UP Inspired Gingerbread House for Big Brothers, Big Sisters Auction

[LawrenceKSRealEstate]

Hope you enjoy my Gingerbread version of Carl's house from the Disney/Pixar movie UP.  It was donated to support Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Douglas County in Lawrence, KS.  There is a link at the bottom where more photos and construction details can be found.


Here is our gingerbread UP house from the Disney/Pixar movie up.


I added a small modeling chocolate Carl before the auction.


 I used real balloons, everything else is edible.


A lot of people liked the hose for some reason... It was made from raw gingerbread colored green.


Here are some of the gum-paste fence posts as they are drying.  I made a cookie cutter from a small cross cookie cutter to cut them out.


Each member of our family makes a house for the auction each year.  You can see some of the walls here waiting for the oven and some of the shingles (made from gum-paste) drying as I cut out more fence posts.  My daughter is working on her house in this photo also.








You can see more images of the project with details about the construction, please check out our page about it here:Gingerbread UP House

[thief]

"This rocks!"
This is really awesome.. Up was such a cute movie. I love that you added balloons. Fan-freaking-tastic.

[funkensteins]

WOW!!!!! Totally awesome! I love it. You did a great job! -Casey

[LawrenceKSRealEstate]

I had mixed feelings about the balloons, I knew they were necessary and I wanted real balloons but the fact they were not edible bothered me, so I am glad you enjoyed them.

I have to say, during the auction, the house was presented by carrying it around the room so people could see it up close.  The way the balloons moved made it really feel like it was flying around the room suspended from them... I found great satisfaction in the visual, even though the balloons were not edible.

I also like how the movie paired up with the idea behind Big Brothers, Big Sisters with Carl stepping up at the end to be there for Russell.

[lisalady161]

Wonderful. You nailed it!

[craftewoman]

WOW! Incredible. I love the chocolate Carl.

[SewIn2Disney]

Excellent---it is so neatly done and very professional looking!  Wonderful job---and you are right---it is a perfect fit for Big Brothers/Big Sisters!

[Rajawa]

Four outta five, 'cause you missed out a special little thing.

An important part of their home was the mailbox, with the pair of painted hand prints.

Love the movie, excellent cake.

[DanaB]

That's intense! What a great house. I saw on another blog somewhere, someone had crafted an UP house and they used a foam ball and covered it with jelly beans for the bunch of balloons. Not completely edible, but still cool.

[LawrenceKSRealEstate]

Rajawa, the mail box is there next to the gate on the fence, can you see it? I admit I did not put the hand-prints on it however... also it's not made with any cake, it's made out of gingerbread... there is no cake in it at all...

The structure is 100% gingerbread with gum-paste shingles, siding and bricks.

The yellow fish-scale shingles on the front dormer were made from fondant (they were the first set and I realized that they were too soft and fragile, but admittedly would have tasted better, but I decided to switch to gum-paste for the rest).

The grass was coconut, baked until it was golden brown and crispy.  It was colored with food coloring then mixed in a blender until it was a powder.

Windows were made from gelatin sheets and window covering (drapes) were made from rice paper colored with food coloring pens.

Royal Icing was used to hold it all together.

The foundation and doors were all gingerbread with markings sprayed on with an air brush and black food coloring.

I tried to make it as close to the original as I could, none of my reference photos showed the hand-prints on the mail box...

This was my first gingerbread house that used gum-paste, air brushing, gelatin sheets and rice paper.

Next time I'll get it right!