Do you Lilac?

this is a gift i wrapped for my friend's birthday. i used chartreuse wrap and two different types of ribbon, little purple and glitter purple. the ribbon didn't have any wire, which made it difficult to bow up, however with some patience and concentration, i was able to make it work.  i then got a purple peony. i like to make the flower fit the size of the gift. i try not to pick a flower that will get lost or over power the gift. to prevent sharp edges, i curl the end of the flower up.

 while i was playing with frosting, i also decided to buy some fondant and try out my new cherry blossom mold. it worked wonders. i decided to make a box for my friend's birthday. i made white and pink cherry blossoms, and covered the tops of the cupcakes with fondant as well, in either blue or pink. i did a crumble layer of frosting on top, so i could get a smooth finish when i put the fondant on.  i then used some pearlized dust to give the cupcakes some sparkle.

 

Coming up Roses

i decided to try my hand at making roses from frosting....my first attempt was embarrassing. i used just pilsbury vanilla frosting with some rose pink color gel. the mixture was too soft, so my rose just looked like a blob of pink. i added some confectioners sugar to the mix to make it thicker, that seemed to help. however if i attempt it again, i will make my own frosting, possibly try royal icing. i made the rose directly on the cupcake instead of using a flower stand. i've seen rotating stands for cupcakes, i think that would have been helpful in this situation.

To the drawing board



 when it comes to baking elaborate cakes, i like to draw it out. that way i can figure out what color combinations look good and what designs to use. this is a cake design i've been working on for my sister's birthday cake. she asked for cherry blossoms.

She sells sea shells



last year, i took on the task of making my sister's birthday cake. it was my first time using fondant and working with a lot of cake and frosting. i studied up...i watched tv shows...i read recipe books...watched videos. after finding out my sister chose a beach theme, i tried to keep it a simple design, since i was a bit inexperienced. i used a chocolate cake recipe from one my mum's cookbooks from england. i used vanilla buttercream frosting between the layers and covering the outside of the cake. i bought already-made fondant by duff- ace of cakes host. i bought white fondant then bought wilton cake dyes to make the fondant the color i wanted to achieve. i made the seashells from white and milk chocolate using a wilton candy shell tray. for the sand, i dabbed a bit of frosting on top of the cake and sprinkled brown sugar on top. i dusted the bottom, edge fondant accents with pearl dust, which can be eaten. it was a great learning experience making a cake with fondant.



the two items i loved using for cake decorating were the cake spinner and the frosting spatula. i was able to get a clean, smooth finish when covering the cake with the wilton cake spatula. the spinner made everything so much easier than dancing around the kitchen counter trying to make sure the sides and top of the cake were even.



Can you do me a Favor?

i did these favors for a baby shower. i used blossom polka dot pillow boxes from the paper source. i then made the tags by using a vintage carriage rubber stamp with brown ink and clear embossing powder. i printed the date and name of the mum to be on the back of the card. the 'le bebe' ribbon is made by midori. inside of the boxes were chocolate covered oreos and a chocolate pacifier.

The Pens had the Blues...

 this invitation was for a girls weekend. we decided to go to watch a hockey game. while i cheered for my pittsburgh penguins, my friend cheered for her st. louis blues. while it was a valiant battle all night, the pens lost in over time... much to my chagrin and to my friends joy.
i kept this invitation quite simple in terms of incorporating the theme of hockey. i designed the tickets on the front of the invitation to look like the game tickets. the copy and layout inside the invitation, i kept very low key in terms of the design element. i thought the tickets on the front of the invitation was the major design element. since i create 3-4 invitations a year for the girls weekend events. i do like to add the year and location it was held at. it's very helpful when it comes to scrap booking the event.