This holiday season, we decided to really go all out and create a fun and festive little house for our Elf on the Shelf, Ralphie. Every night, Ralphie ‘returns to the North Pole’ to report back to Santa, so we wanted to give him a cozy place to stay each evening.
I was lucky enough to find a miniature dollhouse for just $10 on Facebook Marketplace. Even though it was a bit plain, I knew it had great potential with some TLC. My kiddos and I spent an enjoyable afternoon painting and decorating and soon transformed it into a gingerbread house worthy of an elf!
Ralphie seems to love his new home, going inside each night and rearranging the furniture. Best of all, the project was so much fun for me and the kids. For just a few dollars and an afternoon of crafting, we made memories that will last through the holidays and beyond. Be sure to check back each day to see what adventures Ralphie gets up to in his little gingerbread house!
Find an old cheap Doll house on Facebook marketplace or thrift Store. Spray paint it white.
Found cheap doll house fruniture at Dollar Tree. We stray painted them white first then fun colors like Red and Green.
We covered the exterior of the Doll house in Brown paint.
We added snow to the roof glue and clear spray paint to help it stick. This was a messy job. i was glad we did it outside. We have had the Doll house up for a couple weeks now and the snow has stayed on. I was a little nervous that this was going to be a big mess. I think after gluing on the snow spraying with the clear finish spray paint helps it not to shed. This is the snow I used. These are the Candies I used.
Then used a white sharpie paint marker made designs to make it look like a gingerbread house. You do not need to be a great artist for this part.
Now time to wall paper. This photo is the first room I did. I had alot of wrinkles on my first try. I recommend not starting with the big walls on the back. Practice on the side walls until you find your groove. You want the walls with Mod podge. Then press the scrapbook paper on. Then another coat of mod podge. I also found that the shinny scrap book paper wrinkled more than the smooth paper.
This wood grain contact paper was so easy to trace my floors. Then peel and stick. This was proabaly the easiest step. So easy and quite rewarding.
This table was really easy to make. I bought a small cutting board from the Dollar tree. Then I bought wooden mini candle stick holders from Hobby Lobby. I used a drop of E6000 which is really strong glue and some hot glue to help it stick right away while the E6000 dries.
Your done!! Your Elf will love the house you made as much as Ralphie!!!! I have addes some art work and wall decorations as time has gone. I Bout some cheap frames at The Dollar Store. You can print some free art work to add to your own elf’s house. I’ll Also but some links to some things your a 3D print to had to your Elf house.
Add Artwork
Below there is a Free Printable to get some fun Christmas art works. I bought my frames form the Dollar tree. My examples are one 5×7 and several 2×3. They also help hide my First attempt in Mod Podging in five years so it hides those wrinkles….. Well helps. Notice I did get better. Less gloss paper helps!
3D Print links to add to your house.
We have a 3D printer and as able to make some fun things for our Elf’s house. Here are a few of the links we chose. But if you are looking Barbie Doll items seem to be the perfect size for our Elf on the Shelf.
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