"Gingerbread House" with DIY Puffy Paint
About This Project
These “gingerbread” houses use popsicle sticks, paper bags, and homemade puffy paint to create snowy, colorful cottages that look good enough to eat (but are totally sugar-free). Perfect for family craft nights, winter festivities, or anytime you want to create a cozy village without baking.
Steps
Build your house
Glue your five popsicle sticks together into the shape of a house.
Trace your house structure
To make sure your house fits the frame perfectly, trace the outside of the frame onto a paper bag. Then, cut it out.
Glue the paper to the house
Glue the cut paper bag to the popsicle stick structure.
Make your DIY puffy paint
While your house dries, make your DIY puffy paint. In a small bowl, mix equal parts Elmer’s glue and shaving cream. This makes fluffy, snowy “paint.” Keep it white for snow, or add a few drops of food coloring for doors, windows, and decorations.
Add the snowy roof
For icicles, add a blob of puffy paint to the roof edge and gently pull it down with a brush or stick to create drips.
Add doors and windows
Explore different textures and effects you can create with thick paint vs thin paint as you create doors and windows on your house.
Add colorful details
Add colorful details. We used the back of our paint brush to add colorful dots to our roof.
Let dry!
Place in a safe place to dry. The DIY puffy paint can take several hours to fully dry. It will likely flatten a bit as it does.
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