Caketops Christmas shop!

I'm feeling festive, and have been pottering away this week feeling very merry indeed. The webmaster and I , when recently taking our vintage inspired photographs, came up with the name 'Felicity & Belle' which has stuck fast, and has inspired a new wee foray into Etsyland. Etsy, if you haven't visited, is quite a cool place with lots of wonderful handmade and vintage things on there. The webmaster is already a loyal punter. She always has nice necklaces in particular which when I admire and enquire as to where she got them, she sheepishly admits she's been perusing the gems on etsy again... So I warn you, it's a fabulous and glittery place and you have to be very careful not to get too addicted.
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Well, I've given you fair warning and now happily direct you Etsy-ward. Have a look at Felicity & Belle first, let us know what you think, and then why not have a wander where you will?!
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If you happen to fancy any of Felicity & Belle's handmade holiday wares that I have on there, you can purchase via Etsy, it's all in US dollars tho which confused me slightly I admit.... . However, probably preferable if you are reading this blog right now; email me direct, mention this word - TIMOROUS - within your email, and I shall make you a special individual price offer for whatever you may be interested in purchasing. The more inventive your email, the better for you my offer shall be! hey hey! If you make me laugh out loud I shall tell you so in numerical fashion!
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Happy Hallowe'en!

Hey-how for Hallowe'en!

A' the witches tae be seen,

Some are black,

an' some are green,

Hey-how for Hallowe'en.

- Scottish Traditional

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This poem seems very apt, however my cake top customers on this occasion were Frankenstien and his charming bride..... so not witches as such, but one half certainly green....

Lawfully wedded

I do think it's a good idea to stay on the right side of the law, don't you?!

Woolly winter warmers

Oh there's a definite nip in the air... and I don't mean the whisky kind. It seems that it is definitely Autumn, the leaves are turning golden and red on the trees, the nights are drawing in, and I'm beginning to debate the choice of thermal undergarments that the worldwide web has to offer....

Now, if your cake top bride or groom fancies a scarf to keep themselves nice and warm, well no problem!! My Mum is actually the knitter in the family, and she makes tiny wee knitted scarves for me, knitting them with embroidery and crochet threads so that they're perfectly tiny. She's very good at it, and does a fine line in stripey ones. Recently I found some crochet thread that was different colours on one thread. We didn't know if the colour change would be quick enough- if you know what I mean- to show up on the small scale scarf, but in fact it worked quite well. So now some nice stripey pastel ones to add to the range...but we (she!) can do any colour. A nice addition for those snowboarding, snowballing, or chilly winter wedding caketops pehaps, where a cosy scarf may be essential wedding attire!

The scarf making was originally inspired by football fans of course. A mini woolly scarf works well: adding a nice touch along with footballs, team logos or even hats on!! (My Mum is now an expert in team colours for both Scottish and English Premier leagues - a handy pub quiz team member I think!)

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While it may be getting chilly and becoming warm scarf weather now, I do enjoy the autumn and wintertime, so I'm not complaining really. I'm looking forward to some serious frost like we had last year here in the glen, very pretty it was. But didn't I tell you this is a time when some folks enjoy thier wedding day somewhere hot? Somewhere where the folks there think frost exotic?

If that's your bag and a scarf just won't cut it, perhaps what you really need is a sarong and a beach!

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Drumroll please...

Recently I had the pleasure of spending a day with tartan, bits of felt, scissors, and oooh black crushed velvet. Yes, a typical day for me, however the result not so typical; my very first little cake top Drum Major. He was required to help celebrate a real life, full sized Drum Major's birthday. In case you are confused, the real one is the gentleman on the right....you can see he's holding his mini me!

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This is Peter, Drum Major of The Isle of Skye Pipe Band, who along with the rest of the band, enjoyed a birthday celebration of smoked salmon, champagne and of course CAKE, on arrival in Braemar for the annual Gathering. Janet made a super cake for all, and don't you just wish you were there?!

