2026 Miniature Easter and Spring House Contest Rules
Spring is arriving here and most welcome it is! That means that it's time to celebrate with the next crafting challenge! I'm excited to announce the 2026 Miniature Easter/Spring House Contest. Please use this opportunity to showcase your creativity by designing and submitting your own handcrafted miniature house inspired by Easter and Spring. Whether you prefer pastel-colored cottages, whimsical fairy houses, or charming garden retreats, this is your chance to share your artistry and win some fun prizes! Or, simply make things for Joy of Creation sharing!
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As we have done in recent contests, once again we are having a dedicated Village category in the Easter/Spring House competition. Just about every contest, some of the most amazing entries are village scenes. Historically, we just included a single view on the contest page. But now up to three photos will be posted for village entries. They are some of the most inspiring craft displays we ever see, so by all means take advantage of the fact that they have a category unto themselves. See the rules for that category, below.
Here's a great Spring entry that Judy made for last year's contest. The Springtime Chalet is a warmer season delight!
🏆 How to Enter
Submission Opens: March 3, 2026
Entry Deadline: March 29, 2026
Winners Announced: April 3, 2026
To enter, create a miniature house that embodies the spirit of Easter or Spring. You can use cardstock or cardboard as the main material for your house, Submit a photo of your creation along with a brief description of your design to my private Facebook group or email the photo to me - [email protected]. More details below.
Design Inspiration for Easter/Spring House Contest
Not sure where to start? Maybe ...
ENJOY! FUN IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT! The first day to enter the contest is March 3, 2026. Your entry must be in by midnight on March 29. I will announce the awards on April 3. We'll announce the winners here on this page, after all the submissions are posted here before contest end.
Remember the entry dates start March 3 and the deadline is March 29, 2025. Winners announced April 3.
And thanks in advance for entering. This is going to be FUN!
Prize List for the 2026 Miniature Easter House Contest:
- First place - $100 Amazon gift card
- Second place - $75 Amazon gift card
- Third place - $50 Amazon gift card
- People's Choice award - $25 Amazon gift card
- Village Category award - $50 Amazon gift card
- Whimsical award - $25 Amazon gift card, to a submission that characterizes a more whimsical version of the Easter/Spring season
- Innovation award - $25 Amazon gift card, for the submission with the most novel innovation. That can be part of a house or structure, or it can be an embellishment, or anything else super creative you can think of.
- Two Kid's awards for two separate divisions (10 and under, and ages 11-16) - $25 Amazon gift cards
- Village award - $25 Amazon gift card, to a submission that displays a village of houses and other structures to seasonal effect
(The Whimsical and Innovation awards will go to submissions that did not win in the top placings category, to expand the winning possibilities. Obviously any entry can win the overall awards, so they would win one of those and not a category prize.)
I reserve the right to expand prize categories and awards, and I always do this. Even I do not know what those special awards will be until I spend some time with the submissions.
Rules for the 2026 Miniature Easter and Spring House Contest
1. Have fun
Really, the entire purpose of this is to have fun and to share the fun. Simply make a house that expresses a Easter or Spring season theme or atmosphere and enjoy the process, the fine company.
To emphasize this point, the contest period is now open to what we call "Joy of Creation' submissions, of which we receive double digit submissions for just about every contest! Every year we seem to have members who just want to participate in the creative challenge, not the contest itself. We applaud this mindset, because it reflects the spirit of our group so well, where satisfaction is found in creation of little houses and scenes and in the sharing of that with friends.
Another possibility, as noted in Rule 8, you may enter up to three houses in the competition.
The Joy of Creation Option
We enthusiastically welcome and encourage Joy of Creation submissions because you may not be interested in competing for prizes - you just like to create and share. We want to see and appreciate what you make. In addition, we are not setting any limit on such submissions. Just please add the tag #JoyOfCreation when you post them. For that matter, these submissions can also be items too large for contest qualification, creations from previous years or even creations that are not houses. Express yourself! Do please name them. Names we pick are invariably more bland than names you would choose.
You are all so creative and imaginative, you're an inspiration!
2. Name Your Design
First NAME YOUR DESIGN! This helps the judges (and contest visitors) remember each design. It also adds to the design.
It's much better for those viewing your creation if it has a name. Some of the names of submissions in prior contests are incredibly creative. Naming your design enhances your submission, and is an avenue of creative expression in its own right. (There is no penalty for forgetting to name your house, it just means I will have to name it and it may be less imaginative than a name you could include. Naming your house is a creative opportunity unto itself.)
PLEASE WRITE A SENTENCE OR TWO (OR TEN!) ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS, YOUR INSPIRATION AND THE LIKE. MANY PEOPLE REQUEST THIS BECAUSE THEY WANT TO LEARN FROM YOU. INSPIRATION IS CONTAGIOUS.
3. Three Ways to Enter the 2026 Miniature Easter and Spring House Contest
a) Post your house in the Paper Glitter Glue Facebook group with the tag #2026MiniEasterHouse. Please join this Facebook group so you can enter there. It's the best way to enter. (This is best way to insure your submission is captured without issue.)
b) Email me a photo on or after March 3. The address is [email protected]. Please include 2026 Mini Easter House in your email title so I can find the photo easily in my email box and include it as an official submission.
c) Follow me on Instagram and post your 2026 Easter house and tag me @lucyf7b on Instagram.
