Cake taking shape

Well so far so good, tiers are stacked and dowelled, and made three long sprays, just waiting on how the bride to be wants them on the cake. Made 22 lilies and 75 leaves in different shades, they soon disappear once made up, but relieved that this is one project nearly completed well ahead of time (the advantage of fruit cake over sponges !)
Back to miniatures tomorrow!

Bouquet progress

22 cala lilies, all in different stages, still need to dust their colour in and make the calyx's to the bottom of the stems but getting there! tomorrow I will be making all their leaves including cala leaves and ivy :) thepetals measure approximately 70mm long

All wrapped up!

The candles were wrapped in the rose appliqué towels then wrapped with a ribbon bow, cellophane wrap around them all and a rose was placed in the top of the cellophane.
I finished off the little Nan wooden spoon and got that all wrapped up to :) All ready for the travels to Northern Ireland :)
To me personal gifts mean far more :)

More candles!

Two candles just drying off ready for Nan's 80th birthday :) Also decorating some wooden hangers at the moment to go with them, and doing some rose applique on the towels so they all match in :)
Still working away on the cala lily sugar craft cascading bouquet, many many more flowers to make!
Spare room bits are on hold for the moment as I am also making some other special gifts for family members (will show photos when I can) as well as working away on commissioned Miniatures and other bits for my online store!
It was nice to sit down this morning, John picked me up another cross trainer as I had literally worn the last one out! If the burning in my hips and knees is anything to go by I have managed to burn off more than a few calories this week!

Something a little different

this is my first ever attempt at a towel cake and it certainly wont be my last!
Its a gift for my friend Sharon's wedding on the 12th of May.
Money is extremely tight and always loved them but couldnt afford to buy one, so set to making one up myself,
Bought a lovely blue and white towel set , sad I couldnt find them in cream and blue! It was a 6 piece towel bale two bath towels two hand towels and two flannels.
Firstly I bought a cake board. Placed that on a large sheet of cellophane. For the bottom tier I rolled up the flannel, then the two bath sheets and tied them off with some east of india ribbon and placed them as the bottom tier.
Next I added a candle (on the same theme as the other two candles made) and rolled the two hand towels around the bottom and pinned them to the bottom tier, for the top tier I wrapped the flannel around it. Now I have the basic cake which stands nearly two feet tall. I added a bath scrunchie to the very top. Next I added two lovely white dove soaps that had beautiful blue sparkly bits in them to the middle and bottom tier using some double sided foam pads, to the middle of the top tier I added a bottle of scented oil (fresh linen) Then added some champagne bottles of bubbles and lastly some fresh linen scented tea light candles, then decorated them all with tiny butterfly rhinestones, Scooped up the cellophane and tied if off with a 35mm satin blue ribbon. tucked in the excess cellophane, stood back and was very pleased with the results. A gift that is different and holds a very personal surprise inside too. Still working my way through the sugar craft flowers and completing commission dragons and gremlin sculpts for my online store too!
Its definitely a very busy month!

Other side of the room

The bed is started to look more homely :)
With the making of more cushions, plus the cover arrived for the bed, so pretty, all ruffles of cotton in duck egg blue!
Plus delved into my linen cupboard and found this lovely white embroidered linen cover with a crochet edge which was a perfect addition to the bed!
I popped two lanterns on the window sill and plan on making some bird cushions to sit with them when I get the time :) Still waiting on the valance, pillow cases and sheets to arrive, but think I can count them as lost in the post. Along with quite a few other deliveries that disappeared that week. I did also make a V pillowcase  and some more cushions too! All different shapes and sizes will update photos of those later!

Spare room progress

 The room is coming along nicely!
I got to have fun and play with some image transfers, two different types, first was t shirt iron on transfers and the other was the liquid image transfer medium by dylon.
I much prefer the liquid one!But the results were lovely on both and it helped me add to the cushion collection in the room. I also added more pretties to the shelf unit. made some pompadour bags to hand from the shelf. Stacked some hat boxes to the side of the wardrobes, hung a lovely heart ornament from a friend on the wall :)
I think I would make the next torso cushion  a little slimmer on the hips next time though, but still pleased with the results so far :)

Weddings!

This month is a definite wedding month, and my friend asked me to make soom bits for her wedding, so the spare room make over was put on hold for a while whilst I created these four little figures and these two candles to be displayed with her cake.
The two candles are 9inches tall.
Printed on to water slide decal paper and then added to the candles, Her theme is blue and cream with butterflies
The candles are for those who cant make it, Sharon's mum and Dave's sister have both passed away but they wanted something to show people they would be remembered and missed. Ive also made her two silk butterflies that she wants to sew inside the hem of her wedding dress :)
I am also in the process of making a sweeping sugar craft bouquet of cala lillies to go down a three tiered wedding cake for another friend, will post photos of that as soon as it is complete.

Little house makeover!

In the pound shop I came across a lovely shaped garden bird house. The only trouble was it was cerise pink with horrible red blue and orange bugs attached to it, but I loved the shape and saw it could look so different!
Its a lovely size too, over a foot tall  with a corrugated metal roof, the materials to make this would have cost me a fortune to buy!
So gave the whole thing a coat of white, it instantly looked better!
Next I gave the roof a coat of sponged green, painted some little MDF bird shapes in duck egg blue and placed them where the bright and gaudy bugs had been
The result a very tasteful little bird house wall decoration :)

More hearts!

Next I made 5 little heart hanging cushions,
Made them all different sizes and shapes and plan on making many more, then hung the wire heart hook rack on the wall and used them for their display :) very pleased with the results of these, again they took no time at all to make which is a good thing as time is always at a premium!
I dont think there is ever enough hours in a day for a crafter!

Finding things old and new

After delving in to my understairs cupboard (believe me I had to drop beads to find my way back out!) I came across this little box frame and a metal embossing kit that had never been opened,
so thought I would give it a go
One free hand rose embossed ten minutes later, popped in the frame and hung on the wall! a very pretty bit of wall art in minutes!

crackle glaze the crafters favourite medium!

These were blank MDF heart tags that I painted with a base coat of beige added a coat of crackle glaze (god I love that stuff!) and then painted white, added some decoupaged words of inspiration painted the edges with a little gold and then strung with string :)

Pretty on a budget

The room needed some pretties and being on a budget of pennies instead of pounds I hit the charity stores, second hand markets and the sales!
All reaped some fabulous rewards!
I went armed with £20 and came back with change :))

I then laid the cream carpet,  moved in the single divan bed, and three aneboda ikea wardrobes (these actually house just a fraction of my crafting materials). I painted a pine 3 shelf unit white and popped that in and then set to making a tab top single curtain.
Followed closely by a little patchwork cushion

Making a start!

Over the years I have attempted so many different crafts, sculpting will always remain my first love, followed by sugar craft which I have done for over 26 years. It was the discovery of clay for making cake toppers that started off my love for sculpting and the two go very much hand in hand.
My son moved out a few months ago which left me with a lovely blank canvas of a spare room!
So armed with paintbrush I painted the room cream and white.
As the rest of the house is decorated in modern dark colours I wanted a change, I wanted pretty! Having bought a selection of Tone Finnanger's books years ago admiring her eye for colour, I pulled out my stache of fabrics (the advantage of being a quilter and doll maker) and set about turning the room into a little light oasis!