This year our gingerbread house started with some serious internet research. I’ve an entire pinterest board that I’ve started in years past. But I wanted a really original shape, and I found this lovely cottage, and decided it would make an excellent gingerbread house shape.
And, yes. I modeled it in SketchUp to get the right dimensions.
Annnnnd, yes, I made a cardboard model to make sure I had everything right and to make the stencils for the dough.
I made the dough with my mom
while Nick hammered jolly ranchers for stained glass.
The assembly. Even after all that planning it turns out that we made all the pieces in mirror image of what I had imagined, and it threw me off a bit. It still throws me off looking at it.
My parents planned on making a forest:
Here I am using tweezers to place holly berries.
The mess of candy:
I was all concentration, but at some point (when Nick conveniently had a camera in his hand) I heard something that I evidently found entirely startling. This picture makes me laugh and laugh.
And here’s the finished house:
Look at Nick’s weathervane!
And our duck pond:
I like the shape of this house, but I think we needed another day of decorating. More snow under the eaves, an awning over the front door, and a fence maybe. And a snowman. I miss the snowman from 2010. Each year I hope to get better and better, so check back next year.
My mom said she saved this house in a box! I guess you can check back next year for its condition as well. Will the weathervane duck still stand? Only time will tell.
9 comments:
Too awesome. Let's get together, someday, and make houses again.
Nicole, this is seriously so cool!!! Totally incredible!
No fair- I was going to say totally incredible, but someone beat me to it. But really, that's incredible. I can't believe the work you put into it. And I love your mom and dad's forest too.
Way to do your research. I have friend who makes intricate gingerbread houses every year in December and then fills them with fire works on New Years Eve and blows them up at midnight. I'm not sure that I could put that much work into them to just blow them up, but if last years is still standing enough next year to do it...
I love the pez bricks! Those are pez right? I'm not up on my candy knowledge...
Magnificent, Nicole. I love seeing this group of artists working. And I have to say, Hannah makes a compelling suggestion.
LOVE the weather vane and the pez chimney. Very cool. This is a great tradition.
My cousins have a tradition that is similar...it combines the gingerbread making of Christmas with the celebrations of New Years. You should check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9nCIDIe0So
...although I would not recommend it for your masterpiece. :)
I love them! They look even better in person! Nice work!
A couple of you have mentioned blowing the thing up. You know, I don't know if ours would blow? The frosting might as well be cement and we bake that gingerbread thick. But, I'll see what people think. We can take bets on whether it will explode or not.
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