How to Make a Happy, Halloween House

I adore vintage paper houses, you know, the Christmas style ones, with the cellophane windows, and all covered with fake sparkly snow! I have a soft spot for most small scale things, plus I like a bit of glitter, so those little houses rank right up there with cool things. Inspired by those tiny treasures I made this fun paper Hallowen house. If you would like to try one, too, I will share with you how I made this one. ( I made other non-Halloween houses as well, and will show them in my next entry.)

It all starts appropriately enough with "Ghostline" poster-board, which is a nifty brand of poster board that has handy grid lines on them. This is super for people like me who dislike measurements. I found the "Ghostline" at the craft store, but recently saw some at my little, local, country grocery store, so it shouldn't be too hard for anyone else to find.

Draw and cut out a house shape. Make sure it has a front and a back, plus two sides. Also include two roof peaks. Add tabs to the sides of the roof peaks, as well as to one side of the house, as shown.
(Note: I made this little house last year, before I had a blog. it never occured to me to take pics of the whole process! The pattern example is not the same pattern that I used for this particular house... just one that I had left over, and was able to photograph for this blog entry. Hope that makes sense!)

Mark where your doors and windows will be. Draw and cut out a base for the house, as shown, adding tabs to all 4 sides. You will also need to have a piece for your roof. Make it slightly larger then the house so it will hang out a bit.

Cut out all of your windows using an exacto knife. Cut along the top and one side of your door. Leave the other side attached, as it will be the "hinge". Score on all fold lines.

Working on the side that has no ink marks and using some cheap-o acrylic paints, cover the outside of the house, roof, and bottom of base. Add details with pen and ink. Cover the inside of the door and the underside of the roof with vintage paper. Rub with brown oil pastel. Cut out some shapes a little bigger then the windows and door of your house, from the poster board. Paint these yellow and add some halloween clip art images. Position and attach these pieces with some tape to the inside of the house so the images are showing through the windows and through the door. Glue on a few more little clip art images to the outside of the house. Add a little clear glitter glue here and there to jazz it up.

Fold up the house and tuck in the tab, holding it in place with some strong, double-sided tape. Fold up the tabs of the base and using the double-sided tape, adhere the tabs to the inside of the house. Fold the roof piece and secure it the same way to the tabs on the houses roof peaks.

Ta-Da!! You now have your own fun, little, happy, halloween house! Happy trick or treat!