Candy Corn Putz House Free Pattern

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I mentioned on the Candy Corn Preview post that I was inspired to make a Candy Corn Putz house about 3 years ago because it is such an iconic shape for Halloween. This Putz house is designed as a house that a child would love – a whimsical, colorful house, not spooky at all.

Other Candy Corn houses can be seen in these previous posts:

Bunnies in the Garden – Springtime at the Miller’s Place

Candy Corn House – Evolution of an Idea

The pattern to this little house is now available at my Paper Glitter Glue library here.

MATERIALS:

• Cardboard
• Aleene’s Fast Grab Glue or similar glue
• Metal-edged ruler
• Craft knife with an 11 blade
• Gesso
• Paint colors of your choice
• Window Dies
• Decorative elements

STEPS FOR MAKING YOUR LITTLE HOUSE

Briefly, these are the steps in making this cardboard house:

• Download the pattern from the paperglitterglue.com library
• Copy the pattern for the Candy Corn Putz House onto cardboard
• Score the fold lines before you cut out your pattern
• Cut out the pattern
• Cut out the window openings
• Prime and paint the house
• Cut out roof, chimney and prime and paint
• Glue house together along tab in the back
• Glue roof flaps together for supporting the candy corn gables
• Score the roof at the score lines to gently curve it to fit the roof
• Glue roof to house
• Glue chimney to roof (choose the chimney that you like the best)
• Make base, prime and paint
• Glue house to base and add embellishments

Detailed Instructions for making the Candy Corn Putz house

• Copy the pattern for the Candy Corn Putz House onto cardboard

 

The pattern itself is very simple – it is a basic gable house with a rounded top at the roofline. I often make my patterns so they fit on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and cardboard which makes a nice-sized Putz house. You may shrink or enlarge your pattern to whatever size you want depending on your sources of paper and size of cardboard.

• Score the fold lines before you cut out your pattern

Once you have the pattern copied, the score along the fold lines BEFORE you cut it out. It is so much easier to score before you cut because you have a bigger area to hold on to. I don’t always remember to do this, but I always mean to.

• Cut out the pattern

My favorite material is a relatively thin cardboard like the kind you find on the back of a paper pad. It’s easy to cut and easy to fold. You can use cereal box cardboard as well. Some putz-makers use cardstock for their houses, but I prefer my houses to be sturdier than that. When you are starting out, though, cardstock is easy to work with. It just doesn’t make the most durable houses.

• Cut out the window openings

You can choose exactly where you want the windows and what kind of windows you want – circular, square or rectangular. You can also choose the location. The only important thing to remember is that if you cut out material near the sides, the house is more likely to bend there. That’s why I don’t cut out a doorway all the way at the bottom. The house will flex too much if you do that.

• Prime and paint the house

I always prime my houses with gesso (gesso is a white paint which prepares your cardboard to hold onto paint better). Paint with the Candy Corn colors of your choosing. Here are some suggestions for Candy Corn Colors for every season:

 

You also have the option to paint your little house after you glue it together. That is totally up to you. It doesn’t really matter on this house.

If you have painted your house at this point, you can also glue on the door and window frames while the pattern is still flat.

I’ve noted before that I use window dies for almost all of my window frames. I just don’t like cutting out windows, but I know a lot of putz makers who happily cut them out, but I just would rather use window dies. The window dies for the Candy Corn Putz house are from Tim Holtz’ Village dwelling series.

• Cut out roof, chimney and prime

For the roof, rather than cutting out the pattern you can cut out a 3 x 8 inch rectangle and trim to the size you want. Next you have 2 chimney patterns to choose from – a very straight, normal looking chimney and a wonky chimney. I chose the wonky chimney for a more whimsical effect.

When you paint the roof be sure to prime the underside edges that will form the overhangs on the roofline. Save the final painting until you have glued the roof on the house so you can match the painted lines on the body of the Candy Corn house.

• Glue house together along tab in the back

The little tab on the right side of the pattern is the glue tab. I apply a thick layer of glue and let it get just a little tacky and then adhere the back and side together.

Binder clips are a great help in holding the glued sides together. They don’t work on the top edge though because the roof flaps for this particular pattern are in the way. You can use one of those brands of painter’s tape that doesn’t pull off your paint if you need to.

• Glue roof flaps together for supporting the candy corn gables

The roof flaps function as the “under roof” and give support to the house so it holds its shape better. Glue the edge of the roof flaps to the each gable. You can glue the flaps together behind the candy corn gables for support or if you are capable of gluing without messing up the front and back of the house you can glue right on the edge of the roof flaps just a little bit behind behind the edge of the gables. It’s a better way to do it, but a little tricky. I usually just glue the roof flaps waybehind the gables.

• Score the roof at the score lines to gently curve it to fit the roof

Make a light score line at the mid-point of your roof. On either side of your roof piece, score 6-7 parallel lines every 1/8 inch. This allows you to gently curve the roof to the fit the rounded top of the gables.

• Glue roof to house

Be sure the previous pieces you have glued are dry before you glue on the roof. If you use the Aleene’s Fast Grab or Quick Dry glue you do not have to wait nearly as long because these glues are pretty thick. Smear glue on the gable edges and the top of the side walls, but try to use too much because it will leak out around the roofline. You can get the tip of your craft knife or stencil to scrape off the excess glue.

Center the roof over the house (equal overhangs on each side, front and back). Painter’s tape might come in handy here, but normally I hold the roof in place until I am sure it has adhered. Keep watching to make sure you haven’t made the roof slide forward or backward too much. It’s hard to get it perfect and truthfully I don’t ever get it perfect.

• Glue chimney to roof (choose one chimney that you like the best)

Glue the chimney to the roof. I generally hold the chimney in place because it’s hard to use tape on an angle. After the roof and chimney are glued on, now paint the matching colors on the roof.

• Make base, prime and paint

Choose what kind of base you would like. I think a whimsical, kind of funky house needs a whimsical, kind of funky base so I made a base with a finial and 2 circles. You can use a ribbon roll and decorate that for the base.

• Glue house to base and add embellishments

Once you have the base completed, glue the house to the base, then it’s time for embellishments. Really on this house itself, the only decoration I did to the house after the paint and windows, was covering it with a fine German glass glitter. It’s hard to see how sparkly it is in my photographs, but the glass glitter worked really well in adding sparkle without covering up the paint colors.

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