Messy Me!
There are two kinds of decorators. Neat and organized or messy, like me. I am SOOOOOOO messy I might even qualify for an award! Before every new project I make sure my kitchen is completely clean. By the way, in Texas, even the television is friendly…
And then I do this…
And this…
I’m not sure when I decided empty bottles should be flower nail holders, or my Nanny’s potholder an icing rag.
This sad thing is, this could all be prevented by simply laying down a vinyl tablecloth. Yet somehow it doesn’t feel like I’ve worked unless I sling a little icing around. I think I may need a 12 step program.
So there you have it. The true story of how I can make a 360 degree kitchen mess {as in you can turn a full circle and find something on every single surface}.
Sometimes even my dining room isn’t immune.
Anyone want to guess how I am spending MY Saturday?
So, how do you work? Are you messy {like me} or neat and organized? You’ve seen my workspace, now it’s your turn. Show me if you dare!
PS-You don’t need a blog to link up. Facebook and Flickr links work too!
PPS-My husband *may* have cleaned up this mess which was made for “blogging purposes”.
At least we (the messy ones…including myself) know we’re not alone!. This looks very familiar. Haha.
God bless ya Calleye! Now we all know what is behind those gorgeous cookies you decorate. Many times my kitchen looks just like yours!! I don’t think the average person has a clue what kind of mess it is behind the scenes. Probably like you, I start out all organized, but end up with a drippy, color-infested mess, lol! Thanks for sharing, I’ll try to upload a photo next time I decorate. 🙂
Usually it is on my face and in my hair too. When I pick up kiddo from school sometime I see someone look at me funny and sure enough I have a smear of icing on my FACE, BOOB, HAIR, LEG and once even on my back…who knows, LOL!
yeah I can’t seem to keep it off my clothes, I have aprons but usually forget ’em…
I tell my students I can teach them to be great decorators, but I can’t teach them how to do it neatly. Thats up to them to figure out on their own.
LOL, I think it’s ingrained, LOL! Every artist has a method, right =)
I don’t know if I’m brave enough to share my workspace. I’m definitely messy but there are times when I’m neat. I guess it all depends on the mood I’m in. Thanks for sharing this. It’s nice to see how a messy workspace can create such beautiful things.
I start out like you…clean slate. I try to hold it together as long as I possibly can… I am pretty good about cleaning up behind myself immediately, and I do try to consolidate my work area to one space, but sooner or later, it beats me and the mess wins!
A few things I have found to be helpful in minimizing is now I always put down large sheets of parchment (which I buy in bulk) or I spread out a clean bath or beach towel on my counter top, atleast that catches some icing blobs 😉 Oh also cutting a styrofoam ball in half makes for a great flowernail holder, or also the giant coupler that wilton sells that nobody uses but everybody buys (can you tell I used to teach, lol)…
I’m buying a ball TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could stick my paintbrushes in it too!
Lol – that’s a good idea too! I called it “styrofoam” but what I mean is the foam balls that Hobby Lobby sells (for floral stuff?)…hope I didn’t send you after the wrong thing :/
I use the giant coupler for cupcakes!
Like to fill them, or to ice them?
I remember my mom having a six-egg carton with small styrofoam balls glued in to hold flower nails
now that’s cool!
That’s a great idea also! And I have egg cartons!
Haha, we’re just as bad as each other. Seriously, when I made the 48 cupcakes for the Olympics birthday party (on my blog if you want to take a peek) my kitchen was a mahoosive mess. There was mixing bowls scattered everywhere with different coloured buttercream remnants, empty piping bags, gel food colours, flour, icing, and buttercream splattered everywhere!! There was too many pots too and overflowed the sink so I had to put on the floor.
My partner hates it. He always says that he knows when I’ve been baking even afer I’ve cleaned up. Lies I tell you, I clean well.
Well I am from the other side, very neat, which sounds pretty good eh? The trouble with it is when the smallest thing happens (pop a seam, flop a cookie to the floor, turn on the mixer with a spoon in it) it derails me and I have get back to that clean place before I can go on. I know I need therapy. Or a helper.
I need you to come rub a little of that off on ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay! I’m not the only one! I’m teased all the time that if there is a way to dirty every dish and piece of silverware- I will find a way! No picture to share though, as I just finished washing dishes before reading your post (maybe tomorrow!)!
