I mentioned before that I was asked to be part of a Holiday cookie swap with some other fantastic cookiers.  This swap was hosted by Kayla of Toss Your Cookies and I'm so happy I decided to participate.

These were the cookies I sent for the swap. 

Being pressed for time, I had to do a simple design and add some cute creative touches. 

As many of you know, this cookie obsession started last January when I gave myself the New Year's Resolution to create one new batch of cookies per month for an entire year.  I was hoping to have 12 different cookie designs completed, so I would feel comfortable showing them off. 

I went overboard.  Mostly due to the incredible positive response and amazing support I received, partly due to some OCD and an insane attention span. 

So now I need your help.  What should my New Year's Resolution be for 2012?

On another note.  I made some yummy Santa Hat party mix last year.  I ran across it at Cookies and Cups in one of the first blog posts I ever read.  It was a hit last year and I decided to make it again this year.

Check out my hats real close.  I like to think they're hip, new Santa hats....with green and white accents instead of white.

In reality, they're the Santa hats made by a person who forgets that they don't have white nonpareils.

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Hello blogland!  I feel like it's been forever since I last posted. 

I can't believe Christmas is 6 days away!

I would love to bake the days away making fun and creative Christmas cookies, but alas, the real world has interfered with my dreams. 

I only made 4 different Christmas/winter designs this year and I've finally learned how to be okay with that.  After all, this is my favorite time of year and I would be sad if I didn't allow time for other favorite activities like watching Christmas movies, drinking hot chocolate and wrapping Christmas presents.

Besides...dishes, laundry, dusting and vacuuming never seem to go away.

Here are the designs for Christmas 2011.

Much to my husband's dismay, the new camera is getting used primarily to take pictures of cookies.

That's about to change though, as we leave tomorrow for our cruise!

Can you tell I'm just a teensy tiny bit excited?

Anywho,  one of my sorority sisters asked me to make some cookies for her daughter's milk and cookies themed second birthday.  I was beyond happy to meet her wishes. 

We bounced some ideas back and forth and ultimately she gave me a few basic guidelines and then gave me some creative freedom.

This is what emerged from my kitchen and are currently en route to her house.



I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll be sure to share more Christmas treats when I get home!

This time last year I was planning my cookies for the annual cookie swap.  I never dreamt those cookies would become my gateway into this fantastic world of cookie decorating. 

This year the cookie swap at work is Dec. 19th, the Monday after we return from our cruise.  Because of the timing, I've had to plan ahead and I'm already working on them!  I'm soooo excited to make them.

I was also asked to participate in a Holiday cookie exchange with some other cookie bakers and because of the timing, I almost passed it up.  But then I thought some more about it and realized I didn't want to miss this amazing opportunity.  I can't show you pictures of those cookies just yet, but they're some of my favorites yet.

Did I mention that I actually did buy a new camera on Black Friday?  It seems like so long ago! 

I've only had one night to toy around with the different settings, but I'm so impressed with the camera already!  I've always thought that half the battle with taking good pictures is the actual photographer.  I didn't expect a camera to work miracles, but even on the auto settings this new camera is a million times better than my old one.  For one, it doesn't have an obnoxious date stamp on it that I have to crop out each time I edit a photo.  In fact, this picture is straight off the camera.  The only editing I did was add a little black shadowing around the edge and my text. Good bye long hours of cropping photos!



I'd say I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but the truth is I have a lot to be thankful for every year. 

One of the main things I'm thankful for this year is the discovery of my new cookie hobby and all the amazing cookiers and bakers I've 'met' along the way.

I've come across so much fantastic talent this year.

I took some cookies to Thanksgiving Dinner this year.

I've decided I don't like Turkey cookies.  Atleast not these.

I white iced them and then decided they needed to be brown.  So I used a food marker and colored them. 

I call these the "Give Thanks" turkeys.  Each one has a different theme.  Starting on the top and going L to R, we have My Turkey and all the things I'm thankful for, then my husband's Turkey, the Silly turkey, the generic turkey, the Freedom turkey, the Baking turkey and the Autumn Turkey.  In place of the feathers, I wrote different items pertaining to the cookie's theme.





One of my best friends got married yesterday in Corolla, NC.

We met freshman year in college when we lived as suitemates.

We were pledge sisters in our sorority and ended up being roommates for the next three years.

We were inseperable. 

And then we broke up for about a year.

We needed a chance to grow up...find ourselves individually since we had been Katie & Courtney for a constant four years.

Unfortunately, that year of break up included my wedding and although that year break-up was definitely for the best, I will forever be sad that I didn't have her with me on one of the biggest days of my life.

Since then (almost 5 years ago), we've been making up for lost time and I'm happy to say that our friendship is stronger than ever.

We're more mature, respectful and appreciative of those years in college and our friendship today.

And I was so very proud to be able to witness one of the happiest days in her life.

The weather on Saturday was gorgeous, the timing of the ceremony perfectly coincided with a setting sun over the water in the sound.

If you read a few posts back about one of the cakes I made for my Michael's cake class, you'll notice a comment from my wonderful roomie about making her wedding cake.

I thought she was joking......

She wasn't.

She trusted me enough to let her wedding cake be my guinea pig.

She said she didn't care what it looked like as long as it was round and alternated vanilla and marble.

I told her if I was going to take the time to make a cake, it was going to be a big cake that actually looked like a wedding cake.

Luckily for me, there was room in the beach house for me (and my very helpful sister) to stay.  We arrived Friday night and finished baking two layers of cake. Each tier had two layers.  That's basically 8 cakes! 

