CakesDecor Gazette: Issue 4.10 / October 2015

Welcome to the Issue 4.10 / October 2015 of the CakesDecor Gazette 

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Editorial

Facing our fears head-on!!!

I know everyone has a major fear. Some fear small critters, some heights but for me it is public speaking. I can BS with anyone, I can even hold my own in a small group if in a casual or class situation, but put me on a stage with even just one person in front of me to talk to and I turn to a Blubbering mess.  I would rather jump out a plane or get covered in snakes before public speaking. I have been very lucky to avoid any situation like this before but at the Americas cake and Sugarcraft show 2 weeks ago I was confronted head on with it and I was just an absolute mess. I only found out on the Tuesday before the show I would actually have to speak, luckily for me I was so busy with the big piece we did for Cake Masters magazine that I did not have time to worry about it. This was a good and a bad thing however,I had hardly slept all week and the last 2 days leading up to the show I had no sleep at all. Once we actually got to the show and I had time to stop and really think about what was happening, well let's just say I freaked out, and super sleep deprived did not help any either. I woke up on the Friday morning just a complete mess. I called my hubby in hysterics, then my 15 yr daughter who was with me came out and found me a mess and had to try to calm me down. Everyone and anyone I spoke to that morning I ended up in tears with and I honestly I could not stop shaking.

I was just a few hours also away from my very first demonstration, I was not concerned with it at all as I had just taught the same technique a week before with amazing results. Well that was not the case on this day. Because I was such a mess worried about what was coming that night I completely bombed my demo. I literally forgot what I was teaching, I tried , oh how I tried to pull myself together but I was just a hot mess. I felt so sorry for anyone sitting in my class room and apologized so many times but I think they all thought I was nervous about teaching them but that was not the case. Most people were super nice and understanding but I just felt so bad about the entire thing I ended up in tears in the end because I had let these lovely people who paid to learn down.

But I still had the one thing to do and that was the fashion show. We were offered real models but my daughter wanted to do it for me even though she had never modelled before and I liked that. We were going to face our fears together as she is also not a person to put herself on stage. So lucky for me she ended up getting nervous right before going on stage which made me have to be strong for her. Her shoes were a size to big and killing her feet as they were given to us by the show not our own shoes, so she had a couple of little stumbles down the catwalk in front of everyone, with big gasps through out the crowd and by me, but luckily no fall and she continued down the stage like a trooper, not very model like persay but facing her fears head on. Then it came my turn OMG I literally could have peed my pants but I knew I had to do it. So up I go, at my all time heaviest weight, not showered since 6am with very little makeup and super sleep deprived but hey I made it. I just found that faces in the crowd I knew were not judging me for any of those things and then answered the questions I was given. I got thru it, it did not kill me and the crowd did not laugh in hysterics at me!!! Phew... that was a blessing,lol.

So the point to my post is that sometimes we just have to do it, face those fears, once you have done it once and all the bad things that you think are going to happen don't,  then I think we open ourselves up , grow, and are up for that kind of challenge again. I want to grow as a cake decorator, with my cake ideas, my teaching and with shows...and part of that entails public speaking. My daughter also said she would do it again... even though she stumbled she did not fall, remember that...this is a great lesson for us all!

We all stumble, heck sometimes we fall but letting our fears hold us back is even worse. What ever your cake fears maybe I say go for it. I had never done an edible show before, heck did not even know it possible and yet my piece was 98% edible and my daughter did not end up naked on stage,lol, which was my second fear... that it would fall off as she was walking. My other advice would be just don't go in to it like I did totally exhausted and overwhelmed with so many other things. Relax, and keep telling yourself you got this...cause you do!!!!

Big Hugs, Shags xoxoxo

We would love to hear from you in the comments section below and please make sure if there is a topic you would like to hear or talk about let us know also.

