Decorating in Columbia

hey guys! sorry its been so long, school has been hectic, so here is what i did a couple weekends ago. I went to Columbia, SC to work with my roommate's grandmother who is a cake decorator (she's been doing it for at least 30 years I believe). She spent the whole day teaching me basic piping techniques, since that is my biggest struggle at this point. By the end of the day, I had two beautiful cakes to show for my work. Michelle (my roommate) and her whole family came over and enjoyed my desserts. They were delicious!

here are some pics of what I did:

these are the two cakes I made (above) with a simple buttercream frosting recipe (its important when piping the icing is not too warm or it won't stick very well and you can't pipe it the way you want to very well either)

I did a basket-weave for the side of this cake, with a shell border on the bottom and pink roses on top with leaves

Here is the same cake from a different angle (the top border is a simple shell pipe, roses in the middle)

Here is the other cake I made (the middle is a lattice design I was taught, roses on the edge with leaves, and a reverse shell border)

-I have to say, for my first cakes on my own, I did alright!