Trouble in Panto Land......Play

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all having a good week and that spring is slowly coming to your area! This week I have been busy getting ready for the pantomime that officially starts tonight. Last night was a full costume rehearsal and tonight we have girl guides and scouts in, wed its a full open night including adults and general public and it all finishes on Saturday. The title of the panto is................'Trouble in panto land', there is a bad guy of course and a good guy, I am the goody............. I was once a frog (the Frog Prince) who gets turned back in to a prince and defeats the evil wizard! ha,ha

I have been handing out posters all week, here it is.........

Today I am making the wanted poster for the evil wizard, I have a photo of Bernard in his costume which I have played around with in Photo-Shop to make into a sepia photo. I am currently staining an A3 piece of paper with Tea, to make look like old paper, I have stuck bernards photo on the front, the poster reads.............

Wanted

He Whose Name no one can rememebr

Reward

You will NOT Die!

These are words taken fom the script, I will post a picture of the finished poster later.

Here is the photo bernard gave me of himself and the one I have turned sepia

Notice his orange face! Yes he is orange he used orange face paint, I think he looks pretty evil what do you think? ha,ha

Since I am the one holding the poster I wanted to make it myself, Its quite good in a way as I get to be a bit crafty for a good reason, and as all you crafters know, its great to find any reason! here is the sepia verson, although I chose to keep his face still quite orange, and added a bit of green to his coller.

I am in a bit of a rush this week, besides the panto and other normal day to day things I am also making another cake! One of the ladies in the panto loved bernards cake and has requested a cake with a Land Rover car on it, so I am having quite a productive week! Slightly crazy, but good.....

I hope to share photos of this panto with you, a lot of photos have been taken so I hope to get my hands on some!

I am also singing in the panto, has anyone heard Kermit the frog sing 'Its not easy being Green?' Well, thats the song I am singing, I was not sure at first but I quite like it now, we changed a few words, as I am no longer green! but it makes a sweet song........

You can hear it here if you like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbCI68eSNsA

Have a great week, see you again soon

Priscilla x

Happy Valentine's Day! Gifts and eye candy...

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you are all enjoying today whatever you are doing..........

I thought I would share some lovely gifts that came through the post for me from my dear friend linda, I am so happy to receive these valentine gifts. Since I have no other half Valentines has been missed over the years, and it seems here in the uk we dont tend to give 'Valentines' to friends and family. I am extremely pleased to be joining you in valentines celebrations this year so I am sharing my kind gifts and showcasing some of the beautiful valentines items on the web............... enjoy the eye candy.
A week ago a parcel came for me that I had no idea was coming! A lovely surprise from my friend Linda, Inside the package this is what I found..........Valentine goodies! I was overjoyed, valentine goodies for me!!!! Look at the way it is all packaged together so pretty, I love the little hand made tag, so very sweet.......... Linda knows I love trying different candy from what I can get in the uk.
More candy! Those marshmallows are sweet, in taste and shape! My family and I shared one heart before valentines day, and we have now eaten the other treats too...... A sweet little bracelet hides in the pink bag and chocolate snickers in the other.


Linda made the 'Be Mine' banner herself! How cute, I have added this to my fireplace, I dont have many valentine decorations so it makes a nice addition,

Thanks again Linda for the thoughtful gifts!

Eye Candy.........

Valentine's is a time to indulge! I found some amazing goodies from all over the web, enjoy the eye candy!.......



Beautiful boxes of cookies...........

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like chocolate................

Have a wonderful day........

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day!

Priscilla x

Harry Potter, Wizard Cake...

The cake.......

In my last post I showed you the Wizard hat model themed on the Harry Potter 'Sorting Hat' the rest of the cake also had the 'Wizard' theme. I finished most of the decorations on Wednesday night and added all the pieces on thursday morning. Last night Thursday the 7th Feb I took the finished cake to drama rehearsal to give to Bernard for his Birthday........
As I arrived he was on stage with green lighting playing his part, with sound effects to match..... I entered with a huge box, he came off stage to take a look and was surprised at what he found! I had not given him any idea of what I was doing so I was pleased he loved it! I gave him a print out of the images I had used as inspiration like the wand, hat and some parchment from the movie.....
I took lots and lots of photos,ha,ha......lucky I did as I had to cut it 2 hour into rehearsal! Although I did look up how to cut the 8 inch cake to get the most pieces, thank goodness....... As you can see I tried to create harrys wand, all the models are edible although bernard chose to keep them,

Back of the cake, and Wizard Spells......
The writing you can see going around the cake are spells the wizard uses in the panto, a lot of them sound similar to those in Harry Potter..... I also made the letter Harry receives to go to Hogwarts..........only with a twist.
In the panto the wizard is called 'He Whose name No One Can Remember' sound familiar? yes another tribute to harry potter and voldemort, the wizards real name is ........... Susan! As you can see I used the real address of the hall which is actually on All Hallows rd, Bispham!


