weather permitting...

Was i wishing for snow in my last post?!! Ha!! Well we have some, and also a whole lot of wind! Here in the Great Glen i think the wind decided it was a handy corridor for ripping right on through! The Postie told me today how he saw water from the loch whooshing high up into the air, and after a few branches and then a fallen tree threatened his route he turned back down the road for home! A wise man indeed. Today has been the complete opposite to the windy one, a beautiful day, very still, just one for tidying up and, errrr replacing some roof tiles and returning to my neighbour, the various pieces of her former greenhouse.....

So, Power has been off in Caketopland for 32 hours, but now we are reconnected! Yay! Well done engineers! If you are awaiting a reply to any email or word about your current order, i shall hopefully catch up with you over the weekend. Any queries at all, just get in touch!

Now, before the storm arrived and interupted my 'schedule', i was preparing my mini Christmas cake for my decorating evening with the local Women's Rural Institute. It's not finished yet, i am still to add a decoration for the top. This will be the forth year that i show the ladies of Glengarry how to make some fun cake decorations for Christmas. We always have a good laugh and the ladies do enjoy friendly competition as to who can do what best! The mini cake when it is finished will be my 'and here's one i made earlier' sort of thing, and a raffle prize for the night. So, no more power cuts please, SWRI night is next Tuesday.... weather permitting!!

UPDATE!!! The night went well, here's a pic of the finished cake, and also on facebook i've just added a step by step how to make a mini cake and robin!!

Snow is falling!

Yes indeed, only a few days ago i was wondering when the snow would come, but finally it is here! Time to feel festive and throw snowballs!! If you are planning a winter wedding perhaps you are looking forward to some lovely snowy scences to set off your day. If so you may well be dressing in something glamourous but cosy... mmmmm not a wooly hat on this occasion perhaps, but a nice cosy stole!!

This winter wedding couple i made for The Little Venice Cake Company, the bride is very chic in her stole and some lovely red flowers add a nice festive touch! The figures are made completely from polymer clay, so have a look as if made from sugar, but will be able to be kept long after this winter as a nice memento!

Don't forget My Holday Dates, 20th December 2011 - 24th January 2012. Get in touch if you have a query or would like to make an order for February time.

where's the snow?

Happy December everyone!! The countdown to Christmas has begun!! No snow here yet... well there is a sprinkling on the tops of the mountains, but down here at house level it's just a bit wet and chilly! Not at all like where this caketop couple are!!

Yes, it's pretty snowy where they are, and they need their wellies on!! Plus, best to watch out for flying snowballs when this couple are about!!

I hope you are all enjoying the run up to Christmas and Hogmany- i do hope you have some nice plans afoot. Now if some of your plans involve a wedding there is still time to order your cake top. However please note that here in caketopland everything is shutting down for a month!! Holiday dates this year will be 20th December until 24th January 2012. Hooray!! Lots of time for being snowed in and eating all the christmas chocolate.... So if you would like to make an order for January time or early February please get in touch asap so i can make and have it posted off to you before Christmas.

The New Year also proves a busy time for emails, and i will try to stay on top of them during holiday time, but if there is any delay in getting a reply don't worry, but do give me a ring after 24th January if you have an urgent query that hasn't been answered.

Don't forget to keep in touch via my facebook page too, and visit my etsy shoppe if you so fancy- still some brooches to be had in time for Crimbo!!

Now it's novem-brrrrr!

Oooh!! A frosty start to the morning today. In the great glen the cold air finds itself quite at home!! Does make for some very frosty winter days tho, and i am looking forward to the icicles! Oooh and another thing that is good about this time of year here in the glen, are the sunsets...the days may get shorter but the sunsets get better!! Long winter evenings are good for pottering about too, i must try and take up my knitting again.

Last year lovely Jenny fom Invergarry Lodge gave me needles and wool and an excellent book, i made a scarf. (Well technically you could say my Mum- an excellent knitter- made half of my scarf) so this year i am going for leg warmers!! Ha! I figure those are just two short scarves stiched togeher...

Winter weddings are happening of course and i have started to make a few snowy caketops! If you are thinking of ordering a cake top for before or just after New Year, get in touch now as there will be holidays for me over the festive time, so we best get organised now!!

And of course i have been busy making a few wee brooches and pendants for my wintertime etsy shop. Its been good fun and they have taken over my facebook page! I've had a few requests for personalised pins. No problem, since caketop making is all about personalisation, so why should a brooch be any different?! The girls faces are proving popular for grown up girls and little girls too, and what about the coos? Everyone loves a highland coo... So for you lovely blog readers, here's a code so you can get free postage on anything in my etsy shoppe if you live in the UK, NOVBG11SP just type it in when prompted...

Here's a few snaps of what you may find there....

too many toms

I do enjoy getting in the garden when i can, altough i am pretty hit and miss when it comes to harvest time... i'm pretty good at cultivating slugs!!!

However, my two Uncles are very keen gardeners, and this year my Dad joined the club by getting himself a lovely new greenhouse. Tomatoes, that's the thing you see.... i did hear on a gardening radio programme during the summer, a question about tomatoes, to which the comment 'you either have tomatoes or you have a life' made me laugh! Well, my Uncles and my Dad do take very devoted care of thier tomato plants it has to be said, so much so in fact that they all end up with millions of tomatoes each! Tomatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner, and then some!

You can freeze tomatoes of course but they are a bit mushy.... i prefer chutney making. So the other week when my Dad visitied, he proudly brought me a bag full of his own home grown tomatoes! (Hey hey! The Uncles better watch out!)

This batch was from the end of the season, so quite a few green ones. Perfect for chutney tho, and my horticultural contribution was some fine apples from my garden ( the apple tree is slug proof and does it's thing with zero imput from me). So Green Tomato and Chilli Chutney was cooked up and we have to wait a few weeks for it to mature, but then i think- i hope- it will be good, and presants (not phesants) all round for Dad and Uncles!

There are lots of chutney recipes on the internet, so if you fancy having a go yourself you will have no trouble finding some tips. It is so easy tho, you can't go wrong. I put lots of apples in mine, onions and some spices and mustard seeds, along with vinegar and sugar. Next batch of chutney will be apple cider chutney i think... unless i use up the rest of the apples on crumble and pie...

I made little polymer clay chillis and tomatoes to decorate my jars with, so they are fun to make from start to finish. And with a fabric cover made from some material scraps and a ribbon bow and a bit of string for a rustic twist- it's definitely autumn!! 

Love through a lens!

It's always lovely to hear back from a Bride and Groom after the Big Day, and hear how it all went. It's great to hear how the cake top played it's part on all manner of wonderful cakes.

Cutting the cake is of course one of those wedding moments that everyone likes to have a picture of! Sonja and Shane, along with their photographer Gemma Williams, were kind enough to share lots of wonderful wedding photos with me... and with you!! Gemma really has captured the magic of the day, and all those lovely little touches that the bride and groom put into thier 'apple -country' wedding. (Handmade signs and moustaches being my favourites!!) It really is beautiful, and i am so pleased that i was able to contribute a tiny wee part of it, by making thier caketop.

The happy couple are booksellers, antique books that is, so there is a pile of leatherbound books sitting on the cake top... and their wee boy is cheerily waving thier country flags on there too! It was a great fun caketop to make, and a real treat to have an 'invite' to the day, by being able to view all the photos on Gemma's blog, it really does tell the story of the day!

CONGRATULATIONS Sonja and Shane!!!

http://www.gemmawilliamsphotography.co.uk/        http://www.tarringtonbooks.co.uk/

Hallow-weenies!

October time!! Pumpkin!! Hats!!! Monstas!!! yes.... still caketopping as well, never you fear, spookiness has only arrived for one day....

Yes, so a wee etsy shop has opened for the season. First in the shop are a handfull of halloween goodies. Little pin brooches made with polymer clay, and providing a bit of an autumnal smile i hope. As wintertime can be a bit quieter in the way of weddings, i am planning on fitting in a few festive brooches and random things as time allows, during the next few weeks, which i'll put on etsy. Also i will list one or two BARGAIN caketops for you. Oh yes! I have a couple of 'ex display' caketops i've used for a bit of experimental photo taking, and if i manage to i will make up one or two more for you too... so look out you may be able to grab yourself a cake top bargain on etsy. Will keep you posted. Regular personalised caketop orders still very welcome as usual of course!! Just get in touch direct for those. Orders are being taken for 2012, and my diary is now open!

In the meantime, back to spooky!!!!

Party crashers!

Weddings can be a tricky buisness... you just can't leave someone out! What would your pets say if you forgot them on the big day? They may have to stay at home, since no doubt they may be easily worn out by so much dancing and may be a bit tempted to munch on the wedding cake when you're not looking.... but who's to say they can't star on the cake instead of eating it?!!

Oh! But there is always one isn't there!! Just has to crash in on the wedding party, burst out of the 'cake' no less..... well at least he made the effort and wore a top hat for the occasion!

Congratulations to of all these wedding people, and their various furry and feathered and top hatted friends!!

Ladies in red

Isn't red such a wonderful colour for a wedding... it definitely suits a bride, especially if it has some sparkley beads and shining embroidery on there too!!! Beautiful brides with bling!!

Congratulations to all our bride and grooms, who wear it so well!!

Globally yours!

There's been a whole lot of flag waving going on lately... i think that coo started it. And why not, if you have a flag lets wave it!!! yay!!

