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delia creates

Christmas, crafting, cut files, holiday, kids, kids create, printable, Printables, sponsored, tutorial, winter, women · December 1, 2016

Paper Holiday Houses – free templates!

One holiday activity we both love and dread in our family is gingerbread houses or candy houses.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

We love them because they are so fun to do, but we (okay, I) dread them because they are a ton of work and make a huge mess.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

So, for this month’s Michaels Makers post, I came up with a food-free, stress-free way to get our mini house building fix…

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

…by using paper of course!

All you need is some scrapbook paper, glue, markers and things to cut the paper with. Easy.

You can cut the paper by hand with an exacto knife and scissors, or use a cutting machine. I’ve included template files for all those options.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

If these houses look familiar, I based them off one of the houses I created for my Advent Christmas Houses (and Halloween Houses).

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

Because the houses are much bigger, I was able to add more detail, like shutters, windowed doors, and wreaths. The rest of the details I drew on with marker. It was super fun!

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.comPaper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

When I do this with my kids, I think it will be fun to take them to the craft store so they can pick out their own paper colors. It takes about 4-5 pieces of 12×12 paper to make a house (if you want variety), which would make these around a $1 (!) if we get them when there’s a paper sale.

The rest of the supplies you can find by raiding their craft bin.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

MATERIALS

  • 12 x 12 scrapbooking cardstock
  • hot glue or school glue
  • glue stick
  • exacto knife and cutting mat or cutting machine
  • scissors
  • optional: markers (I really like the white scrapbooking markers from Recollections)

STEP ONE: Templates.

Grab your choice of template.

If you’re cutting by hand, download this PDF file: paper-holiday-houses

The files are sized to 12 x 12, so you’ll have to print them at a print shop.

If you’re using a cutting machine here are .svg files (this is a zip file with multiple files):

SVG: Holiday Houses SVG files DELIA CREATES

If you’re using a Cricut, I have saved them as PNG files*:

paper-holiday-house-side-1 paper-holiday-house-side-2 paper-holiday-house-trees-and-wreaths paper-holiday-house-shutters-and-doors paper-holiday-house-chimney-roof-and-doorpaper-holiday-house-icicle-roof paper-holiday-house-scalloped-roof

*I am still learning how to use the Cricut software and this is the only way I could figure out how to make it work. You will have to re-size the png images to the size you want. Make sure to measure as you go to ensure house pieces will be the same size.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

STEP TWO: Cut and glue.

Cut out your paper. All the fold lines are perforated for cut files, to make folding easier.

You can assemble the house first and then decorate it, but I find it much easier to draw and glue on the house pieces when they are still flat.

I highly recommend using a glue stick for the shutters. The hot glue is too messy for those fragile slats.


Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

STEP THREE: Assemble house. 

Glue the house together at the flaps.

When adding the roof, I find it helps to glue one side at a time.

You can cut the roof from the templates I share, or you can cut your own. My roof templates are more of an exact fit because I needed to fit them on a 12 x 12 cut file. You can easily cut your roof larger and add eaves.

Hot glue is faster, but you can certainly use school glue (or double sided tape)  if you don’t want your kids using hot glue guns.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

STEP FOUR: Make trees and bushes.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

Simply fold the trees and bushes in half at the perforated fold lines. Add a line of school glue or hot glue to the crease and add another tree piece at the crease. Let dry or cool.

Enjoy!

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

I loved these cardboard gift box houses that The House That Lars Built shared last year, so I mimicked a similar design with my white Recollections marker.

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com

One perk to these paper houses is that they are pretty much mess free and play friendly. My daughter has already snuck them into her room so she can put her peg dolls and animal figurines in them. 🙂

Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.com1 Paper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.comPaper Holiday Houses - free templates! // www.deliacreates.comI don’t know if my kids will let me get away with not doing candy houses this year, but I think making paper houses will be a fun new tradition to start, that can last a little longer and that requires a less neurotic mom presence. ha!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Michaels. All content and opinions are my own.

Previous Post: « Four Things to know about buying a Kindle or tablet for kids!
Next Post: Woodland Animal Ayda Dress »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Andrea says

    December 1, 2016 at 4:24 PM

    What?? These are amazing!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 1, 2016 at 5:43 PM

      Thanks Andrea! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Charity says

    December 2, 2016 at 9:59 PM

    Oh, those are really cute! I love the one you decorated with the white marker… and the trees are darling!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 5, 2016 at 8:20 AM

      Thanks Charity! That one is my favorite too. It was the most time consuming but definitely the most fun!

