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Programme 2024—25
Meetings start at 7.30pm
| DATE | DEMONSTRATION |
|---|---|
| 27th March 2025 | Lambeth Piping Techniques Rachel Farnham |
| 24th April 2025 | A.G.M. and Stencilling Workshop Brenda Lambert |
| 29th May 2025 | Kanzashi Flowers Margaret Baldry |
| 26th June 2025 | A Male Model Estelle Mann |
| 31st July 2025 | Owl Model Sarah-Jane Soggee |
| August 2025 | Summer get-together |
| 25th September 2025 | Model: Boy playing in the rain Christina Georgiou |
| 30th October 2025 | Mini Handbags Samantha Brown |
| 27th November 2025 | Christmas Party and Truffle-Making Anne Reynolds |
| 29th January 2026 | Valentine Bunny Vasantha Manohar |
| 26th February 2026 | Fuchsia Natalie Porter |
| 26th March 2026 | An Easter Theme Jacqui Kelly |
| 30th April 2026 | A.G.M. and Sugarpaste Model Sue Albins |
Past Meetings
| May 2025 |
 |
It was the first time Margaret Baldry had visited our club and she came a very long way, from Northampton, to demonstrate to us. Margaret showed us how to make Kanzashi Flowers from sugarpaste. She showed us the many ways the sugarpaste can be folded so that various flower and leaf shapes can be made. The result was very effective with the flowers looking so much like they were made out of fabric. |
|---|---|
| April 2025 |
 |
Our meeting started with our AGM. Sue was re-elected as Chair. Carol was
elected as our new Treasurer and Ann as our new Secretary. Jan also
joined the committee. After our AGM business we had a stencilling workshop lead by Brenda. We all enjoyed doing this work and members chose a wide variety of stencils to use so we had very diverse finished plaques. |
| March 2025 |
 |
We had heard a lot about Lambeth Piping recently so it was lovely to
welcome Rachel Farnham to our club to demonstrate it. Rachel
outlined the history of Lambeth Piping and then showed us how to pipe it
in both buttercream and royal icing. The picture shows the buttercream
cake that she decorated. Rachel gave us lots of advise on how to achieve
a very impressive result. There were a lot of entries in our Lemon Drizzle Cake competition. Rachel's husband had the hard job of judging the entries but Sue was declared winner with Ann S a close second. |
| February 2025 |
 |
It was lovely to welcome Alison Henderson back to the club for her second visit. We had heard about her teacup and saucer demonstration from other sugarcraft groups and her demo lived up to the praise. Not only did she show us how to construct the items but also how to make them look special with the cups having pretty stands as well as impressive decoration. We just loved the final result, which one lucky member won in our raffle. |
| January 2025 |
 |
One of our members, Anne, demonstrated for our first meeting of the new year. Anne showed us how to work with air-drying clay for flower making. Air-drying clay isn't edible but it is extremely light-weight and virtually unbreakable. Anne made beautiful red roses with fern and babies-breath, a truly lovely Valentine-themed display. |
| November 2024 |
 |
Party night! We started our meeting with some Christmas cheer and buffet supplied by the committee. Then we all had a go at cocoa butter painting. We were each given a plaque with a patchwork cutter outline of a Christmas pudding, and, with instruction from Sue, we painted it to give a lovely Christmas cake topper. It was very nice just sitting and painting and chatting. |
| October 2024 |
 |
It was very nice to welcome Estelle Mann back to our club. Estelle showed us so many things that we can make with gelatine. She showed us how to prepare and colour the gelatine and then she made snow globes, baubles, flowers and leaves, both wired on the outside and with just a single wire in the middle, bows and fillers. It all looked so impressive. |
| September 2024 |
 |
Our 40th Anniversary meeting didn't go quite to plan as our scheduled demonstrator had to cancel. So we used the time for a club meeting: scheduling the mini-workshops for the rest of the year; planning our Xmas meeting and New Year Dinner; and lots more. Brenda had made us a lovely 40th Anniversary cake (see picture) which went down very well with our cuppa. |
| August 2024 | No meeting this month. Instead we had our Summer Bash which had added significance as it was the 40th Anniversary of our club! Many of our members gathered for lunch at Poplar Nursery, Marks Tey, to celebrate this wonderful milestone. A photo can been seen on our homepage. |
| July 2024 |
 |
It was Jo Dear's first visit to us and she came all the way from Maidstone. Jo showed us how to make delightful little flower pots. These were placed on a decorative board and we loved the way she did the lettering using sugar sprinkles. We'd never thought of doing that. Each flower pot was different and the whole effect was so pretty. |
| June 2024 |
 |
We were very grateful to Sally Browne for stepping in when our scheduled demonstrator was ill. It is always so nice to welcome Sally to our club. On this visit Sally demonstrated wafer paper flowers. She made carnations, roses, peonies and honesty as well as leaves and calyxes. She showed us how to condition the wafer paper and the various ways that it can be coloured. She also showed us how to make wafer paper glue. |
| May 2024 |
 |
This month's demo was given by one of our members, Jan. Jan showed us how to work with piping gel and demonstrated how to use it to create enamelling effects. She showed us a number of pieces and they were so effective. This was a skill we had never seen demonstrated before and we are sure that we will all have a go. |
| April 2024 |
 |
Our meeting this month began with our AGM. Sue was re-elected as chair and the rest of the committee was elected en-bloc. There was some discussion on how to publicise our club and our membership of NSA. Following the AGM, Sue gave a demonstration on how to make spring gonks. Showing us that gonks aren't just for Christmas! She made a lovely gonk couple which a lucky member won in our raffle. |
| March 2024 |
 |
With our meeting being on Maundy Thursday, we had an Easter-themed workshop. Under the guidance of one of our members, Christine, we all made a creme egg and marshmallow sheep. |
| February 2024 |
 |
This month one of our own members, Brenda Lambert, gave the demonstration. She showed us how to make pansies and colour them so they look very realistic. She also gave us tips on what leaves to put with them to make a nice display. |
| January 2024 |
 |
We started our new year with a new (to us) demonstrator. Alison Henderson had never visited us before but we hope that she will be a regular visitor as we all thoroughly enjoyed her demonstration of baby shoes. She demonstrated two types of shoe/boot which she had perfected to be very straightforward to make. The footwear decoration could be adjusted for any age cake not just babies. |
