Cookie Exchange 2015

Hey there! Earlier this month, I hosted this year's annual cookie exchange party.  I think this is year 4? 5? that we've been doing it, and every year we jump homes. I moved to a new home this year, so naturally I wanted to show it off!



Every year, I try to decorate our spread a little with themed cookie labels. This year, I decided to use Lawn Fawn's Bannerific and Baaah Humbug stamp sets to create all of my decor.


And, because it's a cookie party, the queen of decorated cookies (in my local area, haha!) Marlyn (of Montreal Confections,) whipped up a few matching cookies that I could use as party of the decor. They were the cutest!



I love Marlyn's cookies, and I love watching her make them! It's like magic, and she makes it look so easy. (click HERE for the how-to video)



We tried to make our cookies look as pretty as Marlyn's.  The salted pistachio cookies on the left were my fave. Honestly, I have snuck a few out of the freezer to enjoy with my afternoon coffee.



If you know the Lawn Fawn stamp sets, you know there is no chocolate chip cookie this size anywhere to be found. I improvized by stamping the empty gumball from Sweet Smiles and adding the little chocolate chips from Milk & Cookies. Voila!

I didn't get around to photographing all of the cookies (or at least, not all of them in focus, haha!) I had some competition when it came to getting the table photographed:



hee.

After the party, I offered a little handmade parting gift:

Each girl got to take home a set of simple tags to use when handing out cookie gifts.

Fleece navidad! I hope you liked this look into this year's cookie exchange party. If you have a cup of coffee in hand and don't want to get up just yet, you might like to check out our other cookie exchange parties:

2014 - an elegant spread

2013 - antlers

2012 - mmmm....cookies

♥.

Christmas morning penguin cookies!

I am so excited to be working on a project with Marlyn again, the amazing cookie decorator also known as Montreal Confections. She decorated these adorable cookies, to look like the penguins from Lawn Fawn's Toboggan Together.

We came up with the idea of making a larger cookie, and creating a paper holder for it, so that it can be discovered on Christmas morning, hung on the Christmas tree. My kids would go nuts for this!



Marlyn made a video showing step-by-step how to decorate this cute penguins - click! and I made the paper holders to go along with, using Lawn Fawn products.

I didn't want to hide too much of the cookie, but I wanted to create a little something that would securely hold the cookie and look festive and cute! The fun part about this diy project, is that you could use whatever colors you want, to match your tree. I went with cool colors here, but the snowy backdrop would look adorable in other colors. I recently made a card where I cut it out of kraft paper (click!)

The first thing I did was to create the backing. I used the partial die-cut technique, careful to match up the scallops when I ran the die through again to make it thinner. I then cut a rectangle with the snowy backdrop die using the same technique. It makes everything look festive. The sentiment is from Critters of the Arctic and I stamped it into a Bannerific banner.



To hold the cookie, I created a quick box. I started with a sheet of cardstock measuring 4 inches by 5 inches. I then scored at 1" on the short sides and 1.5" on the long side.



This next step is completely optional, but it adds such a special quality to the box! I used a snowdrift die on the top and bottom of the box, and cut the flaps as shown in the photo. You may need to trim down the middle flap, as shown, but it really depends on the angle of your snowdrifts. Once the box is assembled, you can adhere it to the long rectangular backing, and add additional snowdrifts to dress up the front if you so desire. I like 3 snowdrifts myself.

Once everything is assembled, pop your rosy-cheeked penguin cookie inside, punch a hole at the top and string him onto your tree. Isn't he cute? I love that the paper parts can be made from now, and the cookies can even be made and frozen so that the only thing you're doing on Christmas Eve is the cookie decorating. What a fun surprise for the kids to wake up to!

Thank you so much for your adorable cookies, Marlyn! nom, nom, nom. Don't forget to check out her YouTube video showing how to decorate these cutie penguins - click!

♥.

Eggstra Special Easter.

Hi there!

Marlyn (of Montreal Confections) and I collaborated on a fun Easter egg party, devoid of any bunnies and carrots. We decided it would be all about the eggs and woven baskets:

I scored a few giant craft Easter eggs from Target (before they close their doors in Canada - sob!) and decided to springboard the entire party decor from there.



Lawn Fawn has the cutest Easter basket image that I used to decorate the pink-lemonade-filled bottles.

Marlyn made the most beautiful giant Easter egg cookies. I love the stencil detailing she achieved!



Marlyn also made a woven basket cake, with giant chocolate-covered-marshmallow eggs on top:



The edible wafer paper is a fun alternative to creating the woven look with icing!

I matched her basket-weaving with my own cupcake wrappers:



I have a quick photo tutorial to show you how I created the wrappers. It looks time-consuming, but since the cutting doesn't have to be perfect, it goes by pretty fast:



Start out by fringing the cupcake wrapper from the bottom, but stopping before any of the scallop detailing at the top.



Take a second wrapper and cut it into thin strips, lengthwise. You see now what I meant about the imperfect cutting, hee.



Start weaving! I place a tiny piece of tape to hold each row as I went along, so that I didn't undo my progress so far.

I only wove in 2 or 3 rows per wrapper.

