DIY Retro Ranch Holiday Houses

When I was a kid I remember wishing with all my might that it would snow for Christmas. Well, living in California, less than 10 miles from the beach meant that it would never happen, but I still thought there was room for a miracle. Now that I'm older, wiser, and more knowledgeable of weather patterns, I know a white Christmas just isn't in the cards, but us West-coasters can still show our holiday cheer sans snow!

Print, cut, and fold up these cute little paper mid-century ranch houses and add a little California cool to your Christmas decor. We may not have snow-covered conifers, but cacti and palm trees can be festive, too!

Here's what you'll need:

• Cardstocks in pink, light blue, and turquoise
• House Template #1 and #2
• Craft Knife
• Cutting mat
• Tacky glue
• Bone folder and ruler (or scoring tray. I have this one and I love it)
• Mini bottle brush trees - learn how to dip dye them with my tutorial from last year
• Metallic dragees or small metallic beads

Extra decorations:

• Kraft paper
• Green paper
• Floral wire
• Gold string
• Silver pipe cleaners 

Print out the template directly on the colored cardstock. Cut out with a craft knife. Score the dotted lines with the bone folder and fold inwards, all in the same direction (if any of the printed lines remain, fold them so they're on the inside of the house). Glue the side tab to the adjacent wall to make a rectangle and form the walls.


Glue the bottom tabs to the base piece. Glue a few dragees to the bottle brush tree. Trim off the base of the tree to make it fit inside the house. Glue the tree to the base, right inside the front window.

Add glue to the top tabs and attach the roof. Let dry. Glue more dragees to the roofline.


Make some palm trees for the yard! Cut leaf shapes out of green paper. Notch the edges and fold down the middle.
 
Glue to the wire. Cut a triangle of kraft paper, overlap the straight edge around the wire, then wrap and glue the end. Trim the bottom of the wire, arrange the palm fronds.


Twist a metallic chenille around the trunk and glue a few more dragees to the fronds. Glue to the base around the house. Add some more California-esque embellishments to the yard - tiny cacti, spiky shrubbery. Cut some stepping stones from kraft paper and glue to the front yard. Tie some tiny bows with the gold string and glue to houses if you'd like. Have fun with it!


These little houses make a super sweet retro scene when set up together. You can also add a ribbon tie to the roof and turn them into hanging ornaments.