Helpful tips and suggestions to assist you when setting up your village
I strongly recommend to the beginner to buy this tape. If I would have had this years ago, it would have saved me many hours of tiring work setting up, organizing my village. It comes with a booklet that gives step-by-step instructions, and some really amazing ideas to improve your village. It also comes with a video tape (approx. playing time is 35 minutes) that brings the booklet alive. I learned many things from this book. It was money well spent. It's item # 98841. I'm not sure of the price, but two years ago it was about $20.00. You can ask where you buy your Snow Village pieces if they can get this item for you.
Now with two very curious cats, what would I do without Tacky Wax? I can't tell how many "people" my cats have thought of as toys and broke when I wasn't around. I tried putting tape. I tried filling a little baggie with uncooked rice, hoping this would weigh the pieces down........but nothing was strong enough for my two cats.........that is, until I discovered Tacky Wax. I put a little on the bottom.......and the pieces stay put, no matter how much my cats try.
I don't suggest you buy trees. The fun part of putting a village together, is being creative. Just take a walk outside. You can find many branches that have broken off, that would be the perfect size for your village. After I've found my "trees", its time to decorate them. Some you can paint white, with dark brown streaks painted on it, to look like a Birch Tree. Others you can leave Bare......just touching here and there with white paint. Or you can purchase from a hobby store, foliage clusters (medium green). Woodland Scenics is a big name company. I bought a bag for less than $5.00, and so far have made 6 trees and still have plenty left in the bag. I used Crazy Glue to fasten the foliage and its been working great. To change the style, you can also use Lichen to glue to your tree, but its harder to work with, but will add a nice effect. You don't want all your trees to be the same! And don't forget to add some "snow" to those trees.
I made this frozen waterfall, using iridescent stones that I purchased from an arts and craft store. The hardest part about making this waterfall, is locating a store that carries iridescent flat stones. Once I had the stones, which I bought an extra bag, just in case.........it was just a matter of glueing them together. I used a hot glue gun for this. I don't know if anything else would've worked better. Just start at the top of your waterfall and work your way down, spreading out the "water" as it goes further down. I think its a nice effect. I had it end up in the "pond" where my hockey players are in the middle of a game.
These great ideas come from Diane.....you can visit her website at: Christmas Ideas
Make your village look alive - Place sturdy boxes under the houses to given them height. Vary the heights to give the village more dimension. I had placed two boxes about two feet apart then draped them with the snow cloth and hid the light cords under the cloth. It really looks good - like there are sloping hills between the houses. And if you have enough room, you can make a road leading up to the house with snow or cobblestone paper.
Twinkling night time backdrop - A couple of years ago I went to a Snow Village seminar. They had LOTS of ideas. One of them was for a . Take a piece of (light weight) plywood-whatever size you need for your village. Cover it with a black pastic trash bag(pull tight). They take twinkle lights and (heavy duty) staple them all over the board - no particular arrangement as long as their not in rows. Make sure the plug is near the edge/bottom. Then take a sheet of black cotton material(ironed first) and cover the lights, pulling tightly and stapling the material to the back of the board. The people at the seminar assured us that twinkling lights do not get too hot for a fire hazard. But to be on the safe side, I would test the lights first before putting the board together. Better safe than sorry at Christmas time.
Have an idea, a question.........e-mail me at irish0001@aol.com
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