by Richelle Naegle

Do you love Tim Holtz Village dies? I sure do, and the more you look at these little buildings, the more you discover ways to add unique modifications. The Village manor die set, for example, could be just a regular Victorian-style home if you chose the right cardstock for the job, as opposed to making it a Halloween-themed haunted house. You could also use the Village surf shack die set and make it a love shack for Valentine’s Day. Now that I think of it, I will probably do a Christmas twist on that beach theme (stay tuned). You get the idea. You don’t have to use the dies as the designer intended.

Since it’s Halloween, I decided to take on the Village Manor and make it a fun Halloween house. We don’t do scary Halloween at my house (yet), The kids are still small and don’t want to freak them out. I came up with a less haunted version of a haunted house!

Getting Started with Village Manor

The first thing to know about this house is that you have to have the Village Dwelling die set for the foundation. You also have to have this die to make any of the other houses, with the exception of the Village Brownstone. So, if you want to make any of the houses, be sure to get the Village Dwelling dies.

The most difficult part of making this house was picking out which patterned paper and colored cardstock to use! Isn’t that the truth about most craft projects, though? I have the hardest time deciding which paper to use. The body of this house is from a Simple Stories paper stack. The roof is made of corrugated black paper, which was a great choice. It has a little bit of weight to it, which helps with the house’s stability.

Helpful Tim Holtz Video

I watched this Tim Holtz tutorial on how to make the Village Dwelling. Not only did he help give me ideas of how to make the house nice and sturdy (hint: cut it out twice and glue them together—use any cheap paper for the interior), but he also gave me a great tip that made the base of the house nice and sturdy without a lot of extra work.

After you get the house together, the rest of the building comes together quickly and easily! Then you decorate however you see fit: cobwebs, bats, whatever.

The fun part about this house is that you can place a tealight under it, and it glows. I tried taking pictures of it, but they didn’t turn out so well. I did find a tip online that suggested cutting out the roof of the house in the middle so the light can shine all the way up to the top windows. I did that as well. It turned out cool and does make it so the lights shine through the whole house.

Share Your Village Manor Projects

I know you are dying to make one of these houses. So, whichever you decide to create, share it with me on Facebook! I would love to see your Sizzix Village Manor Project Ideas! Save on all of our Sizzix dies and Tim Holtz designs.

Check out our Sizzix Village Surf Shack project.

Happy Halloween creating!