I normally make so many choc hearts for Valentine’s day, that when it’s time to celebrate, I don’t want to see a choc heart … LOL! Fortunately, Gareth doesn’t give me any choc hearts for Valentine’s Day.

This is what I’m doing for Valentine’s Day:

Tiny mug (30mm high) filled with 2 small hearts - R12,00 ea. WHILE STOCKS LAST. DESIGNS MAY VARY.

Choc Teddy bear (38 x 40mm) - R3,00 ea

Sugarpaste hearts to decorate your cake or cupcakes (35 x 27mm), R1,00 ea

Square choc box (70 x 49mm), filled with 6 small hearts - R20,00

Empty square choc box (70 x 49mm) - R10,00 - fill this choc box with something your Valentine would like.

Small heart - solid choc, wrapped in foil (30 x 30mm) - R2,00 ea

LOVE - solid choc (82 x 42mm), decorated with tiny sugarpaste heart - R6,00

Heart on stick - solid choc, wrapped in foil (43 x 40mm) - R5,00 ea

Heart choc box (110 x 100mm), filled with 12 small hearts - R40,00

Empty heart choc box (110 x 100mm) - R22,00 - fill this choc box with something your Valentine would like

Gingy's bucket of Love (92mm high & 90mm diameter), filled with Sweet Hearts biscuits - R25,00

Caramel heart - choc heart filled with Nestlé Caramel Treat, wrapped in foil (43 x 43mm) - R4,50 ea

If u want to order, click here, but please order before 8 February to avoid disappointment.

My Valentine’s day chocs are also available at Feather’s Cakes and Gifts in the Table View Mall.

In every workshop you will learn to ice and decorate a 7-inch cake and cupcakes. Everything you need will be provided.

You will learn icing techniques as well as making sugarpaste decorations for your cake and cupcakes. No previous experience or special skill is needed.

Workshops are held in Sunningdale, start at 9:30 and run for ± 4 hours with a short tea break. (unless otherwise stated)

Cost per workshop is R950,00 per person. (unless otherwise stated)

Workshops on offer:

11 February – Love theme
Book your place before 4 February

10 March – Easter theme
Book your place before 3 March

14 April – Mother’s Day theme
Book your place before 7 April

12 May – Father’s Day theme
Book your place before 5 May

9 June – Teddy bears theme
Book your place before 2 June

7 July – Cake covering (plastic icing) and royal icing
Book your place before 30 June

4 August – Patchwork
Book your place before 28 July

8, 15, 22 & 29 September – Flower bouquet
In this workshop we will make flowers (roses, orchids, arum lilies, etc) and decorate an 8-inch cake. No cupcakes.
This workshop starts at 10:00 and runs for ± 2 hours.
Cost: R1500,00 per person for all four workshops
Please note: this workshop is held every week for the whole month and you need to attend all four workshops in order to get all your flowers done.
Book your place before 1 September

6 October – Floodwork (royal icing)
Book your place before 29 September

3 November – Christmas theme
Book your place before 27 October

Space is limited. If you are interested in joining us, please book a.s.a.p. so you don’t miss out.

Let me know if you want to order anything.

This time we had an 11-year old girl attending our workshop. Her name is Shannon and she loves being in the kitchen and wants to be a chef one day.

We made candy canes and decorated them with leaves and berries. We also showed her how to make a bow for the candy canes.

Then we made holly leaves and berries

After the holly leaves we made Christmas trees.

They are very easy to make and a lot of fun to decorate.

A quick break … and then we made Santa faces.

Then for more fun … icing and decorating the cupcakes.

We could see Shannon had fun doing this workshop … she was smiling all the time. And all her cupcakes were beautiful.

It was great teaching her. She’s the best behaved and well mannered 11-year old I’ve met in a long time.

Well done, Shannon! You’re a very talented young lady.

Gareth also like our cupcake workshops.

You might also want to look at:

Chocolate 3D Christmas tree (13cm high, 11cm diameter) - R40,00

Chocolate Hanging decorations (6.2cm diameter) - R7,00 each

Chocolate Angel (4.6cm high, 7.5cm wide) - R6,50 each

Chocolate Merry Christmas (2.6cm high, 4.4cm wide) - R2,00 each

Chocolate Santa (wrapped in foil, 6.8cm high, 3.5cm wide) - R3,50 each

Sugarpaste novelties to decorate your cake or cupcakes - from R1,oo each

Sugarpaste Christmas Tree to decorate your cake or cupcakes - R2,50

Novelty biscuits - R22,00 each

Please order before 1 December to avoid disappointment.

All these products will also be available at the Sunningdale Evening Market (2 December) as well as at the Sunningdale Christmas Market (16 – 23 December).

Hope to see you there!

We had two ladies who attended our workshop … Shara and Pippa. Firstly we showed them how to make candy canes and holly leaves with berries.

