Mushroom House

 

This cozy little summer cottage is the first project I will be demonstrating how to make. It is a super easy and fun project that anyone can do. Perfect for painting and crafting with kids and adults alike. 

Materials

• 12x12 canvas board
• Modge Podge
• paper fodder 
• acrylic paint: phthalo blue, phthalo green, cad yellow medium, quinacridone magenta, white, black, burnt sienna. I prefer Liquitex Basics, but that is just my personal preference. This brand is a good midgrade acrylic paint, but craft paint or heavy body paint either one can also be used. Just use what you have. These colors are what I used, but you can pick your own and still have a cute mushroom house. 
• Paint pens, paint brushes, a small sponge, a sponge brush, and water for your brushes
• For a paint palette I use a clip board with a piece of wax paper, but other options are disposable plates or anything that won't soak up your paint.
• Gesso, clear
• Chalk or seral paper for transfer.
• Lace or other trim.
• I used buttons for the butterflies. Feel free to put your own personal touch with another detail.

Drying Time

In between steps it is important for the project to be dry before moving on. If you don't wish to wait for the project to dry naturally, you can use a hair dryer to speed up the process. Preferably one that has a no heat setting. Heat can sometimes cause paint to change color.

 

Paper Fodder

Paper fodder is exactly what it sounds like: torn up paper. You can use any kind of paper that you want. For example:

• craft paper
• scrapbooking paper
• old books of any kind
• old magazine pages
• old phone books

Keep in mind when you choose your paper that parts of it will show through on your project. Choose colors that you feel will complement the colors that will go over the top.

There are four steps that we will go through to create this cozy cottage.

Step 1

Create paper fodder and arrange it on your canvas board. Use modge podge with the sponge brush to adhere it to the board. 

Step 2

When completely dry, paint a coat of clear gesso over the entire surface and allow to dry.

Step 3

Use sponge and acrylic paint to paint the background. Careful not to cover all of your paper. Use white paint minimally because it will cause your paint to not be transparent. 

Step 4

This is the longest step. Use seral paper or chalk to transfer the mushroom house design to your project. Using acrylic paint, paint and decorate your cottage. Paint ferns beside it and use pens for details.

Step 5

Using modge podge, attach the lace to the bottom portion of your project. Paint modge podge on the board, place the lace, and then paint modge podge on top of the lace.

Use modge podge to adhere the butterfly buttons.

When completely dry seal with a coat of modge podge or glazing medium.