Cheap Thrill for the day- Home made laundry detergent, costs pennies a load and is organic...

Here is the cheap thrill of the day. Laundry soap is up to 6-7 dollars a bottle for the 32 load size pre coupon and I cannot stand to pay for a bunch of water anyway. Since chemotherapy I also have issues with allergies and my soap recipe is all natural as long as you use all natural clear glycerin soap base to make your soap with.

This recipe will save you a bunch of money and is good for the environment too.

Just follow this link:

Laundry Soap:
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B94IQZTfDATzUTJFMU9mRzJQdFU/edit?usp=sharing


 

Clear glycerin soap, borax, washing soda, orange oil

Course 3- Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant starts this Saturday at 10:00 am

If you are planning on attending the Course 3 class for November, please let me know by email at sweetcakes@sc.rr.com or sign up online or in store at Michael's. Saturday's class will run from 10 am - 12 pm  and we will be skipping the Saturday following Thanksgiving so that it will not interfere with holiday travel plans.

Below are some photos of cakes done by graduates of Course 3 for the 2013 SC. State Fair:

Cake by Olivia N.- Amateur Cakes Sweepstakes winner.

Wedding Cake by Becky R.- this was a 2nd place winner! Check out the hand sculpted deer!

Course 2 on November 3, 2013 at 1:00 pm has been cancelled...

Hello Everyone-

I have had to cancel  the Course 2  class starting on November 3 ( Sunday) from 1-3 pm. Please contact me for other options. You are welcome to take the classes out of order, I do still have a Course 3 open for the month that you could join starting on November 9 at 10:00 am.

Tara

November Cake Classes at Michael's start tomorrow.

Hi Everyone-

New Wilton Cake Classes start at Michael's on Harbison tomorrow. There are both weekend and daytime classes available. Remember if you cannot get over to Michael's to sign up, you can contact me or sign up online at Michael's website.

The schedule is available on my blog at :

http://sweetcakesandsparklythings.blogspot.com/p/class-schedule.html


Cake by Heather G. in her final lesson of Course 4 this past Tuesday.

Cheap Thrill- Light Bulb Exchage for Columbia SC residents on October 29, 2013.

Hello Everyone-

Did you know that Richland County Public Library, Saint Andrews Branch is having a light bulb exchange? You can take in your old, cheap energy hogging bulbs and trade them for up to 8 CFL bulbs at no charge. All you have to do is go to the St Andrews Branch at 2916 Broad River Road on October 29th, 2013 between 4-7 pm and they will trade your old bulbs for new ones. If you have questions you can call 929-6000.

What a green cheap thrill!!!

Cheap Thrill- " All You" Magazine great for coupons and recipes!!!

Just thought I would share one of my favorite money saving magazines. This one is called, " All You" it is put out by Wal -Mart and comes loaded with coupons and money saving tips. It is really a couponer's bible. The coupons and tips don't just work at Wal-Mart, they work any where. Plus the magazine comes loaded with recipes that help you maximize your grocery spending. For those of you that do cake classes with me, there are always several dessert recipes featured each month.

You can pick up issues at your local newsstand or Wal-Mart but, it is even cheaper if you subscribe by following this link:

https://subscription.allyou.com/storefront/subscribe-to-all-you/site/ay-sem12for1992ho.html?pkw=PSAYGLTX032011SNND1972&link=1002579

Use one coupon a month from this magazine and it will pay for itself!

Scary Cupcakes Class Coming Soon!!! Sign up now for class October 27th from 3:30-5:30 Pm at Michaels on Harbison

Hello Everyone-

As many of you know I have not been teaching project classes at all lately due to my treatment schedule. I have been directing you all to Kim A's wonderful project classes. This month, I am going to try to do a bit more. I was out demonstrating "Scary Cupcakes" last week and had no less than 10 different past students come by and ask me to teach the cupcakes this Halloween!

