Tiny Paper Barn - Quick and Easy Holiday Craft

Here's the Tiny Paper Barn - the latest easy craft project in the Holiday 12 Day Craft-Along. Who wouldn't love to have this little barn as a part of a tiny paper village or as an ornament?

This tiny paper barn is another miniature house that you can make quickly during your busy holiday season. After you cut it out, you can assemble the tiny barn in about 5 minutes. It's Design No. 102 in the Paper Glitter Glue library.

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

These little paper barns come in two sizes - the tiny version is about 1.5 inches across the front and about an inch deep. It is 2.5 inches tall. The small version is 2.5 inches across the front and 1.5 inches deep and 3.25 inches tall.

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Supplies needed to make this Tiny Paper Barn

Card stock - I used either 65# or 110# card stock - either works well
Foil card stock (optional) for the roof
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 out the tiny barns with my Cricut Maker, but the design is still easy to cut out by hand
Embroidery Thread
Large needle

Don't you just love the tiny barn as an ornament? I need to find some tiny horses and cows to complete the rural setting.

Instructions for the Tiny Paper Barn

Download the free Tiny Paper Barn pattern (Design No. 102) from the Paper Glitter Glue library
Cut out the tiny barn
Use the pen or paint or glitter to decorate your little barn if you like
Assemble the tiny paper barn
Make a hanger for your little barn if you want it to hang it as an ornament

More details on how to make this delightful little barn are outlined below.

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

If you are new to my craft blog, here is how to get the tiny barn pattern. It's Design No. 102 in the library.

Simply subscribe to my Paper Glitter Glue newsletter where I share craft information and crafty inspiration. The form is right below. You will get the password to my library right away as a pop-up right 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 link to get to the password page, add the password. Now you have access to all the files in the library.

Please note that all of my free files are listed in chronological order. So pay attention to the month and year for the file you are looking for. This miniature paper house is located in the November 2020 section as the third 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

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 since it is basically straight lines.

If you are using an automatic cutting machine, you have to make sure that the score lines are specified and attached to the proper card stock section. 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 remember to use the attach button. I'll show you below.

Here is how the pattern looks when you upload it to Cricut's Design Space. Next, ungroup the pattern, then select the body of the barn so you can attach the cut lines to it.

After you have selected the group that includes the body of the barn, just click the attach button at the bottom right hand corner. That tells your Cricut machine that those cut lines and score lines belong to that piece of the barn.

3. Decorate your Tiny Paper Barn

Well, I didn't really decorate the barn all that much. To make the doors more substantial, I glued the white frame to a separate piece of card stock and glued that to the door on the barn. And remember, it's easier to glue on the doors before you assemble the barn.

In addition you can draw board lines on the barn with a gel pen. My favorite white gel pen is the Uniball Signo. It is amazing how beautifully it allows you to draw with white ink.

Oh, one other option for decorating your barn is to score the roof made with foil card stock.

Later, I am going to make one with a brown roof, but I haven't done that yet.

4. Next assemble the tiny paper barn

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

You can see how the score lines are folded in the photo above.

Next, apply glue to the side glue tab to form the structure of the little barn.

This is how it looks when you have assembled the main structure of the cottage.

Glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps

After that, fold the roof flaps inside the roof tabs and glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps below.

Adhere the barn roof to the body of the little ornament

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

Mop up any excess glue with a q-tip or a toothpick if needed.

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

To simplify construction, just glue 2-3 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 2 inches for the tiny cottage. Also it helps to round the edges of the base because so you won't get bent corners.

If you want to put the small version of the barn on a base (which means the slightly larger version of the tiny barn) use a piece of cardboard about 3-4 inches wide by 2.5 inches deep. But remember if you want to add more landscaping (bottlebrush trees, or tiny horses or cows etc), make a bigger base. The small version of the barn is large enough for an LED tea light to fit underneath so you can leave off the base if you want to just set it over a tea light. Both the tiny and small versions of the paper barn have a hole in the back so you can use the tiny LED light strings to light up the house.

6. Make a Hanger for the Tiny paper ornament

If you want to use your tiny barn as an ornament, use a hole punch to make a hole in the roof about ¼ inch down from the top. Thread a needle that has a large eye (like a crewel needle or embroidery needle) with embroidery thread or baker's twine. Pull the needle through and then tie the thread in a knot. That's it.

Now you have an adorable little paper ornament that doesn't take much time at all. You could make a multitude of tiny buildings for your holiday decor. They even make great little gifts or gift tags.

I hope you enjoyed making another little tiny EASY paper ornament. You can even make it with kids because you know they love little tiny things. Remember that this little barn fits perfectly on a Christmas wreath.

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

Here are all the 12 Day Craft-Along Projects

If you really like barns, check out this other fun barn project from a recycled pasta box.

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