Today I want to show you how I made easy no bake DIY gingerbread ornaments with cardboard and white puff paint. If you use salt dough gingerbread cookies or real baked gingerbread cookies they are way too heavy and pull down the branches of the Christmas tree. So cardboard is a much lighter, more affordable option, and also requires less messy work.
Plus, I don’t like to bake, so for this project, you do not need flour, sugar, icing, or an oven LOL. All you need is a few cheap or free items. All those boxes you get around Christmas shopping time are perfect for this fun Christmas craft. As a bonus, I also included some gingerbread cookie templates for you to download and print, so you can easily trace and cut out the shapes.
Easy no bake DIY gingerbread ornaments (templates included)
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I love oversized ornaments to fill up gaps in your Christmas tree which is why my ornaments are larger. You can make them any size you’d like.
I have made numerous oversized homemade ornaments for our Christmas decor over the years. Check out my foldable cardboard 3D stars and DIY paper fans as ornaments.
Different ways to make gingerbread cookie ornaments
baked gingerbread ornaments that you can eat
gingerbread salt dough ornaments
felt gingerbread ornaments
cardboard gingerbread ornaments
Options 1 and 2 are definitely too heavy for my liking. It’s so much easier to decorate a Christmas tree when the branches don’t get weighed down.
As I already mentioned, I don’t like to bake but I am glad that my husband does. Maybe I can get him to come up with a great recipe but since we all have a sweet tooth in our family, sweets won’t last long and definitely never have a chance to end up on a tree as holiday decor. LOL! So cardboard is definitely the best option for us and it’s free.
Materials needed
cardboard
white puffy paints (instead of craft paint which might work too though but puffy paint is definitely a better option)
As an added idea, you could also use details of red or green puffy paint or glue peppermint candy to the ornaments.
Gingerbread ornament templates for printing
The below list of links will take you to a new browser tab from which you can either download the files or print right from the tab. You can see what I mean in the below image.
If you want to make smaller gingerbread ornaments than mine, just print the file at a smaller percentage. You can usually adjust that in your printer window.
How to make your own gingerbread ornament template
Making your own template is easy too if the shape is symmetrical. The assortment of templates I added for you to use are much harder to create on your own.
If you want to make your own template from another symmetrical shape like a Christmas tree, bell, or gingerbread men ornaments for example, then all you have to do is fold a piece of paper in half, draw on half of the shape, cut the shape out and then unfold the paper. Voila, you have your own template. (I’m also showing these steps in my video tutorial)
Or you can just trace various cookie cutter shapes onto cardboard and cut them out but those will most likely be a lot smaller than the ones I am giving you. I love them a lot larger.
Video tutorial
I made a video tutorial to show you what I did exactly. Use the triangle in the center of the image to view the video and if you are on a mobile phone, hold the screen sideways. In case the video doesn’t load for you then you can also watch it on my YouTube channel.
Step-by-step no bake gingerbread ornament tutorial
Step 1: Prepare your gingerbread templates
Print your templates or make your own as l showed you above. And then cut out the shapes with a pair of scissors. (If you are making smaller ornaments then you can just trace gingerbread cookie cutter shapes onto the cardboard in the next step.)
Step 2: Trace your template onto cardboard with a pencil
Step 3: Cut out Gingerbread shapes
If you are doing this with small kids then cut the cardboard out for them. This part can be a bit difficult depending on how thick the cardboard is and what scissors you are using. To cut out the rounded shapes on the heart, angel, and snowflake I like using an X-ACTO knife with a sawing motion as shown in my video but be careful not to slip and cut yourself. The star is the easiest to cut out since it only has straight lines.
Step 4: Draw on gingerbread design pattern
Draw a gingerbread pattern with a pencil. I have some examples coming up for you below. Have fun with it. It really doesn’t need to be perfect. I love doodling like this and it was my favorite part of this craft project.
Step 5: Trace the gingerbread pattern with puffy paint
Trace the gingerbread pencil pattern with the puffy paint by slowly squeezing the bottle. It’s literally just like icing. Then let the puffy paint dry.
Step 6: Add ribbon for hanging
You can hot glue or pin some ribbon or twine to the ornaments for easy hanging. I like just sticking them inside the tree where there are gaps.
Or you could just poke holes into the top of each ornament shape as you would do with real cookie dough and then thread a ribbon or string through that.
RELATED: You might also like my handmade heart ornaments using craft paint, brushes, and unique dotting tools to create a folk art pattern.
Gingerbread ornament pattern ideas
I love doodling the patterns onto the gingerbread ornaments. That is definitely my favorite part and don’t take it too seriously, it’s ok to mess up. Have fun with it. They don’t have to be exact.
Below you can see examples of what I did with the gingerbread stars, snowflakes, hearts, and angels.
RELATED: Do you love snowflakes? check out my free snowflake svg file for Cricut poster board snowflake ornaments. So easy to make. Or my macrame snowflakes as part of my macrame ornaments blog post. Another affordable snowflake craft are easy toilet paper roll snowflakes and toilet paper roll stars as Christmas ornaments. And last but not least, my paper doily snowflakes. Love how delicate they look on my mantel.
Different ways to decorate the holidays with gingerbread Christmas ornaments
Gingerbread ornament tree decoration (the most obvious)
I used a string and hung some of the gingerbread ornaments from that to create a garland (by the way, those battery-operated candles are my favorite)
Also, as you can see, I also made larger gingerbread houses that I placed on the mantle. The snowflake artwork is also a DIY of mine.
you can use them to make a gingerbread ornament wreath
or gingerbread ornament wall decor
I also love using them as gingerbread tree toppers
Or you can use the gingerbread ornaments as embellishments as I did on my paper bag snowflakes. The gingerbread snowflakes and stars are perfect for that.
With the above photos, you can already see what direction I’m taking this year as far as my Christmas decor goes, right? I’m loving it so far and can’t wait to share it with you soon for a Christmas home tour blog hop.
RELATED: You might also like my super easy macrame gnome pattern where I’m using scrap yarn to make cheap little gnome ornaments.
Where to buy gingerbread ornaments
Even though thisis such an easy DIY porject, not all of us like crafting, am I right? So if you don’t want to make your own gingerbread ornaments, or maybe you just want to make a couple and buy the rest because it takes too long then I found some for you to buy below. There are many great options.
Let me show you how I made easy no bake gingerbread ornaments using cardboard and white puff paint for super affordable Christmas tree decor.
Instructions
Prepare your gingerbread templates Print your templates or make your own as l showed you above. And then cut out the shapes with a pair of scissors. (If you are making smaller ornaments then you can just trace gingerbread cookie cutter shapes onto the cardboard in the next step.)
Trace your template onto cardboard with a pencil
Cut out Gingerbread shapes If you are doing this with small kids then cut the cardboard out for them. This part can be a bit difficult depending on how thick the cardboard is and what scissors you are using. To cut out the rounded shapes on the heart, angel, and snowflake I like using an X-ACTO knife with a sawing motion as shown in my video but be careful not to slip and cut yourself. The star is the easiest to cut out since it only has straight lines.
Draw on gingerbread design pattern Draw a gingerbread pattern with a pencil. I have some examples coming up for you below. Have fun with it. It really doesn't need to be perfect. I love doodling like this and it was my favorite part of this craft project.
Trace the gingerbread pattern with puffy paint Trace the gingerbread pencil pattern with the puffy paint by slowly squeezing the bottle. It's literally just like icing. Then let the puffy paint dry.
Add ribbon for hanging nobbiYou can hot glue or pin some ribbon or twine to the ornaments for easy hanging. I like just sticking them inside the tree where there are gaps. Or you could just poke holes into the top of each ornament shape as you would do with real cookie dough and then thread a ribbon or string through that.
4 Comments
These are great and seem doable!!! Thanks for sharing and Happy Holidays!😊
These are great and seem doable!!! Thanks for sharing and Happy Holidays!😊
Thanks so much Jen! Happy Holidays to you too
What an inventive and sweet craft to reuse cardboard! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, I’m so glad you like it.