Romanais Blog

Cake Stands

31/1/2013

I really shouldn't have, as I have too many already! But look at this pretty cake stand (1) I brought yesterday from Wilkinsons for the grand sum of..................................£1! It was reduced as the centre spindle is missing so it cannot be used as a two tier cake stand but it came with the base so Mark screwed the base to the bigger heart tier (2) and now it can be used as a single tier cupcake cake stand instead! The smaller heart tier (3) I can just use as a tray or plate to hold biscuits or sweets. I am pleased with it for only £1 though, it is very pretty!

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So I shouldn't have as I already have too many cake stands though in my defence they do get used as cake stands, fruit bowls and used to display/hold various items!

Cup Cake Stands
1 - a wire one from Home Bargains which holds 13 cupcakes
2 - a three tier one from Homebase

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Cake Stands
3 - a glass vintage style stand from Homebase, this was brought as a replacement for another glass cake stand that I had that accidentally broke when I dropped a jar of Marmite on it, oooops! I love this cake stand it is so pretty and dainty
4 - Laura Ashley cake stand, this was brought from a retailer brand new from a car boot sale, RRP is £25 but I only paid £5! I love the colour of it so much it inspired me to paint my kitchen a light blue colour to match!

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Tiered Cake Stands
5 - this was a Mothers Day present from Morrisons many years ago. I love the pastel pink colour.
6 - this used to be my nans cake stand so has sentimental value I am loathe to use it in case it gets damaged! This one is for VERY special occasions only!
7 - this is one of my favourite cake stands! Jenny asked Mark to make some cake stands to sell at a craft fair, she had brought vintage style pieces and the pillars are from ebay. Only, every time he put one together I exclaimed that they "couldn't sell that" so I think as a ploy to keep me quiet she gave me a set and Mark made me this! I love it as it is unique and a one off. I can either have it as a two tier and take the cup and saucer off the top or use it as a three tier and use the cup to hold strawberries or sugar cubes! Its is very pretty!

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Caravan Cake Stands
8 - this was free on the front of a magazine which I brought solely for the purpose of putting in the caravan as it is cardboard and light
9 - this was from Tesco's Easter range last year but again I thought it perfect for the caravan as it is so light and much smaller than the pink one

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So really, I don't NEED anymore though I do keep looking! If I do buy anymore I would like one with a domed glass cover, although with 2 kids I don't think it would be very durable!

So for the time being I will have to make do with my two not very pretty but perfectly safe plastic domed covers (10) which fit perfectly over cake stands 3 and 4!

Cake Decorating & Crochet

30/1/2013

Today was week two of cake decorating and we were taught how to use and colour sugar paste icing to ice cup cakes. Here is one I made.

The location is Jordan, Dylan and Lexis school and we were asked if we would like our kids to come and join us to participate, as my kids don't go to this school, Lexi (my niece) came to have a go instead.

We made the cake on the left together and Lexi made the cake on the right by herself. She also made a further 2 cakes but I wasn't quick enough to get photos of those!

So all in all an enjoyable morning. I am now on the lookout for cake decorating things for my new hobby!

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Last night I had a go at crocheting, only I had no normal "DK" wool, only mohair which was a nightmare to crochet with as it was so furry.

So today I popped to Wilkinsons for a ball of basic wool to practice on, come home and Youtubed crochet videos and came up with this!

It is supposed to be a rose though Mark said it looked more like a lotus flower. I am pleased with it for a first attempt and it was relatively simple once I picked the basic pattern up.

The daffodils are opening up slowly and are a lovely colour of yellow of green :-)

Daffodils, works of art and tiny glass pots!

29/1/2013

The weather is definately getting warmer, it said 12 degrees in my car when I went out earlier, I am liking this very much! And guess what I saw in Sainsburys for the first time? Daffodils! So I couldn't resist buying a bunch as I just love daffodils, they remind me of warmer spring days, trees blossoming, fluffy baby lambs and birds tweeting! They will be so pretty when they open up and add a pop of colour to otherwise still dark and miserable days! (I broke my small vase though and this is the next smallest vase I have which is still too big so it has got scrunched up tin foil at the bottom of the vase to lift the flowers if you were wondering!)

