Fall Bake Sale

 

 

November brings the annual bake sale and I am always happy to contribute, but I do get bored decorating the same cookie designs year after year.  So although this Sweet Sugarbelle Scarecrow has always been one of my favorites, I gave him a vacation this year. . .

and added  two new scarecrows to my collection.

Whether it's a cutter  originally designed to be a hamburger, an ice cream cone, a manger, a snowman or an actual scarecrow, these guys have made me smile through the years.

 

 

Thanksgiving

Cookie sticks seem to be the trend this year, so I added some to the platter of cookies for our family gathering.

I doubt that I with abandon my traditional cutters for sticks, but they were a nice mix with my traditional fall designs.  My favorite was the sunflower, it has a hint of glitter that can't be seen in the photo.

Since "silly" turkeys are somewhat of a family tradition, I made a segmented design for each of the 11 great nieces and nephews.  

The cookies were bagged and tagged with a topper that said, "I am thankful for you."

Feeling Thankful!

Fall Cookies

New scarecrows and sunflowers. . .

. . . plus some traditional favorites for a fall bake sale.

While baking cookies this week, the Chicago Cubs were playing in the World Series.  Although I knew championship cookies would be big sellers IF our beloved Cubbies won the series, I was superstitious and just "couldn't count my chickens. . ."

As I am packaging the cookies I am watching the Cubs Parade to celebrate their World Series.  In addition, I continue to read all the amazing posts that people are sharing via FB regarding this special Chicago celebration.  A friend posted  a picture of the following cookies that he purchased at a bakery for $4.00 each!

Perhaps a prop will increase the price of my cookies at the fundraiser!

Fall 2016 will be a memorable one for all Chicagoans!

Go Cubbies!

A Turkey Free Thanksgiving--NOT!

Last year, my Thanksgiving cookies were all about the turkey, thanks to all the creative bloggers who posted various designs and tutorial. This year, I decided that the Thanksgiving cookie collection would not have ANY turkeys, not one!  After all, how many different ways can you design a turkey?

Since I have never made Scarecrow cookies, I decided a fall theme would replace the traditional bird.  My husband is usually enthusiastic about my designs, but not this time.  He said, "Thanksgiving without a turkey?  I don't get it."  I was not deterred, I just kept telling myself, "no turkeys."

So the fall theme took shape, and a Scarecrow was born using Sugarbelle's instruction's to re-purpose a Snowman cutter.

Of course, a Scarecrow needs crows, so I re-purposed a carrot cutter and took design inspiration from a childhood cartoon.

I added another crow design when I found this cute creation by Nanny.

At this point, I started second guessing myself . . .Thanksgiving + bird = turkey, NOT crows! Turkeys needed to be added to the collection.

My second scarecrow design was made with a re-purposed hamburger cutter, thanks to the creativity of Jill FCS.  I thought his hat would be a good place to include a turkey in the collection.

When a surprise package arrived in the mail, I knew that I couldn't wait until Christmas to use these cutters! Thanks, Donna.

Since the little ones in our family love puzzle cookies, I decided that the Bearfootbaker's  turkey design created with a re-purposed acorn cutter would be the perfect bird to disguise.  I bagged these cookies and added a little tag that said, "I am not a turkey."

What happens to design themes when an unseasonably warm fall is interrupted by snow? It wasn't a few flakes or a light dusting . . .the headline in the paper read, "Season's first snow is Chicago's largest November snowfall in 120 years."  The cookie collection now needed Snowmen!

Finally, when I saw this adorable football turkey designed by Jill FCS,  I knew I had to add them to the collection.  They reminded me of the fun I had a few years ago collaborating on a football design with my Sugar Sister .

Scarecrows, crows, turkeys, football and, snowmen. . .so much for themes.  I guess my design style is eclectic.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Leaves for a Special Friend

 

My friend, Kathy, and I had plans to travel to Boston together this fall, unfortunately, we had to cancel the trip due to her cancer diagnosis.  As she bravely meets the challenges of chemotherapy, her caring and generous co-workers organized a fundraiser for her.

