Sunday, February 28, 2010

Pretend cake shop gift set - Project 3

This took quite some time to stitch, I spent every night for a week infront of the TV sewing these yummy felt goodies as part of a pretend cake shop play set for a friend's daughter who had her birthday party yesterday. I am really pleased how it turned out, once again I used felt scraps I had lying around to create the yummy goodies and the birthday card. I bought the pink suitcase from the internet (as I wanted a plain non character one) and handpainted the three figures to represent the birthday girl and her two best friends baking cupcakes together. The big "card" on the right of the photo is a menu I made for the pretend cake shop, I handpainted the cupcake with acrylics and printed the menu on the back and laminated the menu for protection. Very happy with the result :-)

Birthday cupcake set - Project 2

Another project for this week was this lovely half a dozen cupcake set made for a little girl who turned 5 last Thursday. I was experimenting with different types of fondant and paste, trying to work out which was best for flowers, and which was best for figures. This batch was vanilla butter sponge with strawberry and vanilla buttercream topping. All the decorations were handmade and dusted with some fairy dust (edible glitter) It looked awsome and tasted even yummier (I made extra for my girls lol)
Close up of the pixie, I used gerbra cutters to make her dress. I need to experiment a bit more with the faces as I am getting tired of the same expressions lol


Baby cot mobile gift set - Project 1

This week, one of three projects I had going was this lovely gift set for a friends baby girl (Audrey) born on the 18th March, 5.5 pounds. The birdie mobile was part of the gift set, I love how it turned out in the end. I had a clear idea of what it was supposed to look like, and thrilled I managed to do it. The birdie pattern I used came from SKIP TO MY LOU, its so cute. I used some felt and fabric scraps I had lying around in shades of pink, blue, red and cream to create the birds. An embroidery hoop was used as the frame of the mobile and scrap ribbon tied around the frame hid the timber and added some colour and visual interest. Although I stuck to the colour scheme each ribbon has a different width, pattern and colour. The idea for the mobile came from THE RED THREAD blog
I whipped up a taggy blanket with some left over Sandi Henderson fabric and pink minky, stitched a birdie card with some fabric and watercolour paper and made the gift tag with ribbon to hang from the wrapped parcel. I was a bit cash poor but time rich so decided to use some of my fabric and paper stash to make these gifts.


Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day

This is what we made today, Sugar cookies with Royal icing.

Ingredients
4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
220 grams margarine or butter
2 cups white sugar
2 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the margarine and sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
Add flour mixture a few tablespoons at a time ; beat until well mixed.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
Roll out the dough and cut with favorite cookie cutters.
Place on cookie sheet and bake at 160 degrees for 15 min.

Kindy outfit #2

This is the 2nd outfit I made Imara for Kindy. The tiered skirt is made from Michael Miller Malibu stripe and ta-dot green and Alexander Henry Apples & Pears fabric. Red T-shirt is from Cotton on Kids and hand appliqued fruit to match the skirt. I'd love to buy another pair of these canvas shoes, so I can try some sequence and fabric paint I have a-la Lelli Kelly style.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Ring-a-ring-a-rosie......

Last week my cake decorating classes started back up again. I asked my teacher if I could please learn how to make roses as I've attempted them before in the past and they were very clunky not to mention ugly. Well I learned my 1st mistake (out of many lol) was that I used the wrong fondant, instead of using the store bought Orchard icing I SHOULD have used either modelling paste or flower paste (derrrr Leoni) So after a bit of practice (rolling out the paste VERY thinly) and a few boo-boo's I made the above roses. Not bad for a 1st attempt, quite proud of the result, I was told by my teacher the more I make the better I'll get, so I better keep practicing ;-)

First day at Kindy

Yesterday was my 3rd daughter, Imara's 1st day at Kindy. Ofcourse I just had to make her a special kindy outfit and here it is. I've never made a tiered dress before and have to admit it WAS a bit tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy. I followed Sandi Henderson's Gracie pattern for the skirt part of the dress, while the top part of the dress was made using an old dress (I traced an old dress and then used the pattern). Fabric used was some scraps I had lying around, Sandi Henderson stripe and cherry fabric, Tanya Whelan pink polka dot fabric and Alexander Henry apples and pears fabric. I was quite pleased on how it turned out. I also made a tiered skirt from scraps and will do a post on the weekend, after Imara has had a chance to wear it.