Sunday 20 January 2013

Cake Love!!

I have been making use of Google and have been searching for all different types of cakes. Looking at different styles of cakes, different flavours, different decorating techniques etc. During this research i have found lots of beautiful and amazing cakes. Lots of which i have fallen in love with.
But i have also found a few which i LOVE and WANT for myself!
Friends - i don't know who made this cake but will happily add details if someone knows.
FRIENDS Tv Show Cake
Then the wonderful Harry Potter (books, films, theme park.....i love them all)
Harry Potter Cake---FIRST CLIENT!newlight 010brightwatermarked Made by the wonderful Carisa's Cakes
Wicked the musical
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Eeyore!!
002721 Eeyore Bithday Cake 2007
And then finally, cakes themed around my favourite place in the world....orlando!!
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Florida Cake by Finesse
20110925-101902-445x600 Theme park cake from Chocolate Swirl
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!
I think a florida theme cake would be my ULTIMATE birthday cake, as you could combine Dinsey Magic, sunshine, food (olive garden breadsticks anyone?) and Harry Potter. Perfect!

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Cupcake Decorating Class

As you may have guessed i recently discovered an enjoyment for making and decorating cakes. I'd never taken any courses or been taught by anybody, i just picked a cake design and did my best to match it.
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One thing i had never tried was using buttercream or icing with a piping bag and nozzle. So when i saw a cupcake decorating course available in my area i decided to go for it. And i'm so glad i did.
The course was 4 hours long and had just 4 attendees, to start with we coloured some white fondant with our choice of gel colouring, i chose pink and purple because when presented with lots of options i get very confused!! Anyway once we had coloured the fondant we made lots of decorations to go on the cupcakes using cutters and moulds. It was great to see the different things you can create.
Then it was time to pipe the buttercream....yay....we were shown three techniques, the trandtional swirl, the rose and also the grass effect. All were surprisingly straightforward, even the two tone roses. I used the grass effect on my daughters birthday cake a few weeks later (see picture above)
Once they were all piped with buttercream it was time to decorate. Now i went a lot heavier on decorations than i would normally as i had made so many during the class and it seemed a shame to waste them. But i would normally go for the 'less is more' approach and let the buttercream do the talking. As a side note i must say i LOVE buttercream!!!
So these are the finished articles which i got to take home. Not bad for a first try i think. What do you think?
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The cupcake class was held in Bristol at Hey Cupcakes and i would highly recommend it as it was both fun and informative.

The P90X Challenge

My aim to get healthy and lose some weight has not gone very far. In fact it has gone nowhere!!
So when we moved house and finally had more space i resolved to start exercising again. Now the question was what should i do?
I used to jog a lot before my daughter was born. But it was the middle of winter and i dislike running in the dark from a safety point of view.
I couldn't afford to join a gym. So it looked like exercise videos were the best option. I have put together quite a collection over the years and each have their merits. But for some reason i bypassed the Davina workouts, the dance workouts and even the 30 day shred. And went straight for the hardcore P90X.
Now i have done the workouts from this boxset occasionally before, but i haven't ever followed the 90 day programme before. I'm not sure why i thought it was a good idea to undertake this when i haven't exercised in so long, but undertake it i did.
p90x-article
As it currently stands i am on day 38 of the P90X programme and i feel confident that i will keep it up and complete the programme and become a P90X graduate! Whoop!
Now whilst i feel confident regarding completion of the programme i am under no illusions that i will look like the ripped people on the DVD's. I was seriously overweight when i started the programme and am not much better off now (what i initially lost i gained again over christmas......damn all of that christmas chocolate!!) but i kow that even if on the outside there isn't much of a change that i will be stronger, more flexible, fitter and generally more healthy than i was to start with.
on the 7th January i started eating healthy so that i could shed some of the excess pounds. To get to a healthy BMI i need to shed 47lbs which seems like a massive amount to me. So far i have lost 5lbs.
I am going to try not to focus on the bigger number and try to remember that every lb i lose is a sucess and a victory. As i find it so easy to lose myself in the enormity of the number on the scale!
bathroom-scales
Anyway, P90X, for those who haven't tried it is a killer of a workout. It comprises of 12 workout DVD's which should be followed in a specific order. They cover cardio, weight training and flexibility so you really get an all round workout which is fantastic.
I wasn't in the best shape to start with (and am still not now really) and so i find these DVD's hard. There are some moves i am physically unable to do (the Crane in the yoga DVD for one) and i am unable to complete the Plyometrics DVD without pausing it on multiple occasions to catch my breath!
But....i am improving, I feel so much stronger and am able to do so much more than i could to start with. And whilst i was flexible to start with i am now even more flexible.
I have 22 days until Day 60, on which i will be taking some update photos. I am excited at the prospect of seeing a change (no matter how small) in comparison to my before pictures.
Wish me luck with the rest of the programme!!

