Happy Birthday Lovebird Owl

Happy Birthday Lovebird Owl! Xo

A year ago today we were thrilled to be a part of Martha’s Valentine Ideas Show… this segment was one of my favorites for many reasons, but most of all because it forced me as a small business owner to get out of my comfort zone and try something I always wanted to do- design cookie cutters! Our Lovebird Owl cookie was so loved that many people wanted to make it themselves! After the segment I immediately partnered up with everybody’s favorite cookie cutter company, Coppergifts.com, and started designing away!

Say hello to my little friend! Woohoo!

Our Sweet Dani B Owl Cookie Cutter is our best selling cutter to date and this year we introduced  a mini version of our favorite “wise” friend- woohoo! (Mini cookieshappen to be a new obsession of mine).

Whoot Whoot! We can't wait to meet Martha!

Thirteen cookie cutter designs later, I am so excited to be a guest on tomorrow’s Martha Stewart Valentine Show icing a cookie made from one of our favorite new cookie cutters. Tune in tomorrow then look for our behind the scenes “JUICE” which will be sure to follow shortly after!

Happy Birthday to you Lovebird Owl… Life is Sweet!  Xoxo Dani

 

A Cookie Nativity: Behind the Scenes on the Martha Show

Dani Fiori & Martha Stewart are seen in this photo from"The Martha Stewart Show" in NYC on Thursday December 15, 2011. Photo: Rob Tannenbaum/The Martha Stewart Show

If someone would have told me back when I was getting C’s in my life drawing classes at RISD that someday I’d be “a frequent guest” on The Martha Show using my illustration skills, I would have never believed them. Especially if they mentioned I’d be illustrating in royal icing (I guess pencil and charcoal really wasn’t my thing)! Here’s a behind the scenes look at my latest visit to Martha’s set in Chelsea Studios, NYC…

Designing and icing the cookie Nativity scene for Martha was very illustration heavy- after all, many of the cookies are people. I did a very rough sketch in the beginning and also showed photos of the amazing nativity cookie cutters… lucky for me the producers at Martha, who I have worked with for a few years now, “get” my drawings and the project was approved from there.

My initial sketch... Come to think of it, maybe those C's were warranted!

Since the show is taped live, you are asked to be on set EARLY. Esp if you want hair and makeup (yes, please!). I LOVE how Deb Jones does my makeup every time!

A gold tinsel tree is my co-pilot on the sleepy 6:45 a.m. tunnel drive

Deb Jones working her magic

My bestie, Tamara, has been helping me bake all season (thank you Tam!) so she met me there to help and cheer me on. (She also totally lucked out by scoring an audience seat!)

Tam and I "on set" in the kitchen

Kait had the idea for the stars on the back wall- I happily obliged!

The time goes by really fast. Just as Tam and I finished setting up the Nativity with Kait Taylor, (our friend and assigned Martha Show set stylist) I was whisked in to get my hair done. Not so long after I was called to set for rehearsal where we do a full read thru of the segment.

The set looks so gorgeous all decked out in Holiday green!

Next, into the prep kitchen to record my bump shot… I always love to see what they are cooking!

Speaking of green, I thought about putting this jalapeño platter in my handbag...

The "bump shot" is the teaser for what's up next on the show

My kitchen cookie cart with icing bottles, swap cookies and a log for faux bois reference!

After another quick makeup touch up, I headed back to the greenroom to watch segment 1. This is when I’d normally start to get nervous but this time I was fairly calm. Kyle, the stage manager came to get me and we gathered in the set alley as segment 1 came to a close. The doors open as soon as they cut to commercial and I’m up!

Backstage, Jennifer, Kait, Mary, Kyle and Joanne wish me luck! They are the amazing Martha team that made my segment happen! (You guys are the best! Xo)

I snapped this action shot right when I walked out- its always bustling during commercial break!

The segment went very well- I always have fun decorating cookies with Martha. She loves cookie decorating and really enjoyed decorating the faux bois manger walls as well as the Nativity animals inspired by some of her own furry and wooly farm friends!

