Derby Day Bracelets

I do love a reason to acquire a new bracelet.

My credit card is running for the roses this week!

I recently brought Janna Conner up to post position.
Here's another winner to cross the finish line.


Lauren G. Adams is once again on the inside track with her enamel and stirrup charm bangle.


Odds on favorite is always Ralph Lauren with something classic yet edgy.


Giddy Up!

Perfect party hats.


For a perfect party.

Espresso Martinis, Nachos and Tiaras!

Besides being a great potential blog name these goodies will be on the menu tonight as I venture over to a royal wedding party with the girls at 1 AM!

Coverage begins just after midnight Pacific time and we're donning tiaras while pulling an all-nighter. The best in-house party favor is bringing out the collection of tiaras. Yes, tiaras! Even a replica of Queen Elizabeth's coronation crown will be there which is a family heirloom of my friend's mother. Isn't that incredibly fabulous? I can't wait to see it!

Party attire is PJ's with our chosen tiaras as we sip our way to dawn!

I watched Charles' and Diana's wedding live 30 years ago so the tradition must continue!

Also, if you haven't seen this T-Mobile advertisement of the royal wedding, do so, it's jolly good fun. Enjoy!

How will you be watching the big event?

Refrigerator Envy Ina Garten Style

Last fall I was seduced by Ina Garten's refrigerator. It had been coming on for a long time. Everytime she opened the door of her side-by-side it was a tease. After midnight one autumnal night leading up to Thanksgiving I weakened and succumbed to what I had been envying for so long ... organizational nirvana . There they were - statuesque opaque quart sized containers, all matching, lids locked in place, stackable, reusable. It doesn't get much better than this, my friends.

Add to it that her frig contained only the food for that particular recipe and segment and I was a gonner! Sure, I knew it was staged but it didn't matter. I wanted Ina's plastic containers with the little ridges around the rim. Ina even makes the chore of packing picnics to take to the beach look romantic with these containers! Or at least in my organizational world it does.


My local Thai restaurant carries them. They are great and lock so tight you almost need a bottle opener to pry them open. For awhile there I was ordering Tom Yum a little too frequently so I decided to research and find my own bulk supply.

I found mine at WEBstaurant Store. The common name for these containers are called Deli-tainers. A pack of 24 sells for $5.99

I also bought the lids (yes, they are separate). They come 60 to a set for $4.99. At first I thought, wow, 60! But you know how it is. The lids are the first to mysteriously disappear and if one cracks you have back up.

Last Thanksgiving I put everything in them, all my chopped prep and stacked them according to recipes. For left overs I sent containers home with family (there are also smaller containers available) not worrying about finding the right size or if I was ever going to see my Tupperware again. It made pre-dinner planning and graciously doled out left-overs a snap to hand out.

When the big box arrives a couple days after you order you might open it and think, 24 containers are a lot more than I thought it would be but you'll be surprised how quickly they will dwindle down if you entertain often, make soup or spaghetti sauce to freeze, or host a soup swap. I also use them to hold all my icings for cookies and cupcakes and being opaque it lets me see the colors at a glance.

With the picnic and BBQ-ing season beginning next month I thought planning to be organized would be good place to start.

'Smile' For Camera Cookies!

Food photography has become a big component of blogging where recipes and techniques are shared and since I'm taking so many pictures to document my cookie making and decorating I've needed to find resources to help me improve.

I've been very fortunate to find two exceptionally talented women in this field. The first is Amanda Padgett who runs Everyday Elements. She's incredibly savvy at photography and Photo Shop Elements (PSE) and offers online workshops, tutorial videos and so much more. I've taken 2 workshops with her and she's extremely knowledgeable and patient. I cannot recommend her online workshops enough.

She's having a workshop at her home this weekend and if I had enough frequent flier miles to South Carolina I would have been the first to sign up but I sent some cookies in my place with her logo. I know she'll take a few shots for me and I can't wait to see how a pro does it.

Another photography jewel right in my own OC backyard is Susan of Susan Keller Photography. I found Susan on I Heart Faces (another incredible resource if you're feeling confident) and was instantly drawn to her beautiful work. Her family location shoots are breathtaking. I've been fortunate to work with Susan privately on photographic and post editing training and she is another one of those special, talented, patient souls. I'm seeing a pattern here ~ I need patient people working with me when it comes to digital photography!

BTW, in grabbing Susan's link I see she is having an actions give-away on her blog. Yet another reason to visit her if you post process.

But back to the reason I need to learn more about photographing cookies...

Because both Amanda and Susan have ties to I Heart Faces, I thought I'd use the site's logo for some design inspiration. I modified the corners from rounded to square and added a 'flash'. My plan was to replace the heart on the lens with a daisy and place Amanda's logo on the lower right area of the cookie.


