• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Paper Glitter Glue
  • Shop
  • Favorite Supplies
  • Tutorials
  • About
  • Contact Me
  • Free Library
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Shop
  • Favorite Supplies
  • Tutorials
  • About
  • Contact Me
  • Free Library
×
Home » Paper House Crafts » Christmas » Make a Tiny Paper Birdhouse Ornament

Make a Tiny Paper Birdhouse Ornament

December 20, 2020 by Lucy 9 Comments

Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!

199 shares
  • Share

Here's how to make a cute little paper birdhouse ornament for the holidays. It's a quick and easy craft that everyone will enjoy both making and seeing on the tree or hanging from a window. It would be fun as mobile or a decor in a child's bedroom.

Tiny cardinal birdhouse with snow on roof
Miniature paper birdhouse with cardinal

Now let's make this adorable miniature paper birdhouse.

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

Materials to make a Tiny Paper Birdhouse - Design No. 110

  • Card stock or cardboard
  • Tacky glue
  • Hot glue (optional)
  • Paint
  • Uniball Signo white gel pen
  • ⅛ inch dowel
  • Embroidery thread and needle
  • Miniature birds
  • Tiny Cardinals
  • Tiny Cardinals male and female
  • Snow - I used Snowtex, but Aleene's Glitter Snow is much more affordable
  • Mod Podge and glitter
  • Pattern for Tiny Paper Birdhouse - Design No. 110
  • A way to cut out your pattern - I used my Cricut Maker, but other cutting machine work too. And you can easily cut it out by hand.
make miniature paper birdhouse supplies

Instructions to make the Miniature Paper Birdhouse

  • Cut out the pattern - Design No. 110
  • Paint or decorate if needed
  • Assemble the birdhouse
  • Insert dowel for the bird perch
  • Make a hanger
  • Make a base
  • Add snow
  • Glue on bird
Little birdhouse ornaments all in a row

First, get the pattern - Design No. 110 - and cut it out

To get the pattern, just go to the library, put in the password, and download the tiny paper birdhouse pattern from the December 2020 section of the library.

If you don't have the password, just subscribe to my Paper Glitter Glue newsletter with the form below and you will get the password immediately.

Subscribe NOW!

Subscribe to get my free newsletter by email. Also get access to all the fun patterns and tutorials in the Paper Glitter Glue library with the secret password. I will send you a newsletter every one to two weeks.

Success! The password to the paperglitterglue library is housekey. Type it or copy and paste it into the password box. Now check your email to confirm your subscription. Please know that I will never send you any spam and I will not share your email with anyone else. You will receive my newsletter every 1-2 weeks. Also you may unsubscribe at any time.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

P.S. I will never send you spam or share your email with anyone. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

There are two different types of files - a printable PDF file and scalable vector graphics (SVG) files that work on cutting machine. Also there are two sizes of the birdhouse - tiny and small. The tiny size (my favorite) is about 2 inches across the front, 1 inch deep, and 2.5 inches high. You can see a small house on the left and the tiny house on the right.

Size comparison of small birdhouse with tiny birdhouse

Here is how the tiny birdhouse looks in Cricut's Design Space. If you are using a Cricut, Cricut does not allow us to designate the scorelines, you you have to select them, go to the operations menu and change them to score, then attach.

Tiny Birdhouse in Cricut's Design Space

Also, just a bit about choosing materials. For all of the tiny birdhouses I made, I used 65# or 110# card stock, but cardboard certainly works as well. And I painted 3 card stock versions as well, but you can use colored card stock if you want. If you decorate the birdhouse to look like gingerbread, use a white gel pen (the best is the Uniball Signo in my opinion) to draw designs on brown card stock.

Please note - the two rectangular pieces show above are for making a base for the miniature birdhous

Paint or decorate if needed

After you cut the pattern out, decorate. Use colored card stock if you like. I just like painting my little houses so I used an acrylic paint on 3 of the little houses.

Assemble the paper birdhouse

Here's a video showing how to assemble the tiny paper birdhouse.

First, fold along the score lines before assembly.

fold along score lines to make birdhouse

Next apply glue to the side glue tab shown on the right in the photo above. Then glue the house structure together.

After than push the roof flaps inward and glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps. On the photo below you can see the side seam where the house is glued together as well as how the roof tabs are glued on top of the roof flaps.

glue the paper birdhouse ornament together

Often I use painter's tape to help hold the structure together while the glue dries.

Glue roof tabs to roof flaps on paper birdhouse

Next, glue the roof in place. Again, painter's tape helps hold the roof on while the glue dries.

glue roof to paper birdhouse

Insert dowel for bird perch

Next cut about a 1 inch section of the ⅛" dowel for the bird perch. This thickness is easy to cut. I use my garden clippers. Insert the dowel in the small hole on the front of the birdhouse and glue in place. Hot glue is the fastest, but I also used Fast Grab Tacky glue for some of the perches and just left it alone for a while to dry.

dowel for perch on paper birdhouse

Make a hanger for the birdhouse

Poke a hole in the roof about ¼ inch down. With a large embroidery needle and thread, poke it through the hole and make a hanger.

It's easier to do this before you add snow because the snow gets all smushed down if you wait to add the hanger.

Make a base

For these tiny birdhouses, I simply glued two pieces of cardboard together. Both of these pieces are in the pattern.

I painted them white to match the snow.

Glue the house to the base with a thick bead of glue along the bottom of the birdhouse.

