Drowning In Paper Flowers!

Not that I'm one for melodrama! If only I was drowning in paper flowers, then I would know that I'd made enough. This week has seen me completing another 101 flowers to add to my collection! 

 I have been folding up paper squares ready to trim into pentagons.

 I have folded up squares into individual petals.

What little brides are made off. I should point out, I'm not little, or trying to be, and this image doesn't show the Green and Blacks, the Fudge, or the Hotel Chocolat chocs that also saw me through the week. :)

 The trimmed pentagons.

 The individual glued petals, in piles of five, ready to be made into flowers! 

 Doesn't look like there is 101 there does it? Well there are, I counted! 

Hobbycraft stash! Some people walk away from Hobbycraft and you know that they are going to embark on a quilling project, or paint a model plane. Not us, we are those people that buy an incoherent selection, you just try and guess what we are making! 

A Triceratops, Cake & A Bear With A Sore Head

It's a bit late to say "Happy New Year" but this is my first post of the year, so I hope your January has been a good one so far and that you have all been enjoying a bit of snow (if you are in the UK).
I've been quiet because my focus has turned to the wedding, so far this month we have booked hair and make-up, a car, ordered rings, booked a suit appointment, abandoned the idea of custard doughnuts and put a deposit down on a cake, and then I turned my attention to toppers for the cake.
It might seem a bit early to think about a cake topper, it's another 9 months until they are needed, but I also wanted to make a little figurine for my friend as she is emigrating, so I decided to get them all done in one weekend. 

The initial creatures (a bear, a triceratops, and a fox for my friend) were made from polymer clay, completely free-hand. The Triceratops proved slightly challenging but I'm quite pleased with how she turned out. 

They were all painted gold, as the idea was to then paint them white and sand them back to make them look distressed. 

The fox stayed distressed, but before I began sanding the bear I decided that I would really like him to remain white, so I had a change of heart and repainted the triceratops white again.

Before I finished the toppers off, cake samples arrived from Couture Cakes. This has to be the most exciting things ever, it isn't just getting cake in the post, this is getting several different flavours of cake in the post.

The pieces on the plate look a little small, but I had cut each flavour in half so Rob could have some... the vanilla at the back looks really small, that's because I had begun it eat before I thought of taking a photo. The flavours we tried were vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut praline, raspberry and amaretto, and toffee and pecan. It was possibly the moistest, tastiest cake I've ever eaten, and I can't wait to try the finished cake... bit of a wait though. 

The finished toppers. In the end we kept them white with just small details. Oh and in case you are wondering, the bear - rubbing his sore head - represents Rob, and the baby dinosaur represents me, can't imagine why, I'm very dainty on my feet!