Wand,Potions, Parchment and Spells

I always like to add something to the cake board to finish it off, I thought of an ink well, scrolls, Pens, books, and finally chose potions and magic dust, I love going into the cake shop and buying fantastic named food colours, the gold is fine edible gold glitter dust! I got to have fun with many dusts on this cake, the wand had a few...... Isnt that spell just too funny....... Impetigo! ha,ha poor soul who got that horrid disease......

So now the panto is not long away the 20th Feb, I will post more about it when I get the posters etc, thank you for taking the time to read my posts and I thank you all for your lovely comments on the Wizard hat, I hope you enjoyed reading a bit more about the cake and our little drama group.....

Have a wonderful weekend,

Priscilla x

Wizard Birthday Cake, Harry Potter,Panto

Have you enjoyed the harry potter books and films? Did you ever think about having a wizard theme cake? My friend has...........

On feb the 18th I am in a pantomime, I play the Frog Prince and the panto is called 'Trouble In Panto Land', Many of the characters are themed on those in Harry Potter. One of the members is having a birthday on the 7th Feb and has asked me to make his cake....... he plays the 'Evil Wizard' - also known as (He Who's Name No one Can Remember) I asked what he would like on his cake thinking maybe gardening or some other hobby, he said he enjoys drama, Harry Potter and plays a wizard in the play...... so something themed like that! My mind went Whhooo hooo. As you know I love to get creative making cakes, my mind has gone mad and I have come up with a design for his cake.

Here is a rough sketch, I always do this before I start.....
I began to think of a wizards desk,with hat, spells and plans, wands, parchment, all with an aged rustic appeal. No bright colours I guess you could call it 'Antique'.......... think 'Harry Potter' - Dumbledore.

I have made the Wizard hat, I was going off the 'Sorting Hat' in the first Harry Potter, with age and character. I thought it would be good to share with you the stages of the cake.....and it began with this hat.

Here is the finished hat it stands about 5 inch tall..........

Here is the sugar model hat from another angle, I finished adding the dust colours today,many shades of brown! ha,ha. I really wanted it to look old like the one in the film........

I took photos of the hat been made..........so here is a little 'How To'

I have to admit this stage is not particulary attractive! It begins with a cone shape....

A cookie cutter makes the hat brim, a few patches and stitches adds to the age. Sponge keeps the paste in place until it dries and sets.

Each layer was added separetly, with a few creases, I tried to place the creases so that the hat looks to have features a bit like the sorting hat..........

I am also working on Harrys wand........I will show that next time, I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about cake decorating,

I have also been tagged by Linda - over at Somewhere in Time to mention 'Why its great to be me....I have A warm loving family, I enjoy each brand new day, I look forward to new opportunities, I am thankful to have a creative nature, I believe I also help others any way I can and I am thankful I have this trait. I have time to enjoy my crafts and the world around me, I have many fond memories.Nature is all around me and I watch it every day.......There are many things why I am pleased to be me.... and I thank linda for giving me the chance to acknowledge them..........

I now tag - Bitter Sweet Punkin

See you again soon,

Priscilla x

Gifts, Bears,Thrifts,Stitching and Easter Swap.......

Is it me or does time seem to be going faster? I cant believe its Sunday again, I have lapsed a bit in blogging recently, due to Pantomime rehearsals which I will be talking about very soon! First in my post I would like to mention a gift I was bought for Christmas, although Christmas has come and gone I did not want to miss blogging about my new special little friend..........
His name is Callum, and he is a 'Charlie bear' the company are quite new and can be seen on qvc the shopping channel, which if I haven't mentioned before I am a huge fan of! My grandma first bought herself one in 2006 and the family fell in love with it, this year she bought my mum and myself a bear, mine is a traditional style, mums is more plush and a panda..........he even came with his own tote bag and certificate.....I hope you like him.
If you want to see more Charlie bears you can find them here

Charlie bears.

