AOk, I really suck at doing gumpaste figurines. How many of you use plastic figurines to decorate your cakes. Things like Mickey, Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh etc. If only there was a hands on class in washington that offered this kind of things. When someone orderes a custom cakes, does having somthing plastic on top really throw things off?

i am no great artist, but i purchased a book on creating clay figures and i use that when I need help, although there are a lot of tutorials online. 

Laura from Krazy Kool cakes has a great youtube channel with free tutorials.  She also sells some tutorials.