Fling Before the Ring - Laurel's Bachelorette Party

Every girl, at some point in her life says to her self, "I want to be a fashion designer when I grow up." Well unfortunately for me I can't draw and sometime I really don't understand a thing about fashion trends...but I can bake...and I can frost.

For my dearest friend Laurel's Bachelorette party, I decided to make some naughty and nice cookies. Since this blog is rated PG, I won't be showing you all the "naughty" cookies. Key word being all... Check it out below. 

All the girl's wore black cocktail dresses to the party and we were all dress to the nine. So naturally I had to make some black dress cookies and lipstick tubes.

Girl's Only Cookies

I was excited for this next cookie cutter because the possibilities are really endless with this one...a martini glass. Now this one is a pretty BIG cookie cutter and since ladies only like small desserts I only made a couple of these. Check it out (note that is an F not a P...working on the cursive):

Get it? hehe

Alrighty, I saved the best for last...this is where being a fashion designer would really come in handy. I took my time on these babies, probably about 2 hours to frost all 2 dozen of them but I am really happy with the results. New favorite cookie cutter for sure! 

Corset/Lingerie Cookies - One on the Right is My Favorite.

Bavarian Inspired Corset/Lingerie Cookies

French Inspired Corset/Lingerie Cookies

The One on the Right I Call "The Naughty Maid"

The One on the Right is Called "Wedding Night"

Hope you enjoyed looking at the lingerie..OOPS...I mean the cookies ;)

Wine Themed Cookies

In my last post I talked about how to throw a Blind Wine Tasting party for my birthday! We had lots of really yummy food! See below! But of course you know I love to bake. I decided to try out my new wine cookie cutters as well as make some of my favorite cupcakes and cake pops!

All of the delicious food! NOM NOM NOM

For the cupcakes I made my signature cupcakes - chocolate chip cookie dough! The have real balls of raw cookie dough in them. They are super sweet so I don't put a lot of frosting on them since they don't need it. I actually cheated a little bit on the frosting. I just used the leftover I had from the cookies and swirled them together. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes! 

I made the cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla flavor since I had some friends who strongly like one or the other but I didn't want to make 200 mini cupcakes. I decided to just make 16 of each and then I made the rest into....CAKE POPS! 

Up until a month ago I couldn't make cake pops. And up until about 2-3 months ago I could make sugar cookies either. I had to take a class. So I took a class and the first time I tried to make them for my party last week I had a little crisis and had to call the shop and ask what I was doing wrong. LOL So this week, I took my training wheels off and did it all by myself. I still want to know how some people can get them so perfectly round. The perfectionist in me wants to know!! The secret to my cake pop though is NO FROSTING. SO MUCH BETTER! They are moist without being overly sweet. 

Just took them out of the fridge since it was so warm out! 

And now for my raison d'etre - for those who don't speak french, my reason to be, my sugar cookies! I really loved doing these ones because they were simple and yet so cute. They really didn't take that long. Although I will say I like how the green grapes turned out better than the purple grapes but now I know for next time! 

Wine Bottles

Green Grapes and Wine Glasses

It's All Wine to Me!

My Favorite Ones - The Green Grapes!

Wine Bottles

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed all the treats! Stay tuned for the next post!

How to Host a Blind Wine Tasting Party!

This weekend I celebrated my birthday a little bit early with my friends. We are all pretty big wine-o's and a few years back I threw a blind wine tasting party. It went pretty well and we had fun with it so I decided to do it again, and iron out some of the kinks from the prior party. 

This party was definitely a pretty big hit I think. We didn't seem to have any issues. So I will tell you how to host a blind wine tasting party! 

What you will need: 

- Brown paper lunch bags 

- Sharpie 

- Tasting Sheet for guests 

- Tape 

- Corkscrew 

- Wine Glasses

1) Everyone person brings 1 bottle of wine, designate which price range you like. I said $15

2) Once people have RSVP'd assign them a wine varietal to bring - no blends. for example: adam- merlot, garrett - malbec, stephanie - Syrah and so forth. If you want to do white wine you could also do that as well. For our party we did do some red wine but it was mostly reds.  

3) At the party collect the wine and set them aside, it is ok if people see the bottles since you will be covering them up later. 

4) I made little sheet of paper for people to write their answers down on. 

example: 

Red Wines

1) 

2) 

3).... 

5) Once everyone has arrived make your "answer list" 

Ex: 

Red Wine

1) Malbec

2) Syrah

3) Merlot  

6) Next, get brown paper lunch bags and label them to the effect of Red 1 or R1, White 1 or W1 on the front and back of the paper bags. Once they are in the bags, have someone help you uncork them and set them on your table. (See image below) 

Blind Wine Tasting Party

8) Make sure to instruct everyone to take small pours. If they don't like it then make sure to have the "dump bucket" on the table as well. 

9) Once all the wines are on the table have ever grab a pen/pencil and their tasting sheet. 

10) [Optional] Depending on the skill level of your guests you may or may not do this. For my group I did. I told everyone what types of wines their were and had everyone write them down on their sheet so as they were tasting they could try and guest which wine was which. 

I guess you could let people smell out of the bottles...

11) Once everyone is finished trying the wine, gather around and have everyone pass it to their neighbor to grade. The person with the most right wins! I gave them a prize bottle of wine.  

Let me know if you have questions or if it wasn't clear! We had lot of fun with this and I hope you can now too! 

Kayla's Bridal Shower

Me and the Bride to Be

Sorry it has taken me a while to post about this event. I was really excited for it since I was in charge of all the decor and of course, the treats.

