Last week or so, littlestar suggested that we should have a big gingerbread-house-making party. We supply the gingerbread and frosting, our guests provide the decorations.
Last year we had a small gingerbread event, using kits. The gingerbread was fairly stale and rigid, and we couldn't do too much creatively, although that didn't keep kwc from trying. This year, day one of two (yup, there's another day coming!) went very, very well -- as evidenced by our gingerbread community:
m and littlestar made all the gingerbread and the frosting, and did a great job with both. Everyone enjoyed being able to eat the side-products and "construction errors" as they went along.
Many more pictures in the extended, including the step-by-step progression of my gingerbread house.
Working on the igloo -- the early days.
The completed igloo (nice fish, eh?).
The igloo, from the front. The top was constructed separately, upside-down, and then maneuvered carefully into place once it was solid enough not to disintegrate during the move.
m decorating his home. Naturally, it has a garage.
Littlestar decorates her gingerhome -- by far the most decorated in the community.
More gingerhome construction.
Crafting the gingertemple -- the only open-roof design of the night.
bp's home, showing pond and partial roof detail.
...and now, the step-by-step on my gingerbread house (enlarged to show a bit more detail -- although all pictures can be viewed on Flickr directly by clicking on them).
The basic house -- an A-roof design with a graham cracker door and graham cracker patio area. The doorframe was cut out after the basic house was put together -- the relatively freshly made gingerbread was soft enough to allow (careful) cutting even after construction.
Walls added to the front patio.
An upper addition, added as three parts, with graham cracker shutters. bp was surprised the shutters worked -- as was I. I tried to figure out a way to pin them, then gave up and just glued them on with frosting, and they held.
A different view of the addition.
The house, now with walled side patios, as well as trees up front and flowers on the sides. Also note the addition of a front walk past the front wall.
If you were walking toward the house from table height, it would look like this.
Some more plant detail.
The view from the back, showing the back door, the swimming pool, and the chimney (the last is a bit hard to see). Note the gingerbread diving board to the left of the pool. The back door, like the front, was cut out after basic construction was complete.
A view from the shutter side.
Same side, slightly different angle.