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.

Strangly enough, tractors...

...are one of my most repeated shapes. they were the primary request in a collection of "things with wheels" for a 2-year-old boy's party, i did a dozen for Eldra's husband's birthday, one is parked in the background of my "Chicken Little" cookie photo project, and most recently, my friend Lisa requested 2 dozen for Evelyn's 3rd birthday party which, Evelyn decided, was to be a tractor party. last year Evy requested dinosaurs. in between, she got into Buzz Lightyear and Spiderman. she's a tough little cookie! meanwhile, my 3 year old son likes butterflies and singing. (shrug)

so it turns out that John Deere makes kids' party supplies, including a version for girls, with butterflies and daisies. Lisa emailed me a link for ideas. rather than girl-up the tractors, i did them in a traditional tractor style, but plated them with smaller daisies. the grown-ups thought they looked great--the kids just had big green smiles.

Lisa is on blogspot too, pursuing her life-coaching career; check out her site at the link in the right-hand column, Perspective Life Coaching. i once relayed a story to her, of when i was being trained at a new job. once i had mastered some complicated sequence of keystrokes and successfully sent out a report, i quietly clapped my hands and said "yaaay!" my trainer looked at me strangely and i had to explain, "sorry, i have a 2-year-old." Lisa heard this and nodded--we were both high-5ing little hands and saying good job, and clapping at everything. she added, "ya know, just clap your hands and say 'yay' and just see if you don't feel better." she's right!

coming soon, baseball, a school fundraiser, umbrellas, and probably more flowers--yay spring! (clap clap clap!)

hearts and more hearts

ever notice that our calendar plops Valentine's Day right between the meanest-cold and ickiest-slush weather; between the holidays and tax day; right after January's depressing ankle measurements and resolutions, and right before the spring sales? it sounds like some sick-minded planning, right? or maybe it's a perfect time to send some hugs'n'kisses?

my other biggest fan, Mom, ordered 3 dozen hearts for her and Dad's siblings and their Valentines--some to say hi there, some to say get well soon, but all of them up-to-me and love-themed.

my airbrush is still new and mysterious so i had to use it again. but i couldn't find my good heart stencil. note, if you want excellent hearts, don't try cutting heart-shaped holes out of paper, it will frustrate you. (grin) but they turned out ok. the spotty look is from thinning the food coloring with water to spray it. water mixes with the sugar on the surface of the icing and makes a hand-dyed look. (i hear vodka won't alter the surface, just evaporate, which i'll try soon.) then i outlined the painted hearts in black food coloring, and the edge of the cookie in pink sugar and thought "doesn't that look just like those little t-shirts from the '90s?" you know, the ringer tees, with the little baby-onesie graphic on the chest? don't they?

and these were pink on pink, then brushed with white pearl dust, the same way the lemons in January were gold on yellow. Mom agreed, even in person, up close, they look like fabric. (don't they?) now i should go rummage through my sewing supplies for color and texture ideas, huh? ok, i'm on it.

coming soon, girlie tractors, maybe another order, and my other sister-in-law turns 29 again.


happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Let's Ogle at Valentine Edibles

this year's Valentine's Day post will feature 2 kinds of hearts i made for my mom. one reminds me of a little girl's t-shirt, the other looks like an old-fashioned pillow. both rock. you'll see next week.

right now i wanted to take a tour back through my 'portfolio' and reminisce on all the cookies i made to celebrate love and romance. (cue the piano nocturne.)

Judy's parents' 50th anniversary

Melisa and Corby...
...Mr. and Mrs. West

February (2010) installment of a "year of cookies" for auction winner Eldra

Steve and Bailey's engagement party

and my favorites...

my wedding, Katie + Jeff :)

now i'm off to make some tractors. this will be the 4th time i've made tractors! :)

i'm... too sexy for these cookies...

after i did snarky tombstone cookies for my brother's 40th, i decided that birthdays would afford me a nice monthly project. i think i have a family birthday every month till july. everyone will get some token cookie stylings to amuse them. (see fashionista purses for Kristi and trumpeteers for Dan last November.) and i get practice. January goes to s-i-l Libby, a lady bold enough to live with my brother (says the equally pain-in-butt little sister >grin<) who's cake mixer looks like it eats smaller appliances for breakfast, and who's cell phone is very sparkly. Libby deserved cookies that were no less than haute couture.

i only wish that the lines could be a little sharper, but otherwise i like 'em. when i found the die-cut scrapbook page, it reminded me of the bedspread in their master bedroom, black and white scrolly swirls. had to try it. Libby asked if she should eat them in bed. i said sure, if you don't mind the crumbs... Happy Birthday, lady! :)

then i thought, if i brushed that with silver pearl dust, it would look like a gunmetal/silver on shimmery white, so i got to scheming on what to make for Aunt Donna and the family [this Christmas was (see below--one car, 2-year-old) crazy and i thought we can send something dumb/rushed now or fantastic next month when i dig myself out], and Uncle Al and Aunt Lynne, who were on their way out when i finally arrived with poorly planned Trumpeteer Dan cookies for Dan's surprise party that were all unboxed with smooshed bow-ties (no pics, sorry). so i started to make teapots and wanted to do sage-green icing with a green leaf pattern, like "yay, here comes spring," only i overmixed the icing and it was spreading but not settling into a nice flush flat surface. then, since it wasn't working (again, no pics), i gave the ugly teapots to Jeff to share with the coworkers.

