Snowflakes for Tea Lights Instructions

The Snowflake Tea Light set is easy to assemble but first you need to prepare the LED Tea Light by removing the flame shaped cover that is over the hard plastic LED bulb. No electrical work is required.

Use tea lights with a flat top. This type is very easy to find at the "Dollar" stores. The shape of the flames will vary from brand to brand. The batteries in these lights are replaceable. It is a common battery size, even the grocery store stock them.

When the flame has been removed this is how your light will look.

The base of the flame has small tabs that are holding it in place. 

You can try using needle nose pliers, squeezing at the base of the flame and gently wiggling the flame out. Sometimes this works but most often I have to cut the flame off. 

To cut the flame off use a very sharp #11 knife. Just rotate the candle around and use medium pressure to cut through the plastic of the flame. The LED bulb is very hard so you won't be able to cut through it even if your knife touches it.

The micro sized buildings will not fit over the LED bulb unless you enlarge the hole in their base. That is easy to do by gently rotating a #11 knife in the hole.  The snowflake set was designed for use with the larger Tiny sized buildings but there is no rule that says you can't put whatever you like on top of the snowflakes. 

There are a number of adhesives that will work for your project but you need one that works with plastics for sticking the cardstock to the tea light. I like Crafters' Pick "The Ultimate" but E6000 also works. Double sided tape is another choice for some of the pieces.

You may change the color of the paper by using thin coats of acrylic paint or a permanent marker pen. You can glitter the pieces before of after assembly except for buildings, they do need to be glittered after assembly or the walls won't fit properly.  

The snowflake set contains a rectangular piece of cardstock that can be used to wrap around the tea light. You can use that if you wish or you can put glitter directly onto the sides of  the tea light. Another choice is to wrap pretty ribbon around the sides of the tea light. You are the creative director here, add your own special touches to your new miniature winter wonderland.

The small disc with the hole in it rest directly on top of the tea light, then the large snowflake with the small hole sits on top of the disc. 

Tiny Tudor Village 2014 Instructions

Assembly instructions are show using the larger "Tiny" sized kits as they are easier to photograph than the "Micro Tiny" size. Other than size the two are identical.

This Tiny Tudor Village kit is part of a series of small buildings I have designed to form a small town or village. This set starts with building #24 in the series and ends with building #31. The sets can be used all together, one set at a time or one building at a time. However you decide to use them I hope you will have fun making them.

This Tiny Tudor Village set was inspired by the Tudor Revival era of the 1920s. This house stye was found in towns and cities throughout the USA and also in some areas of Europe. But as it resembles the original Tudor era structures that inspired the style the buildings can also be used for villages before the 1920's.  After your buildings are completed they can be decorated with thin coats of acrylic paint and glitter if you wish to do so.  Each building in the kit has been assigned a number in this tutorial. Those numbers match a number written on the packets in your kit. Be very careful when opening your packets as this kit contains some very small pieces that are easily lost if you are not watching for them. These little Tudor buildings are very charming because of all the roof details, that means there are lots of roof pieces in this set.

Tools needed are as follows. A sharp pointed craft knife, a #11 blade is good, I use the knife for removing any hanging chads from windows and for helping to remove excess glue before it dries. It is also good for gently pushing the walls into position. You can use a toothpick or fine point glue applicator bottle for adding just the right amount of glue. Toothpicks can also reach into deep spaces to help you adjust the edges of pieces during the glue steps. Bamboo skewers are also a great tool for reaching inside of the buildings to encourage the walls into proper position. Tweezers with slanted, straight across tips, often called eyebrow tweezers, will help you hold onto the very small parts and help with making bends on them. Your finger are the only clamps you will need. Just use them to gently press the parts together until the glue grabs. When gluing paper a small amount of glue is best as you don't want the parts to get soggy.  Clear drying, thick, PVA glues work well but choose one that dries water resistant if you wish to decorate the building with paint or glitter. My favorite glue is Crafters Pick "The Ultimate". See the sidebar of this blog for sources on materials such as glue, glitter and tools such as the fine point glue applicator bottle with a .7mm metal tip. I love these applicator bottles, they make the assembly go super fast! A .7mm stainless steel sewing pin makes a great stopper for the metal tip. It is important to only use stainless steel pins as regular pins will rust.