I felt like I was looking at my very own kitchen when I saw this! Every bit of my counter, bar and kitchen table is covered when I pull out the decorating supplies. It’s a wonder I have space on the counter for the baked cookies or cake. My table is scarred in many ways from my hobby!
good point – my counters, table and floor ALL have stains from blobs of gel color or colored icing!
I’m suddenly not feeling so bad about the mess I make in the kitchen after baking. 😉
Oh Callye. I loved you before. But I love you even more now. This all looks so very familiar. I’m glad I’m not alone. I’m messy, but it’s a clean mess!!! 😀
If I’d only taken photos last night – I had every surface covered as well…today, it’s all straight and tidy. I always start out organized and end up with stuff everywhere. I’m glad I’m not the only person with a ton of icing bottles sitting on their table separated!
I am still a novice, and self-taught, cookie decorator. I have loved reading your blog and getting some great ideas from it. But I still felt like I was doing something wrong, because I always ended up with such a huge mess! I feel much better now knowing I’m not alone! 🙂
You can always tell what troubles I am having or not having with my cookies based on what my kitchen looks like when I’m decorating. If I’m having a good day, stress free (aka no tip/icing clogs, consistency issues) then my kitchen can remain fairly neat. However, once I get stressed, I get sloppy! Just cleaned my kitchen after a marathon order of cookies, so I won’t be able to post pictures. Thanks for sharing though Callye. Glad it’s not just me.
Well, I feel a lot better now. It usually looks like a tornado hit my house when I’m finished with a cake or cookies. Not long ago, I did the plastic wrap icing pod thing from Karen’s video, but I didn’t make sure that the plastic wrap sealed before I started spinning it. I had chocolate buttercream EVERYWHERE. I’m still finding little bits of it in my kitchen.
There’s a theory out there that if you get organized before getting started, you won’t have such a mess. I’m skeptical, but I’m wondering if you could load up one of these with the items you use EVERY time and roll it out next to you when you start decorating, if it would cut down on the clutter out on the table/counter. http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=405&picture=1&tab=description&ProductCategory=187§ion=1 That one costs $7 at Walmart. The new Wilton one costs $150.
At the risk of having fingers pointed at me and people saying “OMMMMM” (as in “OM, I’m telling Mom!”), does anyone else end up having what tastes like a thick coating of sugar in their mouth when they finish a bunch of cookies? Even when I don’t lick my fingers, I think icing jumps in my mouth and has a little party.
LOL! I can’t wait to upload my picture! I am Miss Messy thank you very much! But once it reaches a certain point, I have to stop and have a melt down, wash dishes, eat chocolate or something to take my mind off of it! LOL
Fun post Callye! My kitchen is really clean and organized most of the time, but my office… well that’s a bit different of a story lately 😉 I haven’t figured out how people that are obsessed with cookie decorating are able to also fit in all the other stuff! And how on earth did you get hubby to clean up your cookie stuff? I’m glad you’re back from the cookie workshop. I was really needing my Callye fix! I’ll post a picture of my cookie work surface after I take photos of my last cookie project 🙂
LOL…this all looks so familiar. I too am messy when it comes to baking & decorating. I sure did get some smiles as I scrolled down this post. Thanks for sharing this was fun 😉
I am messy, but I attribute it to my dinky kitchen, so yes, the mess may drift into the dining room:) I feel better now though, knowing I’m in such good company! <3 I do clean up very nicely though:)
I used to have to be a little more organized cause I was in an apartment with a small kitchen. Now that I’m back in my home I spread out all over the place, covering the counters and the island. If I make a mess there’s no reason to clean it up till I’m done if I can just scoot over to the next unused space! I wish my hubby helped me clean up!
Your workspace looks very similar to mine. Last night I could have taken some really good pictures! It still isn’t totally cleaned up but it’s much better than last night. I need a helper that just cleans up after I’m done then I’d be a happy camper. I won’t even tell you what my kitchen floor looks like after a night of baking and decorating!
Lol I’m like that too. With the kitchen sink filled to the top and all, I don’t even know how that happens. But I love how you have a rubber band matching the color of the icing on one picture 🙂
Wow! I am so glad to see that someone else has a messy workplace like me! Every time I sit down to decorate I say “this time I’m going to be organized and neat”- but it NEVER works! I’m in between decorating at the moment so the clean workspace photo I am posting is not indicative!
