Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy Easter!

I spent this beautiful afternoon before Easter creating baptism
cookie favors for a special friend in Texas. A baptism at Easter...
I cannot think of a more beautiful
time of the year to celebrate a baptism!
These onesie cookies were created using this copper cookie cutter
from CopperGifts.com. It's the perfect size for a cookie favor!
I never created baptism cookie favors before until Dani Fiori contacted me
about assisting with an order she had for them. Yes... The Dani Fiori. The
Emmy winning set decorator and stylist for Martha Stewart. And yes...
Dani is every bit as sweet, kind and generous as we see on television!
Although it's been several months since I pitched in to help
replicate Dani's elegant baptism cookie favor for her client...
I'm spilling the beans to you now because I cannot post about creating
these baptism cookies again today without ensuring that Dani receives
full credit for her design that inspired me or my ability to do them!
Oh! Speaking of beans...
Have you seen Dani decorate her adorable bunny in egg cookie using
Jelly Belly jelly beans yet? If not, click here to check out her sweet video!
A little advice before you create this cookie... Buy extra Jelly Belly jelly
beans because for every one you put on the cookie, you're sure to eat two!
How cute are these little egg cookies?
I created them using my Martha by Mail Eggs copper cookie
cutter set. Still worth every penny! And, they look so cute on this
cupcake stand by Martha Stewart that I picked up at Macy*s!
I couldn't help but decorate some of them to look like real eggs!
Off to the Easter basket they go!
Wishing you a very Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Wicked!

SpaBoy, Mr. B and I all ran off to play in Charlotte yesterday...
After the sun went down we went to see Wicked! It was our second time but it
was SpaBoy's thirteenth time! And, when you've seen Wicked thirteen times like
he has, you develop friendships with some of the cast members! Being his friend
is pretty amazing every day but when we're at Wicked it gets just a little bit better
because when he gets invited to witness the Greenification of Elphaba... He takes me!
That's right! We were backstage and, standing in Elphaba's dressing room...
Witnessing Wicked magic!
To say it was spectacular fun to be included doesn't even begin to cover it!
See? I told you it was...
Magic!
But the Greenification was just the beginning because the performance
was incredible. Again... Still... Always! Although it was our second time
and SpaBoy's thirteenth time, it felt like the first time ever for all of us!
If you're in or at all near Charlotte you'll want to hurry because Wicked
closes on March 31st. What's worse, this will be our favorite Elphaba's
final performance. For me, Christine Dwyer will always be the best Elphaba!
While I'm at work next week SpaBoy will be back to see Wicked one more time. And...
He's also attending Wicked After Dark! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play with
the cast of Wicked and to bid on amazing prizes to benefit RAIN. Now, I happen to
know that the front row, center seat is sold but you can get another seat here 
What about you... Have you seen Wicked?
If you have, I'd love to know your favorite part!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

A sweet friend at work asked if I would create cookies
for her darling daughter's 4th birthday party this weekend...
Of course, I said yes!
Seems like just yesterday I attended her baby shower...
Ranger was just about to graduate from
basic training and begin Airborne school...
Today he's an NCO who has deployed four times and, my dear friend's
little girl is turning four. It's true what they say... Time flies when you're
having fun... Or in my case, proud, terrified and completely stressed out!
Seriously! How do they go from this...
To this, overnight? Funny thing is, my mom wonders the same thing!
Thank goodness for the dream job and cookie
projects that keep me busy twenty-eight hours a day!
All done! By the way... I love creating custom
gift tags almost as much as I enjoy creating cookies!
Since Sutton's party theme is egg-hunt, I decided to hide an egg cookie
behind each sweet bunny! These tiny eggs were created using my vintage
Martha by Mail copper cookie cutter Eggs set... Still worth every penny!
50 bunny and egg sets were just delivered. You know what that means, right?
Means I might make it to bed before 1AM tonight!
Just in time for my three-day weekend!
Yup! We're off to Charlotte in the morning... Of course,
the Pottery Barn Outlet in Gaffney is on my agenda. As
Then at 8 o'clock the fun really begins... Because at
that time you'll find us front and center at Wicked!
Have yourself a sweet weekend too!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day and a huge cookie update!

You didn't hear much from me this week because I was knee-deep in cookies!
First was a batch of St. Patrick's Day cookies for a sweet lady I work with. She
wanted to send shamrock cookies with her daughter to day care on Friday!
And, since I was going to be up decorating until the wee hours of the
morning with shamrocks, I decided to pull the dress cookies I baked
for the Ranger's girlfriend out of the freezer and decorate them too!
It was a long, long day but honestly,
when I receive e-mails of thanks...
With photos like this attached... It so makes
decorating cookies until 2AM worth it!
Speaking of worth it...
I was delighted to create dress cookies for the very special young lady
who stole the Ranger's heart... And, for the women she works with too!
They arrived at her office yesterday and
reports were that they were well received!
And, thanks to UPS, 15 of 16 made it to Dallas in one piece too! By the
way, I'm still loving the fancy dress cookie cutter by CopperGifts.com!
You may remember that I first used it to create Prom-ask cookies!
Ranger's girlfriend works for Neiman's so it could only be fancy dresses for her!
After all, she and the ladies she works with know their fashion!
So the pressure was on to create cookies worthy of their sophisticated taste!
But just for fun, I tossed in a few tutu's!
Thanks to another fantastic CopperGifts.com cookie cutter!
I was told this particular cookie was an instant favorite!
You'll find your own heirloom-quality copper tutu cookie cutter here
The morning after the icing was completely dry, I added disco dust!
Sanding sugar and disco dust are my
two favorite decorating embellishments!
Who am I kidding? I also love candy flowers and sugar pearls too!
I love it all!
Except the sending them away part...
Although I know they'll be appreciated and enjoyed,
it's always a little difficult to see my creations leave!
I imagined them saying to me, But what if we don't like Texas...?
Can we come back home?
Of course, I told them they could... Even though I knew they wouldn't!
So I talk to my cookies at 2AM. Don't act like I'm the only one!
The final project I worked on early last week was these onesie cookies! 
I learned how to decorate onesies from the one
and only Dani Fiori of Sweet Dani B during one
of her appearances the Martha Stewart show
The secret to success with wet-on-wet decorating is to
ensure your icing colors are the same consistency!
Because when they are...
The results are seamless!
And that's important when you're working with a lot of seams!
As you can probably tell from the tags, these baby
onesie cookies went to a very special group at work...
Who took them to a sales meet with a very important retailer!
Of course, I could resist sending them off with a little good-luck charm!
So that concludes my cookie recap from last week! For next week I'll
be equally as busy as I was just asked to create egg-hunt themed cookies
for a special girl who'll turn four. Now... I really should have stayed home
to bake today. But it was 77 degrees and, the only thing I wanted to do was
get out of the house. So... Mr. B and I made a run for it and spent the day
browsing through our favorite antique and consignment stores. It was
well worth blowing off my baking assignment! When I checked the mail
this evening I was so surprised to find this from one of my blog friends!
She's more amazing than she knows and, I'm so happy to know her!
When we left this morning I had no idea I would
be replacing the side table in my living room!
But when I saw this one at Red Collection, I knew I had to have it!
I love its little wheel feet and this shelf is the perfect hiding spot for
books, my laptop and iPad! It's vintage American made furniture...
And, even the inside of the drawer is beautiful!
Most people say Out with the old and in with the new but I
find that most of the time it's better the other way around!