Updated with clearer pictures-A Christmas Home for Gnomes, all done :)

I finally got my little gnome cottage finished-wow, I had no idea sculpting a 3 inch tall gnome would be such a challenge!  I changed my mind about his look.  The Christmas gingerbread-style of the house I knew would cause a pot-bellied little white headed guy to look too much like Santa Claus and it would confuse people as to why he was dressed this way and in front of such a cottage as this rustic little thing :)  He would be viewed as some sort of weird Santa.  So instead I opted for a younger man with brown hair and beard who wouldn't be confused with a sleigh-driving cookie addict with a bag of presents :)  Oh man now I'll get coal in my stocking for saying that!  Hehe.  Ayways, I made him and dressed him for the holidays and his hair is tibetan lambs wool.

I covered the house and everything with a thick crust of faux snow, made from a little trick I learned recently.  It's very convincing snow and looks good in person.  I made a little pie for the window sill, dressed the pet goose in a charming little capelet and gnomie hat, added on a pine tree to the side of the house and decorated it to match the style of the cottage, etc.  I don't have a picture of it plugged in and lit up but it's very charming with the light coming through the stained glass-style windows.  I can't take a decent photo inside and can't plug it in outside.  But I can tell you it looks very cute while the lights are on.

This is an upcycled, one of a kind cottage that will never be made again.
My pictures are not that great, as usual.  It's so much nicer in person.

I should have smoothed down his wild hair before taking these pictures :)  Oh well, you know :)

           

What am I up to now? No one Gnomes :)

I'm all about reusing and recycling and making old into new.  I like the challenge of looking at something junky with a good basic shape that could be improved upon and trying to see it in a new way.  I would much rather fix something up than let it go into a landfill.  For instance, once in awhile I check out what's in my local thrift stores for materials to work with.  Ugh, I can't even begin to tell you the awful stuff in there sometimes.  But in the midst of the tragic mess of rubbish every once in awhile I see something others pass over because of the sad shape it's in.  I can tell I can redo it and make it wonderful again :)  (If it ever was wonderful :)  Take this little wooden house for example:

This was promising, although formerly covered in dried flowers in various states of decay and ruin and other crap around it that was pretty bad.  Not to mention that the light inside it had a french plug in on it, and thus was unusable here in the states.  What the???  How did it get here to the US and why with a plug that wouldn't plug in here?  No matter, my Hubby is quite handy and got me a new lighting unit that fit inside perfectly and lights the windows up like a proper nightlight should.  And I yanked off everything nasty or just plain cut it off with my exacto knife.  I have plans for this little home, it'll soon have new tenants :)  Who will be moving in?

Gnomes :)

My plan is to have a winter time Christmasy gingerbread style house with a little bit of a rustic vibe to it.  I have a very basic start on it and  it'll be far more elaborate in the end.  And there will be a gnome outside, which I'll have to make.  I'll post more pictures as I get further along but this is all I have so far:

I have a ton of work to do to this so stay tuned :)  Should be a cutie when I'm done but I have a long way to go!