Daydream 500

James [he does art stuff here] dropped me a line and asked for some race cars for the Daytona 500.  ok, i said, then bit my nails a little wondering how one would do all those stickers.  i mean, it's really not a modern American stock car without sponsors covering up the paint job.  i went with royal icing spread very thin and dried until it was like a stiff fruit-roll-up.  edible markers made my little nonsense companies, "E-Co" and "Jeff-Co" and "LJ" for Lisa and James, plus some letters, little graphics, and my own initials. then i just cut them out with scissors and dropped them into the wet icing.  i wanted them more flush, but once i had the "99" airbrushed [they're Carl Edwards fans] and dusted them with pearl dust, they turned out alright.  i even baked a spoiler onto the back of them.  [i call spoilers "car mullets."  ha.]
i have to include a paragraph about Viking Thrift and Artwork where we did the cookie drop off.  Elgin is horrible with their signage codes, so you have to look for their mint-green dock doors, but once inside you'll have a good idea about what the inside of my head looks like--hip vintagy things, arts and crafts, eclectic housewares... James has some art there, and it's run by cool people, and i was totally agreeable when it was suggested that i make cookies for future events.  i wanna hang out there and read/nap on their many gorgeous couches.
thank you James and Lisa for your order! coming up, i may be doing a story book theme.  still scratching my chin, so check back. 

how i spent my summer vacation

hubby’s coworker, also a Jeff, invited us to a July 4^th cookout, but unbeknownst to us he had an evening shift.  my Jeff and i and the kiddo spent the afternoon at Cantigny and, come party time, we called to find out they were wrapping up.  just my luck to miss a party. so on the 5^th, i sent these stars to work with Jeff (and reserved the chocolate chip cookies for my unbirthday celebration, ie, eating cookies while watching tv), and later Jeff (the other Jeff) said his family members cleared him out of his take of the star cookies that night.

fate stepped in to earn Jeff some extra cookies when i stopped at Starbucks for a little wi-fi time.  except hubby drove us with the lights on, and didn’t know i was getting out of the car too.  he got out first, and i reached for the keys and the laptop.  yeah, i left the lights on--when i had to go home, the car was dead. and everyone behind the counter was way busy because i was leaving at rush hour.  so Jeff called Jeff, who lives close, and our sorry little car got a jump because Jeff is a cool dude.  so i made him some cars.   he shared with his grandson who asked, “can i eat the tires too?” thanks Jeff!

Coming up, a shower, a 2-in-1 birthday, a wedding, a baptism, some birdies, and ninja clown assassins (ya know, for Halloween).  

teeny cars

sometimes when i make cookies i end up with a lump of dough at the end that's been re-rolled too many times--a cookie made from it would turn out tough. so i roll out a few to practice on. i usually get about 3 cookies out of it, unless i go mini, like these cars. the larger car is about 3 inches, the little ones are about 1 and a half(?) rather than dabs of icing for the head and tail lights, i used big nonpareils in yellow white and red.

here's a close up of a little one. aaawww...


i'm looking forward to a project entirely of highly detailed mini cookies. (of course i have too many to choose from.)

heavy metal cookies!

i was asked if i could make yellow tractors. [sure!] or anything with wheels [you bet!] and in no time at all [couple hours, actually] karin had a plate of heavy haulers for her little boy's birthday. i threw in 2 kinds of cars for good measure, made half the tractors green too, and the truck came in all 4 colors.

and how did i make a tractor when i have no tractor cookie cutter?



fyi, if your cookie sheets don't look as cooked as mine, get baking!

cars, andrew's 5th birthday, june '09

andrew is still a fan of trains, but if it has an engine, it still gets a thumbs up. since i did trains for birthday #4, i decided on cars for #5. i was very intimidated by this cookie cutter. i'll have to scan the sketch i made just to understand what i was doing--i labeled all the fields of color and decided, based on the ability to mix the previous color with the next color, what order i would mix the colors of icing, and in what order i would fill the sections of cookie. notice that the smooth black tire required drying time to repel the blue sugar of the 'paintjob.' that takes planning my friend! :)