| November 2023 |
 |
It was party night! The committee provided a lovely buffet for us. We each then made a box a marzipan fruits. When the boxes were tied up with ribbon they looked a real treat. We also had our BIG Christmas raffle, with a lucky brand-new member winning the first prize. |
| October 2023 |
 |
Ruby Buffong, from London, came to our club to give us a demonstration on how to make Halloween mask plaques. She made three different plaques with a central mask but each scarily different with spiders, skulls, bats, skeleton fingers, pumpkins and many other Halloween themed decorations. We now have lots of ideas on how to make our Halloween baking really scary! |
| September 2023 |
 |
Carolyn Harvey of 'Cake Matters' came all the way from Crawley to give us her 'Three Cushion' demonstration. The first cushion (pictured) used patchwork cutters and was suitable for a christening, baby shower or reveal party. The second had a model of a hippo sitting on it and the third was a smock-topped cushion suitable for an engagement, wedding or anniversary cake. Lots of ideas for us to take away! |
| August 2023 |
 |
Our summer meal out! Instead of a meeting, a goodly number of us met up for a meal at The Albert, Colchester. As usual there was lots of fun and chat. |
| July 2023 |
 |
It is always a pleasure to welcome Georgie Godbold to our club — we know we are in for a fun night. Georgie changed her advertised demo to 'a wobbly mouse on a cotton reel'. Georgie showed us how to make a very realistic cotton reel and then demonstrated how to make the lovely cute mouse to sit on top of it. She gave us lots of ideas on how to make buttons, thread, tape measure and other sewing accessories to enhance the model. |
| June 2023 |
 |
Karen Pritchard paid her first visit to us and it was really lovely to welcome her. Karen showed us how to make a 'log cake'. She used moulds to make the bark and tree rings but it is the colouring that makes the effects look so impressive. Karen showed us how she uses an air-brush to give such realistic results. She also showed us how to make some lovely mushrooms to go with it. Again the colouring was key. |
| May 2023 |
 |
It was Eloise Durant's first visit to our club and it was lovely to welcome her. Eloise gave a demonstration of piped flowers on cupcakes. She showed us how to make various flowers including roses, sunflowers, daisies and chrysanthemums, and she demonstrated how to achieve two colour flowers. The 12 cupcakes in a box, which one of our lucky members won in our raffle, looked very impressive. |
| April 2023 |
 |
Our meeting began with our AGM. The current committee members were re-elected with Sue remaining as Chairlady. Then, after the AGM was concluded, one of our members, Brenda Lambert, gave us a demo on how to make lilies. Brenda outlined how she made canna lilies, she doesn't use a cutter or template she just cuts out the shape freehand and they always come out looking lovely. She then showed us how to make the large stargazer lilies which look so striking. |
| March 2023 |
 |
It was really nice to welcome back Sally Browne. Sally gave a demonstration of spring flowers. She covered a wide range of flowers: tulips, daffodils, primroses and bluebells along with their respective buds and leaves. She then put them together in a pretty display. Sally also judged our March competition, which was decorated Easter biscuits. Jan Ferguson took the first prize with Carol Rowe as runner-up. |
| February 2023 |
 |
This month another one of our members, Christine Clark, gave the demonstration. Christine showed us how to make bas-relief decorations/figures — something that we hadn't seen demonstrated before. She outlined how to form the layers that comprise a bas-relief 3-D scene or figure. She showed us how we can use patchwork cutters to create the 3-D effect and also how the layers can be seen in a run-out bas-relief figure. She finished by demonstrating how to create a 3-D toucan figure from modelling paste. |
| January 2023 |
 |
For our first meeting of the new year, one of our own members, Ann Skeggs, gave us a demonstration on how to create cupcake bouquets. Ann described how she had made the buttercream and pointed out the different nozzles she was using to create the flowers and leaves. She showed us two different arrangements. The first had just roses as the flower but she incorporated chocolate lovehearts, which Ann had made herself, into the arrangement. The second bouquet had a variety of flowers in different colours and shapes. We all agreed that both bouquets were very pretty and would be a lovely present for someone. |
| November 2022 |
 |
It was Christmas Party Night for us! The committee put on a lovely buffet and drinks with which we started our meeting. Georgie Godbold, who is always so entertaining, showed us how to make a 'wobbly sprout'. She also found time to show us how to make a 'mince pie wobbly' too. The members then judged our Christmas cake competition. Hannah Justice won the Novice section, Carol Rowe won the Intermediate section and Christine Clark took the Advanced prize. We then had our monster Christmas raffle. Georgie won the star prize of a fantastic hamper. All other prizes were wrapped so were surprises for the lucky winners. |
| October 2022 |
 |
Jan Chandler, from Chelmsford Sugarcraft, gave us a demo entitled 'Chocolate Bombs' but in fact she showed us not only how to make chocolate bombs but chocolate baubles filled with milkshake and a chocolate handbag. She also brought lots of other shapes she had made and showed us the many moulds that she had. We didn't realize that there were so many different types of chocolate that can be used with the moulds. Our hall had a lovely chocolate smell! |
| September 2022 |
 |
We were grateful to Estelle Mann for filling in at rather short notice. Estelle showed us how to use the patchwork church window cutter and the four different seasons flower corner cutter. Estelle used the autumn cutter and colours and it was very effective. |
| August 2022 |
 |
As we have no meeting in August, we had a summer meal at The Queen's Head, West Bergholt instead. As you can see from the photo, we had a lovely meal with lots of fun and chat. |
| July 2022 |
 |
It was really nice to welcome Linda Garnham back to our club. She has given us so many wonderful demonstrations in the past and the one she gave this month was no exception. Linda demonstrated a very sweet ballerina model sitting on a cake which we all found delightful. One lucky member got to keep the model and cake as Linda donated it to our raffle. |
| June 2022 |
 |
Our Chairlady, Sue, gave our demo this month. Sue showed us how to make edible lace. She demonstrated using different types of edible lace paste products and even one she had made herself. She had a number of lace mats to show us and we all had a go at getting the dried lace off some mats. The resulting edible lace was very impressive. |
