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Poppies, Berries, and Succulents

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Erica OBrien in Featured, gumpaste succulents, images for inspiration | 1 Comment

Believe it or not, I did this cake just for fun. Just for me. A bride in Philadelphia commissioned me to make some sugar succulents for her wedding cake, and I wanted to photograph them before shipping them to her. I thought I’d change things up a bit, veering away from an all-succulent bouquet, and took my inspiration from the images below.

I love the juxtoposition of the green succulents against the brightly colored poppies in the bouquet below below by JL Designs (Photos: Stephanie Williams).

What can I say? I’m just a sucker for bright colors. By Farouche Shop.

I love this one. I tried to so hard find the source, but all I could determine was that it was seen on Style Me Pretty.

I took some artistic liberties, added some raspberries just for the heck of it, and asked Brooke to take photographs. Here’s what I came up with. Enjoy!

Pastel Mexican-Inspired Wedding

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Erica OBrien in Featured, vintage | 4 Comments

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but when I see a blog post on a wedding, whether it’s a real wedding or a styled shoot, the first thing I look for is the cake. I guess it’s fair to say I’m pretty much obsessed with cake, and since I figure anyone who reads this blog shares my obsession, I focus almost exclusively on cake in my posts. However, I contributed a cake to a shoot for Green Wedding Shoes recently, and everything about it–from the details to the flowers to the models–is just so beautiful, instead of of scrolling down for the cake, I found myself looking at each gorgeous photograph. That said, I’m sharing more pictures than I normally would, but only because they are that good.

Last year, Jenn Campbell from Green Wedding Shoes created an inspiration board for a Cinco de Mayo wedding that incorporates dusty pastels instead of the traditional bright colors.

Jaclyne Breault from Heavenly Blooms contacted Jenn about bringing her inspiration board to life, and created this inspiration board to illustrate some of the other elements she wanted to incorporate.

Jaclyne asked me to design the cake. I really liked the papel picado in the inspiration board, and I recreated it out of fondant using tiny cutters, cake decorating tips and various ruffle and frill cutters. I hand-cut the monogram, and sculpted the succulents out of gumpaste.

Here are some other photos, including the gorgeous model, invitations by Posh Paperie, florals by Heavenly Blooms, styling by Green Wedding Shoes, and photographs by This Modern Romance.

You see? I told you they were good.

Inspired by Oscar de la Renta

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Erica OBrien in for the baker, for the bride | 4 Comments

This photo shoot was inspired by Oscar de la Renta’s Pre-Fall 2010 collection. It’s not so much that I was personally inspired–I’m no fashionista as anyone who knows me (or for that matter sees me) can testify–but rather Megan, the artistic genius behind Honey and Poppies was inspired. I’m kind of into ruffles, so I went with it. (She’s a bad influence on me.) And, I didn’t even argue that Pre-Fall would techinically be summer.

Below, the inspiration board Megan created.

First, I came up with some sketches based on the inspiration board.

Then Megan (frickin Megan) suggested changing it up a bit, so of course I did. (She’s mean.)

Rather than a single cake, I created a collection of cakes, just as fashion designers create seasonal collections. (I guess you could call this my Post-Spring collection, just to sound fancy.) And if that’s not enough, Megan created some pretty amazing cake stands out of flowers.

Monica of Paper Cut Industriesmade the invitations.

The shoot was featured in Utterly Engaged, an online wedding magazine.

We shot at the Hotel Maya in downtown Long Beach, CA. It’s the kind of hotel that makes you think that if you stayed there for only one night you’d be just a little bit cooler than you were before.

Photographs courtesy of T and H Photography. Makeup by Yve Hart. Hair by Live Cut Die.

Fondant Succulent Cake

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Erica OBrien in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

I’ve been wanting to do a cake with fondant succulents literally for years. I even tried a few years back, but with no actual occasion to make it for, I got frustrated and gave up rather quickly. This time, with a deadline and a design, I had no choice but to persevere when the going got tough. (And it did. As did the fondant.)

I wish I could share some tips on how I did it, but it was one of those things where it just flows so naturally, it’s like you’ve been doing it all your life and you’re not cognizant of the process. I was pretty happy with the results. (I’m never 100% satisfied.) I get asked a lot if the succulents are real, which I think is a good sign.

Here are some pictures, in no particular order, of the cake and flowers.