Cards and Cthulhu and Cake (oh my!)

Hey Cheeky,
This could possibly be a very long, pic heavy post. That’s why it’s late, because I have far too many photos to share. But oh well, hopefully you will like them all.

Cake
First of all - Chocolate cake. I have a friend overseas that has a birthday on 25th May. Since I can’t physically make her a cake to give to her, we have this tradition where I make a fancy chocolate cake and then video my parents and I singing her happy birthday and trying the cake. This year she asked for mud cake and the recipe I found is the yummiest mud cake I’ve tried in ages. All too often Mud cakes are just regular chocolate cake, but this one is really tasty. I added chocolate ganache made with some dark chocolate and mostly milk chocolate. I was worried the whole thing would be too sweet, but it actually worked out quite well.

I wanted to decorate it, of course, and was tempted to get out the Russian piping tips, but I figured that might be over kill, so I just used white chocolate chips. What do you think? 

The icing had looked so beautiful, and then when I was putting the choc chips on I ended up smudging something, and then a sink hole developed. Oh well, it was cooked all the way through and it tasted delicious (thanks to the recipe!) so that's all that matters right?

The cake is meant to have a consistency like raw cake mix, but not TASTE raw. That was what it was like, so that's a win. Seriously, try this cake. Sooo very good.

Card
We went to Cowra to visit the Japanese gardens (more on that in another post) and part of the reason we were going was to see my brother for his birthday, which was last week. I had to make him a card, of course, and when I found this stamp set I fluttered my eyelashes and Da bought it for me. I'm glad my dad is appreciative of my geekiness. Random side note - this online store, Dawn Lewis, seems like a great place, and the owner was really helpful.

The stamp is smaller than I anticipated. Cthulu is only about 3cm tall, but that was ok. I had a plan of what I was going to do and I figured I could get it to work.

First I stamped the image over and over on watercolour paper, and heat embossed it with Ranger Detail White embossing paper. Then I added some tempera paint in green and yellow. I've never used Tempera paint before. Not sure exactly what it is. It's kind of like very thin acrylic paint. Anyway, I painted the background and decided it looked ok, so I moved

You can almost see the Cthulhu stamps repeated here, and down below, after I've melted the powder. 

Light wash with the tempera paint

After I added the tempera paint I decided the background was done, so I moved on to colouring in my little Cthulhu for the focal point. I stamped him with Memento Tuxedo black ink, on some white card stock, and coloured him in with a bunch of various alcohol markers (I'll list them in a bit).

 Once I'd done the first one I decided I'd do another one with a balloon, and I figured I liked one a bit more, so put it on a blue background (actually I swiped Memento ink over a bit of card and was happy it matched the card blank I was using). Then I fussy cut it all out, and tried to figure out how to put it on the card.

I cut out a label, and did the same trick of swiping ink to get the blue, and stamped the sentiment. I was kind of happy with it, but not really thrilled, you know? 

What I really wanted was to add some blue enamel dots. Now if I had blue Nuvo drops they would have been perfect, but I don't have them in that colour (I will get them one day!). I was sure I had some stickers though.

I just couldn't bloody find them!

I figured maybe I could do a couple of drops with some kaiser mist, because that sort of things always looks good when I watch people do it on videos.

Yeah, that didn't work. 

I think I sent you this photo with the comment "I just ruined my card". I was so incredibly annoyed. 

I kept at it though, because I was determined to make the damn card for my brother. So I ended up spraying all over it with kaiser mists, buffing it back a bit, and I really liked the way it turned out. 

It made the background images really pop out. The rest of it looked messed up though, so i ended up redoing the whole thing. I stamped it all again, painted it with the same shades of tempera paint, and then added KaiserMists again over the top. 

I blotted some of the excess off with a baby wipe, and ended up with this beautiful, shimmery background. You can't really see in the picture above, but it does have a lovely sparkle. 

Then I redid the focal Cthulhu, and got the (I think) brilliant idea to pop him up on a spring that I got in a magazine kit I don't know how many years ago. 

Overall, even though it took ages to get it all to work and do what I wanted, I am happy with the card. My brother liked it as well, so that's always a bonus! 

I was also going to write about my trip to Cowra, but I will do another entry, maybe to make up for this being late (Sorry love). There will be more photos and possibly even video, if I can upload them. 

Don't worry, I'll make you a letter or something with Cthulhu on it as well. *hugs*

Love Dorky

P.S. - I forgot that I was going to list all the things I used for the card. Since I made the list I may as well tell you, right? 

• Stamp - Kindred Stamps Mystical Cthulhu
• Inks - Versamark, Memendo Tuxedo Black and Memento Bahama Blue
• Embossing Powder - Ranger Super Fine White
• Tempera Paint - Dats Yellow and Green
• Markers - 
• Kaiser Fusion G11 Apple
• Bic Mark It Key Lime & Yellow Blaze
• Sharpie Blue Ice and Yellow
• Twin Marker 67 Pastel Blue
• #coloring B1 and B14
• Target Permenant Markers (These don't have official colours, but I bought a pack of 24 and gave them all names). Turquoise, Yellow, Lime and Sky
• Mists - Kaiser Mists Apple, Denim and Yellow
• Nuvo Crystal Drops - Morning Dew
• Canson XL Watercolour Paper
• Baby Wipes
• Double Sided Tape, Foam Tape and Tape Runner
• Spring