Dollar Tree Haunted House Craft Ideas You'll Love

A picture of Halloween-decorated small wooden houses serves as inspiration for this clever Dollar Tree craft. Well, they weren’t technically physical houses. They were plaques with Halloween houses painted on them. These spooky haunted house craft ideas are made with Dollar Tree birdhouses, Halloween papers, and cardstock.

Get ready to be spooky this Halloween with a Dollar Tree Haunted House Craft. Learn how to make your own haunted house with affordable materials. Perfect for a fun and scary DIY project!

Haunted House Craft Idea Using Dollar Tree Bird Houses

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Birdhouses, Mod Podge, and Acrylic Paint

Supplies:

Small Wooden birdhouses
Black Acrylic Craft Paint
1-inch Flat Paintbrush
Halloween Cardstock and Papers
X-acto Knife and Metal Ruler
Sharp Scissors
Flush Cutter Tool

Directions:

Prepare the Birdhouses

First, prepare the birdhouses. Since these are little haunted houses, and not birdhouses, we need to eliminate the wooden perches. These perches are glued into a drilled hole. So, I cut the wooden perch at the base as close to the front surface as possible. I used a flush cutter for this job. It took about three cuts, on one side, then the other, and back to the first side, to cut through the dowel.

Using an emory board, I sanded the dowel flat.

Remove the wooden dowel perches.

Use brown paper bag to ‘sand’ the edges.

Next, I painted the entire outside with black acrylic craft paint. The edges of the base and roof were a little rough. A piece of brown paper bag rubbed over the rough areas smooths them out nicely.

Cut and Adhere Decorative Paper to the Sides

Since we are making this into a house, we will be covering the birdhouse holes. Cardstock is best for this because it is heavier and stiffer.

Templates from tracing paper.

Make templates from tracing paper and transfer to the back of the cardstock.

First, create a template for the front, back, and sides of the birdhouse. To do this, lay tracing paper over the surface of the front and sides. Use a pencil to trace the shapes. Then, fold the paper along the pencil lines or cut around them.

Lay the paper templates over the corresponding side and make any adjustments.

Although the front and back are close, they are not always identical. You might have to adjust your cardstock cutouts.

Make templates from tracing paper and transfer to the back of the cardstock.

Cut out the shapes.

You can use a paper cutter to cut out the shapes. You will probably need an X-Acto knife and a metal ruler or sharp scissors to trim the edges if necessary.

After cutting, I positioned them in place and used an eversharp to trace along the edge onto the backside if there was an overhang. Then, cut off any excess.

Shapes for all four sides.

Adhere the cutouts to the house with Mod Podge.

Once you have the shapes ready, apply Mod Podge to the back of the cardstock and set it in place. Press down and smooth the paper onto the wooden surface. Repeat for the opposite side, front, and back.

Cut and Adhere Decorative Paper to the Roof

Choose a contrasting paper or cardstock for the roof. Then, lay one side of the roof on the backside of the decorative paper. Next, trace around the roof. Then, flip the roof over, and match up the line at the peak of the roof. Trace around that side.

Trace the roof, cut out, and adhere to the house.

Cut out the rectangular shape and fold along the center peak line. Place the paper on the roof and make any adjustments needed. One side of the roof on this little house was longer than the other. If that’s the case, just cut off any excess.

Lastly, apply Mod Podge to the paper and set it in place. Press and smooth the paper onto the roof.

Birdhouses covered with Halloween Cardstock and Paper

Aren’t these adorable just as they are?

Decorate the Haunted House

Here is where you can get creative. Pull out your stamps, stickers, Cricut, Sizzix, and decorative papers.

Tim Holtz Village Collection Dies

Cut out windows and doors with Sizzix dies.

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I decided to use Tim Holtz Village Collection dies, which I used before on Putz houses. ◄You can see the post here. If you don’t have one, you’ll also need a die-cutting machine.

Spooky Wooden Houses

The first two little houses appear to have faces! The first set of windows has spooky hands behind the window pane dividers. The second house has two creepy skeleton heads and shoulders behind the dividers. The third set utilizes the decorative paper on the two windows. The door has a cutout of a skull.

If you enjoy Halloween crafting, you’re sure to adore this wooden birdhouse decoration idea. Get creative and personalize your Dollar Tree ‘haunted house’ Halloween decor with these directions. Happy crafting!