Christmas is such a magical time and with kids its even better! This past year our kids really got into the Maileg Mice. If you haven’t seen them, they are the sweetest little cloth mice that come in the cutest outfits and have the best accessories. It is very easy to dive in deep and want all the things, but we all know that’s not always practical.
I recently saw a photo of the Christmas Gingerbread house and knew I wanted! After thinking about it, I decided to DIY my own out of a metal Christmas house lantern I bought last year from Michaels. It was red, which didn’t match my decor and this way, I would upcycle it for my kids to play with and we’d all enjoy it so much more.Â
So with that, I got to work!Â
First, I spray painted it with a Tremcad Brown paint in Red Oxide. Once that dried I got to work with an oil based paint pen (I used AROIC paint pen) and did all the “icing” on the house. Just went with whatever designs I wanted, doodling each side as if it was icing. Don’t stress too much about this part, it doesn’t need to be perfect or symmetrical or super neat, once it’s all done the whole will look amazing trust me!
Once everything was dry I used scrapbooking Christmas paper which I found at the dollar store to make a rug and tree skirt. Georgia was involved in every step, this is a great together craft idea, just be careful of the hot glue gun. I then hung a set of small battery powered pinecone lights (also from the dollar store) from the ceiling which brightens up the house even when it isn’t in use. I had a mini tree and some other dollhouse furniture to furnish the house and it was coming along exactly how I wanted it.Â
To help make the place even a little more festive, I created a garland with some Christmas beads and pipe cleaner, as well as made some Christmas outfits for the mice using the same things. And the presents you asked? I ‘borrowed’ a few starburst candies from my kids halloween buckets and wrapped the with pipe cleaner.
This project was actually fairly quick to do, the biggest wait being dry time. Â
Sometimes It’s really fun to repurpose items that no longer match our decor or getting creative and using it in new ways.Â
My girls are thrilled with the new mouse house and I couldn’t be happier with how the dream became reality too!Â
Wishing you a creative start to the holiday season!!Â
Click here to watch the video I made of the process
Xoxo
Emily and Keltie