Sunday 13 January 2013

House Buying....Oh Joy!!

So as you may know we have recently sold our house and are in the process of purchasing our next home.
It is an emotional time, which is something i wasn't altogether prepared for, i feel sad to be leaving the house we have been in for over 8 years, this was our first home as a couple, the first house either of us owned, it was where we developed our (not particularly strong) DIY skills, it was where we got engaged and where we lived when we got married and most importantly it was the home we lived in when two became three and our daughter was born. So to leave all of those memories behind will be a big wrench for me.
As well as the fact I am comfortable here, i know this house inside out, every creak is familiar (and annoying!) so to be living somewhere new will be strange for a while.
But i am also unbelievably excited about the move! The house we have purchased is beautiful and it will be lovely to put our own stamp on it over the coming years and to fill it with our family life so we can in grain new memories there.

One thing i did prepare myself for was that the whole process would be stressful. I am a sensible, logical person and despite that i still wasn't prepared for the reality. What a nightmare the house buying process is in England!! It just drags on and on and you have the constant fear that someone in the never-ending chain will pull out and it will all fall apart. I feel that since we made the offer and it was accepted we have been holding our breath! Holding our breath whilst the next people in the chain found somewhere and the next people etc etc.
Then holding our breath whilst that was finalised. Then waiting for all the documentation to be collated and agreed. Holding our breath for all the surveys to be done and for all the contents lists to be completed. Don't get me started on people being petty about curtain rails!!
To be fair i think we have been lucky (touch-wood) as i think the whole process could have been a lot worse, but it has still been a constant worry nevermind terribly expensive!!
One issue we did have was that when we received the land registry documentation the boundary line on our new house didn't match up with the property we had been shown, the documentation showed the garden as half the size it actually was!! Yikes! So that all went back to our solicitors to resolve as without the whole garden the house would not be suitable for us........cue a loooong period of us holding our breath and keeping our fingers crossed. After weeks and weeks the land registry finally sorted it all out and that was all fine.....phew!
So last Friday we went to our solicitors and signed the paperwork.......Whoop whoop!!
Now we just wait for everyone else to sign and agree on a date, provisionally the 12th November. So less than 2 weeks away!
Here is our timeline if anyone is interested:
accepted an offer on our house - mid July
made an offer on new house - end of July
signed contacts - 26th October
potentially move into new house - 12th November
So its been 4 months from start to finish which is longer than we hoped for but not as bad as it could have been.
So our new house........here it is.......
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What do you think? I love it and have done from the moment i saw it! We looked at 16.....yes 16 houses in total and this was the only one that i had a real reaction to. Our new family home.
What is the house buying process like in other places i wonder? Is England better or worse in comparison?

My baby turns One!!!

So just a quick note to say i've been offline since November as we finally moved house! So i have 3 months of things to catch up on!! I'll try to get it all done quickly so hopefully will be bang up to date soon(ish)!
Anyway so my beautiful baby girl turned 1 in October. I can still hardly believe she is already over a year old, its scary how fast time flys when you are a parent. I really would like time to slow down slightly so i can savour these wonderful years of her growing and developing and where me and her Dad are the centre of her universe!!
So we had to mark her first birthday with a little party. We hired a hall in Bradley Stoke and also hired some soft play equipment from a wonderful company called Tots of Fun. This soft play equipment really added to the party and Miley and her little friends had sooo much fun because of it.
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As you may expect i had to have a go at making some home made decorations for the party. I didn't really know where to start but i was so glad i tried as it was so much fun and the decorations looked great on the day. I made a banner with a photo of Miley from each month of her first year. And i also made a Happy Birthday Miley banner which i used at the party and then again at home on her actual birthday.
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The other thing i really wanted to do was make Miley a first birthday cake and for some reason i thought it was a good idea to make a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the only cartoon Miley watches and she loves it so i didn't feel like i had any other option, but i knew it would be a big undertaking!
I searched through hundreds of images online of different cakes trying to find one i felt i could make and one that i liked also. I finally decided on a two tier cake covered with fondant. I bought the figures from the Disney Store which was so helpful and Miley loves playing with them now.
The cake took a long time to make, i baked the cakes on the Friday and then spent nearly all day saturday decorating the cakes. Then on Sunday i took them to the party and stacked them once at the venue and also added the figures using green buttercream piped from a bag to look like grass.
All in all i was really pleased with the way the cake turned out. A couple of people at the party didn't believe that i had made it myself which is a great compliment i think to the final product (not so much to me!)
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We had a wonderful party and Miley had lots of fun and was suitably exhausted at the end of it!
On her actual birthday a few days later we took her to Jump softplay in Bristol and then went to Harvester for lunch. We had a lovely day just the three of us and we both just enjoyed spending the day with our beautiful daughter who was now 1 year old.