The Nativity Cookie Scene Photo: Rob Tannenbaum/The Martha Stewart Show

At the end of a segment I congratulated Martha on becoming a Grandma and presented her with a cookie box for the adorable Baby Jude. I also gifted her one of my partridge in a pear trees cookies.

SDB First Christmas Cookie box for Martha's Granddaughter

After the segment, I went back to pack up our greenroom, change my shoes, and waited till the show was over.

Joey Kola, Martha's amazing and hilarious warm up artist is the sweetest!

I love that they encourage guests to tweet- Don't mind if I do!

Tam in the audience with one of the amazing giveaways from the show that day! (She got me one too- Yes!)

Thank you to Martha Stewart for having me on for another fabulous Holiday Cookie Week! Thanks to the team I worked with- especially Producer, Mary Forrest!

I hope you enjoyed the JUICE from behind the scenes! It was a really fun day. Life is Sweet! Xo Dani

 

Sweet Style Saturday’s: Going Faux

There’s a strange phenomenon that exists “on the inside” world of MSLO… If you are a fan of Martha Stewart you may already share in the obsession as well…. The obsession I am speaking of is faux bois!

SDB Nativity Cookies made for Martha featuring a faux bois manger

That’s right, fake wood! Wikipedia describes Faux bois (from the French for false wood) as to the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media. Martha and many of her staff members all love faux bois in almost every form- and there are many! Faux bois could be sculpted or constructed or drawn or painted. One of my favorite articles in Living, featured Martha showing the amazing faux bois furniture in her Maine home.

From Living Magazine: Martha with faux bois artist Carlos Cortes

We used Martha's own faux bois plates to set her table for her Great Pumpkin Blaze Party

For Martha's Holiday Open House Special 2010, Morgan Levine hand painted faux bois on the glass of this vintage hutch- beautiful!

The trickle down influence effect has been kind of amazing. Before I knew it, faux bois started seeping into my life…

A faux bois lunch with Fishs Eddy

An engraved faux bois ring KF gifted me from Catbird in Brooklyn

More dishes! Our fave faux bois plates from West Elm

Martha Craft paper that I will never use becuase I don't want to not have it!

Last weekend we put up our faux Christmas tree… (I’m declaring this publicly: Mom and Dad you were right, a faux tree is so much easier!) Instead of a tree skirt we placed it in a faux bois tree stand from Grandin Road. (I love the idea of the tree being in a planter rather than tree skirt- plus if you have furry friends, this is an especially great option.)

Faux bois you say? Interesting...

Faux bois inspires more faux bois- envelope labels for my brother's wedding

I have been drawing or painting with faux bois a lot lately. If you caught my appearance on Martha’s show this week, we even iced the manger of the cookie nativity in faux bois (photo above).

I also used the faux bois icing technique on baby Jesus's manger bed

Give a little faux bois a try as a design element… My latest etsy search of faux bois brought up 55 pages- so that is a fun place to start. It’s a really fun element to add to any style decor. My obsession with it continues… Happy Saturday! Xo Dani

*** Look for our Behind the Scenes from the Martha Show post- coming soon!***

A Winter Woodland Cookie Wonderland

Being a designer and decorator of events, its a rare occasion that I attend a party or a wedding without some sort of prop in tow.  Lucky for me, KF loves “the juice” that goes along with the behind the scenes action. Also, it doesn’t hurt that as a designer himself, he can easily jump in and lend a trustworthy helping hand.

My decorating kit bag (most ladies carry beautiful clutch handbags to weddings)

My brother’s wedding was definitely one of these such occasions as I had the pleasure of designing their paper goods and decorating their wedding cake.

The hand painted woodland wedding scene on the wedding invite

Their big day took place at the Westmount Country Club in NJ. If you haven’t been to the Westmount before, its one of those expert event venues that prides itself in hosting amazing events and they do it very, very well. Almost every detail is taken care of in house and they run a very tight ship. Since their reputation proceeds them, I was naturally a little nervous.

I spent days before working on the cookies… a custom Nicole bride & Bogues groom topper, their cat Leeloo, and approx. 75 mini woodland animals: deer, lovebirds, bunnies and of coarse owls!

