Make Table Centerpieces That Are Beautiful
It would definitely take more than a paragraph to describe what it took to make that gingerbread house. After multiple trips to the dollar store for candy, the hobby store for glue sticks and cake decorating stuff and even the home improvement store for a piece of plywood for the base we were well on our way. Oh wait, we did have to go to the grocers to pick up some odds and ends that were unavailable at the dollar store. Ashleigh started by constructing the general shape of the gingerbread house out of styrofoam blocks. The glue gun burned holes in the foam so we found using marshmallow fluff to make things stick together worked best. We carved, filed and cut the foam to the shapes we needed. Lots of mess to be done outside. Once that was done we used more fluff to attach graham crackers all around the house because it was after all, a gingerbread house. Once that was accomplished we started hot gluing, yes I said hot gluing, LOTS AND LOTS of Necco wafers to the roofs of the house to show "slate". Constantly looking at the image of the house online we determined that other details required more Necco wafers- the shingles for the second story facade. All of the "wood siding", which was pink in the movie was done with hot gluing bubble gum tape around the house. The front first level was made with layers of multi-colored taffy to show other colorful siding textures. The windows were made from blue taffy and were lined with white candy sticks (you know the kind- they used to sell them to look like cigarettes with a red tip at the end when we were little). For the porch we made the floor out of hershey bar to show wood planks and used pretzel sticks both large and small for the railing and beams. The door was also made out of hershey bar. The balloons (my favorite part) was by far the most effective piece and the quickest to make. I just took a few pieces of foam and glued them together although now thinking about it I'm not sure how they stuck together so well since the glue kept melting holes into the other pieces of styrofoam for the house. Once the pieces were glued together I cut and sanded the foam down (using a handheld garlic grater-hey I used what I had!) to an oval shape. Placing the "balloons" in was quite easy. Ashleigh suggested using Dum Dums and cutting the stick at an angle so it would pierce the styrofoam easily. We layered the Dum Dums to give the balloon a really full effect. The grass was made easily too. We just covered a large piece of styrofoam (that was placed on top of the plywood) with marshmallow fluff and covered the fluff with food-colored shredded coconut. To cover up any unsightly graham cracker seams I just used similar-toned taffy. For kicks I sculpted a little character from the movie, Russell, out of styrofoam balls covered with taffy. I added small details like the mailbox and Mr. Frederickson's cane out of taffy and wire. Oh, and Ashleigh built the fence completely out of those same white candysticks. Aside from the styrofoam shapes and glue gun everything was made out of completely edible material. At first I thought we bit off more than we could chew but once we realized we should focus on making the house look awesome it took off the stress of making everything from the movie like ALL the characters and the Paradise Falls scene.It was definitely a great creative outlet for us but it took most of two days. Elisa had fun helping unwrap the candy for us but didn't enjoy not being included in hot gluing the candy to the house. Ashleigh took it yesterday to DC and it will grace the National Institute of Health solarium for about a month with all the other Gingerbread House entries. We'll find out on the 18th if we placed or not. Gotta run. Catherine H. and Ashleigh H. Do You Have Gorgeous Table Centerpieces You Made?
If you make table centerpieces, we want to see them! After you make table centerpieces, and have your feast, you'll have leftovers.
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