I made a cheerful Miniature Matchbox landscape

I've been feeling like doing something like this for a while and Tuesday night I sat down and did it!

I drew the picture in pencil and started cutting the top/ back layers and using my image as a template for the layers. As I cut away a layer I traced it onto another piece of card. This card was then trimmed to the shape it needed to be and I proceeded to cut the next layer from the original image until I came to the house layer.
I made the tree and the bushes in front on a new layer.

I didn't take photos of these steps as I was just experimenting.

Next up was coloring all the layers. Considering I did them in the half dark I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out . Again, wasn't going for anything serious and just let my self make mistakes and play.

Next up was placing the glue squares that would create the depth in between the layers. These are scrapbooking squares of double-sided tape and make your life so much easier than trying to sit and cut out little blocks by hand from a roll of tape.

First layer down was the sky- I tried a blue sky initially but it don't work right, so I turned the background around and made it an orange sunset instead.

Next up the mountains.

Then the hills

When sticking down the farm layer I realized my haphazard placement of the squares wasn't going to work. The house's tree was hanging mid-air and the big tree in front was also going to need some extra reinforcement. It is 3 layers away from the next layer so I added 3 squares worth of ' scaffolding' to keep it in place.

Touch ups to the farmhouse. The front porch area wasn't really working for me. I used a milky pen in the end to make it look more like a cabin. The coloring was done using Derwent Ink Pencils that turn into ink when you brush them with water. Here I'm using a Pentell Aquash water brush to do some detailing in areas where I wanted the inks to pop.

This scene was built inside a jumbo pack of matches which is essentailly 2 packs together. Teddy for scale :)

Going forward I would use thicker card instead of a recycled shopping bag, maybe watercolor paper, and be more strict about using a ruler for cutting and folding the box. I had rebuilt the box as the original match tray was in bad shape.

It's the kind of thing that would amuse my niece so I'll keep it with her toys for now.

It was lovely just being able to be creative and not care if I messed it up. I might to some more elaborate ones in a couple of boxes I've been keeping.

I hope this inspires someone else to try something new.
Thanks for reading!

Lizelle