05/01/2026
Crystal’s Baked Blessings - Fully Transparent
Hello there, now that I have your attention, I would like the opportunity to lay it all out there with full transparency. After this post, I will not comment, entertain, explain, apologize, discuss, or reply to anyone else related to Crystal’s Baked Blessings.
Let's bring it back to March of 2020, the height of the pandemic. People were panicking and in hysterics in some cases. Storming department stores to “stock up” on essentials, all the while CLEARING THE SHELVES and literally not leaving a single item for anyone else. There were people shopping with a grocery cart in each hand, one full of meat and one full of toilet paper, with no care in the world as to who was behind them in line, no care for single mothers or those on income assistance, let alone the unhoused citizens that we share our beautiful communities with.
Watching the chaos first hand, watching our favorite restaurants plummet, watching some conform and do their very best to accommodate the rapidly changing protocols, the “rules” set out by public health and the government. One day, having the house, patio, and reservations lists full, not to mention a line-up around the corner, to not being able to hand a take-out container to their beloved customers physically. The customers who stood by their sides when they opened and tried to help them when businesses around town were literally falling apart. Let's not forget the anger and hostility. Folks didn't know if they were mad at COVID, mad at the government, mad at the public health nurse, doctors, lab techs, maybe they were mad at the restaurants or businesses themselves for either following protocol or not following protocol.
There was a lot of anger, a lot of unknown, and I truly believe there were alot of people that were scared of what the future had to hold whether you believe the earth is flat, or round, or the doctors knowing what they are talking about or not, whether you felt like it was a direct attack on you, your family, your business, your town or your province, the world was the craziest Id ever seen it in my mere existence.
I was at a point in my life where I had recently left a job/position that I LOVED, it was what I thought my future was going to be, I didn't see my life without my work husband and work family. I was baking for my work family, as well as our customers, and everyone was loving it, and to be honest, I was loving the creativity too. After working there for four years, it seemed as though things were not going to work out as I had thought they would with work. I was angry, and I was devastated. The transition shook me to the core, and it took a very, very long time to come out of the depression and mental state that leaving that position put me in. And to be honest, I was blaming everything and everyone else; it was easier than looking deep within and just admitting that some decisions were not my decisions to make. This was probably one of the hardest things I had gone through at this point.
By the time that I was ready to consider coming out and looking for work again, COVID happened. We were all forced to step back and take a look around us. Is this what life was going to be like now? Everyone is just out for themselves? Everyone is angry and acting selfish, staring people down because they are walking down the aisle in the wrong direction. Or perhaps they were 5’ 9” away rather than standing the allotted 6’ distance? Maybe they weren't wearing the right style of mask, or they were only covering their mouth and not their nose? Did anyone stop to think about the unhoused? Or the single moms and dads who rely on the food bank and now can't get there? Or, having the community resources that were once available, they can no longer access due to the provincial health guidelines. Are we no longer allowed to have family over for gatherings? Can't we even meet face-to-face for a marketplace drop-off? We were no longer neighbours or families, we were people who merely barely co-exist because we are no longer allowed to share a smile, a good conversation, a gentle hug, the things that bring communities closer. We were no longer allowed to share a loaf of bread between friends or neighbours. All of this got me to thinking…
I love to bake, and to be honest, I would bake for free if my ingredients were covered! And that's where it all started. I started to bake with what I had, and I decided I would sell the baked goodies for a donation price. Any price you could afford, that way it didn't matter if you were unhoused, single, down on your luck, single mom or parents who had been laid off. Your financial situation shouldn't determine whether or not you were eligible to get some of my baking or not, and I fully believed and practiced that. As I am sure you can imagine, the word spread like wildfire. With that, Crystal’s Baked Blessings was born. I was baking like crazy, gifting like crazy, and networking like crazy. I was fortunate enough to have two INCREDIBLE businesses downtown open up their hearts and their restaurant/kitchens for me to bake and cook in to help with quantity, so I was able to generate enough funds for the next week's baking donations. How fun was that? Baking like crazy and seeing people walk along the sidewalks and stop dead in their tracks, drooling on the windows… good times, let me tell you.
