Don’t have a lot of time to get crafty this holiday season? You can complete this easy Christmas craft with your kids, or you can spend a little time making pretty ornaments yourself! With just a few supplies, you can make pretty painted paper gingerbread ornaments for your Christmas tree. Customize the designs to match your holiday decor!
PAPER GINGERBREAD ORNAMENTS WITH TEMPLATE
HOW TO GET THE PRINTABLE TEMPLATE
I am so excited to give you these printables (and so many others) for free! To access the printables, sign up for a Mad in Crafts Freebies Membership using the form or by signing up HERE. Don’t worry, the membership won’t cost you a penny, but it WILL give you access to all of the freebies I have shared here on Mad in Crafts.
You will find this printable in the CHRISTMAS section of the Freebie Gallery.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE FAUX GINGERBREAD ORNAMENTS
You will need to find brown cardstock that will run through your home printer. Look for paper that is lighter than 80 lb. weight or cardstock that is 10-point or lower. This should work just fine in your home printer.
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- brown cardstock
- home printer
- scissors
- paintbrush
- white craft paint
- string
- craft glue or hot glue
- Cricut (optional)
- cutting mat (optional)
Want to know which craft supplies I always keep in my craft room?
Visit the Mad in Crafts Amazon Storefront to learn more and to buy your own supplies!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
After you have saved the zip file to your computer, you will need to unzip it. These are good articles for how to unzip files with a PC or a Mac. Once the files are unzipped, you should have both the PDF template for printing and a PNG file for use with Cricut Design Space.
There are a few ways you can cut out these paper ornaments. The most tedious way is to print the printable template on regular printer paper, cut out the shapes, trace them onto cardstock, and then cut out the cardstock by hand. Then jump to Step 3 of the tutorial below.
The most precise method would be to use the print then cut feature with your Cricut machine. Upload the PNG into Cricut Design Space, choose Simple design, and select Print Then Cut image. Add the image to a canvas and resize the height to 9.25″. Click Make It and follow the instructions for printing and cutting the design. Jump to Step 3 of the tutorial below.
The following instructions are probably the least complicated way to cut out the cardstock ornaments.
- Print the PDF ornament template onto brown cardstock using a home printer.
- Cut the ornaments out with scissors.
- Use a pencil to draw icing designs on the gingerbread cookie cardstock cutouts. You can use photos of decorated gingerbread cookies for reference.
- Use a small, fine point paintbrush to paint the details onto the cookie cutouts with white craft paint.
- Add as many or as few painted details as you would like. Let the paint fully dry.
- Using craft glue, glue a small loop of string to the back of the paper ornament.
Alternatively, you can use a very small hole punch to add a hole to the top of the ornament and thread the hanging string through the hole.
DECORATING THE PAPER ORNAMENTS
My gingerbread ornaments are pretty simple and classic looking, but you can embellish them however you would like. Let your kids’ creativity loose with glitter glue, pom poms, yarn, and colorful paint to create keepsake ornaments you will cherish for years.
Once your DIY paper Christmas ornaments are finished, you can hang them on the tree or use them in other holiday decor. Glue them to a wreath or to the front of a Christmas card. Thread them onto a ribbon to use as a garland. Glue them onto popsicle sticks to make fun Christmas puppets that your preschoolers will love playing with. Have fun!
You might like these other Christmas ornament tutorials
