Officially a Baker

I sold my first dozen cupcakes! The past several years, I've toyed with the idea of eventually retiring from being a cubicloid and opening my own bakery. These last 6 months, though, have shown me that this might be a tangible dream (and I might be able to reach it before retirement).

I've started to really enjoy baking - not just the reward, but the actual work to practice and perfect a recipe. I play with measurements and techniques, take notes and and add little touches until something is perfect. Then I start again and try to reach a new level of perfection. I'm the team baker at work, no matter where I work. I know loving to bake isn't the same as being able to be a professional at it, but I've gotten to the point where coworkers (my most frequent guinea pigs) are now talking about having me bake their party cupcakes and even a groom's cake.

We'll see if any of those come to fruition, but at least one glimmer of the future became a reality. Today, I sold my first baked goods! A coworker placed an order for a dozen of my Chocolate Stout cupcakes for her boyfriend's birthday and I delivered them today, tied with a sheer green bow.

Viola!

I would have loved to use a cuter container, but at least the foil had a nice paisley design on it. Next time, i want to buy pastry boxes or at least the disposable containers with lids.

I placed a "Wish!" sticker on the paper underneath one of the cupcakes and told my buyer that whoever picks that cupcakes gets to make a wish. I thought it was a cute touch and she really liked it! She actually got visibly upset when she gave a couple of the extra cupcakes away and forgot to check that they weren't the Wish Cupcake. I remembered which one it was, though, so I assured her it was still in the tin. One of my other coworkers thought I had inexplicably baked the sticker in the cupcake and yelled, "I hope that was a food-safe sticker!"

No, dear. I don't bake things into cupcakes unless it is another edible thing. Give me a LITTLE credit!

Anyway, I am really proud of myself and hope this baking thing happens. I mean, there is no reason for it not to. I don't have plans for a storefront or employees or anything - I just want to bake out of my home for now under cottage laws. I'll deliver locally, mostly to friends. If I get lucky and this get a popular following, then I can think about a small location down the line. For now, I'm happy. I already reserved the URL.

Happy baking!

Melting

I made melted crayon art! I was bored and found that I had a bunch of crayons that I really don't use, so I thought I'd give this trend a try. It was very easy and a lot of fun. All you need is:

• Canvas
• Enough crayons to line the top of the canvas, whatever color scheme you choose
• Hot glue or fabric glue
• Hair Dryer (alternatively, you could melt the crayons by leaving them out in the sun)

All you have to do is remove the wrappers from the crayons and glue them onto the canvas in a row. Some people weren't removing the wrappers and I guess that is personal preference, but I really didn't like the look.

I took the time to plan out my crayon placement first to try to maximize the rainbow look. I also wanted this little umbrella suit dude to stand at the bottom, so I drew him on first with permanent marker. I then taped a piece of cardstock, standing up, along the top of his umbrella to keep him visible.

I covered an area of the bathroom with plenty of newspaper - use multiple layers to prevent colors from bleeding through. Aim your hair dryer at the top and move it slowly across the crayons to melt them. It'll take a couple of minutes before you start seeing them melt, but they will start to sweat and look shiny.  For me, darker colors seemed to melt faster. The blues and blacks were running like crazy by the time I could get the yellows and reds to bleed.

Give it 10 minutes or so and just keep changing your canvas angle and aim to get the desired result. I think I needed a sharper angle to prevent the lumps at the bottom. I'm really happy with the result, though. It's a very interesting piece, plus I got these little neat drippings at the base of my canvas that I can probably use for another art piece.

I used a basic matte spray sealant for the canvas afterwards. I also used clear nail polish to seal any drips along the back of the canvas where it would touch the wall to prevent crayon markings on the wall.