We fed so so so many homeless and families in need, countless people….As I mentioned previously, I was baking by donation, so if you wanted a loaf of bread but only had a quarter, then that loaf just became $.25! If you wanted a pepperoni pizza pinwheel but only had a buck, well, guess your lunch only cost you a dollar! And of course, if I happened to notice some littles, well, their cookies were free, weren't they? Lol! Some of the best times of my life. With donations being the guidelines, I had a single mother reach out to me, in tears. Her daughter's birthday was right around the corner, and this mom had been out of work, bills were piling up, and nowhere to turn. All she wanted was a cake for her beautiful little girl. No friends or family to turn to, looking at me, praying I could help. I jumped at the opportunity! I was thrilled to be able to make this mama and her daughters' dreams come true! Then I thought, if I can cover the cake, I wonder if someone in our community could help cover the cost of a present or two for this beautiful little girl. I made a post, and within seconds, someone donated money for gifts and decorations for this little princess! I could hardly believe how fast this incredible community showed up for this mama and her daughter.
Over the next few months, we had the opportunity to bless hundreds more with inexpensive or free baking, gifts, items needed for their homes, clothes, whatever was in need, and I was able to find with the help of our amazing community.
With all the gifting, it can't ALL be peaches and cream, can it? As the days went on and the word got out, I started to notice people wanting to take advantage of my kindness. When selling by donation, there is always the “price” that is up in the air. The only person at that point who knows what they are paying is the person who is paying, not me. So when I get a call for an order, I take it without asking, " Well, how much money do you have? Or how much did you plan on spending?
I ended up getting a call from a lady who ordered a couple of loaves of bread, a dozen pinwheels, cookies, muffins, etc. Was a pretty big order, so of course I assumed that she would be able to pay a reasonable price for it….Well, after she loaded it all up in her car, she handed me an envelope, got in her (super nice) car, and drove off. I, of course, had a huge smile on my face, waved, and walked into the house. When I opened up the envelope, it was a note saying thank you. That's all, that's it. I was shocked. This lady did not say she was in need, she didn't act like she was, and definitely didn't look like she was in need. She straight-up took advantage of me and my kindness. This is when I realized that even when all I am putting into this world is love and kindness, there will always be that person who takes, takes, takes. However, I didn't let that detour me. I did adjust my pricing as best as I could, and I opened the doors of opportunity to get your childs/low income relative, or friends' birthdays covered. Cake, presents, and decorations if the donations allow.
And that is exactly what we did. Our OUTSTANDING community came together and celebrated the birthdays of those who didn't expect to have cake, let alone presents. The birthdays were coming fast and furious, and I was baking 5 custom cakes a day. I was running myself into the ground and not leaving enough of myself left for my family. But these were promises that I had made, and I was going to do everything in my power to make it happen.
This brings me to a saying that my work husband told me (the one previously mentioned)
You can do 1000 INCREDIBLE things in a day, and screw-up on two things. What do YOU think is going to matter to the people who want the two things done? Do you think they care about the 1000 amazing things you did? No, of course not, because those two little things could have been their WHOLE WORLD, and YOU just screwed up on them.
This is when I realized that it's quality over quantity. YES, I want to help EVERYONE and give EVERYONE EVERYTHING they want and get all the smiles, love, attention, and recognition, but ultimately, if they are a dedicated client, they will understand if they don't get the booking that they want.
Unfortunately, during this learning curve, I let a client down, I had WAY overbooked my time, made 5 custom cakes in a day, and hers was the 6th. It completely slipped my mind, and I was disgusted with myself for not being able to make it happen. I was furious at myself for overbooking and letting myself and my client down. Of course, offering and supplying a full refund.
Then something else happened about a month later. I had a lady order this HUGE extravagant cake, it turned out incredible. At that point, it was the biggest ID ever made, and I was IMPRESSED lol! When the lady arrived, she GASPED and SQUEELED at how amazing it looked. She was THRILLED! So much so that she not only paid a reasonable price but also gave me a healthy tip! The next day, I opened my Facebook to find out this lady, the SAME one that was GUSHING over her cake, had gone all over Facebook and trashed my name, my company, and the cake I made. I was ( and still kind of am, writing this) in shock. Scrambling to find the words to apologize? I think? To save face? To explain myself? In what way exactly? I was so confused, but literally scrambling to try and comment on everyone's comments and posts uggh, it was a nightmare. When to my face she LOVED it? Like what? I couldn't understand it, but it is what it is; you can't win 'em all.
