Disclosure: Pazzles sent me a demo Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter along with a Pastry Kit and a two month subscription to the Pazzles Craft Room for my review. However, all opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine.
This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Jessica M. from Portland Oregon!
Today I want to share an amazing cake decorating tool with you and the awesome opportunity to enter to win one of your own!! Keep reading…
Several weeks ago I was offered the opportunity to review a Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter. To say I was excited about this opportunity would be an understatement.
After having a look at the Pazzles website and everything the Inspiration could do to help me with cake decorating – I could hardly wait to try it out! First up – do you know what a Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter is? Here’s the description from the website:
The Inspiration Creative Cutter® connects to your computer, similar to a printer, but instead of printing the Inspiration uses a small blade to die cut your designs. Imagine cutting any shape, font, or design in an amazing variety of sizes with the click of a button. The Inspiration is capable of cutting much more than just paper and cardstock! From light plastics to chipboard, fabric to rubber stamp material, thin metal to fun foam, the Inspiration offers amazing flexibility and power.
As you can see… it’s a very versatile machine – you can cut any shape, letter, font, or design that you can get your hands on! You can even make your own graphic design on your computer and the machine will cut it!
How does this apply to cake decorating? Well, along with the machine, the nice people over at Pazzles also sent me a Pastry Kit and membership to the Pazzles Craft Room. The kit included a Pastry tool and blade for cutting edible materials. It can be used for cutting gum paste, cutting fondant, cutting sugar sheets, cutting modeling chocolate and so much more!
Let me show you how I used the machine for cake decorating needs and for fancying up my cookies!
For my first project (while still learning about the machine) I wanted to do a monogram for the front of a wedding cake. Since the bride had sent me a picture of a very delicate and elegant font, I set out to find a font to match as closely as I could.
After deciding on one, it was time to learn about the Pazzles Inspiration Cutter and put it to work!
One really cool feature is that the software operates on my computer. I don’t have to manipulate or do my designs on the machine itself – but rather directly from my laptop! I was able to open up the software, type in the letters of the monogram, then manipulate them into the size I needed using the rulers right there on the screen.
The software shows the mat size and I was also able to overlay them and move them around until I got them looking exactly like they needed to for the cake!
Honestly, I could never have cut such an intricate and original monogram by hand and had it look as clean and nice as it did using the Inspiration. It also cut the design all in one piece – so I didn’t have to cut 3 individual letters and then try to place them correctly on the side of the cake. Having a single piece to center was much easier than three pieces.
To be honest here… there was a steeper learning curve for the software than I imagined. I’m not a terribly “techy” person, so I had some difficulty getting the hang of it. I had to keep referring back and forth to the manual, watching some included “help” videos and asking my 16 year old for help.
Yes, my very smart 16 year old son figured it out much faster than I did … so I guess it depends on your level of experience with graphic design type software. I did eventually figure it out, although I think I could play with it for months before learning all of the features.
For my next project, I used the Inspiration to cut a “A”‘s for monogram cookies. I did a practice run – cutting the letters in black. I was really thrilled with how clean and sharp the letters were.
I did have one problem with the machine not cutting all the way through and skipping over some of the places it should have been cutting, but after a few emails back and forth with the Pazzles Support team, I was able to change a setting that I had wrong and I didn’t have any more trouble after that!
The customer support people were really nice and responded quickly to help me.
A few weeks later I made 50 of these “A” cookies in a mint color. I used a mix of modeling chocolate and fondant for these and it worked beautifully. I was able to cut all of these letters in just a few minutes and it saved me hours and hours of work.
I have one more experience to share with you about cake decorating with the Pazzles Inspiration. I used the Pazzles to cut the decorations for the side and top of this cake.
For the design, I chose a font that I found in another program. I was able to upload the letters, resize them with the Pazzles Inspiration software and actually look at them in real-life size and cut them out!
Then there was this “the big 30” for the top! I wanted all of the letters and the numbers connected in one design (I originally planned to have it stand up but that didn’t work out). I was able to import the letters into the software separately, then manipulate them to connect to each other and get them sized the way I wanted.
