Trying to like portrait photography

I love photography, but I have never liked taking portraits. Preferring to photograph nature and candid shots of people, I decided to attempt something uncomfortable to me. Last night my youngest daughter came back after weeks away and since there was still daylight left outside, I hung some fabric from the ceiling and used the light coming from the patio to do a mini photo shoot. I know there is more to learn, but maybe there's a place for portraits in my "repertoire".

Y Not Wednesdays?

Y Not Wednesdays? What is it, you ask?! It's an outdoor event at Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. Y Not Wednesdays is full of music, local produce, great food, good drinks, and people with the same goal in mind....A great night on the town. If you get a chance check it out, you won't be disappointed.

This is a poster from last year's series
We took a tour of the Sandler Center and these were mementos left by performers



The Founders Room

The stage with the Ghost Light on

Mike Proffitt

If you're going to buy, buy right the first time

When I went to the CDOT cake show last year there were three vendors I knew I would order from. One was The Foam Studio, which I ordered my cake show dummies from. The other two, Grex Airbrush and Cake Safe (Scott and Juli are so sweet and helpful) were more expensive purchases which would have to wait until I went to the NCACS show. I bought the Grex airbrush because of the ease of use, the adaptable pieces, and the price wasn't bad either. Knowing that airbrush spatter is inevitable, I knew the airbrush booth from Cake Safe was a necessity.

Trying the fondant under fondant to get a raised effect

Getting ready to start airbrushing

Finished product...and you can see the color in the filter area

The Airbrush Booth and the Airbrush

I love these purchases and would recommend them to everyone.

October 8-9, 2011

Cake Decorator's of Tidewater cake show

Check It Out

CDOT Cake Show Oct.9 and 10, 2010

This past weekend I entered a cake in the Cake Decorators of Tidewater 27th Annual Cake Show. I placed second in the advanced tiered division. My cake was inspired by a gift bag that I bought from Michael's a couple of years ago.

Any decorator could tell you how they see things in a CAKE way. Inspiration comes from everywhere, and that's the way I felt about this gift bag. I drew a sketch of how I wanted to decorate the cake, but after I covered the dummies in fondant I just wasn't feeling it. At 10 o'clock p.m. on 10/08/10 the decision came that I would do a sculpted cake. Since there was no time to bake a cake from scratch, I flew to the grocery store to buy some mixes. On my way back home it hit me....I registered for F22, advanced tiered, so no baking and sculpting would be done that night.

I had to finish what I started and luckily for me it turned out better than I thought.

The colors were blue, brown, and orange. I used royal icing on the accented characters on the cake and then painted them with gold, blue, and burgundy luster dusts.

P.S. This beauty below these words is now mines. I won it at the show and definitely could NOT contain my excitement. It's a pistachio Artisan KitchenAid. Isn't she gawjus?