Making festive gingerbread biscuits is a Christmas tradition in our house – but I haven’t been brave enough to make a gingerbread house yet. So why start with a miniature one? I’ll let you into a secret – you can’t eat this one! This means that it can’t fall apart, crumble, crack or break when you try and turn a brittle biscuit into an architectural masterpiece. No, this is much easier.
I’m going to show you how to transform a simple wooden miniature house into a picture perfect gingerbread house for your dolls. All it takes is some polymer clay (e.g. Fimo), paint, glue and a little bit of patience.
What you’ll need
- Small wooden house – I found mine in The Works. The base is 3 cm x 3 cm which makes a good size gingerbread house for Barbie and other 1/6 dolls.
- Candy coloured polymer clay (e.g. Fimo) – I used dark pink, white, blue and green
- Acrylic paint – bronze and white
- Glue
How to transform your house
Painting
Start by painting your house all over in bronze paint. This gives it a nice gingerbread colour. Then paint some ‘snow’ in white paint on the edges of the roof. Then paint white ‘icing’ to decorate the house – outlining the windows and door in white and adding wiggly horizontal lines and dots. Add extra windows to the sides if they are blank. I used two coats of white paint.
Making ‘candy’
First, you’ll need to make your ‘candy’ to decorate the house.
Start by making candy cane. Roll out pink clay into a thin rope, then roll out the white clay so it is the same length.
Make the distinctive candy stripes by gently twist the two ropes together. When they are twisted enough (the more you twist the narrower the stripes are) gently roll to smooth out.
Cut into length to decorate the corners of your house and one to go around the door. Next cut shorter lengths for windowsills. Lastly, cut a length and make into a circle for above the door. Use any excess to make some small ‘sweets’.
Next, roll out some white clay to form a thin rope. Measure each edge of the roof and cut the rope into 8 pieces – one for each edge of the roof.
The next part requires some patience – making the sweets for the roof tiles. Make a long thin rope using pink clay. Then cut into 48 small slices. Roll each slice into a ball then squash slightly (you’re aiming for a Smartie shape). Repeat with the green and blue clay.
Bake your clay according to instructions on the packet.
Decorating the gingerbread house
Glue your strips of white ‘icing’ around the edges of the roof and one along the front of the house. You then start sticking on the ‘candy’ roof tiles in rows, alternating colours.
Stick the candy canes around the door and on the corners of the house. Glue the short pieces of candy cane under the window. Glue the short ‘icing’ strips under the windowsills. Glue to candy cane circle to the front of the house and add extra sweets either side and in the middle.
I hope your dolls enjoy their gingerbread house!
Claire x
I like sharing my sewing patterns for free, but if you want to say thank you then please buy me a coffee!