Baking Monday – Baby Shower Cookies

I didn't use my new icing trick for this order, because I wanted them to be smooth and glossy, and wasn't too worried about bleeding on these. I did end up with a little bit of spotting, which looks more intense in the photo than they did IRL. I liked the simple design - these were fun to do.

The big kids finished state tests last week, and Dora made some chocolate chip cookies for her math class to celebrate. With the leftover dough from the baby cookies, I cut out some numbers that she decorated with school colors. There weren't enough for the entire class, so we put them in small packages for the fifth and sixth grade math teachers. She did such a nice job ... I love the variety of patterns!

Clever Sewing Title (With Pun) Goes Here

I haven't been doing a lot of sewing lately, but here are a few things from the last few months.

Personalized bags and bibs … so much easier with my Silhouette Portrait , rather than back in the olden days when I'd cut the letters out by hand.



I saw this flannel fabric back in December and could not pass it up! Brown Dachshunds wearing tiny purple sweaters? Perfect pajama pants for Dora!



These were paired with a purple tshirt and gifted a few weeks after Christmas. She loves them!



I finally got around to sewing Theo's DIY badges onto his messenger bag.



I saw this fabric and had to make some napkins for the nutritionist in our family … it's full of things she always says, like "Vary your veggies!" and "Make half your grains whole!" with funny dancing foods. Too cute!!



Also, new napkins for Jeff (Star Wars and Simpsons) and Theo (Wimpy Kid and Phineas & Ferb) … love the variety of character fabric available, though I wonder what other projects people use it for! 

And one Dora project … she designed and stitched this little bunny! 

Baking Monday – First Communion Cupcakes

I've never made a cupcake cake before, but when my sweet friend Laura asks, I cannot refuse! This was for her daughter's First Communion party last Saturday. For such a simple idea, there are some pretty wrecky versions of this design … I think this one turned out pretty well.

Sooo much buttercream! The fondant bow was my favorite part. There's also a very light sprinkle of Rainbow Disco Dust for a little bit of sparkle. 

Portraits

I'm usually the one behind the camera, but happily got caught inside the frame a few times this month. (I almost said caught on film - that's not accurate at all!) 

Heading out to the Mother Daughter Dance with Dora. This was our sixth year attending. The crowd at the dance is mostly younger kids, but she hasn't outgrown wanting to go yet! Always a great time.



Making waffles with Clark on a rare Saturday morning with no plans, what a treat!



At the park with Theo. When he's an adult, will he look back at pictures from year ten and wonder why he was always making this face?

… and here I am back behind the camera, caught one morning before school: Penny neglects her alarm clock duties, distracted by a warm bed.

Adventures in Cookie Glaze

I love using cookie glaze (vs. royal icing) but consistently run into two problems: spotting (random white spots appearing in the icing as they dry) and bleeding. I've tried switching color brand (from Wilton to Americolor), allowing lots of drying time, letting the cookies rest a day between baking and decorating, and using a fan to dry them. Using milk helps with the bleeding, but is more prone to spotting, using water helps with the spotting, but makes the colors almost always bleed. It's so frustrating because of the randomness of these things happening!! I've had cookie orders totally messed up because of bleeding or spotting. Most decorating blogs that I follow use royal icing, and the one decorator I've contacted who uses glaze (with gorgeous results) says that yes, spotting sometimes happens (and she's done her own experimenting, too!) 

When starting this order for palette cookies, I was very nervous about all those bright colors on white, bleeding and looking awful. I did another search for solutions (as I do from time to time) and came across this recommendation for "frankenfrosting" which is a hybrid between royal and glaze. However, this solution involves making both kinds of icing and combining them … got no time for that. But, it gave me an idea … what would happen if I just threw some meringue powder into my glaze recipe? Yes, I know that an actual order should not have been the time to experiment, but I was too excited about the idea, I had to try it right away. 

I used two tablespoons of meringue powder. First thing I noticed was that I couldn't get the shiny smooth consistency that glaze provides, but it was easier to work with than straight up royal icing. And, it still stayed soft after drying, another something I like better about glaze.

Final results on this new icing? Pros: NO bleeding. NO spotting. Cons: Less smooth, less shiny. However … I am absolutely willing to give up smooth and shiny for colors that stay true! I am so excited to try this again! 

Brushes With Celebrity!

I have a good friend who is a tv writer (and most recently: comic books) who put the creator of Being Human in touch with me last year to do artwork for a t-shirt that was to be a gift for the writing staff. This year, she asked me to do another illustration that was printed on hoodies. 

I hadn't noticed this guy in previous seasons, but he's apparently always been hanging around the set. He had a few big cameos this year, and Jeff and I got a kick out of seeing him show up on a couple of episodes. I also got a kick out of this tweet:

… which was taken at the series finale viewing party. Nora and Aidan! Wearing my hoodies! So cool! Also? Great series finale. I was not expecting such a happy ending from a show that regularly featured so much blood. 

The second story is of my own doing … between gardening and taking Penny for walks, I was listening to a lot of audiobooks last summer. Kevin Smith's book directed me to the podcast he does with Jason Mewes, then to Tell 'Em Steve Dave, which he would reference all the time. I started with episode one in January and was caught up by March. It started out as something I'd listen to on dog walks then eventually listen to for hours, wearing earbuds around the house like a teenager. During this long, cold, miserable, grey winter, TESD was something I looked forward to every day. 

I don't know what it was that kept me so engaged … Bry dealing with his depression, Walt's rare sweet stories about his kids, Q's overall bravado … or maybe how their time-filling activity turned into something more exciting, and then into a tv show. I find it inspiring, because I'm constantly struggling with "what should I be DOING with my life?" 

(Also? True story: for the last twenty years, every single time I check a dozen eggs at the store, I think about the Egg Man. It makes me smile to think that I now hear him tell stories every week on a podcast. Crazy!)

I can't even say why I wanted to send them something, but I really did! Which is so odd, because I haven't done fan art since middle school (mostly comics of my friend Amy and I meeting Duran Duran and going on crazy adventures). My first thought was an illustration, but then decided on my other favorite time killer, cross stitch. This pattern was the base (if you've seen my Facebook page, it's also the one I used for our family portrait) and turned it into Bry, Walt and Q (and also Mr. Whiskers Benjamin Cat). I stitched it over a couple of evenings, then sent it off to NJ. Two days later, this showed up on Twitter:

… and was grinning like a goofball. Ming Chen tweeted my work! I showed it to Jeff, prefacing the reveal with "Please don't make fun of me, but …" It's very silly how happy this makes me, but I also need a little silly right now. 

Baking Monday – Peanut Butter Cupcakes

The last ones were not great, so I was determined to try again. This recipe from Epicurious is right on. No notes on the recipe … I used 1% milk instead of whole because that's what we have at home. I also frosted these with leftover icing from the fridge (most likely Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting, because that's my favorite).

These may have come out of the oven a few minutes early, because I was worried about over baking them like last time. They were just slightly soft in the center, but no worries – still delicious. These are the pb cupcakes to make!