Pretty Flower Cookies (Just For Fun)

I was suffering from a bit of cookie burnout so I took the month of April off from cookies.  I finally got back to the kitchen last week though and made some flower cookies just for fun.  It's so much more fun making cookies when it's just for fun and I get to do whatever I want. :)  And it's fun to give them away to people we like who need some cookie love.

All of these designs were inspired by scrapbook paper.

 

 

Cookie Swap ~ The Giving Tree

Last month I had the privilege in participating in a cookie swap with many of my cookier friends.  We were supposed to make cookies based on our favorite children's book.  I chose The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  He was one of my favorite authors as a kid.  These cookies were sent to my friend Jennifer at One Kookie Cookie.

I tried a new technique for these cookies and I really liked the way they turned out.

And a close up of this one because it was my favorite.

Pretty Pattern Easter Cookies

I just love this pattern so much that I had to put it on some Easter cookies.

Hats and Teapots, Gingham, and Popcorn

Hi everyone.  I know that I haven't been posting here very much, which has been due to a combination of being way too busy, illness, and a little bit of laziness.  I have been posting on facebook though, so if you're sad that you haven't seen my cookies very much here, you can probably find some new cookie posts there.

I made these cookies a couple of months ago for an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party.  I just love the colors!

 



 I made these for a baby shower.  Super simple pink gingham, but that's what they wanted...

 

And I made these cookies for my son for his 4th birthday.  He loves his popcorn! I also entered these in Lilaloa's photography challenge.  I used a different color background and a prop.  I tried...

Cowboy Baby Shower Cookies

Last week I made some cookies for a cowboy-themed baby shower. 

I love that font!  It's a pain in the butt to pipe, but it looks so cool!

I usually make a sketch anyway when I'm making a variety of cookies, especially if they're going to match an invitation, but I took a picture of the sketch for you so I can participate in LilaLoa's February challenge.

President's Day Cookie Collaboration

Today I get to share with you that I got to participate in my first cookie collaboration project!  I feel like one of the cool kids now.  Anne of Flour Box Bakery was kind enough to put together a fun project for President's Day.

And I got Abraham Lincoln!  I decided to try my hand at painting again.  What do you think? I also made a few accessory cookies. 

 

 

 And here's the collage with all of the presidents:

 I feel so honored to have my cookies in that collage with all those talented ladies!

1) George Washington by Sarah of Sweet Surrender Cookie Co.,    

2)  John Adams  by Nicole of Life’s a Batch

3)  Thomas Jefferson by Sarah of Songbird Sweets

4)  James Madison by Georganne of LilaLoa

5)  James Monroe by Anne of Flour Box Bakery

6)  John Quincy Adams by Liz of Arty McGoo

7)  Andrew Jackson by Tiffany of TheRedCooky

8) Martin Van Buren by Jill of Jill FCS – Funky Cookie Studio

9)  William Henry Harrison by Christina of Sweet C’s Bake Shop

10)  John Tyler by Kim of The Cookie Puzzle

11) James K. Polk  by Debbie of D&T Designs

12) Zachery Taylor by Stephanie of Ellies Bites

13) Millard Fillmore by Melissa of Simply Sweets by Honeybee

14) Franklin Pierce by Kris of So Cute Cookies

15)  James Buchanan by Lene of Not Your Everyday Cookie

16) Abraham Lincoln by Debbie of Sweet Creations by Debbie

17) Andrew Johnson by Liz of CookiesToGo

18) Ulysses S. Grant  by Rebekah of Love at First Bite

19) Rutherford B. Hayes  by Heather of Twins Plus One Goodies

20) James A. Garfield by Teresa of Sugar T's Cookies

21)  Chester Arthur by Alyse of B.E. Sweet Treats

22) Grover Cleveland  by Kimberly of Barefoot N Baking

23)  Benjamin Harrison by Laurie of Cookie Bliss

24) Grover Cleveland  by Kimberly of Barefoot N Baking

25)  William McKinley by Susan of Sweet Williams Cookies

26)  Theodore Roosevelt by Heather of SugarNosh Treats

27) William Howard Taft by Sarah of Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe

28)  Woodrow Wilson by Cheryl of The Sugared Apron

29)  Warren G. Harding  by Shannon of Artfully Delicious Cookies

30) Calvin Coolidge by Stephanie of Ice My Biscuit

31)   Herbert Hover by Fumie of A+Kake sweets 

32) Franklin D. Roosevelt by Christine of Chris’ Creative Confections

33)  Harry S Truman by Kim of Sugar Rush Custom Cookies

34)  Dwight Eisenhower  by Monica of Cookie Cowgirl

35)   John F. Kennedy by CeCe of The Tactical Bakery

36) Lyndon B. Johnson by Jennifer of One Kookie Cookie

37)  Richard Nixon by Jackie of iBakery

38)   Gerald Ford by Georgeanne of LilaLoa,

39)  Jimmy Carter by Jennifer of One Kookie Cookie

40)  Ronald Reagan by Melissa of The Baked Equation

41) George Bush Sr. by Penny of Lucky Penny Cookies

42)  Bill Clinton by Laurie of Cookie Bliss 

43)  George W. Bush by Sarah of Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe

44)  Barack Obama by Teresa of Sugar T's Cookies

 

Little House on the Prairie Cookies

Last week I made cookies for a Little House on the Prairie party. 

I made the gingham using my airbrush and a stencil I made.  I got the idea from Glorious Treats.

This is seriously one of my first pictures where the purple actually looks like purple.  I mentioned last week that I got a light tent.  This was my second time using it and I love it!  I have a hard time getting good natural light in our apartment, so I'm really glad I finally gave in and bought it.  Hopefully my photos will be much better from now on.

Oh, and one last thing.  Last month I entered my black and white pattern cookies in LilaLoa's contest and she listed my cookies as one of her favorites!  You can see that post here. 

Tractor Cookies

Here are some cookies I made for my nephew's birthday to match his invitation.

I ended up making the tractor cookie cutter because I ordered the wrong tractor cookie cutter before I saw the invitation.  Oops.  It worked though.

Oh, and I bought a light tent.  What do you think?  Definitely better, although I still need to play around with it.  I think my lights were a little too close to the tent for this picture (the double shadows).  Today I backed them up while taking pictures of some cookies and I think that was a lot better.   Next week I'll share my wildflower cookies for a Little House on the Prairie party.

My Color Chart

I got to meet up with friend Kris from So Cute Cookies last week and she gave me the great idea to test out my gel colors.  I have the hardest time getting good pinks and greens and because of that, I've bought every different one of them I could find.  But I don't really use them because they all give such different results.  So Kris showed me how she tested out different blue colors in various shades and I knew I had to try it with my colors. 

So I took some leftover white icing and colored tiny amounts of it until I ran out.  I got through most of my colors.  The only colors I didn't really get to were the reds, browns, and blacks.  Oh, and leaf green. 

So here's what I ended up with.  Now you all probably know how hard it is to get colors to come out right in cookie photos.  I adjusted the photo the best I could and then Georganne of LilaLoa was kind enough to try to get the coloring better.  So she tinkered with the white balance and here it is:

*(A) is for Americolor and (W) is for Wilton
*Both columns are the same color, the right column just has more gel color added.

The pinks and purples are a bit off, but you get the point.  Not only will this be helpful when I need to match a color (I can just hold the samples up to this and find the best match), but I learned a lot.

For instance, Americolor violet and Wilton violet are really different.  Americolor is much bluer.  Ever since I found Americolor, I've kind of abandoned my Wilton gel colors, but I think Wilton violet is now my favorite purple.

Also, I can't tell the difference between teal and turquoise.  They look exactly the same.  Same with cornflower blue and navy.  And moss green and juniper green.  And sky blue and electric blue.  So if you're just starting out and building up your gel color collection, just pick one of each of those and you'll be good.

Black and White Cookies

The fabulous Georganne of Lilaloa has created a challenge to make cookies using only black and white (and any shade inbetween).  I've always wanted to participate in a cookie challenge but I've never really been able to (either I was too busy or I couldn't think of a good enough idea).  Plus it's so hard to set aside time to make cookies just for fun.  However, I recently came to the decision to no longer pursue orders, but to instead get back to having fun designing and creating cookies.  So when I saw this challenge I knew I had to set aside time to come up with an idea.  I ended up finding my inspiration in scrapbook paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!