My first craft project.....my wedding

As i have mentioned in previous posts the first time i ever did anything crafty was for my wedding in 2010. At the time i loved reading blogs by American brides and also sites like Project Wedding where i would marvel over the ingenuity and talent of these other brides-to-be!
As our wedding date approached i decided to take the plunge and try my hand at homemade wedding decorations and stationary. Looking back i can't believe i did this as if it had all gone wrong i don't know what i would have done, but i am glad i was brave (or reckless) as it turned out wonderfully and i discovered a new love and hobby and a tiny bit of talent.
I decided to make:
* table names
* table plan
* place cards
* wedding card box
* sign for candy buffet
* sign for guest book
* tissue paper pommanders to line the aisle
* seat names for family and wedding party in the ceremony
Let me know what you think?
Table plan:

Wedding Card post box:

Tissue paper pommanders:

Table names:

candy buffet sign:

place cards (we tied them to the back or each chair with yellow ribbon....one less thing on the table)

Ceremony place cards (for close family and wedding party):

It was hard work putting all of this together whilst planning a wedding, but also strangely calming to have something tangible to focus my energies on each evening instead of the general dramas and stresses that come with planning a wedding. On the day, after we were married, it was fulfilling and satisfying to see little pieces of me all over the venue, i had firmly put my stamp on the day. I was proud, and trust me, i do not have a tendancy to feel proud of myself, quite the opposite in fact.
Even more gratyfying was that people didn't even realise the decorations were homemade. Yay me!!! I believe on our wedding DVD you can see my brother give me a high-five, and i remember clearly that high-five was offered when he found out i had made all of the above.

So to any bride-to-bes reading this and wondering if they can do it, or if they should do it? Yes and Yes!! Its a great experience and really adds a little extra to your already special day.

Challenge extended.....challenge accepted....make a Stormtrooper cake

My husbands birthday was approaching and my belly was growing (i was 8 months pregnant....and eating for 2 of course!) and my maternity leave had started.......so it was cake challenge time!
My husband is a bit of a geek, he would admit this, so i knew it had to be something either superhero or star wars related. I spent a lot of time on google looking at images, trying to decide what i could have a go at making. In the end i chose the Stormtrooper.....my husband always roots for the bad guys....no hans solo or luke skywalker for him......Darth Vader and Stormtroopers all the way........don't even mention the Ewoks!!! :-)
So subject picked, supplies purchased from Hobbycraft at the last minute!
**note** i try not to buy supplies from hobbycraft as they are soooo expensive, but when its last minute i do head there. But i prefer to purchase online, normally through ebay.
So as i said my maternity leave had started and so i had a whole day to make the cake whilst my husband was at work. Which meant i could make as much mess as i liked.....whoop! And a mess i did make! Baking with a pregnant belly is really not that easy and i didn't think about the logistics beforehand, but i got there in the end.
It took me all day carving and shaping the cake, making the buttercream and then putting it all together. I loosely followed the guide on the following blog, which was really helpful as a starting point.
http://www.workmanrumpus.com/blog/35-making-a-stormtrooper-cake
Then onto the decoration which was super fun and it was when the cake really started to take shape and i started to feel like i was getting somewhere. After almost a whole day on my feet, carving, chaping, mixing, sticking, decorating etc i was really pleased with the end result.
Considering this is only the 2nd novelty cake i had ever made i thought it was great, at the end of the day it looked like a stormtrooper and that was all i asked for!
What do you guys think? Success?


next challenge........having a baby and becoming a Mum!! Yikes!! Cakes took a backseat for quite some time.