Baby Shower Cookie Platters

I've never done a cookie platter for a customer before, but at the Cookier's Spring Fling a few weeks ago, Maryann (Cookie Artisan) gave an awesome talk about how to design a platter.  When I got home, I was so inspired to give it a try.  It was fate when a customer called just a few days later asking for several cookie platters for her daughter-in-law's baby shower!

I designed a total of seven platters, some large and some small.  Luckily, I had the CUTEST invitation to work with from Tiny Prints.  The colors and patterns gave me tons of inspiration and I used the same "Baby" lettering for some of the centerpiece cookies.

Maryann is a cookie platter design genius, and I learned several tips from her that really helped me when I was designing these platters:

1. Before you start, lay out your cookie cutters on the platter to get an idea of approximately how many cookies you'll need.  As I was baking, I arranged one small and one large platter with naked cookies so I knew exactly how many more cookies I needed to bake.
2. If possible, cover the platter with a layer of plastic wrap before arranging your cookies.  This will help the cookies stick to the platter so they don't slide all over the place while you're trying to arrange them.
3. Include 1 large centerpiece cookie as the focal point of the platter and limit yourself to just a few other complicated designs per platter.
4. Make lots of small, simple cookies with your extra dough.  They save your sanity, help fill in an any spaces, and they're great for propping up cookies on the platter.  This customer wanted hearts incorporated on the platter, so they were perfect for my small, filler cookies.

For the sake of full disclosure, here's a picture that I took of my naked cookie platter (forgive the crappy cell phone pic):

I snapped this picture to help me remember what the platter was supposed to look like after I finished decorating.  

And here's the finished, decorated platter:

Pretty similar to my original layout!

The baby cookies were my first attempt with Karen's Cookies' super cute new cutter.  She has some great design examples on her site so I didn't change things too much.  Thank you, Karen, for the great cutter and the great ideas!

I had so much fun working on these platters.  Plus, I didn't have to tie ribbons on the 100+ cookies that it took to fill these plates!  That's a HUGE bonus for me  

Hopefully they were a hit at the shower!