From Miss to Mrs.

 My nephew is about to be married...in June.  And, I am about to have a new niece!  Actually, I already feel like she is my niece.  They have been dating for a long time, and she is already an important part of our family.  Yes, we all love her; she is sweet, creative, kind, intelligent, sooo pretty, very funny, and an amazing violinist!  Sarah, welcome, officially, to the family!
We  (the mothers, aunts, sisters-in-laws to be, sister-in-law, cousins, friends, etc.) hosted a wedding shower last week.  It was  a lot of fun; delicious food, beautiful decorations, fun games, amazing gifts, and a great chance to "catch up" with family and friends.

Sarah likes the colors pink and purple, and she also likes polka dots.  Hence, the theme of the shower.  I will show the decorations in a later post.   The buffet included Minestrone Soup, Baked Potato Soup, Pistachio Salad, Halle Berry Salad, Farfalle Chicken Pasta Salad, Caprese skewers, Fruit Ka-bobs, Vegetables and Dip, Rolls, and Cake Pops and Cookies for dessert.  (I may have forgotten a few things on the buffet, it was yummy!)  One of my jobs was to make the decorated cookies, and I had a ball!

 Sarah will be a beautiful June bride..only about 7 weeks to go...

 I made about 40 cookies for approximately 35 guests.  This is one of the platters, the polka dots and flowers were fun to make.  I tried to use some of the wording that was on the banners, made by my very creative daughter. 

 I never know how may cookies to show, but I try to get close enough so that others can see the details if they want to decorate cookies, too.

 Wedding cakes, and more wedding cakes!

 Bridal Gowns!

 Here is a second platter of cookies.  I was a little disappointed with the engagement ring decorations, but I have some new ideas for next time.  They need a little more filigree on the bands!

Sarah and Brad, we hope that your wedding day will be even better than your wedding day dreams! 

 And that you both have a life filled with love, happiness, success, excitement, new adventures, and peace!

 Sarah loves Brad, and Brad loves Sarah!

And I love Brad and Sarah!

Have a wonderful week!  Enjoy the sunshine and rain, we need both!

Sweet, Sweet Babies!

A good friend of mine is about to be a Grandma for the first time.  Recently, she was helping to host a baby shower for her daughter-in-law and asked me to make cookies for the occasion.  I was thrilled and had a "sweet time" making and decorating the baby cookies!  

Since the new Mom and Dad love to travel, the "theme" of the baby shower was based on the Dr. Seuss book, "The Places You Go".  I was tempted to make cookies with the characters from the book, but decided that I better stick with babies.  But, I thought that a set of baby foot prints depicted a baby on the go.  These are baby toes that you really can nibble!

 I made a few baby carriages, you know, "baby transportation!"  Of course, I had to make a few rattles, to keep those babies happy while they are on the road.

 Onesies are a necessity for all babies, and since we don't know the new baby's gender, I tried to cover all the bases.

 What's a baby shower without a few baby chicks? ( a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to make the chicks!)

 More Onesies...MTU- Michigan Technological University the baby's  father's Alma Mater, Higgins Lake- a location dear to the baby's mother, and Frick, the baby to be's last name!

 Onward HO!

 Never enough Onesies!

 And of course the babies.....

And more babies...(thanks to www.sweetsugarbelle.com)

 There he/she goes....

 I decorated a cookie shaped like the state of Michigan and put a heart where the baby will want to travel...Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunt Julie's, Camp Westminster.....

 Talented babies!

 The cookies disappeared quickly and were a fun addition to the delicious buffet!

There he/she goes again!!

Hope you are all have a nice week...it is a beautiful spring day here..brisk but sunny!  Looking for my first crocus sighting!  

Enjoy!

"V" Cookies

You're probably wondering why on earth I would make a couple of dozen "V" cookies.  Well, my "niece" was about to graduate from the University of Vermont (YEA!) and my "cousin", her mother, was planing a graduation/family reunion party in Vermont to celebrate this amazing accomplishment.  Since out last name begins with the letter "V", it seemed an obvious choice.  I'm glad she thought of it!!  I decided to used The University of Vermont's colors of "green and yellow" to decorate the cookies.  I really wanted to make each cookie different, which was fun, but took a bit longer to finish.  As you can see, I was really reaching for ideas near the end...

 

 From plaid, to polka dots, to lace, flowers, and grapes, I was having fun!

At about this time, I started adding butterflies, caterpillars, hearts, balloons , and more plaid and polka dots.  Yep, polka dots are always fun!

My cousin reported that the party was a lot of fun; it's always fun to gather our extended family together.  She said that everyone enjoyed the cookies and each person got to choose their "favorite!"

I'm so glad that I got to make cookies for the occasion.

And of course, Congratulations to the graduate. 

 Good Luck to you, Rachel, we wish you the very best.  Follow your dreams!

Letter cookies can be used for almost any occasion; you can make these cookies as complex or are as simple as you  like.  They are always a winner! 

Happy August...hope you have a great week!

Love is in the Air

It's June and love is in the air.  Time for weddings...brides and grooms, lace, champagne, wedding cakes, and of course, wedding cookies!  My cousin and her friends were planning a bridal shower for one of their daughter's upcoming weddings, and she asked me to make wedding  shower cookies for the event.  I was sooo excited!  The bride's colors are going to be multiple shades of red, a bit of pale yellow and green, and her wedding flowers are Calla Lilies.  She asked that the cookies have sticks so that they could be slipped in the napkins on the table settings.  So, I had fun trying to create a cookie with the elegance of a bridal cookie, still meeting the colors of the shower. 

While doing a little cookie research, I found this stacked cookie that looked a bit like a small wedding cake and I thought it was sooo cute. So I decided a make a couple of these for a shower surprise.  I made three cookies, and cut them with scalloped round cookie cutters.  These cookie cutters come in a set of differing sizes.  I flooded each cookie with Royal Icing and stacked them after they were dry with a little bit of Royal Icing to hold them together. I piped a red dot on each scallop and added a Calla Lily to the top with pale green leaves.

 

Next, it was on to the cookies.  The focus, of course, is the Calla Lily.  I played around with a few different techniques, and found the use of gum paste to be the best, for a more realistic Calla Lily.  However, gum paste dries pretty firm, so it may not be the best portion of the cookies to eat.  I used a Wilton Calla Lily form, but traded out the heart shaped form for a much smaller heart shape because I wanted a smaller Calla Lily.  I rolled out the gum paste, after kneading it, cut out the small heart, molded the edges, and wrapped the "petal" onto the Calla Lily cone form.  I placed each lily on a styrofoam board to dry...all 66 of them.  Next, I made the stamens by softening and rolling 1/4 of a yellow (lemon) Starburst candy  into a log shape.  I placed each stamen on on a tooth pick and painted them with edible yellow Luster Dust and placed them on the styrofoam to dry.  Once the lily was a firm, I painted it with edible opal Luster Dust so that the petal had a slight glitter.  After it was dry, I added the stamen to the center with a bit of Royal Icing.

Before adding the Calla Lilies to the cookies.  I flooded each cookie with white Royal Icing.  After the icing dried, I monogrammed the cookie with a red "S", the "bride-to-be's" new last name initial.  I piped small white flowers on each scallop and placed a white sugar pearl in the center of each flower.  After it dried, I flooded three green leaves on the face of  the white icing.  Finally, I added two Calla Lilies to each cookie and then added green stems and a top leaf.   

 

Finally, I placed each cookie in a cellophane bag and tied a pretty red bow at the bottom.  I was pleased with the way they turned out.

And yes, I just had to make another stacked cookie with a pretty red rose on the top; another little shower surprise.

I was happy to hear that every one at the shower enjoyed the cookies, because I sure enjoyed making them!

