Sue's Creative World

Textured Rolling Pin

2012-01-22T15:32:00.004Z

A friend of ours had made some home made wine which he sent over for us to try, it went down very nicely I must say. Whilst making the birthday cake and having the oven already on I made some vanilla cup cakes as I wanted to decorate them with fondant and try out my textured rolling pin that I bought at the cake show at the NEC last November. If you zoom in on the photo you may be able to get a clearer picture. I topped it off with some of the flowers I had left over from another cake I had made. I hope he likes them.

30th Birthday Cake

2012-01-22T15:27:00.005Z

I was asked to make a birthday cake for someone's sisters 30th Birthday, they had given me an idea of colours and how they wanted the design doing. I made a 12" square Victoria sponge cake, covered in almond past and white sugar paste then coloured some white sugar paste with voilet colour paste to get the shade I wanted, they wanted feathers to match and a glitter "30". When putting the design together how they had wanted I found it did not look quite to good so changed it slightly, I hope they like it.

Birthday Cake for a 2 yr Old

2012-01-20T17:16:00.003Z

I received an order for a birthday cake for a 2 yr old who likes a particular children's programme I believe which includes a monkey. They wanted a chocolate flavoured sponge cake with chocolate butter cream and I then iced it and then printed the picture and wording on to an icing sheet using my edible food printer and then made some bananas out of yellow fondant. It is the first children's cake I have made so I am quite pleased with how it turned out. My hubby who is very critical on how I do the decoration's even said himself if was very good that is high praise coming from him I can tell you. Anyway it was safely delivered by hubby this morning and my client seemed well impressed. I hope his son enjoys his birthday.

This weekends project

2012-01-16T19:51:00.006Z

Hello everyone, thought I would share my latest project, I was asked to make this for my friends mums 80th birthday and here is the result. Happy birthday to Jen's mum. I can post this now as the cake was delivered today. :)

A Last Minute Gift

2012-01-15T14:54:00.005Z

I also did one final Christmas Cake which was for friends who we did not get time to visit before Christmas. The beauty of Christmas Fruit cakes is that they will keep just fine until you cut into them and then they need to be stored in an airtight container. I hope they enjoy it.

A knitted Cardigan

2012-01-15T14:44:00.005Z

After my hectic lead up to Christmas I took time out to chill, although I am still baking. I made this cardigan whilst I was off for the Christmas Break for our Granddaughter Luna it will be a little while for her to grow into it but there is no use doing the new born sizes as she is growing so quick. Here is a photo I took when Dad and daughter paid us a quick visit,she had just been changed and was enjoying a kick about on her changing mat. And here is a photo of the cardigan.

Santa Came to Visit

2011-12-30T13:43:00.005Z

I hope you have all had an enjoyable and indulgent Christmas and are now preparing for the New Year celebrations. I just thought I would bob on my blog today and just do a quick post. I received some really nice gifts, and will soon be trying them out. In particular I received one from hubby which I am really pleased with although I did not expect to get something like that as we tend to just buy what we want throughout the year rather than on special occasions, suffice to say I have not bought anything for him yet and he keeps telling me he does not need anything so I will have to get my thinking cap on. Can you guess what's in the red case, yes its a kindle and that is the gift I received from hubby. I am having fun downloading free books and catching up on some reading which I have not had time to do for a while. I have also done some knitting which I will update you on when finished. By for now and best wishes for the New Year.

Update on my work Part Two

2011-12-26T12:37:00.008Z

Here are the last few.

An update on my Work Part One

2011-12-26T11:33:00.013Z

Hello to all I hope you are enjoying your Christmas Celebrations. I am now chilling out at the moment after a hectic lead up to the holidays, I post some pictures of my earlier creations and now here are the rest. The orders I received also included a 40th Birthday Cake which came as a last request but I managed to fit it in.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2011-12-25T17:50:00.002Z

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Sue x

Christmas Bear

2011-12-19T13:04:00.005Z

Following on from the post I did earlier, here are some more Christmas Cakes. One of them is my particular favorate and I tried to do this one with children in mind as the person it is for has two young boys so I iced in pale blue fondant and made a bear for the top complete with hat.

Second Batch Completed

2011-12-19T12:52:00.012Z

Well here we are frantically getting ready for Christmas and getting all those last minute presents. We are off to do our final shopping tomorrow, I am already on my Christmas Hols and Hubby will be starting his tomorrow. Meanwhile, whilst he is at work today I have been doing some more cake decorating. However yesterday I spent the whole day working on the cakes that I was delivering into work this morning. Here are some photos of the ones I have completed. I must say I am really pleased with them but one in particular is my favorate. ( See next post)

Christmas Cakes

2011-12-17T10:13:00.004Z

I have been busy making all the fruit cakes ready for the Christmas Cake orders I had received and it is time to decorate them and hand them over to my customers. I have now finished work for the Christmas Break but am looking forward to doing the finishing touches without have to work every night like I did last year it was very hectic and I have been more relaxed and planned ahead so hopefully there should be no last minute panics. The first two orders have been completed and have been delivered, here is a picture of my first two. Now I am off back to my kitchen to decorate some more which I will be delivering on Monday. See you all soon.

Ladies at Lunch

2011-12-17T10:00:00.003Z

First of all, my blogging friends I am sorry I have not been around. Most of you know I bake a lot and after my jumping in at the deep end making Christmas Cakes last year, I had plenty of return orders for this year, which has kept me in my kitchen for quite a while and out of mischief my hubby keeps telling me. At work a number of us ladies meet regularly for lunch in the office and take over one of the meeting rooms, we have an enjoyable break and put the world to rights and then some. We decided to have a Christmas lunch, we all chipped in for a sandwich platter from the company we use at work and then we also brought in something extra such as coke, crisps, pork pies, mince pies, I offered to make a chocolate log, very rich,we had that the next day as we had eaten so much at lunch but we had a really fun time. Here is a pic. I used to make Swiss rolls a lot in my younger days so had not made one for a while, I made a chocolate flavoured mi filled it with strawberry jam, a chocolate Ganache filling and then covered it in chocolate butter cream very rich but heavenly even I was tempted and it went well with a cup of tea for elevenses.

Boobie Cake 2

2011-11-26T13:40:00.005Z

I received an order from a work colleague who celebrates his birthday this weekend and he asked me to make a cake for him. He has seen a photo of the one I had made my husband and asked for one the same. I use a different colour and added to little extras to make it look more authentic. It caused quite a talking point at work yesterday when I took it in for him and the conversations that were had got quite risque (not sure if that is spelt right). I think he was quite please with it so hope he enjoys it this weekend. Apologies for the quality of the photo, I am really no good with the camera.

Visiting

2011-11-26T13:32:00.004Z

We visited our Son and his new family last Saturday and spent the afternoon wandering around the Christmas Market in Manchester, I have never been before and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Luna (our new grand daughter) I hasten to add slept all afternoon cosy and snug in her pram. Sadly I did not manage to get any photo's this time but they are coming to visit us next weekend and we are having a family get together so will make sure I get some then. She is beautiful and I got to push her around most of the time, it was fun. As a gift I took some cupcakes that I made that morning I made chocolate orange flavour sponge and added a chocolate orange butter cream and decorations, very tasty.

Coffee and Walnut Sponge Cake

2011-11-26T13:25:00.005Z

I made this for hubby at his request in between making my Christmas Cakes, he just wanted something different in his packed lunch for work which I make him every day. Unfortunately, he only managed to eat a quarter of it as our mischievous dog Kaara decided it was her treat too. I came home from work that evening to find that she had managed to get the cake box off the worktop, the lid was at the bottom of the stairs and the bottom of the box was in the conservatory. The cake, what was left was still on its plate upside down in the hall, with all the walnuts gone and all the butter cream filling and topping eaten. How the plate did not break I will never know as we have tiled flooring in the hall and kitchen. She must have had a fun time whilst we were both at work.