Well there's always next year! The band enjoyed a great time at the Gathering, and I believe are now enjoying a bit of a break before another season of piping, drumming, shinty matches, town squares, Gatherings, bus trips, marching and CAKE! That's a lot of cake folks... now if only I could hold a tune...

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Here is the band with the Cullins of Skye in the background, an early morning start to the day as they headed off to Braemar for a royal weekend and alot of fun. (not to mention that cake...)

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A special thank you to Janet for her cake top request, it was one I enjoyed very much, and thanks too for sending me photos from the day and letting me know how it all went!

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Wishing all you splendid folks in the band much luck and success in the new season!

A grand day out

The webmaster paid a visit to caketopland recently, and we decided wouldn't it be simply splendid to have afternoon tea at Glengarry Castle Hotel with those charming, interesting and snap happy folks at Invergarry Lodge?!

'Oh yes!' cried Miss Lisa, 'I say, that would be a jolly ballyhoo of a day out!'..... or something like that....

Glengarry Castle Hotel is a fantastic place, not least of all due to its afternoon teas, which as you can see are excellent...

It's a country house hotel with lots of charm, history and class about it, but at the same time it has a very comfortable atmosphere that makes you feel quite at home almost as soon as you walk through the door! Jenny & Matt had thier wedding here, and I believe it's popular too with honeymooners, so perhaps worth a look if you are venturing up to the Great Glen...

But we were coming for afternoon tea! And didn't I say it was a comfortable atmosphere?! So much so that Miss Lisa and I posed quite happily and with minimum embarrassment, for our GREAT IDEA...... a vintage style cake top photo shoot! Oh yes I know! It's pure genius....... maybe........ please tell us if we look silly.....

So Master photographer Matt took these! He's very good with the old flashbang, and he even aged us a bit with his computer wizardry.... well the photos were aged, we'd rather stay relatively youthful thanks very much....

And when they weren't looking Miss Lisa took this one of them taking a photo of those....

So we all had a great laugh and delicious cakes and scones, and the sun even shone a bit, which is proving rare this summer. Thanks again to Matt & Jenny for their company and paparazzi skills!

We'll put more of our vintage flavour photos on the new caketops website, which is in the pipeline and proving a perfect excuse for many shenanigans!!

Suits you

Isn't it all meant to be about the frock?!! Some grooms here getting very dressed up for the big day!

Wedding party

Hello! Long time no type! Actually I've had a whole day typing and I'm nearly typed out. I have been doing a massive email catch up... what happened to all your good email 'staying on top of 'em' intentions I hear you say?! I have to apologise, it's just as well that an essential skill of all brides-to-be is organisation and planning. It's a fact- bride's are 9 times out of 10 excellent at thinking ahead. (and if you're not you soon will be) The brides I meet certainly seem to be on the ball - pretty good at emailing early (first enquiry for 2011 received today) and giving me a ring if I take too long to reply. So don't be shy and give me a bell. (Oh and don't worry if you're a last minute bride, I love you folks best of all and always try to squeeze you in if I possibly can!)

Anyway, part of the reason I have been so slack on the emails lately is due to this busy time of year of course, plus it just so happens that a few of July's cake tops had lots of pets and children joining in on the wedding cake top action!

So here's a couple of July's cake tops where I had to make the base bigger just to fit everybody on....



Do you know my most common request must be for the couple's pets to be included on the cake top? I think it's lovely as often they can't actually be at the wedding themselves, due to doggie breath or being a chicken, so it's more than fair to put them right there at the top of the cake. They're very good at raising a few smiles among the guests I hear. I do hope the bride and groom will take them a bit of wedding cake home...

I have some fun cake tops to make this month as well. I'm looking forward to a Sixties style bride and groom, pool players, lots of pets and some very sparkly dresses. I shall keep you posted!

P.S. I must say Bon Voyage and Good Luck to my lovely friends Nic and Paul, who are off to live in New Zealand forever and ever. They visited me to say 'cheerio', drove me over a mountain for dinner by the sea, and as a parting gift gave me a real and authentic New Zealand recipe for PAVLOVA!!! (Oh how they laughed after reading here I though she played tennis...) The recipe came complete with pictorial inspiration... such an amazing feat of strawberry engineering I had to share it with you!

This is Paul's pavlova and I am challenged to make my own, however I fear my strawberries won't be nearly as neat. Incidentally Nic is responsible for the tagline at the very bottom of the blog, which I and the webmaster thought should be the cake top website motto!!

Here's a pic of Nic and Paul, say hello if you see them in New Zealand and tell them to come straight back, I need a strawberry slicer...

There's nothing like seeing yourself in minature to make your day! - Nic

Now we are seven!

Hello and welcome to Jay our new genuine follower! I had no chocolate cake to celebrate your arrival I'm afraid.... this time it was PAVLOVA!!!

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Pavlova always makes me think of Russian tennis players, don't you? (actually I just looked on Google and I should be thinking of the ballerina, but too late I thought of imaginary tennis players first). So here we are, a sporty cake top! There's even some tennis balls on. This is for a lovely couple who are PE teachers (and are not Russian as far as I know). Oh to be more sporty.... I could eat so much more pavlova if I was super sporty.....or if I was a ballerina....

I must say a big thank you to the webmaster for doing clever mysterious 'stuff', to make this blog look like my Granny's are haunting the internet, giving it a funky vintage overhaul and some nice lace edging! I think they would be so proud! We have had much debate and discussion as to what the caketops website revamp should look like. With a little help from beyond the grave I think we (or rather the webmaster!) have cracked it..... now if only the Granny's were here to give us some fashion tips the makeover would be complete.....

Fashion? Did somebody mention fashion? Time for another tenuous link to a cake top...

This cake top is for a happy couple who both contacted me separately with secret 'props' to be added to their partner's cake top figure. So the bride informed me that her groom should hold his hairdryer in his hand and have some football boots on the base. The groom confided that his bride-to-be should have ruby red lips, hold a MAC lipstick and at her feet she should have some gold shoes as she likes shoes! This was fun, as I quite enjoyed being privy to all the secrets... (I've let the cat out the bag now of course) Oh! and I imagine they are a very fashionable couple!

These are just a few of the cake tops that I've been busy making lately. Oh it's a hectic time of year for me. Give me a ring if I haven't answered your email, I'm afraid I'm behind again. There have been lots of caketops that I've enjoyed making and have made me smile. Hopefully they have made the couples and their guests smile too.

Let's say Congratulations to all the brides and grooms!

P.S. Keeping with the vintage theme, I have for you a photo of Anna Pavlova after which the pudding was named. I think there may be Pavolvas in Caketopland for years to come....

Isn't her dress a lovely meringue?!

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A new (old) look!

Hello everyone! I'm guest blogging for you this week while Helen is away on holiday to Caithness - don't panic though, she will be back making caketops for all your summer weddings soon!

To kick things off, I thought I’d give you a taster of the look of the main caketops website redesign that should hopefully be unveiled in the not too distant future. Helen will get a surprise when she gets home from her holiday and checks her blog – will she recognise it?! The inspiration for the redesign has come from a bit of old fabric that once belonged to Helen’s Granny (that's her in the photo!). I've teamed it up with a lace edging to give a ‘vintage tablecloth and runner’ look.

I’m planning to improve the navigation of the website and expand the photo gallery so that you can see different views the caketops – Helen puts lots of detail into the caketops and I want to add close-up shots and back views so that you can appreciate all the little details from all angles!

Also I’d really like to make the ordering process as easy for both you and Helen as easy as possible. This is something that Helen and I have discussed numerous times and we’re still pondering the best way to accomplish this... If you have any suggestions or ideas about the website or the blog please do let us know – we’d love to hear from you!

Until next time,
Lisa

N.B. Well, I only had a 50/50 chance of being right so, naturally, I got it wrong and posted a photo of Helen's other Granny. To make amends here is a photo of Granny L looking very stylish in a fantastic frock.

Granny L - original possessor of the fabric!

Love to dance!

Hello, welcome and GOOD LUCK to our latest genuine follower Jenny! I say 'good luck' not because she needs it in becoming a follower, but because she is in fact getting married on Saturday!! How do I know this? Well, I could have read it in her blog, but no! In fact I have insider knowledge as I was lucky enough to make Jenny and her soon to be hubby a cake top! Hooray! They love to dance, and so there they are, dancing the night away and with a big shiny trophy too! They even made the front page of 'Dance News'!

Jenny had the great suggestion of having the groom with a rose clenched between his teeth, which I thought a genius idea! Now I would like every single groom I make, for evermore, to have a rose in his mouth.... however I shall resist, be professional, and only do it when asked....

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Let's wish Jenny and James the very best of luck and hope that Saturday is super douper!!

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Jenny is just one of the brides I've been making cake tops for since the last blog. I've had some interesting requests keeping me on my toes! There were lots of dogs, but even more cats, a couple of chickens, two police officers, a couple of rugby balls, one football... whew...

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Also this week I have been slack again with the emails, appologies. However this time it was all down to a computer meltdown which meant I couldn't get on the web. I didn't realise how much I used it until I couldn't get on it! Arrrgghhh!!! However, thanks to my technical support team in the shape of my Uncle RTL, normal service has been resumed. I'm still catching up on the emails tho, so if you are waiting for a reply don't worry I will get there. If it's urgent please do give me a call.

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Good catch!

Oh it's been a busy old week here in caketopland! It must be June. So far, sunny weather for all to enjoy. Oh I remember the days when it was snow all over the country and no one could get to work and, oh! watch out for that snowball... ooops too late.... and now it's sun everywhere. Don't forget the sunscreen, and that nice straw cowboy hat I saw you wearing... and picnics.... and if you happen to have a secret swimming spot, (some folks do, you know) keep it secret, keep it safe!!!
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I wonder if there are fish in it? If there are I know a young fellow from caketopland who'd want to know the secret. Mind you, he's got a fish on the line already, well done that man!

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I must appologise as I have been very bad at keeping on top of the emails just lately. There's just not enough hours in even the longest of June days. I promise to do better. Just in case you have an urgent query you can always give me a bell. Leave a message if I don't get to the phone in time- sometimes I'm gluing, doing the post, having lunch or, well, answering emails.....

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There is a FAQ page on the website which the webmaster edited using her great talents of attention to detail, excellent vocab and translation from the 'Helen', to make the complexities of personalised cake top ordering infinitely easier to understand. That may help. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start eh? It also explains the basics like, how big are they? What are they made of? How do I pay?

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The webmaster is working on the new caketops site, so let us know if you have any feedback on the FAQ page or any other part of the site that we could improve on.

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I do hope you're having a lovely sunny June day today!

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P.S.

Would you believe I can almost call myself a 'runner' ? Thanks to Coach Jenny over at Invergarry Lodge I have earned myself a place in history and a lovely shiny medal for my trouble, running 10K in the glorious time of 66 minutes. If it hadn't been so hot that day it probably would have taken us half the time.... not. Anyway, my first race and in the beautiful surroundings of sunny Skye. Hooray!

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Kirstie's Homemade Home

Have you been watching Kirstie's Homemade Home on Channel 4? Lots of wonderful ideas and crafts and I love a junk shop bargain too!

Even though it was the last episode the other day it was my favourite, as there was Mich Turner from Little Venice Cake Company showing Kirstie how to do a bit of cake decorating. Nicest thing for me was the shot of one of my caketop figures atop one of LVCC's fantastic cake creations! TV stardom at last... well sort of....

Mich and her team at LVCC make the most amazing cakes, they really are superb. Mich first commissioned figures from me way back in 2002 and since then I make a handful of special figure orders for her every year. They're different from my regular caketops as they are completely made from clay, quite a bit bigger, and believe me they can take a very long time to do! The episode featuring Mich was really good as she showed Kirstie how to make some lovely mini cakes with roses on top, and some trademark candystriped ones - steady hands needed maybe, but lots of fun. I think I may have to have a go myself....

