I love those little houses! If you are a fan of Pinterest, you can find dozens of sites with free templates. Here is a link to one blog with various templates. Here is a link that might be useful: Houses like Putz

those silver mantles look wonderful. I saw a thing on the rustoleum website about using their spray on silvering and I think vinegar for a diy Mercury glass look. What at about some pine cones for the niches? If the have time I may gather a few and see how they look sprayed silver to go with my white depression glass. I have a few of the putz houses. (At least 50 years old). They were my favorites as a child. I used to buy those plaster white houses to paint yourself. I have a crazy number now and should put some out too. But maybe next year since I am still working on the house

Used to do a lot of holiday crafts. When niece was young (now 21 and in college), we'd have a girl's weekend... decorating, eating, making gifts for her to give to aunts/uncles/grands/teachers, etc. When I crafted, was a scrounger. Would see something at a yard sale or thrift store and get ideas. One time found BIG lot of natural color linen towels. I stenciled with fabric paints. Another time found a box of almost white ceramic bathroom tiles. Niece stenciled with air-dry ceramic paints and made sets of coasters. Another time made quart Mason jars with mix for "beer bread". Made tags with instructions (with and without beer) and small pieces of Christmas fabric.

I can't wait to see pictures of what some of you are making to give as gifts- they sound really great! Our families don't seem to appreciate home made gifts very well, so I stopped making anything much. Most of our gifts are already purchased- it's a September/October habit from when I would start Christmas shopping with the school fundraiser :^). We don't buy many gifts though, so that's not a huge accomplishment! Over the summer, I did crochet an octagonal afghan out of cotton to give to my mother for Christmas.