Two Days Away

2011-11-06T11:37:00.008Z

All year I have been saving my pennies from orders I have received for cakes and any other money I could squirrel away. What for you may ask? Well myself and my friends Jenny and Alison were going to the NEC, Birmingham for two days. We were staying over night and spending one day in the Craft Show and one day in the Cake International Show and what a fab two days we had. We went last year and spent a day only and did both shows there was such a lot to take in and so we planned to do it more leisurely this time it was far better and we are now planning for next year. The show for me was the Cake International, I had my list and got the things I wanted and more. I also spent a lot of time looking at the competition entries and here are some pictures, they are truly amazing. The skill and detail is fabulous. I can't wait for next year!

A Special Day

2011-10-30T10:38:00.004Z

Yesterday was very special as we got to meet our Granddaughter for the first time, she is absolutely amazing and Mum, Dad and daughter are all doing well. We spent most of the afternoon with them at the hospital, mum and baby were meant to be going home yesterday so we were hoping we could have taken them home but it started to get so late we had to get back home ourselves. Apparently they were still waiting on some test result for mum and as everyone knows in hospitals these take time and move at a very slow pace. Here are a couple of pics.

Christening Cake

2011-10-29T08:27:00.008+01:00

I am getting more and more busier with my baking and I love it. This same week I also had a christening cake to make and this was completed yesterday morning when I out the decoration together which I had to leave to dry over night otherwise it would have all collapsed. The request was that it had to have a train on it so I made this two tier sponge and hand made the train myself copied from a photo in one of my cake magazines. The cake was made for a colleague in our Finance Department at work whose christening for his son is today so the cake was taken in to work yesterday and hopefully he got it home in once piece. This will be the test as complete strangers will be seeing and also eating this as opposed to me making for friends and family. I hope there is enough for all as I heard he has about 80ish guests. Hope you like what I have created. Now I am off to get ready and do some jobs before we go to see our new granddaughter for the first time. Bye for now. Sue x

Mountain Bike Birthday Cake

2011-10-27T06:49:00.005+01:00

Hello, to all my friends, I bet you thought I had left the country. Well I am still here, I have been so busy of late as usual in my kitchen making cakes, well what else, although I do have other hobbies I don't seem to have much time for them. I am trying to get ahead with the large orders I have for Christmas Cakes and have now made six fruit cakes of various sizes and more to do. In between I am still doing other orders and here is a picture of one I completed this morning. This is for a friends son who is mad on mountain bikes so that set the theme. It is not as perfect as I would like as I had problems getting the edible sheet to lie flat and I know it is because the fondant has not been as smooth as I would like. As on my last picture cake I was concerned about seeing the edges of the decor sheet so I have tried my hand at some piping work that we were shown in our classes earlier in the year. I have not done this since then so it is not as tidy as I would like but it does finish off that edge. Now the challenge is to get it to work in my car in once piece, I have not had any problems so far but you never know so I had better pack ,my repair kit to take to.

And finally we are now grandparents our son and his fiance gave birth to a wonderful daughter in the early hours of Tuesday 25th October, I have not been to see her yet but judging from the photo's we have had she is beautiful. Hopefully I will be able to share some photo's soon with you. PS: sorry for the second picture being on the side, never seem to be able to get that right but hopefully you get an idea of what the cake looks like. Bye for now. Sue c

First Attempt at Using my Edible Ink Printer

2011-10-04T17:29:00.004+01:00

I have a new toy to add to my growing collection of cake decorating tools, I now have a printer which is filled with edible inks which allows me to print pictures and such on to a Decor sheet which is then placed on top of a decorated cake. A number of us at work had recently taken in some photos of when we were younger to guess who was who. I acquired a copy of one as I had in mind to make a cake for her 50th birthday which she celebrated today. Last night when i got in from work I made a vanilla sponge cake, decorated it then this morning I was up early so I printed off the photo on to the Decor sheet and attached it to the cake. I have added a picture to show the result, I am really pleased with it and can see this being used a lot. My friend said she was pleased and has taken it home to share with her family. I hope they enjoy.

18th Birthday Cake

2011-10-01T07:37:00.007+01:00

Well I am up bright and early today, hubby has gone off to do a painting job and I am going to do the washing, well I need to make the most of the weather isn't if glorious (if a little too warm for working in the office)

Well I thought I would update you on the latest from my kitchen, I received an order for an 18th birthday cake the design was mostly left up to me, the only request was to make it girly. So, I thought I would try my hand at a two tier birthday cake here are a couple of photo's I think it worked really well. The cake itself is made from vanilla sponge filled with strawberry jam and butter cream. I covered both cakes in a thin layer of marzipan as I feel it gives a better finish when putting the fondant on. I then covered the larger cake and board in white fondant, then covered the smaller one separately and stacked on top. I can get away with this as the cake is not too heavy and will not need supports underneath which would be placed in the larger cake. I then made the little balls in rolled yellow fondant and cut out flowers in the same and there you go. Since having my cake decorating classes I feel loads more confident and am not too phased when trying something different, in fact I find it a very enjoyable challenge. Will let you know what my next cake is soon.

Update

2011-09-25T14:54:00.002+01:00

Just had to let you all know I have dropped a right clanger,I have missed the "H" out of birthday, oh what a nightmare this has been. The birthday party has started too for the person I made it for so I will have to get in touch with them tomorrow and give them a refund.

Busy Busy

2011-09-25T10:14:00.011+01:00

Well what a busy week I have had, I am trying to get ahead with my Christmas Cake orders, I have made two cakes already and they are stored away, hopefully another one will be made today. But this last week I have been very busy as I had a 16th Birthday Cake order to complete and a 50th birthday cake order as well for the same family. The 16th Birthday cake was easy, the 50th one was not so easy, making the cakes are a doddle and I even managed to shape the large cake to look reasonably like a football shirt which is what has been requested. I managed to cover it in marzipan, but the sugar paste just would not work, I ended up buying thee lots and in the end it wasn't until my friend Ali had had a look that we decided it was in fact a faulty batch, but not one but all three lots I had. We went back to the sop and I explained, they did say that they had had a problem with the blue and the pink sugar paste ( I had the blue) and they said that I could take all three back and they would refund me even though I had tried to use it. It just would not roll out and even when I tried to knead it to get is to be pliable this did not work either. I bought some regal ice and we coloured that instead, I got it as close as I could to the colour of the team that was asked for (Man City) the colour is not quite their but the customer said she was pleased with it and knowing this person she definitely would have said something if she wasn't. Here are the pictures, I also got to try out my new printer with edible ink in so managed to do a copy of the team badge. I am off to do some tidying up as I have all my cake decorating stuff out at the moment so will catch up with you all soon.

A cake for a 50th Birthday

2011-09-18T15:10:00.011+01:00

Firstly I must apologise for not being around for a while. In my research for ideas for decorating cakes I managed to attract a few viruses so have had to wait until my hubby got around to sorting it out for me. As you can see I am now back, but I have been busy whilst I have not been able to play on my computer. I have finally got the inks and papers for my new printer which I am hoping to set up soon, so I will be able to add another element to my cake decorating and be able to print photo's etc on them. I also have another four orders in my diary for a 50th, and 16th birthday, with another birthday cake and also a christening cake. These are on top of my Christmas Cake orders. (I have now managed to make to fruit cakes and these are wrapped up and stored away). I am just preparing the fruit for the next ones. I am making the fruit cakes well in advance so I don't disappoint people as I am now getting very busy and I also need to plan what I am going to sell at a Christmas Fair that I am having a stall at along with my two friends who will also have one for their card making etc. I recently complete an order for a birthday cake for a colleagues mum's 50th birthday, I had shown them my book that I carry around with the photos of the cakes I have made and they were quite taken with a butterfly one that I had made previously. I changed the design slightly and added some words, I was pleased with the result and so were they as they kindly left a thank you card on my desk when I got back into work the following week. Here are some photo's I would like to share.