Roman has painted this canvas over the past couple of nights and is very proud of it. He said he wants it hung up somewhere everyone can see it!

Had this cute idea today to present handcrafted earrings as a gift!

This little glass pot is from Poundland and held hundreds of seed beads. I can't remember how many pots and colours of beads you got but think it was either 6 or 8 for only £1!

I have been thinking for a while what could be done with them as frankly they are too cute to throw away! Anyway, I thought about putting something in them to give as a gift and thought what would be small enough to go in them? Handcrafted earrings! I am thinking of other ways to use them up too. So far I have thought of putting locks of the kids hair in them, sealing the lids and hanging them up somewhere as a keepsake. Or, putting something cute in there such as a pressed flower, sealing the lid, using a screw eye to screw into the lid and using it as a bag charm....... watch this space, I will think of SOMETHING to do with them!

Peg Fridge Magnets

28/1/2013

No work done on Teddy today as I need help cutting him out of the canvas and helping sewing up as it is very complicated. Instead I have made these.......................!

These are made with ordinary wooden pegs (1) and a Hobbycraft magnetic foam sheet (2) which was cut into thin strips (3) and glued onto the back of the pegs (4). The glue I use is Glossy Accents (5) which can be used under embellishments as a glue or on top to add shine and protect. The other side of the peg has fabric tape applied to it (6). I was unsure whether to add a pretty flower or bow embellishment but thought the floral tape was busy enough so I have left it as it is. These can now go on the notice board in my kitchen!

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I also made these ones below to go in our caravan which has a red theme! On the bottom of these I added a tiny heart embelllishment which were stuck on using the Glossy Accents.

Hmmmmmm, after sticking them to the notice board they are only strong enough to hold one piece of paper at a time so I think stronger magnets would be needed instead of the magnetic foam sheet.

Today I have also been reading lots and finished Pride & Prejudice! 47.1 hours notched up on my Kobo now in 3 weeks!

Teddy Bear Latch Hook - sewing up!

27/1/2013

Woo Hoo! It rained constantly through the night and when we woke up this morning it had washed all of the snow away, not even a patch of ice remained! The sun has been shining all day and the grass is green and luscious although a little wet! It is lovely to see so much colour after a week of only seeing white!

So today I thought I would start to sew Teddy Bear up! It looked very complicated though and I needed Marks help A LOT as we first had to mark out with a marker pen all of the pieces to cut out and then make sure they were sewed right side to right side. Poor Mark was hoping to work on his model plane again today but got sidetracked helping me, it took a LONG time to figure out, the instructions were not very clear at all. It was very much a 2 man job!

So this is Teddy so far..................... he has no nose yet! This is ten pieces all sewn up together very complex to form his head - 2 ear pieces for each ear = 4 ear pieces, 2 back of head pieces, 2 front of head pieces, 1 brow and 1 muzzle piece!

side of head

front of head

Look at his eyes!

Have to admit they freaked me out when i first saw them. They remind of fishes eyes and look like something you would eat on "I'm a celebrity get me out of here!"

This shows how complex he is sewn together as he is sewn inside out and each piece must be aligned and sewn in order exactly as per the instructions.

EDIT - 9.00pm
The picture on the left shows the illustration picture, what teddy's nose SHOULD look like. It should be a piece of felt cut to size and sewn into the muzzle piece. However, this was tricky as the muzzle piece had to be sewn to form a dome and the felt piece didn't fit the muzzle or would not sew as it should.

Instead, we sewed his muzzle up without a nose and just added a button instead, picture on the right. Now Teddy has a cute button nose that is more in proportion to the size of his face! Doesn't he look cute!

Cotswold Crazy Scarf Maker - A "no news" day!

26/1/2013

Bleurgh! What a boring day!

