Santa's Back

Santa's back this year sporting a stylish buffalo plaid hat!

I opted for cookie platters for the family this year, but I wasn't very happy with the outcome.  No matter how many times I arranged the tree, it just didn't look very appealing to me.  In addition, the holly berries look like Mickey Mouse. 

Although I made truck cookies in 2016 and 2015, red trucks seem to be everywhere this year, so here is my updated version.

A few snowman and snowflakes will guarantee a white Christmas!

Our Christmas celebration included a new addition to the family, great-niece, Avery.  Her "First Christmas" cookie was designed to mirror her signature style, a headband with a bow.

In past years, this cookie would have ended up in the reject pile once I smashed the bottom of the cookie.  However, I am now trying to remind myself that "it's just a cookie" and make the best of it.

The smashed foot gave me an opportunity to create a tag to add to her bagged cookie that included Lincoln, the family dog.

As Avery joined us this year, we lost her Great Grandpa just a few days earlier.  Dad, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa S.  .  .  forever in our hearts and in the stars. 

Merry Christmas one and all.

Women's Club Christmas Cookies. . .Ten Years and Counting

This year marks the tenth anniversary of baking Christmas cookies for my sister, Rita's Women's Club.   I thought it would be fun to take a look at the designs that I have shared with them to see how my cookie decorating has evolved.

The first year, I made several different designs, each bag having an "itty bitty" cookie with a larger design.  I also made a special set for a woman who was celebrating her 90th birthday.

The following year, I opted to make the same design for every guest at the party.  The Partridge in the Pear tree collection was fun to make and yet, I have never repeated it.  So many design choices for the holiday.

This Santa package shows the influence of "Spring Fling," a Cookie Convention that I attended in 2012.  We learned about creative packaging for our cookies and "toppers" are now a part of all my cookie favors,

I love, love, love this Santa and have repeated and improved upon the design over the years.

Since these cookies are for women, I decided it was time for Mrs. Claus to make an appearance.

The cookie topper had a picture of Santa and the Mrs. kissing under the mistletoe.

Santa in the chimney made his appearance in 2014.  This is the largest cookie I have ever made and I learned why there are so many large cookie cutters available.  The bigger the cookie, the easier it is to decorate.  However, I prefer smaller cookies, so I have not repeated this 4x6 inch design very often.

The peace dove that I made in 2015, is one of my favorite designs.  I love the simplicity of white cookies and the timeless message that I included on the cookie topper.

 

 

A cute little reindeer was the design I chose for 2016 with a silly topper that said:  One night a Viking named Rudolph the Red was looking out the window when he said, "It's going to rain."  His wife said, "How do you know?"  He replied,  "Because Rudolph the Red knows rain, deer."

 

In 2017, I prepared a cheerful snowman design."

 A traditional holiday favorite, a nutcracker appeared in 2018.

And in 2019, Santa returned wearing a stylish buffalo plaid hat.

Not sure if I can pick a favorite from this festive assortment, but I know I'm already thinking about what design I will choose next year.

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is here and we are blessed to be celebrating with a large gathering of family and special friends.

Colorful pumpkins.  .  .

and lots of bright minis will be on the platter this year.

Last year, Clough'd 9 Cookies published a tutorial for a Pilgrim Turkey using an ice cream cone cutter, that I knew I wanted to recreate in the future.  I thought the male turkey needed a female counterpart because we all know who did all the cooking and cleaning at that first Thanksgiving dinner!  I cut off the top of another ice cream cone cutter, to complete the set.

Since I am grateful for the new addition to our family, I made a special cookie for great-niece, Avery.  At 7 months, she's a little young to eat the cookie, but a picture will be a fun reminder of her first Thanksgiving.

Cornucopias were another new design this year.  I wouldn't want to eat them, but they were easy to make and will please the kids who ask for cookies "with sprinkles."  This was another creative use of cookie cutters because it is actually a Santa cutter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Veterans Day

225 cookies, 75 bags and tags, for the Elk Grove High School annual assembly honoring our Veterans.

Here's a look back at prior cookies for our Veterans.

Thank you to all who have served our country.

Fall Is In The Air

The crisp, colorful days of fall have arrived and so has the annual bake sale.

Simple pumpkins and fall leaves gave me the opportunity to continue practicing with my air gun.  It still causes anxiety every time I pull it out, but I hope to master the use of it someday.

Mike at Semisweet Designs sent me a free cutter when he first opened his shop, so I decided to pull it out of the box and use it this year.  I think this ghost is a cutie, but that pumpkin face needs work!

 Happy Halloween!

It's All About the Skate

Great-nephew, Elliot, is a boy with many interests. . .basketball, baseball, Ninja Warriors, math, travel, chess. . . and a new interest this year, Greek mythology.  However, his passion for hockey never waivers, thus a skating party in June.

When he requested a skate and a #9 for his party, I knew I wanted to make the laces red because Elliot's signature style on the ice is a red lace, but just in one of his skates.

Even on the big screen at Wrigley Field, this White Sox fan was seen wearing his hockey team colors, NOT "Cubbie blue." 

Elliot shows his unique "style" on the ice and off.  He continues to get a haircut once a year and embraces the shaved look, the long curls and every stage in between.  In his world, there's no such thing as a bad hair day.

This year, his school used the alphabet for a "countdown to summer."  Clearly he enjoyed, "Xpress your personal style," when he opted to wear his hockey jersey, basketball shorts, and baseball socks.

       Love, hugs and cookies to a very special boy.

Book Club Cookies

Last night, was the first time I hosted a meeting of a book club that I recently joined.  The book I selected was, Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. This book is a beautifully written story that is now on my list of favorite books.  

 

Celebrating Mary Grace's Graduation

Today is the day we celebrate great-niece Mary Grace's 8th grade graduation.

From a very young age, she demonstrated that she was creative, an adventurer, and a risk taker.  After all, how many kids CHOOSE to change schools not once, but multiple times?  Mom and Dad selected the special reading program at St. Priscilla Academy for her primary years, then it was on to Thorp Scholastic Academy.  At Thorp, she realized that the Chicago Public Schools have many unique programs and she decided she wanted to experience as many of them as possible.   In 7th Grade she transferred to Disney II magnet school and then to Taft Academic Center for eighth grade.

Since our family is big on tradition, her cookie collection had to include at least one "look out ______ high school" book cookie and a diploma tied with a heat-shaped ribbon.

Although Mary Grace could continue in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Taft, she decided to challenge herself and is moving on to Lane Tech College Prep for high school.  This design seemed to be perfect for this adventurer.  I am so proud of how she is willing to take risks and challenge herself.

I have always marveled at Mary Grace's unique take on life!  This is the girl who had a pickle party for her fourth birthday, a live pig at her 6th birthday party in the city of Chicago, and took her friends to the museum to dissect an eyeball on her ninth birthday.

Mary Grace has often challenged me with her unusual cookie requests, like a fidget spinner cookie that spins!  So, I knew that I wanted to challenge myself while making her collection.  Stenciling cookies has become quite popular, but it is way out of my comfort zone.  Mary Grace would encourage me and tell me to "go for it."  So I did.

Traditional graduation caps were used to celebrate all of her achievements.

Designs to celebrate her love of running, basketball and skateboarding completed her collection.

I think Mary Grace will be proud to know that the cookie cutter I used to make the girl grad was also used to make Hillary Clinton cookies.  After all, if we have to wait another 20+ years for a woman to be elected president, MG could be the first!!!!

I hope that Mary Grace continues to dream big and seek new opportunities.  You go, girl!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

                                                                                     Robert Frost

Little sister, Leann, decided that cookies belong on the cake!