 Note that all fold lines in this kit have been perforated so there is no need to score anything.  Please read through the posting how to fold tiny pieces  It explains how to easily make the folds on the perforated lines.


There may be a few chads left to remove in some of the kit's windows. Cut them loose with the tip of your knife if you find that situation. The doors on this kit have two small solid areas left to act as hinges. They should swing open but now and again a small thread of paper at the intersection of an arc and straight line or at a corner intersection could prevent that. Just use the tip of the knife to sever that thread by following along the cut line. But don't cut through the hinge area unless you want to completely remove the door.

If you desire to do so before you begin assembly you can adhere  pieces of translucent vellum paper behind the window openings. The vellum is not provided with this kit but it can be purchased at most craft stores in the scrapbook paper section.

I know many people like to use the kit as a puzzle and never read instructions. If you are going to do that be sure to try a dry assembly test fit without application of glue. Also some pieces really do have to be glued together before some of the other parts so I recommend  looking through all of the photos for each building before you dive into assembly. Looking ahead at the photos clears up possible confusion when trying to understand written instructions.
#24

 You kit should contain the parts shown in this photo. If any are missing  be sure to contact me so I can mail you a replacement part. If you yourself loose a part while assembling a building its OK to contact me about it, these things do happen when working with very small pieces.

Assemble the chimney first so it has time to dry before you need to install it later on.

Fold the chimney on the perforated lines. I make all the folds on all the perforated lines and crease them flat before I work with any of the parts. That weakens the paper at the bend line so it is easier to position the parts in the kit.  The directions for the first few buildings in the 2012 Tiny Village kit have lots of extra how-to tips on the basics of the assembly methods I use.

Place a thin bead of glue along the edge of the paper where indicated by the red line. Then fold and hold the mating edges together for a  short time until the glue grabs. Your fingers are the only clamps you will ever need for assembling this kit.

 Now it is time to begin to fold together the main part of the buildings. Remember look ahead at the next photo below this one to see what will be happening when you fold it up.

Apply glue as shown by the red lines.  The walls of the buildings in this kit will always rest on top of the floor of the building. The outside surface of the walls will be flush with the outside edge of the floor except in instances where the walls do not follow the edge of the floor. Sometimes a wall might extend behind another section. You will see that happening in this building because of the front entry room. It also occurs where the base for the chimney extends past that red glue line. You will find other buildings in this set that have a similar assembly method. The vertical join in the walls where they come around to meet will create a butt join, the edges touch at the corner but do not overlap each other. That will not be the case with every building in the kit. Sometimes there will be an overlap so read the instructions for each building to prevent errors.

Now the entry porch area folds up against the main front wall. The side walls of the porch will rest on top of the base with the outside edges flushed.

I want you to do a dry fit the main roof on the building before you glue it in place. That is so when once you have applied the glue you can work very quickly without making an error in positioning the roof.

There are going to be several of the buildings in this kit where is a very good idea to first do a dry fit of the roof because it has to be wiggled in behind a projecting gable or into a notch in a wall. This building has two projecting gables to wiggle behind, one on the front and another on the back. There is a notch cut out for the chimney to fit into. You want th peak of the end wall to be flush with the edge of the roof so when you install the chimney it is tight against the building.

Now apply the glue that will hold the main roof in place. Only apply the glue in the areas indicated by the red lines. A small bead on the cut edges is enough. Wipe away any excess glue using an upwards motion towards the top of the wall. I use the edge of my craft knife as a scraper for this task.

There are long sharp peaks on this building. Whenever you place the roofs any building look under the roof edge and make sure they are at the same distance back from the roof edges in a parallel line. You can use the tip of the craft knife to slide in under the roof and pull the tip of the peak outwards if needed or use it to push the wall further back.

