Vintage Yellow Wedding Cake

A while ago I came across a post on the 'Love My Dress' blog about a real vintage inspired wedding where the bride wore.... mustard yellow! You can read the original post here... it's definitely worth a look as the pictures are stunning! Not just from that post either, the whole blog is stunning!! But two things struck me... the colour... and the cake! Usually when you think of wedding colours, mustard yellow is NOT the colour that pops into your head, but this funky London girl pulled it off and this shade of yellow has since become a favourite of mine...slowly but surely making it's way onto my cakes. Here are some gorgeous pics from Love My Dress...

 LOVE LOVE LOVE this map rose

The other thing about this wedding that struck me was the cake! Usually wedding cakes are almost too pretty to eat with life like flowers and perfectly smooth tasteless icing... but this cake was a series of square cakes with icing that looked like someone had forgotten to go over the 'crumb' layer! But I immediately LOVED it when I saw it! It's so cute with the bright yellow flags and vintage birds.... and I it looks like it tasted so yummy... fresh butter cream and soft home made cake... nothing plastic and tasteless, just gorgeous cake.

This wedding inspired me to make my own rustic vintage cake... no fancy icing... just pure buttercream... on a home made almond sponge....with a bit of cherry jam in the middle... and some vintage flowers of course!!

 Sugar paste roses inspired by fabric rose/peonies...

 A little vintage sign of course...

 ...and pearls....

.... and the delicious part.... cherry jam inside!! 

Told ya our cakes are Pretty Delicious!! :)

Origin of photos: The first 5 photos in this post originate from the 'Love my Dress' Blog and are not the work of Janelle@Jamosie Sweet.  The photos of the vintage yellow cake are Jamosie Sweet's work (I am obviously NOT a professional photographer!! ) :)

Feature Friday: Suzy Q's designs.

By chance, our previous 'Feature Fridays' have all been Aussies, but this week our Feature Friday turns international with a quick trip across the shores! Susan Hesser is our talented lady this week... with her creative jewellery business SuzyQ's designs...and has a very interesting story to tell!

Susan grew up with her father in the military so she has travelled around a lot! She now lives in Korea as this is where she has spent most of her time so she feels an affinity for the country. I can understand why. Korean people are some of the kindest, funniest and friendliest people I have ever met! So all the different cultures, foods, languages and experiences she has had travelling and living in other countries is the inspiration behind her jewellery designs. Then of course, she goes with her heart and feelings and chooses colours and textures on how she feels on particular days - a true artist.

Susan's 8-5 job is on the military base so how do you go from being on a military base to making beautiful jewellery?? A lady saw some of her work and suggested she make her jewellery to sell, so she started making custom orders for her friends and family in the U.S and it went from there! She is about to release a line for MEN! Can't wait for the pics!

Susan has a younger sister and together they do their thing... jewellery and paper craft! They recently got together to make and sell their items for a charity concert to raise money for people in Japan. They helped the charity event raise over $3500! Very very cool!
Before you ask, Susan said she loves animals and has a pet dog Frosty and a pet cat but to be honest I didn't think twice about it, until I saw this picture on her facebook page.... how cute is Yumi the cat!!! Too cute. Chillaxin' with a drink of water.

Susan's advice for others? No matter what you do in life, people will judge you and try to bring you down. You've got to remind yourself that you're awesome, you're fabulous and you're beautiful!!

Very sweet advice.

{Feature Friday} Jeffrey & Hilda

I met Beth through my blog...this is the beauty of blogs and facebook... you get to meet fabulous people in places all around the world without having to leave your house!! So here is a little about Beth... she is the lovely lady behind the label Jeffrey & Hilda.

Now before you ask.... Geoffrey is her Grandfather's name on her mums' side... and you guessed it... Hilda is her Grandmother's middle name! Beth chose her grandparents names for her business as they have personal meaning to her and also an old-fashioned timeless feel, which Beth feels reflects her style. Personally I love her logo too... the little silhouette of the boy and girl captures that timeless innocent feeling of childhood.

So how did Beth get into designing? Now... this made me chuckle a little as I feel my life has been on fast forward since I had kids!! Don't know how I leave the house with matching shoes some days...  Beth has always been into art and design and once she had her daughter, to fill in time she would make her daughter little singlets. Then when she went out, people would ask where she got them from and she would say she made them! So she pursued her talent and Jeffrey & Hilda was born.

If you have a look at her work, you can see she puts a lot of heart and soul into her designs. They are all original designs from her sketches and ideas. You can see she loves vintage and cute things... how adorable is that owl? Not to mention that giraffe... Have a look more on her facebook page! I asked Beth where she gets her inspiration from and Beth says her mum and her sister inspire her. She also mentioned Shannon from Cuckoo from Coco as someone she admires and takes inspiration from.

