Fall (2012)

It's about this time on my cookie-making journey, when I ran across Sweet Sugar Belle's blog, an amazing cookie artist from Texas who has inspired many of my cookies from here on out.  She has taught me so many techniques, like her 20-second icing trick, brush embroidery, and royal icing transfers, but most of all, I find that I just can relate to her.  She is creative, yet methodical, and while we both enjoy the process (which takes way too long to describe...what with the dough-making, the cookie-cutting, the baking, the royal icing preparing, the outlining, the flooding, and the detailing), we appreciate whatever shortcuts/tricks we can find to make it go as smoothly as possible.  She makes this hobby accessible for the self-taught baker, like me.

For example, she can take one basic cookie cutter and think of many different ways one could shape it into something else and vice-versa.  Look at how many different ways she has made a giraffe (and all with common cookie cutters).  Anyhow, if you have any interest in delving into the depths of this whole cookie-making vortex, she is the gal I can't recommend enough...

These pumpkins are my first attempt at her "perfect" pumpkin and jack-o-lantern designs.  (My pumpkins from 2013 turned out much better, I think, and the same techniques were employed...with a little more practice and better icing consistency.)  In any case, these cookies were made with the fall season in mind, obviously. 

Some were used at Halloween...

and some at Thanksgiving.

These leaf cookies started out as either yellow or orange, and then sprayed with food color spray from Wilton (think spray paint, but edible).  An excellent way to add some realism to the Thanksgiving dessert platter...thank you Sweet Sugar Belle!

And, speaking of being thankful (timely, don't you think?), thank you for providing such a creative and inspiring blog, allowing me to pursue an interest I never even knew existed several months ago.  You are a real artist...with the tastiest of mediums.

Happy Birthday! (October 2012)

I'm realizing so many of these posts have been about my brothers.  Well, I have two, and they are both younger than me (which means I'm wiser, by the way).  The one with all the wedding plans has been my baby brother (hard to believe he's married), and my other brother is the one this post is dedicated to.  They both have always been huge soccer fans...watching and playing, so when my sister-in-law called to tell me she was throwing him a surprise 30th party, I wanted to contribute something special to him.  By the way, she gets major points (as a wife, sister-in-law, and well, person) for putting on such an awesome event...

While my number piping is not the strongest, the jerseys are the same colors as their intramural team and are supposed to be recognizable (at least to them).  Soccer balls were quite challenging to draw, but it was a bit easier once I discovered food writing pens...who knew?  Definitely starting to run out of black, though...

Happy Birthday!

My Brother's Wedding (September 2012)

They got married the first weekend of September, Labor Day, and it was a beautiful event.  Family from all over the country and outside the country (she has a lot of family in South Africa) flew in for the wedding, and like most couples who have guests from out-of-town, they wanted to leave little favors in the hotel room.  That's where I jumped in!

I had seen a ton of inspiration on Etsy (i.e. Veras Cookies, Color Me Cookies, The Fancy Lady Gourmet), and I wanted to try my hand at making these custom cookies!  In the end, all the rooms got one "couple" of hearts, tied in a cellophane bag with a pretty purple ribbon.  I'll admit I did make a practice-round first to make sure I could pull off what I had promised them, but I'm pretty happy with the final product.

Congratulations to the happy couple :)

Ah, baby days... (August 2012)

Since I had some experience making baby onesies earlier this year, I offered to provide some decorated cookies for my friend's sister's baby shower.  I guess it was a few degrees of separation, but I wanted/needed a reason to make another 60 cookies or so, and I had this great set of cookie cutters from Wilton and inspiration from Etsy (Shop for Sugar and Spice).

 

The onesies were a repeat, but the carriages were definitely a challenge.

 

but the carriages were definitely a challenge.

 

Then, reality started to set in that it was just about the end of my maternity leave, and all these baby days would soon be mixed with work-filled days.  Some days I was starting to look forward to a little healthy distraction, but other days I just wanted to hold them all day.  The juggling is so hard...still.

Well, I thought I'd bring some cookies to my little mommy-baby group that met once a week.  Really, just an excuse to try some girl onesie patterns to go along with my boy versions.

I happened to love the little baseball tees.

And I started experimenting with some other designs...nerdy pocket-protector, anyone?

And, partly because I had some leftover cookies/icing, I made this batch of flowers to bring to work my first day back.  My co-workers not only had their jobs to do, but they also covered for me while I was on leave, so it was just a small token of thanks. 

That first day back to work is always the hardest.  It's so hard to jump right back into work and try to pick up where you left off.  And, meanwhile you are trying to balance things like checking in at home, worrying about baby's feeding supply, and hoping he still recognizes you at the end of the day (add melodramatic music now).  Looking back, I can appreciate the craziness of that time, and I am so thankful for the (relative) balance I have right now.

Summertime (2012)

The summer of 2012 was one of our best.  I was on maternity leave and definitely had my hands full with the two kids, but with my daughter getting a bit older, we were able to enjoy a few more of what the holidays had to offer.  We were all looking forward to going to the 4th of July parade together as a family, but to make things extra special for our big girl, now 2 1/2...we were planning on introducing her to fireworks.

She had never been allowed (encouraged) to stay up that late before, so we really tried to pump her up and make it special.  These cookies were made a few days ahead of time and inspired by the 4th and Martha Stewart.