I was asked to bring cookies for the dessert table, so I  am hopeful that this fall collection will be a "sweet" replacement for the fall colors of New England.

 

These cookies are fun and easy to make thanks to SweetSugarBelle's tutorial.

You might also like the pansies that I made for Kathy in August:

http://mycookiefriend.blogspot.com/2014/08/love-hugs-and-flowers-for-special-friend.html 

Happy 25th Anniversary

Twenty-five years ago today, my lovely sister, Carol, married her wonderful husband, Marty.  They had an informal wedding in their beautiful backyard.  It was a perfect day filled with sunshine, blue skies, bright colorful flowers in the garden and a yard filled with family and friends.

Since that day, they have guided their blended family to adulthood, attended the weddings of their children and have become loving grandparents to another generation.  Then and now, family continues to be the center of their lives.

 Wishing you many more years of happiness in the future.

I'm not sure who took the photos, but Marty's head was cut off in almost all of them!

 Love and Hugs to both of you on your special day!

Instructions to make LilaLoa's vintage car design can be found here.

Happily Ever After

My dear friends, Jim and Brian, have been a couple for 22 years.  They recently celebrated their love in a civil union and my husband and I were honored to be their witnesses.  It was an unseasonably warm, fall day in October that allowed us to enjoy an outdoor luncheon amidst the bright, colorful foliage.  After a long trip to celebrate the union, Jim and Brian are hosting a small reception tonight for a few friends.

Although Thanksgiving is behind us and it seems that everyone is rushing into the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I decided that since the ceremony was on such a beautiful day and it is still November, a collection of fall cookies would be the theme for the reception.

Wishing you many more happy years together, love you both. 

A towel found at a discount store was the inspiration for my centerpiece cookie.

Thick royal icing was used to give dimension to the tree trunk and food markers were used for the initials.

Fall Is In the Air

Sure signs of fall--Football; Halloween is over; the World Series has been won; we've set the clocks back; the neighborhood is decorated with a mix of Jack-o-Lanterns, Scarecrows and Turkeys; the stores at the mall have Christmas decorations and long hours; and we have finally elected our President.  In the cookie world, it's my favorite season!

Thanks to Sweet Sugar Belle for providing an easy step-by-step tutorial to create these simple and elegant cookies.

A few gift bags to share with special friends this weekend.

A New Season

It's the first full day of fall and the Chicago temperature of 50 degrees definitely suggests that the seasons are changing.  I have a love-hate relationship with fall.  Love the crispness in the air, football (GO BEARS), and the beautiful colors.  Hate the shorter days and the snow that is sure to follow.

In my cookie world, fall is my favorite season, there are no mistakes on pumpkins and leaves.  I haven't started baking fall cookies yet, but decided to put a few pictures together of fall cookies from the past.

I tried to use nature for
inspiration in this collection.

Quilt Cookie Inspired by Cookie Crazie

 For my Mom's 80th birthday in 2010, we had a quilt made that included the name of every family member.  I contacted Pam (Cookie Crazie) and she graciously gave me permission to use her unique quilting style on cookies that were part of the collection I made as a thank you gift for the woman who made the quilt.   If you are not familiar with Pam's work you can view all of her beautiful designs on her blog:  http://www.cookiecrazie.com/

Inspired by SweetSugarBelle

This Scarecrow collection was created using the tutorial that Sweet Sugar Belle posted on her blog.  My Brother-in-Law said they looked like snowmen dressed up as Scarecrows for Halloween!  Don't you just love the honest, constructive criticism from family members?  Lesson learned, next time make the face a little darker.


I can't imagine there are any cookie decorators that are unfamiliar with Calleye's work, but just in case, you can check out her step-by-step instructions for the scarecrows here.

Thanks to SSB's creativity and willingness to share her decorating tips,  I have become a better cookie decorator.  

I have some new designs that I plan to make this fall, so I'm looking forward to decorating cookies in the weeks ahead.