Move Update Part 2

In my last move update I told you that we had picked out a home site near Charlottesville, VA where we were planning to build a house.  I'm happy to report that we've made A LOT of progress since then!

Construction started a few weeks ago, and things are moving very quickly.  This picture was taken November 18th after the foundation was poured:

And then my husband and I went to visit the site last Saturday and this is what we saw!

The very next day the framing was complete!  By the end of this week we should have a roof and siding.  I can't believe how quickly everything is moving.  I guess it helps that the weather has been beautiful here in Charlottesville.  Hopefully that continues!

The builder is now estimating that we'll be in the house in mid to late January - ahead of schedule!

It looks like Jaclyn's Cookies will be back and open for business in late Spring 2013!  Hopefully in my next update I'll have some pictures of my kitchen to share :)

Fall cookies

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is having fun getting ready for the holidays.  Here are a few new fall packages that I've been working on.  They'll be up on the website ready for Fall 2013 :)

I'm trying to keep all of my gift packages fairly simple to ensure I can do a high volume while keeping the prices low.  There will be a centerpiece cookie in each package which the purchaser can customize with any phrase they'd like.  I went with "thank you" or "thanks" for each of these examples.  All of the gift packages will come in a 7x10 (small) or 10x14 (large) box with a clear windowpane lid.

Large pumpkin and gourd package

Small pumpkin and gourd package

Large fall variety pack

Large leaves and acorns package

I think I might be boycotting Christmas cookies this year, so don't be surprised if you don't see any on the blog.  I'm going to take advantage of my time off this season to spend time with family and NOT stress over cookies!

Sporty Cookies

I think it's time to buy a sneaker cookie cutter.  Over the past couple of weeks, I've had 2 different requests  for shoe cookies, which I unfortunately don't have a cutter for.  I decided to accommodate the requests by modifying a large candy corn cutter, which worked well in a pinch, but hand cutting is always kind of a pain in the behind.  Time to go shopping!

One of the sneaker requests was for a little boy named Julian who just started playing soccer.  Julian's favorite toy is his green ATV, so I included a few of those too.  The ATV kind of turned out looking like a tractor, so I'll probably make some changes to that design if I have to do it again, but hopefully he knew what it was :)

The other request was for a woman who was training to run the NYC marathon.  Sadly, the marathon was cancelled due to the tragic events of Hurricane Sandy, but hopefully "Bean" still enjoyed her cookies.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I've been busy creating new cookie packages for my website to prepare for the re-opening of Jaclyn's Cookies in Spring 2013.  Here's a preview of the Halloween packages that will be able for purchase next year:

Build-A-Witch

Large Haunted Castle

 

Small Haunted House

Halloween Potions

  

Halloween Monsters

When we re-open, I'll also be introducing new packaging from the fabulous BRP Boxshop, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Spring Fling.  All of our cookie gift packages will come in a 7x10" or 10x14" white box with a window front.  I'll post some pictures of the complete packaging next time.

 

This is how each Halloween package will appear in its box:

Build-A-Witch Package

Large Haunted Castle Package

Small Haunted House Package

Halloween Potions

Halloween Monster Package

I hope everyone has lots of fun trick-or-treating tonight!

Move Update

I promised to keep you guys up to date on what's going on with my move and when Jaclyn's Cookies will be back up and running, so here's a quick update for you!

My husband and I have settled into an apartment in Charlottesville, VA and are having a great time exploring the new area.  It's much smaller and slower paced than the DC suburb where we moved from, but we're loving it and finding lots of fun things to do and great restaurants to try.

Recently, we made a decision to build a new home in the Charlottesville area, so without further adieu, here is the future site of Jaclyn's Cookies!

As you can see, we still have quite a bit of work to do!

The great news is that the basement will be fully piped for a commercial kitchen which we'll outfit in the future when we have the time and money (that commercial equipment is expensive!).  In the meantime, I plan to license the main kitchen in the home for cookie use.  Gotta love the cottage law in Virginia :)

The not-so-great news is that the home will be completed in Feb/Mar 2013, so we probably won't be accepting orders until late spring 2013.  I know this is a long wait, but in the meantime I'll be working on creating lots of new gift packages and making some changes to the website.  Next post, you'll get to see the new Halloween cookies I've been working on!

