Decorated Nautical Cookies!

The fleet is in!

Are they nautical wedding cookies? Nautical Save-the-Date cookies? Nautical birthday cookies or nautical baby announcement cookies?

Let’s set sail …

… and send up the flags.

Let’s signal L.O.V.E.

… and Happy Birthday to my love bug, G.E.J., who turns 21 this weekend.

Save-the-Date for a nautical wedding or to announce the very special arrival of a new member of the crew.

The Scrabble possibilities are endless when you know the nautical alphabet or you can make up your message flags.

Ready to launch for a special occasion in your port town…

… with your own personalized message.

I made these cookies quickly and just for fun because I’ve had the idea for while. If I had more drying time I would have used royal icing on the fondant flags instead of using the food markers but they are fine too, just a different look.

The rope is made from fondant. I rolled it over a fine spring to imprint the lines and then brushed gold luster powder over it to bring out the impressions.

Cocktails With The Congressman

It’s what on the Congressional agenda for tonight. 

Tonight we’re taking the Congressman and his lovely wife (my BFF since college and my matron of honor) to our favorite restaurant in our area.  It’s always a very fun evening when the four of us get together for dinner and I’m looking forward to it since we haven’t been able to get together since before the holidays.

Recently,  I asked Cathy at Stitchfork Designs to put on her creative thinking cap and come up with a design for cocktails napkins I wanted to give them as a thank you gift.

She took the Congressman’s initials and incorporated them into the embroidery of the capitol building!  She is incredibly gifted in her graphic design talents and photography.  Visiting her blog and viewing her gallery lets you dream about all the possibilities of bringing more personalization into your home and for gifts.  I  now want to embroider everything but only if she designs it.

Photo by Cathy at Stitchfork Designs

A capital idea!  (did I get that correct,  Cathy?) 

I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend. 

See you next week.

xoxo

“Ooh la la” Give-away Winner!

Mrs. Kindergarten, jump to the head of the class because YOU are the winner of the “Ooh la la” Give-away!  Congratulations!

The winner was chosen by random.org where I don’t think I’ve ever seen the number 1 come up before. I was so surprised.  lol!

Thank you to all who entered.  I love hosting give-aways and I hope you had fun too!

Happy Valentine’s Day and Give-Away Reminder

Five Valentine’s Day projects complete and one more to go!

This is what I’ve been working on since Sunday – nearly 100 heart cookie pops for a trade show that is being held today.

I rushed all the cookies outside to take a photo before I left and then packed up my car. I loved the heart light dangling over my monogram on my L.L. Bean tote so I took another photo.  Can you tell I’m sleep deprived?  Who takes a photo of the trunk of their car?

When I arrived at the show I set up the table top with glittered hot pink paper, and made a pot with bare tree branches and strung heart lights to wind through the branches.  I then hung cookies from the branches with ribbon.  I also made cookie arrangements in terracotta pots.  I added glittery heart picks here and there.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we won the best dressed table, but you never know.

One more baking project to do today. I’m making mini Valentine’s Day vanilla cupcakes and using up the Meyer lemon Italian meringue buttercream from my macarons this past Saturday and decorating them as I did for the Mini Boston Cream Cupcakes.  They’re for my MIL who moved to a new place this past weekend and I thought she could take them to dinner with her and make new friends.

Then I’m taking a nap!

But I wanted to remind you the “Ooh la la Sur la Table Give-away” ends tonight at midnight, Pacific time.  If you haven’t already entered, here’s your chance.

I’ll post the winner later this week after I catch my breath.

Wishing you all a wonderful day of love! 

Seattle (Macaron) Space Needle Cupcake Topper

This past weekend my family had two occasions to celebrate so I decided the requested chocolate cake would incorporate both upcoming events – a Valentine’s Day birthday of my brother and the departure of my nephew, his wife, and baby-to-be who leave this week to make Seattle their new home.

When I thought of Seattle, it was obvious to me what I had to make – the space needle!

 

I made a batch of lemon macarons without color tinting for half of a cookie to be placed  on top of the support base I made out of gum paste.  The remaining macarons I filled with Italian meringue buttercream laced with lemon curd made from the Meyer lemons from my nephew’s tree.  It was quite a project for the one little cookie half I needed.  And yes, I tried a full macron but it looked like a Big Mac sitting up there.

For the flagpole, I coated a strand of spaghetti with royal icing and attached a gum paste flag I made with a red royal icing heart.

