DIY Paper Gingerbread Houses + Free SVG files

Looking for the ultimate DIY Christmas craft project? Today I have you covered with these fun and festive DIY Paper Gingerbread Houses, including free SVG files to use with your Cricut or other cutting machine!

Choose either the detailed photo or video tutorial below (or both!) to follow along as I teach you how to make these Christmas paper houses. Your December is sure to be craft-errific!

DIY paper Christmas houses are a perfect addition to your holiday decor, or create them as a unique gift! Everyone in your family will love this candy and frosting-free gingerbread house craft, from the kids to the adults.

I’ve included 3 different gingerbread houses that you can create, complete with details like a snowy roof, heart cutouts, and more! Keep reading to learn how to download the free gingerbread house templates that you can upload to Cricut Design Space or whatever cutting software you like to use.

Looking for more fun Christmas crafts and sewing projects? Check out our popular free stocking pattern!

And to help with your Christmas outfit sewing, the Schoolboy Vest is a favorite for all the little men in your life.

For the little ladies, I suggest our Sullivan Dress and Magrath Dress patterns, which I’ve used time and time again for my two girls. Of course, their favorite is the Bellamy Nightgown, and I can’t say I blame them!

What Supplies Do You Need to Make a Paper Gingerbread House?

To make this Cricut paper house project, you’ll need:

kraft and white cardstock (medium/80lb weight or heavier if you’d prefer)
glue (see my favorite kinds below under the supplies section)
cutting machine (I use my Cricut Maker and Design Space for this tutorial but if you can upload an SVG file to your software, you’re set!)
fine-point blade for your machine and scoring stylus or wheel
free downloadable SVG files you can access by following the instructions in the supplies section below

How Hard is it to Make a Paper Gingerbread House?

I would recommend this project for intermediate crafters, although if you’re a confident beginner who can follow directions closely, don’t be afraid to give it a try! The trickiest part is working in Cricut Design Space, where you’ll need to make some adjustments to the files after uploading.

But don’t worry, I walk you through every step in both the photo and video tutorials below, so you got this!

What Size are the Cricut Paper Houses?

Each house is a different size, as follows:

Gingerbread House 1: 6.5″h x 3.75″w x 3.9″l
Gingerbread House 2: 7.6″h x 2.5″w x 4.4″l
Gingerbread House 3: 5″h x 4″w x 4″l

Need some help sending a hint, hint to your loved ones this holiday season? Our Cricut gift guide for sewers may be just want you (they ;)) need.

Even the backs of these sweet paper houses have details. It’s amazing what the Cricut Maker can do!

How to Make Paper Gingerbread Houses

Supplies
(affiliate links below)

kraft cardstock – 2-3 pages for each house (medium/80lb weight or heavier if you’d prefer)
white cardstock – 2-3 pages for each house (medium/80lb weight or heavier if you’d prefer)
glue – Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue and Glue Tape are awesome for this project and I also keep these glue sticks handy
cutting machine (I use my Cricut Maker and Design Space for this tutorial but if you can upload an SVG file to your software, you’re set!)
light grip Cricut cutting mat (blue)
fine-point blade for your machine and scoring stylus or wheel
downloadable SVG files you can access for free by clicking HERE and following the checkout process.
Note: This is different than subscribing to our newsletter, you must click the link above and complete the checkout to access the files – if you don’t see an email in your inbox after the checkout process, be sure to check your junk folder. You’ll also be able to access the files by logging into your account on our site (again, after you’ve “ordered” the pattern for free through the checkout process).

Once you’ve downloaded the free SVG files by following the checkout process above and saved them to your computer, it’s time to get started on cutting out the houses in Cricut Design Space.

I’ve included each gingerbread house as a separate cut file and separate Design Space project for ease in demonstration, but if you are a confident user of Cricut Design Space and SVG files, you may choose to add all of the houses to one Design Space project and cut them all at once.

In addition to the photo tutorial, you can learn how to make paper gingerbread houses via the video below (or watch on our YouTube channel HERE) if you prefer!

Gingerbread House 1 – Upload and Cut in Design Space

Begin by starting a new Cricut Design Space project and click “upload” on the left bar to upload the Gingerbread House 1 SVG to the canvas.

If the objects come to the mat grouped together, right click to ungroup.

When uploading an SVG into Design Space, it automatically changes any score lines to solid lines, so next we need to adjust those. For Gingerbread House 1, there are 7 lines that need to be changed to score, as highlighted in the photos below.

Shift-click to select all 7 (or do each separately if you’d prefer), and then choose “score” from the operation dropdown menu. Be sure that only the lines are selected, not the entire group that they are under in the menu.

Now, if we clicked “make” at this point, the score lines and pieces they’re with on the canvas would be separated on the cutting mats, which we obviously do not want. To keep the score lines with the cut pieces they are on, click and drag to select each piece as outlined in red and click “attach” (do each of the 6 groups one at a time).

Once the score lines are attached to their cut pieces, click “make” on the top right. If everything is attached correctly, you’ll see the score lines in place with the corresponding pieces on each mat as pictured below. If you have a rogue score line or two, go back to the canvas and check what was missed in the scoring and attaching process.

Be sure to change your paper and mat size depending on what sizes you’re using, and you can also move any pieces around on the mats as you wish once you’ve done that.

Click “continue” and choose your material (in my case, medium cardstock). I like to also choose “more” pressure when using the scoring stylus.

If you are not using a scoring wheel, be sure to click “edit tools” and choose the scoring stylus.