I only wish I had realized before I took pictures that I forgot to cut cut out the little hole between the “3” and the “0”. That was totally an oversight on my part!
Overall I can tell you that I love this machine and the possibilities it offers! It offers so many possibilities for cake decorating that I’d never be able to accomplish “by hand”.
I was able to successfully cut gum paste, modeling chocolate and fondant for the different designs I’ve done.
The only real downside for me was the difficulty in learning how to use the software. However, I think with some practice it would be easy to master and become an indispensable tool for a busy cake decorator. I will absolutely be using it in the future and I already have ideas for more projects where I can use this machine to save me lots of time and work!
Note: The Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter retails for $599, however, if you’re interested in purchasing but the price is an obstacle, there is another option for getting the machine that many people find very attractive. This is called the Inspiration with a subscription commitment plan. You can see the 1 year options here . With these options, you could get started with the Inspiration and Pastry Starter Kit for as little as $145.95.
Here’s the really great news!! Now you can enter to win your very own Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter, a Pastry Kit and a flyer for 6 months free to Pazzles Craft Room. MSRP: $638.95!! WoW! Get your entries in below! Click on “a Rafflecopter giveaway” if the widget doesn’t load for you or if you’re reading from an email or feed reader.
Entries will remain open until Wednesday, September 25 at 11:59pm CST. One winner will be randomly chosen by Random.org. US addresses only please. The winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond. If there is no response, a new winner will be chosen.
Yaaaaaaaaay!
I would love this for the lettering that it could do. I tried to make a kitkat cake for my fiance a few months ago and the letters created so much stress, this machine would have made a huge difference!
This looks like a great machine. Is the software similar to photoshop?
No, not really. But it is an amazing tool!
I have been wanting something like this for the longest time but could never afford one. Imagine how much more I could create.
I would love to have a machine like this to speed up my cake decorating!
oh I just love this I would love doing this my goodness
I have made a number of cakes that require special font writing, including a Kentucky Derby cake, a 50th anniversary cake for MIT’s Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity (class of 1962), and a cake to celebrate the officer installation at The Harvard Lodge. In order to get the writing/fonts correct, I create the lettering in MS Word, print it and cut out a paper image, and trace it on fondant using an Exacto knife. As you can imagine, this takes tremendous time and effort. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a tool that can do this for me in a fraction of the time!
What an awesome tool…. I would use it for cookies!
I would love to find new creative ways to decorating cakepops!
Oh the places I could go … 🙂
NYC skyline cut out
I would use it for my daughters wedding cake and cookie favors.
This would be perfect for cookies…I’ve never used fondant but am looking forward to it with this machine
I would love to have one of these!! I just started my own bakery and this would be HUGE asset to my design process! Plus, if I won it, I would be able to use the money for other goods and services. 🙂
I would love to win this so i can further my skills and knowledge of the baking world!!!
I would love to be able to make cookies with different shapes for my daughter and nephews birthday parties or school events.
I would die to have this. I have been eye it for a super long time just for paper crafts and now that is has a pastry option – the possibilities would be endless. Sigh.
I think I might try different shape numbers and letters.
Maybe some abstract art, would be interesting to try and do a cake with.
Hi, can you please tell me what you use to make the embossing on the gold ribbon around the bottom of the cake, and where you got it from. thanks so much
I rolled out my yellow/gold fondant, then laid an impression mat on it and rolled over with a rolling pin. Then I cut the ribbons and applied them (as in this post). Then I painted on the gold edible paint. If you can’t get that you could also use gold luster dust (mixed with vodka) and let it dry.
Here are the products I used:
Marshmallow fondant with gold gel coloring
FMM Ribbon Cutter
Swirls Impression Mat here OR here
Super Gold Luster Dust
Gold Edible Paint
I would use it on everything and anything 🙂 monograms, logos, emblems, custom made cut-outs. Yeyyyy!
This sounds amazing! Sounds so much better than the Cricut cake – that I have and now basically sits in it’s box! Hope I get the change to try it!
Thank you for the giveaway! Love your blog with all these wonderful tutorials 🙂
Would love this for lace designs!
I’ve been wanting to do a NYC skyline cake, I hope it would help with that
I hadn’t thought of that – I bet that it would work great for something like that!
Oh the joys of not having to cut out letters etc by hand :)…would love to win one of these!
Amen to that!
I would try letters on a cake.
I am terrible at making numbers and letters so this would help me with all kinds of things! I am especially looking forward to using the sharp, classy looking letters for more formal-looking baked goods for events.
Would love to have one of these for baby shower/bday for childrens name
oh wow what an amazing machine! i would love one!
Very cool tool, would love to win to decorate a cake and cookies for my uncle’s 93rd birthday!!
Here’s to Uncle Tunney… hope I win!! — Aprile
I would love to win this. I have a lot of trouble with letters, numbers, templates, mmmmmm just about everything to do with cake decorating so I need all the help I can. Haha
This is so cool and much better than having to buy a million cartridges! Hope I win so I can make the more detailed and intricate cookies!
A monogram cake for a friend’s engagement party.
Beautiful. I want one too!
I have just started to get more creative with my cake decorating and the number of molds for borders, decorations, etc is intimidating (and costly!). This looks like it could do almost anything! Letters, numbers, vines, birds, flowers, the possibilities are endless!
I’d love to try one of these and play with fondant!
That would be so fun to play with!
I would love to try this machine. I do alot of lettering.
It’s great for lettering!! 🙂
I hope I win!
Beautiful cakes!! Would love to win it and try to make my cakes as elegant as yours.
I would love to cut fancy fonts and designs with the creative cutter!!!
Oh, my, Rose! That added a really nice touch to your cakes and cookies. It would be fun to own an Inspiration
Thanks Judy! 🙂
Sounds so amazing! Would love to try one of these machines.
I would really enjoy doing neat and precise lettering with the cutter! And I am currently majoring in Computer Science so I would love to do all types of nerdy and geometric designs with this!
😀 It’s SO much better than trying to cut them by hand and there are a million more options than just the letter cutters available to buy!
would LOVE this!
I’m having trouble commenting, hope this works! Don’t have a particular cake in mind yet, but I bet I could get into all kinds of trouble!
It worked!
Wonderful opportunity, thank you!
I would use it to cut the pieces for a scrabble cake I have coming up!
WOW, it sounds amazing!! Thank you for the opportunity to win 😉
I would really love to win this! No raffle copter accessible 🙁
What an amazing product! I wish I’d had it today when I was hand cutting fondant flames for 2 hours!
Wow I would love to try cutting some flowers with the machine and of course the wordings as well
Wow I would love to try one!!!
This would be so amazing to have in my kitchen. I love making cakes and this would give me so much more freedom to creating so many fun cakes! Birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, weddings and those are just a few that I could enjoy doing! Thank you so much for your write up on this fantastic product and for the opportunity to winning one!
My cake and cupcake company is all about doing the “unique” and this would help so much with my out-of-the-ordinary ideas, for which there is usually never an existing cutter or mold!
This is amazing. It would enhance my cake making so much. I make cakes for my family and friends and this would take them to a whole new level. The first cakes I would make are for my nieces who share the same birthday.
Oh My … I think I NEEEEEED this! NEED NEED NEED NEED!
HaHa! Exactly how I felt after checking out all the features!
I would love this, so fun for birthday parties and I have 3 little girls!
This machine would make putting my nephews and nieces names on their birthday cakes so much easier and allow me to spend more o f my time on the other parts of the cake.. no more cookie cutters sticking to my fondant!!
Absolutely true! I was able to do the designs I had to do in a fraction of the time it would’ve normally taken!
I have looked for a machine like this for ages and came accross the pazzles but its abit steep for me to buy right now…id love to win one!
That looks really good. I would love one please.
Iwould like to make a thomas the train cake!!
Would love to try this new gadget. Sounds like a real timesaver for intricate or delicate designs.
I would like to make many letters and figures for decorate my cakes to make them look so professional as yours.
wow, what happened to the site, pop up ads and ads at the bottom I can’t get around, horrible…
This looks like such an awesome tool for use with cakes. It would definitely help take my cakes to the next level :).
