After the party, as we all got back to pottery class & projects, I invited Nirali & Sarah to stay and try their hand at the wheel. Sure, they can bake up a storm, but can they throw a pot?!!!

Turns out they can… even with a silly party hat on!!!

All in all… a wonderful finish to our Spring session of pottery classes! With a huge celebration of Martin’s BIG WIN on The Great American Baking Show. I had a great group of students who not only make great pottery, but were also more than willing to play along with my silly “reality TV” games! Congratulations again to Martin… our very favorite Top Baker!!!

And a quick peek at the “behind-the-scenes” of the photo shoot…
with Christine art directing the shoot!!!

Knowing that the winner of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW would win a glass cake plate “trophy”… I thought I would make a ceramic “trophy” cake plate for Martin just in case he didn’t win! BUT HE DID WIN!!! I thought tit would still be a great gift… so now he has TWO “trophies” to choose from next time he’s serving a homemade cake!!!… or bringing one to our pottery class???

And of course, every KING OF CORN needs a corn scepter, right?! Martin may have won a baking show… but we were more than ready to blow the corn theme out of the water! We just need a good reason to celebrate… and we’re ALL IN!

Thanks again to Christine for working on the scepter. I brought the corn & made it sparkle, but Christine added all of the incredible details… like photos from each of Martin’s baking challenges!

As the Big Winner of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW… of course we had to make the most celebrating Martin! And we thought every winner needs a crown… and party hats for the rest of us. Of course, it was CORN for all around!!!

Special thanks to Christine for coordinating the “bumper crop” of corn hats & crown!!!
Take notice of the ring of contestants around the hat!!!

As part of Martin’s SURPRISE PARTY, I invited the other two Chicago contestants to join our party! So Sarah Chang & Nirali Chauhan both joined us for the festivities & to celebrate Martin’s big win!!! A fun surprise for Martin… and so “cute” to see how they’ve so quickly become BEST FRIENDS after surviving their time together “under the tent” for THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW! Crazy that the three of them are from Chicago… now best friends, but would never have met each other if it weren’t for the show!!!

My contribution to the potluck party was “inspired” by Martin’s love of CORN!!! Since he used corn as a main ingredient in a couple of his bakes, I thought it was only fitting to make Cornbread Cupcakes with Cream Corn Buttercream Frosting! Sure, they might not of been the tastiest of treats… but I think I got huge bonus points for following the corny theme!!!

Oh, the pressure… how do you throw a party and make snacks to celebrate a TOP BAKER?!

Sure, our treats might be tasty… but nowhere near the fancy delicacies that Martin could make! But we tried our best… lots of treats… some “inspired” by the final four contestants of the show!

So… with Martin as the BIG WINNER of The Great American Baking Show… we had to throw a big party, right? So our final class of the Spring pottery session was a full-on potluck party celebration of Martin & all-things Baking Show! And what’s a party without a bunch of signs all over the place?! Some to celebrate Martin, and others to embarrass Martin!!!

Last night in pottery class we had another version of our favorite OREOs… gluten-free! So they tasted a little “different” and maybe a little “chalky”???… but the double amount of filling made up for it! Thanks for bringing the treats Elena!

WE LOVE DOUBLE-STUFFED!!!