Day One

I'm an Artisan, a Handicrafter, a Do-It-Yourselfer,and a Mother- In other words I make stuff. All kinds of stuff as random as facts on cereal box. Right now that 'stuff' is cake, I have no training, or education on the subject (unless like me you think YouTube is both instructional & educational) but apparently I have a knack for it ( or at least my friends think I do).

So for the next 365 days I'm going to go spelunking through the world of edible art and just for the fun of it I'm going to take you with me!

Sounds fun right? Yes! I knew you would agree.

But in addition to the joys of edible art I do other stuff too. You didn't think I was lying when I said "random"..Did you? So don't be surprised to see paper crafts or party plans splash across your screen because I love that 'stuff' too.

So lets start off with my latest project.
Scene: Me and my daughter Hayli eating corn dogs in Wienerschnitzel when suddenly my cell phone rings its my bestie Megan

Hey lovie, whatcha doing??

Right Now?? A Red Bull just exploded in my purse and I'm trying to clean it up. You?

Well, actually I need a favor-Some of my friends are getting married in Vegas this weekend and I wanted to surprise her with a cake, and you made fondant sounds so easy and well its not...

(( Note: I'm smiling at this point, because unbeknown to most I've thrown whole cakes away because learning to work with fondant off the back of the Wilton's box sucks. But in attempt to maintain the " Shelby is Naturally Awesome" title I remain silent))

....... I need you to make me a cake it doesn't have to be amazing just something nice- And small since its only for the four of us

Sure. {muffled} Hayli eat your corndog not just your ketchup- I've got some left over gum paste I'll work something out...... Drop the supplies off this afternoon and I'll get started...

Then I rattle off some kind of grocery list. while it may seem like my head is in the game in reality I'm distracted by Bobby Flay on the Food Network (Why do fast food chains think 4 star television will make up for 2 star service?? - The world may never know) and sticky from my exploding Red Bull and off offhandedly I agree to make some poor brides wedding cake because its Megan asking and I can't say no.

What was I thinking?!?!?! This could not turn out well... I've never made a wedding cake and most women see this as the best day of their lives and their is a lot of room to mess up. Yikes!

Feeling the pressure I rushed home and baked a chocolate cake, filled it with my secret creme filling wrapped it in fondant and set out to make a dozen or so hand molded ( not a press or cutter) flowers out of gum paste. Viola! Cake....

It turned out well. My biggest weakness is piping- so I really tried to take my time and make it as neat as possible. So in pale yellow I piped " Love, Honor, Cherish, Obey" in a ring around the edge of the cake- With Mr & Mrs Carter at its center. I used a small bouquet of gum paste flowers ( and fake plastic leaves....honesty counts) for the top center of the cake. I had some base fondant issues at the bottom of the cake which I cover up with fondant pearls that I dusted with a edible gold luster dust. Originally the bow was also made out of fondant but it wouldn't keep its shape so I started over and made it out of gum paste. In hindsight I should have used a different plate because it looks rather hat like and with some forethought into my design I probably would have given it a trendier feel- in my attempt to go Vegas turned out a little Vintage-lesson learned.

Did you notice the Hand Painted "Mr. & Mrs. " champagne flutes? Yep that's just the kind of random stuff you can expect me to post here. I saw the flutes in a discount store and loved the crystal flute look that matched the knife and server set and the colored sphere at the top of the stem. I hand painted Mrs. or Mr. on each glass and a ring of "Love, Honor, Cherish, Obey" around the edge.

I hope to post a happy bride in a few days....wish me luck.

{ Thanks Lovie for all your support. It means the world to me :) }