Hydrangea Cake

this is a cake i made for my mom's birthday. i made three chocolate sponge cakes and a lot of butter cream frosting. i used a special dual-icing bags to make the hydrangea's easier to pip onto the cake. i also added a real hydrangea plant next to the cake for presentation. 

Fairy Tale Cookies

i had been searching high and low for this very specific recipe. i eventually found it with a friend...it is her great grandmother's recipes, c. 1870s. it was so easy to make! i made valentine's themed cookies. they are lovely, soft, sweet and a bit salty. with a mini heart and pink sparkles, they truly looked like a fairy tale. they are also known as grandma hattie's merry cookies.

Making it Your Own

as a gift, i received the most wonderful gift....an embosser. it was the extra finishing touch i needed to top off my baking projects. i like to give my baking experiments to my friends and family to see how well they go over...if they go over well, i tend to make more and give them away to whom ever would like them. last time it was a mass mailing of homemade caramels. 

Painted Polka Dots

for this gift, i found gift wrap that was watercolour painted polka dot paper. I think found a bright green ribbon and hand-painted a card to match for the birthday girl. i always like the gift wrap to dictate what the ribbon will be and the gift tag. in the case of this wrap, i couldn't find a tag to match, so dug down deep to my inner artist...broke out the paint and brushes and went to town.

A Little Bit of London

as a little treat to my one of my friends studying at college, i found a few english goodies for her at an art show i attended in january. so keeping with the london theme, i used kraft paper and handmade london 'theme' tags for the gifts.  i then found a cute card at one of my favorite shops in geneva to write a little note to her. 

Creamy and Colorful Caramels

i made another batch of caramels and used a new recipe. they were just as delicious as my original recipe, except they took one hour to make instead of three. this batch was also smaller, i cut about 60 pieces. my original recipe cuts around 145 pieces. this time, instead of gifts, i sent them to friends who had emailed requests and shared them with my lovely co-workers. i put them in pink chevron paper bags, sealed with my personalized seal in gold.

Treat Your Mistletoes

as part of some christmas gifts, i included a pedicure kit in a muslin bag (which i made) and attached homemade label using some clever holiday lingo and a pretty jingle bell.