martes, 23 de septiembre de 2014

ORDER FOR CAKES // GLUTEN FREE FROZEN THEMED CAKE






A few months ago,I was asked to do a Frozen themed cake with Olaf and the reindeer.
It had to be gluten free, with 70% chocolate ganache filling and topping and fondant decorations 
I found some good gluten free flour and make my usual vanilla sponge using this. I cooked in two tins and the cakes came out nice and spongy, having risen well.





But before baking the cake, I had to make the fondant figures. I printed out a photo of Olaf the size I wanted and modeled the parts on this. I used cocktail sticks  split at the ends  for the arms and covered with chocolate gum paste giving a rough finish. I skewered a kebab stick through the body parts and shaped the head and left for a few hours in a tiny round bowl with icing sugar in the bottom,so that it kept its shape then attached to the top of the skewer. I made holes in the head for the "hair". I rolled out really thin sausage of gum paste and cut very small. Lengths  which I shaped slightly. I used my modeling tools to shape the face,cut some bluish fondant paste for the mouth  plus  white for the one white tooth .







I used different brown tones for the reindeer head, antlers, and forelegs. These will be peeping out the front of the cake, so have to get the antlers at the right angle so the just rest on the top of the cake.



















I made the chocolate ganache in my thermomix and left it covered in the fridge overnight. Then I whipped it up again and it went on perfectly, first a crumb coat then the final layer when I placed the reindeer and his antlers and forelegs. I made Christmas trees with my finest scissors and punched out snowflakes and Christmas trees to decorate the side of the cake

I covered my base board with ice blue fondant and added a few snow flakes there too.




























                                               Here we have the finished cake!

I should add that iused a 70%dark chocolate for the ganache,guaranteed gluten free,
 The fondant and gum paste were also gluten free.

I had a very positive feed back to say that the cake was nice and spongy
 and that the chocolate(marca VALOR) was very tasty.
The little girl this was made for was delighted to be able to eat everything on the cake!!
And the other friends didnt even realise the cake was gluten free!!
















martes, 16 de septiembre de 2014

MY GRANDAUGHTER'S COOKIE MONSTER CAKE

This is a cake made last November (2013).  My daughter baked and decorated the two tiers, and I made the fonfant figure for the top of the cake. Somehow  I never had time to upload the photos,( my card making takes up quite a lot of my time!!) So they arent recent photos. However,I still think they may give you a few ideas!

My eldest grandaughter is an unconditional Sesame Street fan! She loves the live Sesame Adventures Show at our local Warner Theme Park( Port Aventura). So we knew exactly what theme to chose for her 6th Birthday Cake!
 My daughter baked and filled the cake and covered and decorated it with fondant.
 I made the fondant  Cookie Monster and a fondant  tin of cookies to go with it .

I've shown one or two of the stages, as I went along. I started the figure about a week before I needed it to allow for drying  and setting it into place on top of the cake.
The fur effect is achieved  by snipping minute snips with tiny little nail scissors. It's quite time consuming, but it looks very effective.




Munching on a chocolate cookie!
Cookie barrel with cookies included!


The jars  and kitchen paper were to hold the arms in place overnight while drying. Luckily it was November, and I didn't have the humidity problems that are common to the Summer months, when it is quite hot and sticky and it's a nightmare getting arms and legs of fondant figures to stick! I often use cocktail sticks to be sure.













 It was a two tiered cake and the design of the lower tier was taken from the entrance to the younger childrens' play  area at Port Aventura in Vilaseca( near Salou) in Tarragona,Spain.

It was well worth it, to see how happy my grandaughter was with her Birthday Cake!!

Birthday Cake Topper: TOM & JERRY


For the birthday of a little boy, Eric, we were  asked to make a Tom and Jerry themed cake with fondant  figures, just before the summer.

My daughter was baked and decorating the cake itself.
 So  once we decided upon the colours, I set to work!

It was a first for me , so I spent some time looking at photos and prints  for a bit of inspiration. 
I often print out an image to make sure  I keep to the estimated size.
Then I can reduce or enlarge on future occasions.
 This is always helpful for expressions too.

Here are some stages in the making, although I don't always remember  to take photos until Ive stuck on  several parts!!( mental note to myself).
As I made fairly large figures I used coctail sticks with a dab of food glue to add limbs and head.
 Of course, we always advise of this when it is the case. 
Sometimes I use spaghetti or just a little edible glue, then support the part in question with kitchen paper or bobble plastic  and generally position to allow for drying.

Here along the coast in Spain, it can be very humid, and Summer months can be  complicated to get fondant to dry.
 I sometimes use gum paste which I colour or otherwise, fondant mixed with tragacanth gum or
tylose powder.



Fixing limbs on: these were quite light,so I just glued with a dab of edible glue and supported the limbs with lightly rolled kitchen paper overnight.





                     limbs in place.





I used cocktail sticks to fix the arms in the position I wanted and a dab of edible glue.
You can see the roll of kitchen paper supporting and positioning one arm. 
The cheese also was placed as it had to go on the cake,to get the right height.





