How to make Chipboard Haunted Houses & Template

I haven’t always liked Halloween; the candy was nice, seeing the kids have fun was nice, but I just could not for the life of me get into it at all. When it came to decor, it was fall decor, never anything remotely Halloween themed. I might have one carved jack-o-lantern, but that’s it, until I met Tara. Tara loved Halloween, she’d throw a huge Halloween party every year and she would go all. out. The first year I knew her, I went to her Halloween themed party and it was HUGE. I dressed up as Sharona from Monk, which meant wearing an animal print blouse, making my curly hair huge and doing my best Jersey accent. 



After that Halloween party, I finally got it. Halloween is just meant to be fun. For one night, it’s about being silly, eating candy and enjoying life. I started looking around and I realized that not all Halloween is gorey and gross, there’s quite a lot of sweet, vintage Halloween decor, you just have to be selective and intentional. I know over the years we’ve all probably heard the word “intentional” more than we’d like, but it’s a really important word. The word “intentional” is more positive than the word “disciplined”, but it also says that we did things with purpose. So with focus and resolve I started adding vintage and vintage style Halloween decor to my seasonal decor.



Today I am sharing how I make chipboard haunted houses that I add to other Halloween craft projects. The sky’s the limit with these paper houses, you can make: luminaries to use with LED candles, Halloween ornaments, you can make a Halloween village, you can make a single house to use in a display cabinet, but these are not limited to Halloween, you can use them to make decor for any occasion. The houses in the photos are miniature, but you can size your houses to be any size that you’d like them to be. I also have a template that you can print to make your own haunted houses. I made a video that I shared on Instagram that helps break down the process of making these little houses.



HINT: do you have a pad of paper that you finished? There’s probably chipboard on the back of it. Pads of paper have all different qualities of chipboard on the back, so hang on to them when your pad is empty and if you make things, you will find a use for it later…even if it’s too thick to use for this project.


How to make Chipboard Haunted Houses & Template

Step by step instructions for making miniature paper houses for making mini haunted houses.

Equipment

  • Scissors
  • Craft knife

Materials

  • Chipboard
  • Haunted house template
  • Elmer's Craft Bond glue

Instructions

  • Right click on the template, print and scale to the size you need your haunted houses to be.
  • Print a sheet of houses out and cut them out.
  • If you choose to make your houses out of chipboard, you will need to transfer the haunted house images to the chipboard.
  • If you make your houses out of paper, you can just fold along the lines. If you use chipboard, you will need to score along the lines with a craft knife and then fold.
  • Add a small amount of Elmer's Craft Bond glue to the folded edges of the front of the house.
  • Attach the roof to the front of the house first and then attach the sides.
  • Hold edges in place for about a minute. The glue should have grabbed hold by now.
  • Glue the back of the house in the same way as the front, getting the roof into place before attaching the sides.
  • Rub any glue globs into the crevices of the house and allow to dry.
  • Now you can use your little house for making ornaments, a Halloween village etc etc!