then i went to make more dough and discovered i had run out of vanilla. so i had to use lemon. then i thought, when life gives you lemon extract, make these:
i used a different stencil, sprayed yellow food coloring, and while it was still tacky, i brushed on gold pearl dust. then it looked like little lemon shaped pieces of yellow and gold brocade. i was smitten. so i went to edge them in icing and sanding sugar and this time the icing was a little runny (forehead-slap). but i seriously love how the light hits it.

ooooh... sparkly...

because krylon would taste funny!

my hubby, best boyfriend ever, Jeff, got me an airbrush for Christmas. i didn't ask for one, hadn't even considered it since i was pleased enough with sanding sugar and pearl dust. but Jeff is probably my #1 fan and has had some pretty enthusiastic ideas about what i should try next (even physics-and-chemistry-defying ideas) so when he proposed an airbrush i probably brushed (pun!) it off as superfluous, an expense, some tool to fumble and never really learn, like if i tried playing the oboe. i had forgotten that he mentioned it. then one came in the mail.
i eyed it suspiciously for a day or two. (it looked like an electric crack pipe.) then i figured either i'd hate it or i wouldn't, and if i didn't, then i might get good at it, and i had to get moving on cookies for Vanessa and Theresa for covering Jeff's hours Christmas weekend.... so i made some white squares.
then i went to Michael's and rounded up a few stencils. then i watered down some food coloring. then i took a deep breath and made an awesome gorgeous mess of some cookies.
i was incorrectly intimidated. food coloring through stencils on cookies, once the spraying hand can gauge what it's doing, and the stencil-holding hand isn't bouncing everywhere, is pretty simple. i rolled out some fondant shapes, like the square and circle combo, or made a little coil like the ones that say "dream". some of my stencils came from the paint department, others were die-cut scrapbook pages. the pink and purple tiny square pattern in the lower right was a plastic needlepoint grid. pretty soon i had a list of ideas, and my next 2 projects turned out surprisingly well. (posts coming soon!) thankfully Vanessa and Theresa don't mind when tasty cookies are funny looking, so they each got a dozen of my prototypes to say: coming soon, Libby's "boudoir" birthday dozen, golden lemon brocade, (as yet unconfirmed) animals, tractors for a little girl (?) and i'll probably whine a bit about making icing in January... also looking into a cookie party situation. (woo!)

i have a daydream...

Sharon, who ordered the tiny elephants for her granddaughter's birthday, let me know about her friend Tara's blog, Go West Young Mom (click here ) a blog about kid-/mom-/family-goings-on in these Chicago burbs. just when you feel like you live in the boonies and there's nothing to do, there's someone to point out all the fun events you're missing! it's a lot, by the way, Tara does her research. i gave her a shout-out on twitter, and it turned into emails about cookies for her (then) upcoming Go West Girls' Night Out at Urban Style Salon and Spa in Batavia. the specifications were something holiday-appropriate, yet also like the blog's logo. so i made pink and brown (the blog's colors) pinwheel stars in varying shades and textures.

part one of the day was spent finding the place to drop them off. a small brain shortage on my part led me to type "Geneva" in my GPS. i went west all right. and while i was going south, facing the 2pm-ish sunshine through a salt covered windshield, i ran out of washer fluid. don't worry, i got there. then my plan was to go home, get dinner going, and when hubby showed up to watch the kid, i could go to the event and mingle around.

well, part 2 was hubby coming home with a bloody nose because it was so dry out. then he slipped in the bathroom and hurt his knee. i got him put together, the good sport, and i went back to Geneva. i mean Batavia.

i was pooped, but everyone had a nice time. Tara arranged door prizes (someone won a dozen custom cookies, but i haven't confirmed who yet) tasty catering, and various mini-spa services. i chatted up with a few folks, but i had to scoot out early and hit Osco for a knee brace and Kleenex. high 5 to Tara! i'll be at the next one, and i'll stay longer. :)

since then i've been thinking about parties and cookies. i originally started this blog to show my work, and to get an idea about what the baking-audience expects from the baking-artists. in more than a year, i've determined that so far, they want cupcakes and recipes. but what i'm really gung-ho for is the art. and if i were to do this on bigger and fancier scales, what direction should i take it? my own shop? a picture book? how do i make cookies every day, gain exposure, and increase enthusiasm when (perhaps) the world isn't ready yet?

then i came upon 2 websites. one has guest bloggers sign up to make cookies or cupcakes, blog about them and a personal account of how breast cancer has effected them, and donate the cookies to a group fighting breast cancer (a clinic staff, for instance). another organizes groups to gather for cookie decorating parties (!), and the cookies are donated to various charities. now, i can make cookies all week. i'd love to be employed this way, but i do it as a hobby too. i'll even do it for free if i'm invited to your birthday party, so i'm not out to conquer the world with cookies. i just really want them to be popular enough, at some point, that my skills will be needed in the baking-arts world. in the meantime, how do i get all you people involved?

it's MLK day, a day suggested to be one of service, and i know i've spent too great a time on my rear end. and now i'm discovering opportunities to apply my talents to humanitarianism, and i have this funny habit of noticing where the universe is leading me... here's my very important question, so please reply: if i held a cookie decorating party for charity, would you go?