If you missed it, you can still watch it on the channel 4 website, and there is lots of info about all the things Kirstie got up to here.

But if its fantastic wedding and celebration cakes you want more of then check out the Little Venice Cake Company and prepare to be amazed!! Mich has written books too which are packed full of fantastic ideas and designs, and great instructions so you can make amazing cakes of your own! Oh and if you are interested in a cake top, don't forget me!!

Lucky horseshoes...

May already! I'm a busy bee with lots of caketops to do. Spring and Summer are definitely the busiest times for weddings, so get in touch quick if you still haven't ordered your cake top.

Oh, but don't you worry, it's not like it's a race or anything...

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Sporty cake tops happen to have been popular just lately, but this one was my first on a horse racing theme. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up any racing tips for you, although I'd suggest this fellow would be well advised to not be holding a copy of the 'Racing Post' when walking down the aisle...

Actually the look of the cake top is to be a surprise for him, he doesn't know anything about it. With a bride that thinks of everything, I bet it's a dead cert that their wedding day will be a sure fire winner!

Webmasterly...

Oh all this technological stuff can just be too much... that's why knowing the 'webmaster' is fortunate indeed. Along with her extensive knowledge of 'code' and general geek genius, her elfin charm is indisputable. Oh and we like the same sort of tunes... mostly... but I am rambling.... THANKS to the webmaster there is now a wee flickr gadget wotsit sitting to the left of this here page. Hooray! Webmaster to the rescue when I got stuck (at an early stage) and before you could blink there it is flickring away laughing at me cos I couldn't do it....

I thought I should add some more 'stuff' to the blog you see, since I have recruited a posse of lovely genuine followers - hello you! So, on the flickr thingymajig you can click through to view some alternative snaps of caketops as well as some random photos I've taken when wandering about the Highlands. The webmaster has passed it for Quality Control, of course she could just be being nice...

I must also thank (is this the Oscars?!) Matt and Jenny at Invergarry Lodge for introducing me to flickr. I have often coveted thier flickr slideshow when visiting their blog, and Matt has some of the best photos on flickr I am sure. Check out his and Jenny's GLOWING TENT!! It's a winner!
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The Italian Job

Look what Maury the Italian photographer did to this cake top!!

Don't worry; no bride or groom was harmed in the making of this photo, Signor Maury photoshopped it.... Congratulations to our happy Bride and Groom who were wed in a beautiful and romantic Italian Castle, and grazie to them and to Maury for letting us see this super photo! There's another picture of the beautiful cake with it's cake top (unphotoshopped!) in the gallery, along with photos of other cakes with thier cake tops 'in action' so to speak. Its always a treat for me to see the cake top i've made on its cake, and its wonderful how different, imaginative and personal each cake is, and how happy the bride and groom's all look!

STOP PRESS!! We have TWO, not one but TWO, new genuine followers to welcome!! Hooray!! Hello Tony, Hello Jen!! Thanks for adding yourselves and wee pictures to the 'caketop club'. How cool... but oh no the pressure to write something interesting on the blog has now gone up significantly with two new real people to 'entertain'....... however i shall give it a go, and it does mean i do HAVE to eat some more chocolate cake to celebrate..... oh its a hard life..... Cheers! xx

Show me the welly...

I'll tell you a secret; the bride's I make don't actually have any legs under their dresses! Well, unless they want to show off their wellies that is, in which case they need a couple of feet to wear them on, plus a bit of structural engineering to make them stand up and a skirt that stays hitched in just the right place...

When not wearing wellies, perhaps you like to wear a sturdy pair of hiking boots? Just the thing for stomping over a muddy field or hill or whatnot, dogs in tow...

Sure, that's not everyone's cup of tea. Footwear can be the kind you just like to shop for eh?!!

Here's to shoes and Jimmy Choos!