How to make a pretty fireplace for Christmas

My family try and do our part in helping raise the much-needed funds for my son's school and one year we made a fireplace for the Christmas Fair!

When the school purchased a gazebo we got the brilliant task of creating a fireplace for Santa's new Grotto.

Isn't it fabulous!  

I had a look on Pinterest for some inspiration on how to make the fireplace, and whilst there are several options the one I liked the most was a post from eHow.

Materials used to make a cardboard fireplace

* Display Board from Hobbycraft
* Black spraypaint
* Red Card
* Glue Gun & masking tape
* Mod Podge
* Stripped cardboard / corrugated cardboard for logs
* Cardboard boxes & coloured paper for flames

How to make a cardboard fireplace

We used 3 white display boards from Hobbycraft and folded the boards around to make the fireplace template.

Once the template was created we sprayed the back of the opening black and used the cutoffs to cover the front top and bottom sections, which are then glued in place.

Making a fireplace from 3 pieces of display boards

As you can see it's taking shape nicely and already looking like a fireplace.  There are a few options here to cover the front; paint a brick effect, buy brick wallpaper or use cut up pieces of red card.

We opted for the latter and gave the card pieces a light dusting with the black spray paint to make them look a little more authentic.

Dusting cardboard bricks to give a more authentic look

We covered the fireplace with Mod Podge and placed the card on the front and sides of the boards to give a brick effect, which I think we pulled off nicely.

The fireplace shelf is just a cardboard box folded and glued to shape, we didn't even need to paint this, as the board gives a natural wood effect.

Using cardboard boxes and coloured card we cut out flame shapes and glued these on to the base of the inside of the fireplace.

Creating fire and logs for a cardboard fireplace

Finally, using an image on Pinterest for fake logs as inspiration, we stripped open a cardboard box, rolled it up now inside out, and glued it together to give the effect of fake logs, which I think turned out good enough for even Santa.

How to make a pretty fireplace for Santa's Grotto on a budget


I think it looks rather realistic, don't you?

Santa in is Grotto with a homemade fireplace





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