| May 2022 |
 |
This month we had our Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration Party, and what a great evening it was! We started with a buffet, provided by the committee, followed by a toast to Her Majesty with a nice glass of bubbly. We then had some fun and games; we had a team Royal Bingo Session, we then had a team competition to sort photos of The Queen into chronological order. Dawn Rose won the Pin the Tail on the Corgi competition and Ann Carey won the Royal Quiz which Anne Reynolds had set for us. We also had a decorated plaque competition, which was judged by the members — the standard of entries was very high (see our competitions page) — with Carol Rowe's entry being judged the best. |
| April 2022 |
 |
The meeting started with our AGM, which was a bit different this year as
due to unforeseen events none of the officers could attend. Luckily all
committee members were willing to re-stand and were duely elected. All
reports had been sent out prior to the meeting and were accepted by the
members. Anne Reynolds then demonstrated how the make a lovely magnolia in Air-drying Clay. We are lucky to have such a talented flower maker in our club. |
| March 2022 |
 |
It was very nice to welcome Samantha Brown to our club for the first time. She travelled all the way from London to be with us. Sammantha showed us how to create a sleeping model, all wrapped in lovely drapes. We were all intrigued as to how Samantha made the model's hair, very simple but very effective. |
| February 2022 |
 |
One of our own members, Brenda Lambert, gave us a lovely demonstration on how to make a rose-shaped Easter egg. She did a display using one cream egg, a number of mini-eggs and chocolate sugarpaste leaves and it looked quite stunning. A lovely Easter present for anyone. We had a very relaxed chatty evening, we were all happy to be back together in our hall. |
| January 2022 |
 |
Estelle Mann filled in at the last minute to give us a Valentine themed demonstration by Zoom. We were very grateful to her. Estelle showed us three rose making methods in each of chocolate paste, marzipan and sugarpaste. She showed how they can be dusted to give really stunning effects. We were all taken by the lovely baskets she made too. |
| November 2021 |
 |
It was Christmas Party Night for us! We began with seasonal party food supplied by our committee. Then we had a 'snowman drive', our take on a beetle drive, which was won by Dawn Rose. Anne Reynolds set us a foodie quiz from which we all learned something as no-one got full marks; the winner was Carol Rowe. Members then voted in the Christmas cake competition. Choosing in each category was difficult as all the entries were really lovely. Finally we had our big secret raffle; members had been really generous in giving prizes and wrapping them so nicely. |
| October 2021 |
 |
We were really grateful to Liz Ungless who stepped in at short notice as our demonstrator. Liz showed us how to make very realistic hydrangeas, complete with caterpillar-nibbled and -holed leaves! She showed us how adapt the flower to make the numerous varieties of hydrangea that are popular. |
| September 2021 |
 |
We are back! It was so nice to get together again in person. Our meeting started with a welcome-back party of food and drink brought by our committee. Then we settled back for a lovely demonstration by Georgie Godbold. She showed us how to make a standing, 'wobbly', good witch in lovely mauve colours. One of our lucky members won the model in our raffle. |
| July 2021 | Sorry, no picture | In what we hope will be our last Zoom demonstration, Liz Ungless gave us a master class in royal icing cookies. She took us through how to make and prepare the icing as well as giving us some great ideas for decorating them. She also showed us how to make some lovely royal icing flowers. |
| June 2021 |
 |
This month our Zoom demonstration was given by one of our members, Anne Reynolds. Anne gave us a very interesting demonstration on Air-Drying Clay, a new medium to most of our members. Anne showed us that large flower arrangements can easily be made and they don't break! She made a lovely Stargazy Lily spray and gave us lots of useful information. |
| May 2021 |
 |
We were delighted to have Hannah Collison, of Inspired Creations, demonstrate, by Zoom, how to make a Fault Line cake. Hannah showed us how to make a variety of buttercream flowers as well as how to construct and coat the cake. The resulting cake was really beautiful. Hannah gave us many tips and pointed out pitfalls that could catch us out. |
| April 2021 |
 |
This meeting started with our AGM. Our current chairlady, Sue, was re-elected along with all of the last year's committee. There was a short discussion and then Sue demonstrated a mini cake based on a sewing theme. The cake was in the form of a bobbin and it looked so effective. She also showed us how to make sewing accessories. |
| March 2021 |
 |
We were all really taken by the lovely model faces that Christina Georgiou demonstrated to us by Zoom. She showed us many expressions that can be achieved and we will all be using her 'tadpole' method for eyebrows etc. in future. She gave us lots of other tips on how to get the right skin tone and cheek colour and we were so impressed with how she achieved different hairstyles so easily. |
| February 2021 |
 |
Our Treasurer Christine demonstrated by Zoom how to make a funny bunny model using a creme egg. A few members made one along with her so there were a few bunnies made. She also showed some of the other 'creme egg characters' she has created. The sheep with marshmallow wool and the mother hen were well received. |
| January 2021 |
  |
Barry Fermor, of Unthinkable Cakes, gave us a lovely demonstration by zoom. His camera set up was really good so that we got two views of him working on the pieces. We were all really taken by his lovely 'brick' characters which we all agreed would be suitable for an adult cake as well as for children. |
| November 2020 - AGM and Christmas Party | We finally had our, much belated, AGM. Sue was re-elected as Chairlady and all the rest of the current committee were also re-elected. We then had our Christmas Social event. Members had a glass of their favourite tipple to hand and Anne set us a food-themed quiz which was great fun! Who knew how many calories there were in a Big Mac? Well Sue obviously did as she won with a magnificent 24 points out of 30. We had a nice chat before signing off Zoom. |
| October 2020 |
 |