My intension was to make enough towers for all the cupcakes.  After making one tower I decided to make a cake instead with one tower!

Something else reminded me of Seattle - coffee beans.  I found chocolate in the shape of coffee beans that were perfect to be placed on rosettes around the edge of the cake.  Since we were celebrating a Valentine’s birthday, I added hearts along with pink chocolate curls.

Come a baby in July, ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ is going to have a whole new meaning! 

 

Featured on…

Cakespy.com  WooHoo! Thanks,Jessie!

“Ooh La La” Give-Away!

I’m celebrating my third blogging anniversary with a little Parisian flair. 

When I recently took a French macarons baking class at Sur la Table, I found the cutest little stand-up Eiffel Tower treat bags that are tied with double-faced hot pink satin ribbon! 

I knew one thing - I must have them.

Okay, I knew two things.  I had to share a set with you. 

And because the Eiffel Tower is much more fun when shared with others…

… I invited some friends to come along…

… a set of Parisian pink melamine prep bowls…an Eiffel Tower spatula… and French poodle napkins, all from Sur la Table.

Just a little something to say merci beaucoup for an incredible experience I never would have thought possible.  You have made it so much fun!

L’amour,

Marilyn

 

To enter the give-away, leave a comment.  That’s all.

Open ‘24/7’ till closing on Valentine’s Day at midnight.

‘Tushie Cookies’ for Valentine’s Day!

Amy from Ohio had a great idea. She asked me if I would make her my Tushie Cookies for her boyfriend for Valentine’s Day.

How could I resist such a sweet and fun request?

Amy had a couple more requests – pink, red and…

… Tiffany blue with Ben’s name in a black tattoo!

Tushie Cookies aren’t just for bridal showers anymore!

For more 'tushie cookies' click HERE and HERE.

And beginning Friday until Valentine’s Day I’m hosting my “Ooh la la Give-Away” because I'm feeling 'tres magnifique' since this past week was my third year blogging anniversary and I also learned how to make French macarons (which you’ll see in a future post)! C'est bon!

Here’s a sneak peek of the give-away goodies.…

See you Friday, bon amis!

xoxo

Your First Kiss … do ‘kiss and tell’!

I have a love affair with Valentine’s Day.

It’s when I received my first kiss from a boy named Kenny Watkins. In second grade, while we were passing out Valentine’s among the decorated shoe boxes adorned with paper doilies and hearts, Kenny puckered up and planted one on my right cheek. Totally surprised but secretly pleased due to my reciprocal crush, I did what any self–respecting seven year-old girl would have done – I promptly walked up to my teacher, Mrs. Fedor, and tattled on him. What would be deemed as terribly un-PC today and probable cause for expulsion for the kissing bandit, she smiled and said, “What a lucky girl you are!”

Even at that age I remember not expecting that particular answer since it would have been so much more fun to have gotten him into trouble. Walking back to my desk I noticed Kenny was already back at his, which was right next to mine. He sat there with the biggest, most beautiful smile. Mrs. Fedor was right. I was a lucky girl.

I’d love for you to ‘kiss and tell’ and share your first kiss story with us in the comments section.

Valentines Supplies:

Valentine (make your own) Hang Tags, Valentine Hemp Twine, Lady Bug rubber stamp, Valentine Typography Cotton Ribbon, Fucshia Heart Card with Magenta Vellum Envelope - Paper Source.

Pink chocolate curls, pink pearl chocolate dragees – Calico Cake Shop

Royal icing hearts –  made by me

Confessions of a ...

That's been me this past week.

I confess to falling in love with Kate Spade's "Bow Valley" bag when we first locked eyes this past Sunday in Fashion Island in Newport. Nordstrom's being my first stop, I obsessed the rest of the day over this soft, buttery leather bag with a shiny patent half bow.

The one thing I was obsessing about was the cost. Ugh.

This is when I became a stalker. I saw the black version was on sale at KateSpade.com so I thought the pink must have been an exclusive to Nordstrom. I stalked the Nordstrom site online. Morning. Night. And finally I found it had been reduced 33%!

I quickly made my purchases (I'm seeing which one I like since the store only had the smaller bag).

Which one do you like? The smaller, more prim bag or the shoulder tote?

Decisions. Decisions.

Also Kate Spade's Spring 2012 hit today. Very mod and very pink. Love!

This is also my first attempt at Polyvore. Be kind. lol!