Sugar Orchid Class with Ron Ben Israel 2011

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to attend another sugar flower class with the fabulous and talented Ron Ben Israel! The class covered the construction and coloring of five stunning orchids, and took place at Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah, GA. We spent two fun days creating orchid centers, petals, buds and leaves, and a full third day carefully dusting and taping our pieces together to complete our gorgeous flowers! Many thanks to Ron for his excellent instruction, great stories, endless patience and fabulous sense of humor!

As always, Minette and her staff provided a warm and welcoming classroom - complete with morning coffee and light breakfast, a catered lunch, afternoon treats, and her wonderful Southern hospitality. Thank you Minette!

Ron's class was full of students from all over the world...and it was such a pleasure getting to know them over the weekend as we discussed our businesses and our love for cakes and sugar art! Here are some photos from class...

Making buds and orchid centers:



Getting ready to dust:



Rack full of flowers drying:



Time to paint:



Ron posing with one of his Dancing Ladies (photo by the fabulous Kate Essenberg):



Ron and Minette dusting flowers (photo by Kate Essenberg):



Pretty pink Dendrobiums:



Some of my orchids...Phalaenopsis, Cymbidium, Denrobium and Oncidium (Dancing Ladies)...and we were working on the Cattleya orchid too!



Ron's gorgeous work...they look stunning all together on this tray:



What a fabulous three days...thank you for the wonderful hospitality Minette! And thank you, Ron, for sharing your incredible talent with us!



Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Sugar Orchid Class with Ron Ben Israel 2011

Petalsweet at The San Diego Cake Show 2011

The San Diego Cake Club puts on a wonderful cake show every year in early March. The show is a great fundraiser, and this year the money raised was donated to the incredible Ronald McDonald House which is part of Rady Children's Hospital here in San Diego. The event runs for the whole weekend and includes a judged cake competition for all levels of decorators, lots of different demonstrations, a huge raffle for some fun prizes, and a cupcake decorating table for kids of all ages! I love being able to give back to the local community, and it's always a wonderful opportunity to meet so many amazingly talented people who love the same things I do!

Over the past several years I have not been able to participate in the show, but this year I had the weekend reserved on my calendar, and I was very happy to work on my entry! The month of March is always so pretty here in San Diego and I love seeing all of the flowers as they start to bloom. They were definitely my inspiration this year... I envisioned Spring flowers, something pretty and delicate, and you know how much I love greens mixed with white and a touch of some other color...how about pink?

Here are some photos of the design in progress...

I wanted to use hydrangea...and those always start with lots of tiny centers:



Arranging flowers and buds (my mess!):



The bouquet on the lower tier:



And some images of the topper...

Close-up of some of the pink buds and filler flowers I added:



The parrot tulips from the top:



From the front - where the ranunculus flowers were more prominent:



And the completed design:



It was a lot of fun to see all of the other amazing entries, and such a pleasure to participate...I was very honored to bring home second place in the Professional Division this year! Thank you so much to the kind judges, and congratulations to all of the other winners!



Looking forward to next year...

Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet at The San Diego Cake Show 2011

Petalsweet Class Photos - *February*

I finally have a few moments to share some great photos from recent classes! It has been such a pleasure to have the opportunity to teach at the wonderful Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio here in San Diego, as well as at the fabulous Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah. With classes filled with such talented, kind and fun students, I am feeling very blessed indeed!

The first group of photos were taken by one of my lovely students from the Savannah classes, Yoshiko Santoso. She was a student in my Ranunculus and Peony Topper classes, and this was her first time making sugar flowers! As you will see in the photos, not only is she a very talented photographer, but she is also now a wonderful sugar artist as well! She was gracious to share these with me and let me post them here...thank you Yoshiko!!

Pink Ranunculus flowers I made as an example for class:



Dusting the pretty green centers:



Demonstrating and working on flowers:











Yoshiko and our wonderful host, Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes:



Putting a peony flower together:



All of the components for the topper...ready to put together:



Starting the arranging process:



Adding more flowers:



Filling openings with buds:



The completed topper I made as an example for class:



A great photo with Yoshiko:



Class photo with their gorgeous toppers:



Yoshiko took this great photo of her beautiful topper once she got it home...and you can find more of Yoshiko's beautiful photography on her website here!



I also have a few great photos from my recent Peony class here in San Diego! Here is one at the end of the first day with everyone's peony petals drying:



Our completed flowers at the end of class, with the fun pop of yellow stamens in the center:



Fabulous students and their gorgeous peonies:



Many thanks to all of my wonderful students for coming to class and being your fun and fabulously talented selves! It was great to meet you and work with you! And thank you to my hosts, Minette Rushing and Ro Zinniger - I'm so grateful for the opportunity to teach in your studios!

Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet Class Photos - *February*

Petalsweet Classes in San Diego...

I have just started teaching local sugar flower classes here in San Diego at Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio in San Marcos, California. Ro Zinniger, the fabulous owner of the studio, has a great space that is split into a retail side and a teaching/studio side. The studio is perfect for some of my flower classes, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to use it! Thank you so much Ro!!

