I have to let this out ya'll. Just a bit ago, I asked my husband if I could get 2 different impression mats and some Americolors and he basically said no. Here is my short story: I am married with 2 children-a boy who is 8 yrs. and a girl who is 3 years. I am a stay at home Mom and my husband works. He wants me to wait till my little girl goes to school then I work. We moved from TX due to my husbands work. And, we are right now living with his Brother. So, we are saving to get a place and are on a kinda tight budget. But, I love learning and am barely still trying to get the buttercream phase. I had a big cake 2 wks ago, for my sister in law and that cost some money (probably $200 total for everthing). He was not worried about that so much. It was a big cake and took alot of time and that was her present from us. But, I don't know how I will learn different stuff when he won't let me buy what I want and it's not much. I mean I wish I could have all the stuff for fondant (that's next phase) or at least the basics for fondant. And, I don't know how I will get to that phase if he won't let me buy anything. I'd like to get pan sets-like the oval and square, and the egg wilton pan. Argggghhhhh! I am so mad! 
I don't know what to do! I do go thru phases, like the Stampin up phase, and the scrabbooking phase. And, he is like, oh you are going thru the cake phase now! To tell you the truth, I have been decorating longer than anything else. I like it alot and wish to do big wedding cakes one day from word of mouth. I am frustrated!
I'm sorry, this was so long! I had to let that out! I just hate arguing for something like this. Maybe he will give in to me! Hopefully! 
Thanks for reading! ~Josie
I'm so sorry, Josie!! I can sympathize! I'm a stay at home mom too with a 3yr old girl. My hubby has also curtailed my spending on cake stuff! Although I earn my own money as an independent meeting planner working from home. DH says because I eventually will get tired of cake decorating, I should ease up on the spending. WELL, being the rebellious wife I am (HEHEHE), I went online and ordered a bunch of stuff from all my favorite sites. I think I got 3 boxes worth of stuff everywhere. Problem is we have a small kitchen so I have to find creative places to hide things so he won't find them. Whenever he sees something new and asks I always say that I've had it forever or I got it from my mom's house (mom is a great cook and baker but not a decorator). Anyway, as a compromise I made a list of everything I want in the future (amnd where to get it to make it easier for him) and it is hanging on the fridge door. So now anytime there is an occassion (like mother's day), he can just look at the list and pick something out.
Hang in there! Mother's day is coming up so maybe he'll agree to a few things. Like I told you on the other post, the impression mats at earlene's site are only $5.
Cheer up and have some cake...let's compare notes after we've both tried Nati's mud cake 
ria
Thanks Riagirl! You really cheered me up! I tried to sleep abit ago but can't with this bad cough I have, I am congested. I just keep coughing and coughing and the cough syrup I'm taking says that it quiets the cough. Yeah right! LOL. And then coughing with having congestion is really bad for my asthma. Not a good combination.
But, anyhoo, I am rebellious also (hehehe), and most of the time I get my way, but he was really serious on me not getting nothing right now. So, I have to calm down on wanting and wanting for my cakes. Last month, I went crazy on buying too much on Ebay. Boy, did I spend that month. But, it was my shopping cake spree. LOL.
I was going to get them at Earlene's. That is a steal for the mats. I have to get some Americolors too. I heard they were better than Wilton. Do you have them? Is it true?
Wow, you are an Independent Meeting Planner? That sounds like fun! Although, I'm sure you have your days with being so busy and all.
Isn't that funny, you have a 3 year old girl also. Aren't they so beautiful and they grow up so fast. My little girl got a new bathing suit this past wknd. and she wore it probably for 3 days-even after she would take a bath, she put it right back on. I had to make her take it off after the 3rd day, and boy was she crying. But she got over it after I told her we will go swimming this wknd. and she can wear it then. LOL. They are just so funny. Never a dull moment.
Thanks again for listening! Nice to have an online Cake Friend! LOL. ~Josie
I love americolor, much better than wilton. i got every color (and then some) here since they are only $.99.
as far as work goes, i work as a consultant basically and i haven't been working much lately. i spend a lot of time on the phone and my DD has the need to talk to everyone i talk to so until she goes to preschool, i'm not working. hopefully a spot will open up for her (the preschool we want her to go to has a year long wait period and its been about 9 months since we registered). i love that i get to spend all day with her though (except when i am making cakes...she eats everything in sight before i am done!!)
you're lucky that your dd likes water. mine hates to get her face wet so bathtime is always a challenge. i think i'll sign up for those mommy & me swim lessons at the YMCA here. maybe that will help
hope your congestion clears up soon - and get some rest! i dont want you to get any sicker, i wont have anyone to chat with at 2AM!! ria
Could you do what I did when I was unemployed? I saved every 1p and 2p coin I could find. I kept my eyes peeled in the streets (its amazing how much money gets dropped in the gutters). Whenever I manged to save a couple of pounds I went off and bought another small item to add to my collection. I bought cake tins from charity shops, car boot sales jumble shops etc. It's amazing how quickly it all mounted up
Riagirl, I could not sleep at all last night, I actually went to bed in the am at 7:30am after leaving my son at the bus stop. And then I kept on waking up after that. The cough only seems to come when I'm relaxing. I can't wait for it to go away.
