Do I really need to spend all this money on impression mats and garland markers and such?

Let me elaborate on my story a little bit.....I had the pleasure of meeting a talented decorator in Louisville yesterday when I went to check out Louisville's supply places. She gave me a few tips on what to use INSTEAD of some of these expensive gadgets. Now let me tell ya she had some pretty decent looking fair cake winners in her window and I want to believe she did use these homemade devices. She used tops of different containers to get the different garland swag markers. Like for a six inch she just used a measuring cup placed on the side of the cake just touching the bottom half of the cup to the side of the cake. Then for the bigger sizes she made markers out of icing lids and bigger lids. She said she was tired of paying prices for gadgets like these and improvised A LOT. She also had seen a tip drying rack....but of course it was 60.00!!! So she went to the dollar tree and bought a tie rack! I was amazed!

What do you use as impression mats if you DONT buy them. I mean swiss dot impression mats...is it really all that hard to make them or is it the placement and just a easier way to do the dots? I don't know. I almost ordered about 80.00 worth of them and thought....why buy them if there is a better and more cost efficient way. I would have to make several big cakes to pay for all of these.

Please give your opinion!

Personally I buy the mats, I just dont have the energy to search and search for something that is "Kind of" like what I am looking for, Its just so much easier to pull out the mat and go and they are really not that expensive when you think about the time and energy you spend trying to make something else work, then If it doesnt you are back to square one and having to repair a cake. Dont get me wrong I use what I can from home like lids and cups for somethings, but If it doesnt come right to mind I buy it, I found that its not worth it to kill myself to save 4 dollars. Thats just my opinion though.

good question, I'd love to hear some creative ideas too

Personally, I'm in total agreement with tnuty. However, here are a couple tricks I've read about in my travels.

In the fluorescent lighting aisle of the home improvement store, look for plastic light covers. They're made of flexible plastic (most of them) and come in all sorts of interesting patterns.

To make your own scroll press, tear the cutter off a box of foil or plastic wrap and bend to shape around a template.

Hi wgoat5. I'm in Louisville, too, and I know exactly where you were!!

Hi Leahs Yep she mentioned you

Hey do you have the cake that you competed against her with on your website?