Fondant Craft Area Redo
Over the past month, I've found my blog starting to fall into a posting schedule naturally. I used to post whenever I would try out a new recipe, it was kind of haphazard. Since around mid-March, I've been striving to post 3 times a week. It can be hard, as that is a lot of recipes to try out. Thankfully, though, I've had quite a few cake jobs and Etsy orders lately, which has given me a lot of material for posts. I've been starting the week with tutorials from cake jobs, sharing a recipe mid-week, and finishing the week with another recipe or miscellaneous posts. I think the pattern has been working well, so I'm making it my official posting schedule.
The tutorials will be for cake decorating ideas or fondant cupcake toppers. Most of these will be based on cake jobs I have, or Etsy orders. The recipes will continue being for cakes, cookies, and all kinds of sweet treats. Miscellaneous will encompass my Something Savory series, blog tips, baking/fondant tips, and even more recipes! I am also contributing a series entitled "Guide to Baking and Cake Decorating" on another blog starting next Friday. I am SO excited, more details coming soon!
Let's kick things off, though, with a blog in the miscellaneous category. Today's post is an overview of my organization redo of my fondant and baking tools.
Readers who've followed my blog for a while may remember my husband and I moved about 5 months ago (read more about it here). We went from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment, so space has been an issue. I'll admit organization is not my strong point! One of our biggest issues has been in the kitchen and pantry. We had a great kitchen in our old home - lots of cabinets and a island with storage space. Our new kitchen is much smaller and we had to get really creative about fitting our items into the cabinets. The pantry is tiny and it's hard to fit everything in and keep it organized and accessible. One of the biggest issues is I used the pantry to store my cake decorating tools, and they were taking over!
I challenged myself to get organized and find a storage for the fondant portion of the tools in another area. I rarely work on fondant pieces in the kitchen, I prefer working on them at a desk. I decided to do a organization redo in the few hours I had free one day, and without spending any money. I really wanted to repurpose containers and boxes laying around not getting used.
First up, I found an area to use. My desk I had from my old apartment was in the spare bedroom, and not really serving a purpose. I had some art supplies and scrapbooks at the desk, but I don't really work on those that often. I decided to turn this space into a fondant decor craft area! Here are some projects I worked on. I have a few more items to finish up the area, but here's what I did in a few hours and using $0.
Let's kick things off, though, with a blog in the miscellaneous category. Today's post is an overview of my organization redo of my fondant and baking tools.
Readers who've followed my blog for a while may remember my husband and I moved about 5 months ago (read more about it here). We went from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment, so space has been an issue. I'll admit organization is not my strong point! One of our biggest issues has been in the kitchen and pantry. We had a great kitchen in our old home - lots of cabinets and a island with storage space. Our new kitchen is much smaller and we had to get really creative about fitting our items into the cabinets. The pantry is tiny and it's hard to fit everything in and keep it organized and accessible. One of the biggest issues is I used the pantry to store my cake decorating tools, and they were taking over!
I challenged myself to get organized and find a storage for the fondant portion of the tools in another area. I rarely work on fondant pieces in the kitchen, I prefer working on them at a desk. I decided to do a organization redo in the few hours I had free one day, and without spending any money. I really wanted to repurpose containers and boxes laying around not getting used.
First up, I found an area to use. My desk I had from my old apartment was in the spare bedroom, and not really serving a purpose. I had some art supplies and scrapbooks at the desk, but I don't really work on those that often. I decided to turn this space into a fondant decor craft area! Here are some projects I worked on. I have a few more items to finish up the area, but here's what I did in a few hours and using $0.
My New Fondant Craft Area
First up was a way to store and easily access my fondant tools and edible markers. These got lost easily in the large tubs I was storing my tools in. Every time I needed them, it was a hunt to find the right tool or color marker. I decided to have them out on the table so they'd be easy to find and use. I took a small Ball jar from the pantry, and turned it into a holder for the pens and tools. I want to get some cute ribbon to tie around the jar and add a cute touch.
Next up, was my attempt at organizing all my cookie cutters. These are actually used more for fondant than cookies, so that is why they are included in my craft area. I found a discount set of 101 cookie cutters a few months ago, and have accumulated others as well. That's a LOT of cutters and hard to keep organized. The 101 cutters included a sports set, animal set, alphabet, numbers, and different holiday sets. I tied each set up with a ribbon so that they were all contained together. It is easy to go through the cutters and find what I'm looking for. I may even add a tag to the ribbon that shows the title of the set. I placed these all the sets in a cute storage container and placed it under the desk.
Another challenge was dealing with my cake boards. I've made a variety of sizes of cakes, so I have accumulated quite a few cake boards. Having them in the kitchen or pantry isn't a good idea as they become unusable if something spills on them. You also want to make sure they don't get bent or ripped. They can be bulky, so it would take a large box to store them, taking up a lot of room. I decided instead of hiding them away, I would make a cute display with them. I tied ribbons around them to add a decorative touch, but also keep them together. I can easily slide out the board I want to use, so the display is functional as well as fun! I usually end up adding ribbon or covering them with fondant, so it's good to have them in the craft area.
Next up was a container for the rest of my fondant tools. I had an old drawer organizer I used in college and hadn't thrown out. I wasn't using it anywhere else in the apartment as it isn't the prettiest. The decoupage was done about 7 years ago, and it was my first attempt at it, so it isn't in the best condition. But, it's fine for now for this space. The amount of drawer space is perfect to fit all my tools in! I've got my food coloring gels, additional cutters, rollers, smoothers, boards, fondant/gum paste, etc all contained in one space now and easy to access.
I also found a box to place my finished fondant pieces in, or put pieces in to dry. The bottom of the desk had a section for idea books and magazines.
Overall, I'm happy with the change! I only had a couple hours and no budget, so I'm pleased with the results. I'm gonna add a cute cupcake wall calendar I have, and some artwork to complete the area. I also put my Cricut Cake on the desk, so everything is all together to continue making creative and cute pieces for my cakes!
Hope you enjoyed these ideas. If you work on fondant, maybe you got some ideas to organize your tools. Check back Monday for a new tutorial. I don't actually have a cake this weekend, but I have TWO next weekend and a cupcake topper order. I'm planning on working on them this weekend, so I'll definitely have a tutorial ready for Monday. Follow me on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram) for sneak peeks and additional photos/ideas!