Ro also offers a lot of other cake decorating and sugar craft classes through her School of Confectionery Arts...be sure to check out her site for more information!

I wanted to share some photos from my most recent classes...first was a class covering Gardenia and Ranunculus flowers. Here is some of the set up prior to class beginning:



Student Gardenias drying:



Our finished Ranunculus flowers and a few Gardenias with their dark, glossy leaves attached:



I also taught a class on the filler flowers I use most...Hydrangea and little Pulled Blossoms. We worked over two sessions to make all the delicate flowers, buds and leaves, and then dusted them in beautiful colors, including a touch of pink in anticipation of Valentine's Day. At the end of class we taped all of our flowers and leaves together to create a small bouquet.

Student working diligently on the tiny pieces:



The color palette:



Our completed sugar flower bouquets:



Boxed up to go home:



We all had a great time, and my students did fabulous work!! I'm looking forward to the next two local classes including an Open Peony with Stamens and then my Spring Collection which includes Anemone and Freesia. More class information and registration is on Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio site.

Now it's time to prepare and get organized for my next set of classes at Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah, GA later this month. Can't wait! Hope to see some of you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet Classes in San Diego...

Petalsweet Sugar Flower Classes - January Update

Greetings and Happy New Year from Petalsweet!

I hope this message finds you well and having enjoyed a wonderful, joyous and restful Holiday Season! I wanted to share a quick post to give you an update on some of my sugar flower classes for the first quarter of the year! Local classes in San Diego are listed first, and then classes in Savannah, GA are listed second. I also added the classes I am teaching at Cake Love 2011 in Vancouver, BC in September since those have been officially posted on their website.

I will be listing additional classes in the next few weeks, and will blog another message as soon as I have all of the information finalized!

Please visit the respective sites for more information and class registration.


**SAN DIEGO CLASSES**
All of these classes are being held at Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio in San Marcos, CA (760) 744-0447

Ranunculus and Gardenia
Sunday, January 30, 2011
9am – 5pm
Class fee: $195.00 includes the use of all supplies needed
We will take a short lunch break (not provided)

Hydrangea and Filler Flowers
Mon/Tues January 31 – February 1, 2011
9am – 1pm both days
Class fee: $175.00 includes the use of all supplies needed

Open Peony with Stamens
Sat/Sun February 26 – 27, 2011
1pm – 5pm both days
Class fee: $195.00 includes the use of all supplies needed (see photo below)



Springtime Collection: Freesia and Anemone
Sat/Sun March 19 – 20, 2011
1pm – 5pm both days
Class fee: $195.00 includes the use of all supplies needed


**SAVANNAH CLASSES**
All of these classes are being held at Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah, GA (912) 356-0072

The Ranunculus Flower
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
1pm – 5pm
Class fee: $85.00 includes the use of all supplies needed

Intro to Sugar Flowers (Gardenia, Quick Rose, Blossom, Sweet Pea)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
9am – 5pm
Class fee: $249.00 includes the use of all supplies needed (see photo below)**This class is FULL**



Peony and Hydrangea Cake Topper
Fri – Sun February 18 – 20, 2011
9am – 5pm
Class fee: $650.00 includes the use of all supplies needed and lunch each day


**Cake Love 2011 – Vancouver, BC**
These classes are being held at the Cake Love 2011 Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia
September 23 – 25, 2011
Please visit the Cake Love site for class dates, information and registration.

The Gorgeous Gardenia
Springtime Freesia
The Peony
Hydrangea and Filler Flowers
How to Arrange Sugar Flowers (demo only)


**Private Instruction**…please contact me for more details and information about private lessons. If you are traveling from out of town for one of my classes, please let me know if you would like to add on a private lesson to learn additional flowers, and to make the most of your time while you are here! I would love to work with you!

I hope to see you soon in class! Thank you for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet Sugar Flower Classes - January Update

Starting the New Year with...Sugar Peonies!

I think it's pretty fitting that the New Year has begun, and I'm already making sugar peonies like crazy! Ever since I attended a fabulous flower class with Ron Ben Israel several years ago, and he demonstrated the gorgeous peony, I have been absolutely smitten with them. They truly are one of my favorite flowers, I will always enjoy making them, and you can be pretty sure they will always be a staple in designs and bouquets at Petalsweet. And while a New Year may call for new flowers...I'm afraid I'm awfully happy with continuing to use peonies...but hopefully in new ways, and then taking lots of new photos of them to share with you.

Here are a few photos from the other day when I was putting some peonies together. These large flowers were made with quite a few petals, and had pretty yellow stamens in the center.

Here are the pieces that make up the pistil:



The stamens added:



Lots of peony petals ready to be taped together into flowers:



The finished product...I just love these:



And a little bouquet I put together to top a small tier...something fresh and sweet to celebrate a good friend:



Thanks so much for stopping by...Happy New Year!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Starting the New Year with...Sugar Peonies!