Harvest Season

Harvest season is upon us.  We are celebrating Grape and Wine Festival here in Niagara and I am seeing purple everywhere. 



With my dad and father-in-law enjoying the sights at one of the local wineries

This inspired me to create my grape ornament. Pretty soon, it will be gift-giving season and my grape ornament will add a special touch to gifts from the vine.

Here's the ornament up-close and wrapped around a bottle of wine for a festive feel to a holiday or hostess gift.

Enjoy your weekend!

eat this!

I was planning my daughter's birthday party one year when I read a magazine article about fun creative kids party giveaways, an alternative to the usual bags of dollar store items.  On it were innovative ideas that included a variety of edible gifts including a miniature hard candy sculpture of an actual loot bag.  

Because I have no sugar sculpture skills, I developed my own version using marshmallow fondant, brownies and store bought candies and made each bag personalized.

The kids' surprised reactions when they received their loot bags were priceless!

Here's another version of the edible loot bags I did for a client...

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a sweet week!

Bebsy

golden globes

A craftmates friend, Claire, recently celebrated her 50th birthday and our dear Virna and Aimee threw her a Golden Globes themed party that is quite fitting for the fabulous lady that she is.  I was very excited and challenged to do this cake for her. 

The base of this creation is the actual cake- dark chocolate with dark chocolate ganache filling, while the trophy stand and the actual golden globe are made with rice crispy treats, covered in marshmallow fondant and airbrushed with edible metallic tone.

I replicated the trophy, its actual size bearing the logo of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the governing body of the Golden Globes.

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Have a sweet week!

Bebsy

from grandkids with love

My friend Roger's mom recently celebrated her 65th birthday with a special surprise party given by her family.  Her 4 grandchildren designed this cake, featuring their Grandma's favourite colours.

Happy 65th, Grandma!  Wishing you a long healthy life filled with joy!

Have a sweet-filled week!
Bebsy

Emma's Bike-a-thon

My niece Emma celebrated her birthday on a lovely fall afternoon with a bike-a-thon theme. This is the first year she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels!   Emma was the creative genius behind the occasion and Aunt Aimee couldn't be any prouder. 

Everyone came with their bikes or scooters.

It was a glorious fall afternoon for a bike ride. 

 

Emma even made the signs for buckets bearing the flag milestone markers.

 

Next up was a nature scavenger hunt.

 

Even moms and dads helped out.

 

After the buzz of activities, everyone was ready for snacks, picnic style of course.

 

 

Emma was so thrilled when the time came for her cake.

 

 

And then more fun and games.

 

As we head into the cold winter months, the memories of this year's outdoor fun already have me looking forward to next year.

 

 

school is cool - the inside story

The reason for my lack of new layouts lately is this...

We have been busy crafting for Frances' birthday party which I shared with you here.

I am back today with some details you might be interested in.   Remember this dessert table?

There are lots of details here so let's try to break it down, shall we?

First up is Bebsy’s fabulous bus cake.  Nothing short of WOW!  The inside tastes as good as how the outside looks.

Cake diva setting up her baby

And of course, her best selling cupcakes.  For this event, she made my three favourites (don't ask me to choose only one!)...

Strawberry Shortcake

Chocolate Banana



Red Velvet



Pretty soon, they were everyone’s instant favourites as well. 

Aimee did the rest of what I call “edible dessert art”.  I now call her Aimee Atlas! (after my personal dessert table goddess and "Sweets Stylist", Amy Atlas).  Guests were hesitant at first to get one for fear of ruining her art as each piece was meticulously hand crafted to perfection (at our house... the night before... until 12:30 am... yes, we had a little sleepover for  these babies!).   But it did not take long for them to give in and enjoy these eye candies. Delish!
  



Did you notice the jumbo red gum drop I used as a label stand?



Mango mousse topped with mint and strawberry gave it a refeshing look

These pretzel crayons were based on this recipe.  The contrast  of the sweetness of the candy melt and the saltiness of the pretzel made it an irrisistable treat! And how cute are the labels... my favourite is Crayon Eater :)

These cake pops were the first ones to disappear. 



My hubby created  the wooden cake pop stand... he's trained well



On the healthier side, we had cheese pencil made of cheddar cheese, hotdog end for the eraser and bugle chips coloured with edible marker for the tip.

And look at these adorable bookworms made of grapes skewered through a toothpick and topped with chocolate sprinkles for the eyes.  

Next up are these yummy apples made from pretzels dipped in red candy melts and topped with a green apple sour gummy.  They were placed in these adorable little plastic cubes I got at Party City.  And do you spot more flower lollies near the apples? Glue gun became my new favourite tool while I was making them.

And last but not the least, we have these darling notebooks made of rice krispies topped with white fondant.  Aimee did a great job lining them using edible markers.  The pencil is a pretzel stick covered with a yellow fruit roll up (and red fruit roll for the eraser) while the apple is a jumbo red gummy topped with a couple of green sprinkles.  I got the letters pre-made at Bulk Barn.

The blocks contained some treats inside and were given away for the kids to take home.

Here are some photos of the flower lollies and blocks after I have just finished making them.  They sat on top of  my shelf and this gave me a smile every morning.

  

And here are some photos of the Craftmates styling the dessert table before the guests arrived.

 

After the party, the little guests left with a library tote bag (to hopefully encourage them to read more). 

I got the tutorial from here.   Since I had to make 18 of  them, I did so assembly line style.  I cut all my pieces first, sewed the handles then the body and lining.  Once I was done with all the "parts", I then finally put them all together.

It was accompanied by a matching tag holder that will fit a library card. 

Inside the bag are a water bottle, reusable snack bag from Virns and a handful of crayons.

Here is the ensemble minus  the water bottle.

The moms also got this holiday planner...

which I packaged like this..

Lastly, here are the invitations I made using Papertrey's die (Card Base-ics #1), stamp (Little Hot Rod, Fruit Fusion: Apple, By Invitation) and a school-themed patterned paper from Michaels.  Since the patterned paper is not thick enough, I used a cardstock at the back to give it more support.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy thanksgiving to our friends south of the border!