What makes a house a home?

Hello all, and a warm welcome on yet another chilly day.  I hope you're all wrapped up and safe at home!  It's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and the theme chosen by the wonderful Jennie of Live the Dream is Home Sweet Home.  She's asked us to create projects according to whatever home means to us.

Well, with my dollshouse connections (Small Worlds, anyone?) I knew right away I wanted to make some little houses with the Artful Dwellings die.  But it wasn't until I was cutting, covering and stamping them that I started to think about what home means, or what turns a house into a home.

Gradually the project started to take shape as I allowed those ideas to make their way down on to the craft table.  And assembling the thing became part pleasure, part jigsaw puzzle!






So the first idea was that really it's the people who make a home.  The huge wrench of leaving the family home of 40 years recently was made far more bearable because we remain a very close family.  Where they are is home.












And along with family, there are important things like being accepted for who you are...














... being able to share troubles...













... love, generosity, kindness, forgiveness...













There are some pretty explosive tempers round our way so that last one's definitely important!












And there are the shared memories which build up within the walls of any house... 













I've also done my share of sharing houses with friends and other folk, and the same things apply.












As well as all those things though, there are certain physical elements which I like to have around me if possible...











... plants being one, indoors and/or out - hence the branches stamped on the papers...













... colours which make me feel at peace - blue is always around (and often green - anybody surprised?!), and neutrals too (papers from the new Regions Beyond stash with added branches, blueprints and stitching in places)...











(I used Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke on Ranger Mixed Media paper to create my inky backgrounds.)










... and it's definitely desirable that the architecture of the house is "right".  I'm partial to high ceilings and large windows, otherwise I feel very claustrophobic, and I've been lucky enough in my life so far mainly to have had those desires indulged.

So the architectural plans stamp is the other one I've used to add detailing to my little houses.











Some of the photos are from the Photobooth collection.













Others are cut from one of the Lost and Found papers because they needed to be quite small for the smaller houses. 











And the additional panels behind each picture are from my trusty Pocket Cards. 
















I even had some fun with my new paper punches!














I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my tiny houses - no, my tiny homes.  It's all about the place where you spend your everyday life... the place you call home.









If you need more inspiration, you'll definitely find it over at A Vintage Journey where my team-mates have been creating their usual wealth of fantastic projects.  We hope you'll be inspired to share your Home Sweet Home with us this month.  You could be the lucky winner of our prize draw, sponsored by Country View Crafts, or be picked as one of our three Pinworthies.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and coping with this picture-heavy post, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend, crafting or otherwise.

Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.
Christian Morgenstern

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right.
Maya Angelou

Home is where you can say anything you like because nobody listens to you anyway.
Anonymous

I'd like to enter this in the Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes at the We Love 2 Create Challenge.