Roast Turkey Cake

Start by baking four round cake layers and freeze them. Cut one directly in half....for the ends. The other two, cut one quarter off each. Reserve the fourth one for the legs.

Ice the layers together

Carve into the basic shape of a turkey body

I added a "Pope's nose"

Next, add "wings" from leftover bits of the circular cakes

Ice them with the buttercream, putting it back in the freezer as necessary to keep everything firm

The most difficult part is the legs.

Once you're happy with your legs, ice them. Remember, freeze your cake any time it gets too soft to work with during the previous stages.

Add fondant, rolled out as large as you can to 1/8th of an inch thickness. I mixed ready made chocolate and white together to achieve this colour.

 

Use a grater pressed into the fondant for the turkey skin texture and a spoon handle to define creases.

Mix copper Wilton gel colour with a bit of rum or Triple Sec and some cocoa powder then brush on with a pastry brush.

Do not freeze the cake again once the fondant has been applied.

Stipple with a mixture of cocoa powder mixed with the alcohol. Make it thick, like a paste.

Put "Lamb Chop Panties" on the ends of the "feet"

I made marzipan carrots and added some green food colouring (Wilton gel colour) to some leftover buttercream.

Ta Da! Fool your friends!

Needle Felted Tarantula

This is how he started off.....just plain black wool over a pipe cleaner frame.

Then I added the coloured details and 8 plastic bead eyes. He's a gift for a friend.....not for sale.

Guitarist Jacket

Here's a jacket I made for a friend who's an excellent guitarist. This was the first time I have ever made a men's fitted jacket. The first one was a write off, so I purchased a BURDA pattern and made this one.

Here is the friend wearing the jacket

Is It Art?

I went to the auto wreckers with my boyfriend to get some parts, and I couldn't help notice all this interesting stuff on the ground. I knew I had to take this stuff home and do something with it. Here is the final piece that I have decided to call, "Driving In Toronto"

Froggies and Other Backyard Sights

One of the Green Frogs living in my Mom's backyard

Damselflies laying eggs in the fish pond

A lovely yellow Iris

Another Damselfly

Japanese Iris

My Mom's cat, Nubie

The Green Frog was sunning himself on the rocks for quite a while

Damselfly

Nubie

Another Green Frog

There are three living near the fish pond.

Sign in my Mom's garden

Needle Felted Dog I Made

This is the first time I've ever done a specific "pet portrait" type needle felting. The friend I made this one for has done me so many favours that I offered to make a miniature version of her dog who had passed away earlier this year. I only had a few photos for reference, but she was very happy with the result!

Finished Pig Skull

As you can see, the bones became lighter in colour after they dried.

I used an elastic band to hold the two halves of the mandible together. A LOT of connective tissue was lost through boiling, Many of the bones that seemed fused before boiling, came apart after.

Now it's glued back together as best as I could. The parts became VERY brittle and cracked easily as I was reassembling them. I think it's because the pig had been roasted THEN boiled. Next time, I'll use a pig's head that HASN'T been roasted first!

Back view

The finished skull.