Our challenge this month for Eileen Hull‘s Inspiration Team was to create a project using her Sizzix dies in collaboration with Crescent products, in particular the new Crescent Photo Mat Art Board. Here’s what I used —  the XL Square Box die and the 11 x 14 Crescent Photo Mat Art Board.

The idea that came into my little head was to create a dollhouse. And it would be a dollhouse with a paint chip theme — because you know I have a thing for paint chips. (And to all the inevitable tsk-tskers who say that you shouldn’t steal paint chips from stores, please rest assured that I bought several paint chip fan decks off of eBay so I have an inexhaustible supply, all of which I’ve paid for, thank you very much.)

I spray mounted paint chips to Little Sizzles mat board, and ran them through the Sizzix Big Shot with the XL Box die. But instead of assembling the boxes, I left them deconstructed to create the walls. Sometimes I bent them in 3 sections like the scoring indicated, and other times I only bent one side so there would be a longer wall. 

Then I played architect and glued the walls onto Crescent black mat board, covered with colored paper, that I had handy in my studio. I just used tacky glue, but there were a few walls that would not stay put, so I used a hot glue gun for them. After completing the first level, I glued another Crescent mat board on top of it and assembled a second story. The dollhouse has two sides as well.

The roof was the really cool part, thanks to the Crescent Photo Mat Art Board. I scored it vertically with a hobby knife, and then bent it to create a roof. The opening on the art board, which would normally a hold a photograph, became the skylight for the dollhouse. Then I glued paint chips on the roof; they look just like shingles.

To support the roof, I made “hinges” with pieces cut from the XL Box die, and glued them to another mat board, which in turn was glued on top of the second story.

And here’s the house that Jack Jonathan built. It’s a paint chip off the old block.

The roof creates a fun attic as well.

And I love the skylight and atrium. It really increases the property value.