Make a Tiny Paper Birdhouse Ornament

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.

Now let's make this adorable miniature paper birdhouse.

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Materials to make a Tiny Paper Birdhouse

• 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
• 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.

Instructions to make the Miniature Paper Birdhouse

• Cut out the pattern
• 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

First, get the pattern 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.

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 tiny house on the right and the small house on the left.

Here is how the tiny birdhouse looks in Cricut's Design Space. If you are using a Cricut, the score lines are already attached so you don't have to do anything except ungroup and click to make it.

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) 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.

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

After than push the roof flaps inward and glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps. On the photo above 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.

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

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

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 used Fast Grab Tacky glue and just left it alone for awhile to dry.

Make a hanger for the birdhouse

Poke a hole in the roof about ¼ inch down. With an 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. Both of these pieces are in the pattern.

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

Add snow if you like

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.

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.

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, sometimes they are called 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.

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 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