Mommy's Night Out (February 2015)

When my friend Dawn decided to host a Mommy's Night Out at her house, I realized just how long it had been since us girls had an opportunity to get together (without kids), have a few drinks, and enjoy a few laughs.  When she mentioned she wanted it to be a "game night," I was completely on-board.  I didn't know exactly what she had in mind, so I made a variety of cookies that I hoped would be somewhat applicable.

  For these cookies, I really was pretty scattered.  

There's a bit of everything here...a mixture between poker chips, pictionary, and charades.

The hourglass timers  were made with a simple rectangle cutter and some negative (undecorated) space.  I added some white sanding sugar on top to help give it some dimension.

These pictionary-inspired cookies were so simple.  I flooded each square cookie with white icing and added a yellow/golden border.  Then, using my favorite food-safe markers, I added some simple stick-figure drawings.  Can you find the "rainbow," "car wash," "cupcake," "love birds," and, my favorite, "beer goggles?"

I also made some plaque cookies as game cards for charades.  Since all these ladies are moms to 5-year-old girls, I thought some familiar children's movies would be fun...everyone was such a good sport.

Brad gets a special mention, though, as when we were all tired out from our fun, he drove each one of us home safely.  

Extra bonus points for such a great husband!

 

Thanks to this awesome family for giving this Mommy just what she needed...a good night out with friends! 

Sweet Treats for a Sweet Girl (January 2015)

Our little friend, Ashlyn, turned 3 in January, and her mom, who has a flair for creativity (and Pinterest searching), was throwing a Candyland-themed party.  This was complete with a full-scale Candyland board game in their basement.  This was such a fun and different idea for a party, that I welcomed the chance to make some less ordinary cookies in her honor.

These cookies were 100% inspired by Sweet Sugarbelle and her amazing imagination.  I'll be honest...these were tricky!  Between creating the right cookie shapes and having at least 6 frosting colors on-hand at all times, they were definitely a challenge.

Sweet Sugarbelle has designed a few cookie cutters specifically for Karen's Cookies' on-line store, one of which is this cookie jar cutter.   I thought that might make a nice jelly bean jar.  But, I had to piece together several different cookie cutters to make the gumball machine.  Seriously, it's been so long since I've made them and am only now posting about them, that I'm not sure I even remember what I used!  I think it was the bottom of a tiered wedding cake + large circle + small circles.  Either way, they took a lot of experimenting and patience, and when they were done, they were, well, huge!

To decorate them, I used wet-on-wet icing to create the gumballs/jelly beans inside the machine, and then once they had dried, I added more candies on top to create the dimension I so admired from Sweet Sugarbelle's original design.  My mini jelly beans might have looked a bit off, but they were also made by hand-cutting, so I think I deserve some slack. :)

I actually had cookie cutters for the wrapped candies, which made things a lot easier.  Those were probably my favorite with the swirl, embellished with more sanding sugar.  The striped peppermints were made with my number 1 cookie cutter (trimmed), and the Necco wafers were made with a diploma cookie cutter (trimmed) for some interest.  My husband wasn't sure what they were, but Necco wafers are a thing...and they are colorful, even if they aren't the yummiest.

Every birthday girl needs her own special cookie, and I will definitely keep this personalized cupcake cookie in mind for the future.  With a few sprinkles/quins, these were quick, easy, and colorful!

Happy Birthday, Ashyln!

We were happy to share in the (very sweet) celebration!

Cookie Fun for Everyone (January 2015)

This holiday season was a real kick-in-the-pants.  

These past 6 months have probably been some of my most stressful, what with starting my own private practice, co-founding a local music class, taking care of 2 young children, and worrying non-stop about creating a healthy work-life balance (!).  Well, by the time the holidays came around, I was forced to stop by the power of the all-powerful flu.  Yes, it hit us...hard.  At first, it was just me, but then the kids also got it, leaving my husband to fend for himself (which he did very well, since he somehow managed to escape illness this time around).

Cookie-wise, this meant that the cookies I had baked while healthy were slowly getting stale as I wouldn't/couldn't dream of decorating them while in my flu-coma, which lasted at least a week.  A bummer too, since they were going to be pretty cute designs (inspired by Container Store wrapping paper...I suppose I'm prepared for next year.).  However, we were able to find an upside to having pre-baked cookies sitting around the house.

Once we were all feeling better, we wanted to make up for some of the fun missed while nursing ourselves back to health over the holidays.  It was cold outside, we had a few more days off of work/school, and we decided to spend a glorious and impromptu morning together sharing the joys of cookie-decorating as a family, all in the comfort of our pajamas.  

I made some icing, put it in bags, and we all went to work.

Some of my 4-year-old daughter's creations:

And some of my 2-year-old son's:

Although they had a bit more of a crunch than most of my cookies, they were definitely the most beautiful (in my unbiased opinion).  

To all sit around the table creating, playing, and laughing together was a joy. 

 

Hands-down, this is one of my very favorite family memories and simply an awesome way to start the new year!

Painted Christmas Tree Landscapes (December 2014)

The day after Thanksgiving, we had plans to help some close friends decorate their Christmas tree and then go to the tree-lighting ceremony in our town with a group of other friends.  Because I never seem to go to any occasion without a plate of cookies, I planned ahead (for a change).  Using the same technique I had used for my Thanksgiving Fall Foliage cookies, I made a few extra blue painted backgrounds to try with 

Christmas trees this time.

After the background was dry, I used 20-second icing to create a layered green tree and placed a yellow star sprinkle on top.

The biggest debate, especially since I don't celebrate Christmas, is what effect worked best for the garland, which was white icing draped across the tree and showered with either 1) white sanding sugar, 2) white nonpareils, or 3) rainbow nonpareils.

