Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Baby Shower Cookies: Gold Nest and Herringbone Cookies

If I told you to guess who ordered the following cookies, who would you say?  If you guessed my wonderful friend Kim, you're right!  If you're new to the blog, this is Kim's third time to order.  You can see the previous cookies she ordered here and here.

She hosted a baby shower this past weekend and wanted me to make cookies to coordinate with the shower invitations.  I decided to use this opportunity to try out a new technique: rubber stamping.  It definitely took some trial and error, but I finally perfected it and love the chic, vintage feel of the nest cookies.  

To coordinate, Kim asked for a herringbone pattern.  I scoured the internet and the only herringbone cookies I found were these pretty ones by Haniela's.  While I loved the cookies she did, I wanted to create something that looked more like a true herringbone textile.  I decided to go with a wet-on-wet technique to get the feel I wanted.


Also, lucky for me, Lila Loa is hosting another one of her monthly challenges and this month is "Add Something Extra."  I used luster dust to create the gold color for the nest and border.



Thank you again, Kim, for being not only one of my most loyal and supportive customers, but also friend!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Happy Birthday, Krista - Part Two: Brush Embroidery & Chevron

I know you must have been so anxious to see part two of Krista's birthday cookies!  Well, have no fear, you can see them below.  (Intended to be read with sarcasm for those of you who don't know me too well, and if you thought that was sincere because it applied to you, then ignore the part about sarcasm and hooray!)

As I already told you in Part One of this cookie set, Krista gave me complete artistic freedom to do absolutely whatever I wanted.  When I was thinking about what to do, I knew I wanted something elegant and classy, because I wanted the cookies to give off the same sophisticated vibe that Krista has.  Don't get me wrong, Krista isn't a stiff and no fun, she just is always so put together and lovely.  I decided to go with a trendy, yet classic print, chevron, and then push myself to try a new technique, brush embroidery.




I'm pretty in love with the brush embroidery and am thrilled with how it turned out.  I cannot wait to use this technique again soon.




Again, the beautiful, artistic shots below are by the birthday girl herself.  If you haven't already, you should go like her Facebook page for her event planning business, Event Identity!

 


She also did these gorgeous shots of the whole set.




Krista, you are such a beautiful person, inside and out.  It was such a pleasure and honor to make cookies for your special day.  I LOVE you!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Happy Birthday, Krista- Part One: Birthday Cakes and Name Plaques

 
We love our new life here in San Antonio, but there are still some things back in Houston that made moving here hard.  Our dear friends, Henry and Krista (and Ember), are at the very top of that list.
 
It was Krista's birthday back in June and she asked if I would do some cookies for the celebration.  She let me have complete artistic freedom in creating the cookies.  I was both excited and challenged by this opportunity.  I knew immediately I wanted to do a "summery" color pallete and went with coral, turquoise and white.  I did a twist of the birthday cookies I made for my sister Katie to make them a little more elegant, and then I thought a birthday just isn't a birthday without cake!
 
 
 
 


 
 
The beautiful shots below are by the birthday girl herself.  She is extremely talented and you should check out her event planning business, Event Identity.
 



 

 
I hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration, Krista!  Thank you for being such an amazing, loving, and loyal friend.  Make sure and come back for part two of her birthday cookies!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Bachelorette Cookies: Krystal's Last Rodeo - Part Two

 
As promised, here is part two of Krystal's Last Rodeo.  Jessica and I went with lingerie and corset cookies here, because what is a bachelorette party without the lingerie shower?

You may recognize the corset design from the cookies I made for Mandy's bachelorette party.  To that, we added on the bras with matching underwear.  I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, to use hearts for bras and underwear.  I decided that our ladies would be classy and stick with boy-shorts as opposed to other "smaller" options.  Really I just did this so there would be enough icing on the cookie, but the other explanation sounded more interesting. 



 
 


Thank you again, Jessica, with entrusting me to make the cookies for the special event.  I know you made Krystal's last rodeo a memorable one!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Bachelorette Cookies: Krystal's Last Rodeo - Part One

I am so happy to announce that I have another returning customer!  You may remember Jessica from the Winnie the Pooh cookies she ordered for her niece's birthday.  Jessica's best friend Krystal is getting married and Jessica wanted to throw her the best bachelorette weekend ever!  I was excited that she wanted to use my cookies in the celebration!
 
Krystal is a Texas girl through-and-through and Jessica wanted to highlight that in the cookies.  The theme for the weekend was "Krystal's Last Rodeo," so she send me some ideas for inspiration and then trusted me to run with it. We went with three different patterns and used them on Texas shaped cookies and squares.
 
 



Congratulations, Krystal, and thank you so much, Jessica, for being such a loyal customer and friend!  Stayed tuned for Part Two of the cookies!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Baby Shower Cookies: Farm Theme Cookies

Before this new adventure into cookiedom (yes, I just made up a word), I was a high school teacher at a private school down in Houston.  I had wonderful colleagues, and one of those was Rachel.  She recently received the wonderful blessing of being an aunt and wanted to get cookies for her family to celebrate the special occasion. 
 
Her nephew's nursery is a farm theme, so she originally sent me an idea of farm animals with a farmer and barn.  The cookies were adorable, but for some reason the idea of doing traditional baby cookies but with a farm theme twist hit me.  I immediately sketched out the onesies with overalls since I just had practice making overalls with my If You Give a Mouse a Cookie mouse cookies, and I thought it looked pretty darn cute.  Then, the cow print on rattles and bibs just came naturally.
 
 
 

Congratulations on your new nephew, Rachel!  Being an aunt is the best!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Patriotic Wedding Shower Cookies

Since it's still Fourth of July weekend, it's still acceptable to do a patriotic themed post, right?!  Well, either way, it is happening.

A very special bride-to-be had her wedding shower yesterday and since it was happening on the Fourth of July weekend, we did her wedding shower cookies with the holiday in mind.  On the cookies, we included the monogram "EIE" for the bride and the groom's initials.  




I basically added a sanding sugar wherever I could to give the cookies some extra sparkle for such a special occasion.  The stars have a sanding sugar border, the monogram is covered in it and the stripes of the flag are as well.  If ever there was a cookie I made that I wanted to eat, this was the one! 







A big congratulations to the happy couple!  I hope everyone had a safe, fun, and festive Fourth of July weekend!


Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Patriotic Cookies: Home is Where the Heart is

I talked about my amazing English teacher Mrs. Smith in my blog post for Williams Syndrome Awareness cookies, but she isn't the only incredible English teacher I was blessed to have in my life!  Mrs. Johnston taught me British Literature my senior year of high school.  I enjoyed her class so much, not just because we were able to talk her into getting donuts on a few occasions, but also because she was one of those teachers you could tell genuinely loved and cared about you.  Because of wonderful Facebook, I was recently able to reconnect with Mrs. Johnston!

Mrs. Johnston has family visiting all the way from Maine and Florida.  Because they don't get to make it home to Texas very often, she wanted to make them a Texas goodie bag to take back home with them.  I thought that was such a sweet idea and I was honored that she wanted my cookies to be a part of it!  Since they will be here over the 4th, a patriotic spin on the cookies was only natural.  Mrs. Johnston had seen my Going Away cookies for my friend Jenny and together we came up with the concept.


 

The stars have sanding sugar on the white border.  This not only made them pop and tie them in with the USA cookies, but it adds a nice crunch to the cookie as well.

 
 
 
 
 
Enjoy this time with your family, Mrs. Johnston, and thank you so much for letting me be a part of giving your family a little piece of Texas to bring home with them!