Squirrel minis decorated with mini sugar hearts

Lovebirds packed up and ready to go

Hearts brushed with gold shimmer dust

I felt like I really captured Leeloo's powers of staring

Right before we arrived I realized that I had not discussed logistics of decorating the cake but Bobby, the banquet manager of the Westmount, whisked us right back into the huge kitchen where I was immediately comforted by fond memories of my waitressing days in their busy, loud, bustling kitchen.

My waitressing nickname was "Sweet Dani B"- That's where I got my biz name!

I always ice two bride & groom toppers in the case that one breaks

(Delicious chocolate cake from Palermo's bakery) Started with top layer cookies first...

... then fill in with assorted animals, candy hearts, mini (edible glitter) pinecones

I got choked up as we were finishing decorating... when that happens I know its a keeper!

The room looked beautiful decked out in winter woodland white. I love that the Westmount sets their tables with silver chargers- its a beautiful touch.

Winter woodland animal ornaments were the favors and menu holders

Time to cut the cake! First cut wish? All good things! xoxo

Chocolate wedding cake- wise choice! Woohooo- What a great wedding!

Here’s to a happy marriage for Christian & Nicole and a lifetime full of sweetness!  Xoxo Dani

Behind the Scenes with Mr. Bones

I was so pleased with the quality and look of our Sweet Dani B TV cookie icing videos for Easter, so I, once again, enlisted the talented Mike Boylan to shoot our Mr. Bones how to icing videos.

Mike LOVES Halloween and my love for Halloween has been growing over the years since being inspired by working on Martha Stewart’s amazing Halloween shows… as a result, we had some very fun props to dress the “set” with.

Mike suggested we use his spooky “floating brain” to prop the background- yes please!

Its a weird feeling talking into a camera and it makes a lot of people (me included), nervous. Clicking the scene clapboard though, cracked me up every time which was a good distraction.

Mr. Bones Take 1!

The "traditional" Mr. Bones was first up

It happened to be a humid day which is never great for cookies- especially chocolate cookies. In addition I rolled these a little thin and under-baked them. Bad mistake! I had a few cookies break on during transport so I was sure to handle them carefully while icing. Meanwhile, while we were setting up the next shot…

OH NO! Mr. Bones!

My Mummy Decorating next up! (this might be my favorite version of this cutter)

You need the special tip to ice My Mummy, and extra drying time but she is totally worth it!

Last but not least, the Dapper Zombie. I smile a lot when I look at our cookies (part of the reason Life is Sweet!) but this guy totally cracks me up for some reason and really makes me smile!

Last but not least, The Dapper Zombie is up next...

Mike zooms in for a beauty shot of the Dapper Zombie- I love the spooky sketches his boys drew on their glass doors in the background!

YOU! Be sure to get my good side! Someone get me another martini! Mwhaaha!

And that was a wrap on the how to videos! I wanted to show a fabulous tip for displaying these cookies on cupcakes- (delicious cupcakes in fact, by my cupcake friend Carrie). The humidity was just too much for them and we suffered several more cookie casualties! No worries though, we put them to good use and Mike and his family enjoyed a delicious and spooktacular snack that night!

Broken "My Mummy" platter with Goodie Box Cupcakes and oreo "dirt"- Yum!

I hope you are having this much fun with your Mr. Bones Cookie Cutter! Have a very Happy Halloween!

xoxo Dani

 

 

 

 

D.I.Y. Shark Party Hat

As it turns out, Shark Week usually coincides with my husband’s birthday and he LOVES sharks. This year we planned to have a fun party with our friend’s and their adorable kiddies, so I thought it would be super fun to make our own shark hats.

I started out with plain paper party hats purchased at Party City. I bought 3 packs (some matte, some metallic) so I could use only the colors that matched our theme.

We went with shades of blue plus 2 pink (1 pink for me of coarse!)

Using a 1 inch circle punch, we punched dark grey and black paper to use for the eyes and attached them with glue dots. We used plain white paper cut in strips and then triangles for the teeth.

We kept our inspiration close just in case...

On the inside front brim, I drew a line with craft glue and attached the white triangles in a row.