So Beth's advice for us? If you are going to succeed, you must be willing to fail. And then when you fail, instead of giving up, take it as a learning curve because failure is when we learn. That's true on so many different levels. But there is a little more to the story behind Beth's advice. When she was 15, Beth was left in a wheelchair, unable to walk after a serious car accident. Beth believes it was her attitude and support from her family that helped her walk again, and even now when she has to overcome ongoing health issues, her attitude and determination help her through. Beth tries to apply this to other parts of her life such as relationships and her business.

I don't know about you, but I love Jeffrey&Hilda, and am particularly fond of Beth... there is something in her spirit that comes through her emails, facebook and blog. Which reminds me.... you must head over to her blog and show some love by leaving a comment! Pop onto her facebook page too and say hi!
Happy Feature Friday everyone!

Personalised cupcake toppers

New to Jamosie Sweet's shop!!!! 

(those are my two babies on the cupcake topper)

Personalise your cupcakes with hand-made paper toppers. Don't waste money on buying punches, cutters and papers you will only use once, just send us a picture and we will do the hard work for you! 

1. Choose your style: scalloped edges, circles, rectangles, squares, scalloped rectangles

2. Choose your background: patterns, plain colours, pearlised papers, textured papers... it's endless.

3. Add your pictures and messages... whatever you can imagine. Need inspiration? Ask me. 

Why not put together a series of pictures from across the ages for an anniversary.... from when they met when they were young, marriage, kids... all the big events in their lives.... to where they are now. 

Remind each other of your special day with photos from your wedding....

Engagements.... photos of you through the times... or from a special engagement shoot...

Baby showers.... ultra scans and 3d scans make original toppers!

Birthdays.... 1 picture from each year... to create a little timeline....

We can stick little embellishments on top like numbers for anniversaries and ages, or letters for couples and names.... and butterflies, hearts, pearls,.... whatever we can find! 

Ideas are endless. Every order is original as everyone is unique with different ideas. We make sets of 12 for 10$. Postage $2- $5 depending on amount of toppers ordered. No extra charges for personalisation. Orders need to be placed at least 2 weeks before event. 

Feature Friday: Em & Femme

The thing I really love about Feature Friday , is meeting the people behind all these fabulous businesses on Face book.  There are so many interesting stories to tell! So without further ado, meet Ilja, the creative designer behind Em & Femme Designs. These dresses are gorgeous...  particularly these little Kimono style dresses.

For some reason, the name Em & Femme caught my attention. It's catchy but not corny, and sounds original so I knew there must have been a reason for the name. So I asked Ilja to explain. It turns out Ilja has two daughters, Emma and Femke (means peaceful little girl) and frequently calls them Em-and-Fem, all in one word...I thought it nice she could shorten their names like that... I just get confused and call the each of my children by the wrong name...which never goes down to well. So Ilja officially decided on Em &Femme, with the spelling of Femme doubling as a French twist as femme means women in French.

So how did Ilja get to where she is now? Ilja originally came to Australia to study, met her knight in shining armour, who whisked her back to Europe to live a life luxury in castles with snow at Christmas, gorgeous cheeses and fresh crusty bread baked in stone ovens.

Ok ok, so I made that last bit up but the first bit was true. Ilja and her husband moved back from Europe to Australia and out of the city and soon Ilja got bored in the bush as she is a city girl at heart. So she started sewing. She made her little girls dresses for a birthday party and everyone kept asking her where she got them.... the rest is history.

Being a mum is a full time job and trying to combine it with any work outside the house is twice as demanding. Many of us try working from home, and quite frankly I don't know how most women do it! Ilja too finds it hard sometimes, getting that balance between being 'at work' and 'off work'. The lines can be blurred when you are physically at home. I struggle to get myself and the kids dressed let alone sit down and make beautiful dresses!

Ilja is a true creative spirit, getting inspiration from everyday things around her. She loves colour, as you can see in her designs and is passionate about making her designs loud and proud....full of colour, patterns and embellishments. She can sit for hours with her fabric, mixing and matching.... I'm sure there are many fabric addicts who can relate to that!

I asked Ilja if she had any advice for us, and the part of her reply that struck me was 'don't be afraid when good things fall apart, so better things can fall together'. That has personal meaning for me... and I think very relevant for people starting out in business.... you think you're on it, and you're not. But you take it in your stride and make it better and then it works, and then you look back and you can see where some good things had to go, to make way for the better things! Just to think, if Ilja didn't move to the bush and get bored, we may never have been blessed with her gorgeous dresses.

You must follow Ilja on facebook and take a peek at more of her gorgeous designs. You can also purchase her dresses through her website http://www.emandfemme.com.au

Happy Friday everyone!

All photos are courtesy of Ilja @ Em&Femme Designs.