Schools OUT for the SUMMER!!!

We celebrated the end of the school year this week!  It's hard for me to believe that my oldest will be in THIRD grade next year.  Each school year gets a little busier...and goes by a little quicker than the year before.  

I love to make something "hand-made" for these teachers who work so hard all year through.  I was a teacher before my littles were born...and I KNOW the amount of hard work and dedication involved in being a teacher.  The work certainly doesn't end when the kids go home...you are always in preparation mode...and always worrying about whether you are doing all you can to educate each and every child.

Melissa of Simply Sweets by Honeybee posted a tutorial on how to make these chalkboard cookies as well as an amazing apple tree cookie.  They were the perfect little treat to share with all those teachers who worked so hard with my littles this year.  You can find the tutorial here....but don't stop there....be sure to scroll through Melissa's blog....you will drool...

I took Melissa's advice and found my scalloped rectangle cutter and mini apple cutter at CopperGifts...one of my favorite cookie cutter companies.

And like Melissa... I used just a fine paintbrush and some white americolor gel frosting to write the sentiment on the cookie... of course you could add any sweet message to these...

I hope all teachers realize just how appreciated they are....The hard work does not go unnoticed.  Happy Summer!!!

Mini Elephants

I love anything mini....

especially itty bitty cookies.  If they are mini...you can eat  A LOT more...right?

These little guys were for a little boy's first birthday party....they were designed to match a sweet little elephant-themed invite put together by one AMAZING Mama of FOUR handsome little boys.

I am smitten with anything yellow and gray these days...so I fell in love with these little guys.  I frosted the ears first with Callye's "20 second" icing using the "wet on wet" technique to achieve the stripes....and then the rest was easy peasy....simply piping and flooding the gray body and adding a red heart and black eye.

Hope little C enjoyed his BIG day!

Mama's Day

I swooned over these birdies the day that Callye posted them here...and I haven't stopped thinking about them since. (Thank you, Callye, for the in-depth tutorial on the lovely flowers, too!!!)

These bluebirds are perfect for so many occasions....and surprisingly simple to make.

I thought they were also perfect for a little Mother's Day treat.  I guess I seem to have a love affair with birds (decorative ones....not real ones, for some strange reason).  And it seems that whenever I think of Mother's Day...birds come to mind.  Remember these from last year?

I guess it is because a Mama...always tucks her babies under her wings....and even though they may get bigger...she never really lets them go..

Happy Mother's Day to my incredible Mama and to all those Mamas who know the joy that only a Mother can know:)

Cinco De Mayo!

I was asked to bring a dessert for Miss S' Spanish Class for their celebration of Cinco de Mayo...and sooo of course that meant.....COOKIES!!!!  Here's the round-up!  I found these ideas from flickr and from studying one of Callye's Cinco De Mayo posts from last year that you can find here.

And these happy little suns came straight from Lilaloa.  I thought about changing the suns up a bit...but nah....why mess with a good thing?  I simply love Georganne's design...and as I've said before...if you haven't visited her blog....you MUST.  She will make you smile and laugh every time!

I loved the detail on Beka's cactus cookies...and used hers as a guide.  I think I like her squiggly cactus lines more than mine.....they look a little more life like.  Loved her idea to put the little flowers on them too!

These were supposed to be sombreros.....I think next time I might use my margarita cutter turned upside down with the stem cut off.  I think that might be more realistic.  But for these... I used Mr. B's help and had him bend a regular old cowboy hat cutter ever so slightly at the top to give it a rounded edge!  I found the design for these sombreros here.

Hope everyone's Cinco De Mayo celebrations are perfect!!

Fairy Birthday

My oldest turned EIGHT last week.....and she wanted nothing more than a sweet fairy party to celebrate her day.

I had seen these cookies on Bea's blog a while ago....and just oooohhhed and ahhhhed over just how cute they were. When S told me she wanted fairy cookies....I immediately thought of Bea's.  

I emailed Bea to ask her which cutter she used (it's a teddy bear, by the way) and picked her brain about some of the other details....and she responded with INCREDIBLE instructions!  What a great teacher!  She makes the SWEETEST cookies...her designs are ALWAYS darling!!!!  Too bad she doesn't live next door...because I think we could be FAST friends....  She actually lives in Mexico!!!! Isn't the internet great???? Even though she is miles away....our mutual love of cookie making brings us together:)

Thank you...thank you Miss Bea for sharing your talents with me.  My little S was delighted with her birthday fairy cookies!

The pink cookies were the perfect accompaniment to her strawberry layer cake:)

Oh and they made cute favors too....Thank you Bridget for the idea behind these strawberry crates!

Hope MY fairy's wishes come true this year!