A note about submissions. It often happens that folks share their houses in the Facebook group prior to the beginning of the contest. That is fine, just please remember to either re-post it once the contest opens, or send me an email with a link to remind me about the submission. We won't start scanning for official entries prior to the start of the contest. But the house does have to be made during the 2026 calendar year (not necessary for Joy of Creation submissions). Too, if you are submitting a village for the Village category, some structures in the entry may be from previous years, except, at least one house must be from this year.
In submitting your creations, you are giving me permission to post a picture or pictures of your project on my website and social media just like I did for the Christmas house contest in December. I love to share your projects because they are all so remarkable. This allows all site visitors and guests to see your creations, which can help inspire them in turn. The usual convention is to post only first names with the house names with no personal information. If two members with the same first name post submissions, I usually add a single initial to differentiate them as being from separate people.
Finally, after you have submitted your house and we get the entries all posted here, please check to be certain that I have faithfully captured your submission(s)! Email immediately if I missed something or made an error with it!
4. Permission to Post Your House Photo on my website and on social media.
5. Size Limitation for the 2026 Miniature Easter House Contest
Here are the size limitations:
Base - no limitation on the base so you can landscape as much as you want, but the size of the house does have limitations
House height - no taller than 12 inches tall
Width of House - no wider than 12 inches
Depth of the House - no deeper than 10 inches
Villages or small groups of houses are welcome as long as each house is no bigger than the measurements listed above.
Note: It is much harder to take in all the details in one photo. We need one good photo for the judges to look at. Post as many as you like, but for the judging we usually have room just to include one photo. We plan to include more than one photo if needed/desired for village category entries.
6. Use any pattern you like
For your entries, you can use your own pattern, my patterns, patterns from my friend, Jackie of A Cottage in the Forest, Tim Holtz houses, or even a purchased pattern.
7. The house must be made of cardboard or cardstock
Your house needs to be paper-based - made out of either cardboard or card stock. No wooden houses. But you can use other materials for the base, landscape, and embellishments.
8. Creativity and Originality are emphasized
Creativity and originality are important and will be emphasized in judging. Hint: Let the fun shine through!
Also creativity in naming your house helps to make it more special. Please tell us a little bit about your house - how you made it, what inspired it, etc. We all love to read about the creative inspiration behind your projects. We are delighted to note that people are becoming much more creative with house names. It is a very welcome trend. In addition, it ensures the creativity you enjoyed most will be understood and appreciated.
9. You may enter up to 3 houses, but the houses must be unique and constructed in 2026
Up to three submissions, all of houses created in this calendar year. (Again, note, this rule does not restrict submission of 'Joy of Creation' houses, which are not eligible for prizes. That does not compromise our appreciation of them and you! And, you may submit as many Joy of Creation items as you like.)
10. Rules for submissions for Village category
Houses made in prior years may be included in villages submitted this year, but if you submit the same village for more than one year, it should include at least one house created in 2026. Though this is somewhat arbitrary, there should be at least three houses/house-like structures to constitute a village. You need not specify that your submission is a village. It will qualify if it has ... Can a village submission containing houses made in prior years be eligible for the overall? If not, then it should be a Village category submission only. If all houses are from this year then it could qualify as an overall contest submission as well as a village submission. Note, Donna's North Pole in the South village DID win the overall in 2023. "IF you use houses from previous years, please note that in the submission. Then your village may win a village award, but not the contest top three. Something like that, perhaps? Lots to think about. Perhaps a proviso that this is new, and circumstances may require spontaneous adjustments to the rules to keep things fair ... Impossible to anticipate every contingency ...
11. How to Vote for the People's Choice Award for this Year's Contest.
You will have one vote when you post a comment at the end of this post AFTER ALL THE ENTRIES ARE IN, VOTING STARTS ON March 3rd and lasts until midnight on March 29th. And you have another vote on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to get notifications of when we post the contest video. So! Two votes per person, if you choose to exercise them. Please note this is intended to be about fun and creativity, not competition. Vote for your choices, but please don't 'stuff the ballot box.'
GET THE KIDS INVOLVED MAKING A MINIATURE EASTER HOUSE!
We always love to see house submissions from your children (in TWO categories this year! Ages 10 & under and 11-16. Please note their age with the submission so I can get them properly entered in the correct category). Allow their youthful creativity to flow. The names of the children's submissions will be placed in a hat and drawn randomly. Those submissions aren't - and should not be - competitive. They should have fun with no other concerns! But we love encouraging them to exercise their imaginations and creative skills. Sadly, we had no submissions from children in the Christmas contest last year. Please encourage them to participate in making this!
Note: Prizes in children's submissions in the two age categories will be by a random drawing. No competitive pressure! No value judgments.
So that is the Miniature Easter House Contest for this year. Whatever you do, enjoy it! Enjoy making your houses and sharing them. That's what it is all about.
Deadline for submissions for the 2026 Miniature Easter House Contest is March 29th.
Deadline for photo entries is March 29 and the winners will be announced on April 3.
And if you would like more inspiration ...
Here are links to previous Easter House contests:
2023 Easter and Spring Miniature House Contest
Peggie Drobile
Looks like another great contest is coming! Can't wait to see all the entries!☀️😎