fab cakes

I can bake a cake that  you can eat and taste quite nice, but mine would never be allowed into a cake competition.  I  look in awe at some of the a creations some clever cloggy people have come up with and day-dream.... (about eating them mostly).

above from100 layercake 

I love the big flowers. Jen Huang?

cake at little zosienka who also do beautiful illustrations.

 I'm sorry I have no link for this above, please let me know if you do.

above and below outrageous cake on rag-pony 

twirling betty

twins

Two more dog dollies for 10 year old twins (non-identical).  This time I made the template a bit wider as the last one was almost impossible to turn inside out, it was so skinny.  And I used different material which was also better to paint.

 I used old t-shirts for the ears, they have curled up at the edges and wont iron out flat, so try will something else next time?

Table cloth dress (I love the scale of this red dress and think I would like one.) and precious garage sale find material with old lace. Victorian jewelry book in background.

mehndi

I have been looking at some Mehndi the last couple of days, African and Arabian.  I was trying to get as many components of it together so I could make up some of my own designs up.  I know it's nothing new but I still like the designs. If no link is given it is Henna me or bridal mehndi as on the linked pictures.

I loved the changes in scale and the gaps in this one from henna me

An African one from henna me.

a nice sparse one at bridal mehndi

I like the hands and the plate, one of each please! 

Not exactly mehndi but in the same vein.  Patternity has many photos of patterns in fashion, out on the urban streets and in nature.

bridal henna

not sure I would let my children eat these biscuits but they look pretty at miss indian bride

sweet elephants family fun biscuits

I think this is a cup-cake, I would definately not let my children eat this, and it would seem a crime to do so. found at toxiferous

I like this one best, slightly absurd, at henna me.

new dollie ideas

I have finished the dog doll that I was in the bottom of my last post. I used some painting canvas that my mother had given me, and while I loved the look of the material, the weave was too loose and when it came time to turn that dog dollies legs the right way round they frayed rather a lot as did the armpits.  Also the fabric paint didn;t settle in very well.  Humph, but I had a bodge around with a needle and thread and some more fabric paint and it looked ok in the end, I do quite like the slightly scruffy look to it.  My daughter has taken it as a gift for a thirteenth birthday party.

 below, oops her gussets not quite reaching.

 The ears were cut out of an old felted wool jumper

 MY husband is a bit sniffy about the under-wear, he says the top is inappropriate for a thirteen year old, I thought that it would be inappropriate for her not to have on a top, he didn't like the lace, I said it was that pretty elastic that you get on undies, not lace.  And anyway it was painted on so there was not a lot I could do about it.

 above, she has a little natural colour silk elephant dress, with lacy frilly bits and a nice blue button.

And she got one of my cards for a birthday card, Maybe I need a "Happy birthday" stamp.  I wait to find out what she thought.

dolls and fabric doodling

I have spent the last couple of days doodling around with some ideas for material and dolls, inspiration taken from other dolls I have found on the web, Blythe, Pullip and others I blogged about the other day.  Is it okay to do this?  If I do it in my own special way?  hmm not sure but I am inspired by many things.  Anyway I got all excited looking at spoonflower over the weekend, and decided I would like to give this fabric design a go myself, dress fabric, dolls to cut out and make, cushion covers, I could spend a fortune!

 above Eyes from my dog, acid toys, some dolls, some lowbrow art  and somewhere in my head

 above and below trying to remember how to do pattern repeats, not done this for many years.

 and some weird creepy animal-doll ideas and prototype painting.

cow parsley

More photos of a close up botanical theme.  The flowers of the cow parsley are so pretty and the colour so delicate.  Growing up there was a lot of cow parsley, in the garden in the landscape, I love to see it.

plants in close up

I went for a walk up a steep hill and down the other side, this morning and took photos of plants, wild flowers and some scenery.  And then I decided to do some photo cropping to get some pretty shapes and colours.

 there was lots of overlapping leaves and sunlight and shadows.

 and a heart

 I liked the shadows in this one

 above, sorry I thought this looked better than it does.

I managed to find some hearts in there, so I was a happy girl.