So Pretty!

Last night was class number 2 of the Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Methods class.  This class required a square cake, which I've never done.  It didn't start out too great,  my bake even strips wouldn't fit around the pan so my corners got to done.  I especially noticed that when I ate it this morning.  Anyway!  When we got to class we needed to have two loops made like last week cause we were making a flat bow with streamers and ribbon on the top of the cake. 

Covering a square cake with Fondant wasn't all that fun.  My corners did not want to cooperate and I was glad to see we got the opportunity to make and use a border.  We covered the cake first and then we made 2 5"x1" stips and cut a "v" at the bottom for the streamers.  Then we had to make the ribbon that would wrap around the cake one way and then the connecting ribbon that wrapped the other way.  In case you don't know you use a Gum Paste glue to make your fondant pieces stick to your fondant cake.  You can use water but this dries faster.

1/4 teaspoon Gum Paste

1 tablespoon water

Break the Gum Paste into small bits and pour the water over, let it sit for an hour.

Once we got the ribbon on the cake we took the already cut streamers and placed them on and glued them down.  Then I used paper towels underneath the streamers to give them some shape until the dried.  For the center of the bow you make a 1"x3" strip and pinch then ends like you would if you were making loops.  You position the loops on the cake and clue them down and then position the center piece and tuck it around so you cannot see the pinched ends.

To make the border we used some of Wiltons, silicone molds.  You just fill the designe you want with the fondant and pop it out and glue it to the cake.  Just like magic!

Silicone mild

I think this is probably the prettiest cake I've made so far.

We also made our first Fondant rose in this class.  You use a cutter and make 3 individual flowers then slit the petals and use the ball tool to make them curl and glue them together.  Actually there is more too it but it's too complicated to tell without pictures of each step so I'll just show you the finished product.

Next week in the cake class is all about flowers, we will be making 5 different ones and one bonus flower that our instructor Sandy did on a wedding cake for the weekend.  The final cake we have to make is of our own design.  Anything we want to make I'm excited to see if what I have in my head actually works out on the cake.  We'll see!

Bye Y'all!

 

Cake Class #3 is well under way!

Ok I'll admit I've been slacking!  We've already had our second class in the Gum Paste and Fondant Wilton Method class.  Momma, Amy, and I are all doing fabulous so far!  We'll get to that in a minute.

Momma and I are going on a cruise!!!!  It is 27 days away and I can hardly contain myself!  This will be my first cruise and her second just 4 days and one port in Cozumel.  On the day we are in Cozumel our excursion consists of a dolphin encounter, you get to swim with them and one will pull your through the water, I'm so excited I'm bouncing in my chair as I type this.  My previous sewing project was supposed to be a tote bag that we could use to take our stuff to the pool in.  Being that it ended up more along the size of a purse than a tote I'll be passing that off to my niece Justice for her to play dress up with.  I scoured the Internet to find a new bag to try, actually not really, my wonderful friend Teresa found this site and sent it to me http://www.finecraftguild.com/ there are a ton of cute sewing projects on this website. 

I found an adorable drawstring bag that I decided to make.  The pattern can be found here at Sew for Home http://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/405-citrus-holiday-reversible-gift-a-wine-bags.  It is actually to make a bag to put a bottle of wine in but you can make it bigger and use it as a beach bag.  I also decided to make one of the wine bags cause we can each take a bottle of wine on the boat!  So far I'm almost done with the wine bag, I'm just so slow and don't have a ton of free time.  Once I get them finished I'll post some pictures.

Ok so on to class one of the last Wilton Methods class.  This class is using fondant and gum paste.  I haven't had much experience with using either of these so I was excited to start this class.  We had to bring a two tiered cake covered with a crumb coat of butter cream and while in class roll out and cover it with fondant.  One thing I'm not good at is rolling out fondant or dough for that matter into a circle.  That was an experience getting it smoothed down with no wrinkles and not putting my fingers through it.  Once it was all said and done it looked pretty good.  One thing I didn't realize is the fondant won't hid all the imperfections in your buttercream so it is best to smooth out the buttercream before you put on the fondant!  Dually noted!!

The bow was pretty easy to make but I didn't have a real clear picture in my head and should have made more loops to make a fuller bow.  You just roll out our fondant and use this adjustable cutting tool that cuts 1 inch  (or whatever you make it cut) strips. Then you cut the strips into 5 inch pieces.  So my bow had 16 5 inch by 1 inch strips, folded over and pinch the ends.  In order for the fondant to keep its shape it has to dry before you place it on the cake and you can use paper towels or something else to help it keeps its shape until it is completely dry.  Once you are ready you just use some candy melts as clue and place the loops together.

To get the lines in the ribbon we used a texture thing like below.  You can find them at Michale's, you just lay them on your fondant and use the roller to go over the make the impression.  So easy. 

Texture mat

This particular cake I used Duff's Fondant this particular brand of fondant is to soft to use to make things with but it tastes sooooo good, its actually more like a rolled buttercream than a fondant.

Yummy!

Bye Y'all!

Sew Busy continued...

I finally got back to it and finished my first sewing project!  The picture on the blog Me Sew Crazy where I got the pattern looks bigger than what I ended up with but it will still hold something if I put it in there so I'm ok with that, at least I think it will I haven't tried it yet!  So when my back couldn't take it anymore and I stopped last time I had the two sides internal and external sewn together.

Tonight I had to whip stitch the 3 inch hole at the bottom to close it up do an edge stitch around the whole bag.  If you don't look to close the edge stitch looks good!  Lastly I had to make a knot in the middle and sew it together.

One side edge stitched and knot stitched together.  Doogie checking it out!

Once both sides were done I had to lay the outside edges together and sew it around the edges and turn it inside out.

Ready to turn inside out!  I'm scared

It looks good!  Just don't get to close!

I took it upon myself to make pockets on the inside!  I think this would be perfect if I could sew a straight line!  Maybe in time!

Pockets!

Bye Y'all!

Sew Busy!

A few posts back I showcased my "new" 1940 something Domestic Rotary Series 153 sewing machine.  Once I finally found and printed out a manual I realized I didn't have a bobbin case.  So I started doing some research and I found one online for $59.95 which really hurt my feelings since I paid $50.00 for the whole machine!  Across the highway from me is Jim's Sewing and Vacuum so I went over there and he had two bobbin cases and would have sold them to me for $5.00 but neither one had a tension spring and he couldn't find one that fit.  So out of the kindness of his heart he gave me one and wished me luck in finding a tension spring.  I didn't have any luck but I did call Vickery's Sewing in Marianna and first me mailed me the wrong case and then I sent that one back with my correct one and he found a tension spring that worked!!!  So tonight I started my first sewing project I found it on the Blog Me Sew Crazy.  It's a Knot Tote!  Here is a link to the tutorial http://www.mesewcrazy.com/2011/06/knot-tote-tutorial.html

First I printed the pattern Jessica provided and taped it together.  I folded the fabric over and traced the pattern onto the fabric.

Then I cut out the interior and exterior fabric

I even went a step further and added pockets!

 

I pined the pieces together and ran it through the sewing machine.  I'm really slow so you can only see one half tonight.  Plus my back is killing me, I'm too old to be bending over a sewing machine all night!

It took me 4 hours to get to this point!  Daphne and the new foster dog Doogie Bowser, D.O.G. are crashed on the couch.  Doogie is currently crashed in my lap helping me update this!  I think we are going to go to bed!

Foster Doogie and my old girl Daphne in the back!

Bye Y'all!

Sew Busy!

A few posts back I showcased my "new" 1940 something Domestic Rotary Series 153 sewing machine.  Once I finally found and printed out a manual I realized I didn't have a bobbin case.  So I started doing some research and I found one online for $59.95 which really hurt my feelings since I paid $50.00 for the whole machine!  Across the highway from me is Jim's Sewing and Vacuum so I went over there and he had two bobbin cases and would have sold them to me for $5.00 but neither one had a tension spring and he couldn't find one that fit.  So out of the kindness of his heart he gave me one and wished me luck in finding a tension spring.  I didn't have any luck but I did call Vickery's Sewing in Marianna and first me mailed me the wrong case and then I sent that one back with my correct one and he found a tension spring that worked!!!  So tonight I started my first sewing project I found it on the Blog Me Sew Crazy.  It's a Knot Tote!  Here is a link to the tutorial http://www.mesewcrazy.com/2011/06/knot-tote-tutorial.html

First I printed the pattern Jessica provided and taped it together.  I folded the fabric over and traced the pattern onto the fabric.

