silhouette machine - I'm Topsy Turvy

Peter Pan Shadows birthday cake

March 18, 2013 by Ashlee · 13 Comments

I love making cakes for people I know and care about. It makes it more fun, knowing the bride/groom, or birthday boy/girl that is going to get it while I’m up all night working on it. So when one of my dearest friends. Jesseca from One Sweet Appetite, asked me to make another cake for her I was THRILLED!

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a Peter Pan party with scenes from the movie cut out of black fondant to look like shadows! I’m in LOVE with how it turned out.

Here is my mock up that I sent to Jesseca for approval before starting. These example tiers are the WRAPS (so the 4 inch tier is represented with 12.5″ wrap) so you can see the front and back as this cake spun so you could see the details on every side!

First I covered the cake with white fondant and using my airbrush gun I painted it with an ombre effect using avacado green (to match the swatch she gave me from the party decor)

then I designed the shadows in photoshop and then cut out the fondant with my silhouette cameo machine (tutorial on how to do that here)

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here is the back you so can see, it’s simpler than the front, but still has some really fun details that complete the “story” on the cake.

The bottom tier is the beginning of our “story” with the iconic flying over London images. Starting with Big Ben (I wanted a 3d effect to the layers so often the details of the cake extend past the tier) with Wendy, John and Michael following Peter and Tink!

Here you can see Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (she was so small some of the details got lost) following the Neverland Star.

And around the rest of the cake more iconic buildings we see. There are of course more rooftops and business in the movie, but I wanted to keep the cake simple, so it didn’t look too messy.

And ending with London Bridge, coming back around to Big Ben!

The second tier starts with John, the Lost Boys and Michael bringing up the rear. Singing “following the leader” of course, can you look at this WITHOUT singing? I dare you!

on their Way to the Indian Encampment! This was actually the hardest silhouette to create. There are barely any images on this full encampment, and the ONE good one I could find had so many tepees it was hard to tell one from another so I simplified it before cutting it out.

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The Birthday Boy loves skull island so it took the front spot on this tier, I enlarged the skull to stand over the height of the tier and I love how it turned out!

But not far behind is Captain Hook with Smee and Tigerlily rowing up! I love Smee…

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And finally Peter tops us off. So many of these images had his arms crossed, so I was thrilled to find one with his arms on his hips so you could see more of his shape!

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There you have it! If you were going to do a movie cake with scenes like this what movie would you pick and what would your favorite scenes be? Or if you were doing Peter Pan what scenes would you have picked out?

Filed Under: Cakes, Party cakes · Tagged With: airbrush, disney, fondant, silhouette machine

Mothers Day gift- Family Tree Canvas

May 4, 2012 by Ashlee · 12 Comments

Yesterday I shared the Family subway art pillowcase I made for my traveling Mom… Today is the family tree art I made for my Mother in law! She likes browns, golds, and metallic in her decorating so the metallic and pearl colors of the Plaid- Martha Stewart collection paint was PERFECT!

I actually used a lot more from the bag of goodies Plaid Crafts sent me for this project! I made a few mistakes and there are a few things I’d change if Iwas going to do it again….

I started with a large 18×25 canvas. Turns out vinyl, stencils and tape don’t stick to canvas very well, and these paints tended to bleed. If I was going to do it again I’d use a board instead!

See the blank medallion? My SIL is expecting a baby, and is most likely the last grandchild my in laws will get (funny how both my parents and my in laws are mostly getting their last grandbabies this year- esp considering they are 10 years apart in age, and have totally different numbers of children)

I first started using the tape to create the tree shape I wanted. But as I stepped back I noticed it was leaning to wards the left.

So I pulled it off and used vinyl instead… MISTAKE 1. It did NOT stick for some reason! LIKE AT ALL….

Since I didn’t want the paint to completely bleed through I decided to add some texture for the tree. I used the texture brush to create lines coming up the trunk and out to the branches! I used canvas specific texture paint as well. It held down the vinyl pretty good, but it did bleed under a bit.

Then mixing my primary colors, red, yellow and blue, in satin paint I created a pretty brown…

and rolled it right on top of the textured paint

Peel it off and you have your tree!

I decided to attempts vinyl again for my leaf shapes, and they worked OKAY. they did bleed a bit as I couldn’t get it to stick down completely, but for leaves it worked. Start with your lightest color first, this gold, then my pearl orange…

and finally a red/pink, also a part of the pearl/metallic collection. These foam pouncers are PERFECT for stenciling!

and done… I love fall, and these are the colors we get to see on our mountain every year!

So tree- DONE! So far a few issues but over all okay.

Now for the FAMILY part of the family tree. I used these great adhesive stencils. This medallion shape was perfect for what I wanted. and the tacky back stuck pretty good, not perfect- because of the stupid canvas, but better than the vinyl for SURE. AND you can use it over and over again and it stays tacky and re-sticks every time!

