Follow this Instructable to create your own Gingerbread Man Yard Bad gingerbread house. I love decorating my house for Christmas.
This year, I wanted to add some decorations to the front yard. Rather than buying an inflatable Santa like the neighbors, I decided to create my own custom lawn decorations. I made a total of four gingerbread men and customized each one to match each family member. Instructable to make your own creation for any season. I am not an artist by any means. And to come up with a creative design, you don’t have to be either. I used a gingerbread outline I found on the internet.
From there, I sketched A LOT of different ideas until I found the one I liked best. More on why the graph paper is important in the next step. In this Instructable there are two sizes of gingerbread men. A larger one to represent the parents and smaller one for the kids. Please feel free to use my drawings and sketches if you like. Transfer sketches from graph paper to fullsize cardboard template or directly to plywood.
This is why the graph paper comes in handy. Draw a scaled down grid on the graph paper over your Gman sketch. I used 5 squares on the graph paper equals 6 inches on the cardboard. Now hand draw in each square on the cardboard what is represented in the corresponding grid on the paper sketch.
This is just a simple way to scale up your drawing. Don’t worry about the interior detail of the Gman. You just need the outline for cutting. I used a drafting compass to make the heads a perfect circle. Note: You can skip the cardboard step and transfer sketches directly to the plywood. But, the cardboard templates were nice to have to trace onto the plywood, and it gave the kids something to paint and color afterwards. First, a discussion about the plywood.
The Home Depot cut the plywood in half both ways making four equal pieces measuring 2′ x 4′. These are the squares that I used to make each gingerbread man. Place cardboard Gman template on top of smooth side of plywood. Trace around cardboard with pencil onto plywood. Again, you only need to worry about the outline at this point, not the details. Transfer that detail to the plywood at this time. Sand the surface and edges to eliminate any splinters.
You can do this by hand or machine. I used an orbital sander to make quick work of the flat surfaces and a vibrating mouse sander for the edges. Note: After building the Gmen, I would recommend using a thicker plywood. 4″ has a tendency to bow a little bit. I had to attach extra reinforcement on the back to correct this.
It also made it difficult to attach anything to the back because there is not much to screw into. 8″ or thicker would be better. Time to pick your favorite gingerbread brown. I would suggest checking the mistints and dented cans at your local home improvement store. You can usually get all kinds of ugly browns there. But as a background color for this project, it might just work. Remember these will be outside so the more paint the better.
This will take some time because you have to paint one side and let it dry before you can flip it over and paint the back. Depending on your detail, this is the part that takes the most time. Lightly with pencil, begin sketching on the painted plywood the details of each of the Gmen. After all the detail painting, seal the Gmen with appropriate sealer. UPDATED NOTE: I first used Minwax Polyurethane because I had some in the garage. After a few weeks of outdorr displaying, It turned all the lighter colors yellow.