So I scheduled a 2 hour class with Michael's. The class will be on Sunday, October 27, 2013 from 3:30 to 5:30 Pm at Michael's on Harbison. Tuition is $15.00 for the 2 hours. I will be emailing everyone who signs up a syllabus prior to class. Basically, you will be bringing your Course 1 and Course 3 tools, a dozen cupcakes, 2 batches of icing, Milano Cookies, and 1 box or batch of rolled fondant.

We will be making Mummy cupcakes, Tombstones, and my take on " The Wicked Witch of the West". If we have time we may do a Spider or a Ghost cupcake as well.

Witches and Tombstones from this week's cupcake demo.  The spider cake is a large version of the cup cake we can do in class. ( He looks better in real life than in the photo!)

Cheap Thrill- Another use for your KitchenAid Mixer: pulling pork or chicken.

Today in cake class, we had a discussion about what in the heck you could use your KitchenAid Mixer for if you were not just making cakes with it. I found this topic a bit funny because, when I got my KitchenAid I was very worried my husband had paid much more for it than we would ever get out of it! It turns out I was very wrong, I use my Stand Mixer about 5 days a week ( when I am feeling well) . My mixer and my Chambers Stove are the two kitchen items that I will never be without.

So I thought I would show you one of the neat uses for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer that I found online. This is an especially good tip since we make and eat so much BBQ here in the south. Your mixer can be used to pull pork or chicken. All you have to do is remove the BBQ from the bones and put it into your mixer  bowl in small batches. I use the dough hook attachment and pull my pork on low speed. It makes a really tedious long job into a short easy one!!!


If you would like to see a demo, here is one I found on You tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTr3hPvYVTQ

How to get your SC State Fair Competion Results...

Hi Everyone-

I know many of you are headed to the Fair Grounds on Monday to deliver those cake entries. If you would like to see how your cake fared with the judges you can go to the State Fair Web Site at www.scstatefair.org and click on the big blue square that says "SC State Fair" once you move to the next page click  the blue ribbon that says " Competitive Exhibits" and then click on " Judging Results. The winners are listed by department.

Of course, I like to be surprised I always just go down and see how my cake did. This year I did not enter the fair . So I am going down to see how all of you did with your cakes.

If you want to show off your cakes on my " Tara's Cake Club" Face Book page, go ahead and post them. I would love to see what you did for the fair.

Tara

My favorite cake show ever...Halloween Wars Season 3 Sunday night at 9:00 pm....

Shameless plug for my favorite cake decorating show ever, " Halloween Wars". I had a long day making scary cupcakes at Michael's so tonight I am going to enjoy watching some scary cake making. I really get so inspired by the pumpkin carving, cake decorating, and candy making that go into the creations on this show.  If you want to join me " Halloween Wars" is on Food TV tonight to see all the old episodes and then it premieres Sunday at 9 pm.

Plus www.foodnetwork.com has recipes for all of the "tasting elements" that you can print out from their web site.

The Fly from Halloween Wars 2012

Cheap Thrill and a Cake tip all in one. Loading bags with Glad wrap , 1./2 the mess....

Hello Everybody-

This is a link to the "glad wrap method" of loading your cake decorating bags from "Dollar Store Crafts" - a site that I love because it is full of good ideas to do on the cheap. You can follow this link and scroll down to the video that shows you how to load a bag using glad wrap to minimize your clean up. This is not something I do all the time because disposable decorating bags take care of most of the clean up issues for me. This tip does come in really handy when I have a bunch of family or friends helping me decorate and we need to use a lot of colors and lots of bags. I use this method every year to load bags of royal icing for Xmas cookies. All you end up cleaning is the end of your tips.

Of course, if I were doing it I would be using Wilton Colors and a Wilton Bag tie ( much better than a rubber band).

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/09/mind-blowing-cake-decorating-tip/

Cheap Thrill .. Crisco is now making 1 cup " butter flavored" sticks..

