This box of cookies was taken to a Croquet and Rose’ themed birthday by a party guest. Got to love a cute theme that rhymes! And what could go wrong at a party that mixes excessive amounts of wine with a large mallet and heavy, hard ball?
I may or may not have had to do some “research” about rose’ wine???????
I am so happy for Katherine- that she is graduating from high school and heading to Pitt to study neuroscience. But, dang, she is the youngest of the swim kids with whom our children hung out! All this growing up is happening! An era of chlorine is over (I mean, even Michael Phelps is retired now). Yikes!
In any case, it was one last graduation set to make. I made two platters: one focused on the nerdy inclinations and the other on her future university, Pitt.
For the Geek inside us all (okay, maybe not ALL of us), I focused on some biological responses. #nerdsrule #chemistryiseverywhere Those stamped clever/nerdy sayings came from pencils I bought from Newton and the Apple.
But my favorite was the Myelin sheath dress. (I try to come up with my own clever creations whenever possible. I think this is another Mama Mayer original.)
Lastly, here are a couple of close ups for the Pitt cookies. I have a thing for puffy cookies….
Um. Oil rigged, I mean. As in derrick oil rig. Old fashioned to remind this 80 year old birthday boy of his younger days, running his oil business.
The event planner’s instructions were specific: a large cookie (yep, that’s a 6″ long cookie) with the rig exactly as he had drawn (the planner is quite the artist himself) on a light blue background. Oh yes, and Mr. Johnson (the birthday boy) wanted green oil. (Not that I doubted him but I had to look that one up; it is true that in some places the crude comes out green!) The 6″ cookie cutter came from the ever.so.helpful Bobbi at Bobbi’s Cookie Cutters.
Step 1: Bake 150 of these HUGE cookies. Step 2: Flood and let dry over night. Step 3: Paint the background. Step 4: Hand draw (with Rainbow Dust double sided edible markers) the oil rigs. Step 5: Add green oil with second layer of icing. Did I mention they wanted 150 of them? (The photos only show 100 of them. The other 50 are on another table…)
Here is my friend, Judy and Ray, the event planner! Thanks for having confidence that I could bring your vision to cookie life!
The occasion was a jazz brunch for the ladies. A New Orleans vibe with all the ‘instrumentation’ of their music was requested. With a nod to the piano and the color theme of white, black, and mint, I stamped, stenciled and gold highlighted my way to these cookies.
2016 Fathers Day set #2. Although this set could be for anyone who has been supportive! These particular cookies were for a guy that LOVES his breakfasts. Has been known to have breakfast for dinner or snacks some days. And, perhaps more notably, he is the MOST wonderful dad (okay, truth in lending, my hubby is the inspiration for these). He has been so supportive of our two girls and has doled out some hysterical and on point advice…unlike their mother, he gives it only when asked!). We are incredibly fortunate!
To make the waffle, I started with a square cookie and iced a square grid as shown below. While I let the grid dry, I made the egg, butter pat, and bacon on a separate piece of acetate (or use parchment paper) and let that sit overnight. Next, I thinned down a small batch of ivory tinted royal icing to a very runny consistency and poured that over the square cookie, letting excess run off. As that set up, I made the ‘syrup’ icing and peeled off the egg, etc transfers. I painted on some dimension to the small squares within the waffle and let that dry. Then I semi-poured, semi-helped (with a paint brush) the syrup icing to flow where i wanted it. Added the transfers and stamped the words. Quite happy with how the waffle turned out. The bacon needs work.
Lots of catching up to do on this blog… going back to Father’s Day in June!!! For greeting cards and cookiers alike, ‘power’ tools are a big point of conversation during this yearly celebration. Of course, I had to create a “word play” take on that theme:
For the last 3 years I have made garden themed cookies for my green thumbed friend (best gardener ever) Kathy’s birthday. Here is the 2016 version. Hope she found them to be ‘cool as a cucumber!’
So here is a secret that is not such a secret: I love hosting parties! Love, love, love having kids/folks to the house and all the ruckus and preparation that comes with it. So when Tori (our eldest) picked a date for her bridal shower, I was jumping for planning joy. Unfortunately, Denver is a bit too far of a commute from Philly so I flew in for an awesome weekend of food tasting, er, I mean, checking out venues for her bridal shower. Kensington Quarters totally had that rustic industrial feel she was looking for and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the upstairs room, their service, the food, and great atmosphere!
It was a definite given that the favors would be cookies. Thought Tori would like a little bling like the ring…
Since I had to ship things across the country, the prep for the shower could not be too complicated. Tori’s colors are blush, gold and white so I made a bunch of full sized tassels using instructions through Oh Happy Day! (The tissue paper pack was a set found at Target). I spaced the tassels on simple twine and ran them along the stair railings and the gift table. Thanks Kendra for getting all this set up!
I dipped various sizes of mason jars in gold paint (jars and paint from Target) and sent them to Pure Design Florist (Pure Design saved my backside because I had quite the time finding a Philly florist that was close enough to the venue to deliver and also open on Memorial day weekend!).
One of the bridesmaids, Jill, is a graphic designer. She worked her magic to create the templates for the games we played. I asked her to 1) use the rustic look of wood and lights at Kensington and 2) put a &%$)! load of information on small sheets! The cards were absolutely perfect! Game playing was apparently informative, seasoned with splash of competitiveness; thanks to future Mom-in-law, Johanna, and sister-in-law, Melina, for providing the gift baskets for the lucky winners!
Another bridesmaid, Joan, brought bunches of balloons, decorated with witty words. I’m a sucker for clever words appropriately placed.
We brought Byron upstairs for the latter part of the shower. The almost.bride.and.groom got mini white boards (thank you once again Target) to play our version of “the newlywed game”! POSITIVELY HYSTERICAL! SO MUCH FUN! (Google ‘newlywed game questions’ or ‘newlywed game questions bridal shower’ and you will get more ideas than you would ever need). I typed out many questions and the bridesmaids took turns picking a question to ask.
Tori likes clean lined, structured designs with just a kiss of bling. So we got this cake from the wonderful Whipped Bakeshop in Fishtown. Not only was the cake delicious and beautiful, Whipped Bakeshop was super wonderful to work with. The topper came from Communicakeit. I fell in love with it as soon I saw it on Instagram; it had just the right words and shine for the occasion!
Our (not such a) baby girl!
Tori and her sister/maid of honor (so lucky to have these two daughters)!
Thank you to all of the bridemaids and Johanna for such a successful bridal shower! Your help and collaboration made things run smooth as silk! …. sorry Melina isn’t in this picture 😦
Cookies occupy a lot of my time. True, I do put a lot of effort and attention to detail into crafting these creations- but I do understand that they are, after all, just cookies. This is why, when I get a chance to (perhaps) help others with my quirky abilities, I contribute. Our local chapter of Project Healing Waters was having a auction fund raiser to which I donated a basket. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.™ is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and associated activities including education and outings. Those lovely Rocky Mountains fit this purpose beautifully. Tried my best to make this basket so fly (fishing).
My friend and neighbor, Judy, who is on the Denver chapter board.
I may or may not be a bit obsessive about hummus. I mean, the chick pea IS quite delicious when reinvented in all those hummus forms and flavors. And so I give you my cookie homage to crudite and dip. Hummus is where the heart is, or stomach…
Mama Mayer Bakery 