The entry porch rood goes on next. Do a dry test fit  before you put any glue on. On the left side of the entry porch roof the edge of that small roof has to slip just inside of the notch on the main roof. This is so at the bottom that porch roof will rest flush against the front wall. The tip of your knife can be used to help it slide inside of that notch. There will be other instances in this set of buildings where a smaller gable roof will slide just inside of a notch on the main roof.

 Now for the main front gable roof. Its an easy one, no need to dry fit first.

Now the rear dormer roof is installed, its easy too.

Glue then chimney in position.

Congratulations you have now completed building #24.















# 25

 Your package for the #25 building should contain all the pieces shown in this photo

Make all the bends on the perforated lines before you begin the assembly using the tweezers for assistance when making bends on small details such as the door and the small side walls on the dormer.

 Apply glue to the chimney as shown in this photo. Fold and hold for a short time until the glue grips. Then set the chimney aside to dry. You will install it as the last step on this building.

Begin the assembly of the walls to the floor by starting with the left side. Apply glue as shown. Remember that on all the buildings in this kit the walls will rest on top of the base piece.

 Now the right side of the building will fold in.
The front of the building will OVERLAP the cut edge of the wall that comes from the left side with the outside edge of the front wall made flush to the left side of the building.

The main roof goes on next. To fit the roof on fold the two small side walls of the dormer in towards each other. They can be spread back open at the next step of assembly.

The front wall of the building gets a Z fold to form an overhanging upper story above the front door. When you install the roof you must adjust the upper area so it is evenly spaced the same distance back from the front edge of the roof all along the edge of this gable peak from top to bottom.Work quickly on this task.

Spread the dormer sides open and glue the dormer  roof in pace. Check to make sure the roof is centered side to side on the dormer.

 Install the roof on the side gable of the house. There is a notch in the small roof to allow the chimney to be installed. The edge of the notch should be flush with the outside of the wall so the chimney will be flush to the building. You may need to adjust the top peak of the wall to make that happen.

Now the chimney is glued into position.

Congratulations. you have completed this building.












#26

 

The envelope for building #26 should contain the pieces shown in this photo.

On this building you will need to read the instructions carefully because sometimes the edges of the paper will form a butt join where they just touch at the edges of the corners and at other times one edge will overlap the other. I design using the thicknesses of paper as part of the 3D CAD model factored in to get  a good fit on these very small buildings so this detail about how the pieces mate does matter. 

Place glue on the cut edges of the clipped roof gable as shown along the red lines. Fold in the triangular gable ends and hold with our fingers for a short time. You may do one at at time if you wish to. This will be a butt join where they edges of the paper just touch without overlapping. You may add a small line of glue on the underside of the roof along this glue line to reinforce the joint. But don't put a lump of glue in that area as it will interfere with the fit of the roof. Turn the roof upside down and set the part aside to dry.

Apply glue on the inside surface of the chimney area of the front wall. Fold the chimney around. The surface of the front wall will overlap the cut edge of the chimney wall you are wrapping around to form the corner.

Apply glue as indicated by red lines on the surface of the paper. The bottom of the wall will rest on top of the base. The front wall of the building will overlap the cut edge of the side wall you are wrapping around. Fold in the side wall then fold up the front wall.

Apply glue as shown on the surfaces and fold in the side of the building. The front wall of the house will overlap the cut edge of the wall that is wrapping in from the side. The shape of the base will guide you for the direction of bends in the side wall.

For this next step do a  dry fit test of the roof before you glue it into position. There is a notch at the lower right edge of the jog along the front roof edge of the building. This will be pushed over against the cut edge of the front wall of the building where the chimney rises up. The notch allows the chimney's lower edge to rest on top of the roof. Do not apply any glue to the bottom of the chimney at this time, that will happen in a later step, you can look further down in the instructions to see that step.

Put a small dot of glue on the side wall of the dormers where they meet the cut edge of the main roof to hold them in place. Give that glue enough time to grab. Then apply glue on the top edges of the dormer and at at the edge of the dormer roof as indicated in the photo. Place the dormer roof into position and center it from side to side.

