Make it Sparkle

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #23
MAKE IT SPARKLE

Oh wow, this was a push at the last minute.  I made my Christmas cake way back in July and since then it has had its weekly cap full of rum, better be a boosy cake.  This is only the second Christmas cake I have made in my life as normally our daughter keeps us some of hers but saying as we are now retired and living back in the UK and not in lovely warm Saudi any more I thought I should make the effort lol.  Yes, it is a traditional fruit cake and I can hardly wait for a piece.  The crackers were also made a few months ago and each one has a rubbish joke as a cracker is not right with anything else along with a small gift suitable for each recipient - the hubby has a lighter in his and my Mum's some Ferrero Roche chocolates.  Alas, my cracker is still empty but hubby assures me he has something to go in it hehehe.

Although I made the cake ages ago I had to leave the icing and decoration until yesterday.  It was out with the apricot jam and the home made marzipan then another first attempt at rolling the icing and draping it over the top as we see done so often on Cake Boss - that was so much easier than I anticipated.  I had planned to make the poinsettia out of thinly rolled icing and die cutting but that did not work well so the back up plan of making the poinsettia out silver paper to match the crackers had to do the trick.  For the leaves on the crackers I used lots of glitter but that would not work for the cake so for these leaves I mixed several pigments from my Brusho collection, luck was on my side and so close to the original glitter I was all smiles.  The Brusho pigments were mixed with extreme silver glue I have and then painted onto card.  Lovely and shiny and no plastic glitter on the cake - perfect.  I created the cake frill using a Crafters Companion edging die and finished it off with silver tape and turquoise ribbon to match the crackers too. The fan shapes on both the crackers and the cake were made from a trellis die and I added turquoise gems for a bit more bling. I am so glad this project turned out as planned as there really was no time if things went wrong and I have had the finished items in my mind and half made for so long.

A close up of one of the crackers, I did have 7 altogether but 2 have been sent to their recipients already.  Silver glitter paper was used around the centres of the crackers which was edged in turquoise ribbon.  More ribbon on the cracker edges and silver tape for balance and a bit more bling.  The poinsettia flowers were cut out of silver stiff paper and the leave white card then glued and dipped into turquoise glitter.  One trellis die cut was all that was needed here and as with the cake, finished off with turquoise gems.

Close up of the cake frill using a Crafters Companion edging die cut 5 times and joined together.  To finish off some more turquoise ribbon and silver tape to match the crackers.

For a bit more shine on the cake I used a silver shimmer cake spray, so hard to photograph but in real light you can see it twinkling.

And now I come to the last challenge of the year for International Art and Soul.  Our current challenge will run for one month (next challenge is on January 7th) so until then I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and send you peaceful blessings for 2018.

Challenges entered:-

• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - Anything Christmas Goes Ends 6th January 2018 (W1 of 2)
• Crafty Calendar M,3E December  - It's Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas W, must be Christmas   - Anything Christmas Goes - optional theme: A Touch of Sparkle
• Brown Sugar – M (First Friday of M), E2 - No. 273 - December - Anything But A Card
• Jingle Belles - 2W - must be Christmas - Holiday Wrap Up (W1 of 2)
• QKR Stampede – W, 4E, SIO – No. 272 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours or Anything Goes
• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Prize only for UK residents, Top 3 open to all - Tis The Season (W1 of 2)
• Winter Wonderland - 2W, 3E, must be Christmas – Anything Christmas Goes (W1 of 2) Ends 5th January
• Creative Craft Cottage Challenges (2W, P7/21, F, E3) #101 Christmas is Coming
• Die Cut Divas (M P1, E4, die cuts) December- Winter
• Let's Craft & Create Challenge (M, P5, F, E3) #132 - Anything Christmas Goes
• Paper Creator's Crafts (M, P1, 3E) #64 - Christmas and New Year
• Sparkles Forum Challenges (M, P15, 3E) #98 - White Christmas
• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  #194 Christmas + A Sentiment (W2 of 2)
• Craftaholics R Us - W, #48 - Christmas
• Crafting By Designs - W, F, 3E - Christmas (open thru Dec. 31 - New Challenges in Jan.)