Summertime favors!

Although it's August 30 and it feel like fall, I figured I'd post some pictures from a summertime wedding I did...mostly to make me think that it's not the unofficial end of summer next week!

This was for a wedding in Newport. These favors were actually for the Rehearsal Dinner. The colors matched their invites and I glued a tiny star fish on them for that added ocean beach touch!

Awwwww.....

Besides baking cookies and defending juvenile delinquents, lately I'm also wedding planner extraordinaire, as I'm planning to tie the knot this October!

Bill and I have been dating for 9, yes I said 9 years this summer. Last October 17, 2009, he proposed and I, of course, said YES! then I said it's about time!

Bill and I met in the summer of 2000. My sister, Heather, brought me to Newport as a graduation gift as I had just graduated from UMASS-Amherst. I met Bill, starting talking to him and clumsily spilled my can of Bud Light on him at the West Deck, a bar on Thames St. He offered to buy me another. I remembered his flashy outfit of a black shirt and khakis. I looked up and saw a guy wearing that holding 2 drinks, so I walked up to him and started talking...only to realize that 1) I probably had too many slutty red head shots that night (hey I was 21!) and 2) that this was not the same guy I spilled my beer on. Then I saw Bill glaring at me holding 2 cans of bud light.

Needless to say the rest is history. I moved to RI 2 months later to begin law school and we started hanging out. Bill and I lived in Newport for most of our 20's. Yes, I know it's hard to believe I'm the big 3-0! I love Newport, mostly because when I think of that city, I think of meeting my future husband there, falling in love, and creating the beginning of the rest of our life there. We shared a great apartment on Vaughan Avenue in the Fifth Ward section of Newport and after living there for 5 years, bought our home we're in now.

Why am I telling this story on my blog? This past Sunday we had our engagement pictures taken with our fabulous photographer, Melissa Robotti (www.melissarobotti.com) and I figured it might be fun to talk about something non cookie today :)

We met her in Newport and retraced some memories. On October 17, 2009, the night Bill proposed, he took me on a trip down memory lane. We started where it all began, at the West Deck. After dinner he took me to the exact spot that he predicts he first laid eyes on me. From there, we drove past the old apartment, then to Ocean Drive, and then to Second Beach in Middletown, where we shared our first kiss, and where Bill asked me to be his wife.

Here are a few shots from Melissa's blog of our engagement pictures. I love them all and I love how she captures the emotions in her photography.

Baby's 1st Birthday!

So many of our friends have had little ones in the past couple years! There were two First Birthdays back to back this month! I had the pleasure of making cookies for little Jackie, who is the daughter of our friends, Susan and Mike.

Susan told me to make any type of colorful cookies. I had this cupcake cutter with the single candle that I thought would be perfect for a First Birthday!

I was a little torn on whether to cover the cupcakes in fondant or to use some royal icing, but opted for a fondant covered cookie with little cut outs to decorate the cookies and make them bright and colorful!

Here are some pictures of the cookies drying after they were decorated!

Wedding Whirlwind....

The past two weekends have been consumed with weddings. We're at that age where, ever so slowly, all are friends are almost married! Every year we've had at least 2-4 weddings a year.

These past couple weeks have been no different, but there were two very special weddings! Our long time friends Bob & Sue tied the knot last weekend. My big sister, Heather, got married as well!

Here are some pictures of my sister, who looked absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day!

The new Mr. and Mrs.


The Bridal Party...I guess it's not too hard to tell who's related :)


Of course, another show stopper...the final product...I made 110 favors for the big day!

Almost final product!

After 3 lbs of Rice Krispies, buying Walmart out of their stock of mini marshmallows, and about 6 hours in my kitchen armed with a bottle of PAM....

I managed to make 150 Rice Krispy Treats! They are covered with a square of purple marshmallow fondant and monogrammed with a simple M in lime green royal icing.

They're drying right now...letting the royal icing set and harden before they're popped into some treat bags and tied with some ribbon!

Samples!!!