Tom's other arm was to be waving,so I used a tall glass with rounded bottom that I could rest the hand on without deforming the hand or arm. I had glued the hand(paw) to the arms the day before.

You can see the tail and white tip which I did at the same time.





Here you can see  the hand positioned a bit better. I also rolled out(very finely rolled) the whiskers and tufts of hair from black and gray gum paste and left these at least 2 days, making extras,as there's always ONE that snaps off! I make the holes with the end of my cocktail stick or a pointed shaping tool. 



Tom and Jerry about ready for going on the cake! The cheeses look good and are very simple to make,As long as you use different sized flat ended tools to make them more realistic, You could do a big round one,with a bit cut out or whatever.
I also punched out a circle of white gum paste and stamped T and J with a little heart in the centre! Then I fixed it to the end of a wooden skewer(kebab stick).



























My daughter made a lovely job of the cake.
 I love that light turquoise blue  with the yellow and red name and age!

Thank you for looking at my photos.
 I hope they will be of use when you need  Tom and Jerry figures!
Have a crafty day!!

sábado, 6 de septiembre de 2014

BOOKMARKS // PUNTOS DE LIBRO

Here are a few of the different bookmarks
 I've made over the last year for family and friends.
I hope you like them.


Una selección de puntos de libros
 hechas para familiares y amigos durante el último año.
Espero que os guste.



Eva Cano design bookmarks:
flowers and bees


 Maurine Tapscott design bookmarks for 2014
September-December in English


January -April Enero - Abril en Español

                                                                                                                                                                    with coordinating backings.
                                                                                                                                                                    

Setiembre - Diciembre en Español     


con el revés en colores coordinados.
with coordinating backings.



Dianne Hannah design
 Gorgeous floral vintage bookmarks con collibris.



 Steven Poore Christmas bookmarks
These make fab gift tags too!




Andrea Hippenstiel corner bookmarks






Di Simpson design
Beautiful floral bookmarks with words of encouragement 


Di Simpson design
Vintage Floral Bookmarks



                                                                                                                                                            
Jean Gordon design
 Pretty bookmarks with bow trim

 

 Anna Babajanyan decorative bookmarks



                                                                                                                                                         Kirsten Guyer Cards
Vintage Children Bookmarks




Sharon Davis cards
 Christmas Bookmarks with greetings



Barbara Heibert Bookmarks
 Animal themed Bookmarks
 Bookmark backs

jueves, 4 de septiembre de 2014

GUITAR THEME BIRTHDAY CAKE

My son Alex loves his guitar,so I decided to make him
 a guitar themed cake for his last Birthday.
 It's a while ago,but I think you will enjoy looking at the photos.


A mi hijo Alex,le encanta su guitarra.
Así decidí hacerle un pastel con guitarra
para su último cumpleaños.
 Esto fué hace tiempo,pero creo que las fotos son divertidas!



The guitar was a biscuit covered with fondant.I used florists wire for the strings.



The cake was vanilla sponge, covered and filled with chocolate ganache 
and finished with cherry red fondant(his favorite colour)



I made a piano keyboard from white fondant,
 cut out the keys and added once the white fondant had been put in place.
I used a little edible glue for this .
I made a treble clef from a string of rolled out black fondant
and cut out some white quavers and crochets to decorate the top.


As I made the cake a rounded,I made a small wedge from cherry fondant
 to place the guitar in position. I added a black oval in front
and made a letter A from my funky letter set.

You can see how pleased he was with the cake! Here he is blowing out the candles.



Here he is with his papa and Mum(me)!


And to go with the cake, I hand crafted  a super card designed bty Eva Cano, complete with odd socks,guitars,C.D,Headphones and plenty of CDs to strum along to!!

SHOE THEMED CARDS

He hecho unas cuantas postales con tematica de zapatos
 o zapatos con bolso, flores y accesorios.
Aquí hay una pequeña selección:

!!La mayoria de mis postales  hechas a mano estan a la venta.
Para más información,
 podéis contactarme(Elizabeth) por correo electrónico :
Nanascraftythings@gmail.com y os atenderé con mucho gusto.


I've crafted quite a few cards themed around shoes or
shoes and accessories.
 Here's a selection:

!!Most of my hand crafted cards are for sale.
You can email me ( Elizabeth) for details : nanascraftythings@gmail.com



Eva Cano Cards
Pretty Pale Blue bag,boots and flowers.
8x8inch (20cms) scalloped card.

Autumn Colours Bag and Boots.
8x8inch card.




Andrea Hippenstiel Card
Fab red sneaker design with skulls and matching attached insert.
I can do this for you either with or without laces.






Beryl Wingate  pop out Card, lovely lilacs .decoupaged dress,
shoes,bag and butterflies with tiny paper flowers and mini gems.



This beautiful pop out design has a bit of volume, 
so instead of an envelope,
it has this lovely bag to present the card. 
Any greeting can be added. 
This has a  lilac satin ribbon handle.