THE WEDDING THAT WAS

My son Nik and his bride Jun cutting their wedding cake.

The atmosphere turned out just the way I imagined and hoped it would be. Intimate, informal, sweet and beautiful. The wedding cake was as perfect as I wanted it to be. The theme was vintage. The flower girl as cute as a cherry pie. The bride and groom gorgeous. And the weather was perfect.

I couldn't have asked for more. I'm grateful. Alhamdulillah.

Will update more photos once they are ready.

GUM PASTE PEONY

I have been terribly busy......with experiments as much as with actual projects. But to cut my silence and absence here are some photos of what I have been up to lately.

This is a a peony I made yesterday. It took a whole day to complete because I had to wait for each row of petals to dry before i could move on tot he next. Each petal had to be painted with petal dust and then attached. I used Colette Peters peony cutters which i had bought online. It came with instructions which I did not like. They were skimpy and had an illustration of a finished flower that did not look appealing. But the cutters were great and I highly recommend them. I had also used a poppy veiner that I had bought from the Cake Connection. 

Here's a great link that I referred to while making the peony....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXsU0TNX2k&feature=player_embedded

I followed the first 3 parts to a T then deviated a little because i wanted my peony to be a little more full at the centre.

And this is a practice part of a design i have in mind for a vintage theme wedding cake. I rolled out fondant tinted in ivory. Then I used a stamp i already have that i use for card making. I cleaned it very well and brushed on brown food paste and stamped on a piece of rolled out fondant. This, according to my current plan, will be the top tier of the cake...covered in script. The whole cake will be covered with the script and then decorated with flowers. But of course that is only a plan. Who knows what I may or may not do. This is art. Not a science project. So its difficult to be precise. And where plans change from moment to moment. On a whim.

My plans ~

Bye and have a lovely day ~ Will catch up again ~

xoxo

zurina

YEA ~ MORE TAGS

What can I say?  i can stamp and i can blotch...and because i have just bought some new distress inks i thought it was time for more colour as well..

Blooms away ~ i always thought that using 3 different colours were max in one space..but 4 seems to work as well...so long they have the same tone ...

Moonlit Blooms ? more collage than card really .....

Smile! ~ Because its a Beautiful Day ~ did the clouds with a super technique I had learnt that anyone should have thought of...gee..

Missing You ~ the effect a simple coat of PVA glue gives ...

I love ephemera tags...or part ephemera tags..never lose Hope ~

Because Dreams can come true ~ 


That's all folks ~


I hope you have a beautiful day and may your (good) dreams come true ~


xoxo
Zurina


PS :  We shall pray that my next post won't be more tags. 

TAGS, TAGS & MORE TAGS

I have developed a penchant for tags, grungy tags. I came across an image on the internet that I think best describes me. Here it is ~

Having said that...here are more tags that I have been making in utter oblivious obsessiveness....


I Love using Tim Holtz's distress inks and am trying hard to apply new techniques each time. At the moment i have only 3 up my sleeve. Distressing the edges, blending colours and water blotching with different colours.


By the way, if this all sounds like the beginnings of a craft blog rather than an ongoing food blog....you may be  right. I think its beginning to be one. I have also ditched my DSLR for my mobile phone camera. The DSLR unofficially belongs to R now. I think. Even more so for his next semester.


This all started (the crafting I mean) when I bought a few paper craft tools to make favours for N & J's wedding later this year. I had stictched some linen and lace pouches and crafted some other things. I will not be posting them until after the wedding though. But they are all done and ready....and quite beautiful..if I have to say so myself. Very pleased indeed.


I cant wait to make the wedding cake.


Anyway, here's what i've been 'tagging' .....I LOVE tags. I make them for no reason. I have not given or used any of them...Yet.....maybe i just want to build a collection...I don't know...what do people who make tags and cards do with their stuff? Especially in Malaysia? Card giving and tag attaching is not quite  a culture here. But ...ho no...that's not going to stop me form making them. It's artsy. I like artsy.

I love flowers too ~ fresh and paper....can you tell?

Mmm hmmm I love grungy-ness ~

Now these flowers are a no brainer. Cut out a circle. Any size you want. And then cut the circle into a spiral beginning at the circumference and ending at the centre of the circle. Then roll it up and glue the bottom. You will figure it out when you attempt.

Got my mom's left over chiffon from her tailor and scrunched it up into this flower. Literally scrunched it up. And quickly glued it together before it opened up again. Then I glued the faux pearls into the middle.

It's got to be love. I can't make a hate tag. Can I ?

