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Monday, December 9, 2013

A Gingerbread House...minus the mess

A favorite yearly Christmas tradition that I shared with my daughter was making a gingerbread house. Her two brothers were older and I never had the courage to undertake a gingerbread house with them, but I did bring out the gingerbread, the frosting and all the trimmings for Carly until she turned 14 and decided she was too old to be making candy houses.  After making at least 10 gingerbread houses, a rational person would think I would have a ton of pictures to look back on that time...but you would be wrong!  I swear I took some, can even picture some of those frosting covered houses in my head, but I could not find one single picture of the actual houses themselves.  Bad mother.  I must have been too busy cleaning up after the sticky event to bring out the camera...at least that is the excuse I am going with.

Carly is 22 now, way beyond making a gingerbread house with me, but it wouldn't be Christmas without at least attempting a gingerbread house, so I got to work with my papers, embossing folders, die and stamps to create a mess-free gingerbread house.
                                                               The outside of the house.
                                                      Opening up the doors of the house.
The inside of the house with the sentiment.

This project is made with all Lil Inker Designs.  I laid out all of my Lil Inker dies and started picking and choosing any one that could even remotely be used to make my house.  Here's a list of the dies and stamps I used:

House Base: Stitched Mat Square and Stitched Mat Rectangles (the square is turned on its side to create the roof.
The icing on the roof:  Stitched Scallop Border Die
Bow on top of house:  Christmas Bits Die Set
Heart Window:  Of the Heart Die Set
Window Curtains:  Stitched Sentiment  Flag Die
Holly/Berry Trim: Holly Jolly Die Set
Christmas Trees: Holly Jolly Die Set
Stars on Christmas Trees:  Balloon Dies
Gingerbread Men:  Christmas Bits Die Set
Gumdrops on the inside of the card: Holly Jolly Die Set
Jolly Sentiment:  JollyWord Die
Stamped Sentiments:  Jolly and Joyful Sentiments; Instant Camera Christmas Stamp Set

I am entering my little house into 4, yes, FOUR different challenges...three of them new to me.  First, Craft a Scene where the challenge is to create a Winter scene with an option to make it a tri-fold card.  The second is Winter Wonderland Challenge  where the challenge is to use any kind of embossing.  The roof of my gingerbread house is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The third is for Christmas Card Challenges where all you have to do is make a Christmas card...how easy is that? The last is ColourQ#219 and a challenge that was a lucky surprise for me, all my gingerbread colors matched with this weeks challenge.


Thanks for taking a look at my house...I would love to see some pictures of any gingerbread houses you may have made with your kids, I am certain at least a few people managed to get some pictures!


23 comments:

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

OMYGOSH!! This is just adorable!!!!!!!!!

Toni said...

This is amazing! You did a great job.

Tracey McNeely said...

Stop--pick jaw up off the floor! Cathy! You have totally and completely knocked this house out of the park! Wow what a fantastic display of so many LI dies and yummy goodness. This is such a winter wonderland project!

Joyce said...

You are getting better and better. This is just amazing. If they don't hire you at Lil Inkers, then they are just nuts. I love all the amazing touches--you really thought of everything, even curtains, for heaven's sake. This one needs to be on display somewhere.

D- said...

Oh my goodness this is ADORABLE!
You did a wonderful job on this sweet gingerbread house. TFS.
Thanks for the sweet comment on my card today.
Crafty hugs,
D~
DesignsByDragonfly.blogspot

downrightcrafty said...

gorgeous embossing and a great entry to our Winter Wonderland Challenge
Hugs Kate xx
PS I have new candy if you are interested :)

Lisa Elton said...

Shut the front door!!! Cathy this the absolute cutest thing! Love every little detail , especially your cute and creative curtains! I could go on and on...AND ON!!! You are my paper gingerbread house hero!

Kara said...

sooo cute! love the sugary candies!

Marybeth said...

Ditto to everything that everyone else said Cathy! I am telling you LID needs you on their DT. This is the most adorable Gingerbread house I have ever seen. Such adorable detail!
Taking pictures was not as easy as it is now days… I hardly have any when my girls were little.. I was too busy.

Bonnie said...

What a wonderful creation, Cathy! I love it and appreciate having such a pretty gingerbread house without the mess! I'll bet your daughter will want to recreated the gingerbread house tradition with her children!

Renee said...

How stinkin' adorable!!
Love the sugared candies...
and the gingey's...
the whole thing!
So much detail you could almost eat it! :)

Sharron said...

OMG, this is SO adorable! Went back a couple of times just to be sure I didn't miss anything. All of the details are so wonderful. And look at all of the LI products--they really need you on the Design Team!

Pippin said...

What a lovely gingerbread house! It's a great idea. Thanks for joining us at Craft a Scene this month.
Pia/DT

Dora said...

gorgeous card!
thank you for joining at craft a scene this month.

Michelle said...

Cathy, this is so super cool!! :-) It has made me smile!

Jeanne J. said...

Over the top crazy good Cathy (that's as good as it gets on my rating scale HAHA!!) WOW! Smitten here - need to go back in for another peek. Love the glittery candy accents, the pennant drapes - gosh EVERYTHING about this. Great photography too - I liked peeking in the doors as they open slowly!

Alanna said...

Oh WOW Cathy, this is just too cute for words. I love that you've continued your tradition of making a gingerbread house.

Thanks for sharing it with us at Christmas Card Challenges this week.

Claire said...

Oh wow - this is so gorgeous...all those beautiful touches like the blinds in the windows are just amazing. I'm afraid I've never even attempted a gingerbread house...which means I'm a way worse mum than you lol! Thanks for playing along at Colour Q this week!

Lisa Elton said...

Just went back to the CQC gallery and realized I forgot to thank you for joining us at the ColourQ this week...so thanks Cathy!!

Sue's Crafty Corner said...

I love your gingerbread house, it's lovely. Thanks for joining us at Craft A Scene this month.

Sue x

Maria said...

Fab card with gingerbreads inside and out! I just LOVE this card to bits...so SWEET!

Gisela said...

WOW!!! This is way too cute, so many details. Great job.

Jill Norwood said...

Cathy I just want to pin every single card you make!!!! This is incredible!!! Love all the sweet details!!!!!!! :)