See how easy it is to create a DIY gingerbread house cookie drawing of YOUR own home!
Follow along to a simple iPad tutorial that’s perfect for beginner digital illustrators or those with advanced skills.
Then turn your drawing into a unique Christmas card, a special Christmas tree ornament, or use it online in your social media accounts!
Draw Your Home as a Gingerbread House Cookie! Great Christmas Card & Ornament Idea!
This summer, I finally joined Skillshare after oogling it for months.
I’ve been wanting to give digital illustration on my iPad a go (always the creative dabbler, what can I say?) and needed some help learning how to use the fun Procreate app.
After taking a couple classes for beginners that taught all the Procreate basics, I decided to try out a project-specific course.
I’d not only end up with a completed project, but also continue learning new tricks and techniques along the way.
Well, I had SO much fun completing a course on drawing gingerbread house cookies, that I took it a step further and drew MY OWN HOME as the festive holiday confection.
I was so impressed by my creation (which honestly doesn’t happen too much given my perfectionism) that I then turned it into an easy DIY ornament that will forever live on our family Christmas tree.
Keep reading to see how I did this AND how you can draw your OWN home as a gingerbread house cookie!
Gingerbread House Cookie Drawing Tools/Supplies
Here’s what I used to create this DIY gingerbread house cookie drawing of our real home, and then turn it into the cutest little Christmas tree ornament:
- iPad (I have an older 7th generation model)
- Procreate app
- Apple Pencil
- AMAZING Skillshare tutorial by Jennifer Nichols
- Glossy photo paper
- Printer and ink
- Laminator and laminating sheet
- Scissors
- Hole punches (regular & small)
- Festive baker’s twine
These cute and custom gingerbread house cookie drawings would work great as:
- Special keepsake ornaments
- Unique Christmas cards
- Sweet personalized gifts (especially housewarming ones)
- Fun moving announcements
- Social media profile photos
What is Skillshare?
I turned my home into a gingerbread house cookie drawing thanks to the amazing tutorial by Jennifer Nichols over on Skillshare.
Have you heard of Skillshare??
If not, you need to check it out ASAP.
I mean, since you’re reading this, that must mean you’re a fellow creative soul that loves to make and DIY all the things, and Skillshare will become your new BFF.
Seriously, I’ve become slightly obsessed with it since joining.
Oh, and just so we’re clear: Skillshare is NOT paying me to say any of this or to write this post.
I just honestly really love their classes!
They have SO MANY video classes that walk you through all types of different creative endeavors.
Most can easily be completed in an evening or a weekend at most and you set your own pace.
Some are more general how-tos for complete beginners, like this class I took on how to get started using the Procreate app, while others are for very specific fun projects, such as this gingerbread house cookie drawing class.
They’re so much better than YouTube videos because:
- You can ask questions and get feedback from the instructors
- You can share your projects with other students also taking the class
- Most times, free resources are provided, such as brushes, color pallets, canvases, design elements, guides, etc.
And it’s not just digital illustration that’s covered.
No, no, no, dear friends.
Here are just some of the topics they offer classes on:
- Self Care, Happiness, & Lifestyle (any fellow JVN fans??)
- Knitting & Crochet
- Adobe products like Photoshop, Illustrator, & Fresco
- Embroidery
- Plants
- Interior Design
- Languages
- Painting & Drawing
- Graphic Design & Animation
- Business, Leadership, & Marketing
- Photography (DSLR & iPhone)
- Music
- Writing
- YouTube & Social Media
- Blogging, SEO, & Web Design
- Pottery
- Culinary Arts
- Origami
- Even how to put your fat cat on a diet (lol, seriously)
There’s just too many to list here.
They even offer a FREE one month trial, so just go browse their huge catalog of classes and I guarantee you’ll find something (or dozens) that tickles your fancy.
Gingerbread House Cookie Drawing Tutorial
Ok, now for all the juicy details of this project…
One afternoon, I sat on my bed in my fuzzy robe, propped my iPad up on my lap desk, grabbed my Apple Pencil, and open my Skillshare and Procreate apps.
The specific class I took is called Designing Gingerbread Houses in Procreate.
Jennifer Nichols is the instructor and the class was super engaging and easy to follow, even for a complete Procreate newb like myself.
Plus, you gotta love those free Procreate brushes and color palettes she provides!
Also, since the classes are pre-recorded, I could go at my own pace and pause, rewind, or rewatch the videos as much as I needed (which was a lot, haha).
