Todays doodles are Myras personal Horse Acting Guide! 🐴
DISCLAIMER: im not a horse expert, but i’ve been hobby riding for 13 years and read some books through the years, so it’s just my personal experience. I dont know everything and people have different ways!
once had friends mercilessly fail three attempts at making me a birthday cake before realizing they’d been using diatomaceous earth in lieu of flour the whole time
I gasped with greater intensity than I ever have in my life
Happy New Year, Folks! I’m pleased to announce the winners of this (past) year’s McGingerbread Hell Gingerbread House Competition!!
First off, I cannot find the words to say how much joy each and every entry to this competition has brought me. Every single one of the participants put their 100% best McMansion Hell face on and the results were charming, hilarious, and, if we’re being punny here, downright sweet. This may be the best idea this blogger has ever had.
Second, let me say that the when I say the competition was fierce, I mean, it was fierce. So much so that I drafted the fellow judgement of two of my favorite colleagues, my literary agent Caroline Eisenmann, and fellow architecture critic/Editor of Chicago Architect Magazine Anjulie Rao to help me narrow the 43 contestants down to 8.
Just a note: Last names of the winners have been abbreviated for privacy reasons. If you would like your full name to be published instead, please email mcgingerbreadhell@gmail.com with your preferred name.
We’re going to start our line up with the 5 honorable mentions in alphabetical order, after which there will be a break to take those of you scrolling through this on the dashboard to the full article where the top 3 McMansions will be revealed.
Without further ado…
Honorable Mention #5 : Manoir de emporte-pièce by Anya D.
The judges were impressed by the whimsy, creativity and finely detailed execution of Anya’s house. Caroline summed it up best: “what else is a McMansion if not a bunch of smaller houses wrapped into one package?”
Anya writes:
Hi I’m Anya and I’m 12. I made my Gingerbread house from Gingerbread I mixed and baked myself. The house shapes came from a cookie cutter. It’s held together with royal icing frosting I made. The shingles are almonds and the house off to the side is the dog house and has candy dog bones on it. The “lights” on parts of it are candy balls. I hope you like it!
Honorable Mention #4: AMAZING Custom Home with Quality Features by Sydney E.
The judges were impressed by the house’s fine craftsmanship, attention to detail (especially the peppermint columns, the gumdrop crenellations, and the chandelier in the back) and great sense of humor. Anjulie remarked: “Love the inclusion of the nuclear family.” What really had us in stitches was Sydney’s wonderfully rich description, especially this part:
“…You’ll know you’re living in the lap of luxury when you see the ENORMOUS GOLD CHANDELIER in the dining room. But it’s the ROOFTOP PATIO with no discernible purpose or point of entry that will really set you apart from your neighbors. “Hey, how did you get up there?” they’ll ask, but you’re not telling (mysterious!).
The landscaping will make you feel like you’re in the countryside, in a sea of royal icing TURF GRASS (shown here, lightly dusted with coconut snow). The FOUR TREES on the property are either too far from the house to provide any shade (stately!) or extremely close to the house and actively obscuring at least one window (posh!). The entire house, the front walk, and the driveway are all bordered in royal icing ENGLISH IVY, which is definitely never going to be a problem for native plants (colonial!).”
Honorable Mention #3: Suburban Hobbit House by Jennifer K. & Cara M.
The judges were impressed by the difficulty of execution in Jennifer and Cara’s house, especially the dome, the cleverness of using almonds as cladding, and the hilariously barren “asphalt” lawn complete with soul patch. Kate remarked: “Pretty sure I saw this exact house in Bergen County, New Jersey.”
Jennifer and Cara wrote about their house:
Made of solid gingerbread in shape of skulls (had the pans), graham crackers, lots of icing, nuts, chocolate, a candy cane, grape tic-tacs, decorator sprinkles, butter-rum Lifesavers, fondant, Tootsie Rolls, and a loaf of rosemary bread. Round center mass house with back porch nub, two wings, a charming turret. We totally meant for it to look this way.
Honorable Mention #2: European Charme by Núria O.
The judges were very impressed with the fine detailing (such as the columns, balustrades, and front door), the crisp, clean execution of the design, and total commitment to the McMansion Aesthetic™ from front to rear, including the completely barren lawn.
