Wall(y) flowers

Wally is a regular where i work.  a senior citizen, often in board shorts and a t-shirt, sometimes a suit, and always an earring, he gets a small half coffee, half cold water, and chats it up with us in the middle of the day.  the other Katie, a fine arts grad, recently finished a painting for him, and Pat got him a souvenir shirt from Mexico.  like the hubby would say, he's good people.  one day he got us lunch (really good bbq sandwiches that i felt guilty finishing without taking part of it home to share) so to say thanks, i made him a few cookies with my new flower stencil.  i chose teal because when do you ever see a teal flower?  and some pearl shimmer and yellow pearl dragees for some extra pretty.  but i can't decide if i should call them asters or mums.  (shrug)  thanks Wally! 
coming up, i know i have a baby shower, details on the way.  and also some details on my second job as (brace yourself) a baker.  boo-ya and shazam.  stay tuned...

how do these grab you?

Mary Jo's niece has graduated from Iowa and threw a "Thriller" themed graduation party, and Mary Jo wondered if i could make 8 dozen of something to match.  while i probably could have done full body zombies, 96 dead hands reaching out of the dirt seemed subtler, and certainly quicker.  a little extra powdered sugar made the death-green a little lumpier, lending to a gnarly sinewy claw-like shape, and table sugar over the grey icing made the tombstones extra stoney-textured.  thanks to Mary Jo, and 96 high-5's to the grad!  coming soon, i think flowers.... (pondering....)

midsummer night [day]dream

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny

 but in ourselves." - William Shakespeare 

have a great weekend!

little ones

Michael’s baby boy, their first, is on the way, and the huge family baby shower needed 12 dozen cookies.  i said no problem [my record is 220] and was ready to delve into baby design when he provided me with a picture of just what he wanted, gray and baby-blue onsies with ties.  he was also in favor of their last name somewhere on the cookie, and i offered, and he accepted, the alternative of a little pocket with a monogram.  sweet. 
Chicagoland weather these last few days has been absolutely soaked, and my old house is pretty bad at being resistant to humidity.  i run the AC till i’m feeling freeze-dried, and it still takes my cookies a day and a half too long to dry.  but if i boost the powdered sugar for dryer icing, it’s not flat and smooth.  so i fretted a bit finally getting them to their destination, but they got there.  [apologies to Michael’s mom, i delivered the cookies with a smudge on my face, no doubt gotten from trying to fish out the cord for the Garmin from under the car seat.] 
Michael also insisted that i provide something with my website, but i still haven’t resolved my new laptop/old printer/no disc/no internet impasse to printing labels and such, so a big thanks to Jason at OfficeMax for helping me make simple little labels.  [i might have been showing my age when i asked him to just add a little flourish character from Wingdings, and i had to tell him it’s a font—i didn’t add that it’s one of the only-12 fonts i first had back in like, 1993.  ya know, right after the internet was invented...  am i that old? 
i finished off the cookie with a light dusting of pearl dust.  not a lot, just enough to soften the matte finish of the icing, give ‘em a little “glow.”  i hope all party-goers found them sweet and cute, a preview for when little-man Mr. S. arrives.  Congrats to Michael’s family! 
and stay tuned everyone, i got a new stencil...

a long ride...

or rather, Ryder Long.  the short version of the Long story is that before Ryder was born, angels and doctors worked together to surgically install a life saving shunt.  some weeks later, after many prayers and emails and a few sighs of relief, Ryder was born on Easter, and he was home by Mothers Day.  and he's cute as a button, and everyone is doing very well, and we're all very happy.
after my "Wild Things" project, i realized that the teddy bear shape need not be a bear--it could be a little boy dressed as a bear!  (a little pinch at the top of the ears before baking, and these could be cats!) so i made fuzzy blue teddies with little baby faces peeking out, and detailed them with the edible ink marker.  and they were off to new Mommy Dana and Daddy Josh, with our shower gift.  welcome home little guy, and congratulations to the Long family!
coming soon, i have a massive baby shower order due next week.  and there's talk of a wedding later this summer.  and i probably should make the hubby something pretty for his birthday :) meanwhile, have a good weekend, all...

a short ride...

Mr. Rakow went for a bike ride, and someone else went for a car ride, and after their unfortunate encounter, Mr. Rakow had a broken leg.  m-i-l Bobbi felt he needed a pick-me-up and suggested crutch-shaped cookies, but rigging an X shape into crutches didn't seem as fun as using the bike shape to make a bike.  the flag was from the top of a musical note.  this was soooo intimidating until i googled some bikes and realized drawing a bike is like 6 lines and 3 circles.  it took me longer to select the slate-green and terra-cotta color scheme than it did to pipe them.  i would have liked the icing to be a little less thick, which occurred despite a week of storms and humidity, but the flowers made up for it.  they were too cute. 
a big get-well-soon to the patient, happy start of summer to all, and stay tuned for snuggley-bears, a ninja arsenal, something for a book club, and a huge baby shower...

i heart stencils

Wendy's daughter Lexi turned 11.  Lexi, Wendy informed me, loves green, and zebra print, and all the garish stuff the kids are wearing these days.  not much has changed, i guess, when i was her age, all the cool kids were wearing Hypercolor shirts. (remember those? "dude, your armpits are blue!")
so i got out the bright colors, some funky stencils (even made a new one for the zebra stripes), and the trusty airbrush and made some snazzy rock-star hearts.  and every time i use my airbrush, i re-thank Jeff for getting it for me.  [dilated eyeballs] it's so much fun...
Happy Birthday to Lexi! and on the way is some baby stuff, a get well batch, prolly some ninja stuff, and i heard talk of a book club project.  stay tuned!