Raspberry and meringues

ITALIAN MERINGUE AND RASPBERRY LEMON SPONGE...

Love this scalloped design that you can achieve with the rounded handle of a piece cutlery!  Easypeasy and very effective! 

This cake was a little thank you gift for all Sophie's teachers at her little school: KIDZ ON BOARD.

Thank you ladies for all the amazing things you do and love you share with our children!! 

Red Velvet Christening cake for Nicola

Daisy-doodle Party

I got to organise a little birthday party for a little girl!  Some people might think I am a little crazy but I do enjoy planning parties, even though I often swear I will never do one again!  I just can't help myself, especially if it's a fresh idea to try!

So for little Migle who turned 3 I planned a yellow and white daisy doodle party.  

Decor was light and fresh with yellow and white streamers, and daisy balloons. ( total of 120 balloon, half of which i blew up myself until my knight in shining armour, compresser in hand, slow motioned towards me....) 

Colouring tables doodled with flowers, bees and butterflies.  For fun we made cardboard bunnies and shaped pipe cleaner flowers.  And went wild with hoolahoops.

Crunchy popcorn, homemade lemonade, daisy lollipops, gooseberry and grape kebabs, quiche, crudites with hummus and tzatziki and carrot cupcakes to nibble.  

I love making someones day extra special!

my tattoo...

 

Since cupcake days I have yearned for a retro-style whisk tattoo.  I have no tattoos, not that I have any fundamental issues with it- I worry that I will get bored, disappointed or regret my design of choice or where on my body it is. I would die if I had that gecko tattoo I wanted when I was 18.  But for 2 years now I have dreamt of a whisk tattoo. And it doesn't help that there is a tattoo parlour directly across the road from our house.  And then there is the issue is how will it go down, as the minister's wife?  But surely a whisk would be safe?

And it seems I am not alone out there.  I went all bubbly inside when I saw this range of temporary tattoos in the exact retro line drawing I want (bottom row, left).  Maybe I could just order a lifetimes worth and rub a new one on every morning.

And I really like those measuring spoons.... check out even more cute temporary tattoo designs; ice lollies, bunting, cupcakes and more at baker and maker.

Now to find a ball of wool...

nearly my birthday

so I am nearer to my mid thirties than not.  sunday being the official day.  and have to consider the fact that I may entering the cusp of adulthood.  does this mean I need to get a real job?  I think martin may be nodding enthusiastically. 

my father has been telling me at every age that when I am his age I will gain wisdom, and knowledge, see this world for what it actually is, reaching a deeper understanding.  When he told me this again the other day in a haze of smoke, a cigarette dangling from his fingers before his lips, I pointed out that he had been telling me that since he was the age I am now.  So please bring it on!  or maybe I should partake in some different extramural activities to gain all this profoundness.  wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

all I know is that the only profound change in the last couple of weeks is that  I have had to demarcate time to a morning make-up ritual... most mornings.  Not the hour paste-on-mask type, just a little here and there. And my mother who has always told I have complexion that needn't be burdened with makeup, has been slipping me her lipstick and gifting me bits of skincare products.  This may be a sign?

when I take my spectacles off, the world becomes a misty blur.  which can be quite handy when you want to pretend your aren't where you are.  but not when you are trying to apply makeup. 

whip out pick-a-mix make up kit.  you know the one.  that first makeup kit you got for Christmas, with all the samples of colours and everything you need.  don't worry I haven't had it for a hundred years.... its pretty fancy stuff and my mom gave it to me for Christmas 2 years ago.

I start with the eye stuff.  apply with ring finger, or so some makeup person once told me if you misplace those nifty brushes.  then some mascara. slip my specs on my nose which have been on my head.  Misty.  just washed hair from the shower.  clean specs.  look again.  half the mascara is on my face.  wipe off smudges with makeup remover (thanks mom).   some cheek stuff and lips.  wow.

Anybody want to sponsor me a makeup course at mac?

tank cake, yes sir!

When Mari-louis Guy asks you to bake her son's birthday cake, you have a moment of heart failure.  This is Mari-Louis of Cakebread,  a cake queen.  Ahhhh!  

But make it I must, and being surrounded by girls and all things pink and flowery a tank cake would be a great distraction out of our fluffy comfort zone..  And thank goodness for Martin, who has actually driven a tank, and who helped get the colours right and make sure that the shape worked.  I think he was just so excited it wasn't something pink!

Fashion Party Shoot

I recently had the incredible opportunity to moonlight as a decor stylist on a shoot with fashion stylist Nicky van Eck and photographer Romi Stern.  They have both worked on some pretty big brands, both  international and local, so I was super excited and incredibly nervous when they asked me to collaborate with them on this project.

It was a bit surreal at the start of the day when at home (the set), all on my own I baked and iced the cake and cupcakes and I set up.  Feeling as though maybe I gone a little dilly and imagined the whole thing.  

Reality came home when by the afternoon there where kids and mums, make-up and hair stylists, photography equipment and assistants tripping over one another trying to catch the last rays of sun as rain clouds threatened to spoil our fun.

I adore this images, they are so whimsical, captured moments from a fairytale. Well done to out little models who braved the chill and still had a good time!