Burgers & Dogs

Being a vegetarian since the age of five, I cannot remember the last time I ate a hamburger or hot dog. That being said, I wouldn't mind eating them in a cookie copycat. :) I bought these cutters last summer but never had the opportunity to use them. Enter an invitation to a friend's BBQ over the weekend and I knew it was the perfect time to break them out.

I added in a few watermelon slices for good measure and my cookie BBQ was complete!

Thanks again for a fun afternoon Ana!

Wishing you all a great week.

London in Cookies

Once upon a time I was a (barely) twenty year old college student on Spring Break in London with three sorority sisters. Everyone else we knew was in Acapulco, though I never once regretted our choice. It was my first time in Europe and to say that I was enchanted would be an understatement. We spent our ten days there exploring the city...luckily even at twenty we were all on the same page of sightseeing from morning til night. It was an amazing trip that I still remember fondly to this day. Thankfully my friend was kind enough to send me a few photos from her scrapbook to share since this was long before the Facebook era...

(Not sure why I thought that hat was fashionable, though in fairness to me it was only a few months past the dreaded fashion decade of the nineties! Also NO IDEA why it is uploading upside down...sigh.)

I haven't been back to London since, but between the Royal Wedding last year, the recent Jubilee festivities and the Olympic coverage let's just say I would love to.

Thankfully a friend asked me to make London-themed cookies for a reunion she is having with a group of friends she studied abroad with there during her own college days. So I was able to revisit my desire for a return trip one more time in researching cookies to include in the mix. In the end I chose a few highlights including Big Ben, Union Jacks, taxi cabs, a double decker bus, cups of tea, a "Mind the Gap" London Underground reference and of course the phone booth seen above that we had way too much fun posing in.

These have quickly become one of my favorite batches to date.

Thanks you Courtney!

Golden Birthday Cookies

I cannot believe that I haven't shared these cookies yet. I loved creating them and loved the party they were a part of even more. When Melissa of Southern Vogue contacted me about making pink and golden cookies for her "golden birthday" party back in May, I was thrilled to do it. She was looking for elegant cookies, both cakes and polka dot monograms. This party was magazine-worthy (as is every other party on her blog) and I loved seeing my cookies on her beautiful table.

Thank you again Melissa...and happy belated birthday! ;)

Hello Kitty

I don't really have a background story to tell on Hello Kitty cookies as I don't remember her being a big thing when I was growing up. (At least not in my world anyway.) However I was excited to make these for a birthday party since creating something I have not done before is always my favorite. We decided on the Hello Kitty face as was as her bows with the birthday girl's name on them. Instead of packaging these at my typical 5 a.m. time, I was able to photograph them once the sun came out, so these pictures make me happy. (Thanks for always tolerating my dull photos - you'd be sad to know that I actually have a decent camera but do not have ever much light to work with.)

Thank you Sharri!

Fashionable Cookies

I have this habit where I immediately throw catalogs I receive in the mail in an effort to avoid buying something. The problem is that more often than not I end up going online to look at what the stores have anyway. :) I love the thrill of the hunt for bargains though there is no doubt that I really just enjoy shopping and clothes in general. Thankfully one of my favorites, J.Crew has recently morphed back into their classic self, making their catalog impossible to toss.

A friend of mine recently asked me to make cookies inspired by those catalog pages. Of course I loved this task and happily browsed through, trying to recreate some of the designs onto cookies.

Not if only all of the above was in my closet...

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Sunny Days...

We have decorated a LOT of Elmo cookies around here...and even a Sesame Street order or twenty, but never before had I received a request for Grover, Bert & Ernie to join in. Always happy for a change in cookies, I was excited to draw the new characters. They were for an old friend's daughter's second birthday. (I made her first birthday party cookies too - love that!)

So in the end we had a rather complete cast of characters (minus a certain grouch) heading to the party...

Thank you Kara!

"Country" Bridal Shower Cookies

When a friend told me that she wanted cookies for a "country" themed bridal shower, my assumption was that she would ask me for paisley print cookies or something of the sort. However when she told me the decorations involved mason jars, lemons and sunflowers, I knew the cookies would match exactly. So I ran with those three things as the theme and loved what came out in the end...

Thank you Kim!

Love Birds

We have made a LOT of engagement/wedding cookies around here. Typically we stick to the classics - engagement rings, bridal gowns, wedding cakes, etc. Once in a while though someone chooses something different than the norm. So when a friend asked me if I had any ideas for cookies for a pink and green themed engagement party, I suggested love birds. She was game and I went to work, creating the love bird itself and bird cage cookies to compliment.

In the end I was really happy with how they turned out and hope they went over well at the party.

Thank you Katie!

Tractor Time

I am not a girl who grew up on a farm, so when I think of tractors I automatically think of riding lawnmowers. :) True story. In fact I always had a strange fondness for mowing my parents' lawn growing up when they had a riding mower. They never once asked me to do it, but it was one of my favorite things to do for some reason. Maybe it was the time in the sun, or the alone time with music, or maybe it was the satisfaction of seeing my work pay off. I really don't know.

Anyway, onto the cookies for today. I had two parties a couple of weeks ago that worked tractors into their theme. The first was a birthday celebration for 2 brothers. One likes Batman and one likes tractors so their mom and I decided on half & half.

(Random personal Batman fact: The only movie I have ever walked out on in my life was one of the Batman movies. Thankfully there was no movie viewing going on here - just cookie decorating.)

The other party was a tractor themed second birthday party. There were a lot of plaid accents worked into the party so we played that up in the cookies too.

All three birthday boys are adorable and I hope they had a great time at their parties. Thank you Melissa and Jen!