Spiderman

The last of the birthdays was on the weekend.  Grandson Josh was Superman for Thanksgiving, so that was the theme for his birthday cake.

Again I used Ruth Rickey's method to make the skyscrapers.

Superman was colour-flo and the cake was fun to make.

Happy Birthday Jack!

There's a computer game that my oldest grandson plays called MINECRAFT.  My daughter wanted the cake design be based on the game and to be a surprise for Jack.
The backdrop was made with the colourflow technique, and the figures from gumpaste.

This is the main guy from the game.

And this is a smile of approval from grandson!

Visit to Quebec

It's an annual event that I take the train from Toronto to Montreal to spend a weekend with my son and his family for the children's birthdays.  Brynn is such a girl, well into princesses and babies, and smart enough at four to point out to NanaD (me) that the princess on the cake just couldn't fit through the castle gate!  "Even her head got stuck!"

For this 8" heart cake I mixed lilac, pink and green fondant together and it turned out really pretty.

Caleb is into cars, of any sort, especially wrecked and rusted.  At a vineyard this summer we spotted a really rusted out wagon.  The front end, in sugar, became the cake decoration.

This is a smaller version of the backpacks I made earlier in the year.  And the pattern is the flip and sew quilt block design, only using satin, velvet and lace strips, with beads and bows.  Right away Brynn put the bag to the front, hooked her arms through the cord loops and popped a baby doll into the bag.  

A collage for Caleb of the vineyard wreck.

What's missing here is a photo of Brynn and Caleb at their birthday party.  It's coming soon and I'll post it then.

Thank you for the music......

This was so much fun to do! My daughter's two friends were celebrating their 40th birthdays. Suzie designed and I executed. It's a 12" x 18" vanilla. Isn't it amazing how many music systems we've gone through in just 40 years!

Sugar time

The 100 year old gentleman that I made this 12" x 12" cake for was a concert pianist. He's still pretty spry and still plays the piano. The lettering is a new set from FMM called Funky Alphabet. The capital letters are about 1 1/4" high.

The penguin cake

The cake was a hit! And it came together so easily too. This is the 6" top, with the slide carved out. The top of the cake was very uneven, but we left it that way. To carve out the slide, cut a strip of paper about half the circumference of the cake and the height of the cake. My paper piece was 9" x 3". Cut in half to make a triangle. Attach to the side of the cake with toothpicks, then with a sharp knife cut into the cake horizontally along the paper edge, going into the cake about 2" for the width of the slide. Then cut down from the top the same 2". Then clean up the side. Here both cakes are together, the top one pushed back to give room at the front for the pond. I used a half and half mixture of my buttercream, (icing sugar, butter, vanilla and water) and Betty Crocker's Fluffy White Whipped Frosting. It was easy to work with and crusted over well. Finished! Here's a good shot, you can see the little guy coming down the slide on his tummy and one already head first into the pond. I don't have a photo of Josh with the cake. I'll add that later. For the penguin tutorial, click on "penguins" in the label bar below.

Third day in a row celebration

Just a few words to say that mum was surprised to receive all the attention and also amazed that she did not know about the cake. Well, considering I do most of my jobs after midnight when she is fast asleep in her own apartment, it's not surprising that she didn't know a thing..

The Family Cake Lady

Since I've been doing cake decorating I've tried to do all the family cakes. Mum's birthday cake has been a bit of a challenge due to my arm, but I was lucky enough to have my SIL Elaine visit yesterday evening and I put her to work on some really quick and colourful fondant flowers. She's pretty creative and I think it turned out well. It's a vanilla cake with home made strawberry jam (I picked the berries), with Italian meringue buttercream. A lot of mum's friends go the Seniors crafts tomorrow and they always enjoy something sweet, so that's where it's going.

Another birthday visit

Today is Mum's real birthday. I can hardly imagine living to 92 and still have all my faculties. Not only that, but she can sit on the floor and play with the great grand babies and then get up unaided. She's like a kid herself, and nothing gives her more pleasure than her grandchildren (8) and the great grand kids (5). This morning my youngest DD came by with Joshua, 5 months old. He's a bundle of fun and energy, doesn't sleep much during the day and keeps my daughter busy. Even so, tired as she seems to be all the time, we had a really nice visit and then she offered to drive us to my fracture clinic appointment.

Getting on with it.

It's been just a bit over two weeks since I fell and broke my arm. I go tomorrow to the fracture clinic to make sure it's healing properly. Every day seems to bring improvement, and I hope that I will be able to drive soon. Mum and I took the "Flag" bus to the mall and then walked about 1km to the grocery store. It was drizzling with rain. Mum was exhausted after the hike and we sat for a while and had a coffee. We loaded up the cart with groceries and took a taxi home. Then we both had a nap! Mum will be 92 on Monday and I'm trying to make a cake without her knowing. I baked it yesterday, made the icing early this morning and will make the decorations this afternoon. I will get someone to take it by car to the Seniors on Tuesday where most of her friends go for crafts. I've also been working on the summer flower garden crazy quilt block. What's missing is silk ribbon embroidery which I found was difficult to do at the moment.

Shouldering The Pain

I tripped and fell on the lobby floor in my building yesterday amd dislocated and fractured my shoulder. It is my left one and I am right handed, but you need both hands to sew! I also had to finish the cake. What a disaster!!

My daughter brought me home from the hosp, and went home with the un-iced cake, the frosting and the pieces I'd made, and this is the result. Well done Suzie and John!

Wih crazy quilting on my mind right now, I'm glad I had the presence of mind to stop the nurse from pitching my "15 Year Anniversary of Disney World" sweatshirt which they had to cut off my body.

Five on Saturday

My oldest grandson, Jack, will be 5 on Saturday and, true to form, he requested a fireman cake. Last year he asked for the same and I made him a great cake, trouble is I don't think this year's will be a patch on last years! (It wasn't my design and I would like to give that person credit but I haven't been able to track them down.) Photos below are from last year. Saturday's cake will be a big slab with an apartment building. I'll put some candles inside so it looks like the building's on fire! Sounds good in principal. Here it is under construction.