I've loved being able to participate in this local show over the years...it's so much fun to view all of the beautiful work the competitors display, and I always see lots of cake friends too! Some years I am traveling and unable to attend the show, but this year I knew I would be in town, so I planned my design and set to work!
Here are a few photos from the process...
First making some of the hydrangea and filler flowers and dusting the larger buds:
And now with all of my flowers, buds and leaves ready...it's time to start arranging the topper in Styrofoam. This year I used peonies, parrot tulips, freesia, ranunculus, hydrangea, filler flowers and sweet peas:
A few flowers added (and I changed to a smaller dome of Styrofoam)
A few more added:
And the finished topper! It took me about 4 hours to arrange all of these flowers..I divided it up between two sessions...most of the flowers on Day One, and then filling in gaps and adding the leaves on Day Two. Whew!I loved how it turned out...mostly green and white with just a touch of pink Sweet Peas this year:
Just about finished here...with the addition of two other arrangements, including a large open peony on the lower tier:
I went back and forth about adding a simple bow to the ribbon on the bottom tier...and finally decided it was a YES:
I was thrilled and honored to receive first place in my category of Professional Tiered Cakes! Looking forward to next year...
Thanks so much for stopping by!
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Copyright © 2012 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!
Really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWOW.....LIKE...LIKE.LIKEE!!!!YOU are VERRY TALENTED...
ReplyDeleteI wish to be your student...but..it's not possible..so.i'm watching you from here..kiss...kiss...
Congratulations Jacqueline - well deserved 1st place. Absolutely stunning!
ReplyDeleteThank you all so much!! And Shiv...your lovely comment was deleted by accident...thank you!! Jacqueline x
ReplyDeleteStunning!
ReplyDeleteCongratulation!!! Your work is so beautiful! I am in your craftsy class and I am loving it.
ReplyDeleteKatia
this is amazing. Do you ever have any breakages while you are arranging?
ReplyDeleteThank you Janine! Yes...there is usually a bit of breakage, but I try to plan ahead for it. I'm pretty good at keeping the larger flowers in tact, but getting the hydrangea to go exactly where I want them to is always a bit challenging. And for some reason, I can count on breaking a leaf or two right as I'm finishing the whole thing! x
ReplyDeleteI knew the cake would turn out amazing and it did. The arrangement is stunning. Congratulations on your win, Jacqueline. Sending you love all the way from Manila.
ReplyDelete-Joanna
That is beautiful Jacqueline! I need some small flowers for some cupcakes. The lady said she wanted purple and white wildflowers. What are those tiny, little white flowers in the pics above and how do I make them? I was thinking maybe 1 daisy, 1 purple hydrangea and these little white flowers on each cupcake. Do you think that's too much? Thanks for your help! I LOVE your work...its amazing. And I really appreciate how you always answer questions on here so quickly. You ROCK!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Joanna!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda..thank you so much! The white flowers are pulled filler flowers that I have been using for years in my arrangements. They are made without a cutter and are modeled by hand. I wouldn't be able to explain it here, but you can search Google or YouTube for "pulled flowers" for some good tutorials, or I do teach them in my online video for sale with Craftsy. You can always use white blossoms that you cut out and cup with the ball tool instead. They would be faster and then you can pipe a little center with royal icing to match your cupcakes. A single hydrangea might look odd, so you may want to group them in 3's instead. Mixing them with a daisy sounds adorable! x
ReplyDeleteHi Jacqueline,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all let me tell you that you're my inspiration - you're the queen of SUGAR FLOWERS.
If you were not so far, I'd be your constant pupil.
I'd like to ask you one question: how thin must the peony petals be? I made one open peony and the petals were broken and the wire came out. :(
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Tatevik
I have watched your Craftsy video probably 10-15 times just so I can make your pulled flowers, lavender, and cosmos and I loved every step of the way. One question that I have is when you make a beautiful top or even ledge collection, how do you remove it? Because it is in a collection of several individual pieces, do I just need to remove piece by piece for the cake cutting? Any hints will be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHi Penny...the topper on this cake was arranged in styrofoam and then attached to the top of the cake. The ledge arrangements were made similar to the arrangements in the online video. Yes, you would need to remove all the pieces before serving. Start with the smaller pieces and remove them first, and leave the large focal flowers for last. You can collect everything in a box to make it go quickly and if you are saving any pieces for your client.
ReplyDelete