Sweet Frosting and Cake Crumbs

Time for a cake post.

Every weekend since we came back from the UK, has been filled with cake orders. Finally have a lull this weekend and instead will be attending the HKMC Autumn retreat!! Yes! More on that on the next post.

Here are a few of the cakes from September.

My Little Pony Cake

 

This was for Angela Collingwood's youngest. Fun to make and they loved it.

Monsters High Cake

I love the bright colours of this cake. The strips were really difficult to align and I do wish I had made them straighter.

Superman/Spiderman Cake

This is where the eClips turns to cake making. I found the logos online and had them cut out on transparencies so I could use them as a template on my gumpaste. My spiderman looks like he's surfing more than climbing though.

Ape and Banana Baby Cake

This was for a post baby shower. Modeled after a photo the client showed me.

Next post, the retreat!!

Thanks for looking,

Baking and Caking

Hi all,

The last two weeks have been filled with cake making, yet again. Not much crafting done, unfortunately. I did have fun with the caking, though, I got to make a tardis and my other fantasy cake - a merry-go-round.  I think they both turned out ok, although the tardis is a little tilted.

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to go for a full day decorating course with Kelvin Chua of Vinism Sugarart. Wow, talk about intensive. Nine hours of hand-breaking piping. Definitely worth it in the end though. What a great experience.

This week, it's about cupcakes. Pull-away cupcakes, that is. I've only made them once before, but I've since decided I love making them.

Merry-Go-Round Cake

 The bottom part is cake. The middle and top part are fondant covered styrofoam cores. Since the cake was only for 12 people, I decided not to do the whole cake in, well... cake. The horses turned out so cute and I love the rainbow colours, which the client had specified.

Tardis Cake

As a child, I used to be a big Dr Who fan and remember Tom Baker with his mile long scarf (this probably tells you how old I am). I haven't had a chance to see the 21st century versions. Maybe I should have a look some time.

Shanghai Splendour

 This is the cake (or rather cake dummy - the inside is styrofoam) that I went to class for. The minute I saw this cake course, I knew I had to sign up. I don't get to do a lot of piping and am so out of practice, and this cake design is just so stunning. Thank you to Kelvin Chua of Vinism Sugar Art.

AFL Pull-away Cupcakes Cake

My second pull-away cupcake cake. I'm pleased with how my logo transfer turned out.

I have one more cupcake cake to do for Monday, and then it's caking hiatus until September. Miss C just finished school and we'll be off to the UK from mid July for a month. The rest of the time here will be filled with keeping Miss C occupied and to get ready for the trip - lots to buy for family and friends.

If this piques your interest, have a look here for my other cakes.

Thanks for looking,

Rainbows and Unicorns - Cake

Hi there,

I apologise as it's been a bit slow on the scrapbooking front the last few days. Daily life catching up with you, you know?

I've been able to do one layout this week, so far. Not sure if I'll be able to get another one in as it's more cake orders this weekend.

So, here's one of the cakes from last weekend. One of my favourites - I didn't think I could do the unicorns, but they turned out ok. Not perfect, but I do like the horns. It was for a full rainbow party, so I made some mini rainbow cupcakes as well.

 Little mini vanilla cupcakes look so striking on your party table.

 Unicorns under a rainbow. The whole cake was egg and dairy free chocolate cake.

Sweet shimmery mama and baby unicorns.

My other cake was a New York cheesecake with lots of red fruit on top, but I forgot to take photos of that one.

I'm trying to tidy up my blog, so I'll be doing cake posts separately. That way, I'll be able to classify my post subjects easier as time goes by.  I'll be doing a layout post next

Thanks for looking,

Something A "Little" Different

Hi there,

I know I haven't really posted much in the last two weeks. I think I was a little burnt out after the retreat and just wanted to do other things to recharge my creative batteries. I've also had/have cake orders three weekends in a row. Apparently, May is one busy month for birthdays.

I did two last weekend but only took photos of one of them and regret not taking pics of the second, which was a rainbow cake. So much fun to pipe them.

Tedious but so fun to do scalloped cake.

This Saturday is National Scrapbooking Day, and although it says national, scrapbooking is now universal, so let's call it International Scrapbooking Day. HKMC has been celebrating with give aways, so be sure to drop in at the shop before stocks run out. More details at info@hkmemorychestonline.com or ring 2559 0175.

Shockingly, I haven't had anything prepared to celebrate NSD, although, this week, I've been playing around with Artist Trading Cards. HKMC has set up an ATC wall at the shop and I've wanted to start an ATC club for a while. If you've not heard of artist trading cards, they are 2.5" x 3.5" cards which you can create in any style or with any medium. Little pieces of art, they are usually made in a series, so they can be traded or swapped with other members. It's a great way to show others your work on little cards. Since you would make a number of them, they're kept relatively simple so you don't feel as bad having to give them away. This Wikihow link will probably explain the process better than I can.

Hello Spring ATCs

I did a series of eight cards for my first effort. I love the colours of the flowers popping out from the background and also love the oriental feel to them.

