Cardboard Gingerbread

In collaboration with Handmade Charlotte.

Use beads, sequins, pipe cleaners, and paint to make custom outfits for your gingerbread crew. Each one has its very own personality and style – and when you’re done, why not make a gingerbread puppet show?

What You Need:

• Scrap cardboard
• Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Black colored pencil
• White glue
• Scissors
• Jewelry Jam Kit
• Sparkle Stash Kit
• Arts and Crafts Library

How-To:

1. Begin by drawing gingerbread people shapes onto cardboard – the easiest way to do this is by tracing a cookie cutter, but you can freestyle it too if you like!

2. For the green cable knit sweater gingerbread, glue mini shell pasta into vertical rows, along with string cut to look like the sweater’s cuffs, hem, and collar. Let the glue dry completely and then apply a coat of green paint. Paint on a green hat too.

3. To finish him off, glue a green pipe cleaner across the base of the hat and add a pom pom on top. For the face, we used two googley eyes and a red sequin cut in half.

4. For the pink party gingerbread, we glued alphabet pasta to spell “HO HO HO” on her sweater. Let that glue dry and then paint white. Glue on pink pipe cleaner stripes and cut pink felt to be the sleeves and collar, gluing in place. Her face is simply googley eyes, pink bead cheeks, and a drawn on mouth. The hat is cut from pink felt with a pipe cleaner edge and pom pom top.

5. For the midcentury gingerbread, paint on a red jacket with a white shirt peeking out the top. Let it dry and then draw on a grid with black colored pencil. Glue a black pipe cleaner collar along the front of the jacket, draw on his face, and glue on two gold leaf sequins for hair.

6. For the dapper gingerbread man, paint on a white shirt and pants and let dry. Then glue on a blue pipe cleaner belt and cut more pipe cleaners to look like vertical stripes on his pants – glue these on too. Use two shell sequins as a bowtie, draw on his face, and use two more blue sequins as cheeks.

7. For the ice princess gingerbread, paint on a blue torso and white boots – let dry.

8. Time to accessorize – glue on shiny beads and sequins to make a necklace and bend a silver pipe cleaner to look like a crown. Glue down and add a blue gem on top. For her boots, glue a white pipe cleaner trim along the top, and put sequins on the feet.

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 Dress up your Cardboard Gingerbread people using our Jewelry Jam, Smarts and Crafts Sparkle Stash, and Arts and Crafts Library!