Making of The Gift: 100 questions, help please

I’ve never made a tutorial and won’t attempt it yet. This one is just to show some progress shots of how I made my latest Christmas cakes. If you have ideas/tips on how you might have done any step differently – I would love a discussion.

The cake can be seen here: http://cakesdecor.com/cakes/223640-the-gift

A bit about the cake:
1. The face and body for fairy were made without any moulds.
2. Bird was royal icing transfer.
3. Entire fireplace scene and window were piped with royal icing and then painted with alcohol + dry/gel colours

Though design and execution plan was all mine, here are some of the problems I encountered while making the cake.

1. Too much detail vs too little: When designing from scratch, I’m always tempted to try out different techniques…especially since it’s not always that you get to do a cake that is totally yours. I love minimalist but sometimes struggle with deciding how much or how little is enough… Any advice?

2. Creating depth: I really wanted to create a layered image. Like the fairy and bird are outside in the cold, sharing christmas gifts and in the background is this blazing warm fire seen through a snowy window. I managed it somewhat but not in the high definition magnificent detail in my head. Haha. Any tips of creating depth? Different medium (I’ve used fondant, royal icing, 3d modelling)…or just stick to one medium?

3. Figurine positioning: Standing and sitting figurines are fine … my confusion is when the figures are doing something else – say swimming or flying? My doll looked lovely when she was standing…but when placed on finished cake, somehow I “lost” some of the movement in her body. Maybe she should have had more exaggerated movements? That recent cake with the mermaid and man kissing… If I make a figure lying down, doesn’t the stomach flatten out?? Am I making sense? Possibly not…

4. Any other tips or advice you might have would be highly appreciated. If only my hands could do exactly what my brain was thinking…

Thank you so much for all the encouragement… I hadn’t realised Cakesdecor community would be this warm. :)