Trying out a new recipe

2011-09-03T09:25:00.004+01:00

I finally got to do a bit of baking yesterday, hubby has decided he wants to try vegetarian food (he gets all faddy with his food sometimes and he recently read an article in the newspaper regarding the slaughtering of animals for us to eat) so now he wants to change. Anyway you know me I am always up for a challenge and so found a website called Cook Vegetarian. They have loads of recipes so printed off a few that I thought sounded really tasty and showed them to him, he said they all sounded great, so away I went. I selected a couple of recipes one of them being an Orange, Ginger and sultana cake it is made with olive oil instead of margarine/butter,plain flour, dark brown sugar, eggs, ginger, fresh orange (all of it including the peel which is simmered whole until it is soft then blended into a pulp, so you don't actually get chunks of orange peel)it all gets mixed together and then baked for about 40 to 45 minutes or until when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean. I am really pleased with the result it is really tasty and I think I will add this to my Christmas cake collection, it certainly tasted and smelt like a Christmas cake. And yes Kevin said he liked it to so that's a good start. Now I am off to try some more recipes.

Cake Decorating Classes

2011-09-01T10:24:00.006+01:00

It is now nearly three weeks since I completed my cake decorating classes. I had lots of fun and enjoyed the me time for a couple of hours over the five weeks away from the house. Here are some photos of the completed cake dummy that I used to practise on, whilst it is not very tidy our teacher has given me lots of tips and guidance on how to do things such as swags, bows, piping and frills. We also attempted making carnations but for some reason I think it may have been too hot the fondant kept disintegrating so I gave up. However, I will have another attempt at these in my own kitchen so I will not give it up as a bad job. Anyway enough of the waffle, housework is calling I have a mass tidy up to do after the recent DIY we have completed. See you all soon. Sue x PS: Apologies for the way the pictures have loaded, I think the file may have been a little big so they have appeared on their sides.

Not sure what this is

2011-09-01T10:18:00.007+01:00

We found this growing just outside out back gate on the front drive, we have no idea what it is whether it is a weed, wild flower or just some stray garden plant that just happened to land there when seed were carried on the wind so thought I would share the photos I took with you.

A day out

2011-08-31T16:33:00.007+01:00

We took time out today after all the work that we have been doing, now we will have to start cleaning up its amazing how much muck is created when doing projects like I mentioned in my earlier post today. Anyway we set of initially to go to a farmers market at Chelford, but I don't know if it was due to the weather we have been having or it just was not a particularly busy day as there was not much at all going on. So back in the car we got and we travelled over to the Peak District, it was lovely seeing all the wonderful open spaces we stopped off at a Reservoir that we have been to a few times before over the years however not so recently it is called Tittesworth Reservoir, Severn Trent Water, Meerbrook, near Leek, Staffordshire, it is a lovely place where you can walk as far as you want, there are lots of wild birds to see, you can also have a nice cup of tea and a bite to eat and just generally chill out looking out over the water. We were quite surprised as to how low the water has dropped especially with all the rain that we have had over the past year, it just shows that something serious is really happening to our environment in general and the fact that water seems to be in a shorter supply that one would think. It was quite a dull day today but warm enough for us to sit out and eat, we had to do this as Kaara was with us but it was very enjoyable, here as some photos I would like to share.

A room for me ?

2011-08-31T15:53:00.012+01:00

Whilst we have been off (we are now on our second week of our two week holiday}, the plan was for me to get started on my Christmas cake orders and hubby was doing some DIY. Some how it ended up me doing very little baking (I only managed to complete the 21st birthday cake order)because I somehow ended up being the fetch this carry that I need a brew and some food. Anyway I supposed I had to put something into this latest project as part of it was for me. Our son has flown the family home in the last few months and we finally got to get into his room and do something with it. If you have had boys you will understand what we were up against. He would never let us into his room to decorate and when we did try anything it got quite stressful as he was so rude about anything we wanted to do. So, his Dad said okay forget it so nothing got done for the 24 years that he lived at home with us. I had taken photo;s of what it looked like before we started but I managed to delete them from my camera the nearest I can get is when my original desk was out in the room after he left and you can see the state of the decoration around it. Now all the walls have been stripped plastered and painted and new flooring laid, I have a new specially made desk by my husband and I have cupboards for all my stuff (although this does not include my baking and cookery books that lot will have to stay downstairs. Here are some photos so hopefully you will get the idea, we just had a little touching up to do and a little tidying up but the bulk of it has now been done. I will post some more pictures when everything is tidy just wanted to give you a taster of what had been happening.

21st Birthday Cake

2011-08-24T12:21:00.003+01:00

Hubby and I are currently on holiday, we are not planning to go away as hubby has decided that all the DIY jobs left to do musty be finished, one of them being completely gutting our sons old room. Whilst all this has been going on I accepted an order for a 21sr birthday cake before we started out holidays, I have finished the cake today and it is being picked up this evening, I have sent them a photo so they can see what is looks like, I only hope they like it just as much when they actually see it. Will be back soon with news of what we are up to. Sue x

Another request

2011-08-14T15:50:00.004+01:00

As well as making the cake for hubby as you will see in my earlier post, I have been busy again this afternoon and have just finished making this one. Our son's girlfriend is celebrating a birthday on Tuesday and he has asked me to make a cake for her, I hope she likes it I am not sure of what she likes and doesn't yet as we have not known her for very long. Anyway I hope she has a lovely day.

For someone close

2011-08-14T11:20:00.004+01:00

As you all know I have been going to classes for the past few weeks and have learnt a lot of things and have lots of ideas. My husband for the last few weeks I think has been quite lost judging by the texts I received whilst I was at these classes. He made a special request in one of them and as he has been working away from home this weekend, I have made this cake. Those of you who know him will know why he has requested this particular design.

A Decorated Cake Dummy

2011-08-10T17:32:00.006+01:00

I have been going to cake decorating classes over the last few weeks and what I have learnt has given me lots of ideas. So, as I have some cake dummies I decided to try my had at a two tier cake which could be used I think for an engagement, anniversary or even perhaps a wedding and perhaps add another tier to it. I am quite please with what I have created, what do you think? (Jen if you see this, this is what I was hinting at)

Another Year

2011-08-10T17:20:00.008+01:00

Well here we are again another year gone by and another year older, it is my birthday today and I have a really nice day. As usual when we have birthdays at work cakes are taken in, those of you who know me will know that I never buy them but have a great time making them, here are what I took in today and there is nothing left (Don't worry Jen if you read this a piece was saved for you, it is in your top draw at work). There was a chocolate orange sponge cake which I made an orange syrup for and drizzled over whilst it was cooling before finishing off with chocolate filling and topping with grated orange zest on the top. Then there was a lemon sponge cake also soaking in a syrup flavoured with lemon and topped with lemon butter cream and filled with lemon curd. Finally as if that wasn't enough I made some vanilla cupcakes which I then covered in a lime and coconut butter cream topping. Is your mouth watering yet, they smelt heavenly when the lids were taken off the boxes.

Practising

2011-08-02T06:49:00.004+01:00

After taking in the models I made at my class last week a work colleague offered to buy them off me. I explained I wasn't selling them as they were the first ones I had ever made and wanted to keep them for display. When finding out why he wanted them I said I would make another model for him. apparently his young grandson (2 years old I think) had had a fall and broken his leg and would now be in traction for quite a while. As I do not have many colour paste yet to colour my own I decided to use some yellow fondant I had left over from a cake I made for someone else. here is a copy of what I have done, hope I can get it to work in once piece.

3rd Lesson

2011-07-28T06:57:00.012+01:00

Here we are and it is Thursday again, another week nearly over. Yesterday evening I had my third lesson in cake decorating and we were shown how to make a Monkey, Elephant and Teddy. The monkey was done flat on a board, I did not enjoy doing that one nor was I impressed with the result so I am not showing that to you. However I will share the other two with you I really enjoyed doing them although when I started I wasn't so sure but once the detail went on they soon came to life.

A special shawl for baby to be

2011-07-25T06:46:00.004+01:00

Well I finally got around to finishing this, I have been rather busy with my baking as you will be able to see from earlier posts. I will soon be getting ready for my Christmas orders. I have used this crochet pattern before, it is rather simple but is quite effective. I added a shell edge in pink and added a couple of flowers to one corner,this has given it a totally different look.