Friends bringing gifts.................
Just before Christmas I was re acquainted with a friend I have not seen in a while, I was in the middle of painting furniture and lots of crafts! A few week ago she came by again for a coffee and a chat and had brought a gift with her! I have not really known her a long time, and not well yet, but she must of grasped the things I was interested in by what she brought me............ A book on doing up old junk, ha,ha Carefully she then said 'not that I think you buy junk' I was so pleased that in the short time we have gotten to know each other she has figured me out! here is the book........

I can not express how happy I was at been presented this gift.............. 'people sometimes do the unexpected'Inside pages are full of painting techniques and ideas for each room in the house.

Thrift Finds.........

A few posts ago I mentioned taking part in my local church fair with my cake, whilst I was there I also helped set up the items that were given for the stalls. One of the items caught my eye but I didnt attempt to buy it, I just admired the piece. I assumed it had to go with the rest and I was there to help not spend! As the fair ended I noticed it had not sold and was been packed away to throw away! I picked it up for a final look and to debate on how much to offer for the piece, when the stall lady (also a friend) said 'you like that dont you' I asked her how much it was, she said I could have it and the other one?! What other one? So with a small donation I came away with what I think are two beautiful jars.................although I am not too sure how to use/display them? Any ideas?

Spring Stitch.......In my last last post I talked about my love for cross stitch, I thought I would share a few more photos of the piece and the chart pack it comes from. I thought it was 'lizzie kate' I was wrong its Teresa Wentzler

Easter Basket Swap......
I have joined Bella-Enchanted's Easter basket Swap, it will be my first swap and I am looking forward to it! All those sweet treat and crafts to make, what a great time to be had by all...... If you fancy joining in I recommend it, one item has to be crafted and the rest can be bought, and in the form of a Easter basket..............I Cant wait to start, to find out more visit

Bella-Enchanted.

I Hope you all have a wonderful week,

Priscilla x

Projects, Crafts and awards....

At the moment my head is full of plans....... Plans for crafts I want to start, projects I wish to finish and a whole load of books I hope to enjoy! I don't know about you but I can spend hours on amazon looking for books, books on crafts, decorating, food and fiction. So much so in fact that I have decided I need a lap top, at the moment I am sitting at a computer stand on a not so comfortable chair......... oh how I long to sit on my sofa with a lap top on my knee drooling over your amazing blogs!

As I have been visiting you all, I noticed most of you have started back on your craft projects for the new year, this reminded me of the ones I have on the go, currently a Halloween door hanger, which I never did complete for Halloween, a Lizzie Kate Halloween Cross stitch and a Teresa Wentlzer 'Spring fairy' cross stitch from a season chart pack!



When I moved house last year I was working on the fairy, here is a photo of my progress so far.....It is from a Teresa Wentzler collection called four season fairies, they are beautiful and appear to have butterfly wings. I am planning to make her into a pillow for my favourite chair.........
As I mentioned in my last post I am hoping to take up knitting, I have had a go as a child but have not picked up needles for years, the first thing I did was visit amazon where I found quite a lot of interesting 'beginner' books. I think I may order one from amazon and see if my library has the others.


Here is the first book I hope to get.........




The Knitter's Bible: The Complete Handbook for Creative Knitters

Another book I found on Amazon is called warm Fuzzies, I don't think the crafts are all knitted but the book just looked so cute! I am definitely going to find this one......

Warm Fuzzies

Other amazing books I want........ even if my skills are not quite there yet, I am optimistic!



Awarded...........
I want to say thank you to Marie over at
Wild Rose.
for awarding me with two wonderful awards.

Thank you ever so much I dont quite know what to say, I think its great that we can share our appreciation of others by sharing these awards. As one of the awards is called 'You make my day' all I can say is no truer words are spoken, I really do enjoy visiting you all, you lift my whole day and give my mind inspiration. and I am so pleased that I have also made your day! Thank you again Marie........ I am passing the 'You Make My Day' award to Homestead mercantile

And I am passing the 'Amazing Blogger' award to Somewhere In Time.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, see you again soon

Priscilla x