Do a dry fit of the gable roof section for the front of the building. You will very likely need to use the tip of your craft knife to help the gable roof slip into the notch on the main roof. That notch in the main roof is there to allow the lower edge of the gable roof to glue right against the front wall of the building. As indicated apply glue along the upper edge of the front gable peak. You will also put glue on the gable roof section's cut edge where it will meet the front wall of the building. Do not apply any glue to the edge of the gable roof where it will touch the main roof, that will happen in the next step.

These next two photos are really just one step so read through  both then apply the glue without stopping to let it dry.   Use your finger on the top of the chimney to gently pull it back away from the roof. Now apply a small amount of glue on the edges of the chimney and gable roof as indicated.

Apply a small amount of glue into the valley between the gable roof and the chimney. Flex the chimney between your fingers to get it nicely squared up. If you need to push up on the inside surface of the roof to  make a flush fit against the lower edge of the chimney you can do that with a tooth pick or the flat end of a skewer by going in through the hole in the bottom of the building.        

Congratulations you have finished assembling this building.

#27

This photo shows the parts that should be in your packet. Look ahead through the instructions and  bend all the folds before you start assembly.

The first step is to fold down to the outside of the building the upper part of the decorative crenelation details. A small drop or two of glue is all that will be needed to secure them. I place the tweezers over each one and clamp for a few seconds until the glue grips.

Now the tower will fold around. Put the glue on the cut edges as indicated in the photo. Fold the tower into a rectangle, make sure the top edges are level, the upper edge of the corner will be a butt joint fit with the inside edges of the corner meeting each other.  Then fold up the base of the building checking to make sure the walls are sitting on top of the base, they will flush along the outside edges of the base.

Now the other side of the building folds around across the base. There is a cutout in the tower for the tab of the wall to slip into. Use the tip of your knife to press that tab against the glue you have placed inside the cutout. You do not need to bend the tab over. When you view the building from the outside there should be no visible gap along the edge of the wall where the cutout in the tower wall is. Clamp with your fingers.

Now the entry porch is folded up and glued in position. Glue on the cut edges as shown. Clamp with fingers until the glue grips. Be sure you get the sides folded in at 90 degrees. The side walls will rest on top of the base.

Now the main roof goes on. Apply glue on the cut edges at the top of the walls.

The tower roof and entry porch roof are next. The easy way is to hold them with tweezers at an angle and and drop the projections into the slots on one edge then rotate the roof down into the other notches. Look at the photo below, you can take your knife and use the back side edge between the notches to press the roof down into the glue.

Congratulations you have completed the building.

#28

Your packet should contain the parts shown in this photo. Bend all the parts on the fold line before you start assembly to make it easier to position them correctly. 

 Apply glue on the edge of the chimney side, fold and use your fingers to clamp until the glue grips. Then set it aside so that when you are ready to install it the glue will be dry.

Apply glue on the lower edge of the walls. The wall will rest on top of the base. At the back corner they will meet in a butt join just touching but no overlapping each other.

Now the entry porch will be folded up into position. Glue on the house base is applied on the surface, glue on the sidewalls is applied on the cut edge. Fold up, The sides sit on top of the base. Make sure the outside surface of  walls is flush with the outside edge of the base.

You are ready to install the main roof. Fold in the sides of the dormer.  Apply glue as show in the photo. At the front edge of the building where the chimney will sit against the wall adjust the front wall and the roof so that the chimney will sit flush against those surfaces. Sometimes the cardstock of the wall bows in or out too much so just persuade it into place before the glue dries.The flat side of your knife is handy for pushing surfaces flush with each other.

The entry room roof is now ready to install. Apply glue as shown and place it in position

Time for the chimney. Apply glue on the cut edges of the chimney as indicated by the red lines. On the wall of the house apply a small area of glue. Hold the chimney in place until the glue grabs.

Install the dormer roof. Apply glue as shown in the photo

Hooray you have finished building #28

#29

The packet for #29 should include the parts shown in the photo. As usual bend on the perforated fold lines before you start assembly. Look ahead through the  images to see which way the folds will be made.

The bay window is to be folded into a box shape. Let the glue dry for several minutes before trying to put it into the opening in the wall.

