Belated Mothers Day...

I am a procrastinator. I never do anything today that I can put off till tomorrow. Mom was here Saturday for a visit, I finished her gift bouquet on Monday.  Maybe someday I'll get it right.

 

Last year we built this silly little bird house.  No plans, no directions; we just whacked it together. And these beautiful blue birds came to build their nest in it. They had four babies!  We felt blessed.  That was my inspiration for my Mothers Day Cookie Bouquet.

I here is a peak at my Mom's gift. The birds and house are cookies. Birds were cut with cookie cutters and I used template to cut out the house.  I frosted all three with royal icing.  I was trying to get a rustic look for the roof, but my idea failed.  I will try something different next time.

The flowers and ivy on the birdhouse are blossom-fondant.  I always add about a quarter cup of white chocolate marshmallow fondant to the recipe when I make it.

 I found the tulips here.  Mine aren't quite as nice, but I think they are pretty.  I had problems with dipping the cake pops in the chocolate. I don't know why.  I tried thinning it with paramount crystals, but then the chocolate coating ended up cracking as they set up. Need to do some research.

By the way...that pretty young lady at the top of the page; she's my Mom.  That picture was taken on her 90th birthday.  So that's it, my Mothers Day Sentiment..  Happy Mothers Day Mom (a little late).

Party Animals!

I was looking through several sites for cookie cutters when I happened to notice a  Balloon Animal Cookie Cutter .  I thought it might be fun to make some balloon animal cookies so I did a Google search and found a picture of one I liked and fashioned myself a cutter.

 I marked the sections of the first cookie to have an idea of how I would apply the frosting.  Using 20 second icing I filled each outline separately allowing time for each section to dry before adding any more.

I didn't think about highlighting in the beginning.  Then when I did try it, I wasn't sure how to accomplish the result I wanted. As I studied my finished product, it became obvious to me that I need to  use some shading along with highlights in the next batch.

One of the little details I missed was in the shaping of the frosting.  The sections need to look more like stretched and twisted balloon parts, rather than just blobs.

Decorating my cookies turned out to be more fun than I had expected.  I still need practice and have a lot to learn about technique but I was happy with my results. 

Bunny in my Driveway

This bunny and a friend were in my driveway one morning nibbling a breakfast of clover and weeds.  Imagine my delight when they stayed long enough for me to get pictures. From one of  those pictures I fashioned a cookie cutter using a strip of one inch aluminum specially made for this purpose.

 After tracing the bunny's silhouette and marking the shape and position of his eye, I cut around the outline to make my pattern.  I went to work bending and forming the aluminum to create the shape of the bunny for my cookie cutter.  Once it was finished, it got a warm wash in sudsy water then rinsed in clear water and dried. 

The cookie recipe I chose to make was the one  Sugar Belle has on her blog.  While I was there I decided to use her icing recipe too.  BTW, thank you Sugar Belle for the treasure of information you post along with the great recipes you share.  I hope someday to be as good at this art as you are.

 

Dough rolled out, cookies cut and baked, time to frost.  I didn't get too fancy or detailed because my hands are still rather clumsy with a decorator bag.

After flooding the cutouts with brown royal icing, I made the eyes.  I placed a piece of waxed paper over my paper cut out and piped the black icing over the eye outline.  Next time I'll need to do this in advance so they have time to dry nicely.  This time I cheated a little and put them in the dehydrator. 

I mixed a small amount of pink icing with the brown and filled the inner ear using a toothpick.  Also dabbed his nose on like that.

I placed the dry eye in the still slightly wet icing. 

There you have it...my first cookie sentiment...Bunny in the Driveway.  I have learned the joy of making my own cookie cutter. 

In the beginning...

I'm new to this, but I'm ready.  It's time to embark on an adventure.  I have seen what others can do and they have inspired me.  Now my quest is to see what I can create.  This is where the adventure begins.