Pink Flowers Birthday Cake

2011-07-24T15:42:00.004+01:00

I was up early today, it was just as well as my son asked me yesterday to make a cake for his girlfriends sisters birthday. She is staying with them for a few days I believe. He said it had to have pink in it so did this one.

Cake Decorating 2

2011-07-22T06:46:00.004+01:00

This Wednesday was the second of my lessons that I recently started with regard to learning cake decorating from someone who already has their own business working from home. This time we were shown how to make some flowers, she made it look so easy but you can really appreciate how much time and effort goes into making them. We were shown how to make roses, and a number of small flowers. The roses I made that night I was not happy with them so I have not taken a picture, however I think I have got the hang of making them as you would have seen on earlier posts in the year. A photo I have attached to this post shows the ones I am really pleased with and they look so pretty. They are very time consuming to make but we all agreed at the class it was very therapeutic. These types of flowers if done this way are used as in fills in bouquets but can also be put direct on to the cake without stamens or stems being added to them. Either way the effect is so pretty. Well that's all I have time for for now. Will see you all soon. Sue.

Cake Decorating

2011-07-18T18:20:00.006+01:00

Last week I started cake decorating lessons, I have found a local lady who has her own business which she runs from home and she gives lessons to small groups. There are five of us so it is a nice small group. We were given a list of things we needed to take. One of them being a cake dummy, these are just a brilliant idea as they can be used time and time again to practice on. Our first lesson was to decorate the dummy and board in fondant, she showed us her techniques and some simple short cuts. Then we made stencil to create a scalloped edge, mine wasn't very even but I got the general idea. I then very finely drew a line around the shaped template on to the fondant with a tooth pick, so that it can be used as a guide to follow when using the Crimpers. We also had a little play with some patchwork cutters and food colouring which although my example is a little untidy, it gave the the general idea and that you don't really have to do complicated to make things look really impressive,. Here is a photo of the result of my first lesson, I am sure this will improve as the weeks go by. This week we will be making flowers so can't wait to see how that turns out.

Coffee cupcakes

2011-07-18T18:17:00.002+01:00

As well as doing the orange and lemon cupcakes this last weekend, I also did some coffee flavoured ones, I finished off the decorating of these this morning before I went to work. I have some others in mind to do as well but will probably do these later in the week.

Orange Cupcakes

2011-07-17T18:08:00.004+01:00

I seem to have got the bug for making cupcakes. Kevin asked if I would do some orange flavoured ones, so here they are, I wasn't sure what to put on top so as I had some chocolate decorations in the cupboard I used them. Hubby wanted to know why I hadn't made them, one day maybe its early days yet for my cake decorating. Enjoy. I have also made some coffee flavoured ones but these will be finished off later. Now I am off to chill out.

Lemon Cupcakes

2011-07-16T17:06:00.008+01:00

Also this week my husband said we were visiting one of his work friends on Saturday and asked if I would make a cake to take for them (this was Thursday night when he informed me). So, yesterday after going shopping straight from work, I decided to make some cup cakes, I decided this because I found them easier to do rather than a large sponge cake. I made lemon sponge mixture and this morning when I got up around 7.30 am (I am always up early in a morning) I made a lemon flavoured butter cream and I had some yellow fondant left over from a previous cake I made so made some flowers and added white centres to them.

Busy in my Kitchen

2011-07-16T09:37:00.005+01:00

I have been so busy of late, I have not had much time to post anything on my blog. As usual you will find me in my kitchen, and I am currently getting ready for my Christmas Cake Orders. I have 10 Christmas cakes to make and they are all fruit cakes so that makes it a lot easier to plan for as I can make these well in advance.

As well as preparing for Christmas I was asked by a friend at work to make a cake for her daughters school prom party. Apparently a few of the mums had got together to organize it and I was asked to make the cake for them. I made a 12" sponge cake and the colours were white fondant icing, I made glitter stars with blue fondant and edible glitter dust scattered over them and added the words Class of 2011, Good luck year 6. Here is a couple of photo's I am sorry my photography is not very good, I never seem to get the lighting quite right.

Birthday Cake

2011-06-25T07:42:00.006+01:00

After a busy week both at work and at home, I completed my latest order Thursday evening. This was for a 12" sponge cake covered in lemon fondant and handmade flowers. This order came via a friend at work whose partners mum celebrated her birthday last week and they have arranged a get together for Saturday evening (I don't think she knows about it or at least not the cake). It was a bit of a nightmare to actually cover the cake due to the fondant being so large to cover it, however I managed it. As always I am very critical on what I do and as every crafter knows when you have made something for someone you look for everything that could be wrong. I carefully took the cake into work Friday morning wedged cushions around the box and got there with no mishaps. My friend Jenny was the first one to see it (she and my friend Alison and myself are looking at combining our skills and creating a small business)and I know she will give me the honest opinion, and it got the "wow" factor. Also the rest of my friends thought the same as did the person who ordered it, so that gave me a boost of confidence. Here is a picture, this as said earlier was a 12" sponge cake and the cake tin is the largest I can fit in my oven so at least I know what size of cake I can go up to.

A treat for Hubby

2011-06-12T18:57:00.004+01:00

Well, here we are and it is raining again, so guess what, I spent time in my kitchen. Hubby made a request yesterday that he wanted a chocolate fudge cake and so I obliged by making one today ( I haven't made one before so as ever was up for a challenge). He surprised me really by this request as he normally buys shop bought cakes and such instead of eating mine. It annoys me a little because not only does it save money it is home made so what could be better! Anyway here are a couple of pictures.

Anyone for tea?

2011-06-11T09:09:00.008+01:00

I have been baking again this week,a colleague celebrated his 40th birthday I think he thought he could keep it quiet but we found out so when he came back of hols, us girlies got together and gave him a gift. I made a lemon flavoured sponge cake for him as a treat and we all clubbed together and got him a bottle of red wine and a card. I think he was quite taken aback, but I think he was pleased.

Anyway myself and two friends are pooling our resources in crafting and are working away at putting a small business together,I specialise in the baking side and Jenny and Alison specialise in the card making and photography, we are planning to offer wedding cards and invitations and celebration cakes. Jenny and Alison are currently branching out into card making classes and they are running their second class today. A few weeks ago Jenny kindly made me two cards and the deal was that I supply some cup cakes in return. So, I have made some lemon flavoured cupcakes for them to take to their class today and serve at their tea break. Here is a picture, I made a lemon sponge mixture then made a lemon butter cream topping which I piped on and made some little daisies, I cut out the basic flower using white fondant on my Cricut then shaped the petals so that they had a little more texture and added some small balls of yellow fondant for the centre. I thing they looked quite cute and I hope they go down well at their tea break. I will be adding cupcakes to my portfolio so will be making some more soon. Here are a couple of pictures.

30th Birthday Cake - Take 2

2011-06-01T06:34:00.003+01:00

I think I ran out of room on my post here is the second part.

I thought I would have a go at making some that would be edible and for some time I have been trying to master my Cricut Cake machine and there is a butterfly cut out on it that I really wanted to do. I made the cake (my classic vanilla flavoured Victoria sponge - this is proving quite popular), covered it in almond paste the white fondant. Then wait for it I took some pink fondant rolled it out and chilled it for a while (this seems to be what other people do, and hey presto here is the result. I am so impressed that I finally managed to do this and I will be attempting some more, the centre was cut from a flower petal cutter and shaped and placed the diamonte "30" pick in the middle. I carefully drove into work yesterday and the butterflies stayed on (what a relief I did take dome food glue and a small brush just in case and a spare butterflies)

30th Birthday Cake

2011-06-01T06:22:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good break despite the weather not being that brilliant in some areas. For myself whilst nursing a poorly hubby, I spent the time in my kitchen. I had received a request from a work colleague that her sister was to celebrate her 30th birthday and I was asked if I would do a cake. I do try and ask people what they would want decorative wise but mainly I am just told what colours they would like and the design is generally left up to me. However it was mentioned that they like the butterflies I had put on my pink circle cake.

