I have been decorating for two and a half years ... the only reason I started to decorate cakes is because I saw the professional caddy kit at Jo Anns and thought it was the cutest thing ever! So dh bought it for my birthday and I have been loving it ever since ... I took all three classes back to back at Jo Anns and desperately wanting to go to any more classes that are offered .. I love spending time here on CC and have learned a hundred things more then what I ever learned in my classes .. I love this hobby!

I have been decorating 2 yrs next month. I took all the Wilton courses.

15 years now - self taught. Took one Wilton class (teacher was a real pain and actually YELLED at people!!) so I swore I'd never waste my money and take another one! Learned a lot from my MIL and from a french lady I worked with at a bakery. Started in Ohio, and had to build up clients again when I moved to PA.

I started decorating 11 years ago, for my son's 1st birthday cake. For the first 6 years, I just did his cakes, and immediate family... Then my daughter came around and I was doing hers, and it seemed to pick up since then... went from just family cakes to friends too. I started venturing out about 2 years ago doing cakes for everyone! I'm completely self taught, until a couple Wilton classes last year to learn roses, and a few un-known techniques.

This is a great thread. Thanks for starting it!

I signed up for Wilton classes 4 years ago but only went to two because of work conflicts. I did a few during that period just for the fun of it but with my senior year of college I stopped doing any decorating. Then came grad school and any life outside of chemistry was greatly frowned upon and the stress prevented me from having any hobbies outside of sleep. Then I graduated and with my new job I have so much spare time I don't know what to do with it so I decided to try decorating again. It's only been 2 months since I've started up again so I'll just have to see what happens.

Hi! I am self taught. My aunt, who has a home based cake business, has been making cakes for my birthday since I was a baby and I always enjoyed them. When I graduated from highschool, I knew I didn't want to go to college so I started looking for something to do as a home business. My Dad knew I was interested in trying out cake decorating and having a business like my aunt so he bought me a bunch of cake decorating supplies for Christmas! I have been decorating cakes ever since and I absolutely love it! I have been doing it for two and a half years. I have enough business to keep me busy for the most part (I make all my gifts for people for the year and I have knitting classes that I give and will be doing some cooking/baking classes also.) although I am venturing out into doing Cake Balls also.

25+ years.

Interesting that 5 years seems to be the line between the 50/50 split among us. Roughly 50% less than 5 years ...... roughly 50% more than 5 years.

Thanks Bashini, that is a picture of my 1st grandchild! Whom I love and spoil every chance I get. I also need to update his picture that was a while back.

Sorry everyone, I'm done. Carry on

Kat