I quickly made a few mini trees with some remaining rainbow nonpareils for a mini option, all in one quick motion.  Personally, I thought the rainbow garland looked the best, but mostly because of all the color.  The most realistic, according to my husband and the hands-down winner in our informal poll of friends, was the sparkling white sanding sugar.

So thankful that we can help our friends and family celebrate Christmas in this way!

Painted Fall Foliage (November 2014)

Woah, I let a few months pass before having another chance to post...time to catch up!  This past Thanksgiving, I was really torn about whether or not to even make cookies.  Let's face it, there are always so many pies that who has enough room for a cookie?  Plus, I was getting tired of the whole turkey cookie...I mean there are only so many variations on creating a  cute cookie from, arguably, one of the ugliest birds.

But, after doing some research online, I came across a combination of several ideas that proved to be more inspiring at this beautiful time of year.  Happy Loris Baking on Etsy had a great concept that I was very eager to try...painting the background of the cookie before piping the design.  Using a very small amount of the icing itself and some water, I was able to create a sort of shading effect in blue and yellow.

After the backgrounds had dried, I piped the swirly trees (as inspired by a photo on by Julia Usher on Cookie Connection) and used the quins I had purchased on Etsy to represent leaves.

Although unsure how blue fit in with the platter of autumn hues, I think it was a nice contrast.

To provide a mini cookie option, I was inspired by a pinterest pin and used the autumn colors to create swirly leaves.

Ah, I love a good theme.

In the end, I was just happy to find a more sophisticated Thanksgiving theme (and I think I gave those pies a run for their money). :)

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Boo! (October 2014)

Ok, this post is titled "Boo!," not because of some sort of cookie tragedy (is that such a thing?...yes, I'm afraid!), but more appropriately because of Halloween.  

Man, the cookie decorators I follow have some amazing ideas for Halloween!  I love these witch boots from Sweet Sugarbelle that she made a few years ago, and I decided to risk attempting them myself this year.  I followed her steps almost to the letter, and I was pretty happy with how they turned out.  She designed these using an upside-down shirt cookie cutter...so smart!

Since the boots were so intricate, I used a much simpler "Boo!" design for the spider web cookies.  I just used the wet-on-wet technique to add a pop of color all at once, and then I added the writing (and small spider!) with black icing once the main area dried.

Mini cookies are not only one of my favorite ways to add interest to a cookie platter, but they have also been a fun way to pass out favors at school.  This time, I used snack bags stuffed with "Five Little Pumpkins."  Although fairly simple, since there were SO many of them, they were pretty time consuming.  I used 20-second icing in 3 stages to give the pumpkins the right texture, and then I added the details.  I had thought about drawing on the faces with a food coloring marker, but because of the ridges on the pumpkins, it wouldn't have looked right.

 When they were all laid out on a platter, the colors seemed to coordinate nicely.  We had a great time bringing these to our friend, Stacie's house for an afternoon of Halloween-themed fun.  She had everything from ghost tortilla chips to punch over dry ice to spider cupcakes...so clever!  Oh, and we also wrapped up the kids in toilet paper mummy-style...classic.

 I love this action shot too!

 Happy Halloween!

My Kind of Music! (October 2014)

Well, this next batch of cookies were inspired by my new labor of love, an interactive parent-child early childhood music program that is taught by me (a speech-language pathologist) and an established and in-demand early childhood music specialist in our neighborhood.  This class is more than a "Mommy and Me" class, as it is specifically tailored to meet the needs of ALL children, especially welcoming those with special needs.  

As a team, we are so passionate about this program, and I could blog about it all day.  

Instead, if you are interested, I highly recommend you check out our Facebook page and our website, where you can also watch a short youtube video of what to expect in one of our classes.

This new adventure all began very organically.  Once I experienced Miss Michelle's music classes with my own children through the park district, I was hooked.  Not only was I excited about the curriculum and her musicality (she writes her own songs and plays the guitar!), I was impressed with her ability to connect with the kids, while involving the parents throughout the class.

If only the parents that I worked with everyday (parents of children with special needs) had a place to take their children, where they felt they could experience the social, bonding joys of a music class, and also support their child's therapeutic goals.  AND, wouldn't it be nice for these amazing (and exhausted) parents to meet other parents who understand and support their needs?

I guess these are lofty goals, but Miss Michelle and I are up for the challenge!

As we are much more familiar with therapy, music, and education, we have had a major class in marketing and business over the past few months.  This logo was designed by a family friend of Michelle's...isn't it great?  I love the playful design and the colors.

I knew this would be the inspiration for the cookies that follow.

From my all pinterest searching, Katie's Something Sweet shop on Etsy inspired these guitar cookies (above), and I tried my best to mimic the guitar in our logo for these guitar-shaped cookies (below).

 I guess it's not that surprising that I had a guitar in my cookie cutter collection, and since I was already into the theme, I decided to also use my music note cookie cutters.  I totally forgot how HUGE they are.  (FYI, the bigger the cookie, the less likely they will be eaten.)  But, they did add some balance to the very busy platter.

I also made some mini circles, surrounded by sanding sugar of matching color for more bite-sized music note options, and there were definitely takers of those.

Originally, I brought this platter to our very first pilot "My Kind of Music" class.  Michelle and I munched a bit, as did some of the office staff and our photographers (thanks family!).  Due to various allergies, they weren't shared with the families, but as this whole endeavor has definitely been a team effort, this was just my way of saying, "thanks."

I guess I communicate through cookies often.  

I used the leftovers from this platter to bring to a meet-and-greet event with other therapists and early intervention providers, to help advertise our program (in the yummiest way I know how.)

It was only a matter of time until my "work-life" and "creative-life" collided.

Here's to the start of a new journey!