Gray day (but that's ok)

We've had about one day of sunshine in the last couple of weeks. Rain, rain and more rain, torrential-like or just a drizzle, mild and damp or bonechillingly cold and wet - the lack of light being the most predominant part of the whole weather scene. Oh well, I don't mind. I get kind of drousy, but there's nothing more sweet than returning to a snug, warm house after being outside on a rainy autumn day. There'll definitely be hot chocolate with whipped cream for the kids when thay come home from school and kindergarten :3

After a pretty busy period with my sister's wedding (hooray!), Emma's fourth birthday (I think I'll make a post about this next time) and the general hazzle of everyday life being extra hazzly (yes, I know that's not a word), I finally have some time to focus on the sweetest time of year - Christmas! If you disagree that Christmas is the best time of year, well - just be glad you don't live in my home, I'd drive you absolutely crazy, I promise :D So, the present-making has started, and to inspire you with some DIY-goodness, I'll share with you some of the things I made last year (and waited until now to share, because I didn't want to reveal to many presents to the ones they were meant for before they got them). Let's start off with bottle cap-magnets - these are so much fun to make! 

I collected some more recycled bottle caps (last bottle cap project being crochet-bottle-cap-hot-pads), bought resin glue at a shop where you get paints, glues and such, collected some leftover bits of scrapbook paper and some pearls and stuff, and got started :)

Here's an amigurumi mushroom too, crocheted around a tiny jar, for storing saffron or something else small and precious :3

I glued the scrapbook paper inside the bottom of the cap after cutting it to the right size, put som cute things and a friendly message inside, and then poured the resin glue in up to about a millimetre from the top of the brim, and let it dry until hard.

Then I glued super strong magnets from Clas Ohlson to the back - and then they were ready!

Of course I had to make some Christmas-magnets too

And a few foresty ones... The paper in the bottom of the cap was painted by me and the kids - we put some paint on paper, and folded to make the "veiny" pattern (blue in this one).

Vintage-style

Ocean-magnets for my in-laws :) They're on the fridge at the cottage (which is by the sea). Fun to use real sea shells! And the veined paper, and felt tip pens for the sea creatures

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I hope you were inspired :) A snug autumn afternoon to all!

Cake-O-Rama

And I've done it yet again - I've rambled on about making more posts, as a New Year's resolution and everything. Silly me. Time to just admit I'm not the natural born blogger... It doesn't mean I don't have plenty to write about here. For example, as a result of not writing here in ages, I now have a handful of cakes to show off. And that's despite the fact that I've accepted very few baking assignments since last summer. So yes, it's been a while since I last wrote... 

As spring tries to emerge outside, interrupted by the occasional storm-like weather (ok, maybe just relatively persistent wind...), some snow (that melts by midday) and a rather scarce amount of sunny days (really, I'm wondering whether I might be suffering from vitamin D-deficiency), I'm having fun with the first cold of the year. What better to do when the brain is generally on vacation than looking at some colourful cake pictures and sharing them with you? Almost a bit psychedelic, really... Hope you like!

This was a Father's Day marzipan cake. Raspberry and whipped cream and moist sponge cake underneath the blue marzipan, and edible silver-spray pattern and silver pearls for decoration (and a small blue rose, of course...). The pattern comes from an old teapot stand we've inherited from my husbands grandparents.

Sonar-cake for my father-in-law's birthday. Hooray! We had it at the in-laws cottage, so the cake traveled quite a bit and was hidden for a while before it was revealed and enjoyed :)

I just had to add the gingerbread house I made with my kids - the generous splashes of icing courtesy of Emma :3

Look, there's our family - I'm supposedly the one with the sagging boobs and a mysterious green growth coming out of my torso...

Here's a royal chocolate cake in honour of a very loveable and beautiful princess that we care a lot about. Chocolate cakes with chocolate cream, and chocolate roll cake in the towers with ice cream cones on top.

Some glitter, sprinkles, icing...

...pearls, butterflies and buttercream, and we have a yummy and sweet princess-castle!

Butterly-cake for a sophisticated, little birthday-girl.

It took some time to make all the butterflies, with the shading and a touch of pearl spray. The clue with the royal-icing-butterly was, well... Not to brake it once dried. Brittle stuff!

Christening cake for an adorable little girl. Handmade sugar paste flowers, vanilla fondant and marzipan for the cake lids. Juicy light chocolate cake with raspberries, raspberry jam and cream inside (yes, one of my regulars) :)

It's bigger than it looks...

No comments about the teddy being cross-eyed :p

Well, that's that for now :) I really have no idea when I'll post something next, or what it'll be about - life's exciting, eh?