Turn simple wooden gift tags into cute gingerbread houses for personalized tags you can use for gifts, treats, and more!
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Baking and decorating a real gingerbread house takes a long time, but these wooden gift tags can be made in less than an hour!
They’re the perfect cute embellishment for a handmade gift or a box of treats to share at Christmas. You could also use these as ornaments or string them together for garland. The house shape makes a cute cookie, but you could paint them to resemble regular houses instead.
I hand-drew all the house details with a pen. These can be as simple or detailed as you like. If you’re not sure about your drawing skills, I shared how to decorate the houses with simple lines.
How to make wooden gift tags
Supplies
- light brown craft paint
- 1-inch sponge brush
- white gel pen – I used a Gelly Roll 08.
- unfinished wood gift tags
- newspaper to protect your workspace
Instructions
1. Paint the base brown.
Use the sponge brush to paint a thin layer of light brown paint on one side of the wood gift tag. Let it dry a few minute and add a second coat if you need to. Let the paint dry completely; I left mine overnight because I was working on other crafts at the same time.
2. Draw the outline.
Use the gel pen to draw a border about an eighth of an inch from the edge. Just follow the outside of the tag.
3. Add doors, windows, and shingles.
Draw a rectangle or curved door. Add some square windows. The shingles are just a scalloped edge. The trick to make them look like shingles is to start each row offset from the one above it.
4. Add more details.
Finally, add some squiggles and lines to make the house look like a cookie. For this one I added a wreath to the door, a loop under each window, and some teardrop shapes above each window.
Let the gel pen dry a few minutes before handling them or tying the wood gift tag to a present.
5. Optional: Mod Podge.
I’m not sure it’s necessary, but you can seal your finished wood gift tags with Mod Podge if you like. It will probably make them look good longer, but it also makes them shiny. Below, the one on the left has a coat of Mod Podge and the one on the right doesn’t.
You can draw all of your gingerbread houses the same or make each one different. I tried a few different designs to test out different doodles. Move the doors and windows around. Make things square or curved. Add frosting and candy canes.
Be careful while you’re drawing with the gel pen that you don’t smudge the pen with your hand. Once it dries, they’re fine.
Use ribbon or cord to tie your gift tag to a present. Write the recipient’s name on the back with gel pen if you need to.
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
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