My boyfriend was finally glad to see that all of my crafts that I had been making for the past month were finally getting used. And so was I...

For the decor, I wanted to do all the beautiful garland strands and "pom poms" that I see on pinterest. Thankful there was no "pinterest fails" this weekend. The only fail was the fact that my cookies got jumbled in the container and only about 1/2 of them were salvageable...so let't talk about the dessert menu.

Beverage Station - Cucumber Water, Mimosa's and Sparking Bunch in Mason Jar Glasses

I noticed at the last shower I did, that many of the ladies went for the easy "finger food" desserts that were less messy. So this shower, I decided to do Cake Pops, Cookies and Oreo Truffles. Now back to the cookie crisis. I was DEVASTED. Everyone said they were still good but I had borrowed my BF's truck and took to many sharp turns (Crazy driver by nature) and smooshed they went. And I didn't even take any pictures BEFORE.

Cake Pops and Dessert Station

For the cookie cutter's of choice, I had to do Owls and WSU love for the bride since an Owl was our sorority mascot and WSU was the school we went to and pretty much everyone else at the party. Then I of course did the standard bridal gown and champagne flutes. The champagne flutes were the most popular cookie again because they were "smaller" of the cookies. I had made roses too but all of those got demolished.

All in all the party turned out GREAT. It was a beautiful day in Seattle and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Time to roll the pictures!

Friend and Bridesmaid, Erin, with her punch.

Sparkling Punch Bar

Oreo Truffles

Carnations with Lace and Rhinestones

 The vases were probably one of my favor pieces of decor and something I would consider doing for my wedding...someday...they were super easy to make and I think just added a really nice touch to the standard mason jars. They weren't very hard to make at all. Just some lace from the fabric store, the rhinestone "lace" we will call it from the craft store and some hot glue!

Owl Cookies

WSU Pullman Love Cookies

Love the Paper Straws!

Owl Cookie Close up

Wedding Dress and Champagne Flute Cookies

 Stay tuned for the next post! This weekend is my birthday! I am getting together with my friends to do a blind wine tasting party and it's going to be a lot of fun!

Owl Love You Forever

HOOT HOOT! I love owls! It was my mascot for my sorority and in the past few years it has become a fashion trend so it is a win-win situation for me.

I was invited to a local sorority sister gathering and HAD to try out my new cookie cutter - you guessed it - an owl! Now our colors are "cardinal and straw" or red and yellow.

I took them to the party and they were definitely a big hit and now one of my favorite cookie cutters.

Laurel's Bridal Shower

Since I just started writing this blog, I have to retro post some of my baking escapades.

This summer I have 3 girlfriends getting married, 2 of those weddings I am in as a bridesmaid. Since I enjoy baking so much I offered to the Matron of Honor (MOH) to make Laurel, the Bride to Be, some special and delicious treats for her shower.

Now if there is one thing you need to know about the bride is her favorite animal is an elephant. Long story but just know that.

For her desserts I made her sugar cookies in the shape of wedding dresses, champagne flutes, roses/flowers and elephants.

I also love to make mini sized cupcakes. Her MOH, suggested cinnamon roll flavored cupcakes since she really likes Cinnabon.

And lastly for the party, since its not a shower with out favors! The bride to be and I were talking about wedding favors and I mentioned chocolates. I have been making chocolates in various shapes for my friends for about 10 years when I was in junior high and would make them as gifts. I saw a really cute pin on Pinterest for chocolate dipped pretzels in the shape of flowers and showed them to her. I decided that I would make them for the shower to give as take home treats for the guest so she could how they look in person. Since mason jars are so in style now, I HAD to use them which coincidentally the MOH did too and we didn't even know! Additionally, the MOH made cute little take home treats as well.

Thats all for now! Thanks for reading!!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend! My boyfriend and I are going to go up to our friends lake house and the weather is going to be AWESOME. First rainless 4th of July Seattle has seen in a couple years!

For such an occasion I just HAD to make some sugar cookies to take up there with us to celebrate. I did 2 themes, one being 4th of July and one being "Cabin." Now this cabin has some history to it. Our friend's grandpa, Jack, built the cabin and together that family owns it. The roadside to denote their driveway is "The House That Jack Built." See image below:

And now for the treats! As you can see I went with the tradition stars and flags!

For the Cabin themed cookies I had to get a little more creative. Using the above photo of the cabin, I did my best to recreate the "look." Additionally, I used my FAVORITE cookie cutter, washington state. Still working on the campfire, if you were too look at it upside down apparently it looks like a dragon fly according to my boyfriend.

That's all for now folks! Have a safe and Happy 4th of July Holiday!!! 

First Post and About Me

You have to start somewhere!

I grew up baking and doing arts in crafts with my grandma's. My mom's mom, is a wonderful cook and seamstress, she made me dresses growing up and now is my go to lady for my mending and delicious home cooked meals. My dad's mom is an incredible artist and can create practically anything. With her, every year we would make christmas cookies together. As for me, I can't say I really got any of that. I like to think I am a creative person but I have to have directions to follow otherwise it will be a "pinterest fail" as we would now call it. 

Anyways, there is always one thing that I have loved to do and that is to bake. Whether it is from scratch or a box. I also enjoy cooking too and trying out new recipes which Pinterest has definitely helped ease that process of FINDING the recipes - hardest part in my opinion. 

The point of my blog though, is to show case some of my crafts, treats and other rantings. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Skills and Training, but not limited to:
- Basic Buttercream Frosting and Techniques
- Basic Fondant Cakes and Techniques
- Cake Pop 101
- Tempering and Truffles
- French Macaroons
- Chocolate Making 101
- Advance Chocolate Making and Molding