LET'S PLAY HOUSE

Every little girl needs a place of her own in the world of make believe.  I had originally purchased 6 paper mache house shaped boxes to create a Christmas village for the holidays.   However, once the houses arrived I decided that a happy neighborhood of houses for my granddaughters would be a more practical use as they would actually be put to use all year around.  I will add houses one by one until their collection is complete.  Toy figurines easily store inside these boxes and each house can serve as a delightful accent item on the guest room shelves.  This is the first painted house I completed and it was overwhelming received by a very happy girl! Here's how I painted the girls very first house and hopefully will inspire you to make your own happy neighborhood!

SUPPLIES
Darice DIY Crafts Paper Mache House Box Medium 8-1/2.  I bought a package of 6 so the cost was only $5 each.  These houses are also available as sets with a large, medium and small sized box in each set.  The middle box in the set is the same size as house box I painted in the image.
Paper Mache Cupcake Box-3"x3.5"  (to hold toy figures for the house)
Brushes: Sponge brush, liner brush and assorted flat and round brushes
Craft Paint: bright pink, burgundy, bright yellow, bright green, true green, baby blue, true blue, lavender, white, black
Embellishments:  I added a large glitter sticker between above the door.
PREPARATION: Use a sponge brush to basecoat the inside and outside surfaces of the house and cupcake boxes.  This helps seal the painting surface and keep your paint colors vivid and bright. 

PROCEDURE FOR HOUSE:

Paint the inside floor area with true green and the inside walls with bright yellow.  Paint the outside walls with bright pink and then apply a bit of thinned burgundy shading underneath the roofing edges to give it a bit of dimension. Outline the windows and doors with white.  I added accent trim lines to the front of the house by pulling a straight line down from the center of each roof peak and I then pulled 2 short lines out and away from the center line. For the roof shingles, I used baby blue thinned with water and then created horizontal shingle lines across each section of the roof approximately 1" apart.  I continued by staggering the baby blue vertical shingle lines so they wouldn't appear too uniform.  Using a flat brush, I painted over each shingle to tone down the blue a bit and add a bit more definition to each shingle.  To paint the chimney and stone entry, mix a little baby blue with some black to get a dark grey and then basecoat the areas with this color.  When dry, mix a touch of white into the grey mixture and use a round brush to tap in various size and shaped round "stones". When dry, you can then basecoat the "grass" areas around the house with true green.  Tap a little bright green over the true green using an up and down motion with the brush (otherwise known as stippling).  Using a liner brush, gently tap small dots of color "flowers" around the base of the house.  I used true blue, lavender, yellow, bright green and white dots.  I completed the house with a purple glitter sticker over the door, but anything you'd like to do here would look great, too!

PROCEDURE FOR CUPCAKE:
Paint the top of the cupcake with bright pink, the inside and scalloped edging with true blue and the bottom of the cupcake with bright green.  When dry, thin a little burgundy with water and brush this shading around the bottom edge of the pink cupcake top.  Use a liner to add baby blue, burgundy, lavender and yellow "sprinkles".  If you'd like, go ahead and brush some crystal glitter over the cupcake top to add a little more pizzazz!  Thin some true green with water and then brush this shading color around the base of the cupcake and under the blue scallops.  Every 3/4" or so, I brushed some vertical shading lines around the area to make it look like wrapped paper.  Use a liner brush and white to randomly add tiny swirl designs here and there over the green.  Use a round brush to randomly paint baby blue polka dots over the inside area of the cupcake box.  Mix a little white with some true blue and brush this color down, out and away from the top rim of the cupcake box.  When dry, use a liner to add a baby blue line around the top rim of the scalloping and a line of true blue around the bottom edge of the scalloping. Use the tip of a round brush to add tiny little white dots around the bottom of each scallop and then add a thin white line above the dots, following around each scallop.  Finally, thin some true blue and use a liner brush to add three little lines down each scallop just beneath the line of baby blue along the rim of the scalloping.
You now have a perfectly sweet keeper for all those tiny little toy figurines to use in this delightfully cheery playhouse!