Elephants on Parade!

have you been to Erin Cooks' website yet? you should totally go there. she's like the mac-daddy momma of food love. recipes, pictures... and she's just the sweetest thing, too!

At any rate--- I couldn't have been more thrilled when Erin emailed me asking if I could come up with a cookie to send her to use for a baby shower she was hosting. She talks about it in her post on her blog, as well as shows links to the original invitation which was the root of the party theme. I fell in love instantly, and came up with a fun little cookie to send her way.


I just loved the blue, brown and green together! and that elephant! so adorable, right??? Each favor bag contained an elephant cookie and a thank you message, as well as a custom tag.


I love when I can create something that is the perfect little touch, be it in theme, color, design, or whatever. It's just a completely satisfying element to know I'm adding something special to someone's celebration. When I can do it for a friend, however? well.... that's pretty much why I do what I do.

Here's to Erin! thanks for letting me help create a cookie for your friend's special day!

Dr. Seuss Week

In order to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, my daughter's school hosted "Dr. Seuss Week", in which they had a chance to partake in something Seuss-related each day.

Wednesday seemed like a great day to bring in a Stepford-version tribute to the famous author, so after some arranging with her teacher, I created a platter of Green Eggs and Ham. The ham is, of course, not really ham. I molded some rice crispies treats and covered with a fantastic shade of green, then used my edible black marker to cartoonize it even more. Fondant must have been created with Seuss in mind.... looks like it came right out of the book.. including the fancy fork! The Ham was flanked by some basic butter cookies, including a handful of gluten free cookies for a child who had allergy concerns.




of course I couldn't stop there, and had to add another thing or two. Or, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, to be more precise. Behold some chocolate cupcakes, topped with a very blue buttercream, garnished with blue cotton candy "hair".



together they made for a fun presentation, and the kids (all kindergartners, by the way) truly enjoyed celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a little party.



Once at the school and all set up, I also added 2 more final gluten-free cookies to my cupcake towers. While I did not make gluten free cupcakes for Thing 1 and Thing 2, I did create two decorated cookies in their names.


So here's to Dr. Seuss, and all of the wonderful ways he's sparked our imaginations over the years! Happy birthday!

Building a Cake

As a kid, I grew up with Star Wars. I also grew up with Legos. The fact that kids today have Star Wars LEGOS is just awesome times two.

I was tasked to create a Star Wars Lego cake for a boy turning six. this boy is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and I'm not ashamed to say was instantly smitten with my daughter, who could retell every movie and Clone Wars episode as if she really lived through it all. I figured this would be a huge asset in about 20 years if she chooses to try to land herself a tech nerd as a boyfriend... but apparently knowing Star Wars also has power with the boys ages 5-7.

At any rate, this was an exciting theme for me to be assigned, and I went about drafting up plans for something fun for the birthday boy. First off was re-creating the Star Wars logo in fondant, as well as a layered 2-D Death Star.



Some cakes just tend to come together quicker than others, and this one was as smooth as it gets. With the primary colors as a palette, I was able to piece together a lego-like cake in no time. well... that's not totally true. cutting out all of those tiny dots to make the bricks look like real legos was pretty time consuming.


side view--- just a little light saber action on the right, and the Death Star on the left.


Couldn't forget the back of the cake--- another Star Wars logo.



Overall, Davis and his friends were pleased with the Lego-riffic cake. It was an 8-inch square 3-tiered vanilla cake with chocolate ganache buttercream filling. As this was my first Star Wars Cake... I was happy to use my forces for the good of the galaxy. (or something like that...)


Here's to Davis! Happy 6th Birthday!!!

Birthday and Beyond!

My kids never really got into the whole Toy Story hype, but with the newest installment out, they've definitely become a bit more interested in the characters. I mean... they're pretty much everywhere right now!

A friend of the family has a little boy turning 4 this year, and he is into the Buzz character. The mom asked me to come up with a cookie for him to bring to his preschool to share with friends... so how could I resist?

I got to work baking piping and flooding, and came up with an army of miniature Jay Lenos and Ben Franklins. I mean Buzz Lightyears.


Clearly my cookies are done by hand.. cause each Buzz was just a wee bit different from his other dozen brothers. Nonetheless... once they were put in their favor bags and wrapped with a ribbon and tag, I think they turned out kind of cute.

for his actual family party, the mom asked me to supplement the cake she ordered (NOT from me... waaaaah!) with some cake pops that the kids can take home as favors. Keeping in the whole Toy Story theme, I decided to do a mix of outer-space purple and little aliens. About 50 cake pops later, I came up with two centerpieces like the one below.

It was a fun project, and I was happy to get the chance to mix it up by doing both cookies AND cake pops. The tough part was figuring out which little alien to eat first. (can't you picture the little dude below saying "choose me! choose me!" no??? oh. nevermind, then.)

At any rate-- here's to AJ! happy fourth birthday!!! hope your day is filled with happiness that takes you to infinity and beyond!

Duke Blue Devils

I love my client, Jenny. She has the coolest ideas for me to make into cookies. (remember the Chucky cookies? totally her idea.)

At any rate, her office group was attending a meeting at Duke University, and she wanted to bring a hospitality basket to the group that was hosting, so she asked me to do something Duke-related.


I figured it was about time for me to learn a little local spirit since I live in North Carolina now... so I agreed to the project and came up with a basket full of treats. I can't say I'll be cheering for the Blue Devils any time soon, but I AM a fan of that centerpiece cookie and the way it turned out.

Thanks again to Jenny for the vision! I hope the meeting goes well and everyone enjoys their cookies!

Child's Play

Every once in a while, I get asked to do something a little.... DIFFERENT.

a little.... STRANGE? a little.... cookie with Chucky from the movie Child's Play on it???



yup. I was asked, and so I did. A whole basket of them, as a matter of fact. Apparently it was a hospitality gift for an office that just LOVES Halloween. Really-- I don't ask. I just do.

What can I say? I love a challenge! and I love people with a clear vision. Yes.. apparently even when that vision is a little blood-tinted and leaning towards the horror genre.

So Happy Halloween, and thanks Jenny for the chance to do something a little different this year! (PS... the knife was NOT included in the gift basket!)

Rock Star Baby

I love babies. Not necessarily HAVING them... the two I have are plenty.. thank you very much! but when other people have babies??? *sigh* love it!

now in terms of a business, it's also great when babies are born, cause that usually means one more family is looking for something for a birthday party at least once a year. (hey--- don't hate me cause I'm honest!)

My friend Angela was overjoyed when her friend gave birth to a little girl named Aubrey, and she asked me to come up with something special to celebrate her arrival. However, Angela informed me... Aubrey was not just an ordinary pastel pink kind of girl. With a nursery decor of hot pink and black, Angela wanted something a little more... ROCK STAR. So I went rock star.




Nothing says "my life is going to rock" like getting a metal tin full of cookies a couple of days after birth. especially when the tin is personalized and the cookies have edible glitter.



Throw in a few "announcement" cookies, and you've got yourself a one-of-a-kind gift.


By far, this was one of my most fun baby packages to put together, and I DO hope the mom thought it rocked, too.


Here's to Baby Aubrey! May the stars shine on you as you rock your way through life.... and thanks to your Auntie Angela for letting me be part of your welcome party!