I consider myself a pretty creative person.

When I left school, I signed up to a Bachelor of Creative Writing. The sheer whimsy of the subjects I was attending, together with a healthy fear of how a creative person would ever make a living out of their craft, saw me quit that in a matter of weeks. 

Following that, I headed down a much more sober path, completing a degree in Property Economics and working in a variety of corporate offices doing corporate things.

Despite that career choice, I maintained my creativity and used most of my free time to sculpt, paint, write, sing, and eventually design cakes. 

Sometimes when I was being creative, I made a really great thing that I was super proud of. Sometimes, the things I made truly sucked. But I kept making things because it was fun! 

I think sometimes, people expect that creative people were just born that way. Yeah, that’s probably true in some cases, although I think it’s far more likely that artists are so good at their craft because of practice and persistence.

They’ve been doing it for years! Just making stuff for the hell of it in their free time while they work their corporate jobs, raise their kids and live their lives.

The Pinterest photos that you see, the galleries of amazing cakes and beautiful hand-painted figurines, they are without a doubt the result of a person who has made various versions of that thing many times before. All of their past experiences culminating in that one creation.

One of my favourite things to do is hand paint florals on cakes. Did you know that all through school I drew little flowers on every workbook I ever had? That’s 12 years of practicing drawing flowers. Now I paint them on cakes. It didn’t just happen one day.

Everyone starts somewhere.

Elizabeth Gilbert's latest book Big Magic says "creativity is inside all of us, it should be expressed, and it is not selfish or crazy or foolish to do so — it is, in fact, the best way to live a satisfying life."

A lot of the time, when we meet a customer in store for the first time they start with an apology. They say, "I'm so sorry, I have no idea what I'm doing because I’m a total beginner - but I'd like to make this," while holding up their phone to show me their inspiration photo.

Well, I'm here to say you can make that! You can make that cake, cupcake, figurine or whatever it is you dream up.

All it will take is for you to start, and then keep going. Keep on making things.

And we're here to help you do it!

Please never feel like you need to apologise because you're a beginner at something.  

Everyone was a beginner once.