Our scheduled professional demonstrator for this month had to cancel, so we arranged for one of our members to go to Christine's house (a member who has a camera set-up) and do a demo. Then we went into Tier 2 so no mixing of households! Fortunately, Christine was able to do a demo at short notice. Christine give a demonstration of cocoa butter painting. She did an 'illuminated letter' C and showed how effective this can be and how quickly a good result can be obtained. |
| September 2020 | Picture to come | Sarah Thomas of The Cupcake Oven made her debut with us on a Zoom meeting. Sarah demonstrated her lovely bauble cakes. She showed us how to form them and then she decorated each one differently giving us lots of ideas. They are perfect for lots of occasions though I think many will be made by our members for Christmas. |
| August 2020 |
 |
We don't usually have a meeting in August but as we have missed a couple of sessions and we couldn't have our usual Summer Bash, we thought that we would have one — by Zoom of course. Christine showed us three methods of making lavender. The first is a good lockdown project as it takes a lot of patience but can give very good results. The second method is much faster using a pointed petal flower cutter. The final method is very quick and can be useful for a filler flower. |
| July 2020 |
 |
We were very grateful to Justine Talbot for doing our first zoom meeting with a 'professional' demonstrator. Justine showed us how to make a very elegant high-heeled shoe. It is probably the nearest we will get to having a Louboutin style shoe. A lovely idea for a lady's cake. |
| June 2020 |
 |
Our first meeting by zoom! It was really nice to catch up with everyone and hear their news. Christine gave a demo on how to make a cute pig model. Instructions had been emailed out beforehand and a number of members made the model along with her, so lots of cute pigs were made. |
| March, April, May 2020 | Unfortunately, there were no meetings due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The committee worked hard to keep in touch with members and investigated online meetings. |
| February 2020 |
 |
We sugarcrafters like to see trends in fresh flower displays so that we can be inspired for our sugarcraft flower arrangements. So every couple of years we invite a florist to come and give us a demonstration. Our invited florist this time was Georgina Daley, who works locally, and was new to us. She worked on a spring theme and showed us how to arrange a welcoming door wreath and make a very dainty arrangement in a small teacup, so pretty. |
| January 2020 |
 |
Graeme Weare from the Outrageous Cake Company kicked off our new decade with a demonstration on how to make chocolate roses and leaves. He showed us an ingenious method for making very effective leaves and the roses are actually quite easy to make, but you have to be patient in letting the shapes dry sufficiently. |
| November 2019 |
 |
The November meeting is our party night with lots of lovely food brought by our members. We had a 'blindfold challenge' which Linda and Loretta won and our 'bitch raffle' which created lots of laughter. We also had our Christmas cake competition for which the standard was very high especially among the Novices. |
| October 2019 |
 |
Justine Talbot braved a long Halloween Night drive to be with us; and it was lovely to see her again. Justine showed us how to make a quite stunning large poinsettia, holly, and fern spray from cold porcelain. Cold porcelain isn't a material that many of us have worked with, so it was good to see how to use it so effectively. Justine gave lots of advice on how to avoid any pitfalls. |
| September 2019 |
 |
It was lovely to be able to welcome Linda Garnham back to our club. Linda showed us how to make her exquisite pastillage boxes. She gave us her pastillage paste recipe and she had so many ideas on how to make the boxes look really special. |
| August 2019 |
 |
Our summer bash this year was a Tea Party organized by our Chairlady, Sue, and held at her home. It was a lovely afternoon. The sun shone and the food was fabulous. Many thanks, Sue. |
| July 2019 |
 |
This month Graeme Weare of the Outrageous Cake Company came to show us how to do brush embroidery. He showed us how to prepare designs and transfer them to the cake or to use embossers to give outlines. He then impressed us by putting a design onto a cake freehand! The result is really so effective. |
| June 2019 |
 |
Unfortunately, our scheduled demonstrator, Glenda, was unable to come. We wish her well and hope to see her again soon. Fortunately, Liz Ungless was able to step in at the last minute. We are very grateful to Liz. Liz gave a really interesting demonstration on how to make anthuriums and lupins. They were really stunning. She introduced us to a new type of paste too and gave lots of advise on flower making. |
| May 2019 |
 |
We were very pleased to welcome back Barry Fermor to our club. He showed us how to make a robot using a wire frame. He gave us very detailed instructions on how best to wire the figure and make it stable. He also had some great tips on getting even amounts of paste for arms/legs etc. He demonstrated a really good way of doing hands, which we often find difficult. |
| April 2019 |
 |
Our meeting began with our AGM. Sue Albins was re-elected as Chairlady and the Committee was elected. Following the AGM, Anne Reynolds, one of our members showed us how to make a large rose. She demonstrated how to make the petals curl so realistically. |
| March 2019 |
 |
It was a while since we had seen Carolyn Harvey but it was lovely to welcome her back. She hadn't forgotten the awful traffic problems she had when she visited us last time! Carolyn showed us five Easter-themed ideas based on models and decorated cupcakes. We all loved her child in an Easter fancy-dress costume. She also had some good tips on making daffodils in royal icing and how to make realistic hands. |
| February 2019 |
 |
While we were very happy to have Georgie Godbold as our demonstrator this month, it was tinged with sadness as it was her first demonstration to us without Beryl Puffett, who passed away recently. They had been such a delightful double act. Georgie showed us how to make a lovely standing figure with such pretty curly hair. |
| January 2019 |
 |
We all braved the freezing weather for our first meeting of the new year. Graeme and Tina Weare from the Outrageous Cake Company came to tell us about chocolate modelling paste. Tina made two model dogs, a Labrador and a dachshund. The later at the special request from one our members who currently has 6 dachshund puppies! |
| November 2018 |
 |
We had our Christmas party this month. We had lovely food, provided by the members, followed by a 'cake drive' (our version of a beetle drive). As usual for this month we had our Christmas cake competition with lots of lovely entries. Lorraine then ran a 'bitch raffle' which was an absolute hoot, we all had a really good laugh. |
| October 2018 |
 |