A Friday Treat for my work mates

2011-05-20T06:38:00.008+01:00

On my earlier post I mentioned I had been baking when I got home from work last night. I wanted to give a treat for my work mates as all the big bosses are at a meeting in Yorkshire today so hopefully it will be a fairly chilled out day. I made one of my classic sponge cakes I used a 60z vanilla sponge receipt divided it between two tins to give a thinner cake, filled it with raspberry jam, fresh whipped double cream and fresh raspberries, then sandwiched together and dusted with icing sugar. What a glorious way to finish off the week, I hope they like it.

Colour in my Conservatory

2011-05-20T06:31:00.010+01:00

Well despite the recent wet weather we have had, yesterday turned out to be quite pleasant, I managed to grab a few minutes in the garden after doing some more baking when I got home from work. On the way to the garden I took a picture of the bougainvillea we have in our conservatory and thought I would share the wonderful flowers and colour it currently has. This was given to us by our next door neighbour who owns a florist shop and she and Kevin had been talking about his time in Australia (long before he met me)and that outside his Uncles house there was one of these plants growing. As you can imagine out there they would be quite big as they love the hot sunny weather, although I don't think ours has done too bad as we have had flowers on it each year since we have had it.

Some more news

2011-05-19T06:38:00.002+01:00

Whilst I am updating you all with what has been happening in my life, I thought I would also share this with you. Our son recently moved out, the time had come really I realise that he could not stay at home any longer, two strapping men in the house was just too much and son and dad quite often clashed. Phillip moved out some weeks ago (officially) but previously had been spending his time between here and his girlfriends. They recently got engaged which was great news but a few weeks ago they hinted that they may be expecting. Well I can tell you it is now official they visited us the other day and presented us with a photo of the scan, I am so happy for them and I am now looking forward to being a Gran or a Nana I don't really mind which as long as they are happy and everything goes well for them. I am having fun at the moment calling Kevin Granddad. I finally caught up with my sister yesterday and gave her the news that she will now be a Great Auntie, as I am to her granddaughter Susie (who is doing really well). I think I will have a busy time ahead of me and will have to dust off my knitting needles and crochet hooks. See you all soon. Sue x

Well, where do I start!

2011-05-19T06:14:00.007+01:00

Life has been so hectic lately I have just not had time to do anything on my blog since my last post which was where we were fitting a new kitchen for Kevin's parents. Since then we have gutted our son's room who has now left home. This is to be my play room for my other crafts as well as space for visitors, I will up date you on that another time. I have also been baking (well there's a surprise I here you say.) A friend at work celebrated a birthday this week (she thought she could keep it quiet by not saying anything, however we have our ways) so I though I would give her a gift of one of my decorated cakes. I made a 4" square sponge cake and decorated it in white and lilac fondant with a matching ribbon and presented it to her in a cake box together with a card. Just to see the expression on her face gave me a real buzz. Here is a couple of pictures that I took.

I also have another order coming up for a colleague at work whose sister is soon to celebrate her 30th birthday so I am planning for the design of that next, the brieft is white with pink and butterflies. I have a cricut cake and so I thought I would cut some out on that. I managed it however I think I was a bit rough with them when I left them to dry so when I came to decorate them they disintegrated but at least I managed to produce some, I need to make some more and see what happens. Here are the pictures of my efforts. I am not the best at taking photo's so I apologise for the quality.

Finished

2011-04-30T15:30:00.007+01:00

Well hello to everyone, isn't the weather just grand. Well we are nearly at the end of our holiday back to work on Tuesday :( Just thought I would keep you posted on where we have been as you can see on earlier posts we have been hard at work fitting a kitchen for Kevin's Mum and Dad, we have now finished and here are some more pictures, we also put down some laminate flooring for them as well and carried this through to the small hallway that they have, this space did not really belong anywhere so I thing including it in the kitchen area has worked well. We left Kevin's parents yesterday lunchtime with our wishes to enjoy their new kitchen. I am sure Kevin's Mum will, she seemed really pleased when we left her.

Busy on Holiday

2011-04-26T16:37:00.013+01:00

Well I hope you have all had a great Easter and have made the most of the wonderful weather we have had, especially here in Warrington. Hubby and i are off at the moment until after the May bank Holiday we took advantage of taking the three days off just after Easter and before the big wedding, so all in all it has made a nice long break. Although we are on holiday we are both mad busy. Kevin's parents wanted a new kitchen but what they were going to be charged was ridiculous so we said we would do it for them, well, why not, those of you who know what we have done in our own home should not be surprised. They did some shopping and decided on the look they wanted. Kevin priced it all up worked out all the measurements and ordered it and got it delivered to their home last Thursday (21st April) a skip was delivered as well. We arrived on Good Friday and commenced work. His Mum and Dad had already made a start by taking all the cupboard doors off and emptying the kitchen and taking up the old floor. I don't think they realised what work was involved but despite all the disruption I think they are enjoying it. Here are some pictures of the first couple of days.

Something Pink

2011-04-23T17:24:00.003+01:00

Well, I hope everyone is well, I have been so busy of late have not had time to post anything on my blog. Kevin and I are currently putting in a new kitchen for his mum and dad, its an easier space to work with so hopefully it should not be as messy as I have been through recently. Not that I am complaining though as I am enjoying my new kitchen. I recently had a request from a friend at work who wanted a cake for her daughters birthday (the daughter is 24) the request was for a chocolate sponge then covered in pink fondant and the decoration was left up to me. I decided to go with pink and brouwn theme and I think it worked well. In fact I was really pleased with the finished result even if I say so myself. My friend thought it was so her daughters sort of thing so I hope it went down well. Here is a photo for you to see. I cut largish circles with my Cricut cake then used a very small circular cutter to cut the centres out but I did this slightly off center to give a more interesting shape. I am hoping I can be a bit more creative with my decorating in future after seeing the result of my latest creation.

Old Cookery Books

2011-04-03T11:29:00.005+01:00

As a lot of my friends know I have a passion for baking and cooking in general, and I especially love spending an afternoon browsing through my collection of cookery books and planning something nice. Amongst my collection I have a couple of really old books, one used to be in my Nan's cupboard and when we went to stay I would always look at it. It is called "Domestic Cookery" The Household Manual, it is a fab book full of old recipe's and I would imagine would have been very useful back in my Nan's younger days. It is so old now I have to be careful with it as some of the pages are now coming out. Another book I have belonged to my Gran and this is called "Radiation" Cookery Book this was published for use with the Regulo Gas cookers and finally also belonging to Gran I have a "How to Ice a Cake" she went to evening classes to learn Royal Icing and such and I forgot I had this book, all be it is very old it still has some useful tips in it. I have only taken a photo of the fronts of them as I am not sure if I am allowed to post photo;s of the inside.

Just had to share

2011-03-31T15:20:00.005+01:00

I have been rather busy of late with work and trying to finish of jobs at home, but just wanted to share this moment with you. We recently had our 26th wedding Anniversary and I had a surprise at work in that my husband had arrange for a bunch of flowers to be delivered to me. It's not something he normally does as he doesn't believe in fuss, however they were wonderful to receive and it made the date special, her is a photo, they are truly wonderful.

Birthday Cake Completed

2011-03-03T19:01:00.004Z

Well I haven't been around much as I have been doing some researching to help me with my cake decorating. Its hard work coming up with ideas but thanks to friends at work I am getting a few requests coming in for cakes to make for them. Here is a couple of pictures to share. I am not as pleased as the others I have done, must have had an off day today.

However on another note, I have just come in from the garden having spent 10 minutes out in the freezing with my darling husband as the space station was due to come over, although it was a bright spot moving very quickly it is quite amazing to think that somwething like that has people on it, I wonder how they feel looking down on us. Anyway this is just a quick post for now I need to get around visiting everyone that I have neglected. See you all soon. Take care.

Completed for Valentines Day

2011-02-13T20:24:00.008Z

Well, how have you been this wet and windy weekend. We bobbed out a couple of times but didn't stay out long, so I spent the day in my kitchen today and worked on a couple of valentines cakes that I had been asked to do, I hope my customers like their orders.