Of course it's not just country flags..... you've got to keep and eye out for the eighteenth hole too... even on a wedding day!!! fore....!!!

Sounds of the summer

Well it has been a busy Summer for weddings of 'People I Know'. People I Know have been getting hitched all over the place.... Andy and Zoe made a day of it way down in Englandshire, so far from here it was nearly in France. Still caketops travel well and the cake top i made for them got there no trouble at all. However, to be on the safe side there was a wee sandwich on the cake top and a flask of tea should the caketop people get peckish en route... and they had football tickets should they have time to take in a game.... maybe a strum on the guitar.... Fuzzy the cat came too, to make sure they didn't get lost....

The guests had a great feast of course with a fantastic cake made for the day by friend of the family and expert cake decorator Margaret, who obviously has a very steady hand and great attention to detail as she got the tricky design from the couples wedding rings beautifully iced onto the cake. Making for a very dramatic and individual cake, which was a big hit. Nearly as big a hit in fact, as Andy playing the drums....but not so agressive on the ears....much better for the tastebuds...

Congratulations to the new Mr & Mrs, may your married life be happy and never short of loud music and yummy cake!! xx

highland wedding!

Of course it was not just coos that attended my cousin's wedding!!! No they had a 'proper' cake too!! It was a dinky cake, but i made it a tall one so in fact it didn't look so dinky at all in the end! We enjoyed a lovely wedding at the Old Pines Hotel, at Spean Bridge, which was just perfect with yummy food and just the ideal setting for a cosy wedding. The Highland coo cake got munched on the day, while the 'proper' wedding cake was eaten later as the newly marrieds celebrated all over again at the weekend!

Congratulations to the happy couple! It was a great day! The cake top i made for them gets all the fun tho, i tell you.... it gets to travel home to Norway with them for another party, and then again to Paraguay for even more wedding cake and celebrating!! Send us a postcard!!

here come the coos!!

Mooooo!!!! Yes up here in the Highlands of Scotland coos (cows) are horny and hairy.....aye much like the locals.... They tend to go by names such as Hamish, Hector and, er, Fred. It's true. They are also generally total suckers for romance, (Fred especially) and love to wildly wave flags on wedding days while perched on a grassy highland hilltop. It is truely a sight to behold....

What? You don't believe me? Look!! its true!!

plenty of pets!

One of the most popular requests i have for a cake top, is to include those special, often furry, members of the family that are for some reason not going to the actual wedding!! Dogs and cats.... bunny rabbits.... ferrets... budgies, and cockatoos.... lizards.......yes i did say furry, but quite often scaled or feathered or clawed too!! All wonderful tho and all great to add to a cake top so they can be involved in the big day!

I am occasionally asked for horses as well but of course as they are so much bigger than many pets, they would take up a fair bit of space on a cake which isn't always practical. Cakes these days are all shapes and sizes of course, but typically a traditional top tier would be 6 inches diameter. Also a model horse is a bit of a project in itself, as they are alot more tricky to build than a bride and groom, so my time and therefore cost has to be considered.

However just lately i had a request from Little Venice Cake Company in London, for whom i make clay figures from time to time for, you guessed it....a horse. Coincidentally around that time i had a request from a cake top customer who was very keen that her horse and pets cats would star on her cake......horses it seems are alot like buses....

LVCC's horse, above on the left, was first with a rider also sculpted in clay. This was for a cake that had been comissioned to celebrate a special birthday. The figure and horse and the grassy base they stand on are all seperate pieces, so the horse and rider would be placed on the cake as desired and then the grassy base can be used afterwards to display them. I did something similar for the bases for the cake top above right. My customer wanted to experiment a bit with how she would place the figures on her cake as she had a few options, wheter it be all on one tier, seperate tiers or even if the pets would sit on the table next to the cake. So while bride and groom are fixed to thier grassy base, the cats and the horse are not fixedto theirs, allowing them to be fixed to the cake independantly. Or if the bases are used they are actually shaped to curve around each other so they can be placed as close as possible and make a nice neat group!

Whew! So i guess it is true that for cake tops just like in the home, space and time can be an issue to what pet you may choose!!

pretty in pink

One of my favourite things about caketop making is having a wee sneak preview of what the bride and grrom will look like on the day, when all those carefully chosen outfits, flowers and pretty colours come together. Grooms' tie or cravate often mirror the bridesmaids' dress colour, which may often match theshades in the Brides' bouquet, which often tone in with the buttonhole flower, which occasionally echoes hair colour....

emails emails ....emails... DONE!

YAAAAY!!!!! Emails are all up to date as of now! 18.39 28th July 2011 Oh yes!! If you are awaiting a reply still then the ether has intercepted it somehow or the spooky inbox mail muncher monster may have got it when i wasn't looking..... give me a ring should you be a victim of this dreadful fate.... xx

Here is one of the reasons i was very slow at emails this month.... Big congratulations to Jim and Margret who make a lovely couple and don't actually look anything like a pair of teddy bears.... although now you mention it....!!

