I've said before how much I love doing children's cake and these super sweet cake pops were no exception!
I was asked to do some cake pops based on the Lalaloopsy dolls. That's La-la-loopsy. (We had to ask about 5 times before we got that.) Lalaloopsy is a collection of rag dolls, each with their own personally and theme. I have to be honest: I want one. Or would like to be one when I grow up.
If you were to Google these little ladies, you would find a huge variety of colours and hair styles, so it was quite a task to pick the ones I wanted to re-create!
My favourite things about these little ares are:
1. That they are really slightly creepy. Little rag dolls with button eyes? Sounds like something that could come after you in a horror film. But strangely I found that to be part of their charm.
2. It was amazing to see these come to life (.... :/) once the details of the eyes, cheeks and little stitched mouths were put in place.
I have ambitions to get these faces on a sugar cookie to really try to capture the details and try out even more colour and hair style combinations!
Big thank you to the little lady who asked me to do these; I had a blast! :)
After being full of promises at the beginning of the month,
it seems I have dropped back into old habits and am being very tardy with my
blog posts. This month has, so far, been a nightmare, and pressure has got to
me a lot. But it is for this reason that it is so important for me to get this
particular post out into the world. It’s nearly a week late but it is a post
dedicated to my lovely Mum!
Awww isn’t she cute!?
I am one of those people who is lucky enough to be able to
say that my Mum is also a friend; her kindness, patience, strength, and
constant and unyielding love make me super proud to be her daughter and others
proud to be her friend. And she's well silly! :)
These are all things I hope that I have inherited from her.
I also hope that I have inherited her creative talent. My Mum
has been cake decorating for a long time, and I can still remember her going
off to classes on a Wednesday night. She still has the same icing tool kit with
the remnants of a sticker on it that I stuck on when I was little.
All her practicing has paid off because I think she is fab!
She has created so many beautiful cakes (some featured in this post) and the same people still ask her to do
cakes, which is a testament to her talents. I know that if I need advice on
anything with my own cakes, from how to make sugarpaste flowers, to how big a
cake needs to be to feed a certain number of people, she’ll know.
One thing that I have undoubtedly inherited from her is a
relaxed approached to any task. Now, that could sound like a positive thing but
it’s not so much…
Her relaxed approach is that
things need doing any they’ll get done whether you do them 2 days before
or 2 hours before. It always makes me laugh when people ask her how their cake
is doing and she hasn’t even put it in the oven yet. Her answer? “Everything is
going to plan.”
My interpretation of this,
however, is to take too long doing stuff, get tired, get grumpy, get annoyed at
my work, cry, and tell her I’m quitting. All this happened last week when I was
trying to get some orders done for Mother’s Day and I simply hadn’t left myself
enough time, totally underestimating what I needed to do.
I wanted to quit.
But she was there on the other end of the phone telling me just to breathe, that I had more time than I thought, I was my own worst enemy and people would love them. I am currently still working on listening to her when she tells me such things (I have perfectionism issues) but knowing that her main concern is my well being and not the cake, always makes me feel better.
So I would like to dedicate this post to Mama Conroy, the absolute rock of our, more often than not crazy, household. My brother & I would be lost without her.
I spent my last day
of February in my bed in agony from a migraine while my Mum expertly finished 2
cakes and an order of cupcakes on her own after being at work all day. She is a
true superstar. It is for this reason I have decided to start my March today,
Monday, and I have lots to be getting on with!
Cakes
We have a few fantastic cakes to be getting on with this
month. The biggy being a wedding cake with a Superhero theme! Love it! What I
love most about it is how much it suits the bride & groom, which I think is
so important in a wedding.
Clockwise from left to right: http://pinterest.com/pin/37365871878581422/, http://pinterest.com/pin/218283913159694379/. http://pinterest.com/pin/117375134010391277/. http://pinterest.com/pin/500392208567214442/
I’ve also been asked to do a VW Campervan cake. The best
bit? I get to pick colour and surf board style. Yes!
Obviously Easter is coming up so I hope to get creating some
nice treats. I love the pastel colours associated with Easter so am excited to
work with those and lots of pretty patterns and cute animals.
Clockwise from top left to right: http://pinterest.com/pin/257268197434377363/, http://www.bakingdom.com/2011/04/chick-bunny-sugar-cookies.html, http://www.flickriver.com/photos/donna_makes_cakes/3963355313/, http://unbelievablysweet.tumblr.com/post/20610849206/recipe-easter-egg-cookies-by-pillsbury-com
Finally, have you seen this cake floating around? I keep
seeing it everywhere after my brother first showed me it and absolutely love
it. I was then shown it by a family member, and then, very randomly, by a work
colleague. I’m taking it as a sign and would love to give it a go this month!
Isn't it fabulous? Sadly, I have no idea who the original owner is but I urge them to come forward and share their genius!!
Charity
Throughout March, Kidney research UK is encouraging people
to ‘Go Purple’ for World Kidney Day on 14th March. I will be
ordering my fundraising pack very soon and making as many cakes as possible to
raise as much money as possible for kidney research. I'll be sure to let you
know how I get on and why this is so important to me.
Towards the end of the month I will be heading off to the
exotic destination of Skegness. Armed with only my best friend (the other
Tallulah,) a glittery frock and plenty of wine, I will be joining my mum,
aunties, and their friends for a 70s weekend. I’m making it sound like I’m
being forced but we’ve been a couple of times and always had great fun. I’m a
big lover of Motown music so it’s just an excuse to dance the night away to
some of my favourtie tunes, made even better by wearing sequins and shiny, white, knee-high
boots, because let’s face it, on what other occasion can you do that?
Left: last year's outfit - jumpsuit city, right: this year I'm going with sparkles!
So happy March to you all! I will leave you with a video of one of my favourtie Motown songs by Martha & The Vandellas. Enjoy!