Before we went to bed on Friday night, we stacked the two layers of each tier together and crumb coated them.

Here there are on Saturday morning...rods inserted and ready to be stacked.

If you know me well at all, you know I'm slightly obsessed with all things Disney.

I've been to Disney World 8 times. 

My husband and I are getting ready to go on our very first cruise ever.

A Disney Cruise to the Western Carribean.

As you can imagine, I was beyond excited to be asked to make Minnie Mouse cookies. 

Immediately, I knew I wanted to try a royal icing transfer for the bow.  I wanted the bow to be a big, oversized Minnie Mouse bow.  I've seen some cookies where Minnie Mouse's bow ended up looking like Hello Kitty's bow. 

So I googled an image of Minnie Mouse's bow, printed out a sheet of them, put the piece of paper under some wax paper, and got to tracing.

The icing was the perfect 20 second consistency and I managed to peel all 24 bows off without breaking them....a huge success in my book!  I only broke one bow while attaching it to the cookie, but a little royal icing glued it right back together. 

But there is one eensy weensy detail that bothers me.  I'm willing to bet you probably haven't noticed it. 

Look at the line bottom black line.  On the top big cookie, the line is fairly straight across.  On the middle cookie, the line curves down.  On the bottom big cookie, the line curves up. 

I wasted so much time staring at the cookies before I iced them trying to decide which line would look better.   Unfortunately, I couldn't see a big difference until the cookie was completely iced and I looked at all 24 of them at the same time.  I iced most of them with the line curving down when I should have made all of them curve up. 

Oh well, another lesson learned.  And I like I said typed, you probably wouldn't have noticed the difference.

But here's the best part. 

No matter how they're iced or whether or not they pass my OCD inspections...they'll still taste great. 

Happy 1st Birthday, Kenley!!

You have to promise me you won't tell anyone that I gave you a sneak peak of these cookies.

Seriously.

Pinkie Promise.

Okay?

Good.

About two weeks after I created my facebook page, I was asked to participate in a Halloween cookie swap.  Talk about humbling. 

I've kept the cookies I made a secret for over two weeks now and it's been killing me!!!



I have to apologize to Kristina of Kristina's Kreations for not getting a picture of her delicious Lemon Whipper Snappers.  They were in the bottom of the box and I didn't realize it until after I had taken my pictures.

Hope you guys are as impressed with all the creativity in those photos as I am!

Now I've got to start thinking about the Christmas swap!

I've been meaning to do a post for a while now about the cookie process from start to finish.

In all honesty, I'm a little busy when I start working on cookies and the last thing on my mind is grabbing my camera. 

But a few weeks ago, I made the effort.

These were the first cookies I made where I repurposed a cookie cutter.

Look closely to see if you can spot the original outlines of the cutter. 

Do you see a snowman face wearing a hat?

He was the perfect shape and the hat added the perfect dimensions for the ears.  All I needed to do was cut off the brim of the hat and add in the cut in for the ears. 



And the Winner is....

Jamie Dixon!

Congratulations on your newest cookie cutters!



In real life, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my Christmas wish of becoming a KopyKake owner comes true.  But Christmas is still over 2 months away and in the mean time, I'm really trying to take my cookies to that next level.  (Although, I'm not really sure what the next level is.)

On my last blog post, I introduced you to my newest secret weapon.  My embossing tool has definitely come in handy recently.  I was able to do this font style. 

I adore those cookies.  They're so original.  But while they're absolutely stunning, there's not much cookie to them and that wouldn't be very tasty, especially for a cookie exchange where the whole point is to taste the cookie.

I've got a great idea in my head that involves a little less isomalt and a little more cookie. 

The isomalt will give it a really nice finishing touch, if I can get it to work just the way I want.

Hopefully by this time next week, you'll be seeing my first isomalt & cookie creation!

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Because the KopyKake will have to wait until Christmas, I bought myself a little birthday present. 

I was so excited I stumbled across these.  In my short cookieing (new word?) experience, I have learned that most good products have to be bought offline (or is it online?)

Most websites have comparable prices and shipping estimates; however, not all carry the same products.

I've talked about PME tips before.  They're the stainless steel, no seam, rust proof tips made in England. 

The supply website I usually buy from carries them in sizes 1-3.  My first order included two size 1's and one size 1.5.  They're my favorite tips for writing and detail work. 

Then, this past weekend, I had some free time and went website hopping.  In my searches, I found another decorating supply website that carries many different products...including more PME tips.

JACKPOT.

I added 4 to my collection.

Two size 00's, a fine calligraphy tip, and a medium calligraphy tip.

Calligraphy tips?  I NEVER knew!  It really doesn't take alot to make me happy!

I included a picture of my PME size 1 tip (on the far left) for comparison.  I always thought the size 1 tip was the smallest Wilton and PME made.  I used to own a 00 size Ateco tip, but somehow that's the only one I've managed to lose.

You can barely see the opening on the size 00 tip (2nd one in from the left). 

I think it will be perfect for lace techniques and straight lines. 

Now...for those calligraphy tips.  I can't wait to try writing with them.  Look closely.  The openings are more of straight line than a circle.  This will make the writing flatter and less tubular. 

Bring on the piping!!!

Oh and in case you're wondering, I bought them from Global Sugar Art.

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At the end of this week, one of my uncle's turns another year older.   :)

A few months ago, he made some comment about getting some KISS cookies on his birthday...jokingly.

I accepted the challenge.