Sunday, December 12, 2010

Annual Gingerbread house entry

Tomorrow is the due date for the annual gingerbread competition at the hospital. The major rule is that everything has to be edible and you must use the cardboard base they provide. I look forward to it so much each year. It's really neat to see all of the hard work on display in the lobby, and better to see the children's (and their parents'!) faces as they inspect each one.
This year I decided to really try something very different. I even searched the internet first for anyone with a similar design and couldn't find one!
So below is my very own design, a totally gingerbread-free gingerbread house! Enjoy.
The front. Addie insisted on a balcony above the front porch. The front door is graham crackers. The columns are those Piroline hazelnut stick things. The second story is chocolate, strawberry and vanilla sugar wafers. The braided things are called marshmallow twists. The front path are Nerds candies.
Right side. Roof is pizzelles. Side is sugar wafers. Shutters are Big Red gum. I'm especially stoked because I thought of going out on a limb and having open windows to look inside the gingerbread house. That little lady peering out is from sugar cookie. Her hair is Ramen noodles! Behind her is a Christmas tree made of peppermint. From here you can kind of get a sense of my first attempt at drop-piping skills on the porches. I wish I had gotten the consistency like that earlier, because I would've tried it elsewhere too.
Back of house. Just about same ingredients as front. Look at those piping skills on the porch awning! The column blocks it a little, but that's a wreath on the back. I like how it's relatively minimally decorated. To the right corner you can see a fire.
The other side of the house. Same ingredients as the other side. This time I sculpted a kitty out of sugar cookies and she's perched on the windowsill. Note the pretzel log pile against the house and the fire. If you look in the window, you can even see the back of the girl with her Ramen hair and necklace continuing around the back!
From the top looking down.

Hard to see, but I wrote Merry Christmas on the snow.
I will have to post a different post with close ups of the kitty, person, and fire.