Christmas Plaids and Supportive Hubby Make Me Happy

    My birthday this year hits a milestone...one that I'm happy to say hits me mildly as far as physically and mentally???!  And it's a happy milestone, because I've found something that brings out my passions anew.  I was afraid that the creative juices had stopped flowing, and I had lost the incentive to search for them again.  What was I gonna do when retirement hit to stay active and involved? Well, if you're patient and wait for God to appoint your ways, all kinds of good things happen, especially if you're brave enough to trust Him. Sometimes that's hard in and of itself. 

      One day ,while browsing on the computer for ideas to do some cookies, I came across a whole slew of people doing them. My, they were beautiful! "I can do that" I thot to myself.  And thus started my journey.  It surely has been fun. And a good(and smart) husband likes having a happy wife...it works to EVERYONE'S benefit. ;) Mine is no exception...he's the one who said one day.."I bought you an early birthday present to use on your cookies." Three or 4 days later, a Canon printer, and an order of sugar sheets showed up at our front door.


    So, yes, I've cheated...sort of. These aren't truely "hand decorated" cookies, but they are still tasty, and beautiful.  I need to work on the trims a bit...not especially happy with those, but I will get there.
     If you have a supportive and enthusiastic hubby, or maybe someone else who cheers you on, and helps when they can...tell them how much you appreciate them.

Christmas Will Be Here Soon

     This is the first Christmas order of the season...I know, we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!!! Nevertheless, here they are. The snowflakes aren't hard, just a little more time consuming...maybe as I get better, they'll take less time. It's kinda hard to see the detail in the blue ones....maybe that's just as well...that way you can't see the boo-boos. :)

Fabulous Fall.



      After all the leaves and "acorns" (the candy ones), I felt like doing something different. I got "stuck" on gourds. I becamed fascinated with the coloring of them, especially the ornamental ones. And the bumps.... so here is what came of that.
     And I think I'm just as intrigued with the textures as I am the shapes and colorings.

      One of the other cookiers, whose blog I follow, also did some gourds...Pam @CookieCrazie. She did some amazing work...go check it out. There have also been several others that have done them, which has been fun for me to see...it's amazing to see how each of us can take the same theme and do such totally different work. 

A Spanish Birthday

  

My nephew is a senior in high school this year, and just turned 18!!! Wow!  When did that happen??  They seem to grow up faster than your own kids... probably because we're not watching them as closely as we do our own.   Nevertheless, here he is...a young man getting ready to venture out into the world.  He has taken to his spanish courses like a duck takes to water. With great enthusiasm!!  And he's good at it.

His Mom ordered cookies to celebrate his birthday... green, white, and red...some spanish phrases, etc.  My daughter, who speaks spanish well, helped me with the phrases, and the rest was sorta up to me.

I originally froze, for 30 minutes, the cookies that I wanted to write on. Then after they sat for a little bit with the writing on them, the writing seemed to fade.  Out came the frosting bags to do the letters...I know,...double steps.  But you do that sometimes in the effort to learn.


I can tell the difference between the two pics...can you?  The one directly above the one to the left is not done with the frosting.










This one in the middle, also got a treatment of icing, first in black, and then when I realized I should be using white icing instead of black( ease of reading), I went back over it in white.  Which, unfortunately , you don't get to see.(It's gone already)


Next up...I want to try some gourds.  Weird, I know, but hey, gotta give it a try.  Sorry about the long interval between posts.  I will try to do better.

The Barnyard Birthday Bash

    This was indeed the most fun order  

I've done yet.  I had the invitation  and the enthusiasm of  a soon to be 3 yr old for inspiration.

     My kopykake projector came in very handy for this order, and it made the project easier.  Once again, an order with some specifics, and the artistic latitude that makes the job more fun.  The little lambs are inspired by PAM@CookieCrazie, and are easy to make. I found the "nag" horse online, as well as the duck. 

 I was told by Jocelyn's mom that the girls divided up the cookies...(her sister got the dalmation order awhile

back) and that Jocelyn spoke for the barn.  (Smart 3 yr old...more cookie):)  The rest were divided up between family and relatives, and friends. I saw the table setup on the mom's blog @Jtothe5thpower.com,  and was impressed by the decorations.  A good time was had by all, especially the birthday girl.  Thanks for the order, Julia.  It was truely my pleasure to do these for you and your family.

