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Easy Tiny Paper Church - Quick Holiday Craft

November 22, 2020 by Lucy 7 Comments

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tiny and small brown churches decorated with white gel pen

When I was making my Gingerbread house with gingerbread paint, I didn't really think about how busy people are. Even with all the issues 2020 has brought to us, people are still BUSY. So if I design a craft that takes a lot of steps, I know it's going to take a lot of time to make. That is what I love to do and actually make time to do. But still I realize that it is important to design with projects that people can make easily and quickly. People need quick wins that fill their need to create, but aren't time-consuming. That's where the tiny paper church comes in.

small and tiny versions of card stock church

The tiny paper church is easy and fast. First, it's made from card stock - something that people have on hand or could easily buy. Second, it's easy to cut out even if you cut your projects by hand. And third, you can put it together in 15 minutes or less. Finally, I think it's seriously cute.

Here are all the little paper houses in this easy craft series:

  • Tiny Paper House Ornament
  • Easy Tiny Paper Church - Quick Holiday Craft
  • Tiny Paper Barn
  • Make a Tiny Paper Chalet for Your Holiday Decor
  • Tiny Paper Birdhouse
  • Tiny Paper Cottage

These miniature paper churches come in two sizes - the tiny version is 1.75 inches across the front and about an inch deep. It is 4 inches tall. The small version is 2.5 inches across the front and 1.5 inches deep and 6 inches tall.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Material for Making the Tiny Paper Church

  • Card stock - I used either 65# or 110# card stock - either works
  • Glue - Any PVA glue will work, I used Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue
  • Decorative options:
    • Gel pen - the Uniball Signo is my favorite
    • Paint the color of your choice
    • Glitter, anyone?
  • Cutting method - I cut the tiny churches out with my Cricut Maker, but the design is still easy to cut out by hand
  • Embroidery Thread
  • Large needle

tiny church in the center of wreath

How to Make the Tiny Paper Church

  1. Download the free Tiny Paper Church pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue library
  2. Cut out the tiny church pattern
  3. Use the pen or paint to decorate your little church
    Or use contrasting colors of card stock
  4. Glue the body of the church together, then the roof
  5. Adhere the church tower and steeple together, then glue to the roof
  6. Make a hanger for the little church if you want it to be an ornament for hanging.

To get more details about how to make the paper church, read on.

1. Download the free pattern template for the tiny paper church

If you are new to my craft blog, here is how to get the church pattern. Subscribe to the Paper Glitter Glue newsletter where I share craft tips and inspiration and new projects. The form is right below. You will get the password to my library right away. And I will never send you any spam.

Then go to the library and you have access to all the files in the library. All of the free files are listed in chronological order. So pay attention to the month and year for the file you are looking for. This miniature church is found in the November 2020 section as the second project in the 12 Day Craft-Along series.

The pattern for this tiny holiday paper craft is available in 2 formats - a printable PDF format and as an SVG file to use with automatic cutting machines.

2. Next cut out the pattern

card stock parts for tiny church before folding along score lines

As you can see from the photo above, this pattern is easy to cut out by hand. It's actually designed so if you don't have a cutting machine, you can cut it out simply.

If you are using an automatic cutting machine, you have to make sure that you have specified the score lines and attached them to the card stock piece. I have done most of that for you if you are using a Cricut and Cricut Design Space. But there is one place where you have to attach the cut lines of the roof flaps and roof tabs to the body of the church.

First select the group that includes the main structure of the little church.

Attach cut lines to church body
After you select that group, click attach which is at the bottom right hand corner.

Select group which includes body of church to attach.

And you know it is correct when the entire group is labeled as "Attach" as shown below.

Now the cut lines are attached to the paper church piece

3. Decorate your Tiny Paper Church

It is much easier to decorate the tiny paper church before you assemble it.

For this paper craft project, I chose to decorate the church in two ways - one with a white pen and the other is just using contrasting card stock colors.

My favorite pen of all time is the white Uniball Signo. It is amazing how beautifully it allows you to draw with white ink. I made a small and tiny version of the church decorated with the white pen. It's supposed to be like gingerbread. As you know, I have an infatuation with gingerbread. To make your life easier, draw the design on before you glue the church together.

front of brown churches decorated with white uniball signo pen

One other easy option for decoration is to use the windows and the door options included in the pattern. Also be sure to glue them on before you glue the structure of the church together.

pink tiny church ornaments

4. Next glue the tiny paper church together

This little church structure is so easy to glue together.

First, fold along the score lines to make it easy to assemble.

parts for tiny church folded along score lines

Make the 3 sections of the miniature paper church - the main body, the tower, and the steeple

After that apply glue to the glue tab on the side. Then glue the tab to side of the church. Do the same thing with the steeple tower and the steeple itself.

apply glue to side glue tab on paper church

Apply glue to the side of the steeple tower.

apply glue to church tower

You don't need a lot of glue for this tiny house. Here's the church side right after I glued the tab to the wall of the church. In fact, it is so easy to make this tiny church, you can use tape adhesive if you want.

back seam of church body glued together

Glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps

After that, fold the paper church roof flaps inside the roof tabs and glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps. You can use a binder clip if you want, but it is not really necessary. I used it to hold the roof tabs down while I took the photo. Another thing to note is that it's ok if the roof tabs overlap. You can trim them if you want, but I don't think it is necessary.