      Reply
  3. Natalie says

    December 3, 2016 at 6:41 AM

    These are so lovely, each one is so cute and personal

    – Natalie
    http://www.workovereasy.com

    Reply
  4. Amy | Delineate Your Dwelling says

    December 3, 2016 at 7:07 PM

    These are completely amazing!!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 3, 2016 at 11:45 PM

      Thanks Amy! <3

      Reply
  5. Mindy says

    December 8, 2016 at 1:36 PM

    Thank you for the PNG files! We braved the 2* temperatures long enough to run to Hobby Lobby for cardstock, and now my 4 year old has been happily coloring hers for 20 minutes. My previous boredom busters lasted 5 minutes at best, so this has been a huge hit!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 8, 2016 at 10:33 PM

      That makes me SO happy to hear! Seriously, you made my day. And brrrrrr, you are brave! Stay warm!

      Reply
  6. Katja - A Home for Crafts says

    December 10, 2016 at 3:51 AM

    Love your houses! Your style is amazing.

    To make svg files for Cricut, go to Illustrator (Are you using Illustrator?) and place each file/house on its own artboard (Use the artboard tool to make more artboards). While you are doing this make a mental note of the number your artboards have. They are usually just numbered consecutively as you set them up. Then when you are ready to save, go to file, export, export as. This opens up the familiar save file dialog, but notice how it under the files section says Use Artboards. Click that and enter the numbers for the artboards you want to save and select svg as the file type. Hit save. It will now save each artboard’s file as it’s own svg file. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 12, 2016 at 10:48 AM

      Thank you! Don’t I also have to isolate pathways or something like that too? I just haven’t been able to give it more attention to really figure out yet.

      Reply
  7. kate says

    December 10, 2016 at 6:12 PM

    these are so cute delia! great work!

    Reply
  8. chrissy says

    January 26, 2017 at 11:53 AM

    super generous of you to share. Good for a girl like me on a budget. Cannot wait to use next Christmas. so adorable.

    Reply
  9. Melissa says

    September 14, 2017 at 10:07 AM

    EEK, I’m so excited! I just bought a Cricut Maker and I’m so excited to finally use some of your paper designs! Thank you for thinking about Cricut users – I just tried one file and it looks like it will work.

    Reply
    • Delia says

      September 14, 2017 at 11:01 AM

      Yay! I’m so happy to hear that it works. Have fun with your new Maker. That thing looks amazing!

      Reply
  10. Sarah says

    September 25, 2018 at 6:26 AM

    I’m old school & technologically challenged. I’d like to try these by hand but I can’t even get the files to download! Could I possibly have it emailed to me?!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      September 27, 2018 at 1:41 PM

      Sarah,

      Sure! Email me: [email protected] and I’ll email you the pdf version. It’s just one sheet that you use as a template.

      Delia

      Reply
  11. Margarita Perez says

    May 28, 2019 at 4:18 PM

    Hi! I’m having a hard time getting my Cricut to read the files. Was wondering if you could give some advice as to how i should do it.

    Reply
    • Delia says

      May 29, 2019 at 10:52 AM

      That’s a good question. Did you download the .svg files? Will it just not open it or does it just open at a different size? Full disclosure…I am much more familiar with my Silhouette. I am still trying to get the hang of my Cricut.

      Reply
      • Margarita Perez says

        May 29, 2019 at 7:27 PM

        When it is ready and I go to send it to the crucit it completely falls apart. Everything separates. I’ve tried it with both files and the same thing happens.

        Reply
        • Kristin says

          December 13, 2020 at 7:56 AM

          I am having the same issue. Everything separates and won’t “group” together. Were you able to make it work? Any advice would be great. I am hoping to do this as a class project.

          Reply
  12. Edina says

    December 3, 2019 at 8:22 AM

    Thanks so much! Really nice!

    Reply
  13. Beth McIntyre says

    December 21, 2019 at 11:47 AM

    I am having the best time making these! I’m only using the roof that has the chimney. I finally figured out the roof, chimney, and the eave above the front door. But there are extra pieces on that page? What am I missing? Thanks for posting these!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 26, 2019 at 10:46 AM

      So glad you’re having fun with it! Threy should just be extra door options. I’m not aware of extra pieces other than that. Could you describe them to me? I’d be happy to help you figure it out! 🙂

      Reply
  14. Beth McIntyre says

    December 27, 2019 at 11:44 AM

    You’re right. They are extra door options. Thanks again for posting!

    Reply
    • Delia says

      December 30, 2019 at 1:28 PM

      Oh good! I’m so glad we sorted it out.

      Reply

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