A million more minions. OK. Not a million. But many. Party apparel and blue-green dresses were requested for this young lady’s birthday party. Packaged as favors (see previous Minion posts for bag and tag look), these girls held their thanks close to their hearts.
Funny. All of my Walking Dead cookie orders have been for KID‘s birthdays. Like under 14. I am always SUPER appreciative of anyone who likes my cookie designs enough to request some but I figured The Walking Dead fans would be older???! The reason I mention this particular sidebar is the dilemma of coming up with ideas that are appropriate. That was particularly important for this order- the favors were being given out in school. Luckily, challenges that stretch the imagination are never a bad thing. Here are the resulting Carl-, Daryl-, prison-, zombie-fied cookies, “splattered” with a touch of humor, “not dripping” with gore. 
Hope this day is all that you would hope it to be- whether you are in it for love, hate, or simply the massive quantities of candy. Sorry for the late posting. I realize that it is almost
ValenTIME… This is FOURm me TWO you.
Our daughters are amazing young ladies; they are the BALM diggity! Here’s how I let them know.
Okay, I am not KITTEN around anymore. These were for my cat loving friend. My take on the retro ‘smitten kitten.’
If you haven’t ever visited Buffalo New York, you really should. Not this week as it is bitter cold but go most any other (Chicago is colder and you’d go there…). No really, I mean it! The park system was designed by Olmstead (same guy that sculpted and landscaped Central Park, NYC). He also designed the grounds around the old mental asylum made from Medina red sandstone built by architect HH Richardson; it will knock your socks off. Explore the Albright Knox/Burchfield Penney ART Museum area or try ice bicycling on the Erie Canal in downtown (or kayak in the summer). Study Tiffany stain glass windows in our churches, learn the history of making Carrousel horses at the Herschell Museum, or tour one of several Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in the area. Niagara Falls is a quick 30 minutes north; try the jet boat ride up the lower rapids in the summer. Feast at any of the many places Diners, Drive Ins and Dives has visited, eat Lake Effect ice cream, or go to the home of the original chicken wing, the Anchor Bar (some natives like Duff’s better– let me know which you think is best). Come celebrate Dyngus Day, tour Millionaire Mansion row decked out for the holidays, or sip your way through one of the many pub crawls.
To all of this, our family says a fond farewell. Our friends here are exceptional. We will miss you so very much. The moving van is loading, blowing snow and frigid cold and all.
Our next adventure begins in the new state of …. well, that’s a post yet to come.
So I have this wonderful card group that gets together for a rambunctious game of 500 every month. We have gone away on weekend trips together, shared our childrens’ ups and downs, and laughed loudly and gleefully while supporting one another. This was my last time to host/play (did I tell you that we are moving to Denver?) so I wanted to do something special for these lovely ladies. The cookie was a double play on words, as it was holiday gift giving season (Hanukkah and Christmas for our card clan) and I wanted it to be a gift from my heart.
They were made by allowing a base coat of white RI to dry overnight and then hand painting the packages with thinned gel (clear vanilla or vodka to thin). When that was dry, I used an edible ink black pen to outline. Took a bit of time but these friends are so worth the effort. Forgot to take a picture of the final presentation but you can see the tag that was attached.
Inspiration came from a picture I saw when ordering from Fashion and Compassion (helps women overcoming poverty & injustice in the US, South America & Africa). Hope your holiday season is filled with surprisingly pleasant gifts!
The City of Brotherly Love’s (Philadelphia’s) perhaps best-known landmark is LOVE itself — the Robert Indiana sculpture is in John F. Kennedy Plaza, not far from City Hall. As an odd side bar, LOVE was installed in 1976 but briefly snatched away in 1978; popular demand brought it back to where it stands today.
Since the wedding was in Philly (even though ordered and picked up in Buffalo), all was right in the karma world.
Boy, oh boy, more beautiful baby boys!
Baby Lambros’s September 10th arrival left us starry eyed! His room is neutral with teal accents so that was the color inspiration for this cookie platter.
Here they are in process with the stork delivery not quite ready…
Boy oh boy, he’s here!!
Details of the bib and the bottle. Thank you Hillary (aka the Cookie Countess) for the stencil! Some day I will own an airbrush machine. Until then, it’s a fairly.dry.paint.brush for me!
Final presentation…
Wanted these cookies to be a “smashing’ success. Hoped they would “net” an appreciative thank you. Realized I had met my “match” when the cookies got “served.” No, I don’t think these puns are “out of bounds”, they are definitely “in!”
The larger cookies were a simple design of thinned food color gel and (when dried) ink (black edible ink pen by Rainbow Dust).
Racket strings were made using PME 0 tip. Tennis ball color came from a mix of electric green, leaf green and a bit of lemon yellow. I let the royal icing just start to crust over and then poked them with open safety pin to create texture/fuzz.
Every once and a while, cookies turn out EXACTLY like I imagined. That is the case for the cookies in this first picture. I wanted just the right amount of detail and aging to go along with the magic, mystery, and mischief that is Harry Potter.
A little bit of Ivory Americolor, my trusty Rainbow Dust edible ink black pen, a couple of good artist brushes and I was off to the races (or Quidditch?). Loved that I could find the recipe for Polyjuice potion! Is there nothing not to be found with a good Google inquiry?
The birthday girl’s only request for her Harry Potter themed party was to include all the house and Hogwarts crests. Oh and a snitch or Deathly Hallow sign too.
Platter ready for delivery! Mischief managed.
I have been on a bit of a watercolor.and.ink binge lately. The cookie version of this involves thinned gel and edible ink pens. This was the method used when asked to do a couple of as-you-go-back-to-university sets. It is a nice option for making a logo when you don’t want too much royal icing on top of the cookie.
The RIT platter:
Return to sender Michigan:
Mama Mayer Bakery 