Glue roof tabs to roof flaps binder clip helps hold in place

Adhere the church roof in place

Finally, apply glue to the upper surface of the roof tabs and adhere the church roof in place. Hold in place for a minute or two. Fortunately, card stock sticks together quickly.

glue on paper roof

Glue the church tower to the steeple

Next, glue the church steeple tower to the steeple. This step is just the tiniest bit tricky because you have to put the steeple on straight. Often, my steeple is a little crooked, but no one really notices because the little church is so cute. That's just not what people pay attention to (I tell myself).

Please note on the photo below, I got a little over-exuberant with the glue.

Glue to adhere steeple to tower

And here is how the tower and steeple look.

Glue steeple to tiny church

Glue the steeple tower to the roof of the church

Now glue the tower to the roof of the church. After I made several versions of the church I added some tabs to the bottom of the steeple to give it more surface area to adhere to the roof. If you make it an ornament, you just don't want the steeple coming off.

apply glue to steeple tower base

Mop up excess glue with a q-tip or a toothpick. I almost always have to do that because I tend to use too much glue.

5. Glue your paper church to a card stock base, if desired.

To simplify construction,  just glue two layers of card stock together for the base. I just kind of estimated how big to make the base - something like 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches for the tiny church. And round the edges of the base because it will be stronger. Sharp corners tend to get bent.

If you want to put the small version of the church on a base (which refers to the slightly larger version of the tiny church) use a piece of cardboard about 3.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches deep. And if you want to add more landscaping, make a bigger base. The small version of the church is large enough for a tea light to fit underneath so you can leave off the base if you want. Both the tiny and small versions of the church have a hole in the back if you want to use the tiny LED light strings to add light.

tiny church with string to hang ornament

6. Make a Hanger for the Tiny house

This is another simple step. Thread a needle that has a large eye (like a crewel needle or embroidery needle) with embroidery thread or baker's twine. Poke a hole in the steeple roof about ¼ inch down from the top. Pull the needle through and then tie the thread in a knot. That's it.

Now you have an adorable little church ornament that doesn't take much time at all. You could make a multitude of tiny churches for your tree or for a garland or a wreath or as gifts. Serious cuteness in no time at all.

I hope you enjoyed making a little tiny EASY paper church. It's a good craft to make with kids. And you know they love little tiny things. Remember that this little church would be perfect for decorating a Christmas wreath.

Also you make other tiny structures to complete your little village. The tiny paper house ornament has a design on it that you can use with the Cricut foil transfer tool or a pen.

Let me know if you have any other questions - email me at [email protected] Please be sure to check out all the other crafts in the 12 Days Craft-Along.

12 Day Craft-Along Projects

  • DIY Easy Autumn Paper Leaf Wreath
  • Easy Tiny Paper Church - Quick Holiday Craft
  • Tiny Paper Cottage
  • Tiny Paper Barn - Quick and Easy Holiday Craft
  • Make a Tiny Paper Swiss Chalet for Your Holiday Decor
  • Make the Cutest Tiny House Holiday Garland
  • Little Cottage Pop-Up Card - Make One for the Holidays
  • Make a Paper Holly and Ivy Wreath
  • DIY Christmas Fairy House - Paper Fairy House with Poinsettia Roof
  • A Storybook Holiday Cottage for Christmas
  • Easy Snowman and Scotty Dog Gift Tags
  • Little House Gift Tags - From My House to Yours

Lucy's signature

Tiny Paper Church Ornaments

« DIY Easy Autumn Paper Leaf Wreath
Tiny Paper Cottage »

Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Raquel Westhouse

    November 22, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    This is AWESOME! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lucy

      November 22, 2020 at 8:21 pm

      Thank you, Raquel. It always makes me happy that people like my little crafts. Thank you so much.

      Lucy

      Reply
  2. Mel

    November 22, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    I love these Lucy thank you for sharing. You’re right 2020 has been super busy even though I have barely left the house, I’ve still worked full time while supervising remote learning for 4/5 of my kids.

    Reply
    • Lucy

      November 22, 2020 at 9:50 pm

      Mel,

      That certainly sounds like a challenge - full time work and remote learning with your kids. I hope you can find some time for yourself because it is so easy to tell how devoted you are to your family.

      Reply
  3. Amanda

    November 23, 2020 at 7:49 pm

    I too have a need for gingerbread style decor. My mom thinks I’m weird, lol. But they are so cute and traditional and European. I have the urge to buy almost everything I see that looks gingerbread style!

    Reply
  4. Laura Adams

    November 24, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    Dear Lucy - how sweet of you to make these cute crafts, photograph them & blog about them, so that we can have free access to them! Bless your heart!
    I, too, am a putz house lover. I am a retired dressmaker, and I have dabbled in all sorts of crafts, but sewing, woodworking and papercraft are my all-time faves. I'll be making your little paper gingerbread putz village for Christmas this year, barn included. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lucy

      November 24, 2020 at 11:34 pm

      Thank you so much for your lovely comment. This makes me so happy. Really, thank you.
      Lucy

      Reply

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Lucy author of paperglitterglue blog

I'm Lucy - the crafter behind Paper Glitter Glue. I just love to make things - mostly from paper or cardboard. I hope to inspire you to make fun stuff too. So look around and find something to MAKE. You can read more about me here.

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