Fondant Fancies

My adorable Grandma

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I have posted, time does fly when you're up to your eyes in fondant. If I worked for Vogue this would be the time when Anna Wintour would boot me out with her Chanel heels. But I do have a reason! And it wasn't just the fact that Diagnosis Murder was on every day. But since Sunday night I have been reeling from the end of Spooks, it wasn't the happy walking off into the sunset ending that I wanted :-( The real reason is that it has been two weeks of birthday's in my family. It was my grandma's on the 13th and my brother's on the 18th. My grandma was born on friday the 13th which says it all about her really. She is 81 and acts like a teenager and is the most wackiest mad loving grandma you could ask for. I have recently taught her how to text and she has just got a passport so she is now planning to rival Phileas Fogg. For her birthday my Dad took her to Paris which she adored, but we are all surprised she didn't run off with a frenchman and fall in love with the sight of his curly moustache and beret. No stereotyping here.
Honestly though, why couldn't they have been born at least another few weeks apart. It has been an expensive few weeks, especially in fondant.

Birthday=Cake-well that's how it works in my world anyway. Most people look forward to the presents and the drinks. I just care about what the sponge is going to taste like and whether there is enough buttercream in the middle of it. My weakness is cake, that and shoes, so while I can't afford my dream pair, I will settle for cake. So if I have any excuse to make a cake I will make one. Is national bubble wrap day an excuse by the way? I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world,which is all my mum's fault for making the most amazing food and my grandma with her huge sweet box and three minute sponges.
So birthday's in my house basically mean me covered in food colouring that takes forever to wash off and icing sugar in my hair. Not the best look when you go to answer the door. I don't just make a basic sponge with a bit of jam in topped off with icing sugar. No, I have to go full out and make a cake,decorated with about a kilo of fondant and so many food colourings that I'm surprised the ministry of food don't come round to take them from me.

I made a lemon cake with lemon buttercream for my grandma's birthday. I decorated it with lavender fondant and made three big roses out of fondant and about 10 small red roses. I then finished it off with pearly shimmered pearl style balls. I know it looks like something out of a Cath Kidston catalogue but I was pretty happy with it. Especially when I got to eat the leftover lemon buttercream, yummy.

For my brother's birthday I made a mammoth of a cake. Like me he has a sweet tooth and loves chocolate cake,which is very good for me since its my favourite. I made three thick layers with a scrummy chocolate buttercream between them. I had the pleasure of eating, well licking the rest of the buttercream out of the bowl,but I don't think my dentist would be too pleased with the amount I ate and I was quickly ordered by my Mum to go and thoroughly brush my teeth. Of course I didn't make extra to eat or put a thinish layer between the cakes so I could eat some.Not at all. After stuffing myself with chocolate buttercream I covered the cake with a huge amount of green fondant. I then made some musical notes and lines to cover the cake with out of black fondant. My treble clefs looked pretty dam good,if I don't say so myself. To top the cake off I made some black headphones and a microphone to be the centre piece. My brother is really into music and is currently learning a lot from the loveable Peter Gordon at Eagle Radio, so that's why I did a musical cake. He loved the cake thankfully and we all very much enjoyed eating the three layers, even if it did make us feel slightly queasy. Surprisingly the cake actually lasted around four days, which is quite a long time since cakes only last around about a day in my house. So my past two weeks have been full of caking,so now I have finally got the fondant out of my fingernails and the icing sugar out of my hair and I am back to blogging.

I thought I would give you all a round up of some of the things that have happened in the fashion world since I have been away. Where's Hugh Edwards when you need him.
Something I must tell you is that Paloma Faith,you know the ginger one with the quirky headpieces who I swear is related to Billie Piper, has launched a collection for La Senza for Breast Cancer Care. La Senza will kindly donate £3 from the sale of each Bra and Playsuit and £1 from every brief to the charity,such dolls. Breast Cancer Care is a great charity and give great support to the women affected by the horrible cancer. I just want to give them all a cuddle and a cake personally. So now you have an excuse to treat yourself and you are helping a charity in the process. Result! The collection has a forties theme so everyone get your curlers out. They are all made of satin and contain two bras,two briefs and
a playsuit, in emerald green and black. The bras are selling at £30 with the briefs at £16 and the Teddy (playsuit) is selling at £30. For those of you who are just a tad confused by the whole teddy thing,it is basically a bodysuit which combines a camisole and some knickers all in one. They were introduced in the 1920s and became very popular in World War Two due to women wearing trousers instead of skirts. This one features a figure flattering wrap around the front and a deep v back. The pieces may seem expensive but you will be rivalling Bette Davis whilst doing your bit for charity.

