Spa Day!

Since my daughter's Brownie Troop had money left over at the end of the year from their cookie sales, the girls got to choose a fun way to spend their extra earnings.....After some brainstorming...the troop quickly agreed on having a SPA day....a short afternoon of manicures,...foot soaks, and pedicures.  

When I heard about the SPA day... I knew immediately which cookies I wanted to bring for the occasion.  I had seen these very similar cookies here....and was instantaneously head over heels in LOVE.  Loved the sparkles...loved the jewels, what girl wouldn't?  Kathryn Collins, of, Hey Cookie was the master mind behind these cookies, and graciously shared with me where she found these lovely edible gems...after I had no luck finding them locally.  I took her advice and ordered these amazing little edible decorations here....

Halfway through my cookie making .... I realized I had run out of the Rainbow Disco Dust.....tsk, tsk, tsk..... (And of course these cookies would have not been the same with out that fancy schmancy.... bling!) So I headed to one of our local baking stores to pick up some.....and to my great surprise I noticed...they too carried these beautiful edible gems.   So I bought more....larger ones than I had originally ordered!   Guess I'll be well stocked in that department now!

I had fun with the sparkle on these cookies....and I think I am still finding remnants of Disco Dust in my kitchen....but boy did I have a time with those craters forming on the nail polished part.  I wanted to make the nails a little more raised...and either my 20 sec  frosting was too thick or there is just plain too much HUMIDITY in Kansas because after about 15 minutes of dry time under the fan... I those sneaky craters would start to sneak up on me...and only on some fingers...ARGGG!

Luckily I was able to catch it early and get rid of the majority of them.

I took pictures in different light because the shimmer from the Disco Dust seemed to show up a little better under certain lights.

My only regret about these cookies was that I wasn't more creative in my use of color on the nails....because when our troop left the Nail Salon today... I don't think one girl left with nails that were all one color.  Alternating color schemes seemed to be most popular!

Most chose at least two alternating colors on their nails AND toes.  It sure was fun watching them kick back and soak those cute little toes of theirs.  I hope they enjoyed their day of relaxation and their sweet little treats!

DADDY Day!

I was REALLY late preparing for Father's Day this year....I had planned on making some Super Hero cookies for the Super Daddies and Grand-Daddies in our lives....but time got away from me...

So when I saw the tutorial for these on Lizy B's blog.....I knew they were the perfect solution!  Perfect for my own Daddy who wears a tie to work everyday and perfect for our Mr. B who would rather eat a tie than wear one!!!

Lizy was featured on SheKnows.com, where you can find the full, very detailed tutorial for this... along with a ready to print template for cutting out the tie!  So sweet of her to offer such detailed instruction, and what a fun idea to be able to give a life-size cookie tie as a gift!! It fit PERFECTLY in a tie box!

Of course you could always customize the tie with whatever colors suit the Daddies in your life....but I happen to love blue and orange...so we went with it!!

Hope all of you were able to spoil your Daddies with something sweet and fun this Father's Day!

30th Birthday SURPRISE

I have gotten really far behind on my cookie posts....

It might have something to do with the fact that ALL of the littles are home for the summer....

Or perhaps it might be because of the amount of time I'm spending in physical therapy from the hamstring/hip injury I've acquired possibly caused by lifting too much of my 31- pound 16 month-old.  Not gonna complain though...because it is 31 pounds of pure SWEETNESS (except when he is pulling all nighters while battling those new teeth he is cutting:)....and I know before long...he won't want me to hold him like he does now... So for now... no complaining:)

Just a few good excuses as to why blogging has become low on the list of priorities:)

Anywho....this fun set of cookies was for a sweet friend who was throwing a SuRpRiSe birthday party for her sister-in-law.  The only request was for "pink" and "black" "30" cookies:)

As you can see... I am still working on mastering those little "fluffy-parts" on the party hat.  I used a #233 Wilton tip....but some of the icing just kept blending together when I pulled away.  I have read that plastic #233 tips sometimes work better than the stainless ones to help with this issue...but I have yet to find any.....Would love to hear y'all's suggestions for making this easier...maybe it is more of a RI consistency issue...

Sugarbelle was the real deal behind the design of these cookies...she made some very similar cookies for Cookie Crazie's 4th Birthday Celebration.  You can see her pretty set here....

Lots more to share this coming week....from Father's Day to birthdays and even a little Spa Party! Happy Weekend!

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!!