I just carried on doing what I was doing. I should also mention that I have 8 kids at the time. 4 bio, 1 step, and 3 adopted from the ministry, as their parents are on the streets. Being low-income ourselves, we had firsthand knowledge of what it's like to struggle, especially around birthdays and Christmas, too. As the Christmas season approached, our family knew we had to help in some way, we weren't sure how, really cause we didn't have much for ourselves either. But what we did have is love, hope, and a prayer, not to mention one heck of a loving community!
So that was our mission, we were going to pick 8 (if I remember correctly) low-income families that needed help around Christmas time, and boy, the applicants came flooding in. The one that resonates with me the most was a gentleman, a single father who had a set of 4-year-old twin girls. He had recently become widowed as he lost his wife (mother of his girls) to cancer, and he had also recently lost his father (who lived with them) as well. So it was just him and his girls. When I shared the story with my community, you came together and made it a Christmas this family would not soon forget. It took us two truckloads to bring all of the gifts and opportunities to this newly single dad. Someone donated a brand new chest freezer, while another person donated all the food to fill it. There were gift cards, tablets for the girls, gaming systems, toys, clothes for them, clothes for the father, the list goes on and on and on. The father was in tears, we were in tears, it took me a good 3 days to stop crying at how incredible our community is, and how this small act of kindness will likely change their outlook on life up till this point.
Birthday after birthday, Christmas after Christmas, our mission was to help those in need. All the while, still baking for those who ordered, birthday cakes, baby shower cakes, wedding cakes, catering, and the list goes on and on and on. Countless orders, countless venues, but clients who counted. In my eyes, anyway.
As word got out and popularity grew, I did everything I could to help, organize, facilitate, and accommodate everyone's needs. I did end up with some clients who, like before, would say how incredible the product was, to my face, but then quickly realized that if they complained online about my baking, not only did I provide an immediate refund, it was ALWAYS more then was originally paid. If you paid a $50/deposit, you got a $75 refund, that's just the way I thought best to apologize and “make it up to” the client. I started to notice that more of these “opportunities” started to pop up, and I was having a hard time understanding it because, after all, my recipe hadn't changed, the way I had done things hadn't changed…. What was going on? This is when Crystal’s Baked Blessings stopped being fun for me. I was now married to my job and married to every single customer/client that messaged or called, and now THEY hold the fate of my business and or company. If they aren't happy, all they have to do is complain online, and not only do they get to keep the product, they get a full refund and then some.
I was still trying to hold my head up, trying to stay above the drowning waters of social media. Paying more money out than I was bringing in. STILL helping those in need! Yes, I was low-income too, raising 6 kids in the home. I NEVER ONCE took advantage of anyone, any company, or any offer. I asked the Salvation Army myself for my own family when I was helping low-income families in our community for Christmas. I took money from my own pocket to pay for gas to deliver donations for Christmas and birthdays. I collected and took empties in to help pay for gas and to help with donations for low-income families and those in need. I NEVER ONCE grey’d the area between my own low-income family and the low-income families we were helping. NOT ONCE! To see people making comments that even remotely touched on this topic made me physically and mentally ill. After ALL I had done for you, for them, for those people who needed it most. I've been there for births, weddings, announcements, retirements, and funerals. I've been there for some of YOUR MOST IMPORTANT days, whether you could afford it or not, and THIS is what I get?
The moment that my family was at its lowest, and pretty much begged for help from the community, all of a sudden I was a scammer, labeled and scarred a scammer for, GOD FORBID, trying to help my own family and children. We were without a vehicle, it wasn't even ONLY for my family, it was to help with delivering baking and donations to everyone, including those in need. I wasn't even asking for it, solely for me, and I still got called a scammer.
Full transparency, I was bullied from grade 2 to grade 11. When I finally didn’t GAF what the students thought, I was there to learn, NOT there to make friends. The trauma that I have carried with me for my entire life, I have tried to deal with. I have battled depression, anxiety, addiction, and emotional instability due to this trauma, and through helping the community, I was finally able to show people just how selfless I really am. Show them that I literally would live and breathe off people's love and smiles if it were possible. I was finally able to forget the judgments and opinions of those 3rd and 4th graders, 11th and 12th graders. ( I know, time to let it go, but it's a LOT harder than you think, especially when you are emotionally, physically, mentally and sexually abused and bullied every single day at school)
Through this selfless community work, I was finally able to let it go. I felt like people were actually seeing me for me. Finally, I am comfortable in my own skin, standing tall when people see me. I had one lady recognize me in Walmart, and it was as if she had seen a celebrity, it was sooo cool, what an incredible feeling, and it was because of the humanitarian work that I had created on my own and had been doing on my own.
