Cheap Thrill- Trash to Treasure

Base of the table - before

Oak Table- Note the Fire Damage

 

Yesterday, one of you ( the one in witness protection), asked me if I could blog some about one of my favorite ways to save  money; restoring antiques. So this is for you- read on to see how it all turns out! 

Course 2- Flowers and Cake Design

Course 2, is " Flowers and Cake Design".

Cornelli Lace done with Royal Icing

Tricia's Course 2 Cake

In this class we expand on what we learned in Course 1 and we learn to make and use Royal Icing to make wonderful flowers. Royal Icing dries hard as a rock, so it can be  used to make flowers way ahead of time and save them for use on a cake. This allows you to start work on a cake much earlier than you could with Butter Cream. We learn how to make roses, primroses, lilies, and more.

Cheap Thrill - Home Made Marshmallow Fondant

Cake with Marshmallow & Wilton Boxed Fondant

Today's cheap thrill is Marshmallow Fondant from the Wilton web site. This is less than half the cost of boxed fondant and can be uses in place of rolled fondant to cover a cake. The bonus is not only is it cheap but, it tastes like Marshmallow Fluff!!!

Jewelry Design - Basic Wire Wrapping

Sample Wire Wrap Earring

Earrings Made from the Michaels Syllabus

 Hello Everyone-
I am still making to post samples from each of my classes on the blog. Today I am adding photos from the " Fundamentals of Wire Wrapping" class at Michaels. This class teaches students how to use the proper tools to make loops, jump rings, and wraps around beads. We make a pair of earrings in class similar to the ones pictured here. This is the foundation for free form wire wrapping and wire wrapping using a wig jig to make all sorts of intricate patterns and findings for jewelry. Once you have completed this class you can move on to Intermediate Wire Wrapping where we learn to make intricate findings that will become a bracelet  in class.

Course 1- Decorating Basics

Hello Everyone-

I am starting this blog by posting photos of some of the things we do in each class. When I get all the class photos nailed down I will be posting student work and my own work so that you can see the things we are doing in Class at Michaels and Orangeburg Tech.

This cake is by my niece Amber!!

Cake by Laura.

Today's Photos are of Course 1- Decorating Basics (Butter cream) cakes, they were completed in the Basics Class Room. They show a range of the techniques we learn in class. Hope you like them!

Cheap Thrill- Home Made Vanilla Extract

One of my favorite things to do is bake from scratch. As you all know, if you use quality ingredients baking gets pricey quickly. So I found a recipe to make "everlasting vanilla extract", that is cheap and easy. Home made vanilla tastes so much better than anything you will find at the store. The recipe is super simple, you need just two ingredients and a pint sized mason jar.

Everlasting Vanilla Extract

2 cups light rum or vodka ( cheap vodka is fine in this case)
2 Vanilla Beans rinsed and cut into thirds

Place the rinsed and dried vanilla beans in a pint mason jar and pour the Vodka or rum over them. Once the are submerged, seal the jar with a new ring/ lid and let the Vanilla sit in your pantry for two weeks. After the vanilla  has "aged" for two weeks it is ready to use. It is used just like any other Vanilla Extract. Now here is the cheap thrill part...when you run low you can refill the pint jar with more Vodka or Rum and just keep using it. You can get a couple of years of Vanilla Extract out of your original 2 Vanilla Beans.

**** Vanilla Beans can generally be purchased in the produce section at Whole Foods or Publix. You can also find them at several different vendors on Ebay. Since you are using the beans  for Vanilla Extract they do not have to be Grade A , they can be Grade B which will save you even more money.

Jewelry Design- Basic Bead Stringing

Since I am just starting to teach jewelry making,  I thought it might be nice to show you the projects we will be making in class. These are sample projects from the Fundamentals of Bead Stringing Class.

First Post

Hello Everyone-

This is the first post to my new blog. This will be a great way for all of us to keep in touch. You can find all my classes listed here for Michaels, Orangeburg Tech. , and the Richland County Library. I am also going to use this forum to highlight my favorite recipes, photos of my work, and photos of my students and their recent accomplishments.


Please feel free to send me your ideas and suggestions, I am new at this blogging stuff, and I am sure I will be working the bugs out as I go along.

The cake above was my 2010 Fair Entry, it won first prize in the Professional Category for Original Design.

Tara