Fun!

So I had a little extra dough leftover and I was really wanting to try some new designs/techniques I had seen online, so I decided to bake what was left and give a few things a try.  I'm so glad I did!  It was so fun and even though they all didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, I've learned from it and know that the next time I make the, it will go much better :)

 For this one, I outlined and drew a heart in the middle then sprinkled what the cookie world calls "sanding sugar" (aka sprinkles) on the icing while it was still wet.  Once that dried, I filled the rest in with pink icing.  Wasn't too hard or too terribly time consuming.  I like that!

 I saw these, and decided I had to give my own version a try.  This one was a frustration from the start, but I think it was because I was using the wrong tip & wrong consistence, so next time, it should go better.  In the end, it didn't turn out too badly.  It does take quite a bit of time though because you need drying time between each layer.

 This one I actually found a tutorial on Sweet Sugarbelle (awesome cookie blog btw), and thank goodness I did!  I'm not sure I could have done it without it.  I definitely need more practice, and my icing consistency wasn't quite right, but it was still fun!  Another very time consuming one though.  Also not sure I could do a large batch of these as my hand was starting to get tired after just two!

This one was pretty simple as well, and not too terribly time consuming.  There is a long wait time though before you can do the flower, but may use another technique I've learned to shorten that step if I make these again.

I can't believe I only learned how to do these kinds cookies in February.  All those summers I had off from teaching without a child, I could have been learning and perfecting my cookies.  Oh well!  I'm having so much fun, and am always looking forward to my next challenge :) 

Balloons, Texas, and More Flowers!

Edit: If you already read this post and are wondering what happened to the first set of flowers and why the post name changed, I deleted them because I realized I had already posted about them.  Oops!!  All these late nights decorating cookies are taking my brain!  Ha!

I got to make some cookies for a friend to give as a "Thank You" to one of her daughter's teachers.  I was a little nervous about the writing part at first, because I don't have the best handwriting with a pen, and wasn't sure how well it would work with a piping bag.  But, I'm pretty proud of them for my first attempt.  I think cursive is easier with icing than print though.

These were for a friend who wanted some cookies to send to her son who is away at college in Michigan.  I've never shipped any before, so hopefully they arrive safely :)  I really love how these turned out too!

 She ordered some for herself and some to ship :)

I decided to go ahead and try to package them myself because I wanted to figure out a way to ship in case I need to do it myself in the future.  I cut up a piece of foam board, wrapped it in saran wrap then put the cookie on it and wrapped it all in saran.  I then placed them in alternating spots in the box and put bubble wrap between the layers.  It felt pretty secure in the box.  I also told my friend when she shipped it to put that box in a bigger box with some packing material to protect the cookies more should other boxes be placed on top of it, etc.  I hope to hear that they arrived successfully!!

And last, but not least, I got to make some LARGE daisy flowers for a friend that is in an organization with me.   One of the symbols is daisies and she was headed to the convention, so she wanted some treats to share.

These are about an inch in diameter larger than the other flowers.  Here's a comparison...

Oh, and have I mentioned they taste as good as they look ;-)  Yum!!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy looking at them and those of you that have ordered them, I hope you enjoy eating them as much as I enjoy making them :)  Thanks to you all!!!

Flags and Flowers

A friend of mine asked if I could make some cookies for some friends of hers that were moving to Italy.  Lucky for me, the Italian flag is just 3 big stripes, so I was able to make these cute flags!  Of course, none of my cookies are as perfect as I'd like them to be, but I thought they turned out pretty good :)

Last week, I made some flower cookies for a friend in my women's bible study group.  She is in need of a double lung transplant, and we held a bake sale to help raise some of the funds needed.  She is only 25 and has a 2 year old son that she is unable to be with most of the time due to her condition and I know she misses him dearly.  Please keep her in your prayers!

After I posted those pictures on FB one of my friends from teaching wanted some, so I got to make some more! She originally bought them to give to various people, but when she picked them up, said things had changed and these will be benefiting a friend of theirs that is raising funds for medical expenses as well.  Hopefully they sell and are a help to him and his family!