With all of that said, that brings me back to the name-calling, the assumptions, and accusations. Brings be right back to being bullied. I couldn't put the fires out fast enough. Once someone THOUGHT they sniffed out something wrong, they RAN WITH IT and told as MANY AS WOULD LISTEN, and soon it became a full-on witch hunt!
My clients who had been with me for years ALL CAME to my rescue, they all stood up for me because THEY KNOW WHO I AM, they have dealt with me numerous times and have SEEN what is in my HEART. The outpour of defense was truly magical. But it didn't stop the bullies online. I was on a delivery with one of my cakes, absolutely beautiful and ready to be delivered, and got into a car accident, wrecked the car in the ditch, wrecked the cake, wrecked me, and I got called a scammer out of it all. I wonder if she even made the cake? Seriously?? Easier and a LOT more entertaining to start rumors, to name call, to make assumptions, and have other people jump in and add their negative opinions as well. As soon as I was able, I contacted the recipient and transferred their refund.
Full transparency, I'm not perfect, no one is. I definitely take responsibility for some orders that were missed, dates that were not kept, and responsibilities that were not met. I had an incredible woman offer to help me with a vehicle when I needed one most. I do feel indebted to her, and there also may be a refund or two that I have misplaced the details about. But know this, I am not a bad person; I did not scam a single person or situation that was presented to me. There was a company that offered to sponsor a custom cake that was to be in a draw at a local event. Turns out the local event had two names entered, clearly not enough for a draw for a custom cake. The event had its attention on the rest of the baking rather than the draw. This was absolutely on me! I spread myself too thin to be able to handle everything on my own, so not enough attention was placed on the draw, and unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. This obviously wasn't the exposure that the donor was expecting(and clearly neither was I), but before I could get the chance to ask her for her email for a refund, she blocked me and ran my name through the mud as best and as fast as she could, claiming I was basically stealing from the homeless. Like, WTFrig! Still haven't been able to figure out how to contact her.
This brings us to just about a couple of years ago…
Mid 40's, 6 kiddos in the home, 2 youngest (adopted), 7 and 8 yrs old now, are special needs, born addicted, and finally have their diagnosis, FASD, ADHD, and ODD. This after years of advocating with teachers, principals, social workers, counselors, doctors, pediatricians, FASD keywords, transportation departments, and the list goes on and on, Dr appts, court appts, ministry appts, you name it, we've been through it.
So while I'm balancing Crystal’s Baked Blessings, and helping those in need, I'm also in the background helping my own family and taking in 3 of our cousins' kids, 2 of whom are more difficult than all 6 of my others COMBINED due to their special needs.
Feeling like I'm stuck between going crazy and having everything under control, I'm now battling menopause and cyberbullying, which comes with all my symptoms from past trauma, depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and plain mental exhaustion.
I'm not making excuses, I'm being transparent. The reason I am speaking now? I am so sick of seeing misguided, off-the-cuff comments from people who know nothing about what happened to me or what happened to the clients. All they know is they caught a wiff of something negative and want to “start another fire” in the comment section to get reactions or comments or whatever. What you don't realize is that it's like a literal knife is stabbing me in my gut and twisting every single time I read something negative about Crystal’s Baked Blessings or me. After everything I have done for Vernon, Enderby, Armstrong, Salmon Arm, Grinrod, Malakwa, Westside, Kelowna, Sorrento, Blind Bay, Tappen/Sunnybrea, Chase, and even KAMLOOPS! I've TOUCHED EVERY SINGLE community in SOOOOOOO many incredible ways, and this is what you choose to spread? When you yourself are not even a part of the situation? Ever care to ask me? Or maybe ask yourself what business it is of yours?
You so badly wanted in my personal business, well, here it is, all out in the open.
The reason I haven't responded, the reason I have been lying low…
I stopped taking care of myself and was overly consumed with what everyone wanted and needed from me. I stopped paying attention to the signs that were speaking so so SO LOUDLY! I had a complete mental, emotional, and physical breakdown. I ended up in the hospital, on daily medication, and laid up for months.
Full Transparency: I gave up, literally, I gave up on everything, I gave up on my company, I gave up on my relationship, I gave up on the little special things, I nearly gave up on the will to live.
I was in a full state of depression and didn't see a way out.
Hiding from the monsters that I had created by missing deadlines and appointments….
Running from responsibilities and doing my best to just coast on by….
