As travelling has not been possible from NZ for awhile I have not been able to travel and teach. However I have recently invested in more modern equipment so I am able to do full online flower classes

We  were blessed 12 years ago to find our dream home and garden. It was a home large enough for our 3 Children and my mother and father in law and the inevitable guests we have come to stay.  Its nestled in the country on the edge of town. Mountains one side the sea the other. Close enough to to town but far away enough to have deer as our neighbours. Our country garden. Never underestimate the healing power of a quiet moment in the garden. Its prescription free medicine for the heart and soul.
I hope you enjoy these wee pics of our garden. I have so many flower images of real flowers I wanted so show you how much these inspire me.
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Recently I was asked to create something special for a birthday present. I was given complete freedom on design which is what I truly love. The Lavender Rose and the Orange Rose Both David Austin / Trevor Griffith / Old English style roses are made by hand using Padico Hearty Soft Clay. http://www.padicoshop.net/ is where I purchased my white hearty soft clay and the orange I purchased was from Padico as well. All I use for tools is a piece of a plastic bag, spoons and  a moulded flower veiner. These are available from most cake decorating stores.
The peony Rose is sugar and is made from Bakels Pettinice Flower paste. My recipe can be found at pettinice.com You will also find other tutorials there from all of Bakels ambassadors.
The present went down well and as an added touch i sprayed the roses with perfume. I knew the smell would not last but would be on the flowers when the gift was received. Most people seem to sniff my flowers even though they know they are not real lol!

All tutorials in my store Now Free  
Spread a little kindness if you can. These are unique free tutorials I have worked on and taught for many years. I hope my small gift gives you some joy.
​Sugar hugs Lisa

Live on CakeFlix Saturday 4th April I will be doing a demo on how I make roses.
For me recently my sugar flowers and page have been a beautiful distraction.  The last year or so has been difficult with health issues and struggles. I live with chronic pain so keeping my body and hands moving is important but I have to be doing something that will take the pain off my mind. Sugar does this for me.
The very first time I taught sugar classes in a real class was in Whangarei at Kiwi-Cakes With Sandra many years ago. She believed in me and even though I can honestly say my first classes were not my best classes they gave me a sense of self confidence. Last year I lost that confidence. I had a panic attack in my first demo at the cake show last year. By my 3rd demo I was ok! Lol! Im slowly trying to rebuild myself. I'm surprised I agreed to the video as its not something I would normally do due to my anxiety. But I will pretend Im talking to you. You the person who wants to learn, you the person who loves my work, you the person who is so pleased to see all this awesome cake love spreading around the world. And hopefully I can get myself to stop shaking enough to show you how I work with my flower paste!.  I hope I don't let you down.
Sugar hugs Lisa
Please share a little kindness share a little love
Be Kind, have love in your heart and we will beat this together.

As we go into full lock down and a state of emergency here in New Zealand I contemplated what it would be like for others around the world and wanted to do something kind.
Spread a little kindness in uncertain times.
So I have given away for FREE all of my tutorials online in my store.
You can also find more free tutorials on my website, some very basic ones for those just getting starting.
You can transfer the method to some clays like "hearty soft clay" and I have had students who do oven bake clay get skills from my tutorials and classes they can use. If you are a cake decorator  or into craft /or know someone who might need a little pick me up at this time, please send them to my store to try these free tutorials. 
Please note download could take up to 24 hours as I have to manually send them.
If you don't receive it just message or email me and I will send it through.
Keep safe everyone and spread a little kindness in these uncertain times.
sugar hugs Lisa

.  am really excited to be teaching at the Auckland Bakels Pettinice Cake show.
I will also be doing 2 demonstrations at the show on how I make my free-form sugar flowers. 
One demo on Saturday and one one Sunday. I would love to see you there. To book your tickets pop over to https://www.pettinice.com/cakeshow/
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Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, (Ophelia) 1908 – John William Waterhouse and Cornelis Van Spaendonck are some of the paintings or painters who inspire me. I was also inspired by the house we live in which was built in 1867. We have a beautiful coal range in our dining room. 
I was brought up by keen gardeners, especially my mum who passed on a passionate love of peonies, roses and instilled in me a need to stop and smell the roses sometimes. To try and notice the little things. I have developed over the past 6 years a passion in gardening myself and although I enjoy all our flowers and adore making them I still love the roses and peonies the most!!!Between World Custard Invasion and this wee project I have been very quiet! I am hoping to get a couple of new tutorials out I have been working on very soon! 
About a year ago Ashley from Little Vintage Baking Company contacted me asking if I would be interested in joining a group of international Floral sugar artists in a Floral Art project. Our goal was to make the flowers look like a still life painting from 1800 to 1900.  
We live in a beautiful old house that was built in 1867.  And most of my favourite artists like John William Waterhouse come from the same era. I am also a huge fan of the old dutch masters.
So I created "Sugar" Roses, including English Roses, Rose Leaves,  Peonies, Sweet Peas, a dahlia. All of the flowers I created from real ones in our garden and I have featured these in the main photo here.
Each individual flower has been made from ones in our garden. We have beautiful Old English roses which were planted when the house was built.  I have used the Dead flowers in my 18th Century Painting. All sugar flowers are made freeform with no cutters with my unique method. 
35 artists all over the world who use different methods came together to create a Still life work of art in sugar. Artists included in this collaboration all have different styles, Incredible award winning artists Like The  Calli Hopper From www.facebook.com/CalliCreation/  And The amazing Christine Craig fromwww.facebook.com/Lalavande/ 
are also part of this collaboration. It was an honour to be part of the group.
​Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, (Ophelia) 1908 – John William Waterhouse and Cornelis Van Spaendonck are some of the paintings or painters who inspire me. I was also inspired by the house we live in which was built in 1867. We have a beautiful coal range in our dining room. 
I was brought up by keen gardeners, especially my mum who passed on a passionate love of peonies, roses and instilled in me a need to stop and smell the roses sometimes. To try and notice the little things. I have developed over the past 6 years a passion in gardening myself and although I enjoy all our flowers and adore making them I still love the roses and peonies the most!!!
I did fear I wouldn't have time to finish the piece with international travel, food-shows, world custard invasion missions, kids and teaching, but I was ecstatic to finish it and photograph it in time!!! 
To see the whole Collaboration Go to www.facebook.com/stilllifeflorals/ And to see all the work on Instagram go to www.instagram.com/stilllifefloralscollaboration/

1. Finally finished my sugar camellia tutorial. Available here: Camellia Tutorial

This is a more basic version. Later this year I would like to do a more advanced version based on the red japonica camellia I made. But this flower is just a more simplified version. The method used to make it is the same. The red camellia I made is just fuller with more petals.
This tutorial will suit beginners as long as they watch my how to make petals video on YouTube first.
https://youtu.be/OxTBxX7Oimc
A fun flower to make.
I am looking forward to releasing more videos and tutorials soon.
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