Since sharks have crazy uneven teeth, the triangles don't have to be perfect!

Drinking coffee from a shark mug during this project makes it even more fun!

Place the hats on their sides while the teeth dry for about 10 minutes.

Pink Shark Hat= AMAZING!

Once the teeth are dry in place, bend them forward

I placed them on a table and let our guests choose their sharks

Totally Jawsome!

Add shark cake and candles for a totally amazing shark party finale!

Happy Shark Week! Happy Birthday Keith! Xoxo

Happy Birthday Owl Cake Topper

My friend, Amanda, inspired my owl love years ago when she gifted me this amazing necklace from a shop in Rhode Island.

My Owl Necklace from Amanda- just the beginning!

On her birthday this year, I decided to send some owl love back her way and volunteered to make her birthday cake topper. I baked a giant owl sugar cookie from my collection of oversized “vintage” Martha by Mail cutters. Since the cookie is so big, I baked it with 2 skewers to steady it.

Before icing I made sure I had all adornments ready to go. This is a big surface area and I didn’t want the icing to dry before I could ice the feathers and add everything on…

Baked Giant Owl waiting to be decorated

I used this crazy cool “satellite” candy I found in the grocery store for the eye orbs…

I LOVE the vintage looking packaging!

Look what's inside! So festive!

Next I mixed up the Amanda color palette: Orange, deep pink, brown and yellow…

A few of Amanda's favorite colors!

I snipped my bottle tip to allow icing flow more quickly and iced the entire surface area in orange.

The icing comes out much faster this way

I especially LOVE this XL candy heart. My friends at coppergifts.com sent me these and I’ve been hoarding them! This was the perfect occasion to break one out! I let the body dry overnight.

Goodnite Mr. Owl!

In the morning I added the owl wings. At first I tried a similar pattern in opposite colors but it looked too busy so I scraped it and settled on bright pink wings covered in sanding sugar.

Look at how pretty my scraped icing blob was!

Last touch was to pipe on the eye balls using brown royal icing. I let the cookie dry for 8 hours and gathered my “cake topper kit”.

This Owl is ready to party!

Little did I know I wouldn’t have room for all these items… The cake was smaller than I was picturing but Amanda’s Owl looked extra majestic as a result!

the Giant Owl makes his entrance...

Amanda and Birthday Owl became fast friends and even though her dinner guests really wanted a taste… She just couldn’t eat him!

Whoooo wants cake?

Here’s to another SWEET friendship! Xoxo

July 4th Inspiration… Baby, You’re A Firework!

Last year around this time I was super excited to receive an invite to view the July 4th Macy’s fireworks from the rooftop deck of Martha’s offices in the Starrett Leigh building in NYC. I responded quickly +3 (my husband, Keith, and bffs Tamara- who also freelances at Martha and her husband, Tom) and was happy that I did as this event filled up quick.

When I think back to it 3 things really stand out about that night…

1. The brutal, no breeze NYC July heat

Tam & I on the rooftop deck at Starrett... it is HOT!

2. Being so close up to the beautiful, colorful, amazing fireworks

Oooooooh Ahhhhhh, look at these red beauties!

3. Our giant, glorious, “brick” sandwich- which we shared amongst us four but could have easily shared with everyone else due to it’s size and weight in prosciutto, salami, fresh mozzarella and the like. I’m pretty sure people were staring. To this day we still talk about this amazing sandwich which was accompanied by a wide array of fresh veggies from Tam’s Dad’s garden and her famous fresh spinach dip. Yum.

Big sandwich assembly photo. Note: blurriness due to olive oil on my camera lens!

Back to the main attraction…

As the sun set over the Hudson we started to get really exited. There was quite a buzzworthy feeling in the air!

The beautiful July 4th sunset

The people on these boats may have been the only ones with a better view than us!

Before we knew it, it was dark and suddenly the fireworks began bursting over the Hudson…

The colors are amazing!

They glittered and sparkled and the crowed oohed and aaahed, friends posed for photos and the world stood still, happy and patriotic.

This group reminded me of sparkling glitter

I love the feeling of firework viewing "togetherness"- don't you?