This flower was easy peasy too. But fiddly. Nothing new to flower making world.....made form organza. Cut out plenty of circles in 3 different sizes.. Pass the edges over a candle flame to singe it. Place the circles on top of one another in descending sizes...smallest at the top and stitch into place..add whatever you like as the flower centre. Just in case you're wondering, I do not intend to do photo or video tutorials because that would give me stress. Right? I craft to de-stress.

Flower made from a  printed music sheet. By the way ~ I am a Purl Gurl. Love pearls (even fake ones). 


All photographs were taken from my mobile phone.


I do hope you have a lovely day today :)


xoxo
Zurina

CRAFTY EYE CANDY

Hi Everyone...if you're still there...remember me?


Sorry for the long absence. 

But I've been crafting. 

For a reason. 

I hum when I craft.


These are some of my excuses.......

A cake card ....makes me want to make a wedding cake in this colour....draped with pearls...

Dried paper roses made from cardstock ~ cardstock by K & Co...love them ~

Beautiful water colour bouquet cardstocks by K & Co. LOve the doily lace edging. I made it using the doily lace Martha Stewart punch... i love punches ~

A 'letter card' .....I love old world scripted backgrounds ~

A grunge style tag ~ flowers made from pages of a vintage book...and used a bird cage stamp that is so cool and elegant ~

Now this I love....a vintage insipred Thank You tag. Flower was made from pages of a vintage book 


The end ~


This requires no washing up ~ ;)


PS ~ All photos were taken using my mobile phone...do excuse the poor quality..

BUY CUTE APRONS AND SOME JAM DROPS

A designer apron was just what I needed to give me a renewed vigour to cook something-worth-blogging-about. 

Buycuteaprons.com is an online store from the UK that sells a range of designer aprons. Kirsteen, owner of buycuteaprons.com had been kind enough to send me this elegant vintage inspired Ulster Weaver's apron which I had chosen. Although the red was less vibrant than I expected it did look very pretty once I had put it on. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish. Very vintage. Very hostess with the mostest-ish. 

Buycuteaprons.com is stocked with all the top UK and American apron designs. With new styles being added regularly. Mostly feminine, some of them being vintage inspired, some retro, some sexy and some just plain cute-adorable. Designer brands include Cupcake Provocateur, Jessie Steele, Sugar Baby Aprons, Ulster Weavers and many more. They also have cute aprons for children and manly ones for men. 


But what took me by surprise was that Jessie Steele aprons have been featured in Desperate Housewives and Oprah. And in the a scene from the recent Sex and the City 2 movie a Cherry Cupcakes apron was used  by Charlotte.  Talk about celebrity status!


If that has piqued your interest in Jessie Steele's apron creations you'll be sure to find them at buycuteaprons.com. 


However, to go with the vintage inspired Ulster Weavers apron which was totally responsible for this renewed burst of energy I made some jam drops from a recipe by Ellice Handy. Her recipe book was first published in the 1950's in the then Malaya. That makes this recipe a vintage cookie recipe. And yes, I actually used the apron while fiddling with the dough. It's cotton, very comfortable, very, very light and of course it made me feel very pretty. The apron I mean. 

Here's the recipe that I made while donning this apron which had a pretty flower brooch on one side and 2 cute pockets to boot ~ I think pockets on aprons are so important. 

The Recipe ~

This recipe was so tiny I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Measuring butter by tablespoons is just not my thing. 


I have made these before when i was a dreamy newly wed but I've never made them again since because filling a small ball of dough with gloppy jam and sealing it up into a ball was not that much fun. It's no wonder that Ms. Ellice Handy made such a small recipe. 


As I had expected the jam seeped through which wasn't a bad thing because I thought it added character. I decided to crown them all with a quarter of a glace cherry so they would look a little more photogenic. All in all they do look quite vintage. Just like the apron that came all the way from buycuteaprons.com



I have to say that this cookie isn't fantastic. Mediocre at best. It would have been better if the dough had more butter in it. Apart from that the overall taste would depend on the quality of jam you used. But it does satisfy your sweet tooth if you have a craving but don't want to ruin your diet.


Jam Drops ~


1 1/2 T butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup SR Flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
some jam


Grease or line a baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside. Sift flour into a bowl. Set aside. In a seperate bowl cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and beat until well combined and smooth.


Fold in flour and mix well until you get a soft dough. You may refrigerate the dough for  a 1/2 hour to firm it up if necessary.


Divide the dough into 16 balls. Make a hole in each ball and fill with some jam of your choice. Seal and roll up into a ball again. Arrange them on the baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minute until lightly golden at the edges. Enjoy.