For this I used the darker metallic gold, and I did the whole family tree once, then one more time to get the color I wanted.

I worked from the bottom (mom and dad) up and out. The kids and spouses on the main branches then each of their children branching off from there.

I wasn’t a stickler for having every medallion on a branch, but tried to space it and make it look pretty and not too crowded in any one place!

I was going to use the alphabet stencil they sent me, but the letters were too big, so I tried vinyl ONE LAST TIME, thinking it might stick to the paint better.

I just used first initials (missing the upcoming baby) and added teal paint for the letters.

I had two problems, I waited too long to take the vinyl off, and the paint came up with it… AND these were SO small it was difficult to work with the details. The letters are 3/4 inch tall and 1/2 inch wide. Itty Bitty….

So I grabbed one of the amazing brushes and hand painted the letters over what was left from the stenciled initials!

I was thinking about adding our last name, but my husband thought it looked best simple like this… So for now I’m leaving it. I think the MAIN thing I can tell you is to find a tree shape that fits your family. I have a single sister in law with no children, a single sister in law with three kids and the couples haev 2, 4 and 5 (us) kids so it’s not like we were very well balanced. I love this tree, it fit our strange family sizes perfectly!

My Mother in law is in Israel right now, but I think she’ll really love it when she comes home!

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, decoration, Family, Holidays, mothers day, paint · Tagged With: craft supplies, silhouette machine, tutorial

Mothers day gift- Family subway art pillow case

May 3, 2012 by Ashlee · 12 Comments

My parents just sold their business and their house! They aren’t sure what’s next but whatever they choose to do it will involve some kind of traveling, probably in an RV or motor home. My folks love to drive, travel and see the world. And my mom LOVE her felt pillow case to cuddle with in the car.

So instead of some random pillow case I decided to make her something to remind her of all of us while they travel around!

Plaid Crafts sent me the most amazing bag of goodies from their Martha Stewart collection to create with for mothers day this year! I have a project for my Mother in law to share tomorrow as well! It was an inspiring bag and I already used some of it last week for my teacher appreciation gift! I already have grand plans for the rest as well!

The supplies were super easy! A flannel pillow case, Martha Stewart paint, with the sponge applicator top and alphabet stencils or a vinyl cutter…

I had a great time picking out fonts for everyone! I included my parents, siblings, spouses and all the CURRENT grandkids on the pillowcase!

I created it in photoshop first…

then I laid out a plan in my silhouette studio for cutting out all the names!!!

I slid a foam board inside the pillow first for a work surface. Then I put the names onto the pillow (see the blank spot? I was saving it for my unborn neice…. then the day after I “finished” the pillow I woke up and realized I forgot one of the already HERE ON EARTH grandbabies! I am a total dork!)

these applicators are AMAZING!!! They attach right onto the paint! And they clean up like a breeze.

I did mess up ONE thing, Kimber was supposed to be pink and Reece was supposed to be red! GAH! I’m still upset about it!

For the big FAMILY on the end I used the metallic silver paint! It’s LOOOOOVELY!!!! It has this gorgeous glimmer and I love it!

Peel off the vinyl…

ANNNNNNDDDD it’s done- and GORGEOUS! I’m tickled and my mom is going to LOVE it! Now to find a space for my unborn (and probably the last) grandbaby!

(karate chop pillow photo)

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, Family, Holidays, mothers day, paint · Tagged With: fabric, pillow, silhouette machine, tutorial

Teacher appreciation Canvas art

April 28, 2012 by Ashlee · 17 Comments

This month is Autism Awareness and next week is Teacher appreciation. Since my children attend a Charter school for children on the autism spectrum I wanted to make my teachers gifts have a slight autism theme to them.

Since the symbol for autism is multi colored puzzle pieces I decided to make those my centerpiece, and found a fun puzzle quote that seemed teacher appropriate as well.

I used my sihouette machine and fabric interfacing to cut out puzzle pieces from some riley blake fabric squares I had is some fun bright colors

Then I ironed them onto the canvas (I placed a piece of cardboard underneath while ironing to get it nice and stiff)

Then I cut out the teachers name and the quote in vinyl (also using my silhouette), since I want the vinyl to be a stencil pull OUT the words.

I received a bag of some AMAZING Plaid- Martha Stewart collection products for my mothers day project (More about that next week) and inside were these AMAZING brush tops that attach right onto the paint bottle. AMAZING I love love LOVE these tops!

So I pressed the vinyl stencils onto the canvas (again use the cardboard underneath to get crisp lines) and painted right over the vinyl.

peel off the vinyl and your done! I love how they turned out! And my kids are excited to take them to their teachers next week! What are you doing for teacher appreciation? Don’t forget to go link up to this month’s Point of View!