–by Jennifer Ruple
PUBLICATION DATE: March 03, 2021

After the birth of her third child, Sylvania artist Stacy DelVerne knew it was time to trade in her large canvas boards for a smaller surface on which to paint. That surface became cookies, and her business Cookie Canvas was born. DelVerne bakes her signature cookies and then paints them with her original designs or custom designs for special occasions such as baby showers, birthdays, weddings and graduations.
“I actually started Cookie Canvas about eight years ago, but about five years ago I began working with children with autism at Capable Kids,” said DelVerne. “I stopped doing cookies altogether but continually got requests for orders. Enter the pandemic, I was at home and I started baking again,” she added.

DelVerne, an art therapy major at Bowling Green State University, moved to Arizona after graduation and worked for the Phoenix Art Group and the Ethan Allen team for five years. “I worked with designers who would create the designs and I would produce them to be sold all over the world. Sometimes that meant painting one piece or sometimes eight. Each piece would be slightly unique, but I would try to make them as similar as possible to the designer’s work,” she reminisced. In 2002, DelVerne moved back to the Toledo area and now lives in Sylvania with her husband, Mark, and their three children ages 18, 17 and 14.
“I used to have a studio downtown, but after the birth of my first child, my time there became short. After my second child was born, we moved my studio to our garage. And, after the birth of my third child, my kitchen became my studio,” explained DelVerne. “There was no longer room to paint on large canvases.”
The first cookies DelVerne made were for her daughter’s preschool Valentine’s Day party. They were a hit, and she decided to make more for preschool graduation. “It was an Under the Sea theme. I didn’t have any cookie cutters, so I hand cut all of the squiggly
shapes,” she laughed. “Soon after that, my mom started ordering cookies to give to her friends. My first big order was when a friend asked me to make cookies for a local company where she was working. I made about 500. After that, it just took off.”
DelVerne posts cookie ordering information on the University of Toledo and BGSU parents’ pages for those who want to send them to their kids. “I call it the College Dozen and I deliver cookies each month to the schools,” she said. “My family does help me by running errands and making deliveries. I really couldn’t do this without their help.”
Cookies from Cookie Canvas are sold by the dozen and are available through the business’ Facebook page. DelVerne also offers Paint Your Own kits which come with a large cookie with a design she stencils on. They are ready to be painted with a tiny paint brush and an edible paint palette.
DelVerne finds inspiration for her designs all over. “I love the mountains and I like to paint ombre cookies, but when I’m finished with the cookies, there is something I love about every one of them.”