Christmas Sweets

I really haven't forgotten about my blog...I just haven't baked a lot lately to have anything to show you until now. I had a cookie order of four dozen for one of my husband's co-workers and finished them up today. Tomorrow I pack them all for shipment  - she is sending them ahead to Arizona, since she is flying and doesn't want to bother with them on the plane. I hope they arrive unbroken! Extras were made - just in case!

[photos by Russell Cook]

A special announcement will be made at my customer's family gathering, hence the 'baby Christmas' set of cookies :)

The snowflakesand trees have sparkling sugar on them that doesn't show up in the photo but they are prettier in real life.

Lemon dough is a chillin' in the fridge to go along with some vanilla cookies I'm in process of decorating for another special order that's got to ship out next week.

Merry Christmas, y'all!
The Cookie Lady

Thinking of Halloween

Cooler temps around here have me in the mood to create something a little more 'fun' and 'fall-ish'. Now that I'm unpacking the cookie supplies [although they don't have a permanent home in the kitchen yet], I thought I would try my hand at a design based on Callye's [Sweet Sugarbelle] recent owl cookie tutorial. I DID do owls but used different cookie cutters than she did - see if you can spot these shapes: lion's head, man in the moon, bell, bat.

My owls are in costume for Halloween, with masks and one sporting a nose disguise! I loved the polka dots that Callye used so I added those to my set.

These will be going out FedEx tomorrow to friends...hope they arrive unbroken!

The Cookie Lady

Headin' for the Hills

That's what the month of August brought to me as Hubby & I moved to the Knoxville area due to his new job. I packed all my cookie supplies, along with 23 years' worth of stuff and memories [after a yard sale and major purging] and followed the movers to our new  home - and it really IS new compared to the nearly 100-year-old farmhouse where we raised our kids. Instead of mowing 3.5 acres, we now have a 'regular' sized yard that requires much less maintenance; live in a subdivision in town instead of the country; and have neighbors next door instead of a quarter-mile down the road.

So, no new cookie photos but here are a few photos from orders taken in July:

From top to bottom: red-white-and-blue for a friend's 4th of July family celebration; my version of Glory Albin's baby shower cookie design, made for a customer; and Angry Birds for a special young man.

I haven't yet found storage for my cookie supplies but broke open the boxes this week and now I'm itching to get started again. Will be looking for new customers over here in the hills but there are still all my loyal friends and customers in NW Tennessee to bake for, so get ready!

The Cookie Lady

Monkeys & Bananas!

Again, my lack of blogging indicates how busy I've been lately. Not only have I been camped out in the kitchen, I've also spent a lot of time getting our house ready to sell in anticipation of a big move.

My latest cookie trays were made for a little guy celebrating his second birthday this weekend, and I love the theme his mama chose:

(photo credit: Amy Petty)

A mix of chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies to match the monkeys & bananas theme! Not having a suitable cutter for the bananas, I turned an elephant head cutter on its side -- which had plenty of room for the bananas -- and finished it out with banana leaves. It made for a sturdier [and larger] cookie.

Thank you, Amy, for the order!

The Cookie Lady

Doggies & princesses

I've been busy the past two weeks with more birthday parties and crowns for Junior Auxiliary. More airplanes for VBS, this time at my church. This week I iced a set of cookies featuring a famous dog and a pink princess set for a little lady's fourth birthday:

Denise, thank you for asking me to provide these for Reese's party!

The Cookie Lady

Thank you's!

I know, I know...I've been AWOL for awhile but I really have been busy in the kitchen! May and June have been filled with bible school airplanes and birthday parties, including everyone's favorite mouse and an explorer named Dora. Earlier this week, I had an order for cookies to use as thank-you gifts. She specifically asked for bluebirds and flowers. Borrowing on Sweet Sugarbelle's bluebird design and some simple flower ideas, this is what I created:

Each beribboned gift bag contained one bluebird, one daisy, and one tulip, all in vanilla. This is a poor photo, and you can't tell it, but the blue centers on the daisies are covered in sparkling sugar. And the birds aren't frowning...those are supposed to be eyelashes!

Thank you, Rachel, for the order!

The Cookie Lady

Ballet recital

Just a quick second post to show the tutus and ballet slippers that I decorated for a co-worker's daughter as a ballet recital gift. She wanted half vanilla and half chocolate.

photo credit: Amy Petty

As you can see, they were still drying when this photo was taken. The finished set was placed on a clear plastic tray, bagged and tied with pink and lilac ribbons. It was a fun set to create! Thank you, DeAnna, for this order!

The Cookie Lady

First Birthdays...

This was my second 'first' birthday request for cookies, and it was a delight to bake for this charming young fellow! His mother went with a balloon theme and asked for hot air balloons:

This was a sample of the three dozen I decorated. The blue tray gives them a 'floating in the sky' effect.

The birthday boy's mom sent me some photos of the party - I was tickled to see how she used some of the cookies to decorate the 'smash' cake and cupcakes. Thank you for the order, Rachel!

The Cookie Lady

Off we go...

into the wild blue yonder! I've got more planes in my house than probably are sitting at O'Hare this morning. Been busy getting planes ready for a friend's VBS next week, with the theme being Amazing Wonders Aviation - so airplanes are central to the theme.

These photos don't show the fniishing touches with the yellow 'trim'.

In keeping with the aerospace theme, I moved up a little higher into the heavens and made this tray for my sweet grandson, Little Man, just because...

Recently, I ran across a quote from "Guess How Much I Love You", by Sam McBratney, a children's story that I remember reading to my little ones [so you know this book has been around for a little while], when the father, Big Nutbrown Hare, tells his son, Little Nutbrown Hare, at the end "I love you to the moon and back!"  Wonderful book...little ones will love hearing this! This tray includes the man in the moon, hearts, stars, and a few airplanes [since Little Man loves airplanes].

