Make a Barn Challenge - the Old Gray Barn

Learn to make a miniature Barn in the Make a Barn Challenge. The fun thing about making this particular barn is that you get to use different techniques for making crackle siding and a rusted roof.

I've made several miniature barns in the past - the Tiny Barn and the Barn made from a recycled box. Since then I've collected photos of barns for inspiration to make another miniature barn. Finally I settled on this pattern which I call the Old Gray Barn for this Barn challenge. I hope you will join me in making a barn.

Table of Contents

Free Barn Patterns:

Below is my winter version of the barn in red with snow on the roof.

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Make a Barn Challenge Materials

Old Gray Barn pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue library - Design No. 146
Cardboard - this is the kind I use or Card stock - #110 works best
Bearly Art Glue or Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Elmer's Glue All to make crackle-painted surface
If using cardboard, acrylic paints like these:
Gesso primer
Hickory Smoke Distress Paint
Black Soot Distress Paint
Lost Shadow Distress Paint
Frayed Burlap Distress Paint
Ground Espresso Distress Paint
Aluminum Duct tape for a metallic roof
Alcohol inks for a rusted roof on the barn:
Ranger Earthtone Alcohol inks
Grit paste for additional "rust" on the roof
A way to cut out the pattern - I used my Cricut Maker, but you could also use a Cricut Explore Air or a Silhouette machine or you could cut it by hand fairly easily

Steps to make the Old Gray Barn

Download the Old Gray Barn pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue library - Design No. 146 in the June 2023 section of the library
Cut out the pattern for the Old Gray Barn
Fold along score lines
Glue the front and back pieces together along one side tab
Prime and paint the barn pieces if using cardboard
Make crackle-painted surface if desired
Cut the crackle-paint cardboard into strips for barn siding
If using cardboard, apply siding to barn pieces
Glue on windows and doors
Assemble the barn structure
Apply metallic tape to roof piece for a rusted roof on your barn
Age the metallic tape with alcohol inks to mimic rust
Glue the roof on the barn
Make a base and adhere your barn to the base

Now let's go over the steps in more specific detail.

1. Download the pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue Library

If you are new to my website, here is how to get the Old Gray Barn pattern Design No. 146. Subscribe to my Paper Glitter Glue newsletter which is where I share craft information and crafty inspiration. The form is right below. You will get the password to my library right away after you subscribe. Please be assured that I will never send you any spam.

After that go to the Paper Glitter Glue library click the orange button which says CLICK HERE to get to the password page, add the password. Now you have access to all of my paper craft files in the library.

Please note that all of my free files are numbered and listed in chronological order. So pay attention to the month and year for the file you are looking for. This little barn is located in the June 2023 section of the library as Design No. 146.

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

If you have any trouble downloading or using the file, please email me - [email protected]. I am always happy to help.

2. Cut out the pattern for the Old Gray Barn

If you use a Cricut or other cutting machine to cut out your patterns, you need to be aware of score lines. Having your machine cut and score your cardboard or card stock just makes creating so easy. I used to have this thought that I was cheating to use a machine for cutting, but I've gotten over that.

Upload to Cricut Design Space

To help you, here is how the pattern looks as uploaded to Cricut Design Space.

Ungroup the Design and Delete the 1 inch square

First ungroup the design. I always include a one inch square for scale on my patterns. Once you know that the pattern is uploaded at the correct size, delete the one inch square.

Select the pieces with score lines

The three pieces with score lines are the front and back pieces and the roof piece.

Each of these pieces is grouped with its score lines. Select the set of score lines. When I draw a pattern, I draw the score lines in red so you can instantly know that this is a score line because the color box under the Operations menu is red.

Barn pattern with score lines in Cricut Design Space

Select score under the operations menu and then attach

Go to the operations drop down menu and choose score. The lines then turn to dashed lines.

Next attach the score lines to main piece of the barn. That way your Cricut machine knows these score lines belong to this piece.

Main front piece of barn and score lines attached

The nice thing is that by rotating the design 90 degrees and flipping it, you can cut out both the front and back pieces of the barn on one 8.5" x 11" piece of cardboard or card stock. I attached them together in Design Space so I don't have rearranged them on the cutting mat.

Front and back barn pieces fit on cricut design space

Now cut out all your pieces

For my 30 pt cardboard I use the Light cardboard setting. For card stock, I use Cardstock (for intricate cuts). Usually I run it through twice to make sure the machine cuts all the way through.

3. Fold along the score lines

When I use cardboard for my houses or barns, I fold along the score lines first because they can be harder to see after painting.

4. Glue the front and back pieces together along one side tab

5. Prime and paint the barn if using cardboard

Because I covered my barn with crackle-painted siding, I primed the barn with black gesso to provide a shadow between strips of siding. See how the pieces are already folded.

Then I made a sheet of crackle paint in a gray shade. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to make crackle paint for siding.

Here's my video on making crackle paint:

Look at this sheet of crackle-paint siding. Use your paper trimmer to cut each strip ¼ inch wide.

These strips are very effective for making a vintage barn.

Front view of crackle siding old gray barn

6. If using cardboard, apply the siding to the barn structure

Glue strips to the barn structure and trim to size.

Crackle painted siding glued to barn structure

7. Glue on the windows and the doors

Next, glue on the windows and the doors. There are two doors - one large on in the middle and a smaller side door. I find them much easier to glue in place before I assemble the entire house.

To make the doors, glue a cardboard piece on the back side of the barn to support the doors with the X-shaped pattern on them. Those go on the front of the barn.

8. Assemble the barn structure

To complete the barn structure, first glue the side tab together. Once that is dry, glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps. I used painter's tape to hold down the flaps while the glue dried.

Roof tabs glued to roof flaps on card stock barn

9. Apply metallic tape to roof piece for a rusted roof on your barn

Metallic duct tape to cardboard roof piece

10. Age the metallic tape with alcohol inks to mimic rust

Make a rusted roof for your old barn by distressing or aging the metallic tape with alcohol inks and some grit paste. The photo below shows the metallic tape BEFORE using alcohol inks to age it.