It was beautiful and I left feeling inspired. I mean REALLY inspired! So a few months ago I started sketching these fireworks in the hopes of creating a firework cookie cutter.

The SDB firework cookie cutter was inspired by this sparkle style firework...

...as well as these magical looking plumes

After a few re-draws and re visits, the amazing artisans at CopperGifts.com created the perfect firework cookie cutter for my vision!

Sweet Dani B's Firework cookie cutter

A platter of firework sugar cookies accompanied by a few Uncle Sam cookies, or even a cake decorated with these cookies is the perfect thing to bring along to wherever you are going this July 4th. My templates and decorating videos are coming soon! So get your Sweet Dani B icing kits ready and order your firework and Uncle Sam cookie cutters A.S.A.P.! July 4th is only a few weeks away!

Xoxo Dani

 

Do-It-Yourself: Trees as Party Centerpieces for Any Occasion

Event Styling: Tree Decorating Isn’t Just for Winter Holidays

Today we are going to cover one of our favorite ideas for centerpiece decorations – the “tree”.  A tree?  Yes! with a little planning and prep time, tree centerpieces are super sweet, whimsical and a great conversation piece. This is particularly fun if you use the trees to hang custom cookies, party favors or message cards.  The added bonus is at the end of the party, everyone un-decorates the trees and takes the ornaments home as favors.  Investing in a handful of trees is a great idea because you can use them year-round, and showcase all of them at Christmas time!

Click to Enlarge

How-to Video on Preparing Custom Cookies for Tree

Matching Centerpieces to Party Themes

For many people, the centerpiece for their tables is usually the most difficult to match to a theme.  Flowers tend to be the go-to decoration (for adult parties), but unless you really know how to arrange them, the tables don’t look finished and paying for a florist can be expensive.  Balloons work (for birthday and kid parties), but getting a large number of them into a small car is never fun.  I can’t tell you how many we’ve popped in transit!

Once you have decided on a theme, you can easily find matching cookie cutters and use them as your template for baking cookies, creating message cards (out of card stock), and even as the decoration (and party favor) themselves!

Ideas for Tree Table Centerpieces

1.  Feather Trees for Centerpiece Decorating

White Feather Tree with Leaping Ballerina

Our obsession with feather trees has grown over the years so Dani tends to keep an eye out for them.  “Google search” feather trees and you’ll see dozens of choices.  Be careful with the size – make sure they will be big enough to hold your cookies and that they have a sturdy base.  One of our favorite feather trees is the Grandin Road tree which we feature in our How-To Decorate Cookies video segment.

2.  Branches for Centerpiece Decorating – Cookies & Message Cards

Custom Cookie Trees Made from Branches

You can go to a local florist, Pier 1 Import, or (if in New York) the flower district to buy branches like these.  They just have to be sturdy enough to hold your ornaments.  You have nothing to worry about if you plan to hang message cards from them.

Tips for Hanging Custom Cookies

To secure your branches use marbles, floral foam, or styrofoam.  Marbles are great because they add weight, but are the more expensive option.  If you balance the branches and the cookies or ornaments well, you shouldn’t have too many problems. The key is to test the tree with the exact number of ornaments days before your event.  We recommend you search Amazon for best retail prices and other vase ideas (search: floral arrangement supplies).

Click to Enlarge

Message Card Ideas

You can match cookies to message cards by using your cookie cutter to outline the shape of your card.  Hang cards for:

• Place Card Tree | Table Number Display
• Special message to guests
• Hang blank cards so that guests can write/hang messages for the guest of honor
• Pictures related to the event; use craft scissors to give it a special flare!

3.  Cupcake “Tree” Towers

While these aren’t exactly trees, setting up a cupcake tower is beautiful and the shape reminds us of a pine tree. Choose one color frosting per table, and add a miniature custom cookie to the top cupcake!  We love miniature cup cakes, and you can buy them by the dozen at the supermarket.  Make your own icing colors to match your theme.

More cupcake centerpiece decorating ideas:

Dani B Event Styling: Baptism | Cupcakes on a Tree Trunk

Do-It-Yourself: Creating Amazing, Affordable Cakes (with Cookies of course!)