 First, I watered down Scattered Straw and Salty Ocean distress inks on my craft mat, swiped the cards through the colour and heat dried. I then spritzed with water and blotted the excess water with a towel. I then soaked a brush with more diluted Salty Ocean distress ink and splattered it around to create the blue splotches.

 I stamped the images with black archival ink before shading it in with distress markers. The stamens were dotted with Stickles, while the little curls were dotted with liquid pearls. After it was all dry, I then ran the tip of my Glossy Accents bottle around the stamped outlines, creating a raised embossed effect. For the last step, I stamped the Japanese cherry blossom stamp randomly on each card in red archival ink. I got the stamp in Japan at a traditional stamp shop and just love it.

To finish the card, I printed out a description tag to stick to the back of each card. This part is important, so whoever gets your card has a reference to your tiny piece of art.

So there you go. My first attempt. Hope you like it. I'm experimenting with my second lot of cards and hopefully will have more to show you soon. I hope you'll join me in making some ATCs of your own. I would love to see all your creations.

In the meantime, I have two more cakes to finish for this weekend and probably a layout somewhere in between.

Happy Scrapping,

Bringing in the Year of the Snake

Hello there,

How is everyone doing? Happy Chinese New Year (yes, it still is for a few days). The last couple of weeks have been pretty full, from cake orders and helping out with an art class project, followed by a week off for Chinese New Year.

My cake orders are quite sporadic, and that's the way I like it for now. I'm still thinking of whether I want to make of turning it into a full blown cake business, as it would be a 24/7 deal for sure. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Family comes first for me and being able to look after my hubby and daughter take precedence.

Having said that, here are the two cakes I made in the last two weeks:

Barbie Fairy Cake

 I've done a few doll cakes but this one is really pretty. I love how the wings, which came with the doll, really brings the cake to life.

Gordon the Big Engine Cake

This one was for hubby's Godson, Josh, who's visiting from the UK. Joshy, as any other three year old, loves Thomas and Friends. His mummy asked for a Gordon train - I had to google the difference between him and Thomas - they are both blue afterall. The bear is a representation of Joshy's lovey, Stinky bear.

Aside from the cakes, last week was one big holiday. Since both the hubby and Miss C were off from work and school respectively, we spent some time with friends and family. We went to a barbeque, to the movies, tottered around on ice skates and in between, lounged around and just vegged out.
  

Miss C in her Chinese outfit.

Celebrating Valentine's Day 

Out and about during the holiday

The absolute, absolute highlight though, was adopting this little kitty. We've (I've) been dying for a second cat to keep our Jake company, so when an adoption request came about for the cutest little kitty, we knew we had to have her. She's the sweetest little cat; almost five, and had to be parted from her former owners, as they are leaving Hong Kong. She's only been with us for a day and is still being acclimatised to her new surroundings and still quite wary of us, but we're hoping she'll be able to integrate into the family soon. I can't wait to have lots of cuddles with her.

Miss Molly Bluebell

It takes a little getting used to having a cat with pointy cat ears. Our Jake is a Scottish Fold, so we're used to an "earless" cat

 

Looking a little unsure

Love her beautiful golden eyes

So, not much scrapbooking at all in the last two weeks. It's back to the grind though and I'm looking forward to getting some new layouts and projects done this week.

Thanks for dropping by,

Love is in the Air

Hi All,

It's been a busy few days with a cake order straight off the plane from LA. This was for a good friend of mine, whose little girl wanted a Madagascar themed cake. The party was for over 70 people (adults and kids combined), so you can imagine how big the cake had to be.  The cake itself was chocolate vegan cake with non-dairy chocolate buttercream, covered in fondant decorations. The animals were all made from gumpaste.

 The cake measured over 14 inches across and 12 inches tall! It was one HEAVY cake.

Scrapbooking-wise, I've been busy finishing several layouts; three HKMC February kit club samples (I'll be posting them at the end of this month), and two Valentine's layouts. It's so great to be scrapbooking after several weeks without it (less the workshops I did in LA, that is).

The first one makes use of My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 3 Ruby Collection.  Such a pretty collection with pinks and reds. Perfect for the lover's holiday. The layout is based on the January sketch challenge from My Creative Sketches.

The MCS January Sketch

Be Mine

Beautiful papers; some embossed, some glittered. Love the reds, greys and pinks here. The hearts are my favourite thing on the layout.

I cut different papers into small rectangles and distressed the edges before layering them like the sketch. For the red hearts, I laid double sided tape on one side (with the backing paper still over the top), then ran it through my Big Shot with a Sizzix Framelits heart die in several sizes. I then peeled off the paper and sprinkled on red microbeads and really pushed them into the sticky tape. Some did come off, but it mostly held fast. The butterfly is a sticker that I removed the sticky from and added pink bling.

I wrapped three layers of trim around the grey polkadot patterned paper for more texture. The hexagon embossed paper is my favourite. Also love the enamel dots - they give such dimension.

