the great cookie/magnet exchange

Over the weekend Ashley (of Award Inspirations) and I decided that we needed to exchange "goods." I wanted monogrammed cookies from her so I offered to make magnets for her whiteboard at school as a trade.

I have all new fun paper for the magnets, so I was excited to try them out. I really cannot believe I only took one picture (not even wrapped up!) of these magnets. But, at least you can see some of the new paper patterns that I have...

Head on over to Award Inspirations to see pictures of the adorable polka-dotted, monogrammed cookies that Ashley made for me in exchange for the magnets! Also, read the post to find out some of her tips and tricks for icing cookies.

I'll leave you with a couple of additional pictures of magnets I made this weekend... these are featured in the colors of Elon Law School (the school from which my sister is graduating in two weeks). She gave these to the Dean and her assistant as a "thank you" for all their help and guidance during these past three years. 

Using these as a "thank you" made me realize how PERFECT they would be as a hostess gift for a bridal or baby shower. Love it! Only wish I had come up with that 7 months ago when I was having showers... :) Happy Monday!

mother's day double doozies

Ever since I can remember (back when North Hills was an actual indoor shopping mall), my mom would take me and my sister to get Double Doozies from Great American Cookie Company when we would go shopping with her. Now, I think I can say that we all prefer Mrs. Field's cookies, but if given the chance we all will still get a "Cookie Sandwich" (as Mrs. Field's calls it) when we are at the mall. Now, though, we don't get it every time and if/when we do, we definitely split it.

Well, in honor of Mother's Day, I decided to make some homemade double doozies to share with my mom (and Ford's mom too). Despite my sister not being a mom, I could not leave her out as she always begs to be my taste-tester.

It was SO easy (not that I thought putting icing in between cookies would be difficult, I just never did it before). Considering it costs close to $4 for one double doozie at the mall, I think this was recreated just as well and I was able to make 7 large and 9 small cookie sandwiches for less than $15. Score! All you need are your favorite chocolate chip cookie and vanilla buttercream icing recipes. If you don't have a favorite, look on Martha Stewart's website. I love her recipes.

So, first of all, I made my chocolate chip cookie dough, formed it into a log, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to chill. After a couple of hours, I pulled it out and started cutting.

I shaped my cookies even after I cut them because I wanted them to be as round as possible. After they finished baking, I pulled them out to cool...

A hint and a warning: I put my cookies (and cupcakes, for that matter) in the refrigerator to cool a little bit faster if I need to get the icing on them quicker. However, Be super careful if you put multiple cookies in the refrigerator and try to carry them all on the aluminum foil at once. I dumped a whole tray of cookies today doing that... ugh!

Finally, put the buttercream frosting (you can make this while the cookies are baking, the night before, etc... it only takes minutes to make regardless of the recipe you choose). in between the two cookies. To get a good thickness, I pipe mine on the cookie.

Put the cookies together and you are all finished! Wrap them up to give away or enjoy for yourself. 

gifts for the {teacher} bride-to-be

As I mentioned in my last post, my friends Lauren and Daniel got engaged this past weekend. Lauren and I graduated from college together with the same major {Middle Grades Language Arts & Social Studies Education} and she was one of my bridesmaids.

Lauren, Ashley and I went to get gelato tonight so that Ashley and I could see the ring and talk wedding plans with the bride-to-be. Of course, we all know that you cannot go empty-handed to see a newly engaged girlfriend!

One of the most fun things, especially for a teacher, is the fact that you get to change your name. Not that anything was wrong with my maiden name or Lauren's maiden name, but for years you've wondered what your last name will be when you get married (and, if you're like me, you've spent countless hours since you were 13 years old doodling your name with various last names of your boyfriends) and so to finally know is so exciting! Being a teacher makes it that much more exciting because from the time you're married on the kids will be calling you Mrs. {insert new last name here}. Although, since I got married in the middle of the school year, I just completely confused my students so they call me whatever first comes to their mind.

Anyways, I decided to make magnets for Lauren that she can use in her classroom once she is married. They ended up being so cute that I've already made several other sets for other teachers/future teachers and am working on some for myself... :)

I also decided to monogram a wine glass for her with her soon-to-be new monogram.

I think that you could use either/both of these gifts for more than just an engagement present... and I will definitely be making more.

Congratulations, Lauren and Daniel! Can't wait for the wedding next year!!

wedding weekend

Yes, I was one of the millions to wake up super early on Friday morning to take in the Royal Wedding. Although my original plan was to get ready for work and then be ready to watch when Kate arrived to the Abbey at 6 (Eastern Time), I got sucked into watching the guests arrive and put off getting ready for close to two hours. Oops! At least I left for work in enough time to stop and get a Diet Coke to keep me going through the day... 14 year olds don't let you off the hook just because you are tired.

