I'm painting up in the lantern bit in our ceiling. The plastering goes about 18" above the ceiling height, and I am sh*t scared of heights, so being 10' in the air is making my feet and hands go all tingly. Added to that is that I have a real problem with spiders, and they love the corners of this thing. I think if my terror levels go any higher I'm going to have a heart attack, I've had to come down just to calm down a bit  

If I find a clown up there too I'd like you to all remember me fondly.

Afternoon all, ive not had chance to catch up yet!

Justin is doing okish...hes in real bad pain and its going to get a lot worse before it gets better :(

He is also upset that he couldn't come to my daughters graduation today but I managed to get a video for him and got some lovely pictures too! So here she is with her little brother...Miss Cherniece Jayne Plume BA Hons. MSc.

Im so proud of her !

AGlad he is on the long road to recovery

Barbara - calm down dear. Your cakes are always beautiful! (She says panicking about her own wedding cake!!) I like to arrange the flowers on a dummy for a topper as you can fiddle around more and you see if you need to make any more pieces. I dreamed last night that because I was using the premixed Cake Lace which isn't as soft as the original, that the snowflakes wouldn't stick on the sides and when we got to the venue they had all dropped off and left the sides of the cake smeared with gold paint! I'm finishing work tonight and start baking tomorrow. Also got the village carol singers calling for refreshments on Thursday evening so have to make food for them. Why did I not say no this year??

Suzanne - brilliant Monopoly cake. Did you have a wonderful day?

Smysha - love the cc toppers - well done. They take such a lot of time though don't they?

Lizzy don't know how you are not in the press for killing a builder - you are more tolerant than I am.  Good luck with the house clean up and the visitors.

Tiddy - lovely photo. You are justifiably proud.

Hi to anyone else I've missed.

you must be so proud of your daughter tiddy and every reason to do so. She looks as pleased as punch as well.

poor Justin it must be miserable for him hope his recovery doesn't take too long.

Suzanne love the monopoly cake!

Smysha - great cc toppers.

nanny your cake will look wonderful ,however you decide to it, your cakes always do

AI done that last yr tiddy but thought there might have been a trick I didn't know about to making the cake flat during cooking lol

AOoh Suzanne I can't believe I missed your monopoly cake yesterday. It's amazing well done. And I love the matching cookies.

Tiddy your daughter looks very proud, well done to her.

I hope you have calmed down about your cake now nanny, there's no fun in baking when you're too busy stressing about the end result.

I have had quite a productive baking today, I've made Christmas chutney, 2 batches of peanut brittle, 2 batches of rocky Road and peppermint creams. I just need to get rid of the smell of vinegar from my house now after the chutney!

I thought I was being lovely and organised, cleaning up as I went today too. Almost had the kitchen resembling some kind of order when I opened the cupboard and knocked out a jar of Cocoa powder which smashed on the side and sent a cloud of Cocoa all of me and all over the kitchen! Took me forever to clean it all, and the glass, up. I was seriously not impressed!

Tomorrow's plan is orange curd, marmalade, fudge, Christmas pudding truffles and to dip the peppermint creams. Hope I can be as productive as today!

ACan I pick your brains ladies?

Can I put an 8" Madeira cake mix into a 7" lined tin to get a slightly taller cake? The lining comes about 2" above the top of the tin. And would I need to bake it on a lower temp for longer?

Sorry if this seems a dumb question !

ARight, the reason of logic came up today, she gave me an idea, and bless her it sounces like a plan, so the plan is now, top tier with flowers etc with ribbon, 2nd tier , a ring of tiny holly, bottom tier just ribbon.

AOky, I can't feel any more worse than I do at the moment, had terrible day in work, sneezed my head of all day and I look like rudolph.

Tiddy, congrats with your daughter, it's a lovely day and you must be very proud.

Nicola, can't imagine anything worse than the cocoa going everywhere.

I'm trying lynne, this is my 2nd cake so just a bit jittery I guess.

AYour plan sounds good nanny, it's probably because you've felt so rotten that and you're finding it hard to see just how good your cake will look. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow and it will all click in to place.

ASounds like a good plan Barbara!

AWell, you know how things are with DIL.

I have invited them for boxing day only to be told, if it's okay with you we will be staying home, Sarah's jumping up and down in a rage, so we only see him xmas day for hr or so and now we won't see him boxing day either, tbh, it's only him I care to see but unfortunately they come as a package.

AHi ladies

Sorry I haven't been arounducj, it's been crazy with the beauty business and sorting things out and on top of that I have three birtjday cakes die this week. I promised I wouldn't do this to myself! And I have 12 Black Forest gateauxs to make for Christmas Eve, so no time to chat or even catch up!

I didamage to see about your hubby though tiddy! I really hope he is okay and starting to recover nicely! At least he won't have to do anything this cjristmas and has a good excuse about it now hehe, plenty of tiddy cake and food should help cheer him up :) and congratulations to your daughter!! Such an amazing achievement to have! Bet you're brimming with pride!! ❤️

So today is the first time I usey airbrush, to say I'm nervous is a complete understatement but I need to get going on it so ciao for now ladies!

