Papercrafting during the holidays is always fun for the whole family – make your craft projects extra special with watercolor and Masking Fluid. Paint this gingerbread house with as much (or as little) detail as you like. This is a beginner-friendly idea that’s also fun for experienced watercolorists. The houses are really cute as placeholders on your holiday table, or use a needle and thread through the roof to hang them as ornaments or gift tags, or punch a few holes and place a battery tea light inside to create a tabletop village. Click here to download our template and follow the steps below.

1. Print the gingerbread house template on a sheet of regular copy paper and trim out along the solid lines. The dotted lines indicate where you will fold the paper later. Practice folding it into the house shape with the copy paper, before tracing it on to heavier watercolor paper. Then unfold it flat to test your design in pencil and decide where you will apply Masking Fluid to preserve white space – such as for snow or outlines around doors and windows.
2. Place the template on top of a sheet of watercolor paper and trace around the house. Use a light pencil to draw in dashed fold lines. Choose an applicator tip for the Masking Fluid bottle (it comes with 5 different sizes, for thin or thick lines) and apply where desired. Allow the fluid to dry completely – it will turn beige as it dries, making it easier to spot against the white watercolor paper.
3. Choose your color(s) for the first wash – we blended a touch of Quinacridone Magenta (medium staining) with Quinacridone Gold (low staining). While it was still wet, we used a damp paper towel to blot and lift most of the color off the roof, inside the snow lines.
4. After the first wash was dry, we added some Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue (mass tone) inside the windows. Then a second darker wash with the same mix of colors was brushed on the rest of the house – we intentionally allowed blooms, drips and brush strokes to show, which added some fun texture to the house. Allow this to dry thoroughly before rubbing away the Masking Fluid with your finger or a rubber cement pickup.
5. Use sharp scissors or a blade to cut out the house, then carefully score along all the dashed fold lines (either on the painted side or the back side) with a ruler and bone folder tool.
6. If you’re using the houses as placeholders, write your guest’s name on one side before folding. If you’re placing a battery tea light inside, punch a few holes wherever you like so the light glows through. Fold and press along the score lines, then gently tumble the house into shape. Apply double-sided tape or use a hot glue gun to tuck and adhere the tabs inside.