Tiny Paper Houses

It’s only recently that I’ve discovered and become highly addicted to making tiny paper houses, most often referred to as Putz houses. Perfect for the holidays and quick to make these tiny treasures make lovely gifts that are sure to become keepsakes.

So what is a Putz house you ask? Simply put, it’s a little house made of paper that is most often decorated with paint, glitter and a snow texture. Very popular in the 1900’s they were often placed around Nativity scenes for Christmas.

Children would go outside and gather leaves, twigs, pebbles and such items to decorate their little houses and there was no scale involved. Animals, trees, wreaths can be much larger than the house scale. Window trims and doors are often out of scale with the house itself. If you look online for examples of Putz houses you will also notice that many have little or no window or door trims and only openings.

While Putz houses traditionally are sized to fit on a small base measuring 3” by 4”, you will find them in a variety of sizes. I have noticed that about 5 to 6” tall seems to be the largest. These are often small in depth compared to let’s say a miniature scaled house. For instance, I recently made a house from Paper, Glitter, Glue that was about 5” tall but only about 1.5” deep. Very rarely are they closer to a square in dimensions.

My Alice in Halloween Land was created using the house from Paper, Glitter, Glue. Did I mention it’s a FREE pattern?

Notice the scale of images added to the house, the plain windows and how the house is thin.

As for decorating, some prefer a simply look, using a group of like houses without any type of base while others prefer to go all out decorating the house and base to create a scene.

The best thing about these houses is that they are inexpensive to make and can be made from just about anything you want! Cardstock, Bristol board, kraft board, cardboard, and more. If you stick with the smaller more traditional sizes paint and glitter go a long way.

My most recent house has to be my fave – at least for the moment (grin). It took very little paper and time to create and I love the simple style of it. I’ve named it the Peppermint House.

Everything said, you have an unlimited number of options when creating these houses. Even just a plain white or kraft colored house can look stunning with a tea light inside or placed inside an explosion box!

Hopefully by now I’ve sparked your interest in tiny houses and you will give one a try. Search my shop, online, etsy and such places for free patterns then have some fun!

Happy Holidays . . .