day thirty one: paper houses for tea lights or candy :)

my finished paper tea light house

day thirty one and we had such a stormy night! holy moly the lightning was enough to wake everyone, let alone the thunder claps :)  i was up early with excitement today as i had friends coming over for the day to craft ... yip all day, its bliss for me -- crafting, good food, and good mates :) so today was a day we all chose to make paper houses that could be used for tea lights or to fill with candy as a substitute to goody bags.  the paper house pattern is pinned to my paper crafts board on pinterest and originated from all at sea with a bucket and spade ... the lovely lady of this blog used them as treat boxes for a birthday party, the table setting was GORGEOUS!

my flat pack house!

ok i printed the pattern straight onto my double sided scrapbook paper so i didn't need to use a template.  the printed side with the lines are on the inside of my box so you can't see them and i find this saves a lot of time and cutting!  i cut the door to open for both of mine and glued the roof on so i can use them with battery tea lights for christmas.  the originals don't have the doors cut or the roof glued as they were used for party favours.

the growing village of paper houses!

outcome: so easy, REALLY sweet and they make you smile when you finish one.  this is one of those crafts that are well worth doing because you really can't stuff it up! i added a few bits and pieces to each house to individualise them and plan to make a few more so i can have them along the kitchen windowsill for christmas :) good things as martha would say!

in other news:
here is my finished oliver owl and the shirt skirt i promised to show pictures of when finished.

oliver owl with his cosy scarf!

the finished shirt skirt!

photo fun challenge day 25 and 26: citrus and your favourite colour

the mandarins off our tree :) sweet and delicious

steve in our rugby team supporters tee ... the blues
(and also my FAVOURITE colour!

can i just say also my thoughts are with japan as they go through another series of significant aftershocks, it seems our end of the world has yet to settle down with more earthquakes in new zealand over this past week :(  kia kaha japan and to my own country folk