I am pretty new to decorating cakes and I am POSITIVE that this has been asked before. I have tried the search engine and still continue to not like it.
What is your rule of thumb for gum paste and fondant? What I mean is, do you do everything on your in fondant including all flowers and figures? Do you simply cover the cake in fondant and do everything in gum paste? Do you cover in fondant and then use a 50/50 mixture of gumpaste and fondant for all flowers and decor.
I appreciate all the help and hope that the search engine gets a makeover too!

For me, it depends on what I'm making. If it's a figurine that doesn't have any parts sticking out that need to harden for support, then I'll make it out of fondant. If it's something with thin, fragile parts like a butterfly, or if it's something that needs support like an outstretched arm, I'll make it out of fondant with Gum Tex kneaded in--enables me to roll it thinner, plus it dries harder & is more self-supporting. For flowers that need to be realistic & rolled petal-thin, I like straight gumpaste. Experimenting is the best teacher--you'll figure out by trial & error which medium or combo of media will work best for what, so don't be afraid to try!

same for me as sugarplumyum if it has very thin or pieces that could easily fall off or need to be hard i would use gum past hope this helps!!