Surprise Surprise Surprise!

So I like to surprise my friends, especially my best friend Sapna.  Last weekend was her daughter’s first birthday and when you live 800 miles away you don’t get to see them grow up!  Which sucks, I gotta say.  So I knew I had to be there for this particular milestone. 

Just a little backstory.  When Sapna and her hubby, Damian got married, it was while I wasn’t allowed to travel while waiting for my green card.  So I couldn’t be there, which sucked.  A week before the wedding I got my travel papers and so I decided to surprise them in Mexico, the day before their wedding.  I had another friend as a co-conspirator (thanks G!) who helped me out and we surprised them beautifully.  My entrance in Mexico was caught in pictures.

So when it came time for the first birthday party, I again used my co-conspirator and we again surprised them 30 minutes before the party began.  Good times indeed. Sorry no pics, oops.  But I did bring cookies

They were to match the invitations.  Miss Naaya wasn’t sure about me at first but by the end of the weekend she was now my bestie!

Now my visit wasn’t all about Naaya’s birthday, it was also a chance to hang with my family.  I stayed with my sister, Terrell, who I don’t get to see very often. We hung out and I brought my nephew, Eamonn, some cookies from one of his favourite movies.  How to Train Your Dragon.

I decided to paint these and I thought they turned out great.  Eamonn loved them, so that’s all that matters.

All in all it was a great weekend!  I also got to have lunch with my parents, brunch with both my sisters and, as well, hung out with some great friends. 

I love it when a plan comes together!

Thanks for looking.

Treat Day Wednesday–Halloween Treats!

Ok, so I’ve been a little remiss on sharing my treats over the past couple weeks but rest assured I did make them.

So here we go:

Witches Cupcakes:  Here I made simple chocolate cupcakes, covered with black chocolate icing and topped with an airbrushed sugar ice cream cone.  I also added the fondant details.  If you don’t want black lips, tongues and mouths then I’d suggest a different colour for the hair/icing.

Spookie Cookies:  Left over cookies, icing and some wet on wet techniques!  Super simple, super fun and super tasty.  The black icing is chocolate royal icing with a bit of black gel colouring.  It’ll still colour your mouth but won’t have a bitter taste because it tastes like chocolate!

 

My Chocolate Royal Icing: Take a cup of already made royal icing, add 2 tbsp of cocoa and mix together.  It will be quite thick.  Add 2-3 drops of black gel colouring and completely combine.  It won’t be so dark but let it sit for an hour and it’ll be jet black.  You also won’t require to add water to loosen it up as it will do that too.  This is just what I did, you may need to play with your icing to get the right consistency.

So give it a go.  It’s nice not to have aweful tasting black icing for a change.  I hope it works for you too!

Thanks for looking!

Magic Cookies and Mustaches–Not what you think :)

A friend asked if I’d make cookies for her nephew who was having a magic themed birthday.  The only request was they not be babyish.  He was six not a baby!

I scoured the internet for magic themed ideas but they were either very babyish or too scary, so I incorporated a little bit of both!

I had fun with stamping, painting and stenciling!

Next up was for our babysitter and all around awesome person, Alyssa.  She asked if I’d do her dad’s 60th birthday cake and cookies.  Chevrons and mustaches.  Cute!

They sent me the invite and I tried to do them justice.

First the cookies:

Next the cake:

Creating this cake became a comedy of errors.  We had our house up for sale and hadn’t had a showing in two weeks.  So, of course, we got one the day I was decorating the cake.  I had just finished ganache-ing this chocolate cherry cake when the text message came in giving me an hour and fifteen to get the house show ready.  So into the fridge it went.  I got the house ready, took the dogs for a walk, came back and pulled the cake back out to ice.  Then of course the door bell rang and the showing was rescheduled but they neglected to let me know.  Cake back into the fridge.  After they left I tried again and another text for another showing came in.  Cake back into the fridge.  The dogs and I are back out of the house, I picked up the girls at school and we went to get some ice cream as a treat.  Another text comes in from the showing people; they need to reschedule until tomorrow.  This was 45 minutes into the showing…are you kidding me?????  In the end I was up late finishing this cake because we now had showings for Saturday and the cake was to be picked up early afternoon.  I had originally wanted to put chevrons but didn’t like the way they looked, so I cut out some mini mustaches and added some dots. I used tappits for the letters. It turned out pretty cute but I wasn’t loving it until I got  this awesome email.

“I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing cake and cookies.  That had to be THE BEST CAKE we have ever had...and it was really beautiful!  The cookies were a big hit too.”

Thank for looking!

Go Bo Foundation Bake Sale #3

“Love each other, help each other, have your neighbor's back. If you see someone in need — even a stranger — reach out and help. This world can be a better place if we care and help each other.”

~ Bo Johnson

If it’s October it’s Go Bo time!  This year is the third annual bake sale and when the call came out I jumped to the chance!

