Happy Anniversary times 61!

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Can you imagine being married 61 years?  Quite the accomplishment so I wanted the cookies at their party to be sweet and elegant yet celebratory!  I used ivory and a dusty rose (dark pink with a splash of ivory) and some gold highlights to that end.

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The customer gave me this photo of Nonna and Grandpa.  I wanted a lace like frame so I pulled out a sugar sheet and a trusty Martha Stewart edge punch and voila!

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Nonna is said to make the best meatballs in town and Grandpa the same in wine.

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Here’s a toast to many more years!

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Love All

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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!”

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The larger cookies were a simple design of thinned food color gel and (when dried) ink (black edible ink pen by Rainbow Dust).

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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.

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Harry Potter

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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.

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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?

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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.

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Platter ready for delivery!  Mischief managed.

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Higher Education

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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:

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Return to sender Michigan:

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Welcome Home

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Away from home for a month, Alex was hoping for a celebratory welcome back to Buffalo.  She was thinking about a poster/sign at the airport but her mom did her that and one better. These are the cookies she was given upon her return from the Dominican Republic.  No telling if she shared any…

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Walking Dead

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I had never seen the show when I got this birthday party platter order.  Several episodes and some research later, I did my best not to be too gore.and.gross without losing the excitement and anticipation of the apocalyptic zombie world (really unbelievable makeup artists and effects).

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So my favorite crazy thing on the shows I watched (amongst a LOT of crazy things) was that the mother never knew where her kid was with zombie death lying around every corner.  This resulted in my ‘missing poster’ child friendly milk carton.  For personalization, I added the birthday boy’s name and his birth date in the UPC symbol.  It’s all about the details, baby.

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Zombie road sign.

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Some clever person thought of this wordplay on the Subway motto.  Not me though I wish it was.  Perfect in any case.

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Michonne was Sean’s favorite character so I had to paint her in warrior stance.  This and the barbed wire are examples of ‘watercolor and ink’- my favorite medium only using thinned down food gel and edible ink pens!

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Just remember…DON’T GIT BIT!

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Brew.ha.ha

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Can you tell me a little about the birthday boy, I say?  Well…he likes beer, she says.  Interesting thing to say off the bat- anything more, I ask?  He likes Michelob, regular.  And he has a pontoon boat and likes Dale Jr.  And it’s a ‘turning 50’ party blow out, she adds.  Is it okay to tease him about his milestone age?  Please do.  And away I go…

It’s his 50th birthday:

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In his NASCAR dreams:

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Been wanting to use another of John Atkinson original designs (Wrong Hands blog site– such funny comics with wit and grit)!  Thanks again to John for allowing me permission to put it on a cookie!

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Brew.ha.ha:

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The two platters for the party.  The funniest part of this whole order was the set of pictures sent by the party host.  2 were from when Tony was young; then several were from a party in Canada where some over-imbibement happened.  I was specifically instructed to include the on.all.fours.and.hurling photo.  That was a first for this cookier!

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Come He** or High Water

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Let me first say that Sydney is a fabulous swimmer (she’d have to be to make the Northwestern D-1 team). Hearty congratulations and good luck to Miss S as she heads off to Chicago this fall. All that hard work paid off! Go rule the pool!

That being said, I have to admit to a dislike.affair with purple cookies. There. I’ve said it. The darnedest color ever to match and impossible to get colleges, companies, logo masters, etc to commit to one shade. Really, really. Go google, say, ‘Northwestern University logo.’  50 different shades pop up.  And that’s the way it is with almost everything purple.  ARGH.  I decided to choose two shades & go with that.  At least I know they all had the same level of deliciousness!

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Family Reunion (also known as Frew Fest…)

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The Frew crew all went to Frewsburg for the Frew Fest.  Phew, that’s a lot of Frew(s).  But how about that?  This Frew clan- of Scottish ancestry- settled long ago in the southwestern corner of New York.  The town grew and prospered and became known as Frewsburg, New York.  Still standing today.  So the descendants of Hugh and Mary Frew appropriately gathered there for their family reunion.  And what delights the young and old at any large gathering (and ages in between)?  Why fun and fancy cookies, of course!  With a theme…

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There were a lot of cookies and a lot of Frew attendees!

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Minis are such fun: a simple plaid and “F” for (what else) Frew!

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Some closer pics… the Lion rampant on the Royal Standard of Scotland!

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Scottish thistle.

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Nessie.  ‘nuf said.

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The cookie designs with Frew in mind.

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Scotland supreme on this part of the set.

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Media Production and Lavender

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I may have said this before but it bears repeating… it’s all about what the customer wants.  As always, I asked for the back story for the order.  I found out that these cookies would be made for a graduate that was quite the active, busy girl! High on her interest hit list were singing in a choir, participating in human rights activities for the Summer Institute, and writing for the NeXt section of the Buffalo News.  Also, in a short week or two,  she would be heading to Buffalo State to study Media Production. But first we had graduation cookies to personalize just for her!!!  The theme was Provence, which made me think of lavender fields.  “Kismet” says her mom as she sent me screen shots of the lavender invitation and centerpieces! So one platter was dedicated to Eliza’s interests and one to LAVENDER!DSC_0046

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The Buffalo State logo was a combination of pen, paint, and layering of royal icing (RI).

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These NeXt newspapers were made with a base coat of RI and a quick session with an edible ink pen!

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To represent media design, I chose a sound board, old school radio broadcast microphone, video camera, and (maybe soon.to.be old school?) traditional newsprint.

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The two designs for centerpieces mimicked the centerpieces that mom had made for the tables: 1) tall lavender in a terra cotta pot and 2) sprigs of purple and thistle in a mason jar.  These also combined royal icing and hand painting.

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