Birthday Birdies and Owl Cookies!

When I moved into my college dorm room many moons ago, (no...I will NOT tell you how many)
I met Sarah.
She was my new roommate and was (is) pretty much perfect.
Super friendly and welcoming. Fun, silly, wicked smart and girlie without being 'mean girlie'.
Completely sensible, but also absolutely the girlfriend you knew  you'd have a great time with all weekend.

Love her.

Plus, she totally introduced me to Joe, who became my super awesome husband.
Because of this I will NOT post the only picture of us I could find.
We are wearing bathrobes and wearing mud masks.



Instead, I will show you the cookies I made for her, for her birthday!

Her Mom wanted to send her some sweet little owls!

I added a loving family tree and some little baby birds  since she has two little birdies of her own.

She let me make them all springtimey and happy.




Which is perfectly appropriate for Sarah.

Because whenever I think of her....

I don't just remember that she is now a wonderful teacher and mom,

and a super brave breast cancer survivor,

but she has always been one of my best examples of who a girlfriend should be.

I wish she lived closer and that we got to see each other often.
But I hope she knows that I think of her all the time,

and always with a smile.



Hope your Birthday was extra Happy!
(Joe says 'Hi' too!)

My Favorite Cookie Font!

It's graduation season all over the country!
All month long munchkins and big people will be wearing those silly little flat hats and graduating!
Which of course means.....lots and lots of cookies!
These are a favorite of mine and I make them using Sugarbelle's tutorial.

Callye (Sugarbelle) is the queen of combining cookie cutters and  changing their shapes to work best for her (and us).


I suck at it am not.


So, I'm always grateful for her posts about cutter shapes and uses.
I do, however, really REALLY like using all different fonts on my cookies.
I LOVE this one!

I love the little sideways 'O's.
And the 'G'!  It's hard to find a G that looks good in sugar.
It's called ENVIEW.....

You can find it for free HERE


I first started using it because it reminded me of the architectural lettering I had to practice 
foreeeevvveeer in college.
Ugh!
My hand hurt for the entire quarter.

It's kind of fitting to use a font that reminded me of college on a college graduation cookie... right?
I didn't over think that or anything, did I?
Hmmmm.



Anywho...

Congratulations Kristin!
You did it!


...and I made it through another graduation season without putting
'Congraduations'
on a single cookie!

Top Tutorials of 2012!

Happy New Year!


I'm starting out the year with a little trip down memory lane.
First up, your favorite tutorials from the past year!

(there's a question at the end...want to guess what it is?)





We'll do this 'Letterman' style...

6. Fall Leaf Cookie Tutorial!

Easy-peasy wet-on-wet technique that can be used for so many things!






5. Sunflower Cookies!  A Perfect Petal Tutorial!

A super easy method for evenly spaced petals!






4. Rainbow Ruffle Cookies!

These still make me smile!






3. Chevron Pumpkins!

Same wet-on-wet technique as the leaves!!  So very versatile!






2. How To Use a Cookie Tutorial!

I liked this tutorial because I got to link to some very lovely baking ladies!!







...here it is, your very favorite (by a landslide)...

1. Let's Talk About Writing On a Cookie!

This also happens to be the post I get the most emails about and has the most pins.
I still love writing on cookies and trying new fonts.



Which leads me to my very important question...


What new tutorials would you like to see in the new year?
More about fonts?
Different tools and tips?
Colors?


 
Please leave a comment and let me know!
Come back all this week for more recaps and questions!!
(I missed you all...so happy to be back!)

Let's Talk About Writing on a Cookie!

Let's talk words, shall we?

I think cookie people fall into one of two categories.

You either love piping words, or you HATE it.

(I love it.)

And we've all had the thought....

"AAAHHHH!  I really need a Kopykake!!!"

Yes, a Kopykake helps, not gonna lie.

I've found that it's great for spacing, placement and consistency...

 but you still have to hold the dang piping bag and do the work.

Here's how I go about deciding which fonts and tips to use, and practicing

 BEFORE I mess up a whole bunch of cookies!

I type the different phrases I need in different sizes and fonts.

Usually....I'll print the page and pipe directly onto the paper.

This particular day my printer was having a temper tantrum and wouldn't print.

So I emailed the document to myself and opened it up on the ipad 

and piped onto a sheet of paper.

Here we go!!!

I started with a number 2 tip and piping consistency icing.

OOPS!  Icing too thick!

See the broken exclamation mark up there?

(you can see it in the O's too, they are a bit flat where I had to push the icing down)

Okay, remixed with a touch more water.  

See how the icing in the second line site up a bit higher?

Switched to a number 1 tip...not bad!

Piped the letters a little smaller...better!

This font is Bosshole.  

I like it for kids cookies.

Let's try a couple more.

Bradley Hand is another favorite.  

But...not all letters work well in all fonts.

Love the R's and k's.

Not crazy about the G.

G's are not easy.

G's are hard.

Just keepin' it real.

This is one of those fonts that seem like a good idea but aren't.

Super cute on paper, messy in icing.

All these phrases went on cookies for my son's 5th grade classmates.

They had just finished up some big projects and deserved a treat!!

Hope this inspires you to try some lettering!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lizy B