Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Christmas is nearly upon us! Today I’ve got another fun, 3D project that I am excited to share with you. No need for making a mess in the kitchen—all you need is some paper and glue to make this gingerbread house.
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When I was a little girl, my mom made one, and only one gingerbread house with me (from scratch). I have a picture of it in my photo album, and when I asked my mom why we didn’t continue the tradition, she said, “Because that was WAY too much work.”
Well, after numerous episodes of the Great British Bakeoff, I decided to give the whole “gingerbread house from scratch” thing a go this past weekend. Turns out my mom was right—WAY too much work. About 4 hours of prep for mom, 10 minutes of enjoyment for the kids (while they decorated), and disappointment all around when they found out that it’s just for looks. At least we have a nice smelling centerpiece for our table this year.
After all that, I figured maybe it would be better to stick to what I’m best at, and make my own paper gingerbread house.
Supplies
- Cardstock
- Vellum
- Hot Glue
- Stamp Ink (optional)
- Ink Blending Tool (optional)
- Bone Folder (optional)
- A Cutting Machine or X-ACTO knife
- My Free Template
How to Make It
1. Use your cutting machine or X-ACTO knife, along with my template, to cut out all of the gingerbread house pieces.
Note: If you are using the SVG files that includes the score lines, don’t forget to set them as such in Cricut Design Space and attach them to their shapes before sending through your cutting machine. I used a lime green color to mark the score lines, so hopefully that helps! If you’re having trouble with the score lines, check out this video.
Prepping & Layering
2. Optional: If you’d like to give your project a little bit more dimension, ink the edges of the snow and building. (This is a common technique in the card making world, but it’s a new one for me—obviously, I had a lot of fun with it!)
Attach your vellum window pieces to the inside of your house, and the door/window frames to the outside.
I also chose to include some hand drawn embellishments with a Sharpie Paint Marker.
Make the Roof
3. Layer the shingle strips one at a time: starting from the bottom and working your way up, like so.
Repeat on the opposite side fo the roof.
Then, flip the roof section over, and cut out the hole for the chimney.
Final Assembly
4. Attach the walls of the house together, and adhere them to the base.
Fold your chimney piece; attach the small layer of snow around the top. Then, glue the two tabs provided to the inside of the roof.
Next, attach your snow to the underside of your roof on each side (you can see that I did that part last, and I wish I would have done that before attaching the roof to the top of the structure).
Note: If you want to be able to put a flameless candle inside your gingerbread house, be sure to only glue one side of the peaked roof to the pointed snow sections (leaving one side to open/close).
Then, attach the roof to the top of the structure, once again, only gluing down either the right or left side, if you want to be able to open the roof later on.
This was such a fun little project to put together. And, as expected, it turned out much better than my actual gingerbread house!
I use Adobe Illustrator for all of my designs, and a Cricut Maker to bring my creations to life. For tips on creating fun paper cuts like this one, see the FAQ section on my website. Also, be sure to check out the other holiday freebies available on my blog!
Enjoy making your very own, gingerbread house! I hope you have as much fun putting it together as I did. Be sure to share your delightful, festive results with me on Instagram!
*This post contains affiliate links. By clicking through my links to make a purchase, you are supporting this blog and the hard work that goes into providing free, quality designs.
Mandee is a professional graphic designer, amateur bird watcher, and rollercoaster enthusiast. She is a wife to hardworking high school teacher and mommy to three adorable little humans. She fell in love with graphic design when she started working on a comedy website with a guy she met her freshman year of college. Design wasn’t the only thing she fell in love with, and they were married a year and a half later. She created Designs By Miss Mandee to be a place where she could merge her passion for design with her lifelong love of crafting. 20 Comments on Gingerbread House – Holiday Cut Files
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Mary Ellen Torres
December 17, 2020 at 7:09 am (3 years ago)absolutely adorable thank you I make gingerbread house every year with my grandchildren I enjoy watching them decorate it is fun but your design will last for years hugs Merry Christmas
Mandee
December 17, 2020 at 11:51 am (3 years ago)You are a good grandma! Those are special memories, I’m sure. 🙂
Merry Christmas to you as well!!
MARINA
November 27, 2022 at 10:49 am (1 year ago)IL MODELLO NON SI SCARICA DA’ ERRORE
Mandee
November 29, 2022 at 11:45 am (1 year ago)Sorry you are having trouble! Sometimes the files are too large for Google to preview, but you can still download them by clicking on the download arrow. For more detailed instructions and troubleshooting tips, check out my FAQ page.
maman-cocci
December 17, 2020 at 7:09 am (3 years ago)Que c’est beau !!!
et que c’est gentil de ta part de partager tes fichiers.
Merci …
Mandee
December 17, 2020 at 11:52 am (3 years ago)Thank you! So glad you enjoy my designs. 😊
Terry Smith
December 17, 2020 at 9:23 am (3 years ago)Very cute! Thank you.
Mandee
December 17, 2020 at 11:52 am (3 years ago)You are most welcome Terry!!
Kathy
December 17, 2020 at 10:44 am (3 years ago)Hi Mandee,
I’m with you on the house from scratch being too much work. A project that is much more rewarding for the kids are the graham cracker houses. They are much smaller and can be consumed after decorating. I love your paper house, that is definitely better than baking one, and it can be used year after year. Thank you so much for sharing your adorable project!
Mandee
December 17, 2020 at 11:54 am (3 years ago)I think I’ll take your advice on the graham cracker houses from here on out!
Thanks for your kind words!! ❤️
Marie Andersson
December 17, 2020 at 2:55 pm (3 years ago)Wow! So supercute have to do one before xmas… Got to bring out the sillo anyway so can make this in the same time. Maybee use gelatinleaf insted of vellum for better light. Thank´s for another great project to do.
Mandee
December 18, 2020 at 12:12 pm (3 years ago)Yay! Have so much fun making this one Marie!!
Annette
December 18, 2020 at 1:51 am (3 years ago)Thank you
Mandee
December 18, 2020 at 12:12 pm (3 years ago)You’re very welcome Annette!
auntie em
December 24, 2020 at 4:46 am (3 years ago)Thank you so much! I was looking for a fun project to complete on Christmas Eve to wind things down. This is perfect!
Merry Christmas and a very safe and Happy Holiday to you and all your family!
Mandee
December 28, 2020 at 11:38 am (3 years ago)Glad I could provide you with a fun little project for the holidays. Hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you a very Happy New Year!!
auntie em
December 24, 2020 at 4:48 am (3 years ago)I was just looking at your pictures again and started thinking of Valeltines day. This would be so cute done in pinks and reds and icing white to set on display.
Ohhh… Thank you again for sharing! 🙂
Mandee
December 28, 2020 at 11:39 am (3 years ago)That would be adorable!!!
Chris Pecherzewski
December 3, 2021 at 9:25 am (2 years ago)Hi Mandee love the GB house I have a question is there a youtube for this? I can’t change the chimney to score lines it shows cut lines and I can not separate it from the house to do the score lines . I did score the house lines on that one.
Mandee
December 9, 2021 at 10:45 pm (2 years ago)Sorry you are having trouble! I’m not 100% sure where the problem is happening, but I would try “ungrouping” everything. Then, changing the lines on the chimney to score lines, selecting the lines and the chimney shape, and attaching.