Name: Making a Cardboard Base for the Putz House Mansion
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Making a Cardboard Base for the Putz House Mansion

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×Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!Once you have completed your miniature cardboard house, you need to make a good solid cardboard base that supports the house well and allows you a good way to add light to the windows. Since I want to be able to add lots of embellishments around the house and be able to vary it for different seasons, I made the base pretty big. It's about 9.5 inches wide x 7 inches deep. That gives me room to add lots of bottle brush trees and probably a stone wall later on.You can find this free pattern for this house and many more in my Paper Glitter Glue Library.Faded Mansion cardboard house dressed up for Fall with room for lots of fall-colored bottle brush trees, leaves and pumpkinsIt's easy to add lots of Christmas decor on a cardboard base of this size.Here is an additional tutorial on how to make a cardboard base with LED tea lights. I'll go over some of the specific steps in making the base for the Faded Mansion cardboard house.This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. That means if you make a purchase after clicking an affiliate link, I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.Cut a rectangular piece of cardboard the size you want for the base of your house. I explained above that I want a larger base for this particular house.First trace around the house to figure out where the lights need to go to effectively light up your house. Then plan placement of the LED tea lights. For this house I want lots of light so I made space for 5 LED tea lights.Tracing of the miniature house and LED lights for cardboard base Putz HouseThen trace around the tea lights. Below you can see where the LED tea lights are going to go.Trace around the LED lights within the tracing of the cardboard house&nbsp;Next cut out a section for your tea lights. This is now your template for the next several layers of cardboard.Cut out the space for the LED lights to fit underneath your little houseBecause the cut out section for the lights is the same size as the house, we will need a top layer that is smaller, but still allows the light bulb to show through the cardboard. We also need the cardboard layers to be as thick as the base of the LED lights. Usually that takes about 5-6 layers of cardboard depending on the thickness of your corrugated cardboard. Then you cover those layers with a layer that has smaller cut outs that will fit underneath the house.This is how the top layer of cardboard looks with holes cut out for the bulbs. Now the house will sit nicely on the space above the bulbs.This is the top layer of the base for the cardboard house.After you have all the cardboard cut out, glue the layers together with hot glue. This is the fastest way to get all these layers to stick together. When you have this many layers of cardboard, regular glue takes a long time to dry. &nbsp;After you have all your layers glued together, cover the base with paper. You can wrap it neatly like a present or you can be a little more random and tear strips of newspaper to cover the base. I like that little bit of texture on the base. To glue the newspaper or packing paper down, I generally use Mod Podge for this step.I like to paint layers of color on the cardboard house base.For painting the base, I use the same acrylic Distress Paints that I've used on the house. Because I want this little house to be used for more than one season I painted the base green (Mowed Lawn) with some streaks of Tumbled Glass blue and edged with Black Soot.Now you can see all the layers and how the LED lights fit in the base on this underside view. Also I think it is important to apply a layer of sealant to the bottom so it won't get wet if someone spills something next to the little house. I use Mod Podge for that step as well.Bottom view of the cardboard showing where the LED tea lights fit to make your Putz house shine.The Faded Mansion house with the lights on in front of a dark backgroundThe photo below shows how the lights shine through the windows in the Faded Mansion Putz house when it is in the dark.The Faded Mansion Putz house in the dark with all the lights on shining through the windowsAnd that is my preferred method to make a sturdy base with space for numerous LED lights for your miniature cardboard house.Let me know if you have any questions. You can email me at [email&nbsp;protected] or leave a comment below. Thank you for reading. I hope it helps you in your crafting projects.« Make a Putz House MansionMake this Cute Valentine Candy Basket »Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!How fun to learn about how you bring your houses to life. This is a great idea to make the holes for the lights to sit down into. Keeping this tip in the back of my head. Thank you so much for all your inspiration and hard work. Sending more hugs!ReplyHi Sara,I'm not good with the computer, maybe because I'm 86. I don't have a printer so I cannot download. I can follow your writing and pictures but I need demensions too. Can U help?JeanneReplyMy first ever mini house, after the base is finished do I glue the house on top of base? and are the tea lights just lose under neath the base?ReplyI'm Lucy - the crafter behind Paper Glitter Glue. I just love to make things - mostly from paper or cardboard. I hope to inspire you to make fun stuff too. So look around and find something to MAKE. You can read more about me&nbsp;here.You are welcome to link to PaperGlitterGlue.com or use a single image with a brief description and a link back to any post. Do not republish any post. That's not allowed. But I do like it when you share my photos to Pinterest.Amazon Associates DisclosureLucy Foxworth of PaperGlitterGlue.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. So as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you.

×Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!Once you have completed your miniature cardboard house, you need to make a good solid cardboard base that supports the house well and allows you a good way to add light to the windows. Since I want to be able to add lots of embellishments around the house and be able to vary it for different seasons, I made the base pretty big. It's about 9.5 inches wide x 7 inches deep. That gives me room to add lots of bottle brush trees and probably a stone wall later on.You can find this free pattern for this house and many more in my Paper Glitter Glue...

Making a Cardboard Base for the Putz House Mansion

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