She even made a few!  Amazing what creations you can make with wet icing and toothpicks.

We also went to many outdoor picnics and summer concerts with our friends.  We especially enjoyed going to Ravinia and seeing Ralph's World...you don't know him?!  You should.  In order to bring something to share to these special events, I played around with some summertime cookie cutters, thanks to my seasonal "Year of Cookies" Crate and Barrel cookie cutter set (thank you, wedding registry!).

Our Little Guy's Arrival (May 2012)

My husband always says that I can't relax.  I need to stay busy to stay happy, and to some degree it's true, but especially in this case.  One would think that managing a household, working part-time, wrangling a 26-month-old, and preparing for the arrival of a new baby (due any day) would be enough for one lady to "stay busy."

I think that the "nesting instinct" also applies to cookie decorating...doesn't it?  I had the fever...what can I say?  We wanted the baby's gender to be a surprise (for both pregnancies), and often people will remember these cookies and swear that we cheated and knew ahead of time.  Nope...just needed a good excuse.  With both babies we had traditional naming ceremonies, but we knew that if it was a boy, that that naming ceremony would be within his first week or so of life.  Therefore, (I reasoned), wouldn't it be feasible...if not completely rational, to think that preparing 60-70 sugar cookies in anticipation of a boy might be the sane thing to do?  I figured, if the baby was a boy, we'd be prepared, and if she was a girl, we'd eat some yummy cookies...win-win!

Here's what I came up with:

 I especially liked the way the argyle turned out.

In the end, we did have a sweet little boy.  Did I know ahead-of-time?  No.  I was happy that the coincidence was able to be put to good use by means of feeding the family at the naming ceremony.  But in retrospect, should I have rationed a few of those moonlight hours of cookie decorating for my last few nights of a sound sleep?  Perhaps...

My Brother's Pre-Wedding Festivities (Spring 2012)

So, having very little experience in this world of cookie decorating, I set out looking for other opportunities to practice.  My brother's wedding would prove to be several months worth of inspiration.  First off, was my sister-in-law's bridal shower.

I'm most proud of the dresses.  All I knew was the color scheme of dark violet (in actuality, much more beautiful than this purple), but I wanted to accent the bridal dresses with her personal choice.

And, since I wanted to add some interest to the table favors, I added some wedding cakes.

However, in the end, when all tied up in a cellophane bag with a purple ribbon and placed at each guest's plate setting, they ended up being a success.

Since my addiction to these little guys could not be squelched, I also tried my hand at some (very tame) lingerie cookies for her bachelorette party.  No pictures of these...not my finest work, but who could blame me?  (Did I mention that during all this cookie-craze, I had a baby due any day now?)

Here's How I Got Hooked (March 2012)...

I feel my life has truly begun during these past four or so years of becoming a mom and having a family of my own.  I couldn't be any luckier to wake up to my husband, daughter (now 3 1/2 years) and son (18 months).  We have found that one of the great joys of parenthood is getting to re-create the happy memories of our own childhoods.  That, for me, could not be more true of birthday celebrations.  Growing up, I might not have appreciated the homemade birthday parties my mom and dad would painstakingly plan for me with creative themes and unique activities (think, a "painting party" for 10 or so kindergarteners using our unfinished basement's walls as our canvas).  However, I fully embrace them now and try to create similarly creative parties with my own children.

It was our daughter's 2nd birthday, and we were throwing a "Sesame Street" party.  (Quite possibly the greatest tv show of all time.)  The "theme" button was pushed in my brain, and I made games for kids like "Mr. Hooper's Store, Oscar's Trash Toss, Dorothy's Fishing Game, and Count with the Count."  I was just googling my way around the internet, trying to find other ideas that would make the party special, and I ran across Annie's Eats blog, with the most amazing cupcakes and cookies I had ever seen.  Actually, her entire "Sesame Street" birthday party was an inspiration.  I have always enjoyed making drop cookies and refrigerator slice cookies, some with different icing/decorative touches, but I had never thought of decorating sugar cookies with colored icing and piping tips like this before.

My attempts were much less impressive, but definitely got me thinking about cookie decorating in an entirely new light.  Here was something that took thought, creativity, a bit of math/science (eek!), and art...what a fantastic personal distraction for a busy, working mom...although only available during moonlight hours.

I began reading some amazing blogs and following some pretty incredible ladies.  I was so humbled by their creations and their openness to let me get a peek into their cookie-baking lives.  I was constantly in awe and inspired to try some "cookie art" myself.  Their tutorials, pictures, descriptions, and my own attempts have taught me much more than I could have learned in a traditional classroom.  I have followed many of their suggestions, from where I buy my food coloring to how to organize my cookie cutter collection (estimated now to be about 300 cookie cutters?  Oy.)  My work is not perfect, and I'm still learning...it's a hobby after all!  (I have to remember that when I'm ready to throw away-yes, throw away-a completely tasty batch of cookies just because I don't like the icing details.)

This blog is meant to serve as a way to remember the cookies I have made and then deliciously devoured (or delivered to others for devouring...the more preferable choice for my thighs).  For, although this new little hobby has seemed to take over quite a bit of my moonlight hours, I have greatly enjoyed learning a new skill and sharing it with those I love.