The Very Hungry Caterpillar

November 2012
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

My nephew turned ONE! I love my little nephews so much so I was excited when my Sister-in-Love asked me to make some desserts for his birthday party. She is a party planner extraordinaire so I knew it was going to be awesome! After brainstorming several themes she came up with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Here are the results!

The cake

Smash cake and matching cookies

I told you she was good!

Best part!

Siblings

November 2012
Siblings

Siblings share almost everything. These two share a birthday month! Their mom wanted to have a cake for an intimate family get-together. The challenge? She wanted it to incorporate each of their interests. With a cowgirl girly-girl and a sports-loving boy that proved to be a small challenge. So we decided to divide the cake in half and give it two personalities. I think it turned out cute and hopefully they felt very special.

Day in the Dirt

November 2012
'Day in the Dirt'

Because we live so close to the desert, dirt bike riding is a very common hobby. You can almost smell the gasoline in the air come fall when everyone is cleaning out their trailers and tuning up the bikes to get out to the desert by Thanksgiving. So I wasn't surprised when I got a request for some cookies for 'Day in the Dirt.' However, in the effort of full disclosure, I must admit that everything I know about motorcycles could actually fit on the surface of a cookie....with space left over. Thank goodness for the internet! After scouring the Chaparral Motorsports website and looking at hundreds of pictures online this is what I came up with:

Halloween

October 2012
Halloween

The best part of Halloween is dressing up with my kiddos. We love to choose a theme and dress up as a family. Our goal each year is to win the Trunk N Treat contest at our church festival. It's so much fun to give out candy to the neighborhood kiddos that my kids even forfeit their own bag of candy to join in the fun together! The second best part of Halloween is making all kinds of treats for everyone to enjoy.Here are some of the Halloween cookies that made their way out of my kitchen this year.

Here's a peek at our set up this year. We won first place again this year! I wonder what we will do next year?

Barbie Birthday

October 2012
5th Birthday

 Facebook has been a great tool for this little newbie baker! This project is a perfect example. After making some cookies for a friend's event, she posted a picture of them on Facebook. One of her friends contacted me about making some cookies for a birthday party the next weekend. I agreed and we quickly worked out the details. She was going to have a Barbie Fashion Show birthday for her 5-year-old daughter using a vintage Barbie theme. I was so excited when I saw the invites because there was a Barbie silhouette on the back and I have been itching to try some silhouettes for a little bit now. Here are some pics of the results:

Happy Birthday, Cara! I hope your day was filled with friends, laughs, and good memories!
~S

Monkeying Around

August 2012
Monkey Cookies

This past weekend was a very special weekend for me. I drove up to Northern California to visit my BFF and her family, which happens to include my incredibly cute and sweet goddaughter, Iris. It wasn't just any visit, we planned a special baby shower for Iris' baby sister Violet, expected in October.
One of our favorite nicknames for these baby girls is "cheeky monkey." Iris loves to be called by that nickname so of course, the theme of Violet's shower was to be monkeys too. The day was a huge success and I think everyone had a lot of fun visiting. Here are some of the treats that I baked up for this special day:

Hearts and monkeys for the baby shower. Of course the monkeys were wearing small violets in honor of baby Violet.

Packaged and ready to go

Sugar and Spice

August 2012
New Baby

New babies are always exciting, but when the gender is a surprise, the anticipation is really amped up! This was the case as we waited for this little one to arrive. Mommy wanted the gender to be a surprise and this pregnancy was a bit of a roller coaster ride so we all waited on pins and needles!
Finally the eve of baby's arrival came and I really wanted to deliver a fresh batch of cookies with baby's brothers on THE DAY. If this was to happen, I had to take a gamble and make a guess. So I stayed up late and decorated away.....with BLUE.

BUT I WAS WRONG!

So the next morning, when Allie Ruth made her long awaited appearance, we tossed those blue cookies and started over. Pink was the color of the day and I loved decorating these cookies knowing they were for the newest addition to my family!

Decorating cookies for Allie

I decided to try making some chocolate roll out cookies as a variation of the vanilla. Unfortunately, they were yucky. I'll have to work on that recipe a bit. ;)

The final product.   I love the pinks and especially that cute font. I hope New Mom got the chance to enjoy a few by herself at the hospital and didn't have to share them all with her guests!

Coloring Book Cookies

I wanted to create something fun and whimsical for a little girl we know who is in the hospital. What do little girls like? Well, rainbows, hearts, and butterflies, of course! I hope she will find this activity amusing as she colors in the cookies herself and then gets to eat her creations. These cookies should go a long way to combat hospital boredom. Please join me in keeping this sweet family in your prayers! We hope she will come home very soon.

Coloring book cookies complete with edible markers