No cinema day today as the films that were on we have already seen. Spent the morning in the house doing oh so boring jobs such as fixing wobbly drawers! Anais has practiced her violin and Roman has been putting more Lego together!

After lunch we went for a trip to Ikea to get ideas on new bedroom furniture for Anais room as she starts secondary school in September so want to redo her bedroom later in the year so her room is more "grown up". Ikea is not my favourite of places, especially not a weekend! Mark has a saying that Ikea is like trying to get out of the Crystal Maze but with no crystals and no fun games!

Good news for today was Mark dug Cassie out so I should be able to go out next week hurrah!

So not a lot made today, so instead thought I would show off this pretty scarf I made over Christmas! So as this was done a few weeks ago I have no "making" pictures to show, only the completed pictures!

This was a Christmas present from Jenny and makes a lovely thick, lush, looped scarf. It came with four balls of wool, knotting yarn and a "loom".

I am not going to describe very clearly how to do this! Pictures would have been better but as I said this was done a few weeks ago. Basically the four strands of wool are looped around the wooden pegs in a figure of 8. After each figure of 8 has been made another 2 strands of wool are knotted in the middle to keep each figure of 8 in place. This must be continued until one of the four strands of wool runs out and you finish off. This scarf involves NO knitting and took around an hour to make. I can assure you it was much simpler than I am describing it!

The end result is this pretty scarf which is lush and very, very thick!

I am now 53% of the way through Pride & Prejudice and enjoying it again. Roman picked my Kobo up and tried to read it but said the words were too hard and long! Both of the kids are now in bed and we are now off to watch a film "The Social Network!" xx

Fun Christmas Cards! Wool & Beer Making!

25/1/2013

New contact lens day today so today I am seeing in HD!

Today is Friday and my usual shopping day. Mark took me shopping as there is still plenty of ice on our road though the main roads are clear. I couldn't get Cassie off my side of the drive even if I wanted to, so I hope the snow and ice melts soon so I can GO OUT BY MYSELF!

Today I made these Christmas cards for the three girls in our family, Anais, Lexi and Olivia.

At the beginning of the month when Birthdays was closing down I picked up a pack of Me To You hair bobbles in the sale and I thought it would be fun to put them on the front of a Christmas card for each of the girls. It has taken me this long to think of what to do with them though! I thought I would do them today so I didn't forget in 11 months time when Christmas comes!

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1 - I took an ordinary wooden peg and covered one side of it in red polka dot fabric tape which I thought was quite Christmassy! I used the peg to "hold" the hair bobbles!

2 - I took a plain white card and put a square of red paper on it

3 - a Me To You Christmas tag (10 for 10p!) was mounted onto the red square and the peg holding the hairbands stuck alongside

4 - three glitter stars were punched out of glitter paper and stuck onto the top of the peg and each visible corner of the tag. I also stuck some matching red polka ribbon to the bottom of the card and added a Christmas greeting.

Here are the finished cards for the girls. I now need to think (and find!) fun ways to do Christmas cards for the four boys in the family for this year.

Look what I had delivered in the post this morning!

The three balls on the left came in the post this morning, the purple ball on the right I have had for a while. I already knitted one ball of Black Disco Can Can last Friday when the kids were sent home from school early.

I am trying to collect some nice frilly scarf wool so I can knit it up while we are on holiday in the caravan and then I can give them as presents to people. Knitting is nice to do in the caravan as it is light and doesn't take up much room.

Film for Family Film Friday was Despicable Me. Everyone loves this film! Despicable Me 2 is released later this year. I am almost tempted to go and see it as soon as it is released instead of waiting for it to come onto the Kids Club!

Project Teddy Bear - although I have finished latching all the teddy bear I still haven't cut him out or started to sew him up yet as I wanted to wait until the weekend when Mark was home and not busy with work in case I needed help! Expect progress this weekend............................!

Beer watch!

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Mark couldn't wait any longer................... he was desperate to taste his beer!
1 - ready to pour
2 - pouring, it had quite a thick consistency
3 - in the glass, it was very clear
4 - it has bubbles in it!

