Gavin's Cars Cookie

 Take it from little Gavin...just try my cookies and I dare you not to get hooked!! :)  

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Gavin is friends with the little girl I made the Puppy Birthday Cookie for and was at her birthday party when he got to try my cookies. Soon after and way in advance of his actual birthday I received an email from his mom asking me if I could do a cars cookie for his Birthday party. Apparently, Gavin LOVES cookies and his mom loved the fact that she could find one big enough and decorated to match his Cars theme. 

I wanted to change up the design since this is my third Cars Cookie and the first two were so similar.  Since Gavin loves Lightning and Mater I decide to put those two characters front and center. I really liked the look of the road in the other cookies so I kept the idea but used it to create the 3 behind the characters. I wanted to fill the rest of the space with some racing related things like the flags and the checkered finish line. I added threes in any spot that I could, I've learned that even kids appreciate the little details especially when it comes to their new age.  

'Tow' Mater is a favorite of mine as well, but he is a new character for me to try and create. I knew he would be difficult due to his rusted coloring. No icing color would work so I would have to try a new technique. I knew I wanted to paint with a colored un-shimmering dust but up until now all I have been able to find was the powder with the luster in it. Until, that is, I looked just the week before and my store finally had the all the colors in!!! needless to say I stocked up!! Usually, I mix the powder with a vanilla extract to create a paint that I then apply over the icing, but to get the right look of an old rusted car with uneven rust patterns I decided to paint with a brown color dust right over the white icing. As soon as I did it i knew it was the right decision because it looked great!!! Just another trick to add to my book :) and another cookie to add to the portfolio. 

Update:

So from what I can tell from pics on facebook Gavin's birthday was the place to be for any 3 year old!!! His mom planned an incredibly fun looking party and it looks like the kids and Gavin had an absolute blast celebrating and of course eating all the yummy desserts! And this is why I love what I do, because it makes the people who I do it for so happy. An email from Gavin's mom:

Jennifer,
THE COOKIE WAS  FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not even believe it! Thank you so much!!!  Gavin loved it and all i heard all night was cookie?? thanks so much!!!

It was my pleasure :)

Welcome Home Cookie

Welcome Home Jeff

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Every year my good friend's family holds a 4th of July gathering at their lake house where everyone comes and goes and has a great time hanging out and enjoying the company and the lake. 

This year was special because my friend's husband Jeff just returned from Kuwait. This cookie was a surprise for a celebration of his service and safe return home as well as a celebration of the 4th holiday. The image you see in the center is one that my friend knew that her husband would love to see from his time abroad. Jeff is a HUGE Kansas Jayhawks fan and in while in Kuwait he found a mural that had this image of an Army clad and fully armed Jayhawk. He fell in love, and I was commissioned to put it on a cookie for him which is exactly what I did. I have to admit I think the American flag, even with its colored sparkles, is a perfect backdrop for this Army Jayhawk and for a 4th of July weekend celebration cookie to welcome home a hero. 

July Fourth Weekend Bash Cookies

A BIG party requires a Big Cookie order :)

That's why when my dentist was getting ready for her BIG annual party, she contacted me with an order for 3 cookies for this one gathering alone.

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Not much says 'Fourth of July' more than the American flag and fireworks so that's where I focused my designs. When it came to the flag, I didn't want to cover the entire cookie so I filled in all of the white areas of the waving stars and stripes and then simply outlined the red and blue colored areas. Once I added the red and blue colored sugar flakes the flag really took shape and made a bold statement while adding a little flare. The text is written in white over the white icing and outlined in a very thin blue so it seems as though the outline is all that is there. 

 

 Fireworks are trickier than you might think. I have tried to create fireworks on a cookie before for another 4th of July cookie some years ago. This attempt was surely an improvement, but still not what I had hoped for. I tried to create a fun combination of colors and sparkles that filled in the cookie and really burst with texture and detail and I succeeded in that, but for some reason they just will not come out the way I envision them. That is not to say that I don't like the way they turned out. It's just any designers curse that the final product will never come out as good as you see it in your mind. Well, there is always next year for a fireworks cookie that is as fantastic as I envision it, but this was as good an attempt as any and really did stand out at the party. 

 

Happy 4th Everyone.....

It's my favorite day of the year and a good day for the cookie business

The Peterson Co. Anniversary Cookie

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It was very special to me to be able to make this cookie. 

The Peterson Company is my father's new company and just celebrated their 

1 year anniversary this Friday. Not only that,  but the company logo is one that I designed so it was great to be able to put one of my logo designs on a cookie that I designed as well. 

The title font is the very specific to the company and a key to it's branding so it was important to match.  At my father's request I also included two hard hats that don the Company logo to fill in the empty space. Since I designed the logo I was able to perfectly match the company colors which turned out really well with the cookie. A light sprinkling of silver sprinkles around the edge was all it took to finish this cookie for presentation at the office party.