Hot Air Balloon Cookies for Coachella

My husband goes to CA every year to work security at Coachella and Stagecoach. This year he was put in charge of all deployments and running 2nd man in charge for event security. When he asked me to make cookies for his team, now usually his team is around 30-40 people. This time when I asked he told me 1,400, yup you read that correct! So I told him I'd send 35 lol!

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you! I can now say I've mailed to TN, MA, CA, WI and Alaska!

What you Need:
Airballoon Cookie Cutter (I bought on Amazon)
Royal Icing - Red, Orange, Yellow and Brown (see recipe below) 
AmeriColor Red, Orange, Yellow and Brown Food Gel
Pipping Bags
Black Edible Pen


I piped each cookie first with the basket part of the balloon. I then got to work on the top of the balloons. I tried 2 different balloon designs to figure out what I liked best. I found the color scheme of the Coachella logo and did my best. When the balloon colors finished drying I took a black food pen to write Coachella on each one. I individually wrapped them and sent them to CA to my husband. I have found that Alaska and California take 3 days instead of the 2 days that USPS priority mail usually takes. But with good bubble wrap and packing peanuts they got there with out any breaking!

  

Click HERE to see who I link with.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.

Dragonfly Royal Icing Cookies Made

Yesterday I showed you the Butterflies I shipped to my amazing Blogger friend, today is the Dragonflies. She lives in Alaska and they shipped there with no casualties. These dragonflies were the ones I was really worried about with the thin tails but thankfully with bubble wrap they arrived safe!

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you! I can now say I've mailed to TN, MA, CA, WI and Alaska!

What you Need:
Dragonfly Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing - Teal and white/uncolored (see recipe below) 
AmeriColor Teal Food Gel
Pipping Bags


I piped each cookie first with the center making a head and a body. For the wings I pipped each wing, BEFORE it dried I added some dots to the wings. She picked teal and white as the colors. I did white body and teal wings with white dots.

  
Here are both the cookies made for her:

Click HERE to see who I link with.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.

Butterfly Royal Icing Cookies Made

One of my blogger friends who I actually got to meet in real life when she came close to my state. She is such a sweetheart and asked for some cookies to be mailed to her. I'm so happy to say she lives in Alaska and they shipped there with no casualties. The dragonflies were the ones I was really worried about with the thin tails but thankfully with bubble wrap they arrived safe! I can now say I've mailed to TN, MA, CA, WI and Alaska!

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you!

What you Need:
Butterfly Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing - Teal and white/uncolored (see recipe below) 
AmeriColor Teal Food Gel
Pipping Bags


I piped each cookie first with the center making a head and a body. For the wings I pipped each wing, BEFORE it dried I added some fun details to the wings. I dots and took a toothpick to make hearts and teardrops. She picked teal and white so I flipped the colors on each body.

  
Here are both the cookies made for her:

Click HERE to see who I link with.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.

Paintball Themed Party ... Goody Bag Insides (Paintball Ammo themed candy etc)

Yesterday I showed the goody bags (aka bags of teen approved things like candy and silly string). I of course had to have some themed things in the bag. I went on a Pinterest search and found several ideas for the candy. I then did google search for Ammo .png items (photos on a blank background easy to use with words etc). I had circle stickers I found at the Dollar Tree that I printed out and stuck on circles cut out on my cricut. 

What you Need:

Silly String (Dollar Tree $1)

Large Gumballs (Dollar Tree 1pk / $1)

Air Head Candy (Dollar Tree 1pk / $1)

Large Lolly Pop (Dollar Tree $1)

Hersey Bars (Dollar Tree $1)

Jumbo Jawbreaker (Amazon 4pk $11.63)

Candy Dots (Amazon 2lb around 25 pk $11.28)

Plastic Candy Tubes (Amazon 6pk $10.47)

Clear Bags Small (Dollar Tree 40pk $1)

Clear Bags Large (Dollar Tree 25pk $1) 

Round Lables (Dollar Tree 1pk $1)

Card Stock

Cricut Cut Circles out

Hole Punch

Twine / Ribbon

I googled Ammo, Paintballand skulls .png images and found several different ones I used on the candy. I added the words Ammo under the ones that did not say it.

Ammo Candy Dots - Placed in large clear bag, added a tag with Ammo and tied with twine.

Ammo Gumball  tubes - Placed in clear tube, added a tag with Ammo and tied with twine.

 

Ammo Jumbo gumballs - Placed in small clear bag the extra gumballs leftover, added a tag with Ammo and tied with twine.

Ammo Jumbo Jawbreaker - Placed in small clear bag, added a tag with Ammo and tied with twine.

Ammo Mini Marshmallows - Placed in small clear bag, added a tag with Ammo and stapled shut.
 

 

 

Ammo Silly String - Placed a tag with Ammo on the bottle.
 

Air Soft - Printed Soft on paper and glued it onto Air Head candy, covering up Head with Soft.

 

Click HERE to see who I link with.

Paintball Themed Party ... Paintball Goody Bags (Treat Bags)

Since these are all teens and I know my themed parties don't go over super well with them. I scaled back what I normally do. I did still do gift bags that I made for each kid. Filled with candy so that is a hit with any kid at any again.

What you Need:

White Gift Bag (Dollar Tree 2pk for $1)
Target (I googled png and printed on white paper) Click link to see the one I used
Glue (I used hot glue gun / You can use whatever is handy)
Colored Paint (Puff paint would be best / I only found colored hot glue)

Using your printer print out a Target and cut them down to place on the bags. I used a little hot glue to attach to the bags (you can use whatever girl you have on hand). I really wanted to use puff paint but I couldn't find so I used this glitter hot glue I found at Dollar Tree. I'm all about what you can find on a affordable side! Make fun splats on the bag on target and on the side. Have fun and do as many colors you want.

Click HERE to see who I link with.

Paintball Themed Party ... Party Invites

The first project I did for this party was the invites. I saw several on different sites for sale but I only needed 5 with Cole only having 5 spots for the paintball game I bought. So why not make my own. 

 

I did a google search for paintball mask, paintball splatters, cammo background etc. I made sure my Google search was set for .png images, these are images without backgrounds so you can place them on top of each other and see behind. Have fun and add what you want. 

 

What you Need:

Word - Open a 5x7 paper size

Google - .PNG Images

5x7 Card Stock (I used photo paper, bought a pack at Dollar Tree a while back and used it) 

Make sure to add RSVP with your Ph #, Location, Drop off and Pick up, Date and Time.

I added the extra words:

You've Been Targeted!

It's a Paintball Party

 

 

Click HERE to see who I link with.