About

Hi there! I’m Tracy, and I’m a twenty-something gal living in upstate NY. My husband and I met in college and have been married since the summer of 2005. When I graduated college, I put my software engineering degree to good use and worked for about a year and a half as a software engineer before I realized it really wasn’t for me. Now I work as a technical writer, which I love. I write help and user guides for software, and joke that because of my background, I’m the go-between who translates between engineers and everyone else.

When I come home at the end of the day though, I’m a simple housewife, which I love even more. Baking, cooking, decorating cakes, sewing, blogging, cleaning (yes, even cleaning – it’s oddly relaxing), are all things that I enjoy. In addition, I love to take photos, and while I don’t consider myself a professional photographer, I love learning more about photography every day.

This blog brings all of my domestic passions together – but more than that, it’s meant to be a resource, both for me and for you. When I first started learning how to cook and bake, I was terrible at it. Having once set spaghetti on fire, I figured, how could I manage anything more? I had plenty of delicious-sounding recipes I’d never dared try, because I knew nothing about cooking and had no idea how they were supposed to turn out. That was okay in college when I could go to the dining hall if I didn’t want ramen for dinner, but being newly married changed all that. I decided I was tired of mac and cheese every night, and that I was up to the challenge of conquering great-tasting meals for me and my husband.

A wise person had given us my first cookbook for our wedding, the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition, so I started there with some of the basics. Types of meat, and how to cook them. Vegetables. Soups. Before I knew it, I was making casseroles and cookies. I realized I liked cooking and I loved baking, and over the past few years my desire to learn more about both has only grown. I’ve conquered things I never dreamed I’d be able to do, such as cooking a turkey, making my own bread, and decorating cakes.

This blog has grown throughout my journey in the kitchen as well. I started it under a different name as a personal journal in 2007, including only a few recipes here and there. I soon realized that not only did those entries generate the most interest, but they were the ones I referred to again and again. Toward the beginning of 2009, I decided to launch a new blog – this one – to chronicle my adventures in the kitchen. I named it Sugarcrafter because I love to bake sweet stuff more than anything else, and because I love to craft cake decorations out of fondant.

On my blog, you’ll get my successes, but you’ll also get my flops – and with step-by-step tips and photos along the way, since a photo of the finished product only doesn’t usually help me when I’m struggling with a recipe. And while I mostly consider myself a baker, there will be a lot of cooking on this blog, too. My hope is that this blog will benefit bakers and cooks of all skill levels, and that it will fill you with the confidence that you CAN conquer any recipe.

I hope you enjoy your stay, and happy baking!
Tracy