OMG that is too funny. I refer people to Mike all the time. I always tell them to call first cuz he sets his own hours LOL. He repaired my blue suede coat for me when the buttons kept coming off and tearing the suede. He put leather patches behind the buttons to reinforce it.
Yes Pauls on Lincolnway.
We definitely need to get together for lunch. Actually that new buffet across from the Suzuki dealership in Davenport on elmore ave is pretty dang good as well. But I am game no matter which place we decide. Just let me know when.
Awesome!! I am trying to get him to move his shop right now because you can't even get through the door of that crap hole! The store is about 15% of the space that he needs!! But that's my big brother... love him to pieces even though he does stupid stuff! He's my pal... we do lots of things together. Anyway, I'll have to find out (if Leily is game) when she'll be around, and we'll plan something!
I'm going to butt into this conversation and ask... when you guys speak of "True Value" are you talking about a True Value Hardware store?? There are a couple in my area but I never thought of looking there for decorating supplies... IF you are talking about a True Value Hardware store...
I'm going to butt into this conversation and ask... when you guys speak of "True Value" are you talking about a True Value Hardware store?? There are a couple in my area but I never thought of looking there for decorating supplies... IF you are talking about a True Value Hardware store...
Yep, believe it or not the True Value hardware stores in our areas carry more variety of cake supplies than Hobby Lobby or Michaels =)
oh ladies, are you planning dinner without me? Count me in. It is easier for me to make it to the QC then DeWitt, but if we went to DeWitt on a weekend it would be easier. It seems lately I am in Davenport almost everyother day!
I have heard good things about the place across from the Suzuki dealership too but haven't been yet.
I have a list of other members in the area if you guys are game for some more guest. I think I have about 6-7 now, but the list is at home so you'll have to wait for me to post it.
OF course we wouldn't forget you. I am pretty sure I sent you a PM about getting together.
Ummmm... earth to Leily...how could it possibly sem that we are planning to get together without you, when I specifically said we'd have to invite you!! Just teasin'!! Anyway, SOME True Value stores have a bunch fo stuff. So far, Trevor in Moline and the one in Dubuque are the ones I've found that are awesome. The one in Eldridge... nada! And a few others in the QC... zip!
I just got back from Davenport, had to pick up my baby's 2 year portraits, they are SO cute!!
Hey girls! Can't remember if I posted earlier that I am originally from Clinton too! Lived there until just 2 years ago when I moved to Davenport. Hey Melvira, I am now teaching at Michaels at least for the time being. Not sure I will stick with it since I already have a very demanding full time job. I only wanted to teach crochet there but they said they needed an extra Wilton instructor so that is what I am doing for now. Hope I like it ok. 
Oh, Zoboo... they needed an extra Wilton teacher because I am 'taking a break'. I haven't talked to Gabriella yet about whether or not I'm coming back. I took a break for family medical reasons, but I am tempted not to go back because of the ignorant management on both the Michael's side and the Wilton side.
I went to Paul's Discount today... just to see what they have new. THe manager of the store is talking about seriously increasing his cake baking/decorating section I told him this would be a great idea because all of us crazy cake ladies are always on the look out for more selection. He wrote down some items that we'd be interested in. Right now they do mostly wilton but I told him to check into the CK and the magic line items because they seem to be a huge favorite among bakers. I told him about this site, and how we're all drooling going from town to town in this area trying to find the things we want/need. He told me that as far as Wilton goes, for me to let him know that products I want/need and he may be able to order them for me, and save me on the price of shipping... HOW SWEET WOULD THAT BE? I took all my wilton classes at Micheal's and we'll just say that the one girl who used to be in charge of the education doesnt' like me much. She got kind of snotty with us about a make up class in the dead of winter, we had to skip class twice the roads were basically closed... and she didn't want to have us make up our classes, my Instructor was great... and well I thought she treated her very poorly, well as you all can probably tell I have a big mouth and I'm not afraid of using it, so I made a phone call and bam the next weekened we had our make up time and an apology, then the girl transfered to floral for a more full time job. I think the managment in the store is very lacking. THey make a TON of money off us cake people, they give the class at discount and then there is all the stuff you HAVE to have and all the stuff you probably should have and then the stuff that you just plain old want... but they never have enough of of a selection or more then one or two of certain items... and when we were buying supplies for course one, they were out of about half of the stuff we all needed to have much less the stuff we wanted... irritates me.
Anyway just thought i'd give you all a heads up on the Paul's discount store. and if ya'll do lunch invite me!!! lol
Jen
I have to say that I am loving listening to all of you talk about my homeland. I was born and raised half of my life in Marshalltown! I went to school at UW Platteville and we'd go to Dubuque sometimes!! I wish I was there!
As for True Values, my best friend has been getting me cookie cutters for $.59 each ans sending them to me. She lives in a small town in Wisconsin. Here in Dallas, yes we have great cake supply stores but nothing is $.59!!!
Wow- $700 for a fondant called cake from Hyvee? I lived in Omaha for a short time and used to shop there, and you're right, they aren't anything great. I'm in Colorado, and things are more expensive out here, however, even our Albertsons doesn't charge $700 for a fondant covered cake. I think it's about $350 or somewhere around there for 125 servings or something.
I guess if people pay it, it's not too much. I agree with you others though - I'm not willing to pay big money for grocery store cake, because they just aren't that great.
Hi Guys,
I am a cake decorator at Hy-Vee in Overland Park, KS. We charge $2.00 per serving for buttercream cakes and $4.00 for fondant covered cakes.
Every store has a different decorator (obviously) with different levels of experience. Please try to realize, some weekends we have up to 10 wedding cakes that we have to decorate, and deliver. In addition to that, we have to keep the cake case full, and do the sheet cake orders, sometimes up to 60 in one weekend. It is not an easy job, even for me, with 13 years of experince. I'm not saying that we have that many cake orders every week, but we are kept very busy. It is very overwhelming to new decorators.
That is why we put such a larger price on fondant cakes. When you can decorate a buttercream cake in under 1 hour, the last thing we want to be doing is roll out fondant. It is so time consuming, and we just don't have the time. We will do it if they pay, though!
And, for myself, while I do work in a grocery store, I still take great pride in the cakes I do. You would be very surprised to see the quality of cakes that we do at my store. I will admit, there are stores that have cake decorators that are not as good, but it is very difficult to hire good decorators. So a lot of stores have to make do with what they can get, as far as talent goes.
Thanks for listening!
I visited a Hy-vee for the first time a few weeks ago. Their bakery had an intoxicating buttercream scent wafting from the back! Yum! All of their cakes looked great! Much better than the shipped in cakes most of the grocery stores in Dallas have. I liked that the Hy-vee actually baked and decorated in store. Plus, they had some really cool "specialty" food items...and I was really intrigued by the Chinese and Italian "deli" areas where you could pick up meals. I wish that Hy-vee were here in Dallas!
And also, our cakes taste very good. We don't offer much more than white, chocolate, or marble, but in all the years I have worked for Hy-Vee (9), I have only had a couple of complaints about the taste. We also make our icing from scratch, and it is very good....
Thanks adawndria, maybe they will make it down there eventually!
Melsherard, I am totally NOT dissing you for working at Hy-Vee. Not one bit! I told my sister that if she wants to get good, she should consider something like that... she would work on her speed, and they'd really whip her into shape! I was also not diaparaging the Clinton Hy-Vee, I was just shocked at how much they were charging! I thought it was great though, because any bride that raises an eyebrow will get a flyer from that store. I have to say though... the Hy-Vee's in Davenport... I am sorry if this hurts your feelings, but I am not speaking of the product you personally are making, I am speaking only of a few select locations in my area... they taste as though the main ingredient in their cake is bug spray. Everything has been baked about 15 minutes too long, and the decorating is a joke. Now, I have seen beautiful cakes at a grocery store, like the Hy-Vee in Clinton. As I said, they have some seriously talented people there. But I have also seen some stuff that actually hurt my eyes to look at. HOWEVER... I will say, I have seen bad stuff everywhere! It's not exclusive to grocery stores! And I have so much respect for those who are trying to do a billion cakes a day. I would go crazy because I like to spend so much time on mine. I am quite certain I would crack almost immediately!
