Tutorial 101; Classic Chanel Hand Bag

What a beautiful Saturday evening!! Looked like it was going to rain. By mid morning it cleared up to this gorgeous sunny afternoon. With this entry I post my first step-by-step instructional edit on how to make a Classic Chanel Flap Hand Bag Cake.

Lets get to it!

Two days prior I kneaded black and yellow fondant- the colours I required, and stored them back in their pots. This saves a-lot of time! I learn't this tip on the Satin Ice tour with Julie Bashore.
Do it! It truly does save so much time!!

One day prior I baked a 9" cake.Cut and stacked 3 tiers. Each tier was 2.5 inches x 1.5 inches. Carved and covered in butter-creme. I inserted three dowels to give support to the structure. Please refer below;

I made the Chanel logo, and the chain links to use with the purse straps. I mixed the fondant with a little bit of Gum tragacanth to speed up drying time. I also lay the chain links over my paint palettes to give some curvature. This will give the illusion of a life-like chain link. You will see this later when connecting the links together. I also linked the loops in twos. This cuts time when connecting the links. You will find this out later while constructing your cake. I made over 70 links. You will get a fair idea of how many you will require when building your cake (size of purse).

                   The above photo is of the two loops made for the chain link to begin from and end.

  Cut each length of shoe string yellow fondant to the same size when constructing the links

 

The following day I measured the cake. Rolled and cut the black fondant to size. I made two pieces. One to cover the back and the other overlapping like a flap at the front. Refer below;

Using a ruler and plastic fork. (I couldn't find mine, but a stitching wheel can be used here. It's much faster).
I scored over the quilt design.

 
I then carefully turned the fondant to the underside and rolled the edges right round using a ball tool. This gives a "sewed seam" effect.
Carefully lift and lay the fondant over the cake. Lightly pressing into the cake in some places to give a sewn effect to the purse (slight bubble, like a real bag).

Below is an example of the front flap.

Leaving the covered cake to stand. I began to paint the links and Chanel detailing. I painted them using 24K Gold dust mixed with Rose spirit. You can use Vodka in place of rose spirit. I use rose spirit because our household loves to drink! I never have any on stand by when I need it! lol I don't have a photo of this! I was just having too much fun!! You get the drift...
Once the details have completely dried (and the cake has settled by this time). Attach the details! I used edible sugar glue. Pouring your glue to use, onto a palette/dish will let it go further. Double dipping your pottle will contaminate your liquid (this also goes for food colour pastes, and spirits etc).
My advice is to look after your supplies and apply good hygiene practice.
Now, back to it... Make leather straps from black fondant about half an inch thick and two inches long. These will now attach (thread) your links through.
Pinch each 'leather' strap at each end and loop through your 2-link chain. See example below;

Attach each link together. Draping a chain. Gluing along the 'bag' and base like you would if you were to create a drape for a window display. The final photo below shows you what I mean..

You can add other details if you wish. I chose to keep it simple, to let the bag say it all. I made a swurved name tag and three black petunia flowers. That's it!
There you have it! A Classic Chanel Flap Hand Bag Cake!

Enjoy making this. One of many future tutorials me thinks! I am off to bed.. Its now Sunday!

Happy Baking :)
x 

It's a Kitty Cat Pink Party!!!

 

With special thanks to all of our friends who made this day one to remember. Hannah, thank you again for the beautiful  photos. Amani's Birthday album is looking pretty fine! :)

More images can be viewed on our website and flickr link; http://www.flickr.com/photos/blissfulbrownies/

New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year! Hope you had beautiful Christmas.  I feel quite terrible actually. I have not posted in six months! I don't even know where the time has gone! Once again time has run, well bolted ahead of me!

