south africa was great!
it was a very interesting country with a tropical climate similar to south florida
the people i worked with were very friendly and kept me out of trouble
its actually a fairly dangerous country if you stray to far
we were in an upscale neighborhood full of beautiful homes, every single one had a fence topped with spikes or razor wire and bars on the windows and doors
that alone says something

my next trip is in june to austrailia and new zealand where the climate is somewhat less dangerous
im really looking forward to touring the film set of the hobbit! its only an hour away from where we're going to be and i will find a way to get there!
my latest challenge was the viking cake, the largest sculpted cake ive ever done
its for an upcoming contest entered by pictures
i have some pictures of it up on here, hope you like it!
bye for now!

First i'd like to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my page and i'm sorry that i havnt had time to answer all of them.
My new job is just starting, my first trip was to Toronto, Canada.
I was demonstrating hot blown and pulled sugar at a professional trade show.
it went pretty well, i didnt burn myself or fall off the stage >.< or do anything really stupid, so it was a good show!

My next trip will be in March. I'm going to South Africa with some of the other teachers to teach several classes over the course of about 2 weeks.
Then in June i get to teach in Australia and New Zealand.
i cant believe i'm being paid to go to these places that ive always wanted to visit!
In October, i'm going to Las Vegas to teach at the IBIE conference. My daughter will be going with me. (:

Im also entering the SAI international cake decorating competition!
i'll post pictures of my cake as soon as i can, it is going to be a viking theme!
i'll also be posting pictures of the egypitian cake i did for the virginia show.

again thank you for your interest! i love hearing from you guys!
until later!

-Rita

Hi guys, i have not been on for a long time! >.<
things have been kinda crazyy!
I will be starting a new job in September as an instructor for the Sugar Arts Institute.
I will be teaching the finer points of cake decorating, gum paste sculpture, flowers, hot sugar, chocolate sculpture etc...
I will also be traveling all over the world to do it


ALSO i will be attending Otakon this summer with my daughter, here is a link to her page [link]
I will have paintings in the silent art auction down in the artists alley.
3 dragons and 1 pencil drawing of Captain Jack Sparrow, all of which are photographed here on the site.
My daughter is also entering a painting in the auction. it is a painting she did of Pabu, the fire ferret from the new avatar series The Legend of Korra. here's the link to that as well, [link] go check it out
even if you dont bid, come have a look if you are going to otakon ^__^

I was recently in competition again in April and May.
April was in Annendale, VA. I took first in cookies and first in tiered novelty cakes.
In May the competition was in Westminster, MD. I took first in tiered novelty, that was all i entered.
I would like to have entered more categories but i guess i was too busy at work
I'll try to post pictures of those cakes ASAP

anyways thats it for now and i hope you all are doing fine! thank you so much for all the support you've given me and i would just like to share with you, that when i finally got on today for the first time in MONTHS i had.....are you ready for this? i had.....11,214 messages!! like HOLY CARRP GUYS. xD
oh and 2 notes xD
but yeah its prolly gonna take me AWHILE to answer all of em but i just wanted to share that since it made me chuckle
anyways thank so much again! you guys are awesome
bye
-Rita

Vegas was awesome! what a party town! its like NY meets Disney world i coulda spent another week just walking around looking at things! lol

SOOOOO..........I BET UR ALLLLL WONDERING? WUT ABOUT THE CONTEST??!! Well! wait no longer!

THE RESULTS ARE IN AAANNNNNDDDDDDD (drumroll)

I WON! i am  now the RBA and Pilsbury national grand champion!
i walked away with 2 gold medals in wedding and fondont categories and a bronze i flowers/sprays
and grand prize over all which got me another one of those weird flower vase....thing O_o
also a nice chunk of cash :3 and a free trip to chicago next year to be the floor judge. too bad its not vegas again :/

soooo thats about it but it was overall really fun and i had a great time in vegas with my bosses and daughter ))
i'll post pics.....eventually....

i have been accepted to the pilsbury and RBA national competition in las vegas.
while it is an honor to be accepted , im not sure i want to do this competition after recieving the schedule. the first day we have to do 9 custom sheet cakes in 3 hrs....im not sure im THAT fast O_O

the second day, is a fondont and a sculpted cake in 3hrs, no problem there. the third day is a wedding cake in 3 hrs. again, no problem, but the 1st day scares the ccrraaaappppp outta me O_o

sooooo.............. WUT TO DO???!! i have to make up my mind this week D:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! help!