I'm pleased to say that I have a bunch of cookie orders coming up! I try to sample out the cookies for upcoming customers 1) so they can get an idea of their final product and 2) so they can tweak the design however they'd like!

My girlfriend Susan has a little one named Jackie who is turning 1 next weekend!! Susan and her husband are friends that lived a couple blocks away from us in Newport. We've since moved to a land far far away from Aquidneck Island called Exeter. Here's a little sample..unfortunately i just did the sample in colors on hand...little Jackie's cookies will be much more colorful..just wanted her momma to get a feel for the design!

It's been a while....

my blogging adventures took a little vacation...but my cookie making hasn't. Today, I find myself up to my neck in Rice Krispies!!!! You see, my older sister Heather is getting married this weekend. Of course, what type of family wedding doesn't have favors from me :).

Heather wanted a monogram cookie..nothing too over the top, just square with her new last name initial on it. However, the cookie lacked a little bulk...so I figured to plump it up a bit..what better than a rice krispie treat! I love they way they look..and after 5 hours in the kitchen...130 rice krispie treats are now gracing my kitchen.





The treats are covered with a square of bright purple fondant. That's how far I got tonight...I'm tired after dealing with juvenile delinquents all day..tomorrow I will pipe the details in lime green royal icing to match the wedding colors....pictures of the final product will be posted soon!!!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way! That's a song I learned probably in the 2nd grade or so (circa 1986).

This week I don't have any cookie orders to fufill. I'm guessing there are no showers, parties, etc this weekend since Easter's on Sunday.

In stead of catching up around the house, doing some wedding planning, or any type of yard work, I decided to bake some cookies and try out some new cutters.

I had a rabbit body and rabbit face and decided I wanted to try some 3 dimensional cookies with the rabbit face. Instead of just a level fondant overlay, I made some fat cheeks with additional fondant. Here are some sneak peeks:



I couldn't decide between freckles and whiskers...I think I'm leaning more towards the freckles...





While I slaved in the kitchen, one of our cats, Annabelle, took advantage of the nice weather and curled up in a good spot in the living room.



I have about 50 other cookies cooling out that will decorated later this week....

Cookie Cutter Sale!

Most of my earnings have gone towards the Holly and Bill wedding fund. After almost 9long years of dating, we're tying the knot in October. Bill didn't take me up on my offer to fly to Hawaii and have a really really nice vacation and get married while we were out there as well. So, now we're having this way too big wedding in RI. So, I've been baking my bee-hind off trying to generate some extra money so we don't go in the red throwing this little party!

However...today I found a sale that I just couldn't pass up!!! I've been buying most of my cutters from Foose Cookie Cutters (www.foosecookiecutters.com). Take one peek and you'll see why i shop there...their selection is HUGE!!!

Here are a couple I can't wait to try out!

Ok..I may be a little early for Halloween!


I love the bikini...makes me think that summer's coming one of these days!



I loved this monkey...not sure what I'll use it for, but everyone needs a monkey cookie cutter!


Another reminder of spring!



Check them out...the code for today and tomorrow's 40% off sale is SPRING! What a deal..with all this week's orders I managed to buy around 40+ cookie cutters (shh don't tell Bill) AND give the limo company a deposit :)

The Most Popular Cutter of the Season....

is the dress cookie cutter! People are going nuts over this cookie cutter and its hands down my most requested order! Here are some pictures for one large order of bridal shower cookies. The bride's colors are ivory and gold. I did one sample with a tiny hint of ivory coloring, but it had a strange look to it, so we went with white. Gold is always and interesting project. There's no type of dye or coloring to tint frosting gold. Instead, I use a product called Luster Dust, mix it with a tiny bit of alcohol and paint it over dried royal icing...quite the project but I think it's worth the result!



This is what 77 cookies look like! I normally put my cookie orders in cake boxes with a thin layer of bubble wrap. The largest cake box couldn't support 70+ dresses...so a xerox paper box it was!


That's alot of cookies!