A bit of construction work

Wow, what a lovely house! Do the penguins live there, or are they just visitors?

can i have one of the xmas pud chimney pots please..love the penguins..I can see you have been busy building it...but i bet it wont take long to demolish it..lol :o)

Oh that's lovely Sticki...how long did this take you to do?

not very long franny, just fancied having a go!
not sure how long the penguins will stay jennyfer and yes joanella there are plenty of chimney pot puddings for you!

That is brilliant Sticki - did you make it yourself?

yes, sheila, it wasnt difficult.

Gingerbread and Christmas ..spot on.

i thought so too pimpernel :)

You have far more patience than me!

didnt take long!!

you have more patience than me with plants ~ and photos!!!

that is fabulous Sticki, you have real talent there. :-)

surreylad you are much too kind, it was really not difficult. and i can see lots of mistakes.
shame i havent got any children here to share it with
:-(

i bought the chocolate trees!!

Sticki, congratulation and welcome among masons :)
These penguins are so cuuuuuuuute. How did you make them?

i bought the penguins katarina, they are plastic. wish i could make such things. i put them on my christmas cake last year!!!

windows now ready to go in!!!

All I can say is Mmmmmmmmmm!

Thanks sunrose, I'm having trouble with the windows!!

Me thinks the tiles that are missing might be in someones tum!!!

try sugar Sticki my mum used to make sugar windows melt the sugar and pour into a square mould but thinly...

I have done that Surreylad, thank you but I'm having trouble making them stick to the inside of the Walls. I should have made the 'glass' at the same time as the ginger bread - one of those things - will be improved next time! If you chop up a boiled sweet and put it in the oven with the biscuit mix, in the gap for the window it melts and then hardens looking like glass.

Maybe if I had made it thinner it would have been lighter and easier, haven't done that bit before!

GM my OH said the same thing but (for once) it wasn't true, there are two packets worth of giant chocolate buttons on one side of the roof! I thought that would have been enough for all the roof!

THat is totally cool as!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done Sticki!
I love it! :)))))))

Thanks pixi, has your Santa hat gone?

omg yeah strraight after that pic was taken! haha

:-)

That looks great,Sticki..well done..It takes me back a bit to whenI used to make them for my daughters birthdays. only with jelly diamonds for roof tiles..and a garden with dyed green coconut for a lawn..nice to try and do something different,isn't it ? ..well done..:o)

thanks bloomer, having had 2 boys this wasnt so appropriate so i thought i would try!! i was going to do the green coconut then thought the white was more like snow!!
used to do things like a volcano cake for sons!!

i made a postman pat cake for Sarah when she was 4..lol all the kids went home with blue teeth!

thats really funny.
i made one of those too once i think. did he have a blue van?

Sticki, what is new with the gingerbread cottage? Has it windows and more sophisticated roof?

Blue uniform and a red van! lol
Postman Pat Postman Pat
Postman Pat ran over his cat!
All the fur went flying
Postman Pat was crying
Postman Pat was not a happy man
lol

Lol..:o)

He haw!

That's great pixi, made me laugh

Don't think there are any changes katarina?

That is Sooooo Beautiful, Sticki! Who could dare to start eating it?
I was making a dark chocolate cake the other day, went to answer the 'phone and there was a little pussycat pawprint in the icing when I got back. 6 little innocent furry faces looking at me from the sofa. I didn't say anything, but Santa and his reindeer got moved slightly to the left.........OH and Daughter still have no idea.

thats really funny. i would have done exactly the same gattina, it wont hurt them!!!

it doesnt look quite as good now, i moved it a few times to try to stick the windows in [they wouldnt stick] so one or two walls are not so straight any more ~ better get some cavity walling installed i think!!

That is one brill house, love it.

WHat kind of boiled sweet do you use Sticki? I have to try this! I woudnt mind the recipe for it all. :) and if I burn it , it could be a haunted house lol!

thanks clarice

any that is a clear and see through but with a colour pixi ~ not sure what they are called. i cant find a picture, sorry.

haunted house would be very good!!

i made the ginger bread bit out of a shortbread type recipe ~ 6 oz plain flour, 3 oz light brown sugar then rub in 4 oz butter, stir in 1 tsp all spice or mixed spice and half tsp of ginger. mix to a dough, roll out and cut 2 roof pieces, 2 sides and a front and a back. cook on about 150 - 160 C for about 12 mins.
stick together using icing sugar.

SO nothing in the middele then?
I googled and most clear ones are mints..guess you could use barley sugar or something like that too?
SO jsut chop it up and place in window frame then?and it malets to fit?
Mus t try this soon..ok i dont want to burn it ..do you get black or grey food colouring lol?hanuted house sounds cool!