Products Used

Patterned papers, stickers, trim, name plate and enamel dots from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Ruby Collection (available at HKMC right now)

Red cardstock from Bazzill Papers

Chipboard letters from Dear Lizzy American Crafts

Rouge microbeads from Pop! American Crafts

Doilies sourced locally

For the second layout, I wanted to do an ultra flowery, romantic page and used most of the November limited edition kit from My Creative Scrapbooks. I didn't put any hearts on this layout, but the amount of flowers and the psalm that is printed on the papers (from 1 Corinthians 13, which was read at our wedding), very much indicates "love". The photo was taken in Japan last spring, when the flowers and trees were in full bloom.

My True Love

One of the more flowery paper collections that I've used, the roses are ideal for fussy cutting. I also cut a frame out of the top paper and backed it with a pink wordings paper.

Look at the little angel sitting on the edge of the flowers. I smeared some gesso on the flowers to mute the pink down a little and add to the faded look. I then spread a thin layer of glitter glue over the butterflies. After the whole layout was done, I covered the photo with some scrap paper and sprayed the whole layout with iridescent Glimmer Mist.

The chipboard flourish was covered with diamond glaze before sprinkling on a light gold glitter.  I also cut up a Prima crystal border to stick around the photograph and then dotted some glitter glue around the edges of the frame and photo.

Products Used

Patterned papers (Tea-Thyme collection), flowers, crystal border, resin angel and brown title letters from Prima Marketing

Chipboard flourish from Dusty Attic

Diecuts and label stickers from Colorbok

White gesso from Golden

Gold "Cream Soda" glitter Pixee Stix by Pink Paislee

Platinum glitter glue from Stickles by Ranger Inks

Iridescent Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

After these layouts, I think it's time to do something mix media-ish, so I'm going to be breaking out the paints, gels and gessos. Watch this space for more.

Thanks for dropping by,

Another Week of Baking and Caking

Hi All,

Hope you all had a good week. Monday was taken up with a crop session. We usually do one at my place on Fridays, however, since I had two cakes to do, we changed it to Monday. Just a few of us - eating, chatting, having a laugh, and sometimes, even getting one or two layouts done. I'm usually having too much fun to actually finish a layout, but I always do finish it later.

This week has been filled with baking and caking, so I'm going to bombard you with a few pictures of the cakes I made. I did a batch of M&M cookies for a Red Cross charity bake. These cookies are so yummy - crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. They bake up so well and are very easy to make.

 If you'd like to try out this recipe, I got it from here. I substituted the chocolate chips for the M&Ms and left out the nuts. Do try the original recipe too.

I then spent Wednesday evening baking for two cake orders, and Thursday and Friday building and decorating the cakes. These ones were very fun to make. I don't do a lot of tiered cakes, and I love them.

Daisy with Balloons

This was based on a cake by The Cake That Ate Paris.  The client loved the design and wanted it replicated, but with a Daisy Duck.  I think it worked out pretty well.  The inside is vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream.

 Here's the top view.

Ballerina Cake

 

 The birthday girl loves ballerinas, so what's better than a pretty cake with flowers, hearts and a little ballerina sitting on top. This cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream.

 

This is my first ballerina - I still need a lot of practice for my figurines.

Next week's cake fell through, so hopefully, I'll be able to do more scrapbooking instead.

Happy weekend!

Cakes, Bakes and Classes

Hi All,

It's been another busy week. Classes to teach, cakes to make and a school trip to supervise. I've not had time to do any crafty projects this week although I have lots of ideas.

I did my two patchwork frame classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It's lovely how wonderful each person's project came out. Everyone got a mixture of Tim Holtz Ideo-logy hardware for their projects, mixed with some other trinket finds. They also got to frame their projects in the Ikea Ribba frame. I didn't get any photos of the class in progress, but I think Erika took some. I'll try to get them off her to post later.

I also had a macarons order for Wednesday and two cake orders for Friday and Sunday. I do love my cake making and it's a great creative outlet for me of a different kind. The funny thing is though - building up all my cake tools and supplies are just like building my scrapbooking supplies and I seem to have just as many edible ink colours as I do crafting ink colours. Hope I never mix up the two.

Bowling Lane Cake

 This was for a good friend's son who had a bowling party. Inside, is vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream. The outside is covered in fondant with gum paste bowling pins and ball.

Puppy Dog Toy Cake

 This one was for another good friend's daughter who just turned one. I love doing sculpted cakes and this one was fun as it was modeled over an actual stuffed toy dog that belongs to the birthday girl. The inside is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. 

Macarons

I have to admit that I'm not the best at macarons. The first time I tried to make them, it took me seven tries before I got them right. Since then, I've struggled to get them right, trying out all sorts of recipes and ratios. I was given the latest recipe by a friend and these ones have turned out the best. In fact, macarons making has vexed me quite a bit and I finally decided to sign up for a class on how to make them. I'll be doing that this coming Tuesday. I hope this will help me create flawless macarons from now on.

This coming week will be more relaxed, so I'll have to buckle down and get some major scrapbooking done. Hopefully, I'll have something to show you very soon.

Thanks for dropping by,