Over. The. Hill.

Fortieth birthday cookies are purely entertaining to make. Maybe that's because I'm not 40 yet (close but not yet).

I had a client who's husband requested my cookies for his 40th Birthday - and we decided to go with the standard black and white motif.  True "over-the-hill" theme.

I had planned on using my airbrush to add some background fun on the plaque cookies. Only when I was cleaning it out...I lost the teeny-tiny piece that goes by the trigger.  Down the drain.  I almost cried. Actually I cursed.  Loudly.  But it didn't bring back the lost piece.  Sidenote: anyone know if you can buy pieces to airbrushes?

Either way I think they still turned out pretty neat.  Yes, neat "over-the-hill" cookies.

 

Happy 40th Birthday Ryan.  I hope you had a great day!

Neeeeeeeigh....that's a horse sound

When you turn 16 you want horse cookies right?

No?  Well for my cousin's daughter she's way more into a horse as her form of transportation than a car. However I don't think she'd turn down a car.  Just my gut feeling.

Gabby loves anything horse related.  She always has, even when she was young.  At a family dinner years ago my brother tried convincing her that he road across Oklahoma on the back of a horse named Mr. Ed.  It was the best story ever - that he continued to make up on the fly.  The rest of us had a hard time not
laughing out loud and I think Gabby wasn't entirely sure that he was making it up.  He had great answers to all of her questions.  My favorite was when she asked what he fed Mr. Ed - and Matt  replied "Cheerios" in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Even though we tried to convince her of my brother's horse past - she never wavered from her love.  Thus, horse sugar cookies to celebrate her birthday were perfect.

I started with just a few frosting colors - thankfully left over from orders earlier that week and some extra mixing to get more brown!

I was torn bewteen trying to do entire horses or just the heads.  Heads won out.  Simplicity seemed smarter.

A flooding of brown.

And a quick white strip of white flood frosting while the brown was still wet.  Then they dried for about 3 hours.

I needed the base layer to be hard enough so I could do the horsey details.  Yes, horsey.

That means eyes, a halter and hair...ummm a mane.

I also made some accompanying cookies that were to have horseshoes on them.  

The final cookies turned out pretty cool.  Consider me shocked.  I was prepared to be completely unhappy with the horses.  

Happiest Birthday Gabby - I hope turning 16 was awesome!  Mr. Ed wishes you a fantastic day too!

Ahoy Matey...

Arrrrrggggg...I can't believe it.

I'm just shocked I haven't posted these pictures.

I did...kinda...on Instagram...and it went onto my Facebook page.  But it never got here.

And for that I'm sorry.

Thankfully cookie photos don't go bad.  And neither do cookies if you freeze them, but who keeps them around long enough to do that?

I was asked by a friend to make cookies for her son's third birthday.  Who, from what I understand, was having a pirate birthday party. 

What is better than that?

Nothing.  Except in cookie form.

The birthday boy's mother asked for just a few cookie designs...but because I grew up with her...and because this was such a fun request I went a little overboard. 

Ok.  A lot overboard.

How can you not when it's such an awesome theme?

So without any further adieu I bring you...Finn's Pirate Birthday cookies!

 

 

Arrrrrggggg swashbucklers - we hope Finn had a fantastic birthday.  Even if it was back in June.

Oh the places you'll go!

Talk about one of the best ideas for a 1st birthday party.  Not to mention one for a little boy who has seen more of the world than some people will see in their entire life!

Wyatt's mom asked if I'd be willing to make birthday cookies for her son's birthday when they were still living in Bahrain.  Yes, Bahrain.  And no that's not in Illinois.

Thankfully they were going to be home in the United States, Nebraska specifically, to celebrate his first birthday.

His mom came up with the awesome idea of "Oh the Places You'll Go" from Dr. Seuss paired with a travel theme to really commemorate her little guys first birthday.

She sent me over some ideas and a picture of the birthday invitation and away I went.

It was so. much. fun.

I started by using my tierd cake cookie cutter with the idea of turning it into stacked suitcases.

And I finally got to use my cloud cutter from Truly Mad Plastics!  Not to mention being able to use my Tru Color "sky blue" airbrush color.  It was all around a first time for everything!

I was pretty happy with how the stacked suitcases ended up. Darn cute. The details will make then even better.

I added the words onto the clouds which made them even happier little clouds. Bob Ross would smile.

See...I told you the details made them better.

Overall, this was an awesomely fun set to make.

And I'm hoping the birthday boy and all his party guests enjoyed them!

Happy First Birthday Wyatt!

He wants Sesame Street

That's what you get when you ask a three and five year old to pick a theme for their brother's 1st birthday party.  They thought it was a pretty good idea.

I love Sesame Street.  I'm a product of PBS and love that darn show.

I reminded myself how much I loved the show when I was mixing up every color known to man to make the cookies.

However, after my self-diagnosed carpal tunnel stopped hurting, I started to find my love again for my friends at Sesame Street.  It also helped that the cutters I use have this nifty little press that gives me a fantastic frosting guide.  It's like paint by numbers but for frosting.

Just outline and fill.  It's like magic.

But the end result is pretty darn nifty.

Even Ernie is happy.  And he doesn't know that I didn't make a Bert.

Sunny day, keepin' the clouds away, on my way to where the air is sweet, can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

Happy (late) Birthday J.R.!  I know you had a great day.

Oh, and I still have your birthday present.  Yes, you may be two before I get it to you.

Cookies to Cambridge

Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in May.  Yes, I did say May.  I'm a little behind on posting.  Did you notice?

So, back in May I was contacted about making cookies for a birthday...specifically a birthday for this ladies son and husband.  One who was turning 25 and the other was turning 70.  You can figure out which age goes with which person.

They were planning on celebrating the dual birthdays by going to a Cleveland vs. Red Sox game on June 14th.

So they wanted birthday baseball cookies.

Yes.  Birthday and Baseball.  Meld it together and what do you get?

This.

I thought it was a pretty good combination...and apparently they did too.  I got a great email after they had shipped to Cambridge, Massachusetts (and I prayed a lot for safe delivery) that the family and most importantly the birthday boys loved them.

Go Sox!

It's Art. Really it is.

It's an art kind of day.  Especially for a birthday party.

I've always wanted to make art pallet cookies and my wish came true last week.  A sorority sister of mine who I've also made cookies for in the past asked if I'd make art cookies for her little girls birthday.  And who can say no to that?

I started out by making the art pallet out of the same cutter I've used recently to make the golf green holes. Recognize it?

After flooding it brown I painted on the "wood grain" effect to make it look more like an artist paint pallet.

I think it looks pretty nifty.

My next quest was to find something to make paint brushes out of....nothing like a spoon cookie cutter to come to the rescue.

And yes, I have a spoon, fork and knife cookie cutter.  Don't judge.

And a little wood grain effect to complete the paint brush handles.

 This was by far the easiest cookie decorating I've done.  I just took the piping tips off the bag and smooshed (it's a technical term) the frosting onto the paint pallets.

Easy.  And cool.

The final products are awesome.  And so colorful.  It just makes me happy looking at these paint brushes.

Happy 6th Birthday to a cool little girl.  I'm hoping she loved them!  I know I did.