Tour de Caketops!

Well it's July folks and that must mean le Tour de France is on le telly, (or in my case the pooter) while i remain chained to my workdesk making lots of summer wedding caketops!! Whew, Alpe d'Huez tomorrow too so no rest for the wicked..... Still, when i see those cyclists climbing big mountains and battling it out in rain, wind and shine, well i just think to myself, Hey where's your kilt??!! No doubt the Bride awaits the best dressed at the finish....!!

It'll be all over on Sunday of course when all roll into Paris. If you happen to be there look out for this charming couple, you may spot the splendid hat!! This cake top is one i made recently and was great fun to make and challenged me to attempt some gravity defiying, big mountain climbing, sewing skills... I posted it off to France and happily it made its way to the capital even quicker than the Tour, and has already had it's big day in Paris. Bonne Chance!! (unfortunatly i never studied French so i can't add anything clever or witty here, quel dommage...)

the kids are alright

I've mentioned before how nice it is when customers get back in touch after their wedding with a photo or just a friendly email letting me know how the caketop did on the big day. Sometimes tho i do hear from customers much later on... in fact very occasionally when they have a another sort of cake needing a special cake top!

Christening, or a special first birthday cake are often an occasion for a cake top that can be kept. I don't do too many i have to say as wedding cake tops keep me very busy especially at this time of year! But if it is a past customer who says nice things about how the cake top did at the wedding day... it's hard to say no!

Put your back into it!!

Yes! I should be making much more effort! I have to appologise for a lack of blog posts -where has the time gone?! Well it's busy caketop season here again and time has been flying by. However it does mean i have a backlog of new and varied caketop stories that i can share with you when i do get my typing finger out....

So my back has been needing some stretching and excercising lately i am sure, as i have been gulity of very poor posture as i'm working away on caketops..... Now, if only there was a Physiotherapist in the vicinity....

Aaaah Ha!!! Just like magic i have found one!!! This lady is most certainly the person to turn to in a case such as mine. Look, she has her model spine to prove it....what's that...she has a pair of running shoes.... oh and she likes shopping too i can tell. Her groom meanwhile, seems to be a cricket fan, he likes cars by the look of that magazine under his arm, must be good at maths with a calculator in hand too, maybe he's an accountant?.... and is that a West Ham scarf i spy around his neck? Gosh it's amazing what one can tell about people by their caketops!!!

Congratulations to our happy couple who are indeed enjoying their hobbies and professions as well as looking very splendid in their wedding outfits! All the very best for the big day!!

Now... do you think chocolate cake would be good for my back?

Get me to the church on time Barney!

Neigh bother!!! lol!

Many thanks to Lynn for sending me this today!! Lynn has had her wedding day featured in No.1 Magazine, and doesn't she and her Groom David look dashing in thier wedding day finery? Not to mention Barney, Lynn's horse who made sure she got to the church on time -what an entrance!

I made a caketop for the happy couple, complete with saddle as a wee nod to Barney!!

The photographer for the day was Linda Sneddon who seems to have captured some great shots of the day.

Congratulations to Lynn and David, as well as Barney- as Lynn says; the other man in her life!!

a little bit retro

Well after a snowfall this week we can be sure its most certainly still winter... However spring daffodils are peeping thro the snow in caketopland , so i am sure there is some sun just around the corner!

I have been catching up on emails today and after following some lovely links to beautiful dresses, i am feeling very summery indeed!! I do enjoy looking at your links, which describe for me kilts and suits, bouquets and colours, dresses and hairdos! A customer today sent me a link to a website where the company make some amazing veils and hairpieces. Their website has some super photos which had me clicking away to see more!! It has a retro feel which appeals to me and made me think of tea and cake and summery picnic days in the garden......I thought i'd share a couple of my favourite vintage inspired websites with you....

Sara Gabriel, based in Denver Colorado, with no UK outlets as far as i can tell, but still if you are keen you can buy from a US store which they list on the website, or maybe just enjoy their photos and be inspired by their beads, tulle and feathers! Etsy is also a great source of wedding ideas and many UK makers put thier wares on there too.

Closer to home, why not dish up your sandwiches and slices of yummy wedding cake on pretty vintage china? There are alot of china hire companies out there now, covering the whole of the UK, just ask google. Here's one i found in Bonnie Scotland! Tatty Mac!

And don't forget, the most essential and unique addition to your wedding day is of course a cake top!! A handmade caketop is personalised just for you and reflects your style, whatever that may be!! And i do enjoy looking at all those lovely dresses, so weblinks always welcome!