Everyone loves that  moment at a birthday party when it’s time to sing Happy Birthday.  And while the birthday girl or boy is the center of attention, the #2 spot goes to the cake.  This happens across most events: baptisms, showers, retirements.  Let’s not kid ourselves, if we all could, we’d call our favorites: Hoboken’s Cake Boss or  Charm City Cakes (Ace of Cakes).

But how much is a highly customized cake?  According to the Carlos Bakery website, a consultation and cake tasting is $100.  And according to Charm City, a 3D cake starts at $1,000!

Following are a few creative ideas for an amazing, affordable 3D Cake without spending hundreds of dollars.  You can make or buy as much of this as you want.  Time is money – so the more you do, the more you’ll save!

Once you have decided on a theme for your party, you will need:

1. Cake
2. Toothpicks
3. Letter Shaped and/or Number Shaped Letter Candles (on a stick)
4. Cookie Cutters to match your theme
5. Sugar Cookie Recipe
6. Royal Icing Recipe, Royal Icing Kit
7. Construction Paper (Optional)
8. Skewer Bamboo Sticks (Optional)

We will be using Sweet Dani B Cake Topper or Custom Decorated Cookies of course, but you can make or buy your own.  Local bakeries, even the supermarkets, sell very pretty cookies in different themes.

(1) Simple Backdrop – the Cake

First, start with a plain cake.  If you order from a local bakery, make sure you tell them you do NOT want any flowers OR writing on it.  Pipe dots (as shown above) are okay if you don’t know how to do it yourself.  The first time one of my clients did this they asked her three times if she was sure!

Below you will see cake pricing for supermarkets in the Hoboken/New York City area for a sheet cake that serves about 25 people.  This is for a whipped cream topping cake and a single fruit filling.  Delicious and simple.

At Home: About $12 for ingredients, depending on complexity

Shop Rite (Hoboken): $36

Whole Foods (NYC): $75

D’Agostino (NYC): $16 per quarter sheet cake (serves 12 – 16 people)

(2) Cake Topper Cookies

Use the cookies you baked to decorate your cake.  If you want a 3D effect, bake Cake Topper Cookies which use toothpicks to help them stand.

(3)  Additional Cake Decorating Effects

Layer your 3D masterpiece with a message board made from construction paper and bamboo skewer sticks.  Cut them to match the height that you want.  For this birthday cake, we made palm trees to match the jungle theme that my client used throughout the year for her son’s parties.  We even hung a cookie monkey from the tree!

Jungle Theme Cake

For this baptismal cake, we made a simple “God Bless” banner sign.  You can print the message on your home computer directly onto the paper to give it a more finished effect, or handwrite it for a personal touch.

Baptism Cake Decorating Ideas

(4) Personalized Birthday Candles

The finishing touch!  Use personalized letter or number birthday candles (see Jungle Cake image).  You can cut the sticks so that the letters float right on top of the cake, or create a staircase effect by cutting the sticks different sizes.  If you want to get super creative and make your own personalized birthday candles, Martha Stewart has a how-to online.

About Cost

As we mentioned earlier, a custom cake from a high-end bake shop could start at $500.  Depending on the base price of the cake and where you buy the cookies, one of the cakes that we have shown you here could cost as little as $50.

One of the most frustrating misconceptions about Sweet Dani B products is that we are too expensive.  But consider this:

Jungle Theme Cake:

Cake cost:  $30 (Shop Rite, Hoboken)

Animal Cookie cost: $7 each x  3 = $21

Heart Cookie Package: $35

DIY Palm Tree (mom did it): $3 supplies

Total cake cost:  $89!

So for less $100, we got an amazing centerpiece (we set this at the main table, and had people place the gifts around it).  I think this Jungle Theme 3D Cake got almost as much attention as the birthday boy did when he was blowing out his candles!

Contact us if you need help with party or event styling.  It’s one of our favorite things to do when we aren’t designing cookies!  A special thanks to Urban Girl Squad for inviting us to speak as a New York expert event stylist at their most recent Mommy Event!