Pirate Cookies

My adorable little nephew wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party for his 4th birthday, so I volunteered to do some pirate themed cookies. I didn't want to try to do character cookies because without a KopyKake, I find recreating specific characters very difficult, so I thought coordinating cookies would be perfect. I knew I wanted a treasure chest as the centerpiece, so I went to Michael's and found this little unfinished one for $9.99 and used my 50% off coupon. I heavily diluted some brown craft paint and did a color wash on it. One application was plenty. Then I printed the skull image on my black and white laser printer and attached it with a homemade version of modge podge, which was watered down Elmer's glue. Worked perfectly and gave the set that little extra something I had in mind.

Pirate Cookies

 

My thank you video for the cookies. How Adorable!

Tool Cookies

Did these for a tool and gadget shower for one of my husband's cousins that was this past Saturday. Of course, this is the photo op version, because there were almost 90 of these bad boys overall! I also did the letter W on the little wooden toolbox. I'd debated whether to make the toolbox out of cookies as well, but decided against it because of all of the icing and drying time it would require. Found this little unfinished toolbox at Michael's for less than $5.00, so I grabbed it up, along with some white craft paint. After that dried, I did a very watered down coat of brown craft paint over it and immediately wiped it off.

I really like the details on this version of the tool cookies I did, as opposed to the first set I did a few months ago. I think it makes all of the difference in the world. Differences? Pliers are muli-leveled and have a screw on them. I love that little screw and the notch on it. The hammer, wrench and screwdriver also have multiple layers, which makes them much more realistic. And I added silver metallic luster dust (mixed with a few drops of vodka) for a metal finish on everything that required it, except the saws. I really need to invest in some better brushes for that purpose.

Tool Cookies

Kentucky Basketball Cookies

Some months ago a friend from my hometown was raising money for genetic testing for her granddaughters for a condition known as Dravet Syndrome and I offered up two dozen cookies for auction as my donation. She posted the auction in two places, so I ended up agreeing to honor both auction winners, because there was no way for those in each place to see the other bids. My friend, Amy, who I have done a number of cookies for in the past, ended up winning her auction and asked if she could wait to redeem her winning bid for her husband's birthday in June, although she immediately made her donation. (BTW: Between both auctions, we raised $110.00 for the cause!) I told her that was fine. She had no idea what she wanted to do, but then it hit me that her husband was a University of Kentucky fan, or at least I thought so. I sent her daughter a message to confirm because I wanted Amy to be as surprised as Mark would be. Her daughter said he would LOVE them. When I delivered them on Sunday, Amy's face and reaction of pure excitement and surprise said it all! :) (Also of note, genetic testing came back and they do NOT have the syndrome!)

I ordered this UK cutter from JB Cookie Cutters, who do 3D printing to make cookie cutters. When it arrived, I was a little disappointed with the size as it seemed awfully small, but it ended up working just fine. They also sent the component parts of the cutter, I guess in case I was doing fondant. Because they were a bit on the small side, they were a bit tedious to do. I ended up doing the white outline first and then filling in, which makes the blue a little lumpy looking, but I was too scared to try it otherwise. Now that I have a point of reference for them with these finished cookies, I think next time (she posted them on FB last night and I already have a request for some for a birthday in September) that I'll do a completely blue flood and fill first and then come back when that is dry and do the white outlines.

Kentucky Basketball Cookies

Kentucky Basketball Cookies

Trains and Teddy Bear Cookies

Did these trains and teddy bears for the child/grandchild of some long time friends. I decided to try my first go at a 3D/stand-up cookie with one of the trains. Just made a couple of long rectangles to bridge them together and attached them inside with really stiff royal icing. I LOVE that they ended up using it on the cake! I recently bought the Betty Crocker 101 set of cutters because there were a couple in there that I wanted, so of course, I just got all 101! ha! Anyway, I used the train cutter from that set instead of the only other one I had which was from the Wilton 101 set, because I liked the design of this one better.

Train Cookies, Teddy Bear Cookies

Train Cookies, Teddy Bear Cookies

Train and Teddy Bear Cookies

Swirl Rose Cookies using Royal Icing.

Sometimes things work out just as they were in my head. I am in love with these rose cookies. And my, oh my, they were so super simple.

I was asked by a friend's mom to do angels and roses for a luncheon she was giving for a wives group at a VFW gathering during D-Day weekend. The luncheon was to honor the outgoing president of their group, who had used the symbols of angels and roses during her term. Her daughter did lovely stemmed beverage glasses with a rose embossed on the base of each. I had done some roses before, but didn't really like them, so I wanted a different idea. I noticed when I did a google image search that a few people had done simple swirl roses using a 1M tip. I'd always assumed they were buttercream cookies and couldn't be done with royal icing, because I've done tons of buttercream swirl roses on cupcakes and swirl rose cakes. Upon further investigation, I discovered that I could do them with very stiff royal icing. My decision was made - that was what I would be doing for the roses! I used a round cutter and added a couple of small leaves to it. These things were so easy and so quick AND they look amazing. When I say quick, I mean super, super quick! I did about 2dz. each of the angels and roses. The angels took me just a little over an hour to complete. The roses were done within 10 minutes. The biggest delay was refilling my icing bag, because they do use quite a bit of icing, but they are so totally worth it.

Rose and Angel Cookies

Swirl Rose Cookie

Spa Party Cookies

Did these for a friend's daughter's birthday party. These have become a favorite, as it is the third time I have done ones like these. Loved the addition of mascara and eyelashes to the mix.

Spa Party Cookies

Tree Stump Cookies

Did these for the retirement party of a co-worker of my husband who has a side business doing stump grinding. I could not find an actual tree stump cutter anywhere, so I got a huge circle on from Sur la Table, broke it open and my husband and I shaped it into the stump. Since I had no idea what I was doing, I just jumped in and tried. Notice the few along the back that have the larger "cut area" showing, those were my first ones and I totally wasn't feeling them. I adjusted doing the same portion in a smaller surface area and ended up liking them much better.

Tree Stump Cookies

Watermelon Cookies

Did these for our local bar association's annual picnic. I don't like the shade of bright green I used - I ended up mixing electric yellow and avocado, which looks like a neon yellow/green shade. Next time I'll either do plain old electric green or a mix of lemon yellow with avocado to get a less glow in the dark shade. ha! I also just did random black RI transfers for the seeds. Can't locate black candy covered sunflower seeds without ordering online, which I hate doing, so next time I am going to try using Wilton spray color in black on a bunch of colored candy covered sunflower seeds I already have for a more uniform look.

Watermelon Cookies