Gender Neutral Baby Shower Cookies

I was commissioned to make some baby shower cookies that were gender neutral, and would set the theme for the baby shower.  The client had not yet picked out colors or a theme for the shower and told me they would match the show to the cookies.  Talk about stress....

I ended up choosing a sunny yellow and a light grass green for the colors and then gave the client several cookie designs to choose from.  She ended up choosing baby foot prints and a stork. 

Whenever you place a custom cookie order with Something sweet you will get several cookie options and prices to choose from.  Here is the sketches my baby shower client received.   

Cookie ideas

Cookie ideas continued

Up first are the storks.  I used the cookies featured on Sugarbelle's site for inspiration.  You can read the blog post here the cookies are truly amazing!

The storks were painted with a thin layer of white luster dust. 

Next came the baby feet cookies.  These were a blast to make and a great learning experience for me.  I have recently started using disco dust in some of my designs and have been experimenting with different applications.  This time I put the disco dust on the cookies while the icing was still wet.  Thus far it is my favorite way to apply the disco dust.

I love the bright shine it gives the cookies. 

This was such a fun set to make.  I can't wait to do more baby shower cookies.  The soft colors and cute designs are a lot of fun to play around with.  

Stay sweet guys :D

Sunny Days

There is nothing quite like the dog days of summer... and what time better to have a water party!
These cookies were made for a water themed birthday party for an awesome little boy who is turning 5.

The birthday boy had originally wanted cupcakes but after seeing my cookies he opted for cookies instead.  I was thrilled to make these for him plus for a water themed birthday party cookies hold up in wet little hands a bit better than cupcakes.  

Hope you all have wonderful sunny summer days ahead of you!

Stay sweet everyone :D

Lembas Bread and other Lord of the Ring Cookies

I was thrilled to get my first nerdy cookie order!  I got to make some awesome LOTR cookies for a birthday party.

 I went on line and was surprised to find that there are not many LOTR sugar cookies out there, plenty of lovely cakes and cupcakes but not many cookies.  I did however find a fun Lemabs bread cookie here.  

I changed and updated it a bit and was thrilled with how it turned out.  Add a few ring cookies to the mix and some cookies that say happy birthday in elvish and all in all I think you end up with a pretty neat birthday set.  

Hope you had a great birthday Nalie!

Stay sweet everyone!

Lets Go Twins!

As promised here are some more baseball cookies.

This was a challenging set for me because the order was made for a diabetic teenager.  I did my best to offer a few different options and did my best to give my client a rough idea of the carbs, sugar and calories in the cookies. 

 

Hand died sugar cookies

I ended up making two different style cookies.  Some with the dough died and others fully iced.  I was able to cut down on the sugar in the cookies with the died dough because I didn't have to use as much royal icing.  

They look vintage right?

Good ol' regular sugar cookies

I also got to experience another 1st with this cookie order.

8in name plaque 

I got to make a giant cookie, an 8in plaque with the clients son's name on it.  

I am really enjoying making these baseball themed cookies.  

Have a team you want to see in cookie form.... place an order at vanessaslingsby@gmail.com

Stay sweet guys ^^

Take me out to the ball game...

So as I understand it during the summer a bunch folks go out and sit in the heat and watch a bunch of guys swing a stick at a ball and run around in a diamond shape..... This is my basic understanding and appreciation of baseball.

I have tried but it has never been a sport that I got into.  However I love making baseball themed cookies.  The mascots are so much fun and the colors are vibrant.  I was even more thrilled when I was asked to make some baseball cookies for a soldier serving overseas.

  His sister said that my cookies reminded her of some that a neighbor use to make for her and her brother.  The cookies their neighbor made for them made such a lasting impression they still talk about them today (and they are grown and have kids of their own)

I was lucky enough to get an e-mail from the recipient of my cookies.  Here is what he had to say: 

Vanessa,

My sister,sent me a box of your cookies on behalf of my nephew.   They arrived delicious and intact, all the way to the Kingdom of Bahrain!  Great work on the Pittsburgh Pirates design, it has helped lift my spirits as a long deployment nears the end.  Good luck in all your business endeavors.

Sincerely,

Soldier overseas

I am so touched that he took the time to write to me and super happy that all the cookies made it intact.  I was worried about the bills of the hats breaking off. 

If you have anyone special to you that is far from home and want to send some cookies there way let me know.  I am more than happy to help brighten someones day.  

Stay sweet everyone!

Summer time cookies

Summer is finally here, sunny weather, beautiful flowers, warm breezes and butterfly's.

These cookies were made as a thank you gift for some very special teachers and volunteers right before summer vacation began.

These wonderful women devote their time to teaching the next generation.  I was lucky enough to work along side them throughout the school year as a volunteer for the Read 180 program.  This program helps students who are reading below grad level catch up.

I was part of a similar program when I was in the second grad and thanks to dedicated teachers I was reading at a college level before I entered high school. I was privileged enough to work with some awesome 5th graders and thanks to the dedication of their wonderful teachers and volunteers I think many of them will be reading at grade level by the time they start the 6th grade!

Be sure you take the time today to think about a special teacher that changed your life, and if you are able to go out there and thank them.  I am so grateful for all my educators did for me and what they continue to do in the world today.  These sweets are for all the educators out there!  Thank you for all you do!

1st Birthday Cookies for Lincoln

I love making cookies, my favorite type to make are birthday cookies, especially cookies for kids.  They are a lot of fun and really let me be creative.  They also allow me to keep things simple.  These cookies were made last minute for a friend's son, for his 1st birthday. I really enjoy how versatile my cupcake cookie cutter is.  Cupcakes are good for all occasions!

I could see these cookies being great for anyone's birthday not just a 1st birthday.  Maybe for a friend who isn't wild about cake but loves cookies (there are people out there that don't like cake.... believe me.... I happen to be one of them)

Maybe you just want to surprise someone special to you but don't know exactly when you will be seeing them.  A cupcake cookie is perfect for that!  They keep much longer than cupcakes and are just as cute (in my opinion at least)

This same set could be made with a variety of numbers on the round cookies or just leave them with dots...maybe a little heart or star in the middle.  

In the end, these cookies were for a very special little boys birthday.  Happy Birthday Lincoln!  You are a sweet little boy and I can't wait to see you grow up into a wonderful young man.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Welcome Home!

There is nothing more exciting than moving into a new house, especially when it is your 1st house!

These cookies were made as a gift for a few friends who have just recently moved into their 1st house.  

The cookies were a huge hit at the housewarming party.  Do you know anyone who is moving?  

How sweet would it be to show up to there place with a platter full of housewarming cookies, so much sweeter and easier to care for than a house plant ;)

Train Birthday Cookies

Chugga Chugga Choo Chooo
looks what's coming down the track... some birthday cookies for a sweet little boy who is turning 3!

He had a train themed birthday party.

I made the cookies to match the party decorations.  Below is an example of one of the signs used to label different activities that were going on at the party.

  

The colors of the cookies are a bit closer to the party decorations than shown in the pictures, the birthday boys mom send this to me after the party "Vanessa, the cookies were a huge it! They were yummy and they matched the party perfectly. Several people asked for your card :-) Thanks again!"

When I do custom orders I come up with several designs for the customer.  One of the designs I came up with was a train cookie.  The client opted for a single cookie instead but I included one train cookie as a bonus and a thank you for her order.  

 I am thrilled with how the train cookie turned out and can't wait to make more like it.  

Have a sweet day everyone!!!

Happy Graduation

Tis the season of mortar boards and gowns.

Facebook is a sprawl of happy faces and tassels hanging from hats.
There are two special graduates in my life this year.  First, Tyler a good family friend will be going out into the world of sports team management. He is going off to help manage a baseball team out west.  Good Luck Tyler.  These cookies were made for an impromptu graduation party that was thrown for Tyler.

My second special graduate is my hubby, he will be graduating with his MBA this week.  And by graduating I mean he still has 14 weeks of classes left but that's just how graduate school works.
I will be making him something special on his official last day of school.

Be sure to go and congratulate a grad today!  :D