Núria describes the house in finely practice Realtor-ese:
Beautiful gazillion-square-feet chalet featuring lots of personality and European flair. This cozy 4-bedroom, 10-bathroom cottage is made of sturdy construction-grade tan-beige gingerbread from top to bottom. Roof plates are structurally tinted, not painted, ensuring a durable color that will last until the last crumble is eaten. Windows glazing is made of gelatine sheets coated with black-coloured blueberry jam to ensure privacy as you lounge by the bay window or enjoy the views from the beautiful faux-balcony.
All doors are solid gum paste, with royal icing on all window frames as well as the balustrade. This home is ideal for entertaining, with its luxurious two-story entrance featuring genuine Spanish _neula_ columns with doric capitals, ornated pediment and a quaint half-tindered wall that gives true European _charme_. Utilities are housed in a lovely turret next to the service door. The garage accomodates two SUVs or six European sedan cars. The magnificent brown-sugar-paved front yard features icing plants and a signature landscaped crushed-sprinkle turf patch on cookie soil. The same type of grass was used in the large, sunny backyard which also has a patio area.
Honorable Mention #1: Existential Crisis on 34th Street by Caitlin R.
The judges were very impressed by the house’s clever use of different baking materials and attention to detailing, especially in the icing work. Kate was especially excited by the rounded gingerbread turret, and Anjulie loved the “Existential Crisis” detail and monumental marshmallow columns. The description had Caroline especially in stitches.
Caitlin describes the house:
This nine-bedroom mansion is made from the most exquisite of gingerbreads. Lovingly handmade from scratch, and crafted by local artisans, it’s ready for your own sweet family. Grecian inspired columns impose your might on the neighborhood, while a pebble-clad tower with bay windows adds a touch of country charm. Architectural details include a ‘stonework’ wall and chimney, sweet dormer windows, and a luxurious back porch. A myriad of windows let light into this expanded historic house - the original building dates all the way back to 1982! Come by today, and soon you’ll be calling this three-and-a-half story, Greco-Chateauesque Italian Revival Americana, 18,600 square foot mansion - home!
Now on to the TOP 3 PRIZEWINNING HOUSES!
It all comes down to this. It was stiff competition through and through, and the judges deliberated long and hard about who the top 3 spots should go to. Each house showed tremendous ability in craftsmanship, detailing, and McMansion Engineering. Without further ado:
Q:Hi, do you happen to know where I may find some information on how one could make the background/enviroment in RPG Maker without needing tiles? I feel like making tiles is a cumbersome task, whereas the alternative seems a little less stress inducing. Thank you very much!
You can draw anything you want! And wherever! Just keep in mind the placement and the layers. (Layers are particularly important if characters can walk under something!)
Here are some trees I made beforehand!
With Tilesets, you just need to take the tiles and just place them wherever you want (with placement in mind)!
Here’s the map with the trees! (I edited the tree tilesets via cutting off their stumps, and for the background trees, I did an overlay of darker colors.)
Either method is fine. Just REMEMBER PLACEMENT (and layers!).
5: Background Color
If you don’t choose a background color for your map, and it is transparent, RPG Maker will make it black on default! (When you press “Play!”)
(In the example above, the bg color was chosen.)
And Black is totally okay!
6: Lighting
Lightning is SO important. It can CHANGE a map! It conveys time (daytime? nighttime?), warmth (warm colors versus cool), and feelings and emotions (unease, anxiety, safety, sadness, etc.!).
Lighting can transform a map!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
(In some, backgrounds were changed, along with adding flowers!)
Look how different they look from the first example! And you can play with textures too! (They’re fun and great!)
And you can do so much more! (I’m a complete novice! So looking for other examples + tutorials would be really beneficial!)
For Lighting, using the Overlay Layer helps! (You can play with various settings too like Luminosity!)
Hi, I'm Catterfly! This is my reblogbloge, where I put all the things I'd like to reblog instead of cluttering up my main, which can be found here!
If I've reblogged something REALLY OLD of yours, that's because I'm in the process of going through my 150k+ likes to find things I wanted to reblog but didn't.
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