I am having some trouble getting the right usage of Machinist and Shoulda in my testing. Here is my test: context "on POST method rating" do p = Product.make u = nil setup do u = login_as post :vote, :rating => 3, :id => p end should "set rating for product to 3" do assert_equal p.get_user_vote(u), 3 end And here's my blueprints: Sham.login { Faker::Internet.user_name } Sham.name { Faker::Lorem.words} Sham.email { Faker::Internet.email} Sham.body { Faker::Lorem.paragraphs(2)} User.blueprint do login password "testpass" password_confirmation { password } email end Product.blueprint do name {Sham.name} user {User.make} end And my authentication test helper: def login_as(u = nil) u ||= User.make() @controller.stubs(:current_user).returns(u) u end The error I get is: /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb:1090:in `save_without_dirty!': Validation failed: Login has already been taken, Email has already been taken (ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid) from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/dirty.rb:87:in `save_without_transactions!' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:200:in `save!' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:136:in `transaction' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:182:in `transaction' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:200:in `save!' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:208:in `rollback_active_record_state!' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:200:in `save!' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist/active_record.rb:55:in `make' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/test/blueprints.rb:37 from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist.rb:77:in `generate_attribute_value' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist.rb:46:in `method_missing' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/test/blueprints.rb:37 from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist.rb:20:in `instance_eval' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist.rb:20:in `run' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/machinist-1.0.6/lib/machinist/active_record.rb:53:in `make' from ./test/functional/products_controller_test.rb:25:in `__bind_1269805681_945912' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/gems/thoughtbot-shoulda-2.10.2/lib/shoulda/context.rb:293:in `call' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/gems/thoughtbot-shoulda-2.10.2/lib/shoulda/context.rb:293:in `merge_block' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/gems/thoughtbot-shoulda-2.10.2/lib/shoulda/context.rb:288:in `initialize' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/gems/thoughtbot-shoulda-2.10.2/lib/shoulda/context.rb:169:in `new' from /home/jason/moderndarwin/vendor/gems/thoughtbot-shoulda-2.10.2/lib/shoulda/context.rb:169:in `context' from ./test/functional/products_controller_test.rb:24 I can't figure out what it is I'm doing wrong... I have tested the login_as with my auth (Authlogic) in my user_controller testing. Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated!