Sunset Housewarming Cookie

click to enlarge

When my brother was moving into his new house with his soon-to-be bride my mom asked me to make them a cookie for their small housewarming party. I knew that they were looking at beach themes and colors for the house and their laid back attitudes inspired this design.

I took a much more artistic approach to this design. In my 2D work in school I stick to a much freer looser look in my drawings and I decided to try and use that technique here to create the sunrise and the water with all the colors running together. I really like how the effect translates in the sunset and water reflection and gives a feeling of movement like that moment right before the sun disappears over the horizon when the last light spreads over the edge of the sky. A hammock hung between two palm trees and a bucket of cold beers complete the relaxing beach scene while the addition of the 'Home Sweet Home' title to a seemingly un-homey setting adds a bit of fun.

The sketchy feel of the cookie can be bit overwhelming so to break it up a bit I used the iridescent edible paint throughout the sand, on the beer bucket, and in the palm leaves to add some depth and highlight some specific areas. Without a defined border and the scene running off the edge of the cookie I think that the highlighting adds some more interest to the scene to allow it to continue over the edge and not need a boarder.

Christine's Bridal Shower Cookie

click to enlarge

 A bridal shower is such a great occasion for a cookie. It goes well with multiple other smaller desserts usually served at a shower such as cupcakes and it allows a better display of the bride's wedding theme for all to see. I personally enjoy making bridal shower cookies because the importance and elegance of a wedding allows me to pull out all the stops in terms of my designing skills. There is always a theme and specific colors or a specific design that the bride has for the big day and I get to add my spin on it to make the bride happy as we celebrate her on that day. 

For this cookie, a long time friend of mine from grade school through high school and now was getting married in St. Louis where she lives now with her husband. She came back home for a beautiful shower for all of our hometown friends and their mothers. It was a perfect shower and luncheon, but it was also an opportunity to showcase my cookies to my friends who all live in different cities now. 

For all these reasons I tried to make this cookie extra special and I spent hours trying to achieve my design objective which doesn't show well in photos, but which was really special in person. The white band across the cookie was where I put a lot of my focus using just icing to create an angled stair step appearance around the center icon that they used as the theme of their wedding. The white texture radiates  up and out from the center putting the focus on the center icon and is delicately detailed to emphasize the raised texture with iridescent sugar pearls and contrasting dark blue scrolls. A light blue folded ribbon finishes the detailed band nicely bringing it all together. 

Because of the amount of detail I put into the center portion I decided that a simple swirl pattern incorporating mostly the darker colors and smaller versions of their wedding theme icon would be appropriate and compliment the stark white of the band. Usually I don't like to used the darkest color right against the cookie because it gets lost, but in this execution I think it actually serves the design of the cookie better and I love the way it turned out.

The icon design is taken from a necklace off of Heidi Klum's jewelry line which the bride loved so much that she transformed it into her wedding theme. To distinguish the stark white in the center of the icon with the stark white surrounding it I utilized my awesome new technique that I discovered. I again chose to use the more elegant silver as opposed to a color which serves to make the names pop and works as a great background.

Overall, this was such a fun cookie to make for a good friend and I loved the icon and colors that I got to work with. All the hard work paid off and it was part of a perfect afternoon.

 

A better view of the textured band

Owen's Baptism Cookie

click to enlarge

When I get to create cookies for special occasions like Baptisms I always try to make it extra special and pull out all the stops in terms of utilizing new techniques. 

For this cookie for my nephew's baptism I again utilized design from the plates and napkins that his mom chose for the party as a base for my overall look. I really liked the way the last baptism cookie turned out so I kept a similar composition with the solid square in the center and cross on top surrounded by the design from the napkins. 

The cross is a large version of the one found on the napkins, but the different depths and textures added make it pop against the background which is something I am especially happy with and proud of because it's a new technique for me that I just discovered. Wilton makes an edible iridescent powder in all different colors that when added to a little bit of vanilla turns into a liquid that I can then paint with. This was my first attempt at this technique, but it turned out so well I plan on using it a lot. The silver color kept it elegant and was subdued enough that it only emphasized the cross and words written on top.

I like the bold and layered design of the swirls all around the edge and I think it holds its own as it travels down around the edges not needing a border, but relying on the design itself for all the impact.