Every year I make my daughters a handmade ornament and most years they make me one as well. There is something so special about ornaments and Christmas crafts that are made by hand. As you can imagine, our Christmas tree doesn't look like one you would find in a department store. These sweet little paper house ornaments made a fun addition to our tree.
Most of the decorations that we hang on our tree were made by someone with love. This year I thought it might be fun to make little house ornaments with my daughters. These paper house ornaments are a fantastic way to make use of old Christmas cards and other recyclables. I'm sure you have a pile of old Christmas cards, like we do. Let's put them to good use.
Paper House Ornament Template
cereal box
old Christmas cards
scissors
marker, pencil
glue gun, glue stick
printer paper or card stock
pipe cleaners, glitter, and other craft supplies
Begin by printing our paper house template on paper or card stock. The template only requires one sheet of paper. Printing it on cardstock simply means that it will be a little more durable and it will be easier to trace. But, regular printer paper is just fine.
Once you have the template printed it is time to trace the template onto the outside of a cereal box. I made 3 houses out of 1 large Rice Krispies box. Draw on the outside of the box so you won't see the lines when you fold the template.
Now, cut out and fold the house along the lines. To make folding cardboard easier, place a ruler on the line you want to fold, then press down the fold along the ruler's edge. This will keep your lines straight and clean. You want to fold it so that the brown inside of the box becomes the outside of the house.
When all the folds are pressed, use the glue gun to secure the tab end of the house. Then you will run a bead of glue along the top of the walls and secure the roof to the house base. Now you have a house!
Once the house is built, it's time to have fun decorating. Cut out different details from old Christmas cards and use a glue stick to adhere them to the house. Use whatever other craft supplies you like. My kids used stickers, pom poms, and pipe cleaners.
When all the decorating is done, use the glue gun to adhere a loop of ribbon or a loop pipe cleaner to the back wall of the house and hang your ornament on the tree.
My daughters had a lot of fun making their little houses. I love how they both took entirely different approaches to decorating the house. I even took a turn creating my own little house. If you wanted to make larger houses, simply increase the template on a photocopier. But, I really love how small and sweet these houses are.
If you want to you could skip the ribbon hanger and make a lovely little paper house Christmas village to decorate your mantle or holiday table. There are so many fun ways to use these houses.
How will your kids decorate their paper house?
Please swing over to the Kid-Made Christmas: Ornaments' Pinterest board, where you will find a great collection of inspiring ideas. Or, if you have a kid-made ornament post that you would like to share, please link up over at Mama Miss's 20 Days of Kid-Made Ornaments linky party. So many crafty ideas for you and your children to try.
More Christmas crafts
Use felt scraps to make a sweet little Santa mouse ornament
Make a beautiful snow globe with the kids this holiday
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Veens @ Our Ordinary Life says
They look awesome and what a lovely idea, totally doing this one!
Anna@The Measured Mom says
The tutorial is great - what a neat idea! Thanks for sharing at After School.