WOW, it is amazing to hear everyone's beginnings with cake decorating !!
I actually got my first taste when my mother bought the Wilton snowman/santa kit back in 1979. She and I spent the whole day baking and decorating that cake for my dad. He loved it and so began HIS cake decorating hobby with mom and I "helping" him. Helping him also consisted of purchasing the Wilton yearbook yearly (79 to present) and buying new pans for him to try. (to date we have over 300 shapes) It has always been mostly a hobby for him and he always does for the holidays for just about everyone we know. Now here is where I come in...I actually didn't start my own decorating "hobby" until a little over ten years ago. I have been mostly decorating Wilton Character pans and mostly using stars and tips that gave me the shape I needed. But mind you, I have always wanted to learn new techniques(I still don't know how to make roses) and started looking for more ideas than the Wilton yearbooks provided. This is how I came across CC. And thanks to all here, I am learning new things and saving my money to get into classes. Thanks, for all of the CC members who have inspired!! 
I started over 24 years ago. My sister was pregnant with her first and I wanted to make those special cakes for my first niece. Took a Wilton 1 course and did a few here and there. About 7 years ago, started doing for teachers at the school I worked at, Took Wilton II course and it snowballed from there.
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