Sharon: Profile on CakesDecor | Curiaussiety Cakes Facebook Page

Congratulations to our $100 Favorite Technique Challenge Winner

Thank you so much to all who entered and for showing us your favorite techniques, I am sure you have all inspired many to "Just give it a go" when they see something new they would like to try. But a big congrats to our winner The Custom Cakery for their airbrushing technique post. It just goes to show you have to enter to win so I hope you will all join us next time.

New!!!! My new favorite thing!

Every now and then we come across things.... whether it be a new tool, technique or product. I am all about sharing and making sure I get the word out when I come across something that I just think, well is AAAAWESOME!!! So I am going to start a new section that hopefully we can keep going each month so if you have any of those 3 things that I just mentioned or know of someone who does  and would like for me to try them out and possibly become my new favorite thing please let me know.

The first of my 2 newest things I am in love with is "FLEXIQUE" it is a brand new product, now at a pre-sale discounted price and will be available for distribution as of Nov 1st. It is the product I used to make my dress for the edible fashion show. A few months back I was at the North Florida cake show and was blown away by the little piece I saw on the table of this edible fabric. Then in the afternoon I see a full dress made out of this stuff, seriously... skin tight and walking down the isle like no care in the world as if it really was stitched together, yet not one stitch or piece of real fabric and only 2 little bits of velcro holding the entire piece together, flawed was an understatement of how I felt and I think the others around me agreed, I know Jockan Jordan and Timbo Sullivan were.

So with this new product out there and a new show with an edible fashion show coming to town I thought that well maybe I should inquire about this product, so I did. Within a few days I had some and was finding out that this stuff was just so easy to use and that heck, I think I can do this fashion show using this product so I entered...not at all like me just so you know.

This product is so easy all you do is paint it onto wafer paper and it instantly turns into fabric. Now I am not going to tell you all the ins and outs of it you will have to buy it to really experience it but I am telling you this stuff will blow your mind. Not only was my dress 98% edible and to be completely honest I really could have been at 99.9% edible very easily and would be if I had a do over, but it can be used for other things as well. I know some of you saw the Poseidon piece at the Satin Ice Show well in the back was a big puffer fish, his fins were made completely from Flexique and felt just like real fish fins. And the tail on Poseidon I made also with Flexique and wafer paper then just airbrushed on the color, it had all the real movement of a real tail. The jack in the box below his hat, collar, sleeves and the dolls dress all flexique and wafer paper.

So if anyone has a cake they are wanting to do like a doll in a dress, or fabric ruffles or lets say even want to get game enough and try one of these edible fashion shows this product is a must have. There is absolutely no reason anymore that edible fashion show rules are not 90% edible, this product makes it so possible.The inventor of the product is Marilyn Bawol of Unique Cakes by Marilyn, she is like this crazy mad scientist who I just adore and is the nicest person on the planet. Her product states "Endless Possibilities" and I believe that is absolutely true with this product.

What's Happening

Tutorial Pick for the Month:  OMG I cannot believe Halloween is just around the corner where has this year gone? But you cannot have Halloween without the cutest little Halloween Pumkin and Cat topper by Crumb Avenue, it is just gorgeous

Big Thank you....Thank you to all our members for being so wonderful and posting their tutorials only in the tutorials section it has made things so much better. Also remember we are a site that does not allow any adult content cakes, so please keep those cakes to your own pages.

Kitchen Talk:  Join Ellie's elegant cakery post on the ugly stage of cake making. We love to hear our members thoughts and every day doings so posts like this that make us feel like we are not the only ones that these things happen to are great, it is what makes our cakesdecor family the best!

Suggestion Box: New ideas and suggestions are always welcome so please make sure you go to The Gazette Blog post and leave your comments there.

Have fun coming up with new ideas :) 

Cakes decor RISING STAR

I have to be honest a few years back I would not even stop to look at a cookie post but today is a completely different story. I am so in awe of these cookie artists and think that what they do is truly an amazing talent. And The Cookie Lab for me is just one of the very best, I have the biggest cookie crush on them and know I could never eat one of their amazing creations as they are all just a work of art. So this Rising Star was an easy no brainer and in my book already a star!

