December stock part 3

More December stock part 2

Here are the ones I made today.

Zebra

More December Stock

I've been working like a Toy Elf, and I've been loving it. Here are some of the new goodies that I've made. I made a stack more today but they can have their own blog post tomorrow.
For anyone living in Durban, South Africa - I'll be selling these goodies at the I Heart Market on Saturday. Checkout their blog for more details and other stallholders. http://www.ihearmarket.blogspot.com/
For people overseas, you can order from me.

Christmas Stockings

Santa

Audrey Hepburn Inspired Ragdoll - Tiffany

Polar Bear

And I sold my Zombie Bride the other day. Her dress was an absolute one of a kind so I thought I'd never be able to make another one like her. But I made a new wedding dress from scratch, I'm kind of proud of it.

Candyland Christmas

So for the festive season I decided to put my spin on Christmas goodies. My theme for the season is 'Candyland Christmas' with gingerbread men and Candyland ragdolls.

I sadly am without an oven for now otherwise I would be baking up tasty treats all day long. I planned on making wonderful gingerbread houses seen as I've had some practice these last few years.

I also made some new Button Ragdolls. Some of which have already been sold to some very wonderful customers.
It's always so rewarding to see what other people think of things that I've taken time to make. It's even more exciting when someone amazingly talented appreciates your work. This last market I did, I was lucky to meet an artist that I admire, I follow her blog and love her creations. Visit the talented 'Hey Cherry' ladies on their blog. www.heycherry.co.za

Gingerbread men

Candyland Ragdoll

Candyland Ragdoll

Holiday Season is here!!

Hey everyone!

The festive season is upon us and I'm getting rather excited. I'm working on lots of new things. I made a special Ragdoll for Christmas but I sold her before I could even take a picture.

There are a lot of markets coming up and I'm excited to try keep up with the things I want to make.

And an idea for everyone out there that is clueless for Xmas gifts, how about buying handmade goodies this year?

Featured on a Wicked Treasury

Hey everyone!
A lovely lady by the name of Judy made an awesome Day of the Dead treasury. I'm so chuffed that I got featured in that treasury because there are so many amazingly cute Day of The Dead themed plushies out there.
Check her treasury out here;
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODM4NTUyNnw5NDM1MDEzOTY/dia-de-los-muertos?index=0

This week I'm going to be busy making lots of things for upcoming markets.

Pictures from the Markets

Hey everyone!
I'm not sure when I'll be doing a market again. Here's some pics from the last two markets I did.

I have a personal blog too if you wanna follow the less business-y side of me :)
http://cookiesneedlove.blogspot.com

Customer Pictures

Hello everyone! If you have bought a plushie or ragdoll from me, I'd love to see pictures of you and your plushie. And add it too a new page on this blog. You can get creative, you can take a picture just of your plushie. I want to see the plushie's new families and homes. You can also write to me about your plushie and I'll feature it on the blog.

Keep your eyes peeled for fun competitions coming soon.
And like our page on Facebook.

Places to purchase my products

Hi everyone!

I had another great day at the I Heart Market. I love being able to interact with buyers. To see people's reactions is just magical for me. I love it! I'm starting to get regular customers which is exciting. And customers that are especially coming to buy my goodies.

So for any international people that would like to purchase my products or local people that just can't make it to any of the markets, you can pruchase my plushies and ragdolls here;

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/AngelicaPelati?ref=pr_shop
(not all items are listed but whichever item you'd like to buy that you see on my blog I can list on this website for easy, safe purchasing.

http://oldcapehouse.co.za

Or you can drop me an email and buy directly from me. Products may be cheaper when purchased directly from me.

Angelica

New Items and upcoming events

I'm still feeling the Mexican vibe so I made a Día de los Muertos  mousse and I'm in the process of making a  Día de los Muertos Panda.

Then I wanted to do more festival items so I thought I should do something Italian. Seen as I am Italian. Inspired by the Venetian Carnevale I made this little lady.

I'll be selling these little peeps at the October I heart Market and then I'll be at 'Durban North Day' on the 8th Oct. Where I might also be selling baked goods...YAY!!



Button Ragdolls part 2

So I sold all of the Button Ragdolls from the first set including the two zombies. I sold my little zombie that I wanted to keep but it went to a very sweet little girl so I'll be okay.

So I made a whole new set of Button Ragdolls. I hope you like.
This week I'm going to be focused on making some very different things. But I always like to have stuff for the kiddies.

So here they are

Mexican Fever Part 2

As promised here is the Day of the Dead zombie ragdoll.

Mexican Fever

I've always loved the amazing colourful Mexican art, especially the art for Día de los Muertos. And you'll notice in my next plushies my mexican fever continues. I hope you like this artwork, it's the first drawing I've done in a while.



French Macarons

Okay so we attempted to make French Macarons. Let me tell you it's not AS hard as everyone makes it out to be. I think get that daunting fear out your mind and make these little suckers. Here's our tried and tested recipe. We halved our ingredients so we could experiment more times without it costing an arm and a leg. If you do use this recipe and you encounter problems, tell me what the problem is and I can guide you on what the cause is.

Ingredients:
55g Icing Sugar (half a cup)
50g Crushed Almonds
1 Egg White
Half a third cup of Sugar
Flavour and Food Colouring of choice

Okay, let's get started!

1) Sift Icing Sugar and Almonds three times.

2) Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment - Whisk the egg white until peaks start to form and add the sugar and keep on whisking until your egg white is stiff and glossy.

3) This would be a good time to add your flavour or food colouring. This is optional and you can be creative with your colours and flavours.

4) Important part: Fold your dry ingredients into your egg whites until combined and has a lava like consistency. Do a test by putting a blob on a plate, is a peaked piece won't smooth down in a second then you need to mix a bit more until it does that. Basically it shouldn't be too runny or too stiff.

5) Pipe the mixture on to a tray with baking paper on. Do 1 inch dollops and space them out nicely.

6) Smack your tray down a few times to get the air bubbles out.

7) IMPORTANT! Leave your unbaked macarons to stand for an hour before putting them in the oven. This process should not be skipped because this is how the 'feet' are formed.

8) Pre-heat your oven while your macarons are standing for 60 mins. I'd say like 15mins before you put them in.

9) Tricky part is getting your temperature right. Ours worked best on a low temp 130degrees for 12mins. I think 150degrees for 10 mins could also work. This is where you'd probably need to experiment a lot because everyones ovens are different.

10) Take them out of the oven and DO NOT attempt to lift them until completely cooled!

Get creative with your filling. For our ones we were just experimenting so we just had caramel in a can for our filling. A nice buttercream filling with the flavouring to match your macaron flavour would be a nice classic choice.

Have fun and get back to me with comments if you ran in to any problems with yours.



Remember to leave them to stand for an hour.



They have the 'foot' at the bottom.

ZOMBIES!!!

How could I resist making zombie ragdolls?