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Transform Your Home into a Winter Wonderland with this Incredible DIY Gingerbread House Garland made from CARDBOARD and hot glue!
Tis the season for sweet treats and festive décor, and what better way to combine the two than with a DIY gingerbread house garland! Imagine a charming string of miniature gingerbread houses adorning your mantel or Christmas tree, adding a touch of whimsy and nostalgia to your holiday home.
Don’t let the idea of creating a gingerbread house from scratch intimidate you, because, with a few tips and supplies, you’ll be stringing up your very own holiday masterpiece in no time. AND BONUS! because we are using old cardboard boxes to create these darling banners!
Supplies needed to make Gingerbread house garland
How to make DIY gingerbread house Garland
Step 1: Cut out gingerbread house shapes
I picked sections of cardboard that had the least amount of blemishes and traced out a house shape. There are so many different options from a peeked roof to gables to barn shaped. I wanted them all to unique so I traced out a variety. Then cut them out. SDepending on what type of cardboard and thickness, you might be able to get through it with scissors. But you might need a utility knife or box cutter.
Using a ruler will also help keep those lines straight!
Step 2: Cut out house details
You can cut out door shapes, roof, and chimney pieces to add some dimensions to the houses. Take your utility knife to cut out windows as well. This step is optional but adds a little more fun to the end result.
Step 3: Create the frosted windows
Another optional step, but I had some sheets of vellum that looks like frosted windows. I cut little pieces and just hot glued them to the back of each window. If these houses are back lit with Christmas lights, the windows really glow!
Step 4: Gingerbread house details
This is where the real fun happens! Adding in all the little gingerbread house details! You can prep the houses to this step and have the kids take over with this part so they can each create their own house.
For this step I used WHITE hot glue sticks. You load them into your hot glue like regular glue sticks and can just add in clear when you are done. They do not harm your glue gun at all.
I just drew all the fun details with the hot glue gun. The glue is puffy so it creates great dimension and “drips” like real gingerbread icing!
If you opt for the hot glue gun route- You will end with some “glue gun hairs”! Just zap them with a hair dryer on hot to melt them away!
If you are having kids help you, you might want to choose an alternative since the chance of having burned fingers will be increased!
White hot glue gun alternatives
The puffy paint is really fun and gives great dimension, but the drying time is quite a bit longer so the chance of smudging it is high! You can see the puff paint in action on my gingerbread advent calendar.
Creating the gingerbread garland
Once everything is dry, These houses are so cute just propped on your mantel or a shelf or even in your Christmas tree!
But if you wanted to create a garland, you just flip those houses over and hot glue some string or twine to the back making sure to keep the distance between each house the same.
Then you can hang it up wherever your heart desires!
I love them so much! It would be such a fun and easy craft day with the girls and like I mentioned earlier, great kids craft!
Save for later
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