Craftsy Review and Contest Giveaway!

Have you heard of Craftsy?  Some of you might be like me, as you may have signed up but haven't had a chance to take a course.  They have created this wonderful system where you can easily take online classes for cake decorating, sewing and so much more.

I am not trying to sell you anything - I'm actually going to tell you about 2 of their FREE cake decorating classes.  They are not paying me or giving me anything to do this review - they will actually give one of you a free Craftsy cake decorating class - so make sure you enter to win.

If you are a cake decorator, seamstress or crafter - you probably have lots of quiet time working some late hours.  Usually when I'm decorating or creating sugarpaste decorations, I have my iPad playing in the background with food network or some mindless reality show.

It only took me a few minutes to figure out the Craftsy system and the neat features. I realized that I could watch a course while I was in cake-mode and easily re-watch later.  I watched these 2 free classes.

1) Modern Buttercream with Joshua John Russell

• Firstly, this class is free and jam-packed with a ton of information.  If you've seen Joshua on Food Network - he's pretty awesome and generously shares how he does things.  Whether you are a beginner or professional, there is a cool tip to try or just interesting to know how another caker does it.

• I'm not sure the full length of the videos as it was in several parts, but it must've been a couple hours total.  I kept thinking that it would stop and you'd have to pay more to see how the cake turns out.  You really got to see the cake from start to finish - tons of tips along the way.
• Joshua is quite a perfectionist like many cakers.  I really like how he said it was "simple".  But in actual fact, he is really passionate about making his cakes perfect and he provided "simple in the highest quality".  It allows the viewer to decide what degree they want to follow the techniques.  It also allows people to appreciate what goes into making a cake.
• I would highly recommend this class and if all the other classes provide as many tips, viewpoints and ideas - that is awesome!

2) The Hand Painted Cake with Erin Schaefgen

• Another free class that I watched during my late nights making sugarpaste decorations.  Erin shares some great color tips like "How do you make grey?" and I just had that problem the other week.  She also gave the best explanation about the use of a little pencil to outline designs on a cake.
• She also re-affirmed my thoughts when I do free-hand painting on cakes.  A lot of this video was her painting in different techniques, which I probably couldn't sit there and watch.  But, it was actually nice to to have this in the background, glance up once in a while and listen to her talk.  I actually didn't feel so lonely in the wee hours caking :-)

I would definitely recommend that you at least watch the free classes.  Make sure you enter to win a free Craftsy cake decorating class:

1. Jump over to Craftsy to enter your name.  One entry per person.
2. Deadline for entry is Monday, June 17th, 2013 at 8pm EST.
3. One winner will be randomly selected and notified in a week. 

Lastly, if you want additional free tips, you have to check out their blog and youtube channel.  A ton of helpful info for everyone!