Thanks for bearing with me during this down time.  Hopefully we'll be back and better than ever in 2013!

Cute Girls' Birthday Party Favors

As a cookie decorator, I get requests for party favors for just about every theme under the sun.  These were two adorable themes for girls' birthday parties that I did a few months back and I just had to share them!




The zebra print cookies were created for a 60s themed birthday party at the "Groove Lounge".  The party location is covered in animal print, so we went zebra all the way :)




The peace sign cookies were given to each guest as a party favor and the large happy birthday cookie was used as a cake topper.  I love the hot pink accents!

The idea for this little girl's birthday party was based on her favorite Nick Jr show - The Fresh Beat Band.  We decided to do a party favor that looked like a "VIP access" pass and used the color scheme from the show.  I loved how fun and bright they were.

All of the party favors were packaged up and tied with matching ribbons.  The zebra print peace signs were accented with a cute hot pink ribbon.  What kid wouldn't love to take one of these home from a party?!

Barbie and Ken Silhouettes

It's no secret that I LOVE working with bright colors, so these cookies were no exception!  My Americolor electric color gels definitely get the most use of all of my food coloring gels.

I'm still digging through the archives and found the pictures of these cookies.  They were a last minute order for a coed Barbie and Ken themed bridal shower.  As usual, I was happy that I have a KopyKake projector so that I could complete the order quickly!

Overall I thought they were a fun idea and liked how they turned out.  I hope the bride and groom-to-be had a great time at their shower!

Jungle-Themed 1st Birthday Party

Well, once again it's been a while since my last post.  I just got back from an amazing trip to France and Germany for a friend's wedding, so now it's time to get back into cookie mode!

It will be several months before I begin taking orders again, but I have a stash of a few older projects that I'll be posting in the coming weeks.  Hopefully by then I'll have unpacked my cookie supplies and will be able to  get back to decorating!

I made these cookies a while back for a good friend's daughter's first birthday party.  The designs were inspired by a really cute napkin that I unfortunately forgot to photograph :(

This was the final cookie platter:

And here's a close up view:

I love working with bright colors and had a lot of fun playing with the different animal prints on the letter and number cookies.  The party was a huge success and we had lots of fun celebrating with the birthday girl.  Happy birthday Ava!

So Far Behind...

I'm really late in posting these cookies, but I have a good excuse...I swear!

Yup, that's right, FATHER'S DAY.  I'm so far behind that I'm posting pictures of Father's Day cookies...sigh.

Anyway, these are cookies that I made for my Dad for Father's Day.  He had a baby blue VW bug when he was in college, and he still regrets the day he had to sell it :)

His birthday also happens to be the same week, so he also received these fun 60's themed birthday cookies.

I told you I had a good excuse for neglecting my blog and here it is....WE'RE MOVING!!!!

Charlottesville, VA here we come!

The good news is that the move is going to allow me to do what I love full time: bake cookies!  And you know the best part about Virginia?  They have a cottage law!  This means no more silly rules about renting commercial kitchen space like they have in Maryland.  I'll be able to work from home!

The bad news is that I'm not going to be taking orders for the next several months.  We'll be living in a temporary apartment until we find a new house (hopefully one with a big second kitchen!) and I just won't have the time or space or licence to sell cookies.  I'm so sorry for the inconvenience!  I'll still be baking and decorating, so I'll continue to keep up with the blog, although probably not as frequently as before.

I want to take this time to thank my loyal customers in Maryland (and everywhere else)!  It has been an amazing year and a half and I'm so grateful for all of the support that I've received.  I'll still be shipping cookies once I get up and running, so please be patient while I straighten out all of this craziness!  I'll make sure I keep everyone up to date on my progress through the blog!


