Sun cookies - Tutorial

I was so happy to have been a part of a set of pretty sun cookies for a Baby Shower my cousin was hosting. 

When I say pretty, I mean, pretty.... Bows and Eyelashes pretty...

My cousin sent me a picture of a gorgeous set of cookies made by The Baking Sheet and I was inspired. 

In order to make these beautiful cookies, I had to sketch them out and then make my plan. 

Items needed: 

• Favorite sugar cookie recipe
• Sun cookie cutter and Circle cookie cutter
• Royal icing for piping and flooding in Yellow
• Airbrush machine with Airbrush color Orange
• Royal icing for piping and flooding in Pink
• Leaf icing tip
• Royal icing for piping in Black
• Disco dust

Thank you to The Baking Sheet for the Wonderful inspiration and to SugarBelle for her great Bow tutorial... 

I'm thrilled with how they turned out! 

Try them yourself!!!!

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Flowers, flowers and special words

Spring....

Spring is a time of new beginnings, new life and warmer weather. With that comes beautiful flowers and moments with my family that I love to cherish. 

This latest cookie project had a few things that I was dying to try: 

- Wet on wet creations
- More flower petals with the brush technique

I looked on my Pinterest account for 'Spring' cookies that I may have pinned and also looked to my trusty fellow decorators for inspiration. 

These daisy cookies were inspired by 'Ellie's Bites Decorated Cookies'. Her beautiful creations can be found at: 
http://elliesbitesdecoratedcookies.wordpress.com/

Her original set was made with a square cookie cutter and I loved the way it looked. I love the way the wet-on-wet technique and then the dry flowers on top give the cookie a great 3-D feel. These were my favorite cookies to make. I was so hesitant, though, and wanted each flower to be just perfect while making them. I stress myself out for no reason, as my family loved them!

These cookies were inspired by my dear friend 'The Bearfoot Baker'. Her beautiful creations can be found at: http://thebearfootbaker.com/

Her original design had a striking brown background that made the flowers really 'pop' out of the design. Since I only made three colors for these cookies, I stuck with the Blue, Yellow and White I already had on hand. I love the way these came out too. 

I also made cookies with words that best described my loved ones. 

They were even more special because I thought of my mother, sister, aunt and loved ones while I searched for words that described each of them.  

Springtime and Mother's Day inspired this set of cookies. I think it added such a personalized touch to such a Special Day and Special time of the year.

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2013 Year in Review - Cookies

As promised... Here is my 2013 Year in Review - Cookie Edition. 

It was such a busy year that I made just a handful of cookies. 

#1: Autumn Fall Cookies with Raspberry Jelly Centers
      These were our favorites last year. Although time consuming, they are SO delicious. 
      Used my 'go to' Sugar Cookie Recipe, Raspberry Jam, and Powdered Sugar

#2: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies with Powdered Sugar East Design
      Needed something quick and Festive and this did the trick... Love these!!!

#3: Pascal from "Tangled" cookies used as cupcake toppers
      For a dear friend's daughter's birthday. The toppers were a surprise and she LOVED                 them!

#4: Mickey Mouse Oreo Cookies
      These were additions to my nephew's birthday party. Instead of labor-intensive                         decorated cookies in the goodie bags, i offered these to my sister as an alternative. 

#5: Baptism Monogrammed Cookies for a friend's baby

      I love the simple design of the cookies. So classic

#6: Chocolate Mint M&M cookies....

       Wow, that was a mouthful. And, yes, I made these about 3 times more... YUM!

#7: Baby Simba Cave Painting Cookies

      These were for my dear friend's son's birthday. They were hand painted, as my airbrush 

      was clogged and I needed to think quick to make this look like the movie. 

#8: Mickey First Birthday Cookie Platter

      For my nephew's First Birthday Celebration. The variety was nice and the colors so 

      Vibrant!

Thanks for taking a look at what I made last year....

Looking forward to making more wonderful creations this year....

"Living a Sweet Life..."

              - Jackie

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Ladybugs, Ladybugs....

I had the honor of being contacted by a cake decorating friend who was looking to have some ladybug cookies made for her niece's birthday.

My friend lives in NY and her niece lives in Florida and was unfortunately unable to go this year, but she still wanted to send something special and something made just for her.

I was so happy to do this project because I love ladybugs... My husband and I are blessed to find several in our bedroom during the summer months. He always tells me that they are good luck. We catch them and release them but are always pleasantly surprised to see more visit.

I found this information about Ladybugs online:  

The Ladybug is widely considered a symbol of luck and is seen as a good omen when it comes calling. In Sweden, it is said that if one lands on a young woman's hand, she will soon get married. In France, it is said that if you are ill when one lands on you, it will fly away with your illness.

 Ladybug teaches life is short and it teaches to let go of ones' worries and fears, to trust in spirit and enjoy life. It brings the gifts of renewal and regeneration. The message of the Ladybug could be asking you to “Let go and let God”.

Thanks to Sugarbelle for her great tutorial and help with making the second set of cookies. 

I made two sets... One facing one way and one facing the other way. 

Happy Happy Birthday to my friend, M's, niece. I hope it was a great one and that she, her family and her friends enjoyed the cookies. 

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A Picture Tutorial: Brush Embroidery Cookies

I had the honor of being asked to make cookie favors for my dearest friend's mother's birthday celebration. 


As I always give credit to the the wonderful bloggers I follow and take inspiration from, I also wanted to add a few pictures that show you all the process of completing these cookies. 


All I had to do, during my initial research, was 'Google' "65th birthday cookies" and was pleasantly surprised to find a post by 'Haniela' on this exact topic. I almost jumped up and down in excitement. I couldn't wait to see how she made her beautiful cookies.  


Her original post with picture tutorial can be found here: 
Coral Green and Ivory Birthday Cookies 


I followed her instructions and changed the colors to match my friend's request and was extremely pleased with the results.


Here is a photo displaying the process. An explanation of each step is below this picture. 

Picture #1. I started out piping the Royal Icing '65' onto wax paper.I let them dry overnight.


Picture #2. I then flooded the cookies. While the icing was still wet, I carefully removed a '65' from the waxed paper and placed it on the wet icing and let the cookies dry completely.


I had been dying to try 'Brush Embroidery' and thought this was the perfect occasion to test out my skills. So at 10pm, with a strong cup of tea, I started watching Youtube videos and found this great one by "SweetAmbs Cookies" demonstrating how Brush Embroidery is done. 

**A post with her beautiful cookies can be found on her site by clicking HERE


Picture #3. My practice sheet that I made before attempting to decorate the first cookie.


(My hands were shaking so bad because I really wanted them to come out nice.)


Once again, I'm really pleased with the end result and I can't wait to make more of these beautiful cookies. 

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