I’d love to make special occasion cakes for my friends, for whatever they’re celebrating.
I would soooo love to do hubby’s upcoming birthday with a machine like this. How can you go wrong!!
I just recently started working with fondant and the ideas are endless! I would love to use this to create fondant cut outs!
This would be such a blessing to have! Love the way you did the monogram and I’m sure it will make wonderful borders. I can think of so many ways this would save time and enable to cut out intricate designs that would otherwise be impractical.
Yes – it would be great for borders and almost any other shape you could dream up!
Awesome ! Lettering would be great, but then.. so many other creative ideas to dream up 🙂
Would love to be able to create my own fondant cut outs – lettering, damask, silhouette figures, flowers, lace…….. (the list could be endless!)
I would love to use to make monogram cookies for my friend’s bridal shower. How perfect would they turn out!
I would like to make a special First Birthday cake for my son’s first birthday coming up 🙂
This is awesome! This would be a tremendously blessing in my business. it would really help to making letter and numbers for my cakes.
I would totally do crazy fun birthday cakes for my kids and probably try my hand at a wedding cake for my sister-in-law. Thanks for the chance to win!
GOOD LORD. I NEED THIS!!! I’ve been looking for such a machine, and this sounds really similar to the Silhouette I’ve been looking at. I would TOTALLY love to win this!
I’ve seen a similar product but I think this one definitely has better options and versatility! Awesome stuff.
That thing is so cool! I always have such a hard time getting numbers and letters just right, and that would make it so easy!
It makes a huge difference in the details you can do, and do quickly!
The possibilities would be endless! My daughter is newly engaged and what I could do for her wedding cake and favors!
I am so excited. I just started selling my cakes and cupcakes and this would be a great addition to my kitchen
I would love to win this! I am already thinking of all the possibilities!!!
Wow! This is so cool. Great for Monogram Cakes.
Would love to win this, I am in South Africa and even in I could afford it, it will probably only be in our shops in 5 or 6 years! Imagine how far my cake business will be by then if I had this!
I would love to win this- it looks so cool!!!
I love it that you don’t have to buy cartridges you just use your computer. Thanks for a chance to win.
I would like to see what it can do for things like corporate logos
I think it would do an amazing job!
Such a versatile machine. Had never heard of it before today.
Wow, how awesome. Would make my cake decorating so much easier.
Would love to win this for my daughter who hopes to one day become an culinary and pastry artist. She loves baking and decorating cakes and this would just open up her world even more. The possibles would be almost endless with all the different types of media she could use on her cakes. Thank you for a chance to win.
sounds like a great tool, I would use it for special cakes such as wedding.
Love it! It’s very versatile. I have worked at a sign shop before and understand the value of this machine!
Would love to try this with gumpaste for making cake and cookies decorations 🙂
It does an amazing job!
Would love to experiment with this super tool and wedding cakes!
This is a very exciting giveaway. I’d love to win this to create letters & names.
This would be an awesome addition to my kitchen!
I could use this on SO many things! Beautiful lettering being first!
The possibilities really are unlimited!
This looks so much neater than me hand cutting everything! I would love to try the letters on a wedding cake. (monogram)
I could use this on most every cake I make. The lettering is always a challenge. And all the patterns would come out cleaner. What a timesaver!
What a great giveaway – I may have a little trouble with the software as well and might need to borrow your son to give me a lesson!
I always tell him I’m going to start renting him out for a fee 😉
Would love to try this with fondant / gumpaste for making cake @ cupcake decorations
wow this is a nifty machine!
Pick me! Finding myself getting older and vision less than it used to be and hands a bit shakier, this would be perfect!
Does this compare to the cricket cutter?
Yes, it’s a similar machine. But having worked with both, I have to say that the ability to manipulate my designs on my computer vs. only on the machine (which is how my Cricut works), I like the computer option better!
I often find myself cutting out a font with an xacto knife, this would be SO much easier!
Ohmygosh yes!!
would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to win this!!! only in my dreams will I have one of these!!