Wendy Wright made her first visit to us and she came a very long way to do so. We are very grateful to her for her effort. Wendy showed us how to use wafer paper (not rice paper) to make various decorations. She made a lovely poinsettia arrangement which she donated to our raffle. |
| September 2018 |
 |
Linda Garnham made a welcome return visit to us. Many of us make Christmas cakes for charity events, which are usually held in November, so we need to make Christmas cakes well in advance. Hence it was good to have some new, early ideas and Linda certainly gave us a different take with her lovely Santa sculpture. |
| August 2018 - Summer Bash | Our summer bash venue this year was The Princess Charlotte, Stanway where a number of us met up on 23rd August for a nice meal. The ice cream cones for dessert where quite a hit, pity we forgot to take a photo of us all eating them! |
| July 2018 |
 |
It was Barry Fermor's first visit to us and he made a big impact with his 'Gravity water feature'. Really amazing. He explained his methods clearly and talked about his life in sugarcraft. He also coped with the heat of the evening really well. |
| June 2018 |
 |
Glenda Price was asked to return to give her 'One Cutter Wonder' demonstration. Using just a rose and calyx cutter she showed us how to make a rose, two types of orchid, stephanotis, sweet pea, pansy and eucalyptus. Each flower had a bud and an immature flower to go with it. Glenda then wired up a lovey spray with some of the flowers. It just goes to show that you don't need a lot of equipment to produce stunning results. |
| May 2018 |
 |
It has been a while since we last had the pleasure of welcoming Frances McNaughton to our club; it was lovely to see her again. Frances showed us how to make an exquisite fairy. She had such good tips on how to make the model so striking. We were all amazed at the result. |
| April 2018 |
 |
The meeting started with our AGM. Sue was re-elected as
Chairlady. Kimberley stepped down from the Committee but Brenda Lambert
joined. The other Committee members were re-elected. Anne Reynolds then gave a demonstration on how to make stock. It's a job that needs patience but the result was really good. She also showed us how to use roses and gypsophila as filler flowers. |
| March 2018 |
 |
It was very nice to welcome back Liz Ungless. Liz showed us how to make very striking hibiscus flowers. She also showed us how to make simple orchids as filler flowers which would go very nicely in any flower spray. |
| February 2018 |
 |
We were extremely grateful to Justine Talbot for stepping in at the last moment when our scheduled demonstrator was unable to come. She hadn't been to us before and she came a good distance too. Justine showed us how to make a stunning waterlily. We particularly liked the way she dusted it to bring the flower to life. |
| January 2018 |
 |
Anuradha Bhogaita made her first visit to our club and gave a demonstration on how to make a lovely orchid. She explained the process very clearly and had some really nice visual aids to help us to see the components of the flower. She had some good tips on inserting a wire and making our own veiners too. |
| November 2017 |
 |
It was party time this meeting. We had a cupcake challenge, where we all decorated a cupcake using limited material and equipment. We had a quiz and a drawing competition with a difference. All great fun! The food, brought by the members, was lovely. The Christmas cake competition was well supported and there were beautiful cakes in all categories. We finished with our raffle (see picture). To make it feel more Christmassy, it was snowing when we left! |
| October 2017 |
 |
It was a delight to welcome back Georgie Godbold and Beryl Puffett. They always give a very entertaining demo with lots of laughter. Georgie made a cute wobbly mince pie fairy and Beryl made some sea holly. Beryl showed us the pitfalls of some methods to make sea holly and come up with her own unique method. |
| September 2017 |
 |
Glenda Price was due to come to us in June but she was ill. So it was good to have her back with us restored to good health. She gave a demo on an autumn theme. She showed us a new way to make pine cones as well as blackberries, rose hips, honesty and old-man's beard. She also showed us a quick way to make acorns. She made autumn leaves and then produced a lovely arrangement with what she had made. |
| August 2017 - Summer Bash | A number of us met up at The Harvester, Stanway on 23rd August for a nice meal with lots of good chat. |
| July 2017 |
 |
We were really delighted to welcome Debbie Brown for her first visit to our club. She gave a fantastic demonstration on how to make a model spaniel cake. We all fell in love with her creation, which was so cute. One lucky member did get to take the model home as Debbie donated the cake to our raffle, we wonder if she will have the heart to cut it. |
| June 2017 |
 |
Unfortunately our scheduled demonstrator was ill but Estelle Man stood in at very short notice and gave us a demonstration on snow globes. Her snow globes were really wonderful. We were all taken by them and went away wanting to have a go at making them. |
| May 2017 | For only the second time ever, our demonstrator failed to come. We took the opportunity to discuss how the NSA AGM, which we hosted last Saturday, had gone and talked about the issues raised there. |
| April 2017 |
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Our meeting started with our AGM. Sue was re-elected as Chairlady and all
the existing committee members were re-elected. Tosin was also elected as
a new committee member. There was quite a lot of discussion on the future
of the club. After the AGM Christine ran a little workshop where we all had a go at making a cute little sugarpaste dog. |
| March 2017 |
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We were very pleased to welcome Claire Webb to our club for the first time. Claire gave a demonstration on how to make magnolia flowers and Japanese painted ferns. The results were stunning and we were all very impressed with her use of colour to make the pieces look so realistic. Claire also judged our March competition of shortbread. |
| February 2017 |
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This month we were delighted to welcome, for the first time, Dawn Blunden to our club. Dawn is a cake-maker to royalty: she made Prince Charles's and Camilla's wedding cake and has a number of celebreties as clients. Dawn braved storm Doris to get to us and she gave a very entertaining demonstration on how to make fabulous boots. |
| January 2017 |
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We started 2017 with a demonstration by Tina Weare from the Outrageous Cake Company. Tina showed us how to make a hunky fireman model. She gave lots of insights in to how to make the model look special and had lots of tips on making realistic faces. |