Hope the last six months have been as rewarding to you as it has for me. Alot of learning on my part and with that, alot of challenges I have overcome. Bringing me to blog once more.
I won't deny. It's been a rough period. Adjusting to a new member joining our family. Observing my little one take on so much for one of her age. I myself, not realizing the repercussions it would create for our family also. I can say is that it takes alot of time and ALOT of patience. But damn! Some people have no comprehension of hygiene!
In between the grand adjustment, I've been filled with alot of banter from all sides of the extended family. I put it down to not having the balls to say it to the person concerned... Instead lets burden the children... I feel this in our culture has become a norm. With so many uses of media to hide behind. We don't take responsibilty -ownership of our actions. To help me grow and cope with the challenge of this Chapter of my life is Playcentre. The place continues to feed me with copious amounts of new found, human behavioral knowledge. I'm still so amazed at how much I've learned. I can't express in words how much I have. If I were a writer than I guess it been easy to explain.

We've made a few changes to our home. Finally taking the last of our pool out. Laying the foundations down for Amani's playhouse. Making a retaining wall. Growing grass. Stripping our rooms. Sanding and re-painting with friends. Baking along the way and meeting some great people while doing so.

Latest pics? Well alot! Which brings me to officially becoming a part of the Flickr mob and sharing here;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blissfulbrownies/

I love using Blogger, but sometimes its takes far too long to load those pics you'd like to share. A few will follow (as many as I can load without pulling my hair out). The rest can be viewed on Flickr.

I am sharing an especially magical moment with you all. My daughter's fourth birthday. Special because it was, by request a Kitty Cat Pink Party!!!

I hope you all have had an exceptionally well deserving break as I have. Thank you my viewers for staying in touch. It feels quite rewarding to know that you view my ever more babble on the wonderful World of the web!

Till next month.. I promise! Peace be with you

Happy Baking All!

s

Iulai's Ninja-go!!!

 

Happy Fifth Birthday Iulai!

Taking That Break

So, I've been stuck home for the last two weeks with the sniffles! It ran a muck through our household. Causing our somewhat 'routine' to become a chaotic 'jungle' of survival!!
Our 'little' person, is finally coming out of her drizzly, snotty stage and is out enjoying some special time with her Aunty. Catching up with duck friends at our local reserve and probably enjoying a bite to eat too!
This has given me some much needed time. Time to ponder on the last two weeks of hibernation (the best description I can give my readers).
Surprisingly, alot has happened during my absence to the "Real World". Alot of which I did not anticipate.
A lot of which, ofcourse. I do not want. - I have come under Scrutiny.
So, unfortunately instead of this post being about my latest cake - which I add was oh so challenging! A greatly - Anticipated challenge. One I refer to constantly since hibernation. To be one of the most  rewarding exercises I have completed this winter. It is quickly becoming my point of reflection.. The completely hand-crafted Lego Ninjago cake I made for who I call one of my dearest friends. Her name Lui. She is a Mother to two beautiful children who are now also my Daughter's (favourite as she calls them) friends. This intelligent and faithful friend has supported me since day ONE! In my personal, and professional path she has shown me to value what is important and fight to keep it!
Images of her son's cake have been posted by admin on our Facebook page. I will also post these up following this post. I feel it deserves its own post and not a run-on from this post.
I didn't want this post to end up being one of banter but its beginning to look this way.
I am re-evaluating my priorities. One I was reminded by another friend to take!
So, sitting here on my comp, thinking about what an awesome haircut I was treated to yesterday, and sipping my living water. I type this:
I will be taking a break from Blissful Brownies. I am going to take this opportunity to build on some much needed one on one time with my Daughter. Often I get swirled into list of commitments. None of which include my daughter. So, at times like this. When I am exhausted from being sick. When everything starts to pile up from my absence. I reflect on how much time I HAVEN'T spent with my baby. I cannot be of any use to anyone if I am unhappy with the amount of time spent with her.
The next four weeks will be time spent with her. Getting out all those little projects that have been in the back burner... Blogging.. Spending time abroad with loved ones and gearing myself up for the next stage of my life... Welcoming our new Step-mom!
I hope that you can join me on my new adventure. I look forward to Blogging once again.

Happy baking All and God Bless