Canadian Creative

matchy matchy

2012-01-13T23:23:00.001-06:00

Liberty Jane 1940's Swim Suit

2011-05-23T11:19:00.002-05:00

sewing swap

2011-05-21T16:14:00.002-05:00

Victim #3

2011-04-13T21:33:00.003-05:00

Poor eyeless doll!! She stunk like perfume. Attempting to remove the smell by soaking in washing soda/borax mix.

#2, continued

2011-04-13T21:26:00.005-05:00

Beheaded and unstuffed. Ready to have the polish removed from toes & fingers, and limbs removed. Vinyl to be scrubbed and cleaned.

Close up of silver eye (her left, your right). Also notice the unattractive shine to her face.

Silver eye no more!!

Paint match isn't QUITE perfect to the original, but I don't think the average person would notice the slight difference!! I'm quite pleased with the finished result. The repair wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.

Victim #2

2011-04-04T15:08:00.002-05:00

TLC doll #2. Going to take her apart and restore completely.

2011-03-21T21:57:00.000-05:00

The remaking of an American Girl

2011-02-22T15:22:00.004-06:00

This arrived today. I think she is a pre-Mattel #15. The last photo is how she arrived.

Things to note:
*Appears to have softer, dark brown eyelashes - not the black, hard ones on the other AG dolls.
*No body tag.
*Looked like she had a part while her hair was braided, but once unbraided, it disappeared. Wig is in rough shape. Not sure if the hair is textured or just a mess.
*Legs are loose but the doll still stands
*Pleasant Company on back of neck. No numbers. Has an artist mark.
*Doll smells faintly of cigarette smoke
*tiny bite mark/scuff on one finger
*filthy vinyl, but cloth body appears clean and unmarked
*Dress she arrived in is Samantha's meet dress. Tagged West Germany 1986 and has the pin

American Girl Clothes

2011-02-03T08:50:00.002-06:00

What happens when we get 20" of snow and I am caught up on sewing.

Chloe's

2009-07-29T21:04:00.003-05:00

Black mystique body, red foil stripe, rhinestone bling. Personalized name in red script.

Michelle's

2009-07-29T20:56:00.005-05:00

"Red camo" holographic with crushed red velvet. Rhinestone "bling". For a not-quite-four-year-old!

Leos, leos, and more leos

2009-07-29T20:54:00.002-05:00

Thought perhaps I'd revitalize this blog as a way to showcase some of my "custom" work. I am really enjoying sewing leotards - it is extremely rewarding to see faces light up when you bring them a brand new leo that they chose colors and fabrics on!!

Soccer cake

2007-05-25T16:38:00.000-05:00

Cake I did for H's soccer wind-up party.

The ball was a plain chocolate cake; the bottom 1/4 sheet was a yellow with a vanilla pudding filling. It really needed a different flavor filling, but I HAD planned to do chocolate on the bottom and yellow for the ball. Of course, a certain 6yo had other ideas.....

One of the things I always get a kick out of is when people want to know where I got the cake from. When I tell them I made it, they seem so amazed. Ah, if only they knew how relatively easy cake decorating is. Don't get me wrong, it's not super easy right off the bat - but once you get the basics down, there's not much to it. Honestly, I think the hardest thing I had to overcome was believing in my own creativity!!

in your eyes.....

2007-04-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

Penis cake

2007-02-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

I had fun doing this. Pretty much just winged it, although I borrowed some ideas from the Ace of Cakes' Duff Goldman - namely, how to construct the penis itself! It is made from rice krispie treats molded on a plastic dowel rod. I then covered it in fondant, which was interesting as I couldn't quite figure out how to get the fondant smooth under the "head"! LOL So I had to change tactics slightly, and roll the fondant on the shaft.....

Anyways...... it was fun. 'Nuff said. Except that the cake itself is a french vanilla, torted into 4 cake layers, with raspberry & buttercream filling.

Creating Tinkerbell (pt 2)

2007-01-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

If you missed the first half, you might want to see it first.

