Not Your Mama's Christmas Village

In October, my husband, son, daughter, & I vacationed in Italy. It was a wonderful trip!

We came home with great memories, but not a lot of souvenirs. One thing I did buy was this cute little wooden house. 

I love the rustic simplicity of it. And, of course, I thought that I could do that!

So, once I got home, I took the idea and made a little Christmas Village.

I drew off the pattern for three houses on a 2 x 4 & had my son cut it.

 I sanded the edges, then stained the wood with Voodoo Gel Stain from the Dixie Belle Paint Company. I love this stain because it is water based so the clean up is easy!

 I painted over the stain with the color Fluff from Dixie Belle.

 When the paint was dry, I sanded the blocks.

 For the doors and windows, I cut and painted thin pieces of veneer and glued them onto the blocks with E6000.

 I painted Christmas garland and wreaths on the blocks.

They were cute, but I felt like they needed something.

Shutters! That's what they needed.

 On two of the houses, I used veneer to create the shutters, and painted the shutters on the other one.

 Yes! That's what they needed.

 I love my little Christmas village. And it will always bring back fond memories of my trip to Italy.

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts,  Rae Gun Ramblings, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie,    Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, Nap Time Creations, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies,  French Country Cottage,  Knick Of Time, Lou Lou Girls, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Savvy Southern Style,  Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating