Make this cute miniature Spun Sugar Church to decorate your mantle or your Christmas tree or even use it on a wreath. This tiny house can fit just about anywhere and makes a lovely decoration. For this particular church I chose a pink color from the Tim Holtz Distress paints called Spun Sugar. The name is especially appropriate when you cover it with Rock Candy Glitter.
You may recognize this pattern - it's called the Little Church with the Side Steeple. I made this one for a friend who has a child in the hospital. Perhaps the little church can boost their spirits. There is one modification, I added windows to the steeple tower. And on the updated pattern in the Paper Glitter Glue Library, the windows are bell tower are even a little larger than on this house. In addition, there is an SVG pattern for this church.
Here are the directions for making the Spun Sugar Church
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Materials:
- Paper Glitter Glue Pattern Design No. 40 - Available as an SVG or PDF
- Transfer Paper to transfer to cardboard if cutting by hand
- Painter's Tape
- Cardboard - like poster board
- PVA glue like this
- Glossy Accents
- Gesso primer
- Spun Sugar Distress Paint
- Mod Podge or Collage Medium
- Rock Candy Glitter
- Snow-Tex
- Decorative Deer
- Woodland Tree Lot Tree
- Acetate for windows
- Red Alcohol ink
Directions for making this little glitter house church
- First download the pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue Library - Design No. 40
- Transfer the design to your cardboard if cutting by hand
- Transfer the design to your design software if you are using an automatic cutting machine like a Cricut
- Cut out the design
- Prime your little cardboard church
- Paint your church in your chosen paint colors
- Add window acetate material to the church windows
- Glue the church together along the glue tabs
- Fit the roof to the church, glue
- Adhere the church steeple tower to the side of miniature church
- Glue to your cardboard base
- Glitter the church with Mod Podge and Rock Candy Glitter
- Decorate and landscape your little church with embellishments
Now here is more detail about making the Spun Sugar Church
First - downloading the pattern for the little cardboard church
The pattern for the this little church is available for free in the password-protected Paper Glitter Glue library. It's Design No. 40 in the library.
Sometimes people have trouble downloading the pattern. Here's how you do it. The first page of the library is the door to the library. There is a link in the middle of the page that says to enter the password-protected area click this link after you have the password. And you can get the password by subscribing to my free newsletter which I write about every 1-2 weeks.
So once you have the password, click the link to enter the library. Type in the password. Then you will go to the download area of the library. There you see a list of all of my free patterns. The most recent one is at the top. The name of this specific pattern is the Spun Sugar Church. Two different zip file versions are included - a PDF version and an SVG version. The SVG version also includes the PDF file to help you know which lines are score lines for your cutting machine software.
That should get you started with the free template for the Spun Sugar Church.
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Second transfer your pattern to your cardboard
When cutting by hand, I transfer the pattern with carbon tracing paper. Here's an example of tracing the pattern to the cardboard.
If you use an automatic cutting machine, then upload the SVG pattern to your software, designate the score lines, attach them to the piece they belong to and then cut it out.
The photo below shows all the score lines attached to the specific piece it belongs to. Also delete the one inch scale square if the pattern is imported properly.
Next cut out the pattern
And when I make a pattern for hand cutting, I often reduce the number of windows to make it easier to cut. For example on the Spun Sugar Church, you can leave off the tower windows because they are challenging. Or you could cut squares instead of little arched windows. I've written about ways to cut out windows using a set of leather cutting dies and an arbor press in this post.
Prime your little church to help the paint adhere better
I always prime my projects because I think it makes the paint work better. I like to prime them before I glue the entire house together. You can do your painting when the house is all glued together, but this is when I do it.
Paint your miniature cardboard church
This delicate pink paint - Spun Sugar Distress Paint made by Ranger - is perfect for this church. White works very well for a church as well. And I love the distress Stormy Sky blue on the Snowy Church.
Add windows inside your church
If you want windows on your church, this is where I add them. For these little houses, I glue leftover packaging material that has been colored with alcohol inks to the inside of the church. My favorite glue for this step is Glossy Accents - also a product by Ranger that I love because it dries so fast. And if I want the windows to have a wavy glass effect, it does that as well.
Now glue the cardboard structure together along the glue tabs
After I've pre-painted the house and added windows, then I glue the body of the cardboard church, the steeple tower and the steeple together along the glue tabs.
Next glue the roof to the main body of the church
Since the little church structurally simple, it is easy to glue on the roof. On the pattern, the cutout for the steeple tower is just a tiny bit large - that is intentional to make sure you can fit the tower in place no matter how thick or thin your cardboard is. After everything is glued together, you can cover that space up with paint or snow or glitter.
Glue the church steeple tower to the church
Now you can glue the steeple tower in place. Make sure you line up the bottom edge so the church will lay flat on your cardboard base.
Finally, glue your miniature church to your cardboard base
I didn't talk about how to make the base because it is so simple. First glue two pieces of cardboard together, cut to size and then round the edges. Make the base as big or small as you like. For the Spun Sugar Church, I want it to sit on a small base so it can fit just about anywhere. But you may want to make a much more elaborate scene at the setting for your church in which case you need a much bigger base.
If you make a larger base for your church (say bigger than 2 x 4 inches), it needs to be made of sturdier material such as corrugated cardboard because plain cardboard will curl. Here is how I make really sturdy bases for my Putz houses.
Glitter your beautiful miniature church
To do this, cover the part of your church with Mod Podge or a glue like collage medium. Then sprinkle on the glitter. My current favorite glitter is Rock Candy Glitter also from Ranger. I like it because it is a very subtle glitter and not fly away and staticky. Probably it is a finely ground glass glitter, but I don't know for sure.
Some people are very ardent glitter-haters, but this glitter is much less obnoxious and less contagious so to speak. Also you can coat it with Mod Podge after glittering to prevent it from falling off your cardboard creation.
And finally decorate your church
Because this piece is very small, I just added one little glittered deer and one Woodland Tree lot bottle brush tree. Then I covered everything is Snow-Tex snow. While the snow was still wet, I glittered the snow as well.
I can't wait to give this to my friend next week. I hope it will bring them some joy during this holiday season.
Thank you visiting me at my blog. Let me know about suggestions on how to improve the blog or even how to improve the patterns.
Lucy
Lisa
Love it, it look so quaint. I just started with paper houses this winter and found your website through Pinterest. You have great technique and information.