I have been catching up!

2011-02-09T19:01:00.004Z

Hello again just another quick post, I have been catching up with my blogger friends and been nominated by Andie for two awards. Thank you so much Andie I am chuffed to bits, here they are everyone I hope I have done this right! Well i now need to nominate someone but it is so hard so I would like to nominate all my friends from blog land, I hope you accept and enjoy the awards.

Following on from yesterday

2011-02-09T18:43:00.006Z

Well here we are again, I have just sat down to have a few minutes at my computer. Hubby is fed and watered and so are the two dogs. Our older one Kyrie is poorly at the moment we have been to the vets and we have to give her some tablets and I am hoping this will sort things out. Anyway I mentioned yesterday I was making another cake, I know I am posting pictures of it on my blog but the person it is for is not likely to see it, one person may and that is my friend Jenny, but I don't mind her having a sneaky peek before tomorrow. One of our works colleagues is celebrating the big 50 tomorrow and a few of us at work have been planning something special, I was asked to make her birthday cake. What do you think. I need a bit more practice on the smoothing out of the icing but I don't thinks it has worked out too bad. I can't wait to see her face tomorrow when she sees what we have all planned.

Finished model

2011-02-08T18:46:00.002Z

Well here it is with roses attached, not sure if it still needs a bit more or whether the roses should be placed a bit differently. I am going to e-mail a photo to my "client" and see what he thinks. I have also been asked to do another cake for valentines day for someone else, will post some pictures of what I do when ready.

Playing with Cake decorating

2011-02-06T12:24:00.006Z

What a cold and windy weekend we are having in Cheshire, it is not very pleasant out there today and our garden is getting a real battering, a lot of our plants are now damaged especially our Australis we have lost all the tops of it now and I am not sure whether it will now survive. We will have to wait and see. Anyway I have been playing in my kitchen and as mentioned in earlier posts I had bought some cake dummies which you can use to practise with. I have been asked to make a valentines cake for someone but he wants to see the design first. Here are a couple of pictures of where I am up to so far. It will be finished off with black roses, which I am in the process of making (very fiddly). I will be taking a picture of the finished example hopefully later on today. I have now started a round design and will be using my cricut cake for the shapes, will post some pictures when finished..

Fondant Roses

2011-01-16T16:45:00.004Z

After my earlier post I decided I needed to get going on some practising. I have been asked to make a valentines cake, and he has been quite specific in how he wants it decorated. It is to be a heart shaped cake iced in red with black roses. I have never made roses before but have had a go them this afternoon and I don't think they have come out too bad. I have cut the petal shapes with my Cricut Cake and shaped them a little, I have then dusted them in edible glitter which I think looks quite good. I am quite pleased with my first attempt at these and will be making some in red just in case they are needed. At least I can make these in advance and they won't spoil. Here are a couple of pictures.

I won a competition

2011-01-16T14:14:00.006Z

Well, I had a surprise when I got home yesterday, hubby was working, so I had a gentle browse doing the shopping, then went to our local Hobbycraft store and bought some bits, then on to a clothes store to spend some vouchers I had for Christmas. I had a wonderful morning. I had not been in long after unloading the car when hubby came home and handed me a parcel. Apparently it had been left with our neighbour when delivered by the post man. I think Kevin thought I had been spending again and I wondered what it was to. I opened it to find I had won a competition I had entered some time ago in the Cake Craft & Decoration Magazine I buy and I had won a book, here is a picture. I am quite chuffed, as I am not usually any good at competitions. There are some really gruesome ideas in it for decorating cakes but it looks fun. I am now getting ready for valentines day and am hoping I can do a few valentines cakes for people soon. I have bought some cake dummies so I can practise my cake decorating on them and then when I do the real thing I have it already planned without making a hash of the cakes when I come to decorate them. I have one order for a valentines cake and the brief is for it to be iced in red with black roses on, he was very specific so I will be trying out my hand at making fondant roses so will hopefully be putting a few pictures of my attempts on soon. Bye for now and will catch up with everyone soon.

Latest DIY

2011-01-09T08:49:00.004Z

Well here we are the first week over for January, how are you all surviving, especially those who have had all the recent snow. Didn't get much here in Warrington you blinked and it was gone. Anyway, thought I would put up a few more pictures of our latest DIY, this time we have been working on the hall and I now have full banister top and bottom of the stair,carpeted tread and laminated landing. If you look on earlier posts then you would have seen some pictures of my hubby preparing the walls. I must say he has done a wonderful job, however i did have a slight accident, when taking photos of his latest handiwork I somehow lost my bearings having thought I was on the bottom step when in fact I was three steps up, consequently as I stepped out it was into fresh air and I landed quite heavily on my ankle. A big OUCH oh the pain. I am please to say that I did not break it (wouldn't that have looked good ringing in to work on the first day back from Christmas Hols to say I had had a slight accident)anyway I have hobbled around for the last week and although it is still painful today most of the swelling has gone although i have some lovely black bruised all over my foot and ankle and a few other places too. I must also point out that we have had no banisters etc top and bottom on the stairs for the last 2 to 3 years and I had not fallen down them then so had to christen them once finished what a dope I am.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T13:50:00.004Z

Just a quick post to all family and friends for a Happy New Year and prosperous 2011. Also to welcome again into our family my Great Neice who you will see on my sisters blog, http://www.theknittingandsewingcorner.com

Welcome Susie from your Great Auntie Sue x

All completed

2010-12-25T12:56:00.005Z

Thank you all so much for your comments and support. I think I have loved every minute of it and am quite proud of what I have done, even though I have had no formal lessons yet, a lot of it has been trial and error and reading a lot of books and magazines for inspiration. I finally made it with all my orders completed here are the last photo's.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year lots of love Sue x

Somemore to show off

2010-12-22T19:56:00.005Z

Well, I have been busy again. I was stressing on Monday at the amount of work I still had left to do with regard to my cake projects, but Tuesday night I got home from work and just everything fell into place. I finished some more and took them in to work today and I think they were pleased with my efforts. I came home tonight and completed another one, one of the girls at work wanted a reindeer on hers and my other friend Jenny kindly lent me one of her Cricut catridges that had one on. It took some doing getting it to cut how I wanted but I think I succeeded, I added some holly as well. Hubby reckons it is the best one I have done so far (it takes a lot for him to say things like that, so I think he was impressed) and I think so to. I have one more cake left to do and I have three small ones that just need putting in their wrapping and I think that's it. Will update you soon on the final one, now I am off for a little relax and some tea!

Snow for Christmas ?

2010-12-18T16:03:00.004Z

Well, Warrington has snow, we usually miss out compared to most areas in the UK, but I think over the years this could be changing. this is what it looked like last night at about teatime and Kaara just had to go out and check her garden. We still have snow today and it is very cold,luckily I was nice and warm in my kitchen doing the things I love best as you will see from my earlier post. Wonder what tomorrow will bring! Sorry about the state of the garden bu we have been rather busy in the house and it has been sadly neglected.

