small pebble vase filler 
• Ground Coffee 
• Potting soil
• Dried moss

Instructions 

1. Using a pencil, lightly trace where your paths will b, where you want rugged terrain, and general areas (such as a city square, forest, river, etc.)
2. Paint foamboard with a neutral color (grey is my preference), add white or black to the paint to create the various sections. Let dry.
3. In a well-ventilated area, apply spray-on adhesive (according to manufacturer instructions)  to a section of the painted foam 
4. For a pathway- sprinkle sand vase filler onto the tacky adhesive. Let dry before lightly brushing off excess sand (brush off over a large sheet of paper, so the excess sand can be reused)
5. Apply spray-on adhesive to the same section, according to manufacturer's instructions and sprinkle on ground coffee or potting soil in the sparse spots. Let dry and brush off excess.
6. Using hot glue, glue small pebbles to the edges of the section. (group 3-4 pebbles for rockier terrain)
7. Using white glue, add additional coffee, sand, or soil to any sparse spots

Purchased Cobblestone Brick Paths

Another option for walkways is to purchase premade cobblestone or brick paths. They can be purchased for $6-$15 per roll depending upon brand and place of purchase.

I found that these can be difficult to work with and they didn't have the right look for my village. Their original package has them rolled up so they didn't want to lay flat when I added them to my village and I had to use small stones to hold down the edges of the path.

DIY Cobblestone Path

You can carve a cobblestone pattern into foam and then paint it to look like cobblestone. It looks really neat but does take some artistic talent to make it actually look like cobblestone. 

The basic concept is: 

1. Roughen up the foam using a jagged rock or the edge of a tool to create an uneven surface 
2. Indent the foam into the shape of cobblestones. You can purchase a cobblestone rolling pin, but you can also use a hot knife, pencil, or screwdriver to indent the shape of cobblestone.
3. Paint cobblestones using brown & grey acrylic paint
4.  Use watered down brown acrylic paint to wet paint the stones and grout 

See the attached video found on Youtube on how to do these.

Halloween Village Cemetery

Rundown Spooky Cemetery

No Halloween display is complete without the rundown spooky cemetery

Whether you are crafty or not, a rundown cemetery is easy to create. It requires minimal materials, time, and effort. And, mistakes only add to the creepy rundown feeling. 

Handling Scale Differences

Scale Differences

Over the years I acquired pieces for my village from a variety of sources. Some of mine are sentimental items from childhood, while others I have found at thrift stores, and others I created from scratch. 

The issue created is with the scale of your village. Chances are you didn't really want a godzilla sized human in your Christmas Village, unless that is the look you were aiming for, of course.  This is an example of a scale difference. When you placed a larger scale human next to a building of smaller scale, you unintentially created Christmas Village Godzilla.

 Follow these instructions to setup your town and avoid scaling issues.

Step One

Separate your landscaping elements (i.e. rocks, trees, flowers, etc.), your human figurines, and your buildings. (These will be your main categories.) Set aside the landscaping and human figurine categories until later. 

Step Two

Look closely at each building, making note of any buildings that have people attached. These buildings can be a good kickoff point. Lineup the buildings (space permitting) from smallest to largest (in terms of scale) and mentally divide them into groups based on size.

Step Three

With all of the buildings lined up and you want to create sub-categories of village areas based upon what you own. Some areas I include are a shopping district, residential area, city center, religious buildings, and city services. Make sure to create different sub-categories for items of differing scales. It is okay to have multiple shopping districts or residential areas. 

Step Four

Sketch out on a scrap of paper how you want to place these subcategories in relation to each other. (it doesn't have to be detailed or pretty)

Train Sets

Model railroads are a staple item of many miniature holiday villages, but good quality model railroad sets are an expensive investment.



At Christmastime, there are train sets available for a reasonable price. These are a good option if you are just beginning your village and for those who aren't ready to make the investment in a  real train set. I usually see these for around $30-$40 and there are many options to choose from since a lot of stores sell unique ones.  The sizing on these sets ranges quite a bit so you will want to keep this in mind when purchasing one so that the scale of the train is similar to the rest of the village. Most of the cheaper sets use plastic train tracks and this is where the noticeable difference between cheap and expensive happens.

Cheaper railroad sets tend to use plastic tracks and plastic train wheels which have little notches and basically are just two plastic gears moving against each other. These are super noisy! If you plan to display your village in a living room then I recommend spending the extra money and bypassing the cheap plastic train sets. I found that my plastic set was so noisy that I would rather leave it turned off than listen to the clanking. I tried to dampen the sound, but I haven't had luck. Foam boards seem to enhance the noise and while corkboard dampened it a little, it still wasn't enough for me to keep the train running in my village last year.

Another great option is to make your own train set. There are a couple of YouTube videos on how to do this. I decided to try creating a train set similar to a slot car set. Slotcar racetrack sets are much easier to find information on how to build your own, so this is a good option if you're crafty and willing to spend the time creating it.( And it will take quite some time to complete the railroad)

Display Platforms

The platform is a fundamental element that defines the layout of your village. There is a multitude of options for where to display your village and it all boils down to the personal choice of what furniture you are willing to forego using while your village is temporarily displayed. 

One of the most basic elements of any village is the platform it is displayed on. The type of platform used will vary depending upon where you will be displaying your village, your budget, and what materials your display platform is created. If you plan to display the village on a flat large table, you have vastly different options than a village that is displayed in a bookcase, for instance. 

In theory, it is simple to design a platform for your holiday village. You have a certain number of building to display and a limited amount of space to do it in. So, it is fairly simple as long as you want a flat landscape. The possibilities are endless when designing a multi-level display.  

I have set up my holiday villages in multiple ways. Each way I've setup my village I find pros and cons. One year, I set up my village in a tall bookcase with a folding table in front of the bookcase for my village to overflow onto. Another year, I set up my village in my entertainment center with a table next to it. And, another year I set up my village on my dining room table. 

A List of Town Elements to Include

Here is a list of buildings that most towns contain, and you should consider including in your seasonal village.

Some Essentials

• General Store
• Gas station
• Restaurant
• Church
• Cemetery
• Water Tower
• Playground
• Hospital
• Doctor's Office
• Dentist
• School
• Park
• Sheriff's Office
• Fire Station
• Barber Shop
• Saloon
• Town Hall
• Train Station

Don't forget the landscaping elements!

Landscaping Elements

• Trees
• Shrubbery
• Rivers
• Rocks
• Fences
• Gardens
• Paths
• Roads
• Lamp Posts
• Signs
• Bridges