8:19 AM

A Valentine Gingerbread Village

Hey there! Yesterday I was at home in the middle of a small snowstorm. It really wasn’t that bad but since the forecast was for the storm to come right when the kids were in school, my town and all the towns around me decided to call no school the night before. Therefore, we were all hunkered down and able to enjoy the snowfall. It was beautiful really. I took that time to work on a Valentine project and now I am going to share it with you!

My husband gave me this gingerbread village kit for Christmas, and I totally intended to make it in January. You know, to stay with a winter theme. Well as many of you may know if you follow this blog, January turned out to be busier than I ever would have expected. Not wanting to waste the kit, I decided to repurpose it and change it to a Valentine Gingerbread Village, and I cannot be happier with my decision!

In planning to make the village, my first thought was that I HAD to have those cinnamon candy hearts they sell at this time of year. To my disbelief, I could not find the hearts anywhere. CVS told me they had gotten a very small shipment and were sold out immediately. So, I purchased them through Amazon and had to buy way more than I ever would need. The cinnamon candy hearts were the only added elements I thought I would need. I was wrong. I ended up buying more frosting because the frosting supplied in the kit was only so, so. It was not in a tube with a tip, making it hard to manage. I also wish I had purchased a few more embellishments for the houses once I started decorating them. However, by then it was afternoon. I had already done my errands for the day and didn’t want to go out again.

I started by gluing the houses together with hot glue. We were not planning on eating the village. I didn’t think there was any way the village could have been edible at this point but, man! did the cookies smell divine! Hot glue was the most efficient way to put the houses together. It makes them very sturdy.

I glued the houses together on Tuesday, planned on decorating them on Wednesday and photographing the result on Thursday while the snow was falling. This is exactly what I did. I must confess, I did most of the decorating of the houses while on a long phone call with a friend. This could explain some of the sloppy frosting lines. Haha. It is still always worth it to talk to your friends :).

I liked that each of the houses was completely unique and different from the others. They reminded me of chalets in a Swiss village.

Especially, this one.

Once I got going I was disappointed that I hadn't gotten more embellishments for the houses, as I have already mentioned. I found some multi-colored sprinkles in the cabinet and even though the colors were not entirely Valentine in nature I used them anyway to add more interest to the houses.

Each roof had an engraved pattern that was unique to the house. I added my own spin to each one.

When all the houses were done. I let them sit for the night to have the frosting firm up.

The next day was for “styling” the village.

Since I had sooo many cinnamon candy hearts I decided to make a walkway to two of the

houses with them.

I found some sparkly Valentine hearts in my attic stash and used them to create the scene, as well.

I also used tissue paper to make the "snow" for the village. I scattered more candy hearts on the snow, as well. Why not? I still have sooo many of them :)!

The whole village was built on a glass pedestal stand. I find these creations make much better centerpieces if they are elevated.

I did my best to add detailing to the houses but, my hand was not as steady as it could have been,

as you can see.

Even with my lack of skill in this area I cannot be deterred. You may not know this about me but, I LOVE decorating gingerbread houses! I am not very good at it but, I love it, nonetheless.

My daughter, Amanda, has generously hosted a gingerbread house decorating "time" for the family over the past few years. It is so much fun! It's messy and she buys most of the supplies. She really is thoughtful. Unfortunately, she had lots going on this year with four children and a husband who was celebrating a milestone birthday. Time simply went too quickly. She wasn’t able to host the gingerbread party this year.

This is why I am grateful to my husband for giving me this gingerbread kit. It was a fun project in the middle of the winter and one I can enjoy for the month of February.