The bay needs to be inserted into the opening from the surface that will be the outside of the structure. The tabs that extend on the sides of  the bay are now folded back and glued to the wall.

The small front room with the bay is now glued together. Apply glue on the surface of the paper at the red lines. The walls will rest on top of the small base of this area. The walls should be flushed on the outside surface to the outer edge of that base.  Look at the next photo to see how it is supposed to look.

Apply glue along the cut edges and fold the chimney around. The front wall of the chimney will overlap the cut edge of the side. Then fold the main base area of the building up against the base of the chimney. Hold until the glue grabs.

The main front wall of the building is now folded up and the small side wall is folded in to meet against the chimney wall. See next photo for how that will look when completed.

Wrap around the left side wall and the small front bay window room  Apply glue on the cut edges of the paper. Make sure the side wall is on top of the base and that the main base of the building and the bay window room sit flush to each other on the lower surface. Set to building on its side to dry so you don't glue it to the table.

The main roof is now installed. Note that the bay window room only has glue applied to one side of the roof line.  It is very important that in this step you make sure the top of the main front wall is evenly distant along the edge of the roof so that the smaller section of the roof over the bay window room will fit properly.  So tip the building up so you can see that area and adjust it as needed before the glue sets.

The right side roof section of the bay window room is now put in place. If for some reason it does not come out even at the front edges with the main roof  you can trim with scissors to even them up.

Glue the bay window roof on. Congratulations you have completed building #29

#30

Be sure to support any narrow edges when making folds on this building. The tweezers should be clamped over the narrowest edge to support it while making the fold. You see this particular area of building #30 in this photo? This is what you need to do for making this fold, it needs to be supported to avoid making a mess of that very narrow section. It is even more important to do this on the smaller sized buildings such as the Micro and the Tiny Z scale size.

Your packet should contain the parts shown in this photo. There are quite a few roof parts as this is a complex building. You will need to give some of the pieces time to dry before moving to the next step so watch for that warning when reading the instructions.  Take your time and work carefully. If you do get into trouble you can try cutting on the glue line with a very sharp craft knife to separate the pieces for a second try at the step. Do dry fitting before you glue to be sure the parts are folded in the correct direction.

The roofs should be glued up first and set aside to dry. Double check to make sure you have folded them in the correct direction as they they are not reversible. Look at the the photo below showing the glued up roof assemblies to make sure you do this step correctly. You can add an extra small bead of glue inside the butt join for reinforcement but keep it to a small amount or the roof won't fit properly onto the building.

The decorative crenelations on the entry room need to be folded down facing the outside of the building. Use the tweezers to clamp them flat and hold for few seconds until the glue grabs.

This step is for folding around the walls at the right hand end of the building. The edge of the walls will sit on top of the base and be flush at the outside edges. Look ahead at the next photos to see how they will look when they have been glued in place. You need to wait for the glue to dry before moving on to the next step so that the walls do not get displaced while working.

The chimney folds around in this step. It is only glued at the upper half as indicated by the red lines in the photo. At the lower half there will be a small gap left open at the corner between the walls of the chimney so don't try to make those sections mate with each other in that area.

Net the left side of the front wall folds around to meet against the section from the right side. There is a small tab on that right wall that will slip into a notch in the chimney. The notch is wider  than the thickness of the wall so you need to push the wall forward towards the front of the building so that there is no visible gap. That tab is for helping the wall align into the correct vertical position, the tab does not need to be bent over. Be sure the lower edge of the wall and chimney is flushed to the edge of the base.

Fold in the sides of the entry room and apply glue along the cut edges. Then fold it up against the building. It is important that the side walls be folded at 90 degrees so that the very small roof of the entry room fits properly.

The last section of the back wall now folds into position. As usual the wall is on top of the base and it should be flushed to the edge of the base.  There is a small tab to help align the walls. It does not need to be bent over. Do not apply glue to the upper edge of the wall where the dormer section is.

Glue the entry area roof in place. 

Now the roof at the right end of the building is put in place. Do a dry fit on this piece first so you can see how it aligns where the clears the chimney at the front.

