Saturday, November 23, 2013

Greetings from MIXED!

Hello from MIXED, happening again this year on the top of a
mountain at the beautiful Mountain Lake Lodge in Virginia!
Just like last year, Susan and Paula outdid themselves to inspire, pamper and
spoil us with the accommodations, premier brand sponsors, celebrity speakers
give-aways and plain old fun! Last night, the ladies from Dixie Crystals invited
us to their sweet-suite to create custom formulated lip and body sugar scrubs!
Dixie Crystals has a variety of sugar scrub recipes for you to try. See
them here! You already know how much I love scrubs and bath bombs
so being shown how to create my own at home using the best sugar on the
planet is an especially sweet treat! And by the way... What a great gift idea!
The treats continued this morning with McCormick and Karen Tack
and Alan Richardson, the authors of the wildly creative and popular
decorating books, Hello, Cupcake! What's New Cupcake and
Cupcakes, Cookies and Pie, Oh my! I was on the edge of my seat!
Just look at these beautiful decorated cookie cups!
Karen and Alan have a way of making McCormick colors and flavoring sing!
The good folks at McCormick reminded us how important it is to combine
icing colors with extracts to ensure our goodies taste as great as they look!
Reading Karen and Alan's books is one thing...
But getting to see them create in person is quite another!
After Alan's demonstration, it was time for us to meet Karen...
Here, Karen demonstrated how to tint cake batter to ensure
the inside of our rainbow cake is as colorful as the outside!
Guess what? Karen and Alan are working on a new cake book!
If this is any indication of what they have in store for us, we're in for a real treat!
Look! McCormick and Karen wanted us to practice our own icing skills!
SpaBoy and our friend Michele had a private lesson with Karen!
I ask you.. Where but at MIXED does this kind of wonderful happen?
You might remember that in July I decorated the birthday
cake I created for my boss with some of my dog cookies...
But you might also remember that last year, I attempted the
Dog Pound Cake for my boss from Karen and Alan's third book...
And, while my Dog Pound Cake didn't quite come out the way I hoped,
being able to share it with Karen this morning was a dream come true! 
Now, it's off to the barn for give-aways and a party sponsored
by Captain Morgan! Speaking of give-aways, I hope you will forgive me
for not announcing this last night as I promised... However, the winner
of my Ocean Spray Cranberry and Bread Mix giveaway is Marietta!

Congratulations! Please send your full name and address to me at jcbridge@aol.com and I'll make sure Ocean Spray ships your cranberries, bread mix and new Calphalon loaf pan right to you.
Thank you to everyone who entered!

4 comments:

  1. Love the Westie on top of the cake!! I have to Westie Girls!

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  2. Hi Janet! Great photos of the weekend! It was awesome and also great to meet you! Chris - The Café Sucré Farine

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  3. Wow Janet, it looks as though you are having a great time. Did you discover what the problem had been with your dog cake? Hope that you enjoy(ed) the rest of the time as much. xx

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