Bunco!

Friday night, I hosted my Bunco group.  I decided to make dice cookies, and these were by far the easiest I've done.  It took me half the time it usually does. They still were not as perfect as I would have liked though (as usual), but only having one shape and 2 colors made things go soooo much faster! Everyone loved them (or at least pretended too - ha!).

These next ones are not cookies, but I had fun making them, so I wanted to share a photo or two as well :)

They are crescent rolls colored with food coloring and filled with chicken salad.  If you are interested in making them yourself, you can find the instructions here.  They were so fun!

Easter

I decided to make some cookies for our families for Easter.  I keep making the mistake of trying to do lots of shapes/designs at once.  I think it would definitely have been in my favor, time wise, to just pick one or maybe 2 designs at most.  It's hard though because I keep finding so many cute things that I want try.  Plus, they look so much cuter plated when there's more designs :)  Ha!

I kind of rushed these a little bit, partially because I started them while Logan was still awake - Daddy was watching him, don't worry.  He's a cute little distraction.  Then, my bro-in-law & sis-in-law came in town, so we wanted to spend some time with them.  I was trying to visit, make dinner and do cookies at the same time, and it probably would have been in everyone's best interest if I had visited, and done cookies later.  I just had this crazy idea in my head that I would have had them finished before they got here, but the day didn't go exactly as planned.  Oh well!  But I'm a terrible hostess for not giving our guests my full attention :(  Hopefully since they got to eat some of the cookies they will forgive me :)

Anyway, back to the cookies.  They still look pretty good in pictures and from a distance, but in person I could definitely see so many things I would have liked to fix.  However, looks don't change the way they taste, and they taste so yummy!  Thank goodness for that! :)

Ps.  The lighting is terrible - it was not very bright and sunny when I took the pictures, but you can still see the cookies pretty well.

Orders!

Last week, I received my first 2 orders :)  It was so much fun!  I sure hope they enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.  I did have a lot more anxiety over them this time though knowing that someone was paying me for them.  I wanted them to be perfect, but I'm obviously still new at this, so they didn't turn out perfect which was disappointing.  However, for only being my 5th & 6th batch to ever make, I think they turned out pretty good.

The first order was for a former coworker of mine.  She wanted some Easter eggs for her student teacher's last day.  She didn't have any specific design she wanted, so I found these that I thought were beautiful, and I wanted to attempt them.  I thought they looked elegantly simple, but they were not as simple to make as I had thought.  The scrolls/curves were much more difficult to do with the icing than I had anticipated.  However, as long as you didn't look too closely, I thought they turned out really pretty.

I also received an order from my hubby's Aunt.  She needed some cookies for a pasta party that she was hosting for her daughter's school soccer team that had made it to playoffs.  I decided to attempt some soccer balls, and some letter C cookies (the school's name begins with a C).  The soccer balls were a little difficult at first, but I got better with each one.  I also figured out a way to make it much easier and more exact the next time (whenever that may be!).  In my tiredness the next morning, I forgot to take pictures of the cookies plated, so all I have are the ones of them drying right after I finished.  Oh well, at least I have those! :)

I'm hoping to make some Easter cookies in the next day or so as well, so hopefully I will be posting some more pictures soon :)

Butterflies!

Last week, I made some butterflies for my MOPs group.  They have a garage sale every year to help offset the cost of childcare during our meetings.  I, along with my friend Tracy, decided to make cookies that could be sold as a little extra bonus.  In the grand scheme of things, a few cookies didn't make much, but every little bit helps!  I also learned that every cookie sold, so I'm really glad about that :)

I wanted to do 2 colors that were girl & boy friendly, so I just decided to do pink & blue.  After finishing, I realized maybe I should have done something else as they looked like they were for a baby shower. Ha!  However, they were still beautiful.

I used a new technique that I learned, and it was so much fun!

I bagged them individually to make for easy selling.  Aren't they cute?