Place the paper on your mat (I like to use the blue light grip Cricut mat for cardstock), load it into the machine, and press “C” to begin cutting and scoring.

I like to use two mats so I can be preparing/removing pieces on one mat while the other is cutting. When removing the pieces from the mat, it’s best to place the mat upside down and flat, and slowly peel it back from the pieces, rather than peeling the paper from the mat (this will cause the paper to curl).

Follow the on-screen prompts to continue cutting all the mats for Gingerbread House 1 and set aside. Be sure to save the project in Design Space so it’s ready to use again another time!

Gingerbread House 2 – Upload and Cut in Design Space

Start a new Design Space project and upload the Gingerbread House 2 SVG to the canvas. We’ll follow the same process as above to prepare the file for cutting and scoring.

First, click on the group of images and then right click to ungroup the SVG objects.

Select the lines to change to score as highlighted in the photos below. For this gingerbread house, there are 7 objects to select.

Separately click and drag each piece that has score lines and click attach for each one.

Click “make” and follow the same steps as Gingerbread House 1 to ensure the score lines are attached properly to their objects on the mats, choose your material sizes, and follow the on-screen prompts to cut all the mats. Don’t forget to choose your correct scoring tool as well!

Save the project and set the Gingerbread House 2 pieces aside while we cut Gingerbread House 3.

Gingerbread House 3 – Upload and Cut in Design Space

Start a new Design Space project and upload the Gingerbread House 3 SVG to the canvas. We’ll follow the same process as above to prepare the file for cutting and scoring.

First, click on the group of images and then right click to ungroup the SVG objects.

Select the lines to change to score as highlighted in the photos below. For this gingerbread house, there are 2 objects to select.

Separately click and drag each piece that has score lines and click attach for each one. For this DIY paper house, there are only two groups to attach, which is each side of the house.

Click “make” and follow the same steps as Gingerbread House 1 and 2 to ensure the score lines are attached properly to their objects on the mats, choose your material sizes, and follow the on-screen prompts to cut all the mats. For this house the scoring tool isn’t needed for the white cardstock pieces so don’t forget to add the scoring tool before cutting the kraft cardstock!

Set the Gingerbread House 3 pieces aside.

Add Gingerbread House Backing

Now that the pieces are all cut, we’ll work on assembling all of the houses together.

Match the white cardstock pieces to the corresponding kraft cardstock pieces for each house.

Glue each white cardstock backing piece to the corresponding kraft cardstock section, centering on the section and ensuring it doesn’t cover any score lines. The exception to centering the white cardstock piece is on Gingerbread House 1, where the piece at the front door should be aligned with the bottom of the kraft cardstock piece as pictured below.

I like to use a combination of double sided glue tape for the larger areas and Bearly Art Precision Craft glue for the detailed areas, especially around any scallops or curves. It’s my newest favorite crafting product! I also keep a glue stick handy, but found that the glue tape and precision craft glue didn’t leave much need for it.

There’s debate on where score lines should be on the “right” or “wrong”side. I prefer them to be on the inside, which also helps with placing the backing pieces as they’ll be visible on that side. Whichever side you choose, make sure you keep it consistent, or you’ll end up with two halves of a house that don’t fit together (ask me how I know…).

Add Gingerbread House Details

Next, we’ll add some Christmas cheer to our DIY paper gingerbread houses. Glue the details onto each house as pictured, paying attention to a few notes below.

For Gingerbread House 3, it’s helpful to fold the front and back of the house roof score lines before placement of the diamond shaped pieces.

For Gingerbread House 2, fold the scalloped roof trim piece along the score line and place that line at the top of the kraft cardstock, gluing half of the scalloped piece onto the kraft cardstock. The other half will attach to the other side of the house roof when assembling the house together.

Also for Gingerbread House 1 and 2, it’s helpful to fold the score lines on the triangular scalloped/snowy roof trim pieces before placement to ensure a close fit.

When placing the bottom scalloped/snow trim on Gingerbread Houses 1 and 2, pay close attention to the score lines and use those to help with placement, matching with the score lines on the house pieces.

On Gingerbread House 1, one scallop should hang over the side edge as pictured (it will be glued onto the left side of the front door after the house is assembled).

Once all of the white cardstock details are attached, each piece should look like this (starting to look like real DIY paper Christmas houses!):

Assemble DIY Paper Gingerbread Houses

We’re almost done creating these cute and festive paper Christmas houses!

Now that all of the details have been added to the houses, it’s time to fold each score line. Use your fingers or a straight edge to create crisp edges.

To glue the houses together, the glue tape comes in extra handy, but you can also use a glue stick or other preferred glue. With the glue tape, you can place it along each tab and then attach the house together one edge at a time. I find it easiest to first attach the front of the house to the roof, then repeat with the back and roof of the other piece, followed by attaching them together one side at a time.

If you’re using a liquid glue you might want to work on all of the houses at once, allowing more dry time between each side glued as you rotate through the houses. But really, glue tape can be your best friend for this and makes it so easy!

Gingerbread House 1 Assembly:

Once you’ve glued Gingerbread House 1 together, finish it by gluing the overhanging scallop bottom trip to the front of the house.

Gingerbread House 2 Assembly:

To attach each half of the house together at the roof line, lay each right side down, aligning the roof top edge from each house half together (leave 1mm of space to allow space for the fold), attaching the scallop trim piece to the other half of the house.

Gingerbread House 3 Assembly:

Great job! Now that you’ve learned how to make paper gingerbread houses, want more fun project ideas? Check out our free patterns HERE and more Cricut projects HERE. Merry Christmas!