Avery James Photography

Avery James Photography

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Adventures of Making a Gingerbread House

If you're on my Facebook friends list, then you may have already heard of my gingerbread house collapse last night, but for those who aren't, this is how it went...

I bought a kit to make the house...the kit comes with a mix for the frosting...it says to add 5 tablespoons of water and mix with a blender...well, 5 tablespoons barely wet a tiny section of the powder...so I kept adding more water and finally stopped thinking I had to have added too much by now...but the mix was still SUPER THICK....so thick that I hurt my hands trying to squeeze it out of the tube thing throughout the night...

I'm guessing that because it was too thick, it wasn't as sticky as it should have been, which probably contributed to its collapse....

So anyways, my son and I continue to follow the directions and put the house together...first the 4 walls...check.  Now, wait 1 hour.....1 HOUR?  My 4yr old son doesn't know how to wait 1hr!  In addition, we didn't start until 8pm....late, I know - but he takes FOREVER to eat dinner...literally an hour and a half...

So instead of an hour, I wait about 15 min..that should be good, right?  OK, next step...put on the roof....check.  Now, wait 2 hours..............2 HOURS????  WOW.....I guess I should have read ALL the directions before I decided to sit down and attempt this project.  Well...I don't have 2hrs....the frosting is going to be hard if I wait til morning to finish.....hmmmm.....

10 minutes later....ok, that should be good!  Let's start decorating....let's frost the roof....wow, this frosting is HARD...it doesn't stick to the roof....hmmm, wetting a paper towel and smearing the frosting on seems to work....except I'm probably pressing down too hard....oh no!  There goes a wall...maybe I can refrost it and put it back....trying...trying...oh no!  The roof panel is sliding...put it back up....oh no!  the other roof panel....ahhh!!  The other wall.....

Moments later, all 4 walls and 2 roof panels are now in a pile.....bummer.

I thought I was going to run out of frosting (which I didn't) and my mind.....where was the super glue in the house??

OK...take a deep breath...let's try this again....did I wait an hour after putting the walls up this time?  No....did I wait 2hrs after putting the roof on?  No....but I did wait about an hour this time....I forced myself to walk away and find something else to do.

When I came back to it, it looked pretty sturdy to me....the roof was almost finished frosting from my first attempt, although covered in fingerprints and now hard....oh well.


So we started decorating again....this was the fun part. :)  So about midnight or so, we finally finished....good thing he's not in school yet and I'm home during the days....we slept in pretty late this morning.....but look at what a beauty we churned out!







Not perfect....a bit of random frosting splatters everywhere....but it gives it character, ya know?  :)

Oh...and one of the walls is barely standing....you can see it a little more up close here:


But overall, pretty good.  hopefully it stays standing till the holidays are over. :)  Last year ours caved in right around Christmas day I think....

Tonight.....I'm trying sugar cookies...I'm infamous for burning cookies though, so we'll see...I actually bought some parchment paper this time though...maybe that'll help. :)


11 comments:

Christmas-etc... said...

Well done to you! I had to laugh though...my Gingerbread house this year ended up int he trash can...! I do so admire these creations!
Ann
PS Be sure to enter my GIVEAWAY!

Debbiedoos said...

Ok you done good girl! We will not talk about my experience with the gingerbread house. My 13 year old just won in his class though overall, so he did not get passed down the bad gingerbread building gene. Happy Holidays. Beautiful photos too!

Marcie said...

Now those are awesome photos with amazing color!! Makes me want to jump on my next gingerbread house project.

xo m

Helen Pigott said...

Just hopped by to say Hi,
Wow what a fab result, but are you really going to eat it after all your hard work?
I am a new follower of your super blog, I would love it if you could follow me back.
Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a fun filled new year.
Helen x
www.acraftykindoftruffle.blogspot.com

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

The gingerbread house is lovely. So much work but well worth the effort.

Carol E Wyer said...

Hi! I've hopped from Katies’ ‘Hug and Love’ hop. What a great blog and a FANTASTIC Gingerbread house. I've just been to the shops where one like that would cost a mega fortune to buy. Well done. And it looks delicious. I have added myself as your newest follower.
Please drop by and maybe follow me if you fancy a laugh. I'd be delighted to welcome you.
Friendly wishes from a snowy UK
Carol from www.facing50withhumour.blogspot.com – the blog that gives you laughter lines. (Has that put you off?)

Grace Matthews said...

that is one nice looking gingerbread house :)

Sandy K. said...

You have brought back so many memories of gingerbread house building when my children were young. The grandson comes next week...yes, it's time to resurrect the tradition. Great looking house, by the way. Almost good enough to eat:)

Barbara's Beat said...

so pretty
Souper Sat hop following

Liz said...

Your turned out sooo much better then ours did!

Following you via Sunday Blog Hop from lil-LIZ-bits, lil-bits from my Homeschooling Navy Wife Life Mom-prenuer adventures. I would appreciate a follow back! Love to see you on Facebook too!

Mid-Atlantic Martha said...

What a pretty little gingerbread cottage! I love it. My mother used to make them...but mine is store bought, they're well beyond my skills! Hope you had a great Christmas.