Thank you all so much for your support!  
~Jaclyn

Antique Bridal Shower Favors

Sometimes I love having free reign with cookie designs, and sometimes I find it very challenging.  This was one of the more challenging times for me.  

The request was for 15 bridal shower favors with a few different designs.  The cookies definitely had to include a copy of the invitation, which was a green background with a white birch tree, and a few of the square dress cookies that I've done before.  

I was happy to do more of the dress cookies since they're still one of my favorite designs.  I love things that are simple but elegant.  And in case you hadn't noticed, white and ivory are pretty much my favorite color scheme :)

The white birch cookies ended up being very fun to do, and I loved the way they turned out.  The invitation lettering was beautiful and I used the same font on the cookies.

The other cookies needed to include the bride's and groom's names, monogram, and date, but the design was left up to me.  The bride was going for a vintage feel for her wedding with black and pearl / sepia and cream color schemes.  I stuck to those colors and decided to include the green from her invitation in several of the cookies as well.

Whenever I'm able to take some artistic license with cookie designs I always try to do something new.  So, I tried out some white on ivory filigree piping thanks to the great tutorial from Sweet Ambs.  You can see it in the above picture, lower right cookie.  Overall, I liked the end result (and again, my favorite color scheme).  

I've been wanting to include a quatrefoil design for a while, so I gave it a shot on a few of the square cookies.  I also played with some brush embroidery on the borders of the round cookies below. 

I hope that all of the cookies fit in well with the bridal shower color scheme and vintage theme that the bride wanted.  And hopefully Chelsea and Frank enjoyed their cookies!

Classic Cars for a Cause

These cookies were donated to the UCP Philadelphia Motor Cars auction that took place at Citizen's Bank Park last week.  The auction was a fundraiser for the United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia organization, which helps to support children and adults living with cerebral palsy.

I designed the cookies based on actual cars that were going to be displayed during the event.  This was the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport:

This was was a 1912 Rauch and Lang Towncar.  I painted silver luster dust on some of the detailing and really liked the dimension that it created:

And this was the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette "Motorama":

The cookies were included in a gift basket along with several gift certificates, including one for Jaclyn's Cookies.  Hopefully they brought in a good price at the auction!

Vintage Baby Shower Favors

There are so many adorable baby shower themes out there right now.  All you have to do is follow Hostess with the Mostess and you'll be completely overwhelmed with ideas!  So, I love it when clients contact me with a specific theme in mind and then we can brainstorm cookie ideas together.  That's what happened when this client asked for cookie favors for an "Etsy" themed baby shower.



The customer wanted something very rustic, vintage, and crafty for the favors.  She knew the Mom-to-be was planning to decorate the nursery in a baby farm animal theme, so we combined those two ideas into these cookies!

The inspiration for the cookies came from these stickers on Etsy.  It was an absolutely adorable design and was easy to modify the jungle animals into ones that belong on a farm!



This project was fun for me because I got to play with an airbrush for the first time.  Thanks for letting me borrow yours, Steph!  I think I might need to invest in one of these in the future :)

And, as promised, I made sure that I left myself LOTS of time to take photos!

It's always tough for me to shoot in daylight since I work full time during the day, but I'm really making the effort to allow time for me to run home on my lunch break to shoot.  I really think it makes all the difference!




My new favorite props are the piece of burlap that I found in the Michael's scrapbooking section and this wicker bread basket that I had laying around the house.






I heard that these were a hit at the baby shower.  Congratulations Ashley and Jared on your new baby boy!

Spring Cleaning

I'm doing some "spring cleaning" this week and found lots of cookies that I never blogged.  So here's a mish-mosh of what I've been doing over the past several months!

These were some updated Facebook cookies to celebrate a big milestone for a popular restaurant chain:

Birthday cookies for Nurse Suzanne:

A new Mother's Day package (I loved this plaque design!):

A "thank you" cookie package that will hopefully make it onto the website soon:

More thank you cookies inspired by Cookies with Character:

And finally, cookies for a high school graduate who's going to be a freshman at Temple University next year: