Week one of the school holidays down and while everyone except me seems to have been hit but the dreaded winter bug we did manage to get out today and do some cupcake decorating with the lovely Naomi from hello naomi. Naomi is conducting regular classes at Megan Morton’s fabulous studio called the school. The space is amazing with loads of light and bright rooms and it also houses her props hire store the propery.
The kids had a fantastic time decorating their cupcakes and cookies and we all had a great time eating them after they were done! Here are a few of my iPhone snaps!
So week 2 of the holidays is about to begin and we are headed for a family holiday in Fiji! Cannot wait for some warm weather and pool time with the girls! Look forward to sharing plenty of holiday pictures when we return.
Back in May when I put together the lovely cake table for the Oh Sweet Mum e-event I was supported by some wonderful and talented cake creators. Each of the girls brought something amazing to the table that day and I thought it would be nice to hear some more from these talented girls.
Today I would love to introduce you to Sharon from Cakes By Sharon who created some of the beautiful and pretty floral cakes for the shoot. What struck me about Sharon’s cakes (apart from just how pretty they were) was her amazing smooth fondant and the intricate details on the flowers.
I asked Sharon to share a little bit more about herself and her business and to give us her tips for perfectly smooth fondant.
Can you tell us a little more about your business
I guess I have always been a creative type person, well at least I like to think so. I have always appreciated design as such, whether it be house architecture , kitchen design or a painting. I started scrapbooking back in 2004 , I loved that it gave me some freedom to do something for me. Obviously having children didn’t permit as much time for it as I would have liked to be able to dedicate to it( I still have to finish lots of albums for my youngest daughter, because I feel guilty that they oldest one has so much more). I always enjoyed creating and perhaps even before I knew dessert tables or themed parties existed I did elaborate christenings and 1st birthday’s, an excuse to throw a wonderful party. I guess my very first cake was for my daughters 1st birthday, it was the carousal cake. I used fondant for the first time, hand painted all the little horses, at the time I thought it was a masterpiece. From then on I did a course a cake course and got addicted.
Tell us about your family
My husband and I are childhood sweethearts, and married in 1999. I have three children, one an angel and the other two here on earth.
Top tips for making smooth fondant
I guess for me its all about how smooth you can get the ganach on the cake, that definitely helps. Once you apply the fondant I think the trick is to try and work as quickly as you can smoothing it down, but from the bottom of the cake upwards. Then applying a smoother around the cake, gently working it till you are happy with the result. It doesn’t always go to plan and air bubbles are not my friend:(
If you would like to visit Sharon to see some of her other amazing creations then check our her Facebook page – Cakes by Sharon
I hope you weekend was great – I have lots of news to report today!
Firstly June has come to an end – can you believe we are half way into the year already. That means I have successfully taken a photo everyday for 6 months for the photo a day challenge! I really started out thinking I would just do January and that would be it, but this photo a day challenge has become such an important part of each and every day. I really does make me stop and look around for what I can photograph for the days topic – take notice of things I would normally not put such importance on – see if I can make something ever so simple like a door look exciting. So what did I get up to this month – here are my photos for June which I share via instagram …
1.Mornging – 2. Empty
3. On Your Plate – 4. Close-Up
5. Sign – 6. Hat
7. Drink – 8. Six o’clock
9. Your View today – 10. Best bit of your weekend
11. Door – 12. From a Low Angle
13. Art – 14. Time
15. yellow – 16. Out and about
17. In your Bag – 18. Something We don’t know about You (the charity I am a director of)
19. Imperfect (broken cake stand – sniff) – 20. Your favourite photo you’ve ever taken
21. Where you slept – 22. From a high angle
23. Movement – 24. On your Mind (backing up all those photos)
25. Something cute – 26. Where you shop
27. Bathroom – 28. On the Shelf
29. Soft – 30. Friend (the lovely Tash)
In June I also took part in Holly Beckers Blogging Your Way 2.0 course – another fabulous month were I have picked up lots of wonderful tips that I am hoping will help me to prioritise my creative self and also give me new tools for when creating blog layouts.
The other amazing thing about both the photo a day challenge and the BYW course are the connections I continue to make through this amazing online community – the support from fellow bloggers, photographers and instagramers is just amazing. Feeling very blessed to be part of it all.
And finally we have a winner of the ruffle tablecloth! Thank you to Sura from Red Plum Linen for offering to giveaway one of these gorgeous items – I do hope you have all been to visit her website and also said hi on her Facebook page.
So the lucky winner is
Meahgan George
Congratulations Meahgan – email me to claim your prize!
Final reminder also that the Sweet Style store will be closed while we take a short family holiday from Tuesday 3rd July until Tuesday 17th July – all orders placed in this time will be shipped out on our return.
