January 1, 2013...And we're off!

2013...the beginning of a new year, new adventure, new start...whatever you hope this year brings, I wish it for you!

I missed getting gifts ready for my husband's co-workers. Actually, since he was new and this was his first Christmas at this job, he didn't know what to expect about gift-giving. So I'm making a new tradition: New Year's Day cookies!

[photos by Russell Cook]

Clocks, confetti, party dangles...snowmen and snowflakes with fireworks...and my favorite combination of white, pink, baby pink, gray and charcoal gray with sugar sparkles and sanding sugar and sugar confetti. Inspiration from Georgeanne here and from Callye here for designs. Both chocolate and vanilla bean sugar cookies. Three trays equalling roughly five dozen cookies. This was a fun set to design and implement and I felt much more relaxed working with them...not with the pressure I always feel right before Christmas.

I hope the library staff is hungry!

Happy New Year!


The Cookie Lady

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