EDIBLE GIFTS

One of my dearest friends, Suzanne, who now lives in London, recently had a birthday. And since I couldn't make it over to hug her, a sent a delicious treat to do the job. This is the first time I've sent baked goods in the post and it won't be the last. It was really exciting making everything and getting it all ready… and then waiting for it to be received on the other side, while bursting with the mini secret of having sent something yummy and slight disappointment of not being there in person to see Suzanne's face. I felt like Santa.

I decided to make ALMOND BRITTLE AND BANANA BLONDIES- a surprisingly simple, yet extremely delicious recipe by Rachel Allen- google it, you won't regret it. Suzanne loves bananas… a lot- so this recipe was perfect. 

Almond brittle- isn't it beautiful? Smelt divine.

Crushed and added to blondie mixture

Out of the oven and cut into chewable squares once cooled

Packed in a zig-zaggy tin.

SSSHHHHH...

Circus elephant who loves juggling bananas 

And here's the card which accompanied the blondies- I forgot to take a picture of the important message inside, which explained what the present was about. I also sent her a banana shaped pencil case- did I mention that Suzanne loves bananas? 

NON EDIBLE GIFTS

Remember how I mentioned those clever clogs who completed their Masters? Well, since I know EVERYONE, there happened to be more than just two friends graduating with a Marvellous Masters.. And so I made them mini cards :3

From Left to Right:

Fancy Elephant: For John Mc Gowan

Cosy Elephant: For Rebecca Paul

Gangsta Elephant: Stephanie Flynn

(Go be amazing and look up their work on Duncan Of Jordanstone's Masters graduates page- you won't be disappointed!)

 And here are some things I made for Kieran and Tom. Plus a a pizza and burger Ayesha (my little sister) made for funsies.

I'll try and get another close-up of the elephant- It's the pachyderm embodiment of Kieran (in my head)- it's piratey, it's ear is pierced and it's holing a Kiwi (a nickname)

Uke-saurus. For Tom- since he loves dinosaurs, plays the ukulele and owns a bow tie. 

LET THEM EAT CAKE!

Two of my dear friends, and fellow band-members of "Heavy Sprinkles"- Kieran Duncan and Tom Paxton recently finished their Masters in Animation at DJCAD. I'm very proud of them and to help them celebrate, I made them a cake and a couple of other things.

Raiding Mother Dear's treasure cove of a cake decorating cupboard to make a fabulously decorated cake...

I baked two cakes and covered one in Nutella and the other with orange Marmalade. NOM NOM NOM

Then covered the entire thing with chocolate…

Uh-oh.. finished the sprinkles.

This cake has HEAVY SPRINKLES

… and GARAM AANDAY

DONE!

Aaaannnddd… Here's the cake in action- spreading joy before it's even consumed.. 

MR. AND MRS. SMITH

There's a few reasons I haven't been updating my blog… The biggest and most joyful reason has to be the marriage of my elder sister, Meher-Fatima Nur to Carl Smith. I moved back to Maybole from Dundee (in May) once I finished my internship with SmallPetitKlein and threw myself into the wedding plans. The last few months saw the arrival of countless family members and friends who obviously gathered around LOADS of food, which was consumed as we sang, danced, laughed and enjoyed each others' company. It was stressful. It was tiring. It was amazing. It was glorious. For more details, visit my other blog "107 DAYS TO GO", which is an online record of the days coming up to the grand event!

http://kincraigwedding.blogspot.co.uk

When I wasn't picking out centre pieces for the tables at the reception or hanging lights on the bannister, archways and trees around our home, I tried my best to keep creating work.

I helped design the wedding cards (I basically ended up doing the entire of the formatting) and the wedding cake. My sister also asked me to make the cake toppers. 

Here they are- the bride and groom, externally created in gold fimo :) forever holding trunks (yes, I'm a big softie) 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith just after the Nikkah ceremony at the Central Mosque in Glasgow

And here are my amazing friends.. and me! - missing a few- at the reception. Don't we look colourful! It's like a rainbow party :D

(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Kieran James Duncan)

Schaschke and Gane

Two lovely friends recently had a flat-warming. I decided to take the fimo elephants to the next level and put them on a platform.

I asked Father Dear to cut me a nice slice of wood from one of the many bits of tree we have lying about the garden- waiting to be used. I must use this material more in future! Really enjoyed painting on in and it makes a really lovely platform for the little figurines!

The elephants represent both Lynsey (Schaschke) and Tom (Gane)

Lynsey's elephant:
Colour: The closest I could get to a teal- her fav- I'm running out of fimo colours. Must invest in some more!
Objects: And behind Lynsey's elephant are things she likes- sushi and art books etc.

Tom's elephant:
Colour: Blue- his fav. I had to marble it with white since I didn't have enough blue- but I quite like how it came out :)
Objects: Behind Tom's elephant - a couple of video game references- mushrooms from Mario Kart and an Xbox 360 controller and a Duck. He likes ducks :P

Both the elephants are holding a little home together. They look pretty cute if I may say so myself!

A friend of mine suggested I should open at Etsy shop. And the more I think about it, I think I will. When I was making this present I kept thinking I should sell all things elephant :) Watch this space for more information. 

SPK's Elephant Circus

April the 4th was quite a sad day for me! It was my last official day working for SmallPetitKlein. It's been an amazing journey. What a great opportunity! I met the BEST people and discovered what it was like to work on a job you love doing :D Miss them all everyday!

So before I left I decided to make all of Team SPK something to thank them for the experience and something to remember me by ;)

And of course- what better than making them elephants?

I got a box for each of the lovely people I worked with: Holly, Yolanda, Sarah, Rob, Allan and Tommy and inside there was….

 Yolanda's elephant with a Yoyo (her nickname)

 Tommy's elephant- he's got awesome spiky hair which defies gravity!

Sarah's Elephant- with a deer-stalker hat- I nicknamed her Sherlock- cannot remember why exactly now…

Allan's elephant- he likes stars :) and has fun glasses

Rob's elephant- he loves Beyonce. So it only seemed right to put a ring on it ;)

Holly's elephant- She's an amazing baker! Her edible creations are to die for :)

Isabel's Adventures Continued...

So here's the last part of Isabel's artwork which I created for SPK :)

In the story, Isabel comes across a one eyed giant… And so here's my take on it. To be honest I'm not entirely happy with this character. I may revisit this in time and change it. It's the only one out of the line up below that I'm not convinced is finished...

Here's the final line up :)