I cut out the cookies with a sharp knife and scored the dough with round cutters. These marks would bake into the cookie and provide guidelines to help decorate the lens area.


"One, Two, Three, Baaaaaake!"


I ran into some design challenges when it came time to decorate. Amanda requested the colors on the cookie be light pink and grey. That meant the most workable color, pink, would be used on the camera body. I tried a grey lens but it didn't work well. A logo on the lower corner of the cookie and a daisy on the lens would have fought for attention so I decided to place the logo in the center. The cookie needed a third color and some texture. I tried yellow polka dots on the camera, then pink ones. It looked like it had caught a childhood disease. I decided to add yellow drop flowers around the lens and a brighter pink for the lens face using the same bright pink for the flower centers.

Now I could place a grey colored logo in the center of the lens giving it the sweet spot focus of the cookie. I wasn't finished. The camera body still needed more texture so I added the raised areas without adding a distracting color to take focus away from the lens area.


I finished by adding pink disco dust to the pink lens area and pink luster powder to the camera body.

Only hot pink grosgrain ribbon would do!

"Click!"

"It's A Fact, The Lady's Stacked..."

..."ain't holding nothing back."

Elizabeth Showers


Lauren G. Adams at Max & Chloe



"I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No"

... to Kenneth J. Lang

Have a beautifully stunning day.

Unforgettable "Quotes" Captured

A tiny photo of a book that will have huge heart warming impact in our older age.


When my boys were very young I started a journal of all their wonderful quotes. My record keeping of these pearls of wisdom didn't last very long because I didn't have just one booklet dedicated to this. I wish I would have done this but here is a journal for you mom's out there who still have time to capture these precious words or for new mom's to be. What a great gift for a baby shower or for Mother's Day, don't you think?

I found it at Paper Source.

Son2 came up with especially thoughtful insights in pre-school always as I was tucking him in bed:

Reflecting on his little light brown patch birthmark:
"My freckles are having a party."

Philosophy:
"I know what happens when we die. We keep coming back over and over again."

I love being a mom. :)

"Everything's Ducky" Chocolate Ducks

Since I've finished all my decorated Easter cookies I thought I'd turn to molded chocolate today. Candy coating, as it's technically referred to, comes in all different colors and flavors but let's call it chocolate.

I melted the wafers in a small Pyrex dish on high for 1 minute in the microwave. Stir to melt all pieces. Heating to remelt the mixture after it cools, took 10 seconds.

Tip:
If you're making a lot of molded pieces I recommend placing small individual Pyrex dishes for every color you're going to be using in a dry electric frying pan set on low. This will keep your chocolates melted the entire time.


Begin with orange for the bill color. 'Color in' both mold halves on the bill.
I brushed it on but using a toothpick will give you more control.

Let the halves set up in the frig for a couple minutes.
When you take out the molds from the frig to fill with yellow, you need to let them warm up a bit or the orange will think it's 'done' and pop out. Yep, sometimes chocolate does seem to have a mind of its own.


The yellow chocolate will stay fluid for a long time after it's melted. If it's too warm when the mold is filled it will begin to melt the orange, too cool and it won't spread when the other half of the mold is placed on top. You'll find the perfect balance.

There is another way to make a hollow mold which entails first clamping the mold together, filling from the bottom, flipping the mold over and letting the chocolate drain out but it is messier and takes longer and I prefer the method I'm showing for a home kitchen.


Back to the way I'm showing ~
touch up the edges of the bill again with melted orange on both mold halves so it will make a seal when the mold is clamped. Fill one mold half with melted yellow chocolate, place the other empty half on top of the filled mold and clamp together.


Make sure you line up important features. In this case it would be the duck bill.


Shake the mold to distribute the chocolate. Place the mold in the frig and reshake every minute or so for a couple minutes. Let the mold get cold.

It's easy to tell when it's done, the chocolate pulls away from the mold but if you can't easily separate the chocolate from the mold, put it back in the frig a couple more minutes and your chocolate will pop right out.

When the duck is de-molded there is finishing work that requires you to handle it so to guard against melting from handling and finger prints, I submerge my hands in ice water for a few seconds. You can also use thin cotton gloves which come in handy for packaging the ducks if you're going to be doing a lot of that.


To finish ~
run a knife edge around the seams of the duck to trim off anything and put on the eyes.
The eyes are pre-made with royal icing.
Dab a small dot of melted yellow chocolate on the eye area and place the eyes.
They set immediately.

See how easy it is to get your ducks all in a row? :)


... and ready for Easter, for baby shower decorations or for baby shower party favors or even tied with ribbon in school colors if your mascot are The Ducks, like Oregon!


I hope you think this project is just ducky!

Confessions Of An Easter Bunny Cookie.

"I have to admit it. I've had a little work done."


"You can't expect a girl to look this good without a little help, can you?"

"Sometimes I get a little, puffy, shall we say, and I need a touch of microdermabrasion."

"A microplane takes care of that right away with no down time!"

"I love my little round turned up nose, don't you?"

"I've been told my little twitch makes the boys' ears stand straight up,
but I wouldn't know about that!"

"I'm thankful for being naturally blessed with a full, fluffy tail not unlike my make-up artist."

"I happen to know she wishes hers was made from coconut too and not from over indulgences of chips and salsa."

"Uh oh. She just told me to mind my own business."

"Artists can be so touchy."

"Being seen without my lashes? Sacrilege!"

"No matter how sweet and cute I am."

"My shade of choice for a pedi is Soft Pink by AmeriColor. It looks good on everyone."

"I can never quite decide...."

"Is there a price to pay for looking too alluring?"

"Oops. I guess so!"

"Ready for the hunt."

Finis.

Easter Cookie Posts and Recipes
Chicks
Baby Bunnies
Lambs
Marshmallow Bunny Pops
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Royal Icing Recipe

"Sweet Embraceable Ewe" Cookies

Move over bunnies! There's a new cookie in town!


Well, actually there's a whole flock.

When I was making wedding cookies samples I used a fondant embossing sheet on a few of them.
I liked the look of one sheet in particular and thought the pattern would look cute on lamb cookies.

You can read the post I wrote about how to use the embossing sheet on fondant here.

Here's the quick recap ~

Roll the embossing sheet over the rolled out fondant.


Cut out the cookie shape with the cutter.



On some of the cookies I wanted to make a colored face so I took a decorating tip and used it as a cutter for the face and legs. It has a natural curve which looks nice.



Bond the fondant to the cookie with piping gel.

I used the embossed swirl pattern as a guide to make royal icing swirls using a #2 tip.


Here's a different color combo that's waiting for a shake of fine sanding sugar.

Little lambs for a baby shower?

How sweet!

Have a sweet day today, blog friends!

Decorated Baby Bunny Cookies

These baby bunny cookies are some of my favorites and I made them again this year for clients and friends. I received some emails asking questions so I'm happy to show you how to make them!

What You'll Need:

• Batch o' Bunny Cookies (Sugar Cookie Recipe)
• Royal Icing Recipe
• Pearl Dragees (tail)
• Assorted Small Pink Dragees (eyes) or use icing
• #2 Plain Round Decorating Tip/Coupler (optional)
• Decorating Bag or Parchment Cone
• Squeeze Bottle (optional)
  
• Soft Pink Americolor Gel Color
  

To decorate:

1.
Outline The Cookie
~ with pink icing using a #2 round tip.

2.
Fill In The Cookie
~ with thinned white icing.
First, I like to run a rim of thinned icing around the interior of the cookie. This gives me a clean edge against the pink icing outline. I leave gaps around the curves for more control and go back and coax the icing into place with the nozzle of the bottle. I then work from the top of the cookie to the bottom, filling in as I go.

Question:
"How do you get your icing so smooth without bubbles?"

Answer:
I do get some very small bubbles sometimes but I came up with this trick and it works pretty well for me ~ when I put thinned icing into a squeeze bottle to fill in a cookie, I put the cap on the bottle and turn it upside down and let the air bubbles rise to the bottom of the bottle, which is now the top. I always keep my icing bottles in this position even when I'm not using them at a particular moment. Using a tall glass to hold them works well. If you don't have a cap for your bottle, place a damp piece of paper towel or a piece of sponge in the bottom of the glass. Give it a try!

3.
Dragees!
Because these are sweet baby bunnies I wanted something simple for their decoration.
The pearl dragees by India Tree are what I used for the tail.


To show you different eye looks, I used different shades of pink dragees for the eyes from a bright pink, to a soft pink to metallic pink, which is my favorite.

After filling in the cookie with the white icing, I waited for about 5 minutes or so before adding the tail and eye dragees. Waiting allows the icing to set up just enough so the dragees do not sink into the icing too far. You might like to use a dot of pink icing instead.

4.
Bunny Nose
Use a drop of pink icing for the nose.


I like to use thinned icing so it finishes without the peak of stiffer icing. If you don't want to do this step, pipe a dot using the pink icing used to outline the bunny. Almost immediately after you pipe it, dab your finger in a little bit of corn starch and touch the peak of the icing to flatten it.

5.
Bunny Blush

Question:
"How do you make the blush color on the ear?"

Answer :
I used matte pink petal powder. What you see on the brush is all you need for a cookie. After the cookie icing completely dried and has hardened, I brushed it on the ear and rubbed it in with my finger.


The bunnies are hopping to make their spring debut!