Still Busy

2010-12-18T16:01:00.003Z

Well, here we are again and Christmas is fast approaching, I am frantically working in my kitchen to get things finished, here is another one cake I completed this afternoon. I had tried to cut snowflakes out last week with my Cricut Cake , they cut perfectly but I could not then get them off the mat. A friend at work who has the Cricut for card making lent me a tool that is similar to one I already have but a lot thinner on the blade, i tried it today and was able to get the snowflake off in one piece. Another one finished and I have yet to make three sponge cakes that will be decorated in the Christmas theme also, I will be making these tomorrow but will be using a slightly different recipe which allows the cake to keep longer and once it is covered in marzipan and iced they should be fine. See you all soon. Sue x

Two More

2010-12-16T19:31:00.005Z

Well here we are and I am busy again in my kitchen, here are photo's of two more cakes I have made and decorated. I did try and do the snowflakes on my Cricut cake, they cut perfectly but I couldn't get them of the mat, I think I put too much lard on it which is what you have to coat the mat in to make the fondant not move around. I have mastered the thickness of the fondant need to master getting it off the mat. Anyway, I resorted to the more traditional method using a cutter that I have used before. I will not let it beat me and will be practising over the weekend. Anyway here are the photo's let me know what you think

Just for you Jenny

2010-12-13T18:16:00.003Z

Well following on from my last post, I got home from work this evening, got tea started and then indulged in some more cake decorating, here is the latest one finished this evening. I have used my Cricut cake with a cartridge borrowed from my friend and have managed to do the polar bear. I think I have cracked it.
It has taken some time to master there is a technique to getting it as thin as possible, which I found out from the Cake Show I went to recently at the NEC. I am planning my next one, I had a total of fifteen orders and only now have 11 left to decorate. Well Jenny, what do you think, I think you may have guessed what I was going to do this evening. See you at work tomorrow Sue x

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-12T16:13:00.004Z

Well as most of you know my main passion is baking, I am hoping to make a go of a small business with a couple of friends. I had a poster up at work advertising my cakes and offered Christmas cakes sponge and fruit. I have managed to get a really good response and have had to take my posters down as I had so many orders. Here is a picture of three that I have fully decorated. I am taking things slowly and not trying to over tax things by making the decorations complicated as I also need to get used to the Cricut cake machine that I have. I hope you like the result. See you all soon.

Well, hello everyone!

2010-12-07T17:44:00.004Z

I am ashamed to say I have neglected my blog, but I have been busy, I have, thanks to support of my two best friends have received orders for 15 cakes for Christmas, these range from individual sized to large square fruit cakes and three sponges. I have marzipan the fruit cakes and have now started coating hem in the regal icing, I will do all of them and then decorate them. The sponges will be made nearer to Christmas as their shelf life is not as good as the fruit cakes. I will be posting some picture of the finished cakes soon.

Whilst I have been busy my handy man husband has also been busy, we have been working on the hall, stairs and landing here are some pictures I have included one from a previous posting to give you an idea of what the hall looked like and now we have banister's on the stairs both landing and bottom, i think they look fab and can't wait to put carpet on the stairs and finish everything off. Hopefully Kevin's mum and dad will brave coming round to see us now as before it wasn't really safe for them especially as we have two energetic dogs running around. As you can see Kyrie has managed to get into one of the photo's its very rare that she does as she is scared of the camera. Well I am afraid that's it for today i will try not to stay away too long. See you all soon. Sue x

Playing with my Cricut Cake

2010-11-03T16:07:00.003Z

As you will see from earlier post, I am the proud owner of the new Cricut Cake, its just fab. I have been struggling with it a little as I have not yet mastered the technique of using the machine or even rolling out the Fondant properly yet. Have been doing some researching on the net and also speaking to my friends that visited yesterday it would seem that putting the sheet in the freezer for while before cutting anything out seems to help. Jenny is the card making wiz and she is also well used to the Cricut so she made it look so easy when we were playing last night. Here are a couple of pictures the blue sample has the cut outs I did last night not perfect but better than I had done before. The second picture shows what I have managed this afternoon and I am really pleased with the result, still a bit of a beginner but getting there.

Snowman or Yeti

2010-11-03T16:02:00.003Z

This is what was happening yesterday thought I would share this monster with you, Snowman or yeti, I will leave it up to you! He is a love really and its great having a hubbie who is so handy.

This is the next stage in our DIY project, the hall stairs and landing. Oh what joy more dust and forever cleaning.

I shut myself away in the kitchen and did some baking have made another Christmas cake for my order list.

Fund Raising Event at Work

2010-10-30T10:56:00.004+01:00

A group of us got together at work and decided we would have a fund raising event. We decided on a Pink Day in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness. It was an opportunity for the cooks among us to get baking and a couple of the girls made cards. Here are a couple of pictures of what was made. I purchased three of the cards and I think they are beautiful. Despite there not being many people in the office as there usually would be we managed to raise around £111.00, which we were all pleased with.

Iced Lemon Sponge Cake

2010-10-23T15:09:00.002+01:00

As most of you know my main craft is baking. I am still trying to find my way with my new Cricut Cake, I have a lot to learn still! So recently in between trying to master this machine, i have gone back to making sponges and am taking orders for Christmas at the moment after having put a poster up at work designed by one of my friends there. I now have a number of orders for the traditional Christmas cake and some sponges all to be decorated. So, I think i am going to be fairly busy over the next few weeks. However another friend of mine celebrated her birthday this week at work and normally my work mates would go to the local supermarket and buy a selection. I was asked to make to sponge cakes once of which was the one in the picture which was a Lemon Iced sponge cake. I think it went down well and I have an order for a smaller one for another work friend who is buying it for her Gran who loves lemon sponge. I will also be making some more goodies over the next week as we are holding a fund raising event at work, so will tell you morenext weekend.

Eureka! Or perhaps not!

2010-10-10T17:40:00.003+01:00

Well those of you who have been following my projects will know that I got a new toy a few weeks ago, since then I have been trying to get the hang of things. Have a look at the photo's, they are by no means perfect but I have managed to get some shapes cut out of the fondant from my Cricut Cake. There is still a long way to go but I am not as frustrated with it as I was at first. It seems to be a case of trial and error at the moment, but I am quite please with my afternoons work.

For my God Daughter

2010-10-02T12:28:00.004+01:00

Well, apart from having my new toy, I have also been trying to finish off a few things, one in particular. This is a baby shawl for my niece and god daughter who is expecting her first baby at the end of the year. I am pleased with the way it has turned out and it was an easy pattern to do. Julie, I hope Jo will like it when she sees it.

Julie, I saw your comment on my last post and I am sure Mum would be proud and very interested in what we are doing, in fact she would probably join in.

Must dash off now, I need to get to grips with the Cricut Cake, it chewed up the last piece of icing I was cutting out, not quite got the hang of it yet.

Oh how lucky am I!

2010-09-24T17:51:00.008+01:00

Today has been the best ever, since I have go back into crafting and concentrating more on my baking, a seed was sewn a while ago and now it has come to light. My friends are into card making and one in particular owns the Cricut for card making, and had shown me what was coming up. Both friends have encouraged me to go that bit further and with their encouragement and an understanding hubby I am now the proud owner of the new Cricut Cake, I can't wait to get stuck in tomorrow and play with it properly for now I am content to take a few pictures to share with you all.

Finally

2010-09-12T13:08:00.010+01:00

Well, here we are, finally finished dressed and ready for action. I cooked a meal last night for four. It was a breeze. The menu was Carrot and Coriander soup with a black pepper sliced French stick. Slow roasted Lamb shoulder with roasted Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Red Peppers, Shallotts coated in olive oil and whole garlic bulbs and rosemary. I also made a mint and Greek yoghurt dressing (the mint was from my herb garden) to go with it. For afters I did a cheese platter with grapes and crackers and a few bottles of wine to wash it all down. I was in heaven, who would have thought that when we started my kitchen/diner and conservatory were an absolute tip and now we have this fantastic living space. Here are some pictures of when we started (some of you may have already seen them sorry for that).

We have been busy

2010-09-01T08:39:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone its been a while since I updated my blog, but we have been busy. Hubby and I are on two weeks leave and we have used the time to get a few things done, mainly the jobs in the house. Here are a couple of pictures to keep you interested. I will be putting others on later once we have everything put away. The dresser is nearly "dressed", I have been able to get a couple of things out of the loft and I couldn't resist putting flowers in the vase which belonged to mum, but was her mums before that. Julie if you are looking do you recognise the set that I have placed on there? I am please to say that this dresser will not be moving again it is so heavy, but it had to be moved so we could decorate. We have just gone for the good old magnolia effect which I think has worked quite well and has given a bit of warmth to that side of the room as the other side where my kitchen is is as most of you know white and black theme. I just need to tidy the conservatory and hang a few of my pictures up and I thing we are all done in there. The next challenge is the rest of the house.

Ta Ta for now x.