Hey Everyone-

This is not so much a cheap thrill as a lazy way to cake decorate. Many of you are making lots of batches of Wilton Course 1 Butter Cream Icing and so you are using lots of shortening. I find that shortening is the one item I least like to measure, if you have been in class with me you know I like using the Crisco sticks because they are pre measured in a 1 cup portion. Of course, 1 cup is exactly the amount you need for 1 batch of icing and using a Crisco stick means I do not have to clean out that dirty shortening covered measuring cup!

Now Crisco has come out with a new 1 cup stick- you can now buy the one cup stick in  butter flavor! Please remember if you use this to make your icing it will be yellow- but, it will also have nice butter flavor.

Here is the link from Crisco if you would like to learn about it. While  you are there sign up for the Crisco emails, they will send you recipes and "cheap thrill" - coupons for their product!

http://www.crisco.com/products/ProductDetail.aspx?GroupID=17&ProdID=1358&utm_source=CRISCO&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OctoberNewsletter2013

Use the link above and not the learn more button to check out the Crisco site!!

Using Pinterist for Cake Designs

Hello Everyone-

I know many of you are on the look out for new cake designs. As I have mentioned in class, Wilton has a great Pinterest page for you to use at:

http://www.pinterest.com/wilton/



Enjoy!!!

Decorating Basics on October 6, 2013 is full. Here are some alternatives...

The October 6, Decorating Basics class is full. I cannot add another class at this time so I thought I would post some alternatives for those of you that want to take the class before November, 2013.

First of all, I still have Course 3 and Course 4 openings. You are welcome to start your education with those classes since you do not need decorating experience to take either class. The dates for these classes are:

Course 3 Gum Paste and Fondant October 3, 2013 10 am - 12 pm

Course 4 Advanced Gum Paste Flowers October 1, 2013 10 am- 12 pm


Kim also has a night class with a couple of openings available. She is a phenomenal teacher and would love to have you in her class:

Decorating Basics - October 2, 2013 6:30pm - 8:30 pm

Demonstration Cake done by me.

Tall Cakes Class Oct. 6 with Kim at Michael's on Harbison.....

Hey Everyone -

I know a bunch of you wanted to take the Tall / Tiered Cake Class before Christmas. I am unable to teach this class right now but, Kim A. is teaching one next week: Sunday,  October 6th from 3:30- 6:30 Pm. The tuition is $20.00.  If you want to sign up go on in to Michael's and get signed up. If you have questions for her she can be reached at kimbocraig@juno.com or you can contact me at sweetcakes@sc.rr.com and I will forward your questions to her.

This one was done by Meloney, a student from a past class.

Cake class students- here are the directions for the Wilton Giant Fantasy Rose

Hey Everyone-
Several of you have asked me to teach a class on this topic. Since I cannot teach new classes right now, I thought I would give you the Wilton directions so you could try this at home. If you have taken Course 3 or 4 with me this should be easy to follow.

Simply follow this link to the Wilton blog and you can print these out to add to your collection:


 http://www.wilton.com/blog/?p=12924

Giant Wilton Rose

Cheap Thrill for Cake Class ... The new Chef's Store....

Monday, I found myself over in the St.Andrews area and decided I would take a trip  of the new Chef's Store on Saint Andrews and Jamil Road. I was in need of some confectioner's sugar for my cake  classes. Normally, I purchase it at the holiday sales but, this year I ran out early.

I found a great price on sugar , one full case ( 24 boxes) of one pound boxes of Domino sugar for $21.98 total.  That is about .92 cents a box. It is not as low as I can do with coupons at the holidays but, it is a full .38 cents lower than a box of sugar costs at my local Publix.  I noticed they also had tons of other cake supplies and spices at much lower prices than even Sam's club has them for!

Fair is coming soon... here are some past entries to inspire you.

