Bottle necklaces

After I made these, I had a discussion with my father and sister about how to incorporate those types of beads into other things.  Dad brought up the idea of bottle necklaces and I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

I guess in the late 1800s/early 1900s, people often kept their alcohol in decanters with labels hanging from them to distinguish between the different types.  So something like this:
 

That conversation started the crazy ideas rolling.  Here's the thing:  I know not one single person who owns decanters and would want a label like that....all of the bottles have paper labels on them.  Sara mentioned seeing bottle necklaces as more of a decorative element, so that was the direction I went.

These are the first few...and very much my sense of humor, so who knows if they will actually appeal to anyone else.  Time will tell!

Party cakes

Last week I made two cakes for parties...one for a going away celebration and another for a birthday. 

The first one, a cake for someone moving on to a new job, included a caricature of the guest of honor sitting in a little sailboat with his guitar and a cup of coffee. 

The second cake was one of my favorite flavor combinations--a chocolate cake with peanut butter ganache and peanut butter cup filling and peanut butter frosting.  This was for a birthday and had the guest of honor sitting with his backpack and sketchbook, looking over a map.

 

Now it's really time for me to turn my attention to prepping for the Bizarre Bazaar--it's less than three weeks away!