Kennet and Avon Canal Watercolour Class

We had a very busy day yesterday with Claire painting the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Despite the early stresses and protestations, the finished paintings were lovely!

Full of greens, reflections, shadows and peace.

     Please see the blog entry below for our new Autumn Term dates.

                        

Announcing Autumn Term Watercolour Classes

Claire and I have put together the Autumn Term programme:

Tuesday 20 September - BEGINNERS Watercolour

Wednesday 21 September - Animals in a Scene

Friday 21 October - Autumn Glow

Thursday 10 November - Venice

Thursday 17 November - A Winter Scene

Tuesday 22 November - A Winter Scene

All classes run from 9.30am - approximately 3-3.30pm.

All materials are provided along with a 2 course lunch and a glass of wine, home made biscuits and refreshments throughout the day.  Price £70.

In September, our Animal class will cover a variety of animals and how to draw their shape and then have them within a watercolour scene, there may be time to do two paintings during this class.  Claire has an inspiring sketchbook full of geese, pigs, lambs etc.  If you have any photos then please bring them along with you.

In October, our Autumn Glow painting will use all the stunning colours such as the reds, oranges and yellows found at this time of year.

Venice, in November, will be a new painting from last time's Venice.  Incredibly popular, this subject always inspires artists.  It's colours, moods and beautiful architecture help create a stunning painting.

We will end the term, with our Winter Scene, our annual class, where you can create something that perhaps you can give as a Christmas gift, or take the opportunity to turn it into your Christmas Card 2011!  This class fills quickly, hence the two dates.

We hope there is something to suit everyone.

To book please contact Emily.

The Vineyard Wedding Fayre Biscuits

Billions of biscuits!!

Well, 200 glittery pinky ones, made for today's Wedding Fayre at The Vineyard hotel.

I make Cupcakes for Weddings, birthdays, parties and gifts in my Aga at home (which is registered with West Berkshire council).   I also hold a Level 2 Award in Food Safety, from the Institute of Environmental Health.

There are lots of photographs on my Colourful Cupcakes blog, but please contact me for any further information.

http://colourfulcupcakes-newbury.blogspot.com

I also run classes at Treetops, where over 2 hours you can learn to make, bake and decorate your own Cupcakes.  You receive plenty of advice and tips and can enjoy the abundance of sprinkles, decorations and cutters that I have here.

Current classes with spaces are:

Tuesday 29 March - Easter Cupcakes 11am-1pm

*NEW* Wednesday 11 May - Cupcakes 11am - 1pm

*NEW* Friday 24 June 11am - 1pm (Stage 2 for those who have been to Stage 1)

Saturday 7 May - Cupcakes 2pm - 4pm

Saturday 18 June - Cupcakes 2pm - 4pm

Saturday 9 July - Cupcakes 2pm - 4pm

Aga Baking Day

We had a brilliant day today with Sarah.

She made SO MUCH food, it was delicious.  Whilst making and baking everything Sarah was also showing everyone how to use their Aga, whether it be baking, simmering, steaming, grilling etc.

A baking lesson and an Aga lesson in one!

There were so many amazing things, I can't fit them all on the blog, but below is a selection:

Mini meringues, sandwiched together with either buttercream or vanilla cream.

I think these were my favourite, banana and fudge muffins, I am definitely making these.

A classic steamed lemon pudding, made with a delicious lemon curd and steamed in the Aga oven for 3 hours.

This is a real Summer Centerpiece, light sponge with whipped cream, summer fruits and a home-made chocolate collar.

Classic 'bread' muffins.

Sarah is back in November for Aga Christmas.

Summer Flower Class in May

Susanna returns on Tuesday 10 May for Summer Flowers

9.45am - 2pm

£75

Bringing with her a stunning assortment of flowers, beautiful colours and gorgeous scents.

We will be using a variety of garden flowers and flowers that we can easily buy.

Susanna will show various ways to arrange the flowers in both traditional and contemporary styles, whilst explaining the best way to cut, feed and prolong the life of your flowers.

You will then create something beautiful to take home with you.

All materials and flowers are included in the day, as well as a light lunch and refreshements throughout the day.

Below are some photographs taken from last Summer's Flower Class.  This Summer we will be learning new skills, so even if you have been before we will be doing something fresh and different to what we've done before.

Recent Cupcake Classes

We had two really good Cupcake Classes on Friday and Saturday.

We covered baking, icing (both fondant and buttercream) and then had plenty of time to decorate them.  

Some lovely sparkling boxes of Cupcakes were taken home.

There are some spaces left on our Easter Cupcake Class on Tuesday 29th March, which will cover baking and icings but with the focus on CHOCOLATE!  The class is from 11am - 1pm and costs £50.

For those of you who have already been to a Treetops Cupcake Class, there are some spaces left on the next stage class on Wednesday 23rd March.  From 11am - 1pm, cost £50.  We will spend more time on decorating, using different nozzle techniques with the buttercream and looking at gum paste and fondant roses.  Great fun.

Stage 2 Cupcake Class

This afternoon was our first Stage 2 Cupcake Class.

  This class is for people who have already been to our Stage 1 Class and the idea is that we are able to take the skills and techniques learnt forward to another level, and give ourselves time to learn some useful (and slightly more complicated!) skills.

This shows a section of the kitchen all set up and ready to go.  I had already baked this morning, so we could concentrate on decorative skills and icing techniques.

We spent some time with fondant icing and gum paste, we made cut-out flowers and did some shaping and styling of them.  They looked fantastic.

We made some miniature fondant roses, very fiddly but they just take practice and then we made lots of petals to create a large rose (shown above).  Despite the nerves, they looked beautiful, really impressive!

Below are some of the beautiful boxes of decorated Cupcakes that went home this afternoon.  (We had a bit of a Valentine February theme going on!)