Fall...it's just around the corner.

 I'm so glad, aren't you?  It's my favorite season of the year...I love the musty smell of the leaves, especially on a rainy morning.  I love the first morning you walk out the door, and there's a little "bite" in the air.  I love the bunches of mums I see planted in peoples yards blooming to beat the band. I love the reds, oranges, golds, and yellows of fall.

 I love the first pot of chili, the first fire in the fireplace, and the extra burst of energy that makes me want to be more productive.(cuz I'm not melting the minute I step out the door)  I love thinking about cool weather plants, and crock pot recipes.

My leaves are a poor example of the beauty of God's  painted leaves in the fall. But it's fun to try.  I'm not sure what our leaves will look like this year due to the hot, DRY, summer.  They'll probably just turn brown and turn loose.  But that doesn't keep us from  imagining wonderful colors.  So, keep smiling, and baking...fall will soon be here.  We'll be able to open the windows and let the heat from our ovens(that are making wonderful cookie creations) escape out into the cooler air.

A Bun in the Oven

    Our daughter and son in law are expecting their second child...a little girl...SOON!!! She will have a wonderful, Godly home to grow up in, and so many people in this life who will love her and nurture her. (and spoil her...ahem)  As a special treat, I bought the peekaboo baby cutter from Ecrandel, and waited for this baby shower to make the first cookie for our daughter.  She was delighted!  It's one of my favorite cutters, and such fun to decorate.

      Baby showers are such fun anyway...there's just something about little shoes, little socks, onsies, rubber duckies...not to mention the beautiful homemade things like hand crocheted blankets, and outfits, and creative quilts with monogrammed details.  AND cookies!!! :) And the cutest baby carriage made out of a watermelon!!!  Such creative people in this world!

           



And, of course, Big Sister!!!  She is going to be such a big helper...I can tell already.  I could hardly get her to hold still for her picture...can't you just see the "hurry up, Grandma, I wanna go play" look on her face.  I will be making more of the "baby" cookies soon...for the nurses this time.  Guess I better quit playing on the computer, and go get busy. See ya all real soon.  We can do fall leaves, and acorns, or such.

Go Bulldogs!!! And another school year begins.

 Can you believe it?? Summer, whew!!,(that's me wiping the sweat away) is almost over...sad to say that the tempuratures are probably not. They will probably be with us a while longer...but I digress.  School...new beginnings for lots...a chance to redeem for others.  New clothes, catching up with friends you didn't get to see much over the summer...remember??? Brings back lots of fond memories for me.  Hmmm, I wonder if it's the same for the kids in this generation.

    

 These cookies are for the teachers at the high school in Jay, Ok., a small town to the south of Grove, Ok., another "little bit bigger" small town on the edge of a big "Grand Lake".

 The son of the Judge my husband works for, goes there. The Judge has placed many orders with me...she is a very enthusiastic supporter of the school and all that is associated with it.  She is also one of my "fans", and a delightful souce of free advertising.

These dog bones were also school related, done a couple of weeks earlier, for the same school...same color scheme. I think the kids got this batch.  I'm sure they didn't waste too much time demolishing them.   These bones were my first attempt at doing zebre striping...see 'em in there??  I need to go back to Sugarbelle's tutorial and watch it again...somethings missing.  (I'm pretty sure the kids probably didn't even notice. :0). 

          

Shoes for the cousins.

 Every year in the summer, my cousins(the gals) get together at some place previously designated, and spend 3 or 4 days together.  They go shopping, swimming, walking, did I mention shopping??, go to concerts, horse races, art shows, new and different restaurants,...you get the idea.  They have a blast!! And they visit, and giggle, and sometimes they get sick from eating something new that was too spicy. Like one of 'em did the year I got to go. This year, they discovered my cookies, and wanted to take some on their trip. "Make shoes, because we plan to do some shopping" Jan said with a big smile.

I understand that a good time was had by all, and the shoes were eaten with pleasure. I never did hear if they went shoe shopping or not.  Wonder what they will want next year. Thanks for the order, Jan.

