Charity here with a few tips on how to make colorful decor with beautiful paints. What you really need is time, some great partners in crime, and your favorite colors. We buy our wood models off Amazon. Search “3-D wood puzzles”. Start simple, but be prepared to find that a NEED to construct more elaborate designs takes over!!!
These wood models are difficult to assemble. They contain a lot of pieces and they don’t quite fit together right. We have done many so we were ready with a craft knife for trimming and hot glue for assembling. We use the hot glue more as a sealer that fills in for the pieces that aren’t there.
We assembled in layers, fine tuning each piece to fit and lay properly before we painted. Two layers of acrylic paint give sufficient coverage. We always add a coat of paint to the back to avoid glaring edges.
For this model we purchased a string of LED lights. To create a glow I added vellum to the windows.
ScraPerfect’s Best Glue Ever attached the vellum without leaving marks. Spreading a thin layer of the glue and letting it dry to a semi-gloss ensured perfect attachment.
One nights work was done in such a rush that it had to be resurfaced the next day. For this I used ScraPerfect’s solvent, Best Cleaner Ever. I spritzed it on the pieces, let them sit for a few minutes, then rubbed off the layers of black and silver paint.
For our project we used 9 colors of paint in a variety of combinations. We completed the ground floor and central tower first. We used variations of that design to decorate the other towers. The spires are divided into 5 Purple/Gold, 2 Blue/Silver, 2 Green/Silver, and 2 Plum and Olive with Silver. The roof of the first floor is primarily Teal, and Black cleanses the pallet between layers of color.
Don’t worry if your model leans a little or is missing pieces. The finished project is about the time spent together and the joy of accomplishment. Perfection isn’t a necessary ingredient for happiness.