This will be a busy week with several orders coming up, so who knows when I will post again?!

The Cookie Lady

Ring those bells!

I was honored to be asked to provide trays of cookies for a graduation celebration honoring my daughter-in-law's cousin who graduated this week from high school and is headed to Mississippi State this fall. I have to admit, the bulldog was a bit of a challenge:

It took me four tries to get the bulldog face right! And after that, I was pretty pleased with the result. Besides the bulldogs, the tray included the state of Mississippi, the famous [or infamous?!] cowbell, two sizes of bones, pawprints, and a selection of jerseys. This was a fun set to make :)

Congrats to Gregg and best wishes as he begins studies at MSU!!!

The Cookie Lady

Congrats to the Grads!

It isn't just seniors in high school who are graduating this month - my son is graduating today from the University of Tennessee with his Master's degree in geography. His dad and I are celebrating with him in this milestone accomplishment, and part of that celebration included these cookies. Matt's thesis involved studies in Germany, so I included my version of the German flag, a diploma, "T" for Tennessee and hints at his future studies [for his Ph.D.].

I also had an order for one of Matt's friends whom he grew up with, who is also graduating with her law degree this week - here is a sample of the cookies for Jennie:

Love those Latin legal terms! Thank you, Bret, for the order! Congrats to Jennie and Matt!

The Cookie Lady

Olivia!

My first order for a character cookie...and she's a darling! I am vaguely familiar with the Olivia stories, just enough really to know that she is a bovine swine diva who loves to wear red. So I looked around blogdom to see if anyone else was doing Olivia and came across a set created by Anne at Flour Box Bakery. I loved the colors she used but didn't have enough confidence in my ability to do a full-on outline of Olivia, as Anne did. Instead, I chose to do a full face feature, along with assorted accompanying cookies:

These photos were taken in two different locations by two different photographers - thus, the difference in lighting [thank you's to Russell and Amy!]

Thank you, Linda, for the order! This was a fun set to create!

The Cookie Lady

Standing in the Sand

Doesn't that sound heavenly? Wish we were going to the beach this year...

Instead, I'm getting my beach excitement via decorating dozens of pairs of flip-flops for customers:

Summertime, here we come!

The Cookie Lady

Pomp and Circumstance

And what do you get in May besides May flowers from April showers?!? Graduation parties! I was asked to create dozens of cookies for a graduation reception at the church of a lovely young lady who will soon be college-bound. Her school colors are absolute favorites of mine [because they are MY high school colors, too!]:

Go purple and gold!



Three trays in vanilla and chocolate consisting of grad caps, diplomas, and Golden Tornadoes [school logo]. They were fun to do and I enjoyed every minute of it! Best wishes to you, Ashlyn, on your graduation!!!

The Cookie Lady

Monogrammed bridal tea cookies

I love monogrammed items...linens, hankies, purses, dishes, pillows...you name it, I think it's better with a monogram. Of course, that could be the Southerner in me; Southern women have a long and strong history of putting our monogram on things we own and love to share. When I was asked to provide cookies for a bridal tea this weekend, monogramming came to mind. Not that I have a lot of experience doing this on a cookie, but I think they turned out pretty well:

It's hard to tell, but the monogram is a W, using the font from the invitation to the tea. Also used the bride's colors of ivory and coral.

Congrats Mallory & Adam!

The Cookie Lady

Busy, busy, busy...

I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy creating! A friend from my former church asked for purse cookies to serve at a Thirty One party. This was a challenge for me but, using the Thirty One spring catalog for inspiration, this is a sample of what I came up with:

There were four dozen cookies, two purse sizes, 12 designs.

Thank you, Lisa, for the order - hope you all had a great time!

The Cookie Lady

Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday today and to celebrate with me, my clever co-workers had this made as my gift:

The design matches my business card logo exactly!!! I am so tickled with this apron! The embroidery was done by Debbie Chism at "Say It in Stitches" in Union City [apron was purchased there, too].

The girls also added a set of Wilton piping tips and a package of squeeze bottles for my little cookie hobby :) On top of all of that, Amy made a yellow butter double layer birthday cake with chocolate frosting [sorry you aren't here, Blair, to have a piece!].

A big THANK YOU to Amy, Lori, Linda and DeAnna for such a delightful gift!

The Cookie Lady

Baseball season

I've been wanting to try my hand at Lizy B's baseball and ball field cookies for awhile now and the chance to do it came this week. Not quite as perfect as hers, but I was pleased with the outcome:

This was a gift tray of chocolate cookies for one of the attorneys at the office - he's a big Cards fan, so I made sure there was some red and white in the 'stands'!!!

The Cookie Lady

Batter up!

Spring means a lot of things, one of those being girls' softball. One of the attorneys I work for has been a coach for his youngest daughter's teams for several years now, so I hear a lot about ball games at work. I was asked to make a tray of cookies for her birthday, which she was celebrating with her team at the park today, and here is what I came up with:

I know that softballs are supposed to be 'optic yellow' but this was as close as I could get with the color gel I had on hand. One thing is for sure....they can be seen at a distance!!!

Happy birthday, Caroline! [and I hope your team won today...]

The Cookie Lady

Rodeo Time at UTM

Yep, folks, it's that time of the year again...UTM Rodeo Week! I had new cowboy boot and hat cutters that I wanted to try out and had in mind doing a gift tray of cookies for my horse-loving friend, so this is what I came up with:

How do you like my 'Western' background?! A checked dish towel and cooling rack...  I also learned that morning light is lovely but not suitable for taking photos.

Hope everyone is enjoying the rodeo!

The Cookie Lady