You are too funny! I love your site and your cookies and photo’s are beautiful. I always said to myself how in the world does she do it, everything looks so neat and tidy. Even your parchment paper is cut perfectly…. Now the truth comes out and you are just like me.. Thank goodness.
Oh my lordy! I’m cracking up at this post because that could have easily been my kitchen! I wish I could find the pics where powdered sugar “exploded” in my kitchen and I kept on working the night away as if it weren’t there! The best feeling is when the decorating is done and the kitchen goes “back to normal” with only 30 things in the sink instead of 50!
Messy or not my dear, you work is so amazing, I’m sure we all forgive a little mess to go with it! Have a great week end.
Thank you so much for the pics of the real mess. I can’t tell you how awesome it makes me feel. I am just like you and when I see pics of this perfect clean counter top, wiped down bottles and pastry bags, I always think, wow, why can’t I do that? This post totally made my day. I’m a real baker, I’m a real baker!! ,ha,ha!!!
This ISN’T the way the kitchen is suppose to look after a decorating session? LOL I have convinced myself that everyone does it this way and now you have confirmed it for me. 🙂
You have no idea how happy this post made me! I always feel bad about the constant dried blops of icing everywhere and all my kitchen towels that are permanently stained with red and black gel color!
Now I know I don’t have to be ashamed! I am part of an elite group of messy decorators. Thank you, thank you!
I have to have a very clean, organized workspace, or I can’t work efficiently. I also have to be super careful about food safety. I kind of wish that I could be easy going and create piles without having to constantly stop, clear, clean and put away. It sometimes gets in the way of my creativity. Your kitchen reflects a person who gets totally consumed in the creative process… I bet you go into a cookie trance!
When you come out of it, you probably look around and ask yourself, “Who made this mess?”.
HA! No kidding, I stop then step back and think, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!
My “workspace” (kitchen table) is a hot mess. It’s embarrassing, really.
I’m a clean as you go type and am always wiping up spills and cleaning up little messes as they happen. Can’t help it. Come from a long line of obsessive, compulsive types:) Having said that, your work space certainly looks like a very productive one!!
I think that’ s why I stopped decorating cookies..THE MESS! My least favorite thing ever!
WHAT?! I didn’t know you decorated cookies! Great…now I’m going to get a complex.
I am so very happy to see the mess. I thought I was the only one. I am going to sleep good tonight!
In all honesty I make a mess too. Once I had a client give me a call as soon as I was done with the cake that she would be on her way to pick it up. This meant I had 20min to clean my DISASTER!!! It was like a tornado went through my house. With my two girls playing nicely I was able to pull it off! Thank Goodness!
Oh my gosh you have the best husband! Can he come to my house and clean my messes too? 😉
oh I’m MESSY…..can’t locate a photo to prove it, but messy, messy, messy and always in a hurry and I seem to get flour and sugar everywhere!
LOL! That so me too!!! I think I might actually work better in chaos…
I love that you showed this! While I try to start off with a clean, organized workspace, it usually always falls apart in some manner. And after it gets messy I always shake my head and wonder if it’s just me or if others have that problem too. So I’m glad to see I’m not alone 🙂
I used to decorate cookies with melted chocolate & confectionary coating. Then I took a Level 1 Wilton class just to learn more about piping and wound up making 25 pounds of buttercream icing for the 3 of us who took the class together. The clean up for RI is a breeze next to the mess of the other two! It love cleaning up when there’s no cocoa butter or Crisco involved. Almost magical the way RI disappears! The only part I dread is putting away of the clean tools & supplies properly so I can find them easily when the next project begins!
Oh callye, you dear! 😀 I can SO relate to you–I am a total mess maker!
Oh it’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one!!! Maybe we can start a support group for cookie decorators!! 🙂
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Oh my goodness thank you, my kitchen looks exactly the same after even a small project and I was beginning to think it was just me. I always bug my husband for being so messy when he cooks (a rare occasion indeed), but oh my goodness can I make a world class mess when I bake!
In looking at your post on being “messy”, I noticed your “leftover icing” bottles where the the liquid had separated somewhat from the sugar. Can you tell me how you remix? I have tried using a butter knife and stirring the icing inside the bottles and I have tried to roll/shake the bottles. Both methods have flaws. I cannot seem to get the mixture to be fully mixed. Any suggestions?
That is truly impressive! 🙂
Oh my, im so glad that im not the only one 😛 My hubby always comes in and said “well, looks like a tornado just hits our kitchen” LOL 😛