Olivia the Pig

Even though I have never owned one "Olivia the Pig" book, I always think they are adorable when I pass them in the bookstore. ("Olivia Goes to Venice" particulalry appealed to me!) So when I was asked to make Olivia the Pig cookies for a birthday party, I was excited. The only problem? No such cookie cutter exists and I could not find an image online that was the correct size to make a template from. Enter my parents to the rescue who went to the library on my behalf and returned with three books for me to choose from. (Seriously, they are the best!) So, I traced the outline of Olivia in the size I wanted and then used it as a template to hand cut around. Thankfully I only needed to do eight actual Olivias or that may have been a timely endeavor.


I free handed the rest of the design and am pleased with the end result.


Hopefully the birthday girl Olivia agrees. :)

Thank you once again Paola, party planner extraordinaire!

Going to the Chapel!

First of all, I hope you all on the east coast fared well in Hurricane Irene this weekend. We were lucky and kept power with limited signs that the storm had even come through. Many people were not as fortunate and I have certainly been thinking of you all and hoping that things are back to normal for you soon.

I attended a beautiful bridal shower for a sorority sister mid-storm and could not help but think of all of the plans that were cancelled as a result of Irene. I heard many stories of guest lists dwindling at events and even weddings that were planned for two years being cancelled all together. I cannot imagine the disappointment that must have caused, however these brides will certainly have quite a story to tell for years to come.

Last week I sent cookies to Pittsburgh for a bridal shower in honor of a friend's sister-in-law-to-be. My friend was not able to make the shower due to the pending storm, but at least cookies were sent in her honor! The shower colors were pink and cocoa, which I honored in the details of the gowns and cakes.


I hope everything went well at the shower...thankfully I don't think Irene had Pittsburgh on her itinerary. And many thanks to you Esther! Hopefully next time you will actually get to eat a cookie. ;)

Fruit Cocktail

This has been a big week on the cookie front. Since Monday night I have made 245 (or 20.4 dozen) custom cookies. And that is after working at my "real" job. ;) I am proud of everything I've made this week and cannot wait to share it all with you, but first I may have to have one of my family's fruit-packed cocktails to settle down after an extremely busy few days.


(My aunt's wine on the left and my dad's famous vodka concoction on the right...fruit cocktails must run in the family.)

These drinks tie in nicely to the cookies I have for you today. Recently my friend S contacted me about making cookies for her daughter's Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party. In case you were wondering Strawberry Shortcake looks NOTHING like she did back in the eighties...she and her friends have all receieved a major makeover. Thankfully S was not after character cookies and instead worked fruit into her pary decor. (Love that!)

We played on the characters and stuck with strawberries, lemons, plums, oranges and raspberries. Instead of blueberries, we added in a monogram cookie but stuck with the missing color. I love how these turned out and the creativity S put into planning the party.


Thank you once again Susan! Can't wait to see photos from the big event.

Take Me Out to the(Red Sox) Game!

When I was a little girl, I loved baseball. My brother and I would compete for the game tickets my dad would bring home and during the time we lived in Cincinnati, I bet we went to cheer the Reds on once a week. My brother had the opportunity to see the Reds play in the World Series at game two back in the day. In a selfish move, I had picked the tickets to the sixth game with visions of a more exciting event/seeing the Reds win it all at home but sadly the series was over in four games and I never got my shot at seeing a World Series game in Cinci. Lesson on the importance of selflessness learned.

These days I have to say I am not much of a baseball fan. I enjoy to go to about one game a year for the spirit of it but you will never catch me watching a game on TV. My husband though? Watches.Baseball.Every.Night. Unfortunately his team hasn't had much to show for themselves in years but he is dedicated nonetheless.

Thankfully for my friends, they are Red Sox fans. I have no idea if the Sox are good this season or not but they will have a spirited following no matter what. When my friend contacted me about making Red Sox cookies for her husband's birthday, I knew it might pain my Pirates-loving husband to see them but surprisingly he liked them as much as I did.


And if I didn't already have my one ball game logged for the season, they may have even motivated me to buy some tickets this weekend. ;)

Thank you once again Alicia and Happy Birthday to you Ronnie! Glad to hear you guys enjoyed these.

VA Earthquake Recap

Well, yesterday afternoon was a bit crazy here in VA. I was walking down the hallway of my office building when the entire floor started loudly shaking. I thought maybe there had been a construction explosion for a split second until my coworkers started rushing toward the stairwell telling me to get out of the building as we were having an earthquake. An earthquake?! In Virginia?? It was a lot to process in a quick second but definitely turned out to be true. All 5.8 worth of true.

