Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Cookies for My Goddaughter

Last week I made a very special batch of baptism cookies for my goddaughter. I was
honored to be named to such a special role for a little girl I have loved from the day I met her when she was less than 48 hours old. The occasion called for a classic collection of feminine cookies celebrating a beyond sweet baby girl.


And even though my precious goddaughter is too young to indulge in her treats...



Big sister was pretty thrilled to help out with that! :)


Much love to two of my favorite girls...I adore you both.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Elegant Bridal Shower Cookies

It is always a pleasure to make cookies for one of my new favorite friends, Trish. In fact I am most proud of some of the cookies I have made for her. Feeling like I know Trish through reading her blog, I have observed that our styles are similar. Therefore when she gives me the go-ahead to be creative, some of my favorite cookies are born. In fact, the bow and monogram cookies I created just for her last month are now some of my absolute favorites.

This collection was in honor of a very special occasion...Trish's younger sister's bridal shower. The colors were gold, ivory, white and cappuccino with an elegant invitation as inspiration.




The absolute best part of making cookies for Trish this time around was that they came with an in-person delivery. Not only was I able to meet someone I would undoubtedly spend a great deal of time with if she lived closer, but I also had the pleasure of meeting her precious baby girl.


It was such a fun meeting that I only wish could have lasted longer...


Thank you Trish! It really is always a pleasure.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

My Brother's Wedding!

This past Saturday was full of pride and happiness for my brother. He married "the love of his life" (his words) and it could not be more true. I gained a sister and her wonderful family too. It was all all-around joyful day, down to the picturesque weather.

The only thing missing at the actual ceremony was our goldendoodle (KIDDING) but at least she snuck in a photo with us before we set off to the big event.


Mr brother's best friend was his best man. Fitting as they have been more like brothers themselves over the many years they have grown up together.


We had family and friends in from out of town to celebrate and missed those who were not able to be there immensely.



THE SMILE on my brother's face as he watched his wife walk down the aisle will stay with me always...


And of course the bride looked fabulous.



The bride's brother and I each did a reading. I loved what mine said:

From Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I have for the first time found what I can truly love – I have found you. You are my sympathy – my better self—my good angel—I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my center and spring of life, wraps my existence about you—and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.


Mr. & Mrs. C!



Sneaking in a few family photos with what was left of the beautiful weather...




before it was time to go in and CELEBRATE.




(My mom and I have always loved ourselves a party!)

And the SMILE on my brother's face as he is carrying his wife's heels out of the reception?! Melts my heart.


The night of the rehearsal dinner I said that all I have ever wanted in my life for my brother is his happiness. He has found it and in all sincerity I could not be more thrilled.

Much love to the newlyweds!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Message in a Bottle Rehearsal Dinner

For the past few years, I have spent a week in September in Bald Head Island, NC with my family. One of my mom and my greatest pleasures during our time there is hunting for sea shells. Year after year we comment on the abundant supply to choose from and continue to bring buckets full of our beautiful treasures home. The question my dad continually asked us was what exactly we were going to DO with those shells. .


And although we never really had the perfect answer, thankfully my brother eventually provided one for us.

Last summer he proposed to my now sister-in-law by burying a message in a bottle in the sand during their beach vacation. It was such a romantic gesture that my mom and I decided to run with that theme for their rehearsal dinner this past weekend. We knew we had the shells...we just had to determine exactly how to use them.

(The happy couple with the parents of the bride and groom during the celebration.)


Thankfully I had two fabulous helpers on hand Friday, my cousins, who were my decorating assistants.


Our guests were greeted with a sign explaining the proposal and informing them that they could find their table number in their individual glass bottles. We filled each one with sand, a shell from BHI and stamped the corks with the numbers.



Continuing the theme, table numbers were displayed on bottles. Since you rarely find flowers growing on the beach, we decided to grow wheat grass to flank our lanterns on the tables. Each container had a burlap rosette with a shell and I made individual rosettes to top each napkin.


The shell topiaries were my mom's first attempt at "crafting" in a while. She was a natural. :) I will do a mini tutorial on these another time as I was very happy with how they turned out.


One of my favorite parts was the beachy cake we ordered from Simply Cakes by Allison. Ali made a delicious coconut cake (the bride and groom's favorite) and managed to fool everyone with her elegant candy shells. The cake was a big hit and enjoyed by my family for the rest of the weekend.

And of course it should come as no surprise that I made cookie favors for everyone. Sand dollars and sea shells seemed like the perfect compliment to the evening.


Finally a special shout-out to Mr. Preppy Cookie, who took a great deal of time creating a wonderful slideshow documenting the bride and groom's memories to share with us all.


It was a memorable celebration and the best was yet to come. I am coming down off of such a high spending the weekend with family and friends...wish we could do it all again this week! :)

CONGRATULATIONS Mr. and Mrs. C!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Are You Ready for Some (NFL) Football??

While I am MUCH more of a college football fan, the NFL is on non-stop in our house on Sundays. I watch it, play in a survivor league and even create many a football-themed meal but I am not what you would call die-hard by any means. Many of my friends are though, so I thought I would put together a few photos of NFL cookies I've made...

First up is a Michigan cookie platter I made recently for a birthday party - thank you Mina!


These went to a game last year in D.C. (Thank you Alicia!)


And being a local, Redskin cookies are on the regular around here...



Finally, good thing my Jets-loving dad isn't much of a blog reader or he would be unhappy with how many Giants cookies I seem to make...


Good luck with your teams this season to all who care! ;)

Princess Party Cookies

My toddler BFF is about to have a princess-themed third birthday party. Sadly I am unable to make the celebration this year but my cookies are making the trip! So in thinking about her cookie favors, I came across two princess collections I had made but never seemed to blog or even post in my Facebook album. (I don't think I have mentioned on here that our old computer crashed and took many unposted cookie photos along with it...sigh.)

So while everyone else is watching football today, I hope you enjoy these princesses and company.



Thank you Elisa & Lindsay!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Mickey Birthdays

(Short and sweet today!)

I have made a couple more Mickey themed cookie sets over the past month or so.

First was a Mickey and sports themed second birthday for a friend's adorable son.


And a Mickey's Clubhouse 1st birthday party for another little cutie.



Thank you Kristen & Kate!