Cookie Cutters for the 4th of July

This past month has been a very family oriented month.  Also, a really wonderful month.  Number 1- My family and I drove to Minnesota to attend my niece's wedding on the shores of Lake Superior.  It was beautiful, the weather cooperated, and Duluth turned out to be a great place to visit.  There was so much to do and see!  Number 2- Then we headed to the "Thumb" for my nephew's (really cousin's) wedding.   Again, it was a beautiful wedding, the weather was perfect, and the reception in Bay City was great.  The best part was seeing so many members of the family.  My daughter, who lives in NYC, and my son who lives in Detroit, were able to come to both weddings.   In fact,  my daughter was able to visit Michigan for two weeks, actually 2 very fast weeks!  Number 3- We headed to the middle of the state for the 4th of July to celebrate my MIL's birthday.  Number 4- Then my daughter and I traveled back to another area of the thumb to re-connect with my aunt and cousin on my dad's side.  Number 5- Finally, we (my daughter and I) headed to Ohio for a few days to visit aunts and uncles and many cousins.  It was a lot of traveling in a month, but we had fun, and of course, we laughed and laughed!

Our 4th of July Party was a "potluck," and my  daughter and I decided to decorate some cookies for the occasion.  Now, that we're having so much fun with cookies, we are taking every opportunity to make cookies.  So, we pulled out the cookie cutter collection and decided on the following cookies:

My daughter designed a "pinwheel" cookie from the square cutter.  (She is very talented and creative!)  We had to make a hot dog for the 4th of July, because what is the 4th without a good old American hot dog?!?  Besides, my son loves hot dogs.  We decided on making ice cream cones, and sky rockets (using the birdhouse again and a small star that we bent a bit).  We used the small circle to make a few baseballs, mainly for my GREAT nephew who loves all kinds of balls, and the larger circle to make a flag symbol.   Oh, and last, but not least, a star.

We made the cookies and spent a couple of hours making the piping frosting and flooding frosting and ended up with a lot of different colors.  Next time, I think we will cut down on the amount of colors!  Then, it was time to decorate.  It took us quite awhile, but we really enjoyed ourselves, and we think that the cookies turned out pretty well...(yummy, too!).

Happy 4th of July!  As you can see, we tried to cover a real 4th of July celebration!

Ice cream cones!  Strawberry, orange sherbet, lemon, chocolate, raspberry, chocolate chunk, fudge ripple, and cherry swirl!  One of these days, I want to use different extracts so that the cookies taste like what they look like...if you know what I mean.  We found out that I really like to decorate the "food" cookies, and my daughter really likes to decorate the non-food cookies.  Can you tell which ice cream cone she decorated?  It's like those puzzles where you have to find and circle the object that is different.

A "close up,"  Can't you just imagine that it tastes like strawberry?

Hot Dogs!  Come and get your hot dogs!  I really had fun decorating these.   I tried to make a Coney Dog, but it looked as messy as a real Coney Dog...not so good for a cookie!

A "close-up" .... Mustard, ketchup, onions and relish..yum!

Here's my nephew ready to gobble up his "dog." 

Here are a few of our "sky rockets."  The "flares" were attached with Royal Icing and craft sticks.  The flag symbols were made from large circles,  and my daughter made the beautiful red, white, and blue exploding fireworks by "dragging" the flooding icing.

A "close up" of one of the rockets.  This one was made by me, the other two by my daughter.

As I said earlier, my daughter came up with the idea for "pinwheels" and made the pattern.  Then, we both had fun decorating.  She made five of them, I made one.  Can you tell which one?  (I made the one with the red dots and the the blue stripes).  This is her first time piping and flooding, pretty amazing, huh?

My GREAT nephew seemed to like his pinwheel cookie.  The stick definitely made eating it a bit easier!

More cookie "close-ups."

Yup, he definitely seems to be enjoying his cookie sitting with his "Noni."  He is soooooo cute! 

My daughter made the baseball... we actually had to look up the stitching design on the computer!

"My Pinwheel"

"Mmmm  Mmmm Good!"  (I had a hard time limiting my pictures of this little guy, to three!)

Here is a platter of the "Red, White, and Blue" cookies.

Finally, a mixture of cookies that shouts, "Happy 4th of July!!!"

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and were able to spend it with close family and friends!  Summer is here...time to swim, cook out, read books, go to the beach, and enjoy every minute!  Oh yes, and time to eat hot dogs, ice cream cones, and cookies!