Sweet Georgia Peach

Remember a post about a dear friend of mine? Well her birthday was coming up and we had to surprise her. So after a late night of phone calls and schedule checks, we planned a time for "our little group" to meet. I had made the preps weeks ago, but it wasn't until the night before (uh...last night at 11) that the cakes got baked. You know how I am with procrastinating. Bring on the pressure! But I finished an hour before the "meeting".

 Back to the preps. I wanted to try out my food coloring and paint a few scenic pics. To be honest, I had NO idea I could do that. I spent my sunday afternoons as a little girl watching Bob Ross on television. (The guy with the afro hair and monotone voice. Lulled me to sleep everytime.) And apparently I remembered a few things.

 Start with the sky, then the scene in the background. Like these lovely little mountains. Then work on the objects up closer.

 It just kind of happened that I ended up with all four seasons. I had an extra one that didn't make the cake. (Hahahaha....I'm hillarious! Cake!) And that's the one on the far left with the red flowers and birds.

 Drying. After painting them, I layed them on the side of the pan that was going to be used to bake the cake. That way they'd be formed to the sides already. Brilliance. I know. ;o)

 I do know that i HAD to have a skunk on this cake. For certain reasons. Georgia=skunk. But in a good way. This little girl was pretty much made the same way I did the giraffe and zebra and lion. But she was going to be sitting on a stump and so that's where she sat until she dried. *Ewww she fluffed!*

 LOVE the stripes. And the little pig holding her big poofy tail up.

 For the pictures, I was going for a rugged framing job with wood grain and all. I was just going to cut strips of white fondant and paint with brown food coloring but started coloring fondant with brown and the marbling that occurs before total incorporation (big words! go me!) looked pretty spot on as far as wood grain was concerned! SCORE! Discovery in the process. LOVE IT!

Sidenote: My grandparents had a little tree made out of wire that sits on their fire place. As a little girl, I would just sit there staring at it, thinking how cool it was. I eventually  learned that my very own dad had made it. So for the cake and the theme I was shooting for, one of those trees would've been perfect! SO I talked to my dad about it and he helped me figure out how to do it. I think it looks rather awesome!

 Now for Miss Skunk to have somewhere to sit, I had decided before hand to make a tree stump. I baked a mini cake, wrapped it in white fondant, then cut a circle out for the top that I painted on the turn table. Spinning it as I painted from the center- out. After that, I painted the "bark".

 Small leaves that I had cut out and molded a while ago. Then because I have to have cute things floating around,  Icurled wire in differents ways and attached some leaves to it to give the "blowing in the wind look".

 For the main layer I had brown luster dust that I was dying to use and went for the darker on top, fading to lighter towards the bottom. I still have to work on that process. Or find a better brush to apply it with.

 And here it is! I love it! I have to say it's my favorite so far. The next few pics are shots of all the paintings on the sides. Double click the picture for a bigger view.

I think she liked it! (She didn't throw it at me so I'll take that as a good sign!) ;o) I really enjoyed making it. It had to be perfect and it came pretty darn close.

Love ya G!