Then I cut out the interior and exterior fabric

I even went a step further and added pockets!

 

I pined the pieces together and ran it through the sewing machine.  I'm really slow so you can only see one half tonight.  Plus my back is killing me, I'm too old to be bending over a sewing machine all night!

It took me 4 hours to get to this point!  Daphne and the new foster dog Doogie Bowser, D.O.G. are crashed on the couch.  Doogie is currently crashed in my lap helping me update this!  I think we are going to go to bed!

Foster Doogie and my old girl Daphne in the back!

Bye Y'all!

Two down one to go!

Tonight was the final class in the second Wilton Method class.  I started off kinda fond of royal icing over buttercream but now fondant is my favorite!  Last week we made fondant flowers and I can do that all day!  This weeks "final exam" was to bring a two tiered cake iced with a crumb coat on the sides and normal on the top, your ready to go on your cake royal icing flowers, and 2 batches of buttercream to put basket weave on the side of the cake.

I started on Sunday making some new fondant flowers.  Then on Monday night I had to make my royal icing flowers over again because the first batch of daffodils from 2 weeks ago had turned to liquid and the others were just ugly.  I worked pretty much all night but I got 4 of each (rose, rose bud, primrose, apple blossom, daffodil, violet, lilly) to put on my cake.

Last night after working my second job I got home about 10 I had to make the icing to ice the cake and the 2 batches for the basket weave.  I had one little problem I needed 4 batches of icing and I had 3 cups of shortening and I was not going to the store.  I made due and got everything done and had everything I needed for class.

Basket weave with a rose bud

All my flowers

My cake!

For a recap of last week Friday was the Cupcake War at work.  I made Triple Chocolate with White Chocolate pudding filling and Vanilla Buttercream icing and Martha Stewart's Roasted Banana with Honey Cinnamon Icing.  I won 2nd place in the best fruit/vegetable category for the Banana and 3rd in the best chocolate category.

Triple Chocolate with White Chocolate pudding filling and Vanilla Buttercream icing

1 Duncan Hines's Triple Chocolate cake mix prepared by the directions on the box

1 White Chocolate Instant Pudding mix, prepared by the directions on the box

1 - 12oz Cool Whip

Buttercream icing or any store bought icing

Mix the pudding and let it be setting in the fridge, bake the cupcakes and let them cool completely.  Mix about half the cool whip into the pudding to give it a little lighter consistency.  Put the pudding mixture into a pastry bag and put on Wilton tip 230 and fill the cupcakes.  Ice them and enjoy!

We have a week off and then start the next Wilton decorating class that will be the last one in the series.  We get to play with fondant and gumpaste

I Hate Flowers at Least Ones Made of Icing!

Class 2 of the second Wilton Methods class Momma, Amy, and I are in is fast approaching, actually it's tomorrow night.  This class is Flowers and Cake Design using Royal icing rather than buttercream.  I just thought I didn't like buttercream, I really don't like royal icing!  It is extremely easy to make but will crust over in a heartbeat, so you have to keep it in air tight containers and cover your icing tips when you aren't making something.

In the last class we tried or should I say I tried, Momma and Amy did good, to make Apple Blossoms, Violets, and Primrose.  I think my issue is that I can't do all the things required to make a flower at the same time.  I can {and I just checked to make sure} pat my head and rub my belly at the same time but I cannot turn the flower nail and move the icing bag and squeeze it independently of each other to make a flower.  This apparently requires an amount of coordination that I do not have, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to acquire it!  I tried to practice for just a few minutes on Saturday and I got p'd off and quit.  I think my other issue is hand strength at least I can work on that, the coordination part I might just be completely screwed on!   In order for the flowers to have the shape they need to look like real flowers, the icing has to be stiff and when it is stiff it is hard to squeeze out of the end a tiny tip.  So if anyone has some suggestions for some exercises for hand strength let me know.  If I can't figure it out I guess I can always call my bakery the "No Flower Bakery" and never decorate anything with flowers!

This weeks class we are supposed to make a Rose, Lilly, and a Daffodil we'll see what happens!

Bye y'all!