| November 2016 |
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This being our last meeting of the year, we welcomed back Brenda Eyers to show us how to create lovely Christmas flower arrangements. This was followed by our Christmas party. We had lovely food, supplied by members, and Christine set us a tricky quiz. We had an extra-special celebration for Stella's 90th birthday: Malyn made a delicious chocolate birthday cake. Our Christmas cake competition was also judged by our members and we had a large 'secret raffle'. A good time was had by all. |
| October 2016 |
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It is always nice to be able to welcome back Graham Weare from the Outrageous Cake Company. Graeme showed us how to make swags, tails, bows, frills and so much more. He demonstrated how to use these elements to produce modern trends in cake decorating, designs we hadn't thought of. |
| September 2016 |
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Georgie Godbold and Beryl Puffett were very welcome demonstrators this month. Georgie showed us how to make a delightful standing wobbly fairy. This model was on a decorated box which could be removed from the cake and kept as a memento. Beryl showed us how to make a lovely passion flower. She kept it as simple as she could and didn't use specialised cutters. |
| August 2016 - Summer Bash | A very goodly number of us had a lovely evening at The Harvester, Stanway on 25th August. Lots of laughter, good conversation, nice food and good service. We were having such a good time we forgot to take a photo! |
| July 2016 |
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A good friend of our club, Glenda Price, gave our July demonstration. Glenda is so full of good ideas and uses techniques that don't need a lot of equipment. This month she showed us how to make lovely fairies/angels, babies and a dove. |
| June 2016 | For the first time ever our demonstrator forgot to come! So we had a more social evening with a general discussion and questions/answers on sugarcraft. Brenda Parker set us a little quiz too. Hence, after our worry and frantic phone calling at the start in the end it turned out to be a nice evening. |
| May 2016 |
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Cheryl Brighty of Artistry in Cocoa made her first visit to us. She talked about cocoa and chocolate in general and showed us how to temper and work with chocolate. It can be messy but she showed us how we could make some impressive pieces easily. |
| April 2016 |
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Our meeting started with our AGM which showed that we had a very successful year. Sue Fleming and Anita Rafferty joined the committee while Sue was re-elected as Chairlady. After the AGM conclusion Malyn demonstrated two spring flowers, pretty pansies and violas, while Stella demonstrated how to make lovely filler flowers without cutters. |
| March 2016 |
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It was lovely to welcome back Jacqui Kelly who gave a superb demonstration on cupcake decoration. She gave us lots of ideas as well as hints and tips to make our cupcakes look really special. We also thank her for judging our March challenge, a chocolate cake. |
| February 2016 |
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We were delighted to welcome for the first time to our club Celanie (Sally) Browne. Sally is expert in making exotic flowers and she brought some of her work to show us. She then demonstrated how to make a Bat Lily, a very strange flower with lots of elements to it. Sally had lots of tips on flower-making in general too. |
| January 2016 |
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Every so often we like to have demonstrations of trends in fresh flower arranging to inspire our sugarcraft flower arrangements. It was Brenda Eyers' first visit to our club and she gave a demonstration of arrangements with a Valentine theme. She produced five stunning arrangements which she donated to our raffle, so some lucky members got to take them home! |
| November 2015 |
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One of our members, Brenda Lambert, gave us a demonstration on Christmas stencilling. She showed us how we could produce lovely last-minute decorations quickly using stencils. After the demonstration we had our Christmas party with lots of lovely food — provided by our members — music and chat. Brenda Parker set us a Christmas quiz which was a lot of fun — who knew that Jingle Bells was a Thanksgiving song?! |
| October 2015 |
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Georgie Godbold and Beryl Puffett gave a very good and very entertaining demonstration — they had us in stitches of laughter. Georgie made a delightful Christmas mouse and Beryl made some lovely poppies. |
| September 2015 |
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We were very pleased to welcome back Graham Weare from the Outrageous Cake Company, who showed us how to do pressure piping. He completed a lovely plaque in just an hour, showing us that it doesn't have to be a long job if tackled correctly. Graham said that he finds pressure piping a relaxing task and we could appreciate why that was the case. |
| August 2015 |
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This year we held our Summer Bash at Roman Circus House. Adrian Clark was on hand to show members around the outside artefacts and answer any questions. Members could then look around the inside exhibits. The delicious, and plentiful, buffet was supplied by Sarah who is in charge of the cafe there. We had a short fun quiz on cakes and Roman Colchester and three teams shared the winning glory. |
| July 2015 |
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Glenda Price, always a very welcome visitor to our club, showed us how to make full-sized flowers. Using techniques she has developed herself, she showed us how to make lovely full-sized carnations, cosmos and shasta daisies. |
| June 2015 |
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It was Tina Weare's first ever sugarcraft demonstration and what a delightful demonstrator she turned out to be. Tina is well known for her sugarcraft modelling work at the Outrageous Cake Company and she showed us how to make a lovely glamorous, Ascot, lady. |
| May 2015 |
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It is always lovely to welcome Fay Barrett back to our club. Fay showed us how to make a beautiful clematis spray. She captured the wispiness and flow of the plant so well. |
| April 2015 |
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The meeting started with our AGM. Sue Albins was re-elected as our
Chairlady. The current Committee was also re-elected.
