Valentine, You've Got Class

Reader R's Class Valentines

I am not quite sure when it happened, but somewhere between 1986, when I stopped giving valentines to my classmates, and 2007, when our family reentered the world of Valentines, something drastically changed. When I was little, it was so fun to get a shoe box full of those cute paper valentines that you got 32 in a box for $2.  Now, it is all about the STUFF.  I did not realize this when my oldest daughter entered preschool.  Yes, someone should had mentioned something... but yes, my daughter showed up with just the cheap valentines from the box. Yes, I was mortified when she brought her box home and I realized we were the ONLY ones who had been left in the 1980's Valentine's Day time warp.

"Friend, We Go Together Like Milk & a Cookie!"

 Well, enough said, we would not be caught empty handed again!  Honestly, most years, I have opted for the still cheap, "day-after-purchase, hold-it-all-year pencils or bracelets plan."  But this year, Pinterest and resourcefulness got the best of me and I decided that we would make our own treats.   I decorated the cookies and made the topper, and Reader R wrote each of her classmates names on them with food color marker and helped package them!  Success!

Now, poor Curious K, she got the left over cheap valentine's that I had had in storage for a couple years, and because I was too tired to go to the store... we stuck marshmallows in popsicle sticks and dipped them in chocolate.  She did a great job drizzling them with pink and red candy melts and adding sprinkles.  I loved that she helped and that I had everything on hand. ;^)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheers

Sarah

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all an amazing Easter!

These are the Easter cookies that I made for my daughter's school auction last week!

Sweet little lambs - Thank you, to Marian from Sweetopia for the tutorial and Georgeane from LilaLoa for tutorial on the "dotty" ones!

Brush Embroidery Eggs - I love the look of these...  Although, I need to learn that "less is more" in the decoration department.

My curious K. loves butterflies... so I made these in honor of her. ;^)

"Rejoice"  "Hallelujah" "He is Risen"

Fun Easter basket filled with Eggs - Thanks for the tutorial Callye!

I love this cherry blossom cookie too!
Thanks for the tutorial from Montreal Confections!
I really wanted to try this technique on some tea pot cookies (that I will share next week), so this was my practice cookie.

This was my first attempt at a "lace work" cookie.  It is WAY hard.  I will have to practice this more...Recently, Callye at Sugarbelle's had a great tutorial on piping lace on cookies, so I thought I would give it a try.  It probably would have gone more smoothly if I had actually followed her wonderful instructions.  Oh well, the colors are pretty...

Some of my favorite creators of this kind of cookie are:

• Nadia at My Little Bakery
• Alison at Ali Bee's Bake Shop
• Hani at Haniela's 

I loved these crosses!   Thanks for the idea and tutorial, which I copied completely for these practice cookies, Melissa!

One of my favorite Easter decoration is the sugar egg that we bought my oldest daughter several years ago.  It was too pretty to eat, so we have saved it!  I remember having similar eggs as a child.  A great little candy shop in Kansas City sells them and will even personalize them for you.  I also saw some at the World Market this Easter season.  There's all had bunnies and chicks in them, which were super cute, but I LOVE the ones with a cross or an empty tomb in them.

I did make one effort at an empty tomb cookie with some leftover frosting... It didn't turn out the way it looked in my head.  This one goes back on the list to try again next year.  What I did like about the cookie was the fun technique of making the stone speckled by using colored sugar (I didn't have any black, so I made my own following this tutorial from Callye at Sugarbelle) and sprinkled it on like Georganne suggested for her "Easy Speckled Eggs."

This cookie had two lives.  It was a turquoise Easter Egg that got over flooded.  Then, I realized that I was out of egg cookies, so I scraped it "clean" and created this cookie.  I love how the flood left a "washed" look for the sky.  I might even try it on purpose next time.

At Easter time, we talk about how eggs symbolize "New Life" specifically, the new life that we have in Christ.  This year, we have a momma robin who has built her next on one of the support beams under our  deck.  She has three little eggs in her nest.  I love the nest symbolism of home, comfort, warmth, too, and have often thought of our home as a nest, especially after a wonderful discussion about it with to Mary Catherine Newman a few years ago! (Thanks, MC!) We can actually peep through the cracks in the floor boards and check on the eggs.  If you stop by my home and happen to see one or more of my girls laying face down on the deck, now you know why.  

Wishing you and your nest a Blessed Easter!

Sarah

On the Twelfth Day of Cookie Christmas...

Sweet Sarah gave to me, 14 cookies baked into a wreath...

And a random sampling of all of the ones I missed...

 

"J" is for Jesus!



These cookies remind me of my three girls... 

Reader R. would obediently have her cookie tucked under her wing for safekeeping. 
Curious K. would be caught nibbling, "Just a taste."

Little L. would just be standing there, all adorable,
with a sticky grin and a look that said "What candy cane?"

 

Amazing "Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream"   I wish I could remember where I found the reciepe. (When I do, I will add credits and a link, here.)  I topped the real ones, for Christmas, with a chunck of chocolate/peppermint bark.  These I decorated to look like my family: His, Hers, 3 little girls!  

I am such a cheeseball!



My sweet Little L!  She is the best helper!
She got this adorable apron for Christmas!



 Well,  there you have it.  Christmas... finally over.  Actually, we just exchanged our last presents last night, so I guess it is time to take down the tree and put the Christmas cookie cutters away until next year. 

Merry Cookie Christmas!

Sarah

Kid's Cookie Bake Cookies!



P.S. - Lessons learned: No one wants to see Christmas cookies in January, not even me.   All of my cookie friends have TOTALLY moved on to Valentine's Day.  Plus, this all would have worked out a little better if I had PLANNED what I would post on each of the 12 Days BEFORE I started.  (And, I should have made a "Wise Men" cookie or something for tomorrow, but I didn't.) Oh well...  MERRY COOKIE CHRISTMAS, anyway!

On the Sixth Day of Cookie Christmas...

Sweet Sarah gave to me, six Sneaky "Gingerbread" Sweets...

"Faux Gingerbread" Sugar cookies with brown Royal Icing

Plus, six hats and gloves...

 

Merry Cookie Christmas!

Sarah