Hello Everyone,

As you all know SC State Fair is almost here. For those of you who entered the Cake contests, entries are due for turn in the first week of October so I thought I would post some photos of past entries to inspire you. These cakes are from the 2011 SC State Fair. These cakes were done by Sharminna H. , Karen L. , Becky R. , and Julie L. 

 

 

Look what some of our past students are doing.......

Hello Everyone-

I am finally able to post pictures on a more regular basis ( I hope). So I decided to highlight what some of our past Wilton Students are doing. Many folks are working in bakeries or using the new SC Cottage Home laws to bake and sell cakes from home.

These photos are from Henrietta W. who attended classes at Michael's with Kim A. . She finished her classes with me at OC. Tech. Henrietta was kind enough to take over teaching the cake classes at OC Tech when I was too sick to do the job.

I think these cakes are amazing, hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did!!!

Free Whoopie Pies book for your Kindle.....

I am always looking for good new recipes. These come from the Ferris baking company and I cannot wait to try them out for the holidays!

If you want to try them too, this book is available for free download to your Kindle, all you have to do is download it from Amazon.....

Now is the time to sign up for Holiday Cake classes...

Hello Everyone-

Now is the time to sign up for Holiday Cake Classes at Michael's! To help you do this I have given Michael' s registration sheets for the rest of 2013, so that you can sign up for October, November,and December classes right now.

This months special is 50% off the regular tuition of $45.00. Plus if you come in to the store this Saturday September 21, 2013 between 12:00 and 3:00 pm,  Wilton will be doing a special promotion for Course 1.

To see the Course dates simply follow this link:

http://sweetcakesandsparklythings.blogspot.com/p/class-schedule.html

See you in class!!!!

You could learn to make a cake like this!!!
 

"Cocky" Cupcakes for Gameday!!

Hello Everyone-

I apologize for not posting much this month, my treatment has made it so that I can just teach classes and I don't get much else done.

Today, was a Wilton Demonstration Day at Michael's. Since it was USC vs. UGA I just had to make "Cocky" cupcakes. If anyone would like to do a short simple class on making these little guys let me know, they were super simple.

Cheap Thrill- Couponing offers you plenty of opportunities to enjoy free items...

I had a nice surprise this past week. My couponing won me a lovely gift basket full of new cosmetic products from my local Walgreen's store!

Since I always have so many coupons, I check out at the Cosmetics counter. This way I don't hold up the line at the regular register. Checking out at Cosmetics has the added benefit of allowing me to enter the monthly prize raffle for a cosmetics basket! Of course, I also try to jump on www.mysavings.com when I am watching TV at night so I can register for any good freebies they have posted.

Here is what they sent me home with:

Pretty nice freebie!!!!

Another great Course 4 cake from July 2013

Hi Everyone-

Sharminna asked me to post her cake from the Course 4 class that finished a couple of weeks ago. Here is her photo:

 

 

I am so proud of her, this is wonderful cake!!!!

Tall Cakes Class this weekend with Kim A.

Hey Everyone-

As many of you know, I am not teaching project classes right now. Kim A. will be teaching a Tall cakes class this week , if you need to learn how to do this before fall you will want to join her.  She is a phenomenal instructor who has taught over 1500 Wilton Students.

Tall Cakes
Sunday, August 18^th 3:30-6:30

She will teach you how to stack and dowel a cake, how to use columns, and I believe she will even help you do a topsy turvy cake if you want.

Email her at kimbocraig@juno.com or go to Michael's to sign up for the class. 

It is time to enter your decorated cakes and baking in the SC State Fair ...

Hi Everyone-

There are only a few weeks left to enter your decorated cakes and baked goods at the SC State Fair for free. If you would like to enter follow this link:

http://www.scstatefair.org/

Go to "Competetive Exhibits" and then " Home and Craft" then simply pick the category you would like to enter in. Entering is free for the next few weeks, after Sept. 1 they charge money to enter.

