We've built more houses in the studio in the last year than I ever imagined possible. They've all been constructed with balloons. Of course, since we've been working on The Three Little Pigs, they've been balloon houses that looked like they were built out of straw, sticks and bricks. See some of our other blog posts to get a look at those.

With the kids home for a few extra days over Thanksgiving break, we decided to try our hand at building houses at home. Each kid made their own. Kelly and I worked together. This time, we put the balloons aside, spent more money on candy than I've ever spent at a single time on sweets, and proceded to build our gingerbread cottages. This was new for me. I've worked with a lot of materials. candy wasn't one of them.

Kelly and I never do things the easy way. We saw gingerbread house kits in the supermarket, but what fun is that? We started from scratch. A quick web search found us just the right architectural gingerbread and frosting recipes to build exactly the house we wanted. And not just any house, but an open doll house complete with cracker furniture and mini pastries. Here are a few quick shots of our first gingerbread house, made entirely with edible parts. No extra structural components were added.

Enjoy the pics, and come to the studio on First Friday (Dec 7, 6-9PM) to see it up close in person. We'll also have Rob Rogalski in our studio that night showing some of his work. Rob also builds some rather unique houses. Maybe we can get him to bring one of them to show off.