Coffee Sponge Cake

2010-08-15T09:09:00.002+01:00

Morning to everyone, for once it isn't raining in Warrington (yet). Hope it doesn't I have just managed to put some washing out. Well I thought I would share another photo of my cakes making projects with you. This was a Victoria sponge coffee flavoured cake drizzled a little icing and added walnuts to the top. My husband took this into work with him for him and his friends.

It was my birthday last week and I made some more cakes but I forgot to take pictures of them for my notebook. I made another coffee flavour, chocolate with drizzled melted chocolate over the top and the good old favorite, just a plane one. I took these into work to share with my workmates, I think they enjoyed them. I am off now to try out some more recipes, my sister bought a cake decorating book which is very informative and really gets the imagination going, I am planning to make some small Christmas cakes and decorate them so I had better get a move on.

Baby Shawl

2010-08-08T15:33:00.006+01:00

Here is another shawl I have been making in between all the other projects on the go. This is made from a double knitting wool which I got from our local Pound Stretcher, it came in 200g balls and it cost £2.50 per ball. I made this with just over two of three that I bought. It is in a lovely shade of pink and lilac's although it is not very clear from the photo. I also have another three balls in shades of blue and will be making something with this soon.

Babies

2010-08-01T11:09:00.005+01:00

After the devastation caused by the bad winter, some of our plants are recovering and I also think the very wet weather we have been having has helped a lot. Here are some pictures of the Australis that was damaged quite badly, on my last post you will have seen that it had small shoots on it, well look at it now! Sorry a couple of the pictures are on the side, not figured out how to change that yet.

Water Lillies

2010-07-11T15:29:00.003+01:00

After the wonderful weather we have had this weekend, it has encouraged the water Lillies on our pond to start to blossom, here is a picture of one that has come out today and on further investigation there are a lot more to follow. I am off now to do some baking, I need to stock up my freezer with goodies so that when I am ready to do any icing/cake decorating the cakes are all ready and I just have to defrost them beforehand. I have also found my recipes that I used last year for chutney and I have also found the one I kept for the mince pie filling. I am hoping I can sell one or two and boost up my craft fund as I want to own the new Cricut Cake that is already out in America, it will certainly help me with my quest to have a small business amongst friends.

See you all soon. x

Our Garden

2010-07-10T12:37:00.009+01:00

Our garden is finally getting some colour, although it is still very wild and jungle looking, but we enjoy being out in it and it mostly looks after itself. Here are a few of the potted ones we have done. I also have a few bushes that blossom such as a white jasmine and an orange blossom bush which is nestling in amongst the other plants. They both give off the most beautiful scent in the early to late evening. It's lovely sitting out on a warm night. There is also a view of the bottom of our garden where we have a pond and small waterfall, the water lilies on this are just starting to bud so I hope to have some photos of that soon. The other side of the garden has a broad leaf bamboo and acer bush.

Finally a couple of pictures of our Australis, we thought we had lost this with the bad winter but look what's growing at the bottom of one of the trunks.

Teatime

2010-06-20T16:11:00.004+01:00

Well another week has gone by, and last week I ran out of time after doing my last posts, i went of to do some more cooking, we were meant to be having a barbecue but it decided to rain on Sunday evening, so as I had already marinated the meat over night, I decided to cook it in the oven, they were ribs and chicken thighs which I fried off quickly first then slow roasted in the over. Kevin's tea was served with some garlic and rosemary roasted baby potatoes, these were done in foil first then opened up to crisp off and serviced with a small side salad and a opt of mayonnaise. Phillips tea was macaroni cheese from a recipe I found in one of my collection of cooking magazines, this had broccoli and sweetcorn added to it with a home made cheese sauce and I must admit it tasted rather good. Hope it makes you feel hungry

Crochet Shrug

2010-06-13T14:15:00.005+01:00

Among all the other things I have been doing I have been making this shrug, its a pattern out of the new crochet magazine that's just come out. It was intended to be for myself but it isn't quite big enough for me. I didn't use the stipulated yarn as I had fallen in love with this lovely coloured double knitting one I bought recently from a place called Black Sheep Wools which has a small warehouse close to where I live (in fact is it just 10 minutes away from work), I also use different sized hook,. I loved making this the pattern is easy to do and it grew very quickly. I think I will be giving it as a gift or perhaps selling it not sure yet. No off to see what else I can get started on.

More Cakes

2010-06-13T07:18:00.007+01:00

Hello everyone, when I left you last time, I was contemplating making some more cakes, here are a couple of pictures. I made two good old reliable Victoria sponge cake, which these I think I have got off to a "T". They come out perfect every time, the other one is a first and this is a carrot cake, I think the texture was how it should have been moist and light not too rich, the topping was creamed cheese mixed with icing sugar, the texture of this was a little bit too soft, but it had the right flavour, I will have to work on that topping, perhaps if I put it in the fridge first it might work better. Both cakes were taken into work for my work colleagues to sample none came back so I think they were enjoyed. I will be trying out some more new cakes as I would like to make them to order and sell them, there are a lot of us who love cakes and desserts but don't have the time or inclination to make them or, even can't cook, so this is where I come in (I hope). Well I am off for now I have another project to finish off so may see you a little later on. Take care, Sue

Colour in the Garden

2010-06-05T12:52:00.004+01:00

Have just been out in the garden as the weather is so glorious, thought I would take a couple of pictures of some of the flowering plants we have. Our garden is predominantly evergreen so does not always have a lot of colour. I am slowly persuading Kevin to introduce some colour so we have compromised and got some evergreen plants that flower as well, here are a couple, we also have some jasmine but they haven't come out yet.

Kitchen Update

2010-06-05T09:45:00.008+01:00

We are still working hard on our kitchen,we still need to do a little decorating but over the last few weeks we have ventured out to look and buy some accessories for the kitchen. One of the things we wanted was an egg holder, we couldn't agree on one however Kevin has been working on one of the sites the company we work for is building on in Garstang so has got to know the area a little bit and we took a trip up there and found a lovely shop and came home with a couple of things. I saw what was labelled as a bird bath in the shop but have looked at it thought it so cute that I thought it would make a great egg holder. We were both in agreement when I suggested it and here it is on my worktop. We also found a memo board but have hung it as a picture because we like the look of it and think it goes well on the white tiles. The Gecko above the wall we have had for some time but think it looks great above the door. We also bought something else which we have put above the door in the hall the hall is our next project but we thought we would put this up anyway. The lady in the shop said is was used for putting notes or photos on but I like it just the way it is on the white background. The kitchen is working fully now so will be getting back to my baking although after finishing the baby shawl I am going to try and get round to making a few things for myself. I also have a salt lap which was given to me by one of my brothers and it looks lovely lit up at night with just that on it makes the kitchen look really warm and snug. Well that's my update for now I need to go and do some housework.

Baby Shawl

2010-05-23T20:28:00.005+01:00

What wonderful weather we are having just now, I have spent most of the day in the garden in between washing and finishing this latest shawl, which is for another friend from work who recently had a baby boy. I had hoped to finish it before he arrived but that was not to be as me and hubby have also been renovating the kitchen (more on that later, we are decorating now). Here are some photos of the shawl it is only a short post today as I have to go and get the washing in and put it away.

See you all soon.

Another Update on Kitchen Makover

2010-04-11T16:24:00.014+01:00

Well here we are Kevin and I took a week off leading up to Easter to get full time work done on the kitchen, whilst we were off Kevin celebrated his birthday and we had our 25th Wedding Anniversary and we spent it doing the kitchen, here are some pictures we have still some finishing touches to do but the cooker is in and working, can't wait to get going on my baking! As you can see Kyrie and Kaara have given up on trying to get involved, I think it all got a bit too much for them. That's all for now have got to try and do some tidying up.

Some more pictures

2010-03-21T18:05:00.007Z

Here are a couple more these are when the wall came down, the quality is not brilliant because of all the dust in the air. As you can see my front room has become a store room, but the doorway from there has now been blocked off and I have some cupboards on the wall, we went out looking for tiles this weekend, so many to choose from but we have now bought the one's we want, will keep you update must go and try and put something together for tea. I think I will have to use my imagination there. Bye for now.