You could make closed wooden shutters out of choc or more Gingerbread ?

nice idea again pimpernel, at the moment i darent put anything else on, it might fall over!! piping them on might have worked too.

no pixi sadly its empty but you could put a little box of sweets in or some toy figures??
there used to be clear sweets ~ not mint ~ fox's might make a fruit version?? i shall look tomorrow. you chop them up into small pieces and lie them in the space where the window would be ~ before baking, as you bake the gingerbread the sweets melt and look like glass.

Do spangles still exist..they would do ?

thats the sort but i dont think they do pimpernel,

pixi im sure they sell any sort of food colouring ~ you could use cocoa for brown or mix up colours just like painting!!

pimpernel have you ever read the nigel slater book 'toast' he talks about lots of the food and sweets that have disappeared,

Hi Sticki, Love it, may i live there? so i could eat sweets allday long Yummy :))))))))))))))

I like Nigel Slater's cooking style..nice fresh and simple

oh yes sue you can!! so long as you dont mind the drafts!! no carpet either!!

APparantly you get Spangles in USA!
I know the ones you mean Sticki..would be good to do stained glass! lol how on earth would you do that!
Well if I used cocoa powder it would be brown it would need to be dark grey..I could out charcoal in it but then it would taste bleh! lol
Actually you made me think there..at classes they arent allowed to use black..so if i mixed up green red and blue and maybe purple it would prolly be black..omg I'm not gonna eat it tho hehe!

http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/powdered-food-color-set-7-colors/p/IN0266/
just found this!

or maybe you could simply burn it???!!!

the stained glass window bit is like this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stainedglasswindowbi_87505

Squid ink Pixi...Lots of black minimal flavour..

ah, of course well done pimpernel, thats what they use in pasta.

Oh right!!!!!!!! Gawd that site is amazing..its incredible what you can buy! lol

EW it comes from near its rectum! Ewwwwwwwwww

yukky!!!!! dont fancy that any more.

Lol...Pixi..There is not one pretty part of a squid...

nor slugs.

Looks very inviting, and quite delicious, well done you.

thank you DD, have to make windows next time!!

this would work for the stained glass pixi

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-4333-Waitrose+clear+fruits

Say nothing about cochineal

i know what its made from!!!

even it's...

WHAT???? i dont think i want to know.

never liked pink anyway.

I use beetroot.

thats a good idea, my mum once painted the ceiling with beetroot by mistake ~ the pressure cooker exploded!!

Oh yeah they would be perfect! :)
oh yeah i always froget that..not that i use foos colouring veryoften.
lol Sticki!!!!! Cheap way to paint it tho eh?

This is the new splatteering effect!

Could look like a crime scene!

Not if you wash up..

LOL!

Suppose!

Could have been a masterpiece,Sticki..look at Michael Angelo ! Lol.

Yes, Bloomer, but not on the ceiling.....Oh, I dunno, though..........

If you look close enough.. maybe just a tinge? ..:o))

Heheh!

.

no ceilings in this house ~ only the roof!!

haha paint it! have a paint party lol
I wasnt to paint my hall in stairs off white and get various students to come along and do some paintings on it..leasung into one antoher lol.//prolly wont happen tho :)

would be interesting ~ then you could open to the public and charge??!!

That's amazing Stickitoffee!!!

not really but i have thought how to make it better if i make another.
thanks though paul

it is awesome - in my favs anyway :)))))

oh, thank you!!

Haha good idea! lol

;-)

It looks great Sticki, reminds me of the Hansel and Grettle house in the fairy story, Clever you and Well Done !!

thank you PP, good thing you cant see it in every detail ~ there are a few gaps in it!!!

i like that story.

great work sticki, shame to eat it :o)

i dont think it will be that good to eat really sanbaz, especially as i have left it out in the kitchen for a few days!!

Well done, Sticki, a great bit of DIY and cookery combined :) It looks great and would make a great birthday cake too at any time of the year.

it would Gee!! fun to make too!

Just seen this Sticki, it's lovely (I suppose was lovely now!)

funny you should say that ~ just eating the last piece of the wall!!

whats the expression? 'im so hungry i could eat a house' ~ oh, no i think its a horse and i am getting to be the size of a house!!??

Lol! I know the feeling!

:-))

Just catching up on blogs and pics love this one Sticki you are clever:)

I can't do mosaics like you can nana!

Fantastic Sticki your talents are boundless. Do polo do fruits as well as mints.

They used to, not sure if they still do? Which bit were you thinking of putting them on?

Wish I could make furniture like you can!

Ah thank you Sticki but I cannot eat my mosaics your art looks yummy:)

i think i did an edible mosaic a while ago!!? i can manage those!!