Painted Pasta Gingerbread Birdhouses

Painted Pasta Gingerbread House Craft Idea @clubchicacircle

I have had a bunch of wood birdhouses in my crafty stash since summer – just waiting for the right DIY project to tackle. As soon as I saw this inspiration on Pinterest for painted pasta, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them—Faux Gingerbread Houses!

I knew it would make a fun holiday craft project with my tween. I had the houses, now I just needed a variety of pasta and lots of colorful paint.

Painted Pasta for Tween Craft Idea copy

I used a variety of different pasta shapes like mini wheels, farfelle bow ties, tubular rigatoni, and mini spirals.

And I used some of my favorite paints, Americana Multi-surface Satin paints, in a variety of bright colors. I’ve painted mason jars, pine cones, and cork boards to name a few.

My girl was totally game for painted pasta with me. It was a little bit of a messy job, but it sure was fun!

Honestly, the easiest way we found to coat the pasta in paint, was to squirt a large pool of paint onto a paper plate. Then, with a brush, push the pasta around and in the puddle of paint until coated.

How to Paint Pasta for crafting with kids copy

I set out a plastic tablecloth on our dining room table and we went to town. We would paint different shapes of pasta different colors and let them dry on the tablecloth.

Painted Pasta Holiday Craft Idea @clubchicacircle

To add more detail, once the solid color of paint was dry on the pasta pieces, we added polka-dots on the bow tie shapes, and stripes on the spirals to emulate candy canes and candy pieces.

Really, this craft is super simple and just plain fun! It just takes a little creativity and imagination.

How to make a painted pasta gingerbread house @clubchicacircle

Start with a plain wood birdhouse. I found mine at my local Michaels. They come in different styles and you can find them with a rope handle on top of them.

Then paint your house as desired. Paint it all a solid color, or paint each side a different color. There are no rules here.

Paint pasta as desired and let dry. I loved the Cocoa Bean color on the rigatoni noodles. It looked just like chocolate! And we painted the spirals white first, and then added red and green stripes.

With a glue gun, add your pasta on top of the painted house to create your own gingerbread inspired house – one that will last all year long!

Totally satisfying!

You couldn’t keep me away from making a painted pasta gingerbread house. Here is my creation:

Painted Pasta Gingerbread Holiday Birdhouses Tween Craft Idea @clubchicacircle

And this is my girl’s painted pasta gingerbread house masterpiece:

Painted Pasta Birdhouse Craft Idea for Kids

Super cute, right?

Painted Pasta Gingerbread Birdhouse Holiday Tween Craft

What are waiting for? Go to the store, or your pantry, and start painting some pasta! = )

These make great ornaments or homemade teacher gifts too!

Happy Crafting!

 

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Pauline Molinari

I'm the crafty maven, and I'm on a mission to spread craftiness. With a fine arts degree, over 15 years experience in children's publishing, and a savvy, stylish, sassy tween daughter, I come armed with perspective and passion to inspire tween girls and their mothers to be crafty together. 

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  11 comments for “Painted Pasta Gingerbread Birdhouses

  1. Lisa
    December 4, 2013 at 10:54 am

    What a cute idea! I have a few unpainted bird houses in my craft area I could use.

    Thanks

    • December 9, 2013 at 9:18 am

      Love it, Lisa! We had so much fun making them.

  2. December 9, 2013 at 9:13 am

    I LOVE this as an alternative to making sugary gingerbread houses with kids. What a great idea!!

  3. Rockabye Butterfly
    December 9, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    These are soooo pretty!! This is an awesome idea!

  4. December 9, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    What a fabulous idea and outcome!

  5. Allison Burke
    December 11, 2013 at 10:28 am

    So excited – my tween and i have a craft date Sat w her bff and her mom, to make these! Thanks for the awesome idea!

  6. Ginger
    December 12, 2013 at 12:12 pm

    What a cute idea! Very creative.

  7. Susan
    November 30, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    I would like to make this with girl scouts and prefer not use a glue gun. How well do you think white glue would last or what kind is the best to get?

    • December 1, 2015 at 6:47 am

      You can use a tacky white glue, like Elmers XTreme. That should work.

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