Learn how to make an adorable non-edible birdhouse gingerbread house to decorate your home for Christmas! Use it year after year!
Age Group: Adult Crafts
Author: Amanda Formaro
Supplies
Supplies:
Wooden birdhouse
12wood circlesapproximately 1-inch
Small embellishments such as plastic candy candy canes, gingerbread men, colorful beads or garlands, etc
Paint brushes
Collage Claywhite. or similar product such as whipped clay or Snowtex
5mini craft sticks
Paint Palette
White Glitter
Palette knife
Craft knife
Battery operated small string of lightoptional
Hot Glue Gun
Testor's acrylic paint
Browniefor the house
Whitedoor
Red Rocket Glitter Burstdoor
Paradise
Orange
Shamrock
Sunshine
Fuschia
Purple
Gold Rush Glitter Burst
Instructions
Start by cutting off the perch from the birdhouse. No need to sand it because we will be covered that area.
Paint the outside of the birdhouse with "Brownie" (brown paint). Let it dry then give it a second coat.
Meanwhile, paint all the miniature craft sticks with white and let them dry. You only need to paint one side.
Use a liner brush dipped in Red Rocket glitter paint (red) to add diagonal lines onto 4 of the 5 white sticks. Set these aside to dry.
Paint the wood circles (only one side) with Paradise, Orange, Sunshine, Fuschia, Purple and Shamrock.
Once the wood circles are dry, add a thin layer of Gold Rush glitter paint. Set aside to dry.
Follow the directions on the tube of Collage Clay and add "snow" to the roof. It's similar to piping icing onto a cake!
Using the star tip included with the Collage Clay, add decorative stars to the front edge of the roof.
Add a colorful bead to each star, gently pressing it into place.
Now that the wood circles are dry, gently press them into the Collage Clay on the roof.
Use Collage Clay to add your plastic candy embellishments.
Spread Collage Clay along the bottom of the birdhouse and insert candies.
Place the solid white craft stick along the bottom where the door will be to serve as a step.
Make sure the peppermint craft sticks are dry, then attach them to the front of the house as the door, lining them up next to each other above the "step" stick. Attach a "candy" as the door knob.
For the second house I chose to smooth out the Collage Clay on the roof with a palette knife. Then I used the writer tip to add icicles.
I also used white paint and a liner brush to add the lines on the house.
After embellishing the roof, I sprinkled it with white glitter.
Collage Clay takes a couple of days to dry completely. Be careful when handling your gingerbread houses until they are completely dry.
OPTIONAL - this octagonal birdhouse roof was glued on. I was able to gently pry it off and place some battery operated string lights inside. If you do this, you will need to hot glue your roof back in place.
Expert Tips & FAQs
I used Collage Clay to create the look of snow on the roof. Since I made this birdhouse back in 2017, it seems that collage clay is no longer available. You can use this white whipped clay which is similar and can be found at Michael's stores. You can also cover the roof in Snowtex for a textured look or simply paint the roof with white paint.
You can use any acrylic paint in similar colors or get creative and use your own favorite color combinations!