Thursday, October 11, 2012

Craftsy Class Review - Marina Sousa's Jeweled Wedding Cake

Hi Cakeland!


The lovely and talented Marina Sousa has done it now!  With her latest online class with Craftsy.com, Jeweled Wedding Cakes, she has raised the bar for classes to come. 

If you are not familiar with craftsy, they are an online craft site that offers affordable online classes that you can view in the comfort of your own home, whenever you want.  You get to interact with the instructors and fellow students through the craftsy platform, and best of all your class is yours forever – there is no expiration date!


In, “Jeweled Wedding Cakes”, Marina walks you through techniques required to give your brides the bling factor they are all seeking these days!  In this class, you learn how to use molds, cutters, pearls and dragees, to create eye catching pieces of edible jewelery and adornments that add a touch of elegance, sparkle and shimmer to your creations.  If you are a novice cake artist, or a seasoned pro, this class is a must have to help elevate your skills to the next level!

Marina is one of the biggest names in cake land.  She has won multiple competitions including Food Network Challenge, and has appeared on Oprah.  I had the privilege of learning from her in person, and she is exactly the same on film as she is in class!  Marina starts the lesson with a focus on design – a primer in the “how-to”.  She then moves on to cover tips and tricks for covering and carving your tiers.  One of the more interesting segments is on how to create your own cake stand that looks like it is made entirely of sugar!  I love making wedding cakes and have learned so much from this class – including a quick and easy way for creating swags that look incredible! 

Marina uses molds from her line available through MarvelousMolds and Icing Inspirations.  She moves on to demonstrate how to brighten the baubles up by using lusters, disco dusts, edible pearls and dragees.  And speaking of Marina’s molds, a HUGE thank you to my friend Chrissie from Icing Inspirations, who has generously agreed to give one lucky winner the opportunity to get their hands on 3 of the molds Marina uses throughout the lessons, valued at $75!  If you would like to win Marina’s Bling squared, Jeweled Brooch, and Diamond swag molds, you need to do two things – 1) Make sure you are signed up for blogger and follow my blog; and 2)Buy Marina’s “Jeweled Wedding Cake” class and leave a comment below telling me what Marina does to make a “simple swag” (Hint: It is in lesson 4 at the 5:08 mark).  All correct entries received by 11:59pm EST October 25th, will be put into a random draw.

This class is well worth the $40 fee, but for a limited time, you can purchase the class (thanks to Marina and Craftsy here for 50% off!)

If you really enjoy this class as much as I did, then you should check out Craftsy’s other cake decorating classes, including Marina’s “AdvancedFondant Techniques”.  And if like me, you can’t get enough Marina, then join her (and 5 other amazing instructors) next November (2013) when she returns to Canada for Cake Carnival – a 3 day cake-a-palooza hosted by Icing Inspirations.

Keep your eyes peeled here next week, as I will be offering you a review of James Rosselle’s Exotic Sugar Orchids class on Craftsy.  Oh yeah, we’ll be having a contest for that too!

Until next time,
Happy Caking

18 comments:

  1. Hi Mark: The link that says "here" for 50% off for Marina's new class is not working. *:(

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  2. They must have ended the special. I will see if Marina can get me another link :)

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  3. was going to say the same thing...26% off... :)

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  4. I think there was a hiccup on their end - MArina just re-sent me the link, I tried it and it worked... Link updated anyways ;)

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  5. Learned something new!
    She takes a half circle, cuts in half with a blade. Folds a part of it down and then pinches the sides. Great idea.

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  6. To do a simple swag, she uses a half circle of fondant, tucks the middle down, pinches the sides.

    Thanks!!

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  7. The simple swag is done by cutting out a half circle. Folding and tucking the middle under and pinching the sides.

    Thanks again for the discount code!!!

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  8. I cannot wait to take this class. I have purchased and have taken quite a few of the Craftsy classes. They have all been wonderful.

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  9. Marina cuts out circles, cuts them in half, makes a pleat in the half circle, and adheres it to the side. Quite genius if you ask me.. lol :o)

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  10. She actually cuts a circle, cuts it in half, folds over the long edge, then pleats or pinches the ends to make fold, this make a small swag. How easy is that? But none of us would know if we didn't have the amazing online classes from Craftsy.
    Thank you Marina

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  11. Just an fyi that I did get a new link from Craftsy by emailing "help@craftsy.com" and then got the class for 50% off! Thanks for the heads up, Mark! I LOVE her other class too, the Advanced Fondant Techniques. I bought it in the summer and just watched it now, and it's fantastic!

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  12. Hi Mark: Marina makes her swags this way: She takes a half circle and cuts it in half with a blade. She folds a part of it down and then pinches the sides together. Voila! Thanks for the offer to win her molds! Signed, fellow Canadian, Denise

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  13. The swags did she takes a half circle and cuts it in half with a blade. She folds a part of it down and then pinches the sides together. Thanks for share discount.:)

    Adalgisa Castillo

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  14. The swags did she takes a half circle and cuts it in half with a blade. She folds a part of it down and then pinches the sides together. Thanks for share discount.:) Adalgisa Castillo

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  15. Awesome class! Marina takes a 1/2 circle then she folds and pinches a tad. Savauri Sugar
    PS Great blog Mark!

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  16. Bought it! Thanks Mark.....so she uses the Ka pasta attachment first ...cuts out clean circles,cuts the circles in half with a little blade,then fold under the cut edge and pinch in the ends to form the swag shape then stick on spaced around the cake...then use larger circles and repeat as you go downwards on the cake

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  17. Congratulations Terra Landry! You are the lucky winner! I will have Icing Inspirations send your prize out shortly!

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