And hey... my sis used to live in OP!! She's over in Independence now though. Not too far from you! I should pop into your Hy-Vee the next time I'm down there, because I know you could show my that not all stores are equal!! I bet I'd like your cake!!!! 
Hmmmm... whatcha doin' at the end of July... I may be down for a baptism, and would love to stop by!
I went to Paul's Discount today... just to see what they have new. THe manager of the store is talking about seriously increasing his cake baking/decorating section I told him this would be a great idea because all of us crazy cake ladies are always on the look out for more selection. He wrote down some items that we'd be interested in. Right now they do mostly wilton but I told him to check into the CK and the items because they seem to be a huge favorite among bakers. I told him about this site, and how we're all drooling going from town to town in this area trying to find the things we want/need. He told me that as far as Wilton goes, for me to let him know that products I want/need and he may be able to order them for me, and save me on the price of shipping... HOW SWEET WOULD THAT BE? I took all my wilton classes at Micheal's and we'll just say that the one girl who used to be in charge of the education doesnt' like me much. She got kind of snotty with us about a make up class in the dead of winter, we had to skip class twice the roads were basically closed... and she didn't want to have us make up our classes, my Instructor was great... and well I thought she treated her very poorly, well as you all can probably tell I have a big mouth and I'm not afraid of using it, so I made a phone call and bam the next weekened we had our make up time and an apology, then the girl transfered to floral for a more full time job. I think the managment in the store is very lacking. THey make a TON of money off us cake people, they give the class at discount and then there is all the stuff you HAVE to have and all the stuff you probably should have and then the stuff that you just plain old want... but they never have enough of of a selection or more then one or two of certain items... and when we were buying supplies for course one, they were out of about half of the stuff we all needed to have much less the stuff we wanted... irritates me.
Anyway just thought i'd give you all a heads up on the Paul's discount store. and if ya'll do lunch invite me!!! lol
Jen
O...M...G... You are talking about Sarah... long brown hair, and mean? She is almost singlehandedly the #1 reason I am on the 'break' from that store. She came in an critiqued my class one day... she actually complained because she wanted me to do my Course 1 Week 1 cake (where I show the students some techniques) in a different color. I was like, "Are you serious? Is that the best you can come up with to be negative about?" It's like she had to say something was wrong, and that's all she could think of! She never has a nice thing to say to anyone... it's always something mean. Ok, shutting up now!! 
Can I ask... was your teacher Kay? Please say it was Kay and not Perian.
Melvira, You are so sweet! I didn't think you were dissing Hy-Vee... Some of the later posts were getting a little negative. Sometimes, it seems as if people judge all grocery stores the same. I know for a fact there are some Hy-Vees that do a lousy job. It depends on the bakery manager that is in your store.
I work at the store in Prarie Village, that's at 76th and State Line Road... it would be fun to see you, but let me know first, I only work about 20 hours per week, I may not be there
Melvira, You are so sweet! I didn't think you were dissing Hy-Vee... Some of the later posts were getting a little negative. Sometimes, it seems as if people judge all grocery stores the same. I know for a fact there are some Hy-Vees that do a lousy job. It depends on the bakery manager that is in your store.
I work at the store in Prarie Village, that's at 76th and State Line Road... it would be fun to see you, but let me know first, I only work about 20 hours per week, I may not be there
Yes, sometimes we make comments and we don't think about the fact that there are people here from the 'other side' of that situation. Or at least, people that may have been in that position at one point! It's like when we come and gripe about ignorant people that don't understand what it takes to make a cake and don't want to pay what it's worth... we have to think about... did WE know what it was worth before we started doing it? You just have to be a little careful how you say some things to be sure you make your point without starting a war! hahahaha! And I do know that even a chain varies by location. They may have the same name on the door, but they are owned and operated by different people, sometimes use different ingredients!! I will let you know if I am coming that way!! That would be cool!
Jen,
Are you in Clinton too? THanks for putting the plug in with the manager at Paul's. I keep meaning to stop in there an ask if they would consider carrying some of the CK products as it costs me $20 in gas to go to the cities to get them. I will definitely stop in there this week.
melshard,
I haven't had a cake from the Clinton Hy-Vee in a while but as I said earlier when I saw them at the Bridal Fair in 2002 they had an awesome tasting strawberry cake. Their samples were the best at the clinton bridal fair that year. They area also great if I need a licensed edible image they will sell me one without the cake. I won't do them without using a purchased licensed image. I know there are decorators out there that will but to me it is worth it getting fined if I get caught. We have a great kitchen manager there, I am not sure if he is over the bakery as well or not but their muffins ROCK. I love the chocolate chip ones and the cream cheese ones.
melvira,
I am sorry you don't like Perian. I have known her for 7 years and Kay for almost 5. They are both great gals.
OK...this is strange. I just spent a few days in Kansas City/Overland Park area. I just talked to my sister that lives in Davenport tonight about going up to visit her July. I was going to post something to see if anyone knew of any cake supply stores there. Guess ya all answered that question!!! Thanks!
Foster, I'm in Fulton, but since you know the area, I'm sure you realize that most of my life actually happens in Clinton. Melvira, Kay was the person I took the classes from and I have to admit I just loved her. I want to go back and take the fondant course, but I won't go if it's not her who is teaching me. I love her sense of humor and her personality. I don't know if I would have stuck with it if it hadn't been for her telling me "you're just learning once you get the hang of it ... it will be beautiful" and well now that I find i'm not smooshed for time, and i've had time to go out on my own and learn other ways and well this site has helped me SOOO much.. I love everyone here (even some of the more negative nellys) But, anyway Kay is the person who got me started in the class, I was already doing a lot of other cakes and cookies and such but the wilton class gave me the basics I needed to really start exploring and trying new things. I am really grateful for Kay for teaching me those things. As for Hyvee it is the store where I usually do all my grocery shopping in Clinton and I do buy a lot of things from the bakery there, they have some of the best artisan bread in the area. However, the cakes I've seen in the display usually look rather sloppy and rushed. It is probably due to the fact that they have a ton of orders to get out plus a display to keep full. But i've actually seen cakes there that have figures on them and the figures are smooshed half way into the cake because they don't fit in a box properly I've seen borders that don't connect on the corners and are not anywhere near even. But, I am kind of picky and I do go to weddings and go hmmmmmmm I could have done that a tad bit different...
Anyway I will admit im making three cakes tomorrow and went to home depot tonight to buy rollers... i'm gonna give it a go i'll let ya know how it turns out. It just seems like no matter how smooth I get it, I think it could be smoother... it has been that way since i started using fondant.. ha
anyway it's one am and i have a very cranky teething fourteen month old baby i'm going to try and get back to bed. Night all
Jen
melvira,
I am sorry you don't like Perian. I have known her for 7 years and Kay for almost 5. They are both great gals.
My concern was... if Sarah pulled that with Kay, Kay would be irritated, but quiet, Perian might rip her a new one!!! 
Let's just say she is... outspoken! Kind of like me! I had her for class, and she is NOT shy!
Jen,
If you ever need any help just let me know. The fondant class is Great. I took it in March.
Melvira,
You hit the nail on the head. You would think that eventually Michael's would get a clue about their management but if it hasn't changed in 7 years I am sure it probably wont' any time soon.
Shannon, you are SO right!! I was shocked because I thought it was just them, but I took on a second Michael's store, and they were the same way! I was going back and forth between two places that couldn't wait to treat me like garbage. I just got so tired of it!! But, I still love the store. Some of the other employees are absolute dolls!! (Rebecca!! My baby loves to flirt with her!) And the store overall has too much cool stuff to hold the management's attitude against it!! We have definitely got to get a cake club going around here! We would have too much fun! I always see other people in other states talking about meeting up and I get so jealous!! 
Hey there actually is a cake club in the area already. I looked into joining two years ago but at the time they were meeting on nights that I had my apprenticeship classes in DesMoines.
check out http://webmall1.com/sweetartsiowa/index.html they are called Sweet Arts. The lady i emailed back and forth with is very nice. I would love to join this fall however it looks like my classes will be on Monday again this year so I have to wait one more year It would be cool if we all got too join! And the nice thing is they take the summer months off for all of those weddings!
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