The bake sale the brain child of Jill Wettstein of JillFCS Funky Cookie Studio.  A truly amazing artist and person and friend.

Bo was diagnosed with cancer and instead of letting the disease direct his life he decided to live his life.  He adopted the now famous YOLO doctrine, “you only live once”.  He was a truly amazing young man who passed away two years ago now, however his passion for life continues.  Cookie makers from all over the world virtually come together in Door County Wisconsin by sending decorated sugar cookies to be sold to raise money for the Go Bo Foundation.  Raising money for children with cancer.  Ten thousand cookies are on their way to this years bake sale from over 400 cookie decorators.  I’m so proud to be included!

This year’s cookies were inspired by a set of stickers I found at Target.  They had googley eyes and were absolutely adorable.  I used royal icing, airbrushing and edible markers to bring these guys to life.  I had a blast making them and I hope you like them too.

We were also asked to include one butterfly cookie:

If you want to see more, head on over to the Go Bo Foundation Facebook page.

Thanks for looking! #YOLO

Last year’s post can be found here

Wedding Cookies

This past weekend Rob and I went back to Ottawa to help celebrate the wedding of our dear friend Lisa.  Lisa helped me through my marathon training and who I visited in London.  So when she asked me to make her wedding favours, I didn’t have to think twice.

She asked if I would just make simple thank you cookies that sparkled, so that’s what I did. You can’t really see the sparkle in the pictures but trust me it’s there.

But I just couldn’t leave it alone, so I added some flowers too!

Me and the bride:

The wedding also allowed Rob and I to be tourist in our last home town. We had a ton of fun and even revisited the spot where we got engaged.

Thanks for looking!

Sugar Cookies

ok, so I think this is the last of the cookies I’ve made so far this year.  Don’t worry there will always be more.  If interested in ordering, check the tab above.

I made these bride and groom cookies for a fun shower.

This set of vintage Les Miserable cookies were made for the cast of a local theatre company.

These simple butterflies were made for a charity event.

This simple set is what I’ll be teaching in some upcoming cookie classes.

Thanks for looking!

Teddy Bear Cookie Tutorial

I was recently asked by a friend if I would make some cookies for an upcoming baby shower.  Of course I said yes.  I had free reign with colours and design, so I had a lot of fun.

I made your pretty standard onsies, rocking horses, rattles, carriages and teddy bears.  It was the teddy bear that I thought I’d give a try writing out a tutorial.  I hope it helps.

What you need:

• brown flood icing
• grey detail icing (just a bit thicker)
• PME Tip #2
• PME Tip #1.5
• Black edible ink marker (I used Rainbow dust)
• Brown edible ink marker

Step 1: Outline the bear head.

Step 2: Fill in head.

Step 3: Outline and flood paws.

Step 4: Flood body and ears.

Step 5: Add arms

Step 6: Add great ear and paw details.

Step 7: Add small circle on face for nose.

Step 8: Use black edible market to add eyes, nose, mouth and paw marks. Use brown edible market and draw a line down centre of bear.  I used a wet brush to smudge line to give a softer look.  Add a dap of white to the eyes. Finally add scarf. 

Super simple and super cute!  This little guy makes a great addition to any baby set.

I also added little bears to the onsies to bring the set all together :)

Thanks for looking!

Sugar Cookies I

And the cookies continue…

I made these for my father and father-in-law.  We took them to the US Open golf tournament since it was nearby this year.

I made these for my daughter’s swim team banquet.  The second set is what the coaches were given as a thank you.

We are trying to sell our house and I made these for the Agent’s open house.  Every little bit helps, sadly these weren’t enough. Anyone want to buy a house????

I made these for July 4th when I didn’t have time to fully decorate.

One of my hubby’s friends is getting married, so I made these for the boys golf weekend.

I made these Mehndi cookies I made for the Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge at Cookieconnection, and for my good friend Gitanjali who came to visit me for a few days.

Thanks for looking!

Recent Cookies!

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and even longer since I’ve posted my recent cookie creations.  I’m so sorry.  My goal now that school is back in session to be a little more consistent with my blog.  So to start things off this week, I’m going to post some of my recent cookies.  Information on how to order can be found in the tabs above.

First up are Rio 2 Cookies I made for a dear friend’s daughter.  I decided to paint/draw using edible markers.

Next up, I did a pay-it-forward set for someone who did something nice for me. A little brushed embroidery and simple piping.

These were for my nephew Eamonn’s birthday.  He’s a big gamer boy and loves Plants vs Zombies.

I made these for the opening of the local Ronald McDonald House ground breaking ceremony.

These I made for my kids teachers for Teacher Appreciation Day.

These were made for a graduate of NC State.

These were made for a lover of running for her birthday.

So those are just some of what I made, I’ll post some more later this week.

Thanks for looking!