While of course I realize our earthquake pales in comparison to tragedies that have been experienced around the world due to much more severe events, it was still scary to people like me who felt the earth move for the first time yesterday.

Once the phone lines calmed down, I received this photo from my husband of the street outside his office. The one outside of mine looked the same way...


(Yes, that's us - the east coasters standing underneath high rises just after an earthquake. You can't blame us...we just don't know better!)

Thankfully the only evidence of an earthquake in our home aside from crooked paintings was one wine glass that had fallen out of our hutch, conveniently landing on the carpet and bouncing right side up. ;)


We are lucky and I am thankful. Yesterday was a day I will not forget for a while.

Now it's back to baking and life as usual!

We are FAMILY!

Recently I attended my family reunion in Massachusetts after a quick trip to my hometown of Roxbury, CT.


So it seemed fitting when my friend J contacted me about making cookies for her own family reunion. She had the clever idea of incorporating her husband's family's reunion traditions including a tractor pull, horseshoes and rolling pin toss. The big event was taking place in WV so we decided to incorporate that into the mix too. All of those ideas made for an eclectic, colorful presentation of cookies to eat there and also to take home for later.


Thank you once again J - I really appreciate your continued support of One Preppy Cookie! :)

Look Whoooo's Having a Baby (Shower!)

I am in the season if life that involves throwing and attending quite a few baby showers. I personally have planned several showers and tend not to stick to a particular "theme" but rather to overall colors. I do however enjoy to see how people pick one thing and stick with it throughout the planning of their event.

Recently a friend contacted me about making cookies for an owl themed baby shower she was hosting. I wish I had asked her permission to show you photos of the atual shower itself because it was BEAUTIFUL with no detail spared. From owl cupcakes to centerpieces to invitations, the shower was tasteful and "Martha-esque." I was more than happy to be a part of it through my cookies.


Thank you once again Regina - and great job on planning a wonderful shower!

JMU Dukes Wedding Cookies

Recently my friend's mom (a.k.a. the mother-of-the-groom last weekend!) contacted me about making cookies for her son and daughter-in-law-to-be's rehearsal dinner. She had the idea of doing JMU themed cookies as that is the alma mater of the now newlyweds. I had full reign over the designs and as much as it hurt my Hokie loving heart to make these at times (who could forget that devastating football game last year??) it made it easier since I am so fond of the happy couple. :)


I ended up adding 6 different cookies into the mix and was happy with the results. (I will say though that the Duke Dog is not the easiest mascot to draw in frosting!)


So CONGRATULATIONS J&J and many thanks to you Mrs. K!

Here's to many years of happiness together...and maybe even to a less embarrassing football game next time our schools meet! ;)

Sailor Baby

While we're on the invitation inspiration theme, I thought I would share another party I recently did using an adorable invitation as my guide.


Amanda contacted me about a sprinkle for her sister. She knew that she wanted sailboat onesies and enthusiastically agreed to my suggestion of sailor suit onesies to accompany them. (Looking back, even sailboat cookies would have been a cute addition!)


I loved the originality of this theme and had I been invited to the party, I probably would have made an appearance with baby boat shoes in tow. :)

Thank you again Amanda - hope you ladies had a great celebration!

Floral Invitation Inspiration

When it comes to making cookies, one of my favorite things to do is use invitations for events to inspire my cookie design. Recently a friend gave me the invitation for her mom's birthday party "just in case" it would serve as inspiration...


Well, it certainly did and I knew I would try to replicate the colorful flowers and windy vines onto her cookies.


Sometimes there is simply no point in thinking outside the box when a great idea is literally handed to you. :)

Thank you Elizabeth! I hope the party was fabulous.

Dinosaurs!

First of all, thank you all for your kind wishes yesterday. One Preppy Cookie fans are the BEST! I took a cookie break from the blog yesterday, but certainly not in the kitchen where I baked away as always. :)

Let's change gears though. This morning we are going to talk about dinosaurs. (Cookie bouquets, sushi, anniversary and dinosaurs - now there's an eclectic week!) My friend A's son turned one about two weeks ago and celebrated with a dinosaur party. I thought that was a bit different from the norm and was happy to work on cookies to match the creative event.

(Random side note and a thought about dinosaurs that makes ME actually feel like one. I remember sitting by the pool with my dad on a family vacation to Hawaii in 1992 and him closing a book he had just finished while saying, "This book would make a really great movie." That book was Jurassic Park and WOW does it seem like a long time ago since that was in the theatres.)

But back to the 1st birthday party. The bday boy's mom sent me links to his party decor and I did my best to match the design and colors...


I received the CUTEST photo of him eating a t-rex but since I did not ask permission to share it, the cookie pic will have to suffice for now.

Thank you so much for being a continued supporter Ang - I really appreciate it!

And a happy weekend to all!

Happy Fourth Anniversary to US!

No cookies today. Instead I will be wishing my husband a happy fourth anniversary. Though it may seem trite, time truly does fly and I cannot believe it was already four years ago today that we were celebrating our marriage.

We had a Lilly Pulitzer themed summer wedding and there was not a cloud in the sky (not that I would have really been bothered by that anyway once the actual day arrived.)



I lovingly spent months making all of the decor by hand with the exception of the cake and the flowers.


It's a good thing I wasn't into making cookies then as they would have undoubtedly be added to a long do-it-yourself list of pineapple candles, ribbon boards, place cards, table cards, programs, confetti bags and who can even remember what else...


So much love to my husband today and many thanks to our friends and family who made the effort to celebrate with us on our big day.


Here's to many more memories and happy anniversaries together!

Sushi Samba!

When I receieved a request for sushi cookies, I was excited but admittedly a little nervous. A long-time vegetarian, I have never so much as set foot in a sushi restaurant, let alone had a sample other than a veggie roll to serve as inspiration. But I started looking at photos of sushi and checking it out during my nearly daily trip to Whole Foods (sad-but-true) and I knew it would be okay.

These cookies made their way to a birthday party at a sushi restaurant last night. (I was dying to post them as soon as they were finished but did not want to ruin any surprises.) I certainly hope that a good time was had by all!


Thank you so much Courtney - it was great to hear from you and work with your fun idea!

COOKIE Bouquet!

Over the weekend my very creative friend with a big sweet tooth turned the big 3-0. I have been wanting to attempt a cookie bouquet and knowing there are few people who would have appreciated it more, I got to work on Laura's bouquet. Naturally I wanted it to be birthday themed, but also to incorporate a few of her favorite things (silly, frivolous things of course...my husband was disturbed when I didn't make a cookie of her son or husband!)

Without getting into too much detail about my friend L, her love of shoes, purses, famous drawer full of eye shadows, enjoyment of cupcakes and frequent hankering for french fries (one brand in particular as you will see) served as inspiration as I decorated away.


Another view once the cookies were wrapped...


I was very nervous about this bouquet making the 45 minute car ride to the vineyard we were celebrating at, but I held onto it carefully and it made its way there easily much to my (and the birthday girl's) delight!

Beach Travels and Seahorses

Last weekend was our third weekend of traveling out of town...with cookies in tow! We headed to the Outer Banks, NC with friends for a few days. I wanted to bring some cookies along, but had completely run out of time to make anything time consuming. I literally had about 20 minutes to decorate a batch the morning we left, so I decided to keep things easy and use my Lilly Pulitzer phone cover as inspiration to decorate the seahorse cookies I had baked.


There are SO many more things I could have done with these cookies, but 20 minutes is 20 minutes. (And the people eating them didn't care one bit!)


On a completely different note, if you follow me on Twitter you know that I was captivated by my beach read over the weekend. Have any of you read Divergent yet? If you did, let me know what you thought. I LOVED it!


Here's to a weekend at HOME. Phew! Hope you all have a great weekend too!

Tex Mex 30th Birthday Party!

Don't you hate when you just meet great people who you click well with and shortly after they move away?? That's what happened with our friends J and C, who are now living happily in far away Texas. Thanks to the power of Facebook, etc. we have been able to keep in touch a bit, but I was very happy to hear from J about cookies for her husband's 30th birthday party. J told me it was a Mexican-themed party (my favorite!) and asked me to also keep in mind C's love of Texas football.

I think it made for a nice blend of themes!


Many thanks to you Jennifer...and HAPPY Birthday to you C! Take it from me - 30 isn't so bad. ;)

The Bachelorette!

With last night's season finale of "The Bachelorette" now (thankfully) behind us, I decided to continue with the theme and share some Bachelorette Party cookies with you. While I found this season's show lackluster to say the least, thankfully I do not feel that way about the cookies. ;) These made their way to a San Diego party, hand carried by a very excited bridesmaid. She asked for a pink and black theme and to keep it girly. I knew these were a hit based on the Facebook love they received, so here's hoping the bride-to-be felt the same way!



Thank you once again Kelly - enjoy the rest of your trip to CA this week!

And thank you ABC for finally ending this season's show...now bring on "Bachelor Pad!"