To get you inspired here are some student cakes that went to the Fair last year.

August 6, 2013- Finished Course 2 Cakes from last week

Hello Everybody,

My course 2 students asked me to post some of their cakes on the  blog and Facebook for them. So here they are. I think they did a wonderful job!!

Cynthia D. Course 2

Jim R. Course 2

August Wilton Cake Classes start next week & a spectacular Course 4 cake from Thursday....

Wilton Cake Classes for August 2013, start next week at Michael's on Harbison.  Please sign up early or email and let me know you intend to be in class, I have a minimum number of students I need per class to teach. Here are the classes for August:

Tuesday August 6, 10:00 am -12:00 pm Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design
Thursday August 8, 1:00pm-3:00pm  Course 1: Decorating Basics
Sunday August 11, 1:00pm-3:00pm Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant


You many find out more about the classes by going to my website under class schedule or at this link:

http://sweetcakesandsparklythings.blogspot.com/p/class-schedule.html

 I have particulars about each class, plus digital copies of each syllabus.

To get you inspired here is a cake that was done by Lynette P. in Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers last Thursday. She did a wonderful job.. she tells me she tells me she will be doing her own wedding cake soon...

Lynette P, Course 4 Final Cake.

Cheap Thrill for July 31, 2013: Free bag of Hill's Ideal Cat or Dog Food....

The Dog food I got was the Ideal variety - not this one!!!

Jennifer T. visited the house Monday, and asked me how the heck I got so much free stuff? I told her to check out this blog or take my coupon class. In the meantime, I thought I would post a link to my latest free item, Science Diet Ideal Pet food for dog's or cats.

This is a rebate item, so you have to go out an purchase it. You fill out the rebate and they reimburse you. You can print the rebate form using this link:


http://www.hillspet.com/products/products-special-offers.html

I paid $12.99 for my bag at Petsmart.

As many of you know, I cannot just do a rebate offer!!  I have to make a little pocket change too.. so I waited until Hill's was on sale at Petsmart and they had a $2.00 off coupon in their circular.  I clipped the $2.00 off coupon so that I paid only $10.99 for my bag of dog food. When I went to the cashier she also had a $2.00 off coupon stashed so I dropped what I paid down to $8.99...Yahoo.

The final step in all of this is to send in the rebate form- when I do this I will circle the price I was charged on my rebate form $12.99, this is the amount my check will be for. I will net $4.00 from this deal on Hill's plus I will have a free bag of Dog food.

Petsmart also issued me a $5.00 register coupon when I made the purchase. It was good on anything made by Hills .. so my kitty is now eating free Hills Kitty food for the next few days..


I love a good rebate ..................................

Cheap Thrill- Free pastry at Panera Bread...

For those of you out here on the East Coast, Panera
Bread offers a " My Panera" program. Sign up at  http://mypanera.panerabread.com/?ref=pbhomeleft and they will let you come in and get a free pastry. Once you are signed up they will also send you a coupon for a free pastry on your birthday. Pretty cool way to get a treat and save a bit of money too....

Monday breakfast for Courtney and I!!!!!

My Favorite way to flavor Butter Cream Icing...

As many of you know I love to experiment and make up recipes. Here is one that was inspired by Kim A. my fellow wilton instructor, she uses flavored coffee creamers to add a punch to her icing. Here with a simple substition I use Toroni or Da Vinci flavored syrups to change the taste of my icing. The icing tastes wonderful and there are hundreds of flavors to choose from out there. Please remember that if you use a syrup that is colored, your icing will be the color of the syrup!

