[quote="Crabbabs"]I'm only a hobby baker and these were really difficult for me to finish in a week with just a couple of hours to work after a full day of "real" work each day. "

First of all, OH MY GOSH!!! Second, you are not a hobby baker-you are a full-fledged professional-grade cake artist!

How did you do the sunset cake colors and palm trees? Do you have an airbrush? Did you use a stencil for the palm trees? Are they chocolate? How did you do the lettering for the books? Again, wow...

Wow, I can't tell you all how much your kind comments mean to me!

I just used regular gel food coloring watered down with vodka to paint on the sunset. I wish I had an airbrush, but I am happy with how they came out. After it dried, I used luster dust to add a bit of shimmer.

I painted the palms trees with black buttercream icing thinned down to a paint consistency. I just did them free hand with a thin paint brush.

The lettering for the books is just buttercream. I freehanded them too, but I messed up a lot and had to scrape off the buttercream and start over many times.

Thanks again to everyone, I love cc!

I can't believe you hand painted that cake!! You have some serious, serious talent