Making A Christmas Village Out Of Cardboard And Wood: Our DIY Projects

Making your own Christmas decoration is a great (and eco-friendly!) Idea for DIY lovers and those looking for inspiration. If you are one of them, this article is for you! We are going to show you how to make a Christmas village to put on the fireplace mantel, on the windowsill, at the foot of the tree or as a centerpiece. To your tools to make a Christmas decor with your own hands!

DIY to make a cardboard Christmas village

The DIY of a Christmas village is part of the traditions of the end of the year celebrations. His idea is to reproduce miniature scenes of life in a village during the Christmas holidays. There are dozens of ideas and there is something for every budget. The first DIY project that we want to present to you is a small Christmas village made simply from cardboard.

In order to make the cardboard Christmas village in question, you ideally need a Silhouette-type cutting machine. It allows you to cut card stock, vinyl, fabric etc. with precision. A precious ally in DIY projects, it greatly facilitates the work. If you don't have such a machine, don't panic! At the end of the article, you will find the PDF templates ready to be printed. Then you will just have to cut them out. To assemble the houses, simply fold the printed templates onto the perforated fold lines. The roofs are left flat, so you have more flexibility for folding. Use a hot glue gun to secure them in place.

Once your cardboard Christmas village is ready, you can finally start decorating. Of course, it is possible to leave the small cardboard houses as they are! If you still prefer fine-tuning the details, here are some gorgeous ideas. Since this is an Advent calendar, it is advisable to put a small gift under each playhouse. And the Christmas countdown can begin! Chocolates and small treats are also a great idea. You can also make miniature greeting cards as little surprises. Finally, your Christmas village can only be used for a decoration to put on the windowsill or on the mantle of the fireplace. In this case, we advise you to make a luminous Christmas village. Keep it simple instead of complicated!Just put a flameless tea light under each cardboard playhouse and you're good to go!

Homemade Christmas village made of cardboard: instructions

First of all, here is the list of necessary equipment:

• House templates (templates to be printed at the end of the article)

• 1 large roll of brown kraft paper (or colored construction paper)

• Large cardboard sheets

• 1 X-Acto knife

• 1 pair of scissors

• 1 ruler

• 1 hot glue gun + sticks

• 1 glue stick

• 1 pencil

For decoration:

• Acrylic paint, colors of your choice

• 1 fine brush

• Wooden ice cream sticks

• Wooden coffee stirrers

Stages of realization

1. Download and print the house templates. Cut out the houses, then lay them on the cardboard plates and trace the outlines in pencil.

2. Using a pair of scissors, cut out the houses you have drawn. If you prefer to work with an X-Acto knife, it is advisable to use a ruler so that the cutting lines are straight.

3. Once all the elements have been cut out, apply glue to one side of each design and place them on the cardboard, glued side down. It is important to leave 5-6 cm of space around each house.

4. Put hot glue on the edges of each piece of cardboard by folding the kraft paper so as to dress the front square with the kraft paper. Do the same for the rest of the cardboard elements.

5. Make sure the glue is completely dry before proceeding to the next step.

6. Using the hot glue gun, glue together the elements that make up a first house. Let dry and continue with the remaining houses.

7. Using the paintbrush, paint all of the cardboard houses or paint only a few. Allow the first coat of paint to dry before applying a second.

8. Cut off the rounded ends of the wooden coffee stirrers. Measure the size of the edges and cut the wooden stirrers into the corresponding length. Glue them in place with hot glue.

9. This time, cut the two rounded ends of a wooden ice cream stick. These "tiles" should be approximately 1.5cm long.

10. Glue a first row of tiles and glue them with hot glue, starting at the bottom of the roof. Glue the second row by overlapping it with the previous one. Repeat until you cover both sides of the roof.

This cardboard and wood Christmas village makes a nice DIY decor that you can put on the windowsill, on the fireplace mantel or even on the console in the hallway. Have fun adding extra decorative details like fir branches, LED tea lights, DIY Christmas trees in bottle brushes etc.

Cardboard Christmas village, embellished with decorative tape

Want to organize a creative workshop for the family on the occasion of Christmas? We have a great idea for you! How about making a Christmas village out of cardboard? It couldn't be easier, this project will only take you half an hour. Arm yourself with a few sheets of cardboard, a hot glue gun, a pair of scissors and a pencil. The first part of the project is to create cardboard houses. Now the fun part! Give free rein to your imagination by decorating your Christmas village! For this, decorative tape is a great choice. Cut out different shapes and beautify the Christmas village as you see fit.

Making a Christmas village out of reclaimed wood: an easy and inexpensive project

• 2 × 4 or 1 × 6 wooden planks

• 1 combined miter saw

• Sandpaper

• Sample paint cans

• Small paintbrushes

• Battery-powered

string lights • Bottle brush trees (optional)

Use stencils to trace fir trees in pencil on the wooden boards. Cut the trees with a saw and sand the edges gently. Paint them in different colors that go well with your decor. Place the Christmas village on a dresser in the living room. For more effect, add some battery-powered string lights and bottle brush trees.

Where to place your Christmas village?

Particularly decorative, the DIY Christmas village deserves a special place for the whole family and their guests to admire. Where to place it? Usually, the Christmas village is exhibited on the mantelpiece. The fireplace, that focal point of the room, is the perfect place to house the handmade Christmas decor. Combined with natural or decorative fir branches, light garlands or LED candles and Christmas balls, the Christmas village makes its most beautiful effect on the fireplace mantel. As an alternative, why not reserve the windowsill for him? Thus, the Christmas decor will embellish your room and be at the same time a beautiful view from the outside. You can also place the Christmas village on the dresser in the living room, in the dining room or as a decoration of a coffee table. Even in kitchen decor,small houses will find their place wonderfully on a shelf or on the kitchen buffet.

Christmas decoration for the fireplace mantel: branches of greenery, Christmas village and decorative trees

The Christmas village usually finds its place on the fireplace mantel

Mini trees and Christmas village as decoration on the floating shelves

Wooden Christmas village and bohemian Christmas socks make a perfect duo

* Illuminated cardboard Christmas village: a deliacreates.com project

1. PDF templates to download here

2. SVG stencils for the Silhouette machine here

* Cardboard and wood Christmas village: a project of magnolia.com/blog/

Templates to download: small house; average house; big house

* Cardboard playhouses embellished with decorative adhesive tape: mermagblog.com

* Reclaimed wood Christmas village: danslelakehouse.com