I started out thinking I'd make a nice, edible house for my younger cousins. The architecture was inspired by the Wyandotte historical museum nearby. Once I started though, it spun into a 3 day project with dozens, (counting the tweezer-placed pearls, hundreds) of time consuming details, although almost the entire 1st evening I was constructing it, was spent cutting the gingerbread with a serrated steak knife since I had no template and little idea of what the end product would even look like. Needles to say, I deiced to tell everyone it was inedible, for show only. I don't know if I could stand watching someone else at MY FIRST gingerbread house.