Thursday 18 September 2014

Cake Decorating Demo - Otter Nurseries Friday Sept 19th

Cake Decorating Demonstration at Otter Nurseries on Friday Sept 19th

Iv'e been rather busy lately preparing for my next Cake Decorating Demonstration at Otter Nurseries on Sept 19th from 10.00 - 4.00 pm.

I'll be demonstrating how to use the silicone moulds with Flowerpaste or Sugarpaste as it's also known as. Ordinary Fondant can be made into Sugarpaste by adding Tylo powder - this helps the paste set really hard and allows you to make more intricate flowers.

I'm no expert in cake decorating  - I just use my crafting expertise in another format. It's really easy to decorate cakes especially with the new moulds around in shops. I also use the moulds for my clay work too. (Not the same mould I hasten to add). 

For the cake above Iv'e made both moulded flowers and hand-crafted flowers such as the Fushias.


I'll also be showing you the brand new "Lace" moulds too that you can use with the new "Flexible" icing.   Lace moulds are so intricate and create the effect of real lace on cakes.  At the Otter Indulgence Evening these Lace moulds will be shown and cakes with the lace effect icing will be available to see. I can't wait to have a play with this new flexible icing. 

If you are local to the Hontion area then please pop along either tomorrow, Friday 19th or for the "Indulgence Evening" on 8th October from 4 p.m.. Hope to see you there..... 

Monday 15 September 2014

Imagination Crafts - Sept Inspiration project - Wall Vase

Hi again.

This is one of my favourite projects Iv'e created for Imagination Crafts. Iv'e used one of the MDF frames and incorporated some painting too for this creation.


The Wall-vase can be used either as a "hanging" vase or standing vase for a table.You could add dried or fresh flowers as I have here. (A small plastic container could be stuck inside for water)   I| used some paint and Crackle Medium to the base and top. One the paint and crackle were dry, I  then added 3 small boxes inside which I made to and stuck them to the base on the right, left and bottom. The top section was then stuck to these boxes on the top.

This created depth so that you could add things inside the frame.

I painted the butterflies and flowers using the canal-art type way of painting.  I will put up a video of this technique in the next few days on here so you can see how I painted these. Have a go yourself as the more you try it the better you get at it. I need a lot more practice as you can see... lol.

Once the butterflies were dry I added some wire for the antennae and then some adhesive gems for the bodies.

I love this project as it could be used for so many things.

Products used were: Lime Stone paint
                                Jet paint
                                Crackle Medium
                                MDF Flower
                                                                                                Silkies


Friday 12 September 2014

Imagination Crafts Tutorial Sneaky Peek

Hi

Here's a sneaky peek at my Imagination Crafts Tutorial this month.  Iv'e made a Stepper Card but you will have to go over to the Imagination Crafts blog to see the full tutorial.

Click here to be taken to the blog




Monday 8 September 2014

New Workshops using Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium

NEW WORKSHOPS - Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium, Stencils and more......

Fancy a visit to Torbay for a lovely craft break away from it all?   Are you local to the area and fancy a day's crafting in beautiful surroundings?

I'm planning some new Workshops in the beautiful surroundings of the Berry Head Hotel overlooking the whole of Torbay.  A fantastic venue to enjoy a crafty break.


The hotel has stunning cliff-top views of the south Devon coast, a heated swimming pool, spa bath and is set in 6 acres of grounds. Why not make it a crafty weekend and stay at the hotel.  Click the Berry Head Hotel link above for details. 

The first of the Workshops are planned for Saturday 18th October from 10.00 - 4.00pm. 
The cost for the day is £60 which includes some materials for you to use on the day, refreshments and lunch. Products will be on sale at the venue as well. Places are limited so please book early. 

If you would be interested then please email me here for more details. 

Monday 1 September 2014

Imagination Crafts September project

Hi All

Here's my 1st September project for Imagination Crafts - Iv'e made a wall-hanging for Christmas using the MDF shapes from Imagination Crafts.



This project features a new technique that Iv'e come up with - If you spread Sparkle medium onto an MDF shape - then when dry, paint it over with Silkies and use a heat gun to heat it up, the paint bubbles leaving a fantastic raised surface on your project. I recommend doing this in a well ventilated room though. 

For this project I painted the base and top of the MDF frame with Chalk white paint then when dry, added a thick layer of Crackle Medium. When this layer was dry I over-painted with Jet Black paint and it then crackled as you can see here on the left. The base was painted in reverse so that the white shows through. 

I added a stamped sentiment and some holly painted with Silkies to the middle and stencilled over the whole frame with the Flourish Stencil and silver and purple Sparkle Medium.

I cut out some Holly leaves and painted them with Silkies to for the bottom right of the frame.  

With Christmas not too far away, these frames from Imagination Crafts make lovely presents and something people can keep year after year.  

Products used

MDF Frame - Dove
Sparkle Medium - Silver  and Amethyst