Smile Mercantile Craft Co.

Spun Cotton 101

Introduction to Spun Cotton Welcome to Spun Cotton 101! This page is a free resource for those looking to begin with the craft of spun cotton. What is spun cotton? Originating in Germany in the mi...

Scrapbook Paper Houses

Do you have a secret pile of scrapbook paper? Use it! These houses look beautiful with any kind of patterned paper.  I am working my way through a stash of scrapbook paper that has been sitting for...

Miniature Potted Feather Tree Tutorial

Even though we are far away from Christmas I am still in my exploration of feather trees.  Today I am working on a miniature feather tree using pink goose feathers for a sweet springtime look.  Yo...

Easy Christmas Star with German Glass Glitter

Today I'm working on a sweet and simple Christmas craft using sparkly silver German glass glitter.  This year's Christmas tree is a little bit on the Charlie Brown side- it's a young Douglas fir, p...

How to Clean and Restore Putz Houses

Today I'm fixing up some vintage putz houses that are in fairly rough condition.  The idea here is to tidy them up and make some gentle home improvements without really changing their designs.  Ma...

How to Make a Feather Tree

Feather trees were a late-19th century German invention- a creative alternative to wasteful, messy, and exceedingly flammable real Christmas trees from the forest. They were most popular in the ye...