After the AGM there were three 20 minute demonstrations:
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| March 2015 |
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We were very grateful to Helen Cruickshank for giving a demonstration at short notice. Helen demonstrated how to create lovely flower and leaf patterns using polymer clay. She showed us how these can be used to create jewellery and to cover items such as spoon handles. There was also a quick demonstration on how polymer clay can be used to create models, here a sweet little teddy was made. |
| February 2015 |
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Liz Ungless made her first visit to us and showed us how to make beautiful nasturtiums. She made a lovely bouquet of them as a raffle prize. She also described how we can make our own veiners cheaply and easily. |
| January 2015 | Our year did not have the start we would have liked. For the first time ever we had to cancel our meeting as the heating in the hall broke down. None of the other nearby halls were available and we couldn't get another venue at such short notice. Apologies to everyone. |
| November 2014 |
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We had three in-house demos at our November party meeting.
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| October 2014 |
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Fay Barrett showed us how to make lovely poppies along with buds and seed heads. With Remembrance Sunday coming up and the WW1 centenary commemorations this was a very timely demonstration. Fay travelled a long distance to be with us and we are very grateful for all her efforts. |
| September 2014 |
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It is always nice to have Georgie and Beryl with us. Georgie showed us how to make a spooky wobbly witch for Halloween and Beryl demonstrated how to make Chinese lanterns and honesty. |
| August 2014 - Garden party | Although the weather was dry, it was a bit too chilly to sit outside. However, we all had a nice time with very good conversation (the events at the Great British Bake Off was a hot topic) and nice food, which the members brought to share. There was also a raffle with lots of prizes. Many thanks to Anne Reynolds for her hospitality and for providing the drinks. |
| July 2014 |
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Graham Weare, of The Outrageous Cake Company, made his first visit to us this month. Graham demonstrated brush embroidery. He told us how to form our designs and transfer them to a plaque or cake as well as telling us what sort of icing to use and how to build up a striking picture. Graham produced a lovely, contemporary, designed plaque as demonstration. |
| June 2014 |
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Glenda Price gave a very good demonstration, full of hints and tips, and delighted us with her final product of a beautiful head dress and posy. Really stunning! |
| May 2014 |
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Jacqui Kelly visited our club for the first time and proved to be a delightful demonstrator, so enthusiastic about her art. She not only demonstrated how to model in chocolate but also showed us how to make the various chocolate pastes and gave lots of advice and tips on how to overcome any problems. |
| April 2014 |
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The meeting started with our AGM. Sue Albins was elected as our new
Chairlady. Flowers and a gift were given to our outgoing Chairlady, Anne
Reynolds, in thanks for her many years of service to the club.
After the AGM there were three demonstrations;
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| March 2014 |
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Fay Barrett showed us how to make beautiful Ladies shoes. These were about one third full size and were very striking. She had so many ideas for different designs and demonstrated a lot of fancy ornamentation for them. |
| February 2014 |
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Our chairlady, Anne, showed us how to make various filler foliages including fern, maidenhair fern and string of pearls. She also showed us how to make some flowers such as lily-of-the-valley, pelagonium, fantasy orchids, and akebia that can be used as a main or filler flower. |
| January 2014 |
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Georgie showed us a new aspect of her 'wobbly' modelling with a ballerina bunny standing on one leg. While the model looks very delicate, she showed us how to make it stable and robust. Beryl demonstrated how to make a lovely bougainvillaea spray. This isn't a flower we had seen modelled before and was of great interest to us all. |
| November 2013 |
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We had three mini demonstrations at our November party meeting.
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| October 2013 |
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We were extremely grateful to Glenda Price for stepping in, at short notice, to replace our scheduled demonstrator who was ill. Glenda showed us how to make Christmas flowers. Firstly she demonstrated a lovely poinsettia and then a beautiful Christmas rose and seasonal foliage bouquet. As always, she gave us lots of hints and tips as she went along. |
| September 2013 |
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Ann Fox, a new demonstrator for us, showed us how to make lovely autumn poppies and wheat stalks. We all thought that this would be very appropriate for a gentleman's cake. |
| July 2013 |
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Anne, Jenny and Stella led a workshop on how to make the lovely tulips Glenda Price demonstrated to us last month. Members were helped to produce some very nice work. |
| June 2013 |
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We always look forward to having Glenda Price as our demonstrator. This time she showed us how to make lovely tulips. She also demonstrated other flowers and, as always, gave us lots of tips and hints and showed us how to make the most of what cutters/equipment we have. |
| May 2013 |
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Chris Kerrigan came all the way from Sheffield to demonstrate rice paper decorations. She made some lovely pieces, including some beautiful flowers, and she inspired us to have a go ourselves. |
| April 2013 |
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The meeting began with our AGM. After the business, our chairwoman, Anne Reynolds, demonstrated how to make lovely camellias. |
| March 2013 |
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We were delighted to welcome back, the highly entertaining, Peter Ward who showed us how to cover and decorate gateaux sponges. What's more we all got to sample the lovely gateaux with our cup of tea/coffee, delicious! |
| February 2013 |
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Creating a 'wonky' cake had seemed to be quite daunting to most of us but Alison Lane showed us how easily it can be achieved. Her instructions were so clever, we all felt that we could have a go and get a good result. Alison gave us lots of ideas on how to decorate the cake using cutters and moulds and she finished off by showing us how to make a delightful teddy. |
| January 2013 | Sorry no picture | Due to traffic problems on the M25, Carolyn Harvey arrived late. However, she was not flustered and we were really impressed how quickly she got herself organized and she gave a fantastic demonstration of handbags without cutters. |
| November 2012 |
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It is always lovely to welcome back Georgie Godbold and Beryl Puffett. Georgie showed us how to make a delightful Rudolph complete with sleigh, presents and trees. Beryl demonstrated an elegant Christmas floral display with stencilled greeting. |
