Absolutely stunning! You figured out how to solve some of the problems that eluded me (like the fence). Fantastic detail. I'm glad it did so well.

I'm a gingerbread hack but I had a great time making the "Up" house and clearly you did too. Well done. I'm so impressed with your CLEAN detailing and I LOVE the Chocolate Carl.

Our house ended up in a bidding war and eventually sold for $800. I guess we both picked the right theme this year!

Thanks for the comments Cynthia,

The fence was something I was worried about but Tanya had been making them for her houses in past years so I knew it could be done.

To make the fence, I decided I was not up to piping the fence posts with royal icing as Tanya had in the past. I made gum-paste and modified a cross shaped cookie-cutter to look like the fence posts. It was a quick way to make identical posts very quickly. I let them dry overnight, flipping them once to make sure they did not stick (I always lay out parchment paper under materials I roll out to help prevent sticking).

Then I used a pizza cutter and just cut some long strips for the rails... they are fragile so you have to make more than you think you need...

The final step is to take the fence posts and lay them out upside down (face down) evenly spaced, then apply your royal icing to them where they intersect the rails...
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...continued

gently push down to secure the rails to the posts.

Every 4 or so posts, add another fence post face up on-top of the rail (sandwich the rail between the bottom face down fence post and the new face up fence post) On a real fence you could think of these as sturdy 4x4 posts.

Let it dry overnight and you should be able to stand the fence upright in the morning. The double posts should allow it to stand on its own so it should be easy to secure to your base.

One important note... if you are securing a fence to the base, make sure you use a VERY sturdy base that WILL NOT BOW or BEND or your fence will shatter when you move the gingerbread house. Double your base if necessary or slip a piece of plywood under it like a big spatula when moving your house to prevent breakage from the base bending.

I was just passing through crafster and saw the photo of your amazing house. My daughters and I loved the movie and thought your house was too adorable. They now want an Up playhouse! I can't bake a thing, but would love to try this little house. Your craft is stunning!

Cat

I was online looking for toys from the movie Up when I ran across your adorable gingerbread house. My son is just crazy about the movie and I have been trying to figure out how to make one myself. I wont be making one out of gingerbread but I will be making one out of wood. Thank you, you have made such a wonderful house full of details and color along with a chocolate Carl. You should be so proud of the hard work you have done. I hope the one we make will look as beautiful as yours.

I just saw the movie and I found your blog through CRAFT blog. I just wanted to say, "AH-MAZING!!!"

Constructing complicated houses like this can be difficult if you do not plan ahead and have a good idea of exactly what you are building. I always start with a foam-core mock-up of the house and pull it apart and use the pieces as my templates for the gingerbread.

I generally look online for paper-craft versions of the building I want to construct and build the paper model as a reference first. From that point, I can decide how to adapt it into gingerbread and build my plans for the foam-core version.

As I construct the gingerbread version, I usually build it one cookie sheet at a time and test my templates against what is constructed before cutting more gingerbread in order to make sure they still fit where I expect them too, as gingerbread tends to shrink and deform quite a bit in the oven.

Fabulous!!

Such a visual and culinary delight! It looks delicious.

Wow -- and it only got second place? I want to see pics of first place!

absolutely AMAZING!
AND adorable :)
you guys did a magnificent job!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!
i like so much the gingrebread House, congratulations Greg. :)
Saludos desde Chile!

WOW! this is so awesome! great job!

This is INSANE! I made the most basic and tiny little gingerbread house recently and found it the most frustrating task requiring so much patience and a really delicate touch.
I honestly cannot even beging to imagine how you achieved it, but it is magical and really in the spirit of the film!

This is a truly incredible gingerbread house. Congratulations!!

Me en-can-ta!!
Enhorabuena!!
Impresionante trabajo y precioso acabado, además de perfecta elección del motivo.

That's awesome.

Hullo Greg,

What can I say, the house is just simply awesome! I decorate wedding cakes etc. and tried my hand at my first gingerbread house this Christmas. I can really appreciate how difficult and time consuming this project was - congratulations on finishing it and making a simply stunning job. I am sure you are very happy with it :) You are just amazing - such a good job.

I am in awe,
Heather

Just wanted to say that this is AMAZING! I'm actually doing a cake version of this for my sons 3rd bday complete with marshmallow balloons (hopefully lol) I was having alot of problems finding pictures of the house to reference until I found your gingerbread house! Needless to say you made a rather large task seem doable after I saw it has been accomplished (very well in fact) before. These pictures have been a lifesaver when it comes to ideas for making this cake come to life...

I just want to build such a house for my friend as a gift, I happend to see this cake house. It's really perfect and I love it very very much. I've already bought paper to build this,but not yet start, maybe in the future I'll construct wood one. I'm just wondering whether this cake has been eaten? :)

amazing one of a kind

Elize George
South Afrika

oh my gosh....this is sooooo good. i have never seen anyone do this good before. youre a pro

Just ran across your great little house! Our Relay For Life team is using the same house prototype because our theme is "UP Up and Away!" A family member built our (wood, playhouse size) house which will be raffled at the relay in August. I appreciate the time and effort you went to for your house; it's definately a winner! Hope ours is too!

Wow, amazing!