CakesDecor Gazette Editors Choice

Lion cake

Bety Sugarland

Cake Decorator of the Week

The Cake Decorators of the Week for September were...

Collaboration Station

With so many collaborations now I cannot find every cake so if you would like to be seen here in the collaboration section of the Gazette could you please have the word "collaboration" in the title of your piece and  the title of the collaboration you are involved with! If you do not have these things I cannot guarantee I will see your cake. Also not every cake will get seen, I pick an array from across the board, sorry for those that don't get picked it does not mean your piece was not worthy .

"Texas pride with Sweet style"

Texas icons, symbols, memories all made in sugar. Cakes, Cookies and more. Enjoy the memories of Texas before the fair begins.

Renshaw collaboration

We challenged some of the best cake decorators and sugar artists to use Renshaw Fondant to create something spectacular - and they did not disappoint! We’ve loved looking at what ideas and skills people have come up with whilst using our Fondant.

Happy 68th Birthday Stephen King

Cake artists from around the world came together to honor and celebrate Stephen King's birthday and his amazing, yet terrifying works. Each artist based their piece off of their favorite book. Enjoy!!

Upcoming Cake Decorating Competitions

Cake international  Birmingham, UK... November 6-8, 2015

That Takes The Cake , Round Rock TX, USA...February 27 and 28, 2016

Cake Fest , Lafayette, LA, USA....April 2nd - 3rd , 2016

Cake International London, UK...16-17 April 2016

Cakes decor interview with Jonathan Theuma!

There are many people I truly adore in this crazy cake world we work in but this guy is just so wonderful and I absolutely love him to bits. I love doing these interviews cause although sometimes we have read things on these people before or might even know on a more personal level but there is always something new to learn about or from people and I always find that to be the case with the gazette interviews also. So I hope you will join me in getting to know this gorgeous man just a little bit better and make sure you pop on over to fb and show him some love as well if you are not already a fan of his page https://www.facebook.com/JTcakesmalta?fref=ts

To see full interview CLICK HERE!

Monthly Top 5

Cake This Tute!

It's show time!!!

Thought it would be fun to add a section for everyone to share their pictures of the cake shows they are attending. So please send me some pictures that you take when you are at these events and the people you are with so as I can share everyone and we can put a face to you. For this month I will just use the ones I have or have stalked to find,lol.

All these pics were taken at the  The America's Cake and Sugarcraft Show in Orlando, put on by Satin Ice in September. The show was a great success and was run so well I take my hat off to them it was just a totally awesome show and I think for all that attended we had a super fun time. I got to meet so many cake friends new and old, my only regret is there just was not enough time to see everything and everyone. But I can say I cannot wait for this show to come around again it was amazing!

To see most of the cakes I found Cake Masters the best place with the most pics and just for general pictures of the show visit The Americas Cake and Sugarcraft fb page. And I just want to say a really big congrats to all that participated and competed and a big congrats to Liz  Marek for her Best in Show win and The Irish team, (Karen Keaney) for their win in the live international competition, the cakes were breathtaking.

Kitchen Talk

The Ugly Stage..

When I read this post in the forum I just had to laugh as I knew exactly what Ellie's elegant cakery meant and I think it definitely happens more with sculpted cakes. For anyone who does not do sculpted cakes this I don't think is as big an issue as you already start with such a pretty canvas, but I do know as someone who does a lot of textured tiers that those sometimes really make you stand back and wonder if you are doing the right thing at times. So join in on this discussion even if it is just to make yourself feel more sane and that we all have these stages in caking where we self doubt, but in the end that ugly duckling always turns into a gorgeous swan, even in the cake world.

CakesDecor News, Stats & Links

Oct 5th 2015

We are 29,628 cake decorators making 1,349, 301 comments on  212, 620  cakes, 2,615 blogs and 1,491 tutorials, 2,535 forum topics.

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