| October 2012 |
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We were delighted to welcome back Deborah Buckles who demonstrated contemporary flower arranging. She did seven stunning arrangements with Christmas and Halloween themes. As she worked on her arrangements she also entertained us with tales from the time when she owned a florist shop. |
| September 2012 |
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As a change to our normal demonstrations Cicely Kentish Sawyer, one of our members, gave us a cookery class on Caribbean savouries. Our hall was filled with lovely spicey aromas as she prepared the food. She introduced us to new ways of combining flavours and cooking the perfect rice. Best of all, we all got a good helping of her delicious food! |
| August 2012 - Garden party | We weren't very lucky with the weather again and we had to have an indoor party. However, we all had a nice time with very good conversation and excellent food, which the members brought to share. There was also a raffle with lots of prizes. Many thanks to Anne Reynolds for letting us invade her home and for providing the drinks. |
| July 2012 |
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Sylvia Kidby travelled a long distance to give us a demonstration on how to make beautiful lisianthus and aquilegias. She gave us lots of hints and tips during the evening and described everything in detail for the benefit of our new members. |
| June 2012 |
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It is always a pleasure to welcome back Glenda Price. By creating a lovely teddy bear cake she demonstrated how to ice a sponge cake. She gave lots of hints and tips along the way and we all learned a lot. She also made a cute little sugarpaste teddy model. |
| May 2012 |
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Unfortunately our scheduled demonstrator took ill at the last minute. However, Anne Reynolds and Malyn Stone swung into action and managed to save the day. Malyn gave a demonstration on how to make a very nice rose and Anne showed us how to make lovely anemones. |
| April 2012 |
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After our AGM, we had a stencilling workshop. Anne, Barbara, Jenny and Beryl gave demonstrations to small groups of members and then helped them to have a go. A lot of members found that stencilling is strangely therapeutic and we came away with some nice pieces. |
| March 2012 |
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We were delighted to welcome back Stephen Orbell who gave us a very good demonstration on creative stencilling. He gave us a lot of useful tips and we were very impressed with the pieces he made. Stencils can be bought from Lindys Cakes Stencils and Laser Cutting Services |
| February 2012 |
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Peter Ward gaves us a very entertaining demonstration on modelling with marzipan. He amazed us as he made two types of dog, an elephant, a frog, a bear, a lion, a bird, a mouse, a cow, a chimpanzee, a donkey, a rabbit and a dragon in 1½ hours! |
| January 2012 - Foliage |
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Our chairman, Anne Reynolds, showed a wide range of foliage and filler flowers and ways to use them in arrangements. She demonstrated a few of her favourites including akebia, string of pearls and succulents |
| November 2011 - Ideas for Christmas workshop |
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Members made an amaryllis to go into a seasonal arrangement. |
| October 2011 - Ideas for Christmas |
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Anne, Malyn and Stella demonstrated some seasonal ideas including a seasonal amaryllis, poinsettia, holly and ivy. Next month members will be able to make the amaryllis. |
| September 2011 - My Wobblies |
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Georgie Godbold gave a demonstration on her `wobblies' making a `wobby' rabbit. She also shared ideas for other `wobblies'. |
| August 2011 - Garden party | The weather wasn't too kind to us so we had to go indoors but that didn't dampen our spirits and a good time was had by all. |
| July 2011 - Briar rose workshop |
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The members had a chance to make the briar rose demonstrated last month. Members were supervised by the more experienced members of the club. |
| June 2011 - Briar roses and honeysuckle | Sorry no picture |
Glenda Price demonstrated a beautiful spray of briar roses,
honeysuckle and sweet peas. Lots of tips were also given, such as:
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| May 2011 - FMM |
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Carol Haycox gave a very good demonstration on how some FMM products should be used. Lots of members had a go with the products especially the daisy cutter which is often problematic but Carol had the answer. |
| April 2011 - AGM and demonstrations |
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The AGM was held. This was followed by three
demonstrations. Mayln demonstrated some fun ways to decorate biscuits. Janet did a lovely royal icing demonstration and Anne demonstrated the ever popular rose which she does so well. |
| March 2011 - Spring flowers |
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Janet Carpenter demonstrated spring flowers using cold porcelain. It was good to see the use of more unusual media for flowers. |
| February 2011 - Flower arranging |
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The club likes to have a bit of variation and this month Deborah Buckles gave us a wonderful modern twist on how to arrange fresh flowers. |
| January 2011 - Patchwork cutters |
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Stella demonstrated the use of Patchwork Cutters as embossers and then showed how they should be painted. Members where then able to choose from a selection of ready dried embossed plaques and then decorate them as they liked. |
| November 2010 - Ideas for Christmas |
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Linda Garnham demonstrated a season flower spray with a gerbera and mixed foliage. |
| October 2010 - Truffles and marzipan fruits |
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Anne gave a superb demonstration on how to make some delicious truffles; which we all got to sample! She then demonstrated how to make marzipan fruits and we had a go at making them. |
| September 2010 - Shoes |
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Frances McNaughton demonstrated how to make tiny shoes. Frances sold items after the demonstration so that we could all have a go at making the shoes at home. |
| August 2010 - Garden party | The weather was very poor so we were inside but that didn't spoil the evening. The food, drink and company were very good. |
| July 2010 - See and do: open rose |
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The open rose, created by Glenda Price, back June was demonstrated again for us by club members allowing us to see more clearly how to assemble the flower and ask questions. We then had a go at making rose buds and small single-stemmed roses. |
| June 2010 - Back to basics: rose cake with garrett frill |
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Glenda Price's demonstration was very informative with basic skills aimed at our less experience members. However, having said that with her hints and tips everyone learnt a little something extra. The open rose she made was very well received. |
| May 2010 - Trinket boxes | Sorry no picture | Anne Brooker demonstrated making small trinket boxes and side panel decorations from pastillage and petal paste. She gave lots of inspiration and top tips including making glue. Rather than throw away excess bits of sugar or petal paste, instead put them in some water in a small container and let them dissolve. The result can then be used as a glue. |