Much like creating my illustrated portraits in Photoshop, drawing these gingerbread house cookies utilizes lots of layers.
They’re then jazzed up, and you’ll learn all about fancy things like clipping masks, alpha locks, and blending modes.
A few hours later, here was my very first gingerbread house cookie drawing, following the class tutorial to a T:
Super cute, right?
I enjoyed the class so much and was already confident in my blossoming digital illustration abilities that I decided to take things a step further and turn my REAL home into a gingerbread house cookie.
Maybe a little ambitious, but I love a good personalization project!
This illustration was done the same way that was taught in the Skillshare class, but it was actually a little easier since I started with a photo of my home as a reference layer.
Plus, I’d uh, actually done one of these things already thanks to that first tutorial project.
After tracing the shape of my home and the door and windows, I just built up all of the additional elements from there, including the festive holiday cookie and candy landscaping.
It was fun trying my hand at new elements that expanded on what was taught in the class, like creating my own jaw breaker-type hard candies and sugar-coated gum drops.
And here’s my final drawing of my home as a gingerbread house cookie!
Not gonna lie…I’m SUPER proud of this thing. :)
It just makes me smile, and I’m still amazed that *I* actually drew this.
I even set it up as the cover photo on my personal Facebook profile.
It almost perfectly aligns with my profile photo that was snapped on our front porch this spring!
What a fun little coincidence.
And shameless plug coming up: Follow me on Facebook if you’re not already!
Here are some festive holiday gingerbread cookies I whipped up too, some of which were included in the landscaping in front of my home (minus the colorful candy ornaments):
One of my favorite things about doing super specific project classes like this one is that while you’re working towards completing one final design, you learn tricks and techniques that you can then apply to any future project.
Yes, I drew a gingerbread house cookie, but now I know all about what clipping masks and alpha locks are and when to apply them, which I can then use in the future with any other project.
Teach a man to fish and all that…or I guess in this case it’s more like Teach a woman to draw…
These skills came in handy recently when I added the fun festive holiday doodles on the movie character ornaments for our Die Hard Christmas tree.
Oh so jolly!
Turning the Drawing Into an Ornament
I didn’t just want this gingerbread house cookie drawing of our home to remain online, though.
It needed to join the real world!
At first, I thought of sending it out as a unique Christmas card since that’s kinda my jam.
However, thanks to spending every crafting minute working on our aforementioned Die Hard Christmas tree at a local holiday event, I don’t think I’ll have the time or energy to send out holiday greetings this year.
Sorry, friends and fam. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
BUT, I could easily knock out turning this digital cookie into a special keepsake Christmas ornament!
I first printed out this gingerbread house cookie drawing on a sheet of glossy photo paper, along with miniature versions of two previous Christmas cards I’ve created:
Next, I cut out all three designs then punched a hole in each.
I could have used my Silhouette Cameo to cut these out if I wanted to be super fancy and precise, but my laziness won out and I just used scissors and a hole punch.
They were then put inside a laminating pouch and ran through my laminator so they’d be both sturdier and protected.
Here’s how my DIY ornaments looked at this point:
All that was left was cutting them out a second time, this time leaving a small edge of lamination, and punching a second hole for the baker’s twine hanging loop.
This go round, I used a smaller hole punch that I use when making my own Erin Condren Life Planner covers.
That way a small ring of lamination would remain in tact for a sturdier hanging spot.
Our Home as a Gingerbread House Cookie Ornament!
And here’s how it looks in all its festive ornamental glory!
Seeing our home turned into a gingerbread house cookie that’s now hanging as the cuuuutest little ornament on our Christmas tree is just the neatest thing ever.
I mean I DREW THAT!
Little ol’ me without any innate artistic ability drew that by hand.
Yes, admittedly with the help of a tutorial and a little tracing to start, but still!
I can’t believe it.
It’s not perfect and there’s still a zillion things I could edit and tweak, but gosh darn it, it’s pretty nice.
Below is a comparison to the real thing…
Not too shabby, eh!
Now if we ever move, we’ll always have a piece of our first family home to take with us and display every holiday season.
Pretty cool, huh?
And here’s how it and our other two DIY Christmas cards look as mini ornaments on our tree:
And there you have it, folks!
It really was a super easy tutorial to follow and such a fun project.
Now I want to make everything into digital gingerbread cookies! :)
If You Enjoyed This…
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a very Merry Christmas!
