Village Display Tips
Hobby Lobby has door/drawer pulls that can be used as tables, bird baths and many other creative ways. -Jan & Ridi
A demonstration on making water effects for your spring village display.
- Joan Thomas
Village Addicts
Here is a list of Department 56 houses without snow on them. Prefect for your spring village displays.
LIST OF DEPARTMENT 56 BUILDING WITH NO SNOW
- Myrna Richardson
Some of our members have been inspired to begin an Easter village and to collect Spring and Easter decorations. For those of you who want to start a Department 56 Snow Village Easter collection, here are the buildings in the collection:
#55094 Happy Easter House – introduced 2001, set includes the house and accessory “Egg Hunt”
#55095 Lily’s Nursery & Gifts – introduced 2002, set includes the building and accessory “Gifts For Easter”
#55325 Happy Easter Church – introduced 2003, set includes the church and accessory “Joyful Noise”
#55355 Chocolate Bunny Factory – introduced 2004, set includes the house and accessory “The Best Part of Easter”
#55385 Easter Egg Painting Studio – introduced 2005
#6002310 Easter Sweets House – introduced midyear 2018, set includes two accessories
There are also other coordinating accessories.
- Alita Rabe
We have all spent a lot of time trying to peel the silver (or white) backing from the insulation foam we use in our villages. Recently, at a California 56 club meeting, Robin Hervey showed us a very quick and easy way to remove the backing. He learned it at a San Diego club meeting. You take a dowel (can be purchased at Home Depot) or a broomstick and carefully peel about two inches of the foil or white backing from the foam. Just enough so that you can roll it securely around your dowel/broomstick. Roll the part of the backing tightly around the dowel and, using both hands, begin rolling the dowel towards the other end of the foam. It comes off quickly and easily using this method.
Here is a photo from Debbie Shelgren using this method. You can see how easily it rolls off the foam.
Use white duct tape to help hide and hold down the any wires from your wired accessories or house light cords. This not only keeps them tidy, it also allows your snow blanket to lay flat without lumps.
- Robin Kukura
Mark your Department 56 styrofoam house and accessory packaging with TOP or BOTTOM. This will help you remember which way the building and accessories sit in the styrofoam vs. wrestling with those boxes each year trying to get your houses and accessories back into them. For accessories with multiple pieces in a box you might want to make a map of which pieces go where within the styrofoam box.
- BJ Addis
Regarding Styrofoam for your displays: If you've have some leftover odds and end pieces of styrofoam that you never pulled all the blue or silver film off of, take duct tape and rub it against the film debris and pull the tape off. It takes the stubborn pieces of film right off, and you will end up having a nice clean piece of styrofoam.
- Dayleen Dutcher