Then we made Christmas trees and decorated them with royal icing.

We had a quick coffee break and then we made Santa faces.

Santa’s beard can be made out of sugarpaste or can be piped with icing.

With all the novelties done, it was time to decorate the cupcakes.

We learned different icing techniques and had lots of fun icing the cupcakes.

All the cupcakes looked stunning!

Well done Pippa and Shara!

You might also want to look at:

In addition to icing techniques, our instructors will show you the skilful art of creating Christmas sugarpaste decorations.

Whether you make them as gifts for friends, or dessert for the family, they’re sure to go down a treat.

Date: 26 November 2011

Time: 9:30 (± 3 ½ hours)

Price: R300.00

Venue: Sunningdale – to be announced

You don’t need any skills – we’re making easy decorations and you don’t even have to bake anything … everything you need will be provided in the workshop.

If you’re interested in joining us, please book your place before 19 November.

PS: Don’t forget space is limited. Please book a.s.a.p. so you don’t miss out!

We look forward to seeing you there!

We showed her how to make flowers, butterflies and ladybirds without using any special tools or equipment. Just by using things you can find in your house you can create all these novelties for cupcakes.

Chelsy attended our workshop and she had a lot of fun. In between chatting and “playing” with the sugarpaste, she was already thinking of other things she could make by using the techniques she’s learning. This made Sue and I very happy … that’s exactly what we want to accomplish with our workshops.

After a quick coffee break, it was time to ice and decorate the cupcakes.

Ta-daa … the end product!

Well done, Chelsy!!!

You might also want to look at:

We managed to give them R125,00. Thanks so much to everyone who supported us.

This time at the table next to me was a friend of mine and also my favourite hairdresser, Lucille.

She had the most beautiful scarves at her table, but these aren’t normal scarves, they are a combination of a scarf and a necklace.

They’re absolutely beautiful and the great thing about them is that you can remove the jewelry and just have a normal scarf or you can swop them between the different scarves.

Contact Lucille if you also want one of these beautiful unique scarves. Email her – lucilledaubeney@yahoo.com or phone her on 084 621 4329.

I used the time at the market to make pink cancer ribbons for an order … in between chatting to friends who visited and Gareth’s Mom, who came to see what the market was all about. I love seeing familiar faces at the market … thanks everyone for visiting and supporting me.

The next market is on 4 November…the perfect opportunity to start planning or doing your Christmas shopping. YES!!! It’s almost Christmas time again … scary.

To find out more about the Sunningdale Evening Markets or if u want to book a table, you can contact Jackie on 074 107 4880, email her – jackie@jb-events.co.za or visit their website.

At home after the market we introduced her to Tinky, who wasn’t sure what to do with this little thing (she’s never seen a puppy this small). The whole weekend Tinky was curious but also cautious … she would sniff the new puppy while she’s fast asleep …

but the minute she wakes up, Tinky would run away.

We named her Gina and she immediately became part of the family.

Sleep for us was a luxury in the first weekend … she would only sleep a few hours at a time and would cry when she’s awake. But that’s all part of having a new “baby”.

She was very interested in Tinky and would follow her around. We were waiting for them to start playing and on the Monday I heard growling outside and when I looked they were playing and running around, but the minute Tinky saw me, she stopped and walked away … I guess it’s not cool to be seen playing with your sister.

I must admit, her house training went a lot better than with Tinky, I guess it’s because she follows Tinky’s lead. She’s getting the idea of going outside and the other nite, she ran out without us telling her to do so. (we were very impressed)

The next weekend we went to visit Granny and she was spoiled rotten with all the attention and she also received some squeeky toys.

She loved exploring the garden …

and also made a hole for Granny to plant something in.

She and Tinky are crazy about each other. It’s so cute to see them play … Tinky’s very gentle, but Gina goes out in full force, the hairs on her back even stand up. There’s a lot of growling going on and occassionaly a yelp from Tinky because Gina’s teeth are very sharp. There’s a wrestling match every evening on the bed before we sleep … I guess they have to tire themselves out before they sleep.

They follow each other everywhere, if Gina’s sleeping Tinky will come and check on her and Gina will look for Tinky if she’s not in the same room as her.

But don’t let these cute faces fool you … they get up to mischief together. The other morning I caught both of them on the bed under the duvet and they gave me a look that said “WHAT???” (They’re not suppose to be on the bed if we’re not in it)

And we caught them looking thru the blinds … Tinky on the back of the couch (where she’s not suppose to be) and Gina on the floor, only because she can’t get on the couch by herself yet. Gina also decided to “modify” the blinds a little bit while she was down there.

She also “modified” their doggy door … it probably works much better now.

Her first bath experience wasn’t too bad … she just stood there with those “please help me” puppy eyes.

But she loved the sun afterwards.

She’s now 3 months old and brought a lot of happiness and laughter into our home.

Thanks Gareth for this cute birthday present.