what you've been missing

There is so much I've done, and so little I've posted for you.  Here's a speed round, and a heap of apologies for keeping you waiting:

Prettiest first, these were from a bridal show last summer.  

 

Also from last summer, ice cream...

...and patriotic pinwheel stars.

 

a Minion birthday...

 

...and a Scooby-Doo birthday (H is for Hannah).

 

my sister-in-law, Kristi's birthday

 

this poor little guy I found on my phone from late 2013!

 

 

Battle of the Books at the library.  (b.o.b for apples, eh?)

 

for the kiddo's Halloween fun fair at school

 

more Halloween fun, with airbrushing and plastic bugs

 

and a Clifford the Big Red Dog themed "Paws to Read" event at the library.  Those bone sprinkles did double duty in graveyard pudding dirt cups for Halloween.

Not far behind, I've got last summer's Fringe Fest where yours truly was the only food artist.  And coming up, a Midsummer Nights Dream, a vintage clothing show, barista aprons, and everything I've been taking pictures of at work with the work phone--just gotta email the darn pics to my computer and I'll be good to go!  I hope you all have a splendid week, and may stay warm!  Now I gotta run to OfficeMax...

 

 

thankful cookies

i did about 4 dozen Thanksgiving themed cookies for The Meet Market.  fall-colored stripes, sunflowers, 2-toned airbrushed apples, metallic indian corn, and handprint turkeys.  lets hope they sell out, i have about 5 more designs i want to try!  come on in and pick up a few--share with your friends and tell 'em thanks.  in addition, if you fill out the tag attached to each bag with your name and contact information, you'll be entered to win one of 3 dozen holiday cookies in December.  lucky winners will be drawn at the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner in Elgin.  (can't wait!)
stick around for zombies and little birdies, and then we're on to Christmas...

my kid ate my homework (& thoughts on bake sales)

friend-of-the-fam' and previous client Brenda asked if i wouldn't mind donating my wares to Fox Ridge Elementary's fundraiser last month. i agreed, then pondered all over the place... the suggestion was to do baskets, maybe 2 of a dozen each. i only had to provide contents, but i thought of my reserve of cookie-appropriate containers and how to fill them in some delightful way. it came down to 2 blue mugs and a candy dish, to be tied in my usual cellophane poofy-topped way, containing a scholarly selection--apples, pencils, letters numbers, and rows of sticker-sized gold stars. the idea was to have 3 gift sets, with the candy dish having more of each shape. then my terrible-2y/o got into the candy dish, so i made the mugs and a few favor bags instead. (thanks kid)

luckily i made these, also in favor bags. the designs are piped dots, some dragged with a toothpick. the "metal" is black icing with pearl dust. i was pouting as i was getting to the end of decorating these--i wanted to make one in every combination of colors and patterns. maybe i'll get a wedding/baby shower gig soon? hope so, i can't look at this picture without getting more ideas.

i threw out a line on twitter and facebook, wondering if any area followers wanted to co-donate to a basket, but no bites. meh, we're all busy, it's ok. but with the funds that need raising all over, i'm looking forward to any movement in bake sale culture. they could be like little conventions of local artists (cakes cookies) gardeners (preserves pies) and kitchen warriors (aforementioned and then some) networking their secret recipes into American hearts and pallets while offsetting what's gotten to be a sad [i paused a while here] everything.

secret shoppers from huge food magazines could discover the next home-baked celebrity or publications/blogs could spring up to cover the bake sale bandwagon that everyone is hopping on so they'll be featured in said publications/blogs. all proceeds to charity. are we doing this already? links please, i'm on board. and magazines, i'm for hire...

Brenda says the cookies were a hit, and i'm glad to help. (high 5 Fox Ridge!) coming soon, cherries and blossoms, Heather's baseball birthday do-over, and Henry partys like it's 1921.

"gobble gobble"

got a call from Lois from church, wondering if i had some time to make a few cookies for a the yearly bake sale. i always have time for cookies, plus i had an incomplete set of 2nd hand, brown, hand-glazed plates that i didn't need. 4 big plates, 2 small plates, and 3 mugs, all unfit for the microwave, and ultimately doomed to be dropped over the years. i'm a clutz. i buy my plates at the dollar store. anyway, i picked corn, leaves, apples, and mini pumpkins, leaves and acorns. then i arranged them all nicely in/on their mug/plate, wrapped with cellophane, and put the 12 or so extras in favor bags. i'm told they sold out. (yay!)
in the meantime, they caught Dian's eye, and she ordered more corn and leaves for thanksgiving. this time i added a few purple kernels. i love how any color works--this shape is definitly in my top 10 favorites. thanks Dian!

('hey katie, your pictures are starting to look a little fuzzy.' yeah, as it gets darker and colder, i'm working with poorer light, plus i just recently got new contacts, and it turns out i really needed them! moving on...)


then mom remembered the turkeys i made for Eldra last year and wanted 2 dozen made the same way. i wrecked about 6 before i remembered how i did the tail last time. these little guys drove with mom and dad to thanksgiving at my brother's in indiana.

and then for fun, i made these for Andrew and Grace. one lost a head en route. :( but i'm sure he was delicious.

how ya like dem apples?

sometimes, for no particular reason, i'll take up my art supplies and paint a picture, or sew a patchwork pillow, or crochet a hat--something to do with my hands while my brain is deep in thought and spinning like a hamster wheel. but my favorite art is cookies, and recently i whipped up another batch to play with. this time, for no particular reason, i made gold apples.

i have red and green pearl dust too--i could have made a variety--but it was such a nice day for yellow. the whole month, in fact. and while they may not be juicy, they are "golden delicious." ;)

little puzzles

here's what i love doing lately: using one cutter to remove a section from another cookie, fitting in a whole shape in the missing space, and baking them together. they stick, but their border remains distinct so you can pipe the shapes without guessing. above, you get "a is for apple." below i used a spider and gingerbread man to make an alien, a palm tree and squished metal christmas tree cutter to make a carrot, a short cross and a crown for a big "king of kings" cookie (the removed cross bottom was reattached under the crown for a longer effect) and my last name in multi colors.







also have another look at the slideshow--the rose and heart combo, the plate of fruit, the trick or treaters, cinderella's shoe with a clock, the pink "10s", the st patty pots of gold and shamrocks and the tractors were all made with more than one cookie cutter. someday i'll do a huge mural... :)

farmer's market!

this platter was SO much fun to make! the banana was the moon cookie cutter, the shape pinched at each end; the turnip was a heart and a palm tree spliced together; the lemon was a football shape; the radish was a mini heart and mini oak leaf; the cherries were made from a heart; the chili pepper from a leaf; the grapes from circles and a maple leaf; the orange was a plain circle; the watermelon was a half circle; the cauliflower and lettuce were a metal shape i didnt like and bent into an amorphus round shape; the peach was an apple with an altered bottom; the peas in a pod were circles and the moon again; and the rasberries were mini tombstones. i even gave the new shapes little leaves with a fondant cutter. i made them just for the fun of it, and i gave them to my mom when we visited for her birthday. now i'm all inspired to look at shapes beyond their original intended shape, or to combine shapes to make a new picture. i love looking at cookies as little pictures to color. (i was a coloring book artiste back in the day--i wore my crayons down to nubs.) when i think of the composition of the picture as a coloring book, with fields of color lying next to each other, designing cookies gets a whole lot easier. and a whole lot bigger. i would cut one shape and think of another. ...i think i like the blackberries the best.