Now the roof on the left side of the building is put in place. Do a dry fit on it as well, it needs to slip behind the gable on the front wall. Fold in the side of the dormer before installing the roof.

Install the small gable roof on the front of the house.

Place the roof on the dormer in this step. You need to sight down first to make sure the front wall of the dormer is parallel to the cut edge of the roof that is directly behind it. That is important so the angle on the dormer roof mates properly to the adjacent roof section. If for some reason that angled cut forms a gap where it meets the right roof then carefully make an adjustment cut with scissors for a better fit.

Congratulations, you have completed building #30

#31

Your packet for building #31 should contain the pieces shown in this photograph

Folding the pieces on the bend lines before you begin assembling them

the small room over the double front doors will be referred to as the "front dormer"

The small room at the upper right on the front of the building will be referred to as the "upper gable room"

apply glue to chimneys and fold into rectangles, set aside to dry

apply glue to the decorative crenelation details at the top of the tower and fold down on the outside of the wall as seen in the photo of the completed building. Clamp each one in place with the tweezers until the glue grabs.

Fold the section that creates the front dormer room into a Z shape. Apply glue as shown in this closeup photo. Look at the photo in the next step and the photo of the completed building for a better view of how it looks when completed.

Now the tower will be folded around the lower edges of the wall will rest on top of the base of the building. Look at the next photo and do a dry fit check first to make sure you understand what needs to be done.

Be sure the outside edges of the tower walls are flush to the cut edges of the base where they need to align. The front section of the building that has the front dormer will fold up and the dormer's left side will be fit into the slot in the tower wall. It is important to adjust the dormer room towards the front of the building and against the tower wall to close up any visible gaps when looking at the outside of the building. You can put a small stick, pencil or whatever fits down inside the tower to nudge the tower wall over to the adjacent front wall if needed.

Hold until the glue grabs then give the project time to dry before starting the next step.

The right side of the building is now folded into position. Glue goes on the surface of the base and at the upper area of the wall as shown with the red lines. The side wall sits on top of the base. The section of the front wall has its cut edge overlapped by the side wall. Those two walls should be flushed at the front edge. It is critical that they align accurately as that fit effects the installation of the base of the upper gable room.

Now the bottom section of this area wraps into position. The walls rest on top of the base. Be sure the outside of the walls are flushed with the edge of the base as closely as possible.

The small base section of the upper gable room is now put into place. Apply glue as shown, tweezers are a big help here.

The upper gable room wraps around now. This time the walls will overlap the cut edges of the base instead of resting on the base.

Please take the time to do a dry test fit of the roof before applying any glue. It is a little tricky to get the roof  positioned but practice makes perfect! You have some obstacles to maneuver around. Do it in this order, the notch at the upper edge of the roof will be slid inside of the triangle in the tower. At the back of the roof you will have to guide the roof into position around the dormer being sure that the roof is overhanging the walls at the lower edge. At the font of the building you will need to gently flex the dormer outwards at the right side until the roof slips into the V shaped notch in the side wall of the dormer. Now that you know the tricks you can take it off , apply glue and reinstall.

I am combining two steps together in this  photograph.

1. Apply glue and  then install the back dormer roof.

2. Apply glue and install the tower roof.

I am also combining two steps together in this photograph.

1. The dormer roof is a rectangle, the longer side goes along the width of the building. It might be hard to tell which is longer in the micro size but don't fret as it is not very important if you do get if wrong on the micro sized building. Apply glue as show in the photo, be sure you don't have a gap at the side against the tower or at the upper edge of the roof.

2. Apply glue and install the front gable roof. Note that at the left side this smaller roof needs to slide inside a notch on the lower edge of the main roof. Use the tip of your craft knife to guide it into the notch if needed.

Apply glue to the lower cut edges of the chimneys and place them into position as shown in this photo. On the larger chimney that will be against the tower note that its locates against the cut edge of the last decorative crenelation on the side of the tower. You may add some glue to that side of the chimney where it meets the tower if you wish to do so.

Congratulations you have completed building #31.