From charity to just plain bonkers, a new company called Mr. Kennedy that sell shoelaces, have launched a pair of 24 carat gold shoelaces. They are made from using 'ancient,artisan jewellery techniques' and cost a huge $19,000. I think I'll take two. Each set comes with security-guarded delivery and someone to lace them into your shoes for you. And I thought Asos Premier was good. There are also silver versions avaliable that are 'more affordable' and are selling for $3,000 but sadly the delivery service and the personal shoe lacer doesn't come with them. That's a shame because I have spent many minutes fussing about trying to lace my shoes, that is one career I shouldn't aim to do. Each set takes 120 hours to make and the gold is mined 10 miles away from where they are made in Quinchia in the Cacau Gold Belt, Columbia. Colin Hart, the man behind the laces says that he got the idea from seeing a family in Columbia make hand woven bracelets with thin threads of gold and silver. Only ten pairs of the shoelaces will ever be made. Colin who has already sold one set,believe they are worth every penny. I think I'll stick to brightly coloured £1.75 shoelaces off eBay thanks Colin.

Finally another thing I want to mention, is a pair of £50 leggings which have gone on sale that are claimed to combat cellulite and banish cankles while you wear them. I can practically see all you women jumping for joy. The makers of the Proskins Slim leggings say the compression fabric works in a similar way to high-tech sportswear, giving legs a firm pressure which supposedly improves blood flow. Basically everything is squeezed,sucked in and feels tight. Improving the blood flow helps stop fat cells from sticking to connective tissue in the thighs and bottom,a cause of cellulite . They also fight fluid retention around the calves and ankles,but enough of the scientific bit. Caffeine,Vitamin E, Aloe Vera and Vitamin A (Retinol) are cleverly woven into the fabric and smooth and plump the skin, reducing the 'orange peel' effect which is the bane of so many women's lives. Some research was done and wearers lost up to 2cm off their thighs and 63% noticed less cellulite. Two thirds of women also felt that their jeans were less tight after one month of daily wear. Where can you find these miracle leggings I hear you say. Well, they can be bought in Tesco, after all they do seem to sell everything these days and Next. They can also be bought at a number of online shops including eBay and Amazon, which also sell knee length ones. Danni Minogue is a huge fan of them and says they are perfect for long flights. They are basically flight socks in legging form. The only sort of downside is that in the first week or so you will need to go and spend a penny as my Grandma calls it more often then normal, because the fabric is forcing fluid away from the ankles and redirecting it towards the bladder. But this does give you thinner ankles so I'm sure you can bare a bit of excess loo time. It is recommended that they are worn eight hours a day for 28 days to acheive maximum results. Tunic dresses, baggy t-shirts and comfy long jumpers for a month then. They are temperature regulated though so they can be worn under jeans. Another good side is that you don't have to keep running to the pack of Persil every day. The fabric has silver in which means it does not need to be washed as often as normal leggings because it is anti-bacterial and kills odours. At £45 for three quarter length ones and £50 for full-length they do seem a bit on the expensive side, if you are like me and used to buying £2.50 leggings from Primark. But,if they do what they claim then they are a bargain and you don't have to go on a horrible diet or have surgery done and walk like a duck for weeks, which is a bit of a plus. If you wear them for 28 days the full length ones work out at £1.78 a day and the more you wear them the more value you get out of them, you will have legs to rival Miranda Kerr.

New Look: £13.49
was £17.99

To end my fashion news, Dorothy Perkins is having another VIP week offering 25% off so purses at the ready. It lasts from Sunday the 23rd to midnight on the 30th of September, so you have six days left to get shopping. There is a voucher you can download which you can find here Dorothy Perkins voucher and you can also use the code online simply by entering DPVIPD at the checkout. I'm sure I will be trying to justify some purchase this week,its a crime not to use a 25% off voucher isn't it.
Now something for the boys, we can't be all girly. There is 25% off men's clothes at New Look, so treat yourself to something or start buying your boyfriend's christmas presents now and get in his good books.

So there we go,there is my mini round up of last week. I am sorry this has been a marathon of a post ,but I did have some making up to do.I will be blogging more about Dita Von Tesse and her amazing new collection, Karl Lagerfeld deciding to do a more 'affordable' line, a very sticky catwalk show, Christian Louboutin's colour battle and many more ramblings are to come. Plus I will be doing some nail art tutorials, giving you some exciting news about my hair and showing you some of my knitting. The fashion world is officially waiting with bated breath to see my knit one,pearl two....

Second Hand Rose
XxxX