At any rate, along with the Royal Wedding, I've had a couple of friends get engaged this weekend {Congratulations Lauren & Daniel and Christine & Alex!} and my cousin, Kathryn and her fiance, Pat, recently announced their wedding date. So, I figured I would do a post about all things wedding today to wrap up the weekend.

In the spring of 2007, my sister and her then-boyfriend of 6 1/2 years got engaged. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I would do anything for my sister. However, I never thought I'd have to ask myself to be her maid of honor. She wanted a creative way to ask her friends to be bridesmaids, so I took it upon myself to paint monograms on wine glasses. She put a miniature bottle of wine in the top (Sutter Home White Zinfandel to match the pink).

I loved the glasses, but really the purpose behind the pink and white stripe was because she planned on us wearing pink and white striped seer-sucker dresses from J.Crew. Unfortunately, they looked super white in pictures so she opted for a different color scheme a few months later...

In 2008, one of my sister's closest friends was engaged and she asked me to put monograms and bows on vases so that she could give her bridesmaids flowers in the color scheme of her wedding. I was also asked to be in this wedding, but unfortunately for me it was a destination wedding in Las Vegas and I was in the middle of student teaching so I could not be there. But, again, I love the idea of putting a coordinating color scheme/flower arrangement/etc. into how you ask your bridesmaids. I think it really pulls everything about your wedding together.

For both my sister and myself, I addressed save-the-dates and wedding invitations. When I addressed my sister's, I got a pair of Jack Rogers out of it... my kind of deal! I love doodling and writing. My mom has always said I waste SO much paper because especially if I'm on the phone, I will sit there and use up a whole notepad just writing names of people or things in crazy different ways. Sometimes, during my planning period at work, I will sit at my desk and start making a to-do list and end up with a post-it full of random ideas written in several different styles of handwriting. Usually, my doodles just end up in the trash so I'm sure I need to find a better way to spend my time... :)

This weekend, inspired by the Royal Wedding, I made it my goal to teach myself calligraphy. Unfortunately, I haven't found my style/stride with the calligraphy pen yet, but I'll keep working. After using up 10+ pieces of computer paper, I ended up with three different styles that I liked, and none of which required the use of a calligraphy pen... go figure!

I'll keep on working on calligraphy and let you know how that turns out. For now, I leave you with my Bridal Portraits, taken by the amazing Carl Hoverstad of Hoverstad Photography...

... and finally, a few pictures from my November wedding, taken by the extremely talented Katherine Fallis of Furnished Photography...

end of {law} school cupcakes

Today was my sister's last day of law school. So, in honor of this awesome accomplishment, I made her chocolate chip devil's food cake cupcakes with buttercream icing. I'm pretty sure Ford has been sneaking them all afternoon...

Congratulations again, sister! I love you and am SO proud of you!

and the winner is...

You know what is so funny about this is that I had a few followers message me to tell me they were waiting to enter because "the first person never wins." Funny how that happens!

Congratulations, Lauren! I will be emailing you tonight to find out how to get your magnets to you.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday.

**I did 16 (instead of 17, which is how many comments there were) because one person had to leave their email in a separate comment, but there were actually only 16 different people. Just wanted to clarify so you didn't think I was leaving someone out!

giveaway: monogrammed magnets

*this giveaway is now closed*

So, the promised-post is here and comes with a special surprise... the zesty baker's first ever giveaway!

For their anniversary, I made my sister and her husband monogrammed magnets. I also decorated cookies for them, but Ford and I ate them before we had a chance to take them over... oops. Yet another reason why I should not do anything food-related. I need to make things that I can't devour. Sometimes I can't resist spending a little time with my Kitchen Aid though... :)

You can't quite tell from the pictures, but they have a glass-like feel to them (it is not decoupage... there is a glass-like layer on top).  I kind of got a picture of this by taking a picture of an unfinished magnet...

I thought they turned out pretty cute. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything with my initials on it.

To win a set of 4 monogrammed magnets, please do the following:

1. Post a comment to the bottom of this blog letting me know what your favorite post on the blog has been so far. Also, be sure to include your monogram (First, Last, Middle)... or the monogram you would want on the magnets, the font style you like, and the color paper you would like used.
2. Share this giveaway post on your facebook, blog, or twitter. 
3. Make sure you include your email in your comment so that I am able to contact you if you win!

A winner will be chosen on Monday, April 25 at 5:00pm and will be posted here on the blog.