Vintage Wedding (March 2015)

When a colleague of mine asked me about making cookies for a "vintage" wedding shower, I was very intrigued.  I had been eying some interesting patterns/textures, but I had never yet had the opportunity to attempt them.  And, while these cookies were inspired by some of my favorite bakers,

 the designs are happily (mostly) mine.

I narrowed the designs to a set of 6.  Then I created 2 designs for each of the 3 background colors: light brown, ivory, and periwinkle.

The burlap pattern was definitely my favorite.  After looking into several different techniques, I chose to attempt the 

BearFoot Baker's burlap pattern.

After the base layer had dried, I used a filigree pattern on top with a thicker, piping consistency of the same color.  The filigree pattern I've been practicing is found on SweetAmb's website.

Although very simple, this lace pattern was inspired by a tutorial from Sweet Sugarbelle.

(I know this floral design was inspired by another design somewhere online, but I can't remember the exact link.)  Making the petals with the exact pressure/release in the icing bag turned out to be more challenging than I had thought.

I had a chance to practice petals again with this simple design.

This design was also simple, consisting of small heart and dot details to a solid cookie.

By themselves, each cookie was fairly easy to execute; however, I liked how complex the designs looked when all grouped together on a platter.

I added a quick bride and groom cookie to complete the platter.

So, my first attempt at vintage cookies...fun, different, and inspiring!

Summer Wedding Showers (August 2014)

Near the end of the summer, but still going strong with "wedding season" it seems.  These two batches of cookies were made for friends of our family.  This one, was for Amy.  My mom was heavily involved with the planning of her shower, and as such, I thought I'd offer to make the favors.  It's a group of 4 wedding gowns, very similar in design to cookies I made earlier in the year for another wedding shower, making the planning very easy.

I made a few minor changes, like adding some pink rose details and bows and adding some white sanding sugar on some of the dress busts.  (Difficult to see from these pictures, but we're lucky I have any to share...I gave these to my mom without thinking to take any pictures ahead of time.  Thankfully, she was able to figure out her i-phone enough to take a few for history's sake...thanks mom! :)

   

 She used cellophane bags with a black ribbon and name tag to package the cookies.  They were placed on each girl's plate at the shower, serving as a place card and favor...smart planning!

This is my attempt at a wedding gown, with a design inspired by Sweet Ambs' famed filigree pattern.  I then used a royal icing rose I had made awhile back on the dress and the tux as an accent.  These had just been waiting to be used on the right cookie.  Finally, the pre-made royal icing transfers are paying off!

These wedding shower cookies were for Julia, as requested by her aunt.  She lives out-of-town, and the family had thought that they would be unable to celebrate with her.  Then, in a last-minute arrangement, Julia was able to travel to Chicago, sending her very thoughtful aunt into action, planning the perfect *surprise* shower...so sweet!

 

 There wasn't much time to prepare, so I decided to use some of my tried and true designs (dresses, cakes), and also accommodate the request to personalize the cookies if possible by playing around with some new ideas. 

That's where I decided to add their first names to my double heart cookies and the "B" monogram on a design I adapted from Sweet Treats By Casey, as seen on Pinterest.  She had used a stencil and an airbrush machine, but since I had neither, I improvised with a food marker pen.

 

These were going to be served on a platter at their family's gathering, so I thought an assortment would work best.

I was so happy to be a part of these ladies' celebrations.  

Thank you for including me, and congratulations!

One is Silver and the Other's Gold...(April 2014)

Do you remember that old Girl Scout song?  "Make new friends, but keep the old...One is silver and the other's gold."  I don't know how that random bit of music history came into my head, but I'll weave it into this blog post somehow.

Through preschool and park district classes, I'm meeting so many moms and parents with kids the same age as mine.  Although it can be tricky to find parents I enjoy who have kids my kids also enjoy, that is no longer the case with my great group of dance moms.
(Yes, I guess that's what I am now.)

There's a group of at least 5 of us who seem to have so much in common, and the girls have become fast friends.  Well, as a favor to one of them and her sister, I made these cookies.  They are planning a wedding shower for a couple whose colors are, well, silver and gold.

(See, my title makes sense after all.)

 These hearts were for the bride and groom, using some inspiration from an older post of mine, but with grey instead of black tuxes to match the color scheme.

The real fun came when it came to designing the full gown variations.

I knew I wanted to incorporate brush embroidery for details, especially since my color palette was fairly limited.

I also used some gold and silver luster dust to brush on a bit of a shimmer, but it didn't turn out quite as shiny as I was hoping for.  I might need to revisit this technique in the future and/or look into disco dust.  (Doesn't that just sound like fun?)

Still, I was pretty happy with how the ruffles turned out.

Their plan is to place each gown in a favor bag with a gold/silver ribbon as a favor for each guest at the shower.  So pretty!  

But, I couldn't resist a photo with them all together on a platter.

A fun project that I gladly completed for a (new) friend.  

Hope the shower is beautiful!

Spring Weddings (March 2014

See how optimistic I'm being with the title of this post?  I, like every other midwesterner, is completely over this never-ending winter.  Let's bring in the spring with some wedding celebrations.  I just love this design from Dolce Desserts.  I thought it was simple and elegant...just the thing for my friend's mom's wedding. 

She is using purple as her accent color, and therefore, so did I.  A nice color pop against an otherwise pretty neutral platter.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, underneath the decorated cookies are a bunch of my lemon-glazed shortbread cookies, one of her favorites, and specifically requested for this platter.  

Wishing them much happiness for their upcoming wedding this weekend!

And congratulations to my co-worker who is also getting married this month!  Today was her bridal shower at work, so I made this platter for her using the same inspired design.

Her colors are pink and grey (so pretty!).  I tried my best to replicate her simple, but very elegant full ballgown and her bouquet of pink roses.

And, for minis, I used a mini pumpkin cutter to create Sweet Sugarbelle's new rose design, accented with some sanding sugar.

Let's hope all these warm wishes melt away some of this stubborn snow! :) 

My Brother's Wedding (September 2012)

They got married the first weekend of September, Labor Day, and it was a beautiful event.  Family from all over the country and outside the country (she has a lot of family in South Africa) flew in for the wedding, and like most couples who have guests from out-of-town, they wanted to leave little favors in the hotel room.  That's where I jumped in!

I had seen a ton of inspiration on Etsy (i.e. Veras Cookies, Color Me Cookies, The Fancy Lady Gourmet), and I wanted to try my hand at making these custom cookies!  In the end, all the rooms got one "couple" of hearts, tied in a cellophane bag with a pretty purple ribbon.  I'll admit I did make a practice-round first to make sure I could pull off what I had promised them, but I'm pretty happy with the final product.

Congratulations to the happy couple :)

My Brother's Pre-Wedding Festivities (Spring 2012)

So, having very little experience in this world of cookie decorating, I set out looking for other opportunities to practice.  My brother's wedding would prove to be several months worth of inspiration.  First off, was my sister-in-law's bridal shower.

I'm most proud of the dresses.  All I knew was the color scheme of dark violet (in actuality, much more beautiful than this purple), but I wanted to accent the bridal dresses with her personal choice.

And, since I wanted to add some interest to the table favors, I added some wedding cakes.

However, in the end, when all tied up in a cellophane bag with a purple ribbon and placed at each guest's plate setting, they ended up being a success.

Since my addiction to these little guys could not be squelched, I also tried my hand at some (very tame) lingerie cookies for her bachelorette party.  No pictures of these...not my finest work, but who could blame me?  (Did I mention that during all this cookie-craze, I had a baby due any day now?)