DOOR DECOR

As with any home improvement, once you sit back to admire a newly finished project, suddenly another necessary development appears that you never noticed before. Why is that? You get a new sofa, you notice that you need new carpeting. You replace the carpet, suddenly the walls need painting. You paint the walls, and well, you understand perfectly. New planters for the porch, yes, suddenly we need a new wreath for the door. So this is where this is going. A new wreath. I don’t like to think of it as a home improvement, more like jewelry for the door. Add a new piece of jewelry, well, you need a new outfit. Of course, new shoes, then...

This is what you will need-

Stone Clay

House Shaped Cookie Cutters

Mini Shape Cutters

Floral Wreath

Knife

Craft Brush

Small Paint Brush

Fine Grit Sandpaper

Silver Metallic Paint

Hot Glue Gun
Corks

You will need one to one and a half packages of the stone clay...Link here.

To purchase 3 1/2" house cookie cutter...Link here. To purchase 2 1/2" house cookie cutter...Link here.

To purchase floral wreath...Link here.

Roll about one half of the package of stone clay as you would if you were making cutout cookies. The thinner the better, about 1/8” thick is perfect.

With the 3 ½” large house cookie cutter, cut out 11 or 12 houses.

Roll another portion of the clay to about 1/8” thick and cut out 11 or 12 small 2 ½” houses. 

Randomly cut out windows, doors, stars and hearts on the houses. To purchase mini cutters…Link here. I drew and cut a 3/4" heart on card stock to make a template to use as a guide to cut out a small heart on the house.

Use a small craft brush and a tiny amount of water to smooth inside the doors, windows, stars and hearts.

Repeat for all outside rough edges.

Smooth surface of houses with damp fingertips.

Place on a cloth to let air dry. After several hours, check to see if the houses are curling. If so, press to flatten out. Depending how thick you roll out the clay, determines drying time. My houses will take several hours. Thicker houses may have to dry overnight.

When the houses are completely dry, they will feel noticeably lighter.

Use fine grade sandpaper to smooth out any rough spots or edges.

They are now ready to paint.

Paint one to two coats of paint, front back and sides. Any brand of metallic paint is fine, I used some that I have had lying around the house.

Let dry.

Paint the floral wreath.

Place several corks in boiling water for about 10 minutes or so.

Cut each cork into quarters,

Lay the larger houses around the floral wreath to arrange.

With your glue gun, remove one house. Place a dot of glue, attach cork. On top of the cork, place another dot of glue, then place the house on top of the glue. Repeat for all houses.

Repeat these steps with the small houses layered on top of the larger houses.

Touch up with paint any spaces where the cork peeks through.

 Accessorize with a bow.

Hang with fishing wire for an invisible floating look.

Step out side to admire your work...