Ladybugs...again???

See what I mean??? I told you I like ladybugs.  These were for a 4 year for her birthday at her daycare. She picked out her favorite one as soon as her mother brought them home. (I think it's the sparkly purple and white one top left hand corner)And her mother, being the good mom that she is, dutifully marked the favored one, and sent them to daycare with the daughter.   But...there were several boys in the class too, so we decided we better have something that wasn't so "girly".


That's when we decided to do butterflies too. Well..

some of these look kind of girly too, but I guess the boys didn't care.  Mom said no cookies were returned at the end of the day( I think she was secretly wanting to eat a few more:))  You see the plaid cookies...I try to put one in each dozen that I make( making a bakers dozen=13). So far, that has been a pleasure to the customers. Thanks for the order, Laurie.

Moving...ugh!!

 Moving...again.  Something my husband and I have done a lot of over the years.  This apple pie, and apple cookies are for my PA that I work with, for a generosity bestowed on my daughter and me. (No, I wasn't stingy, she's watching her weight.) She and the other girls in the clinic where I work, have watched with amusement, the blossoming of a crazy cookie passion.  So, new job, new home, new job duties, new everything..."that's a whole lot of "new" says my PA. She's right.  But, as before, I will survive.

This pie and cookies were for the staff on the farewell luncheon day..."are ya gonna make a batch of cookies for us before you leave??" they wanted to know.  "Sure," I said.  I didn't say it would only be cookies.  This just seemed like the thing to do.  It kinda feels "fall-ish" to me...and with this hot summer we're having, it definately felt right.  I'm already looking foward to that first really cool morning.  Ummmm.  Fall cookies, anyone??

dalmation creation

One of my daughters friends is having a birthday party for her daughter.  She's into dalmation dogs.
"Can we do dogs, and maybe bones, or some cookies with spots?" said Mom.  "Sure", I said. All the while running thru my head things I thought a 5 year old would like. I'm happiest when I've got a customer who gives me some creative liberties.  I'm
pleased with how these turned out...and always just a little amazed at how they all look altogether. I used a wet on wet technique to get the spots to lay flat. I hope the 5 year old has as much fun eating them as I had making them.  Thank you for the order, Julia.

Ladybugs on parade

We all have cutters and shapes that we love most...so far, mine seems to be ladybugs...probably special to me because when my now grown daughter was little I called her "Ladybug "alot.  And now HER daughter is called "Katybug ladybug." Needless to say, at our house, ladybugs are held in a somewhat more favored light.  I have discovered the fun of mixing things up a bit color wise.  Aren't cookies supposed to be fun???

Who says they have to be red and black?(the ladybugs.)  Or orange and black?

See what I mean??? The friend I made these for has 2 young children...they loved these. And I loved making them.   But of course, with new cookie cutters come new favorites.  So stay tuned.

Practice, practice, practice.

This was where I started...Easter 2011.  I had made some cookies before this that I had seen on someones blog, and brought them to work.  The girls loved them.  "Can you  do some for me for Easter for my family?"  As you can see from the picture, they're a little rough.                                                                                                                                                     

This is a later batch that I made for a baby shower at work...they looked better, a little more smooth, and flooded better.   And I'm happy to report the new mom took them home to her family and they disappeared shortly thereafter. 

Summer Fun....in Oklahoma, that means being by the water!!!

     Ok, so here's the beginning of my blog. Being new at this, you'll understand the false starts, lousy sentence structure, and sometimes misspelled words.  I have just recently stumbled upon other women on this planet who love to bake and decorate cookies.  And they are GOOD at it!!! So that's what I want to be when I grow up...a "COOKIER".  Among all the other titles I have, I want to add this one to my list. 

     This platter of cookies is for a childhood friend whom I haven't seen in a few years, but still keep in touch through...you guessed it...Facebook.  Actually, my dad sees her oftener than I do, because they still all go to the same church. These summer cookies are for her grandkids, who I understand are swimmers, among other things. So, Nancy, I hope you all enjoy these.  I loved making them for you. 

                                             Check out the plaid fish right in the middle.

 

snorkeling masks 

                                     

                                                air mattresses and beach balls

4th of July Cookies