Nothing gets us in the mood for Christmas like a relaxing crafting session – and what could be more festive than building your own magical gingerbread houses?
These beautiful designs are easy to make with our free templates, a few basic craft supplies and your Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer!
You can whip up a charming little village of gingerbread houses, illuminate them with fairy lights or even use them to create a wonderful mobile that children will adore. The gingerbread houses can even be used as boxes for tiny gifts such as sweets.
Read on to learn how to make your own gingerbread houses and download your free templates – or follow our easy video tutorial!
Get into the Christmas spirit with Epson's enchanting gingerbread house templates
These sweet gingerbread houses were designed by Sarah Louise Matthews with illustrations by Lucia Wilkinson.
The templates include four Scandi-inspired houses in pastel shades – print them off in your favourite colour or mix and match the designs.
You can download the free digital PDF templates on Gathered today. For best results, we recommend picking up the perfect printer for your craft.
How to make gingerbread houses step by step
You will need:
- Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer
- Gingerbread house templates
- Metal ruler
- Scalpel or craft knife
- Cutting mat
- Scissors
- An embossing tool or butter knife
- Tacky PVA glue
Step one
Print the templates using your Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer.
Step two
Cut out the small details of the houses using a craft knife and a metal ruler, rotating the templates between each cut.
Step three
Cut around the outer edge of the templates using a craft knife or a pair of scissors.
Step four
Turn your templates wrong-side up and use a butter knife or embossing tool to score along the dotted lines. Fold these to create mountain folds, as shown.
Step five
Apply Tacky PVA glue to the flaps on the side of the roof and start to assemble the house. Press down on the flaps for a few seconds to allow the glue to dry before moving on to the next step.
Step six
Apply glue to the long flap on the side of the house, then press it down as it dries. This is the best time to pop a sweet or gift inside!
Step seven
Finally, fold down the two smaller flaps on the base of the house, then slot the two larger flaps together using the slits cut in the template. If your house won't sit flat, you may need to apply a couple of dots of PVA glue underneath the larger flaps to hold them in place.
And you're done! We hope you enjoy using your adorable gingerbread houses to brighten up your home this Christmas.
Picture perfect: Crafters’ five considerations when buying printers
Crafters need printers that share five key characteristics. Regardless of your preferred craft, you need a printer that’s:
- Reliable: You don’t want to worry about running out of ink during a project!
- Suitable: It has to handle a wide range of materials and crafting applications
- Affordable: Printers should be relatively cheap to run
- Sustainable: Cartridges can be a pain to recycle, depending on the make and model
- Trustworthy: Manufacturers with established reputations are a safer investment, with better customer support and a history of selling the best possible machines.
Thankfully, Epson designed their EcoTank machines with those five considerations in mind.
How do EcoTank printers stack up for crafters?
Epson’s EcoTank printers make a great choice for crafters, as the machines have an impressive track record:
- Reliable: Innovative ink bottle system means crafters can print up to 14,000 papers without filling ink
- Suitable: High print quality across a variety of materials for diverse crafts
- Affordable: Crafters can save up to 90% on printing costs against traditional cartridge printers
- Sustainable: Household recyclable ink bottles replace cartridges
- Trustworthy: 80 million EcoTank models have been sold worldwide to date.
You can check out the full range of EcoTank printers, including additional information on how they work and their specifications, on Amazon now.
If you’re not sure which is best for you, then Gathered’s got you covered.
It all comes down to the type of crafter you are.
What kind of crafter are you?
Testing the EcoTank models out with the gingerbread house templates was a wonderful way for us to explore the specifications of the printers in a practical way.
We’ve broken down three types of crafters and identified which printer in the EcoTank range we believe would work best for you.
The Papercrafter
You’re a hobbyist with a passion for papercrafts! The projects you love require borderless printing and double-sided designs as a standard. You probably live in a busy household so you’re looking for a consistent machine with a no-nonsense set-up.
Gathered recommends: ET-2856 (White) or ET-2850 (Black)
A solid printer capable of delivering 14,000 pages in black and 5,200 pages in colour straight out of the box. With this machine, you really can ‘fill and chill’.
The Multicrafter
You’ll try every craft at least once! You’re keen to get stuck into the next project right away, so speed is of the essence. You also need a machine that can seamlessly copy and scan a wide range of designs.
Gathered recommends: ET-4810
A general-purpose printer that’s fast and flexible, the ET-4810 is ideal for crafters looking to do a little bit of everything. The printer’s automatic document feeder makes this an excellent choice for time-pressed multicrafters like you!
The Photographer
You’re dedicated to capturing the moment in gorgeous detail. For you, it’s all about composition, quality and vivid colours. You need a machine that matches your vision.
Gathered recommends: ET-8550
With slick, 5-way media handling capable of printing on card, board and paper up to 1.3mm thick, the ET-8550 was built for designers of all kinds. The machine is capable of printing as many as 2,300 photos from one ink bottle set and printing designs up to A3 in size.
Still undecided? We had the chance to test out the Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer for ourselves.
Make this your craftiest Christmas yet with the Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer
We used the Epson EcoTank ET-2856 printer to make our cute gingerbread houses and we loved how they turned out!
The single ink tank produced high-quality prints of our templates, perfectly recreating the beautiful pastel shades of the gingerbread houses.
Discover why the Epson EcoTank ET-2856 is the ideal printer for crafters and find out how we made our own tiny gingerbread village:
Print all your Christmas craft projects with Epson EcoTanks to suit every budget
Epson’s EcoTank printers come in a range of sizes and specifications that make them perfect for crafters of all levels.
Check out the full range on Amazon today.
