Thursday, June 21, 2012

BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER | NNC 5th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS


Friends who flock together to craft, chit-chat & makan-makan.

There is nothing more special than celebrating our 5th year together as a crafting group than having good company and sharing good food. I'm probably the last one to blog post and report on this special day, but I'm sure you'll notice I'm trying to catch up with everything else. It is good to note though that my crafting is ahead of my blogging, this blog afterall is about my crafting journal. But before I go on about this eventful day, I'm posting about the preparation that goes into hosting this special event. It's a picturesque post, so get ready...

Last minute crafting for the anniversary exchange.

I love doing crochet bags. They involve zero sewing.

Owl pillow taking shape. This little own has a pocket. A book you are reading can be tucked here.
Some decor.

I bought inexpensive ribbons from Macy. They were like RM2 for a giant roll.

Love this motif the most.

Hanging it was quite a challenge. I was running up and down the stairs like a mad woman.



All you need is a good stapler and a good pair of eyes.

The gift finally done.

I call it the Owlnite bag. hehe!


Full of things you need for an overnight sleepover.

The back of the bag.

What's in the bag? A Little Owl and....

Goodies for the lucky winner. I included a lap fleece blanket. A handmade matching Tawashi, body wash & eye mask.
The pincushion. A must have for this anniversary exchange.

An elegant little bird dressed in lace and organza.
Nesting on a pincushion.

The cupcake tier. We had coconut and orange poppy seed cupcakes that day.

The goodies I made for the girls.

I made a framed pincushion, Cupcake polishing cloth and a tin of buttons for my special guests.


Upclose of cupcakes. Thanks to Usha and her precious daughter for helping out. Good job!!!


FOOD! Lots of em!!!

The little bird that graced the party. Notice the Amy Butler print birdhouse?

We had so much fun.

Eat up girls! There were like 50 pieces of Roti Canai!!!

Sharing food and gossip.

Faizon & Lillie

Book browsing and craft chit chat.

Big Shot Demo by Vivian & Janet.

So impressed with our girls.

Sharing ideas and learning from each other.

Usha trying out some embossing folders.

There were buying, selling & judging as well.


A lot going on.

More oohs and aahs.

A lot of photo taking.

Cameras everywhere.

We even skyped an overseas member. You are out of sight but never forgotten!


Cranking the machine.

Queen of quilts showing the piecing of a quilt.
Nice photo of Zarina.
Zarina's a fabulous teacher.


Gift giving.

Gift receiving.

Prizes to be won.

Lucky girl received her dunno how many owls of the day. LOL!

That smile and blush says everything.
Told you she was lucky!
Some notti girls!

I want! I want! Open! Open!

Another lucky gal.


Paul helping out in the prize opening as well.
Usha and her lucky draw.
I like Jo's expression when she opened her gift.


Veronica and her gifts.
Vivian and hers.
A beautiful and much coveted prize from Nik.

I had over 200 hundred images. Must have gone trigger crazy during the meet, but won't be putting them all up. But these were a sum of our fun on that special day. Hope for more to come! Hugs to NNC!!!! for the best 5 years of crafting.



Thursday, May 03, 2012

HAYLEY'S 1st BIRTHDAY RAINBOW CAKE



Hayley wanted a rainbow cake for her first birthday. She made clear of that when we showed her a collage photos of cakes. She pointed to the same cake three times to confirm and nodded. Yes, she did! She's got this thing for rainbows (probably because her favourite book featured a rainbow of ribbons! LOL!) So we decided to bake her a rainbow cake complete with cupcakes. I wanted to make an anatomically correct one, all 7 heavenly layers! Here's some photos of my first ever 'layered' cake adventure.
THE PREP WORK
It all began with a sketch. The rainbow cake will sit on top of a cupcake tier.

Three tiers to house up to 100 cupcakes.
A close-up sketch of the Sun. Slowly resembling Hayley. He!He!

Slowly shaping the outline of the face with a fondant tool.
 You need a sketch to get the facial placings right.
 Pressing slowly and gently to shape the entire face.
Draw the shapes out for sizing and measurement. Proportion is key now. I hand cut and sculptured the main cloud which will sit on top of the cake. Making sure I have enough skewers to hold the cloud upright later.

Her name on a cloud and coated in edible sparkles.

I hijacked Stan's protein tub to shape the rainbow.

This is so much fun!

All the rows in UNISON! I was such a control freak that day.
I trimmed of the excess white base. So proud of my cute rainbow.


Baking the layers. I used a simple Vanilla Cake Base.
Wilton Colours really shine through. I refrigerated the cakes for awhile. I wanted a firm cake base when I trim the excess.
As I was doing this, I had to giggle non-stop. It was piling up like crazy and I was close to tears wondering If I should trim the cake more. or HOW AM I GOING TO TRANSPORT IT!!!??? (Note to self : NEXT TIME, DO THINK OF THE DELIVERY BOX!) Fortunately, I had a cake box in my store room big enough to hold this!

 THE CAKE ALL DONE!
Ta-da! Glorious! The cream cheese frosting was holding up well.


The Whole Cake and The Cupcake Tier.

I made Orange Poppy Seed Cuppies, Chocolate Fudge & French Vanilla Cupcakes.

Rainbow Coloured Crowns and Butterflies.

Cupcakes everywhere!

A Little Prayer for Hayley and Family.
This girl was all smiles that day! I really wished Meli was here with us that day.


I printed table numbers with Hayley's cute little portraits.

Love the ribbon trims around the tier.
We have a little sprinkles corner where you can decorate your own cuppies too.

Little Hayley and Big daddy.


Cute little family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!....
Ooooh! Check out the layers inside.
OMG! They were all so even. This is one well-behaved cake.



Yeah! Yippee!





Look at all the pressies!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!