As you know I was just at the Great American Cake competition in Westminster.

*sigh* It was a really good cometition for me... I guess... If a little scary.

I entered the wedding cake competition with a peice entitled "Alaska: Where The Wild Things Are".

I also entered; "The Lost Atlantis Cake" (which I had just rebuilt because the first had been destroyed by a leeky roof at the bakery where it was stored, yah know. Water... Dripping... On SUGAR.... ALL NIGHT!!! Not pretty) I entered it in the teired-novelty catagory.

I also entered some cookies iced like different birds and a butterfly lace cake that the judges HATED.

The results:

1st place Cookies
1st place Divisional Cookies
1st place Teired Novelty
1st place Divisional Teired Novelty
Grand Prize Divisional
1st Place Wedding Cake
Grand Prize Best in Show
Peoples Chioce Award - Atlantis cake
Decorators Choice Award - Alaska Cake

It seems a bit much and I had some trouble wrapping my head around it on saturday. Yeah, I needed 2 cars to get the prizes home.... And I think that I made some- alot -of the other decorators mad.

Oh well, they get another chance to beat me next year.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the other decorators' entries this year. So many interesting ideas and beautiful cakes. I especially enjoyed the Maine, Louisiana, and Wisconson entries.

Nice work guys!!!!!!

And to the lady who though I was cheating because she saw my cake HERE, congratulations, you found my site.

And as to why a professional decorator wouuld call themself The-Evil-Plankton, my 16 year old daughter set up this account for me! So I'm stuck with it!

It was my daughter's idea of a joke...

...... Then again..... He IS my favorite character on Spongebob!

Bye...... FOR NOW!!!

ahh spring, wedding season..and yes competiton season...and all on the same...annoying...weekend. -____- (may 1st and 2nd)

i will be competing in the great american cake show in westminster maryland. i'm working on my entries now since it is a drop off show. the theme for the wedding cake category is wedding cakes across america. we had to choose a state and create a wedding cake that reflects the culture, scenery and history of that state. i chose alaska. my cake will be entitled "alaska where the wild things are"
if any of you go/see the competition, look for my cake
i'll post a picture after the competition is over.
bye for now!

im currently working on a new series of dragons. most of these paintings are multi media (watercolor, scribble t-shirt paint and precious stones with a little pastel thrown in just for the hell of it) hows that for a mix?

i'll be posting the first 2 in a couple of days. im hoping to sell these paintings in the art auction at next years otakon convention in baltimore. so if theres one u really like, u can look for it there

when i get off the dragon kick in about 5 or 6 paintings, i'll try my hand at some other fantasy creatures. they are so much easier than photorealistic wildlife bcuz if u dont get something quite right, nobody can compare it to the species and call u on it

well i didnt get the grand prize, but i didnt come home in shame either! so i guess it went well? O_O
i didnt see much of charolette ,NC becuz i was decorating cakes the whole time. anyways, the results are:

1st place- gold medal-fondant catagory
2nd place-silver medal-sculpted catagory
3rd place-grand prize-overall
total: 2 medals, a nifty flower vase, and 1,400 BUCKAROOS!!!! YEEHAHAAAA

i'll post pictures soon!

JK JK JK JK JK JK JK I LOVE U ALL. <3

mkayy......now to get down and dirty with business. the national cake contest is in charloette North Carloina this year. and i will be competing in it again! yay! i'll let YA'LL know how it goes.

hey guys! the holidays are OVER!!!!! YESSSSS!!!
now its been kinda slow (cake wise) i have lots of other projects thats have been waiting for my attention. u'll be seeing alot more water colors and drawings in the next few weeks (i hope!) i have until "wedding season" to play with my paints! yayz i'm happy about that! anyways just wanted to give y'all an update. and thanks to shadowed-light-waves for the nomination for daily deviations! ur awesome! haha thanks!

~Rita

hi guys sorry i havent been very active lately....i've been "busy busy busy" at work. things ougth to slow down after xmas! i'll probably be posting again n january when i have more time to be creative, till then, happy holidays
~Rita