(Sidebar: you just got a glimpse of my newly-stained dining room table top!)



You could leave it white, or sponge it for a more natural wicker look. That's all there is to it!

I hope you like our little Easter Egg party. I always love working with Marlyn!



♥.

Gingerbread party! {with lawn fawn and montreal confections}

Gingerbread is one of those holiday sweet staples, like eggnog and candy canes. And the holidays are always full of excuses to throw parties! So get ready, you are invited to check out our sweet holiday gingerbread spread:

I'm always so excited to get to work with Marlyn (of Montreal Confections.) Her cakes and cookies make any paper decorations I craft look so much better.

And I create these monthly parties for Lawn Fawn, using their stamps and dies.



Can you see the sparkle in the background?  We hung cheap, white garland in back of the table to frame the cake. If you were looking for a holiday photobooth idea, add a few extra garlands and I think it would be perfect!  The tablecloth is actually wrapping paper, and purchased at Target (they have the most amazing patterns this year!)

Marlyn made this amazing gingerbread house cake! She's right - who wants to actually eat a dry, cookie gingerbread house? But a cake in the shape of? Oh, yes. It was delicious.

With spritz cookies for roof shingles, and red and green candy accents, it was perfect.

She created a how-to video on her youtube channel - click to watch it!

I created these gingerbread drink labels, with straws to match the little swirled lollipop that he is holding.  Just for a different look, I used a copic pen to draw in some icing at the top of his head. I love him with icing hair!



Of course, the bottles were filled with chocolate milk. I mean, if the kids are gonna get sugared up, you may as well do it right. ha. And, it matches the gingerbread brown color better.



I found these swirly lollipops at our local dollarstore - they were the inspiration for the entire party! In all of the decorations, the gingerbread man is holding a similar lollipop. I love cookies and candy for cupcake toppers!  It's like candyland up in here!

The cupcake wrappers were so simple, but add to the gingerbread feel, I cut them out of kraft paper, sponged the edges in brown ink and added scallops with a white gel pen.



I made dessert labels for each of the table elements.  I used the partial die-cut technique to cut the gingerbread house and the banner together, and attached a second gingerbread house die-cut to the back to it would stand up.  They match perfectly with Marlyn's house cookies:



These cookies are so cute, with their sparkling snow accents! Marlyn has a video for these as well as the cupcakes you saw earlier - click!

The video will also show you how to turn these cookies into a sweet parting gift.

I created some elements to add to the packaged cookie:



Easy and cute! I hope you've enjoyed our gingerbread party, and thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Lauren's mermaid party and a free mermaid for you!

I'm so excited to share with you the party that I helped put on for my niece, along with huge help from Marlyn (Montreal Confections.) All of the goodies on the sweet table were made by Marlyn and were completely stunning.

Are you ready? It's gonna be a long post, full of yummy and crafty pictures...

This is my niece, Lauren. She just turned 4 and is currently obsessed with all things mermaid. Ariel, to be specific. The wig is killing me.

It's not exactly Ariel, but we created our own version.  I used Lawn Fawn's critters in the sea and the frame from sweater weather for the paper decorations. The mermaid? She's my own creation.  I illustrated her, and I think she fits right in with the critters! I love her to bits. If you love her too, you'll want to keep reading...



Here's what the entire party looked like, at a glance. I love the linen tablecloth that we used for the main table - we kept it wrinkly because I thought it looked like textured sand. Yes? ha.



The party table was bright and airy, and a little dreamy. It turned out exactly how I hoped it would! My sister bought the watery-colored hanging balls from Michaels, and I added a honeycomb garland (that I made from scratch, thank you very much). We kept it simple and fresh.

My favorite thing on the dessert table was this cake. I mean, that's my artwork.in cake form. It was all piped and airbrushed to perfection.



Marlyn has a tutorial video on youtube today. Even if you would never recreate these desserts, please go and watch the video! It's amazing to watch an artist at work - I love seeing behind the scenes stuff! CLICK!



I know my card-making friends will appreciate this: look! sugar enamel dots!

If one cake wasn't enough, Marlyn made a second cake. She knows how much I love her buttercream. hee.



The shells and little pearls were the perfect simple touches.



I created labels for the water bottles, and a few food markers using a mix of stamps and digital artwork.

Everything was kept light and white, with pops of color.



These cupcakes were labeled mermaid sightings and were so cute!



I love the sugar tails sticking out!



Of course, Marlyn made cookies. Like this one, just for Lauren, and the number 4 on top of the ruffled cake.



And the school of dolphins. hee. They make me smile! Marlyn hand-cut these to match the lawn fawn stamp!



My sister added some special touches of her own, like these starfish sandwiches,



and these pearly oyster cookies. so cute!

I made the take-home favor bag, and my sister stuffed them with goodies.



All in all, I'd say the birthday girl was pretty happy with what we created for her!

I hope you like it too! I have a special gift for you to take home too. If you like the mermaid that I illustrated to match the lawn fawn stamps, then download her and print her out for yourself!

I'm offering her to you in JPEG and PNG formats. Click on the link that suits you, and save to your computer. If you will use her with the lawn fawn critters, you'll need to shrink her down a bit!

Thanks for stopping by!

♥.