His words were "its not a bad drop of beer" so I think he likes it! I tasted it and wasn't impressed but then I'm not a beer drinker! He needs to drink them now so we can re-use the empty bottles and make another batch!

Moms Birthday Card!

24/1/2013

Project Teddy Bear - nothing left to latch hook! Now all I have to do is cut him out, stuff him and sew him up. Mark has been out, in meetings all day and I didn't feel confident cutting teddy up and sewing him up without him here in case I did something wrong so I have got on with other things today instead. Our street is still covered in ice and I don't feel confident driving in it so I have stayed in all day instead. I felt justified in my decision when Mark came home and tried to reverse onto the drive but skidded on ice and crashed into the kerb, all OK thankfully but I'm not risking it! Good job there were no cars parked on the other side of the road.

I started reading Pride & Prejudice earlier my favourite classic novel. I will be following this at some point with Dracula and Wuthering Heights my second and third favourite novels. I love my Kobo!

We left the option of swimming lessons open to the kids, I would have been happy to stay at home in the warm. Silly question.......................... of course they wanted to go swimming! Good job Mark was back in time to drive and thankfully no damage done to his car earlier with the kerb incident!

Boofle Gift tag

I made my mom a birthday card today, she will be 60 in April!

Remember the gift tags I brought 10 for 10p? I thought this tag would make a nice card for my mom.

Firstly I cut the "mummy" wording off the bottom and mounted Boofle onto pink gingham paper.

I added a sticker sentiment "To my dearest mum" onto a piece of matching paper.

Secondly I embossed a pink card with flowers in each corner and a polka dot line down each of the four sides to frame Boofle.

These were stuck down to the front of the card......

Although the card was pretty I thought it needed jazzing up a bit!

A button on the flower and sequins were used to embellish Boofles tag and a sequin used in the centre of each of the embossed flowers to pull it altogether........

I am still debating whether or not to put a "60" sticker under the written sentiment. I don't know whether she will appreciate that or not!

Wednesday

23/1/2013

This was our drive first thing this morning. Mark managed to get his car off the drive, it was a good job he had put rock salt down yesterday as we had more snow overnight.

I told him not to bother clearing or salting my half of the drive as I am far too scared to drive in the snow!

I was all ready to walk to cake decorating class this morning but it was cancelled. I was disappointed as I enjoyed it last week but also relieved as I was not looking forward to walking there and back in the snow.

So I had the house to myself all day! No distractions! I put Queen concert videos on Youtube and latch hooked!

Project Teddy Bear - 5 body pieces left to do, 5 body pieces done!!!!!!!

I can start to cut him out, stuff and sew him tomorrow!

I made this cake using some stewed and pureed apples for the filling.

Last night I finished reading "The Short Secret Life of Bree Tanner" so tonight I can start reading more John Grishams!

I am loving my Kobo, my reading statistics now show I have read for a total of 37.9 hours!

Tuesday

22/1/2013

School was open again today and after three mornings of lie ins and lazing around, no-one was in a hurry to get ready to go out. BOTH kids forgot their lunchbox's and no-one realised until we got to school so I had to come home to get them and take them back :-(

Mark took Anais to violin lesson as there is still plenty of snow around here, the side roads are still covered pretty thick and I am too scared to drive in it.............................. only he couldn't get his car off the drive as whats left has turned to ice. After digging his car out, we went on a hunt for rock salt which he has thrown over his side of the drive quite liberally to ensure that he can get off in the morning. I don't intend to go anywhere, and if I do, I will walk!

I did try to read The Host last night but just couldn't get into it. Mark found me "The secret second life of Bree Tanner" a side novel to Eclipse so I started reading that instead.

He also downloaded me 21 John Grisham books, I have read many of them already but I like John Grisham and they are always worth a re-read!

Project Teddy Bear - 4 body pieces done today, 16 body pieces done in total, 5 body pieces left to do!