Eldra's year of cookies.

a year ago last month, i offered my cookie services to a silent auction for Trinity Lutheran. the winner was Eldra, who received a dozen cookies every month for a year. May was her last month, and i asked if she had any requests, after a year of cookies of my choosing. she said, "can you make frogs? my son just loves that 'frog prince' movie."
i smiled and said, "oh yeah, i can make frogs." and made a dozen of these:

i LOVE these. i've wanted to do the froggy prince for well over a year. ask the hubby, i was doing little happy dances as these came together. much thanks to Eldra for putting me to work, every month was a blast. plus it was incentive for starting this here lil blog.
~coming soon: a baby shower, an engagement party, 2 thank yous, a birthday, and a trip to a pond.

better than jelly beans

Eldra's April installment of her year of cookies was delivered Easter Sunday. i'm super pleased with the fluffy sheep and colorful egg, but the camera just couldn't capture the shimmery ivory color of the cross. trust me, it was lovely. back to the sheep, it's the same technique i use for clouds. time consuming, but worth it--dontcha just want to pet them? stay tuned, her final installment was for May and just might be my favorite.

happy st. patty's day!

March means St. Patty's Day! this month Eldra got leprechauns, shamrocks, and pots of gold. once again it was adventures in piping (check out those 'jazz hands') and splicing shapes. would you guess that the pot is a cauldron with a doctored circle segment? or that our little friends were made with a cutter labeled 'snowman'? these were fun, and are delicious with green beer!

Voulez vous cookie avec moi?

conversation hearts, hot pink and "beads," and sexy animal prints. meow! these were for eldra's february installment of her year of cookies. fun new technique of the month is painting with food coloring. sexy! happy valentine's day!

i like to kick it old school

this year i fell in love with pearl dust. first i made my wedding cookies shimmer, then i made shiney reindeer, then i made actually-silver bells. i seriously got all bouncy like a kid when i made a metalic cookie. to complete the trio for eldra's december dozen, i paired the "silver" with pastel blue and ta-da, it was 1952. the fun continued with pinwheel stars. next year? christmas robots!

happy november!

here's what i was up to in november--a traditional collection for eldra's monthly dozen, and a buncha corn for the folks at work. at first i thought the turkey was too intimidating, but it was nothing compared to those individual corn kernels. but i like challenges :)

eldra's "year of cookies" august '09

challenging myself to do new and different shapes for eldra this month was easy when you remember that nothing happens in august. no holidays, no particular weather accept hot. so i decided to use that lazy-days-of-summer idea and give eldra a day at the lake.

neat new techniques included using the sunflower to make the sun, and painting the woodgrain on the boat with brown food coloring. i was totally intimidated by the fish, but it became my favorite of the trio.

tune in next month; it's back-to-school season, with a storybook theme.

eldra's "year of cookies" july '09

and here's eldra's cookies for july. at first i was going simple again--a star, a baseball, and as i was wading through my cutters i thought no, too boring. so i went with the very-appropriate flag, the baffling eagle (i had to consult an eagle calendar for his face) and a more complicated star. thumbs up to mom for getting me silver and gold sugar. i'm not sure if i'd go actual metalic with cookies, but the colors, paired with metalic dragees, were simple and effective. now if only i had a fine enough point to make all 50 stars and 13 stripes.

note to the patriotic, i do have a large statue of liberty cutter. and lots of green sugar. :)

eldra's "year of cookies," june '09

Trinity Lutheran Elementary School (West Chicago) held a bowling and silent auction fundraiser in mid-May. i agreed to add "a year of cookies" to the auction: 1 dozen cookies, 3 shapes per dozen, every month for a year. that's 144 cookies! [i shyed at naming a value--what makes a cookie a $12 cookie anyway? but someone out there charges it. i gave a low "retail price," considering most sites like these charge around $3. that's quite a bit for what, i think, are usually pretty ordinary.] and the winner of the auction? eldra!

the theme for june was 'june bugs.' the strawberry is such a happy little shape, i had to use it. but i wanted to challenge myself, not make my easy favorites, so i added painted bugs. an interesting thing, painting food. i wonder what else i can paint...