Baby Girl Shower

This batch of cookies was for a baby girl shower. I was told the mom-to-be likes daisies and the baby's name begins with a 'C.'

Flooding

Added a little brush embroidery to the edges of the bibs and socks--feminine touch

"Artsy" Birthday Cookies

"Artsy" Birthday Cookies & Cake

A dear friend of mine was having a special birthday and a mutual friend decided to throw her a party. I was thrilled to be able to volunteer my services and create some fun cookies and a cake.
The birthday girl has a beautiful soul: she is a tender friend, caring and compassionate. She is also very artsy and creative so I was feeling a  lot of pressure to create something gorgeous for her! My salvation came in the form of the Evite that was chosen for the party. When I saw this baby I knew exactly what her cookies would look like. The design fit my friend to a 'T'.

Evite for the party ~ Inspiration

I sketched a sample and got started!

I love how this batch turned out. I feel like they fit Denise perfectly: classy, pretty, artsy, fun. The cookie design turned out very busy so I wanted to keep the cake simple. I made a three layer Devil's Food cake with almond meringue buttercream. I added a gum paste fantasy flower to the top and a shimmery bead border to the bottom.

Happy Birthday, Denise and thanks for being such a great friend. You inspire me in so many ways! xo
~S

Shabby Chic

February 2013
Birthday Cookies

A friend of a friend recently contacted me to create some special cookies for her sister's birthday. She had previously seen this design on the website and wanted the same ones. It is rare that I get to recreate designs, not to mention one that is completely my own so I was thrilled to get to make these again. I think they turned out beautifully. I hope I get to make them again.

Chevron Cake

October 2012

I had to make a final cake for my fondant/gumpaste class. The only requirement was that it had to be covered in fondant and have some sort of gumpaste or fondant decoration. I decided I wanted to use the colors red and turquoise because I just got a new bottle of Americolor turquoise and I am in love with it. I also wanted to use some gumpaste carnations on top because I like how they are so puffy like little pom poms. I wanted to do something a little challenging because this cake was just for me, not a customer, so there was no pressure. I settled on a zig-zag pattern that I have never tried before. I have been wanting to make some chevron cookies for a little while now, so this was the perfect opportunity to try something new.
There are two ways (that I know of) to apply the pattern to the cake. First is to cut the zig-zag pattern in one, long continuous pattern and apply all the way around. The second is to cut it into sections and apply to the sides. I opted for the second because it seemed more challenging to me. And I was right. It was challenging. It involved a little more math than I originally anticipated. However, once all the measuring and figuring was finished, and the cutting complete, I had these nice, satisfying, colorful  little fondant squares all ready to accompany me to class and jump onto my cake!

 It turns out it was a little more time consuming than I anticipated as well so I ran an HOUR late applying these to the sides and ended up taking my cake home with no border! Not to worry though, I completed the project at home and had a beautiful cake to show for my hard work.

Close up of the gumpaste carnations. They have such delicate ruffles. I hope I get to make these again soon.

The finished cake. Yuck, look at that awful cake board! No, don't look at it, look at those beautiful colors! ;)

Close up of the pieced design. Even after all of my math, the ends did not match up perfectly so this cake had a definite "back." Of course, there is no picture of THAT! ;)

My robotics students LOVE meeting up the day after my cake classes. They devoured this cake in minutes! 

I had so much fun making this cake and learned a lot from the experience. I hope I can use this design again soon!

Pink Brush Embroidery

September 2012
I whipped up these pinkies for my MIL's kickoff Bible Study. I hope her ladies felt welcomed and loved. I love how the pink and white contrast.

Cake #3! Happy Birthday FIL

September 2012
It was my FIL's birthday and he wasn't really interested in acknowledging it, but the women in his life wouldn't allow that! So my MIL gave him a little family soiree and I got to bake the cake! I made a few cupcakes to go along with for those non-cake eaters. (Poor souls) It was a Hawaiian theme which gave me a chance to try out some gumpaste. I made some hibiscus and plumeria but finally decided on the lacy petals of the hibiscus in the end. Be kind, it was my first attempt. ;) The inside was a vanilla cake with lemon cream filling which was perfect and refreshing for the hot weather we were experiencing that week here in SoCal.

Painting my hibiscus

Hibiscus flower drying

Decisions, decisions. Hibiscus or plumeria?

Matching cupcakes with fondant toppers. These are vanilla cake with lemon cream filling as well.

Top view: two large flowers and one small

The final product

 Here's to another year on the third rock from the sun, Dad! I hope you had a fun night.

Cake #2!...Chocolate Peanut Butter

October 2012
Well, here is cake #2. I told you I was hooked! This was my final cake for my RI flowers class. It looks pretty bridal but I really love white on white. The best part was the chocolate cake and peanut butter buttercream filling inside. On the way home from class I stopped at my friend's house (10PM...her husband wasn't thrilled) and we cut this bad boy up! YUMMO!

RI flowers pre-dragee

Looking back, I guess it could have used some leaves or filler, but I like how simple it is too.

Shabby Chic

October 2012
A friend was giving her mom a birthday luncheon and wanted some feminine cookies to serve. She wanted pink, lavender, and cream. She always gives a lot of leeway when she orders so my creative juices were already flowing. Fresh out of a RI flowers class, I knew I wanted to pipe some stuff on these babies! Here are the results:

Iphone doesn't like purple; it always turns this Wilton delphinium blue!

A look at the platter

This Americolor "Ivory" is my new favorite color. Last time I mixed a cream color and it was very "Easter." This color is the perfect compliment.

Oh my gosh how I LOVE to make flowers.

I hope the party was a success! I saw the craft project they are going to make and I can't wait to see the results!

Girly Cookies

Last week I had a request for a dozen cookies for a friend of mine. There were only two stipulations: they had to be "girly" and they should be pink, lavender, and cream. Well of course I immediately started thinking about all kinds of "girly" designs that I love or wanted to try. I was really wanting to try out some zebra print or maybe take my new makeup cutters for a spin. In the end, I considered the woman for whom I would be making the cookies. She is a classy chick. She has six boys. No, that is not a typo. She is really, really smart. And she is beautiful....in an elegant and thoughtful way. So...I wanted something elegant and thoughtful and who came to my mind? SweetAmbs. I love to copy her work! I had a moment of panic when my cream turned to yellow and the batch started to take on an Easter like feel, but it passed as I added more details. I think these turned out beautifully and I hope they blessed my dear friend!

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Tropical Cookies

August 2012
Farewell Cookies

Recently I had a request for cookies for a farewell party. The guest of honor was going to be moving to Hawaii. When I heard this, I knew exactly what to make! Recently my mom had sent me these hibiscus flower cookies that she found on Pinterest. I used the same colors, but did a few things differently. First of all, I did not have a flower cutter, nor the four leaf clover cutter the tutorial calls for. I knew I would need to cut lots of cookies and I did not want to hand cut them all so I tweaked an extra gingerbread man cutter that I had laying around to get the shape I wanted for the flowers.

For the pineapples I used an engagement ring cutter that my friend had bought for me the day before!

As you can see, I put my own spin on them, but I am really happy with the result. You can't see it in the pictures, but the pineapples have yellow sanding sugar on the fronts so they had a little bit of sparkle. Aloha!

Packaged and ready to go!

Marigold Cookies

June 2012

When I saw these beauties on Toute Sweet's facebook page, I desperately wanted to make some of my own! I wanted to change it up a bit and put my own spin on them though by adding in orange with the yellow.However, when I did so, I ended up with a giant mess and very stange looking orange cookies.
What to do? Well, after trolling 'The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle' I noticed her stunning marigold cookies. So quickly, I turned my little suns into flowers! Mine are not exact copies, but I think they still turned out beautiful. They made their appearance at my girls end of the school year pool party.
These would be great for a bridal shower or spring/summer BBQ.  :)