Add snow for a wintry birdhouse

After the house construction is done you can add snow if you want. I didn't add snow to the roof of the gingerbread-type birdhouses because I like the design on the top. But I did add snow to the base. And finally, paint with Mod Podge and add glitter if you want your little birdhouse to sparkle.

Of course, you can decorate it for other seasons with tiny flowers, mushrooms, moss, pinecones, etc. Just use your imagination.

glittery snow on paper birdhouse ornament

Glue on the miniature bird

Once the house has been completed, glue the miniature bird onto the perch. Hot glue works faster, but I used my Fast Grab Tacky Glue.

glue miniature bird to perch

Sometimes it is hard to find tiny birds (around one inch in length), so I included a bird pattern in the cut files. You don't have to use them though. When you order tiny birds online, you may find them under the name mushroom birds (I have no idea why). Generally, I order them from Factory Direct Crafts, but they can be found in hobby stores and on Amazon as well.

Tiny birds for paper birdhouses
DIY Red birdhouse ornament with yellow bird

And that's it. That's how you make these adorable ornaments. This is another in the quick and easy series of holiday crafts for this season. Here's a list of my other tiny houses that you might like to make:

tiny houses on easy holiday garland paper straws felt balls
  • Tiny House
  • Easy Tiny Church
  • Tiny Cottage
  • Make a Tiny Swiss Chalet
  • Tiny Barn
  • Tiny House Garland

I hope you have fun making them. Remember, if you have any questions, please email me at [email protected].

Lucy

« Mini Holiday House Contest
Easy Valentine Heart Spinner Card »

Be sure to Pin to your Favorite Pinterest Board!

199 shares
  • Share

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Morgan

    December 24, 2020 at 7:12 am

    Thank you so much, Lucy, for this simple and so cute pattern for tiny birdhouses! I made three using heavy cardstock-ish cardboard from a cracker box, and X-acto knife and Mod Podge. I used a Q-tip painted brown for the perch (cut off each end). No difficulties with the pattern or instructions. SO CUTE! They will be gifts to my parents, who love bird watching. I am so happy to have discovered your website, and am now officially obsessed with tiny houses. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills and creativity with the world!
    Merry Christmas!

    Reply
    • Lucy

      December 24, 2020 at 9:56 pm

      Thank you, Morgan. I am so glad you like the tiny paper birdhouse. I like using cardboard more than cardstock because the birdhouse will last so much longer.

      Lucy

      Reply
  2. Stephanie Sheridan

    December 20, 2020 at 11:11 pm

    Get out of town. They are so cute. Now to get my cutter to work. Then i can cut out alot. I love birds. Have had several over the years. They become my babies. I just love animals.

    Reply
    • Lucy

      December 20, 2020 at 11:18 pm

      I am so glad you like the birdhouses. I hope you can get your cutter to work. These little birdhouses are really easy to make so you can make a lot.

      Lucy

      Reply
  3. Janet

    December 20, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    Hi Lucy,
    Thank you so much for the bird house patterns. They are adorable. Aside from my regular Christmas tree, I have a 3-foot tree that I only put bird ornaments on. Your little bird houses will sure complement my tree! Your instructions are always so thorough. Thank you for all you do for crafters like me!
    Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays,
    Janet

    Reply
    • Lucy

      December 20, 2020 at 7:21 pm

      Janet,

      I am so glad you like the little birdhouses and that they work with the theme of your tree.

      Thank you.
      Lucy

      Reply
  4. Julia

    December 20, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    Thanks Lucy, I love your tndy houses. I haven’t had a chance to make them but I hope to after the holidays.
    Julia

    Reply
  5. Robin Williams

    December 20, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    Hi, Lucy!
    Your tiny birdhouse looks adorable in that green wreath! I love the birdhouse pattern and can't wait until I finish housework today and make my own tiny birdhouse!
    One of my sisters asked for a birdhouse ornament for Christmas so she's going to get one from me, using your patterns!
    Thanks very much for sharing your amazing creativity!
    Take care and stay safe, Robin

    Reply
    • Lucy

      December 20, 2020 at 7:29 pm

      I am so glad that the timing for making the birdhouse works out with your sister's gift. That's very cool.

      Thank you so much.

      Lucy

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Lucy holding a small putz house

I'm Lucy - the paper architect behind the captivating tiny house designs at PaperGlitterGlue.com.

While I am often found covered in glue and cat hair and obsessing about the details of my projects, I love sharing my designs so anyone can craft seriously awesome paper crafts.

So look around and find something to MAKE.

You can read more about me here.

Want to make a beautiful Village Wreath?

You can do it step-by-step with my Alpine Village Wreath Workshop. Just let your creativity flow as create your own little village proudly displayed on a wreath. You'll create a heirloom that your family will treasure for years.

Wreath with alpine village houses and bottlebrush trees

And if you are a Halloween fan - you'll love my Halloween book! 13 Handcrafted Halloween Houses

This book contains 13 different Halloween designs with embellishments like crooked windows, fences, and shingles.

13 Handcrafted Halloween Houses book cover

What is a Putz House and How Do You Make One?

Halloween house putz house

Learn to make the best House Pop-Up Cards! with the Playful Pop-Up Houses book.

Cover for Playful Pop-Up Houses book

Footer

You are welcome to link to PaperGlitterGlue.com or use a single image with a brief description and a link back to any post. Do not republish any post. That's not allowed. But I do like it when you share my photos to Pinterest.

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Lucy Foxworth of PaperGlitterGlue.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. So as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you.

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer

Newsletter

  • Sign up with the form below for emails and updates.

Contact

  • Contact

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2023 Paper Glitter Glue