Hang In There

I have two special friends who needed to hear this message this week! I love this color palette, and of course, the pun involved with the clothesline. I am also very excited to have used my new light box and lights to take the photographs. We don't have all the kinks worked out yet, but I think we're on the right track toward better, more consistent pictures.

Happy Father's Day

Happy (early) Father's day to my husband! Nora helped make the cookies and icing (re: licked various spoons and tried to stick her finger into the mixer while it was mixing!!). Charlie kept Daddy company while I decorated. I enjoyed working with this color set and trying out a few new techniques. I'll definitely do the multi-striped look again; I love how it turned out.
I'm so grateful for Ben's hard work at home, being a daddy to our little ones. They love him so!

Spring Flowers

Now that my baby is almost 3 months old, I can feel myself crawling out of the hole of extreme sleep deprivation. It's pretty minimal now, he's only getting up once in the night, thank goodness. I'm happy to be making and decorating cookies again, and made this set for a spring piano recital.

Baby Boy Cookies

My second baby is due any time, so I decided to make cookies for the OB office as a thank you. I was thinking this morning about how they're with you all the way, but most of the staff rarely get to enjoy or see the sweet prize at the end of the race. This is my thank you to them, and a chance to make some cookies with our new son's monogram and name!

Apple Cookies

It is so nice to make something with bright, cheery colors in the doldrums of winter! I made this set of apple cookies for a teacher friend coming back from maternity leave who wanted to thank her interim teacher. I hope the celebration goes well, and that the kids and teachers enjoy their cookies!
*One word about these pictures - I didn't have my usual photographer (usually Ben, at about 10:30 at night when I'm finished decorating), so the quality is considerable less.  Also, my two year old has learned how to push a stool around to reach counter tops, and put two sticky fingers on the lens. YIKES.

Trees, Snowflakes, Mittens, and Ornaments

I made this set of mini-cookies for a friend's Kindergarten Christmas party. I have this feeling that they will eat them in approximately 1/100th of the time it took me to make them!

Peppermint Star Disaster

I don't think most cookie bloggers post their mistakes, at least, not mistakes on this level of magnitude. The short story is that out of 3 dozen delicious smelling, chocolate, peppermint star cookies, only six came off the pan without crumbling into pieces. You're looking at six pitiful stars on top of a pile of crumbs. I had to dump the last dozen into the trash because the candy stuck to the paper, and WOULDN'T COME OFF. I had so much hope for these - the picture in my magazine was so beautiful. And mine were too until I tried to take them off the pan. I apparently need more practice melting candy!

PS: I followed directions (mixing, baking, cooling times) TO THE LETTER except for one part - I did not use parchment paper for the first two batches, just had them directly on the pan. For the last batch I used wax paper (what's the difference, anyway?) and had to throw out the whole thing. Maybe that was my problem? Umm,yes, yes it was.
http://www.chow.com/food-news/55408/whats-the-difference-between-parchment-paper-and-waxed-paper/