Then….. We lost our house, the landlords wanted to move back in…..uprooted our whole family, uprooted the kids from their friends and their schools, having to move for the umpteenth time in what felt like a short period of time….. Try and find a 7-bedroom home in THIS market?! The Shuswap and Okanagan are NOT forgiving when it comes to rent, let alone for a home the size that we needed for our family.
Now what are we going to do?
By the Grace of God, The Creator and ALL things HOLY, we found our current place, 6 bedrooms, but we will make it work, out in the country, fruit trees, and SMACK DAB in the middle of Vernon, Salmon Arm, Armstrong, Falkland, and Enderby, 20 minutes each way depending on which direction you are travelling.
Side note - you may be confused about allll the kids. Our youngest 6 live with us, and we have 2 adult children who live on their own.
Thankfully, we have 4 kiddos that are fully capable of helping with furniture and boxes, while the two littles are happy just being entertained. So after a while, we finally got all of our belongings to the new house. Doing our best to get settled, get the kids settled in new schools, get the dogs settled, unpacked, I was still trying to balance a breakdown. It wasn't until my spouse stopped me and literally WOKE ME UP. Woke me up from the depression I was suffering from. Basically snapped me out of it. By then Id gained a significant amount of weight, I was smoking like a chimney, avoiding literally or nearly everything except dessert.
Id finally decided enough was enough. I decided at 44 (nearly 45) that I was going to concentrate on ME for once! I deserve to feel good and to feel like I look good and to stop worrying about what EVERYONE thinks. At this point, I was on mood stabilizer medications, anti-inflammatory medications, pain medication, and muscle relaxants. My stress was so deeply rooted that I felt it in my bones and in my muscles, and tbh I still do feel it.
So I stopped. I stopped overeating, I stopped overthinking (as best as I could), I stopped worrying, I stopped replying, I stopped all my medications, and I even quit smoking. (day 228 with no smokes for this girl) I've lost 65+ lbs (and counting). I have a clearer head, I am able to focus on so many other things, I am able to give all 8 of our kids the attention they want and need, I am able to take care of my responsibilities, and am able to focus on the damage that all the stress has done to my body over the years. Due to the stress flowing through my back and previous injuries, I have developed a degenerative disk disease, which is centralized in my lower and upper back. Not an easy thing to deal with, but lots easier now that I am not packing around all that extra weight!!
Anyway, that kinda brings you up to fairly current.
You may have noticed my posts about the treasure hunts…. This is something new that we have started and are FUNDING OURSELVES, no donations required or needed. We are randomly placing fun little objects around town for the community to find. Sometimes it has a gift card, sometimes it's just a simple little dollar store resin balloon dog, either way its special, it's fun, it's a way to connect and a way to get outside and see some of the sites that you may or may not have otherwise had the chance to see.
I want to help the community. I have soooo sooooo much to offer, and it literally is all I think about. How can I put my skills or abilities to use to better our community in some way? I am all ears!!
But first….
If I have slighted you in some way. If my name or posts make you feel ANY kind of way other than lovely, or in some way remind you of the incredible things I have accomplished…..
I am so truly and deeply sorry; you can't even fathom how much it truly bothers me. Deep to the core.
If you feel that I owe you money in some way, or you feel like I owe you a service, and are willing to give me another chance? Please message me. I want to make EVERYTHING right. It might take some time, but know my heart is in the right place, and I will make it up to you.
You don't know the sleepless nights Ive had thinking about the bride that Ive let down, or the kiddo who was looking forward to their custom cake. There haven't been very many “lost” orders, but I am willing to make it up to every single person who feels like I have wronged them.
I can't thank you enough for reading this novel. It's taken me quite some time to find the words and be able to stand behind them. This was the toughest thing I have ever been through, and I am so so sorry for dragging any of you through this.
If you choose to comment and bash me or throw negative shade my way, I deserve it, but I will not engage. If you want to have a constructive conversation, or you feel like I owe you in some way, please PM me and let's work this out.
Also, as a side note, throughout this past while of “soul saving” “damage control,” I have blocked some people because of the trauma that their comments were stirring up within me. I have since unblocked those people so they have an opportunity to see this post, comment, and or message me, but also because I am owning up to any of my wrongdoings.
I will not be replying to any comments. Thank you, I'm sorry, and please forgive me in advance. If you'd like to discuss something with me, please PM me.
Take care of each other and most importantly, be kind…. You never know what someone is going through
