Antique 1st Birthday

By now most of you know my favorite orders are..... I would like some cookies, for this event, decorate them as you please.

It gives me a chance to try out a bunch of different techniques that I haven't had a chance to try on other cookies.

This next set was exactly that.  I got to play around with gumpaste, stenciling with icing, and adding cool texture to cookies with sprinkles and then airbrushing over it.

Hope you enjoy the cookies in all their Antique themed glory!

Stay Sweet Everyone ^^

The Journals of Thaddeus Shock Pocket

I am so excited to share this next set of cookies with you!  Not only because they were a blast to make but because they depict the fabulous books from Local Mankato Author Henry L. Walton!
As you all already know I love reading and I love sharing the joy of reading with others.  Let me tell you Henry Walton does a wonderful job of sharing the joy of reading with young and old alike with his Thaddeus Shockpocket series.

If you haven't read the books yet I suggest you go out and do it straight away.  They are an absolute joy a fun and funny steampunk type adventure though a fabulously created world.  Oh and not to mention there is lots of fun art scattered thought the books.

This set was made in celebration of the second book release in The Journals of Thaddeus Shockpocket series.

I am still working my way though Albion 77 unfortunately I can't decorate cookies and read at the same time.  But I have been assured by the authors wife that the 2nd book in the series Victoria is even better than the first.  I can't wait to read it.

 If you aren't intrigued yet he is a brilliant review form Amazon that basically sums up how I feel about theses books

 "Okay! This book is the most fun I have had in months! The author uses matter of fact hilarity to tell his story. Eight year-olds would love the stories, though they would not be independent readers with it. Fourteen year-olds would love the scientific inventions (I would love to hear if they pick-up on the invention of the internet!) Anyone over sixteen or eighteen will love the word play. As a teacher, I would read it/teach with it from second grade onward. It is fantastic from cover to cover! There are so many ridiculous and incredible stories--so many are so subtle. I cannot wait for future journals to be published. I am curious to see if Thaddeaus follows up with his experiments watching paint dry....is there more story line with that????? Yours in Friendship and Distance...." 

I figure since the books are all about adventure why not make the cookie making process an adventure as well.  I learned a lot of new things making these cookies, like how to airbrush in a gradient.  How to use corn syrup to make parts of the cookies look like glass, and how to make holographic cookies using stencils and multiple layers of airbrush sheen.

The cookies above are the "holographic" cookies.  If you look closely you can see a few different layers of gears.  I used a warm brown, gold, copper and bronze color in different layers to get the effect.  

Check out this quick video to see a bit better how the whole effect turned out.  

These cookies truly were a labor of love, a good hour or two went into each of the book cover and back cookies.  The results in the end were totally worth it, but let me tell you my hand and wrist will not miss painting all those fine details any time soon.  

Just to give you a bit of an idea here is the comparison between the book covers and cookies. 

Well that's all for now.  I will have one more book inspired set coming your way later this week and then on to other exciting cookies. 

Stay sweet everyone!

Hoppy Spring Busy Bee

I have been a busy Bee as of late, making lots of fun cookie sets that I can't wait to share with you all!   Up first is a fun 2 cookie set I made for a local garden center.

The folks at Drummers are amazing, they are so helpful and knowledgeable.  The cherry tree Hubby and I planted in our wedding ceremony came from Drummers.  

If you are in the Mankato area be sure to go and check them out, they have a wonderful selection of plants, trees, pond supplies and little shiny baubles to place around your garden. 

This cookie above combines two of my new favorite decorating toys, first don't you just love the birch stencil, it is so dreamy....

and the gum paste bee!!!! I am going to start putting little bee's on everything because they are so darn cute!

Because spring has finally hit Minnesota I decided to do some cookies to welcome in spring!  This set was gifted to one of my loyal customers who I made this set for.  She had given me some cookie cutters to use for the set and I totally forgot to return them. 

I figured when returning something late you better have a nice gift to go with it... thus the spring themed cookies.

This Bunny is my favorite, and take two, the first one met its sad end when it fell to the floor along with a whole baking sheet of finished cookies.

Oh well I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles. 

That being said it is sometimes fun to start over, it gives you a chance to fix mistakes you made on the previous cookies or to try something new.  

Over all I am very happy with how all these cookies turned out.  

Happy Spring Everyone!  Stay Sweet :D

Nautical themed wedding cookies, and Gum Paste Tutorial

There are people in this life that do nothing but spread happiness to others, they walk into a room and light it up with their smile and positive attitude.

Keith and Amy are two of those people in this life and I am so happy that they found each other.

I was thrilled to make some wedding cookies for the two of them and share a bit of my love with them during this amazing journey in their lives.  The two of them are getting married soon in the tropics thus the beach theme of the cookies.

 This set gave me the opportunity to use a new technique, Gum Paste!  I used ModPodg molds to make all the different shells and then airbrushed, petal dusted and hand painted the dried results.

Making GumPaste decorations is now my new favorite thing to do in the evening, it's quick and easy and I can do it while watching TV or chatting with the hubby. 

I was so surprised how easy it was to make these little decorations.  All you have to do is buy some powdered gum paste and follow the directions to mix up the gum paste, then you can work with it straight away or keep it in the freezer for later use.  

Once your GumPaste is mixed and kneaded I make small pea sized balls and push them into the molds.  I let the GumPaste sit in the mold for a few min. before popping it out.  Any silicone mold will work just be sure to wash it before use and dusting it with powdered sugar helps keep the GumPaste from sticking.  

Once the GumPaste pieces are removed form the mold I use and exacto knife to cut off any of the scraggly bits and smooth up the edges.  Be sure to do this before the GumPaste dries otherwise you will be hacking away and the edges the next day and may end up breaking your lovely pieces you just made.

I let all the decorations air dry for about 3 days and then store them in a small tupperware.  Be sure to let the pieces dry out before sealing them away or they could cause already dried pieces to melt.  Same goes for painting your decorations, if you are not applying them to a cookie right away let them dry for a day or so before sealing them up with other decorations.  

Comment or e-mail if you are interested in a full tutorial on making GumPaste decorations.  I would be more than happy to make a photo tutorial or even a video if their is interest in it.  

Stay Sweet Everyone and Congrats Amy and Keith <3