Flavored Butter Cream Icing Recipe

 

6 Tablespoons butter

4 ½ to 4 ¾ cups pure cane powdered (confectioners) sugar

1 Tbsp Meringue powder

2 Tbsp. milk

2 Tbsp. Toroni syrup (your choice of flavors)

1 ½ tsp vanilla

 

In a small bowl beat butter until light and fluffy, gradually add about half the powdered sugar and meringue powder mixing well. Add the milk and vanilla and mix. Then add remaining powdered sugar. If consistency is too thick add more milk & mix, if it is too thin add more powdered sugar and mix until you have the right consistency. This is equal in yield to 1 batch of the Wilton class butter cream icing.

Cheap Thrill - Three free containers of cat litter... and I earned a few bucks too.....

This morning I decided that I would look around for some pet supply deals that would defray our expenses this year. My goal was to spend no more than thirty minutes and score enough cat litter for our one little kitty to last until the end of 2013. I easily found three rebate deals that fit the bill, I got 3 big containers of kitty litter for just the tax:

World's Best Cat Litter
www.worldsbestcatlitter.com

Feline Pine
http://www.felinepine.com


Dr. Elsey's
http://www.preciouscat.com/


All you do to get these rebates is go buy the products, print the rebate form from the website and follow the directions for what to mail or email in. ( Remember if you buy all three in one shopping trip to have the cashier ring three separate transactions- that way you have an original receipt to send to each company.)

Of course, being the coupon lady I had to take this a step further.  I found coupons for each item online and redeemed the coupons when I made the purchase. This means that I will actually make money on each transaction and get free kitty litter.  Here is how this works:

I printed out a $2.oo off coupon for Feline Pine. Went to Petsmart and bought the litter for $15.99 and used the coupon for $2.00 off. So I paid a net of $13.99 plus tax for my kitty litter.

I will then send off the rebate form. When you fill in a rebate form - you specify what the price of the item was before coupons. In this case I would tell them I paid $15.99 ( this is the price on my receipt). The rebate is good for any purchase of Feline Pine up to $14.99. This means the check I will  get in 6 weeks or so will be for $14.99 netting me a $1.00 more than I actually paid.

Using coupons on rebates does not sound like it would be worth the time it takes to do it especially since I did pay tax on the items as well. But today I picked up three rebate items and I netted $6.00 due to the coupons I used. Plus Petsmart gave me $5.oo of  rewards to use on another item. So I covered the taxes on the products and made a few bucks as well... the perfect coupon storm.


In six weeks I will be paid for all the litter I bought and I can proceed on to the next product!!!!!

New Place for you to post your cake photos, talk with other students, and ask questions...

I give up. I am unable to keep up with posting all the wonderful photos I have of your beautiful cakes and baking projects. So  I have started a new  Face Book Group just for all of you:

If you want to post photos, simply follow this link :


https://www.facebook.com/groups/Tarascakeclub/

*** You will need to have a free Face Book Membership to participate.

If you have questions that you would like addressed through the group email me at:
Tarascakeclub@groups.facebook.com


Here is a photo from years ago when I took the class. This was my second lesson in Wilton Course 1! It is amazing how far you can go with Wilton classes.

 It's a white cake with Da Vinci Raspberry butter cream icing... stay tuned to this blog for the icing recipe.....

Cheap Thrill for July 20, 2013- Coupons for Organics.....

Everyone always tells me it is hardest to coupon for high quality organic foods. I found a website that offers coupons for a number of these foods:

http://www.commonkindness.com/coupons

Of course, the easiest way I have found to save on vegetables and meat is to follow the coupons at my favorite super market, save as much as I can on other products and apply the savings to the purchase of high quality meats and veggies.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe

Hello Everyone-

My longtime favorite Chocolate cake is the " Hershey's Feathery Fudge Cake" it came in a recipe book they published in the early 1980's. I found a copy of the original book and have posted it to this link:

https://drive.google.com/?tab=wo&authuser=0#all

This will open up my google drive. Simply check the recipe you would like to look at and click twice. This will bring up the recipe or booklet, then you can open it and go to the page you want.

This way you can look up just the cake or a bunch of other Hershey's recipes as well.

Enjoy-

Tara