Gosh, a waiting list for 12 months? That is along time.
My daughter loves to eat my frosting when I'm making it and decorating with it. LOL. She thinks it's funny. LOL. But, she knows better not to stick her fingers in the cakes. LOL.
Maybe the YMCA swimming lessons will help. Actually she did not like water so much at the beginning but after I started putting those colored tablets in the water to make colors, she liked it. But, I don't use those anymore. I hated the colored water everywhere. I also let her play with some toys in there. She has fun by herself. LOL.
Miss Baritone-thanks for your post. I am going to have to save money on the side just for my cakes stuff. LOL. Or, sweet talk my husband. LOL.
Thanks ya'll for replying! ~Josie
Josie, have you checked in your area for maybe a part time job where you could drive elderly people to appointments or the grocery store? You would be able to take your little one with you and it would be during the day so your son would be in school. They have that kind of thing around here where I live. I'm sure the pay isn't great but if you can make enough to cover the cost of gas and have a little left over you might be able to expand your collection a bit.
I don't really have much at all for fondant accessories. I have a few cookie cutter type things and that's it. I improvise as much as possible. I'm not a great artist at all but I can usually do a decent job of molding fondant. I made a cake that had fondant tools on it (screwdriver, tape measure, hammer, utility knife etc). I use just about anything and everything you can think of in my kitchen. I use paring knives a lot! I've also drawn out or traced out shapes on paper, cut them out and traced them onto the fondant and made shapes that way. I know all the real fondant cutters and things make life easier, but give other tools a try sometime. I've seen your pictures, you definitely have the talent!!
I'm like you in the way that I also have different creative phases. Quilting, photography, scrapbooking, cake decorating, gardening... But even if you burn out for a while, you'll likely go back to it after a break. The tools are an investment. Good luck to you!
Josie,
Look around there are many ways to do things cheaper then buying all the latest toys. Remember there is a way of doing it, You just have to be creative in the way you look at things. Take impression matts that you want. Look in your scrapbooking stuff, ever do any embossing, bet you have something you can use. Look at the packages that food comes in, there may be something there you can use, if you are just looking for the dot mat, take a plastic tray, like meat is packed in, wash well (1 part bleach to 10 parts water kills just about anything) then you can push tooth picks through it and use that to mark your dots on the side of a cake. And what will that cost 3cents or so.
Earlene's has a handling fee of 4.00 if you don't order over 50.00.If you can find the mats in a local store it wouldn"t have the shipping . I ordered the 50.00 and had 12 .00 in shipping from there. So if you can save on the shipping that would be a less to save for.I have the mat's but I haven't used them but from the looks of it you just hold a ruler sidways and get the same look ( the dimond pattern). I would just play around with somethings. You may come up with something you like better .
I hope you get to feeling better!
edited to fix the mistake I worte about the 50.00 minium to order .Wrong place not earlene's.And I love earlene's !
[quote="dolittle"]Earlene's you have to order 50.00 to be able to order. If you can find the mats in a local store it wouldn"t have the shipping . I ordered the 50.00 and had 12 .00 in shipping from there.I have the mat's but I haven't used them but from the looks of it you just hold a ruler sidways and get the same look ( the dimond pattern). I would just play around with somethings. You may come up with something you like better .
I hope you get to feeling better
hey Josie, I just want to say that my heart goes out to you. I am also a SAHM and have a 3yr old dd (and a 2yr old dd, and a 5 yr old dd). Since we are a one income family we are on a very tight budget. I think it is hard staying at home and not spending money. It is sooo easy to go grab something to eat just to get out of the house and there goes 20 bucks. Or, go to the mall, or the indoor playground admission here is $6 a kid and then they want to play games, get candy etc... Plus we have all day to think about all the stuff we need LOL!!! My husband works 12 hour days and weekends, because we are on a 2 year plan to pay off our house (Dave Ramsey, anyone????) Anyway, I just want to say I know how you feel. I have tried making a list of all the stuff I want, and that does seem to help, but Sometimes I feel like a kid again asking "daddy" (dh) to buy me something. And then I get mad and grumpy. It does help though when I stop thinking about myself and think about how nice it will be when we no longer have a house note, I also like to think about how my husband is very level headed and is doing the best thing for our family, after all what is more important our home, or some cake supplies?
Thanks ya'll for posting. I can't believe how nice ya'll are here. I am so glad I stumbled across this site one day! I am here to stay. LOL.
My husband said I can make an order this wknd for 1 impression mat and some americolors. Yeah, shipping is so much. But, you can't change that!
Thanks ddog for sharing your post. Wow, a 2 year plan? Yeah, your house is more important. I sometimes feel bad buying me a t-shirt or something like that because my husband works so hard and I feel like i'm doing nothing to help. But, he does not see it that way-he said you are working-you are taking care of my kids and feeding us. He is the old fashioned kind, where the wife stays at home (Mexican ways), but that will change when my daughter goes to school because I have to work to help out. Or hopefully by then, I will have alot of orders for cakes to help us out. Or have a good customer database. But, you can't have a customer database without working or having alot of family here. So, wish me luck!
Thanks again everyone!
~Josie
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