Ps- thank you sooooop much for what I go in the mail! I haven't had chance to thank you yet! You know who you are!! :) xxxxxxxxxx

Walk on walk off Kelsey.....that's the best advice for airbrushing to start with.

Tiddy - wonderful photo of your daughter.  Such an achievement!  An MSc - well done to her.  Definitely a proud mum moment.  Hope your husband is feeling a bit better - I just think he is the luckiest person even though he might not agree.

Barbara - she's a piece of work huh?  Right - stop making her feel important now and don't ask again.  You know you have been the bigger person.  Don't think you did anything wrong either.  It's her loss.  She knows she's getting to you - it's a jealousy thing.  I can't believe she can't make some sort of compromise.  I feel for you.  Now channel those feelings into being a hollyleaf ninja!

Am off work today unfortunately as got this horrible cold and cough that's going through the office like wildfire.  Been relegated to the spare bedroom as I'm keeping everyone awake.  I would like to get on with some bits for my own Xmas cake but I'm not feeling any inspiration.  Might have to wait for the lemsip to take effect.

Will catch up properly today.

Kathy

Sorry Kelsey just re-read that and it makes no sense!  I do what Dawn suggests in her cd - get a piece of kitchen roll and start by colouring that until you get the right distance, colour, etc and then move on to the cake.  Wear a mask as well as when you blow your nose it will be a myriad of colour!

AMorning all :-)

I made it, lantern is now mist coated and I didn't panic myself to death. Phew. Just the two proper coats to go now :-/

Hello Kelsey! You sound like you're mad busy so I won't even ask why you've signed up to make 12 BFG's! Good luck with it all.

Ooh nanny, I bet you could punch her! It does sound like a power play but still using Ioan as her tool. That's so wrong.

The thing is, she's just teaching him that grandparents aren't necessary to worry about, but guess what - she's going to be the grandparent soon enough. It's a silly game she's playing and she will lose out in the end. Doesn't help you now though :-(

AWell I know as much ad i'do like to give her all the blame , I know a big part of this is my son, he suffers badly with depression, and I know he would do anything to lock the door and stay in, and she did say today this is mostly to do with him, and I actually believe that,he hates gatherings.

Barbara - it's not easy is it? At least you all have one thing that you all love - your little grandson.  I do feel for you, I do. 

Did you decide on what to do re the ribbon?

Hi Lizzie sounds like you survived your fear of heights!

Kathy

ANo Kathy it isn't.

The thing is she does love family gatherings, she had an unpleasant childhood from what I gather, mam's alcoholic ,not so long ago she tried to commit suicide , her parents split up many years ago.

It's my son who doesnt like all the fuss.

I decided to use the ribbon on top and bottom tier them a ring of holly around the 2nd tier.

ANanny sorry to hear your having problems with your son and DIL, my hubby hates family gatherings too but I feel christmas should be spent with family. What's a better gift than family for Christmas?

My sister who has the baby girl I took to winter wonderland recently is torn because we love family gatherings and so does her partners family so I guess in a situation like that I would want to stay alone to avoid arguments. Maybe an idea but to cheer him up why don't you take Boxing Day dinner to him? May be difficult because of how busy it is but you never know!

I now have hands full of kroma colour and a nose full of it too. Wonderful. Gonna be sneezing like a unicorn for a week! Hahaha

AI agree kelsey.

She spreads herself too thinly, out alot with friends, then when it comes to her family (us) then complains how busy she is, well hello!

Lemon cake is baked filled and crumb coated, choc cake is cooling, jam and cream cake is in the oven, i've gone thro 6 tea towels, 1/4 bottle of washing up liquid, 30 eggs etc etc.having a wiff now.

Nanny, sounds like you're into baking action today. Hope your cold is better. Your family is very complicated :)

Kelsey, I'm glad you're busy, a good sign when it comes to cakes and beauty business! Take advantage of all the parties! 

Kathy, another casualty!! Get well soon xxx

Well I'm doing a photo cake for the 2nd of January and I have never been less inspired in my life. I don't think anyone will see it on my webpage!! It's so... dull... kitsch-ey... even with the added flowers and pearl beads. The idea of making a photo frame with a photo of the birthday girl didn't occur to me until after we'd already finalised the design.

Ah well, at least this cake is relatively easy!

AConsidering there is only 7 of us jean, it shouldn't be, and we are fine, fairly chilled well most of the time, except when i'm full up with a stinking cold, lol.

Anyway I have now finished all the cakes, well filled and crumb coated at least.

Here they are.[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3314189/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AHope everyone is okay?

Me unfortunately, I cannot breathe, see properly, taste anything, so bit cheseed off.

ANanny, cakes look good!

AThanks jean, that's it for today, i'v done all i can as Tess Daley says!