OK, I have to admit it was getting late and I forgot about taking pics for a minute. But anyways, I rolled out the remaining beige fondant and cut 2 pieces to wrap around the cake. I then scored the outside of it using a knife, making various vertical cuts to give the appearance of bark. Once it was slightly dried, I painted the outside using watered down brown gel.

Then I added age rings to the top.

And added rabbits, a snail, and toadstools. All of these were made by coloring fondant and then just modelling them like using clay.

Next I added leaves, made from 2 shades of green fondant, cut with a leaf shape cutter, and scored (veined) using a toothpick. I stick both figures and leaves to the cake with special "glue" - water or clear vanilla work equally well.

Last but not least, we add a plastic Tinkerbell from the "Disney Fairies" collection ($6 at TRU). She liked to lay down quite a bit. I suppose I could have actually stuck her into the fondant top, but I didn't feel like cleaning fondant off her feet.
Voila! Completed cake!

I really enjoyed making both cakes, but I was particularly pleased with how the Tink cake turned out. I took the basic idea from a cake book my brother gave me for Christmas and just modified it to suit me.

One of the toughest things I've had to learn when decorating was to be creative! I constantly remind myself I can do whatever I want, and it doesn't need to be exactly like something I've seen. And since I figured that out, I've started enjoying making cakes even more!

Creating Tinkerbell's Woodland (pt 1)

2007-01-20T17:31:00.000-06:00

H chose a Tinkerbell theme and gave me full rein to do what I wanted. So I had a little fun.

I started with two 8" round cakes, made from a Duncan Hines Devil's Food mix. Before filling, I ring the cake with a stiff buttercream icing to act as a dam.

Then I fill the cake with a vanilla pudding mix made thicker than normal by reducing the milk to 1 1/2 cups instead of 2.

Add the second layer (whoops, looks like I overfilled with pudding slightly... oh well, I can fix that by adding some extra buttercream in the middle to fill in the hole).

Then I cover with buttercream. Again, I don't worry about smoothing it out as I plan to cover the whole thing with fondant.

Kinda hard to see here, but I've tinted some fondant a beige color and cut an 8" circle out of it after rolling to about 1/4" thick. I then laid the circle on top to create the top of my stump.

CReating the Genevieve cake (pt 2)

2007-01-20T17:21:00.000-06:00

If you missed part 1, go back and read it first!

Next, I color fondant to the same shade as Genevieve's top using mostly pink with a hint of violet. I roll it out to a circle and lay it over the white fondant. Using my fingers, I create "flares" over where I laid the fondant cones earlier. I then add more Wilton Luster Dust, just brushing it on while the fondant is still slightly tacky.

Last but not least, I add the Wilton teen Doll Pick for her upper body. Because their head looks nothing like Barbie, I "borrowed" Genevieve's head, top, and jewelery from the actual Barbie. I did notice that Barbie seems to have scaled back her anatomical dimensions whereas Wilton seems to follow the old school, as the top was a tight fit in the chest and I had to tape the back to make sure it would stay on! Voila! Completed cake!

Creating the Princess Genevieve Cake (pt 1)

2007-01-20T17:07:00.000-06:00

I was asked for step-by-step photos on how I do some of these cakes. So I'm starting with the two I did this weekend for the girls' birthday parties.

Princess Genevieve, as requested by Miss A.

In the beginning - the basic cake, made in the Wilton Wonder Mold pan with a poundcake variation on a Duncan Hines box mix.

Then I cover it with a buttercream icing that I make. I don't worry about smoothing too much as I plan to cover the whole thing with fondant.

Next I add six fondant "cones" about 8" long to create the flares in her skirt.

Then I roll out white fondant to a large circle and cover the whole cake, making sure it's smooth. This is the underskirt. I brush it with Wilton's luster dust (an edible glitter)

Totem Poles

2007-01-18T19:56:00.000-06:00

Totem Poles
White Rock, British Columbia, Canada

sailboats......

2007-01-17T19:10:00.000-06:00

White Rock Beach, British Columbia

What I plan to do

2007-01-17T19:03:00.000-06:00

I wanted to create a separate blog to post some of the things I do as hobbies. Photography, knitting, crocheting, and cake decorating in particular. Swiped the idea from my friend Shannon, and I hope I enjoy it as much as she does!