St. Patrick's Day Musings...

A Trinity Cross

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Actually, we don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day in a big way at our house.  We will wear green shirts.  We will eat green shamrock pancakes, because it is fun.  On a good year, we might even go to a parade, if it doesn't make mommy tired just thinking about it.  We won't really talk about Leprechauns (except to remind our girls that they are just fun imaginary characters) or chase after their pot of gold...  We don't believe in luck... so there isn't much to say about that.

Before I mixed up my green icing...
I just used white and covered it with green sprinkles.

One thing, that we will definitely do though, is talk about who the real St. Patrick was and why we celebrate his day.  He was a real person.  He did not believe in God.  He was captured by bandits and taken to Ireland.  He was a slave and a sheep herder.  He was alone and afraid, and he prayed to God to save him.  God did!  Then, Patrick studied the Bible and soon he wanted to go back to Ireland to tell the people there about Jesus.  He was the first missionary to Ireland.

We will talk about the symbol of the Trinity on the crosses (above) and how there is no beginning and no end to their design, just like God, who is infinite,  and has been from eternity past and will be for into eternity future.  (Thank you to Anne at the Flour Box Bakery for the inspiration for these crosses.  You really should go see it... Her cross is AMAZING!)

We will talk about the shamrock and how it is also a symbol of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).

We will talk about the daffodil and how flowers are a symbol of death (when you plant the dead looking old bulb in the Fall) and new life (when it blooms as a beautiful new creation in the Spring).




 We will talk about how we are all like sheep and are prone to go our own way, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, watches over us and takes care of us.  (Thank you to Callye at Sugarbelle and Marian from Sweetopia for sharing the guest post on how to make these cuties!  I guess if I had actually read the whole post, I wouldn't have ended up with the great big pile of icing in the middle... oh well!  They still tasted good and looked cute.)  

We will talk about rainbows and the beautiful symbol of God's covenant love that they represent.

We will have lots of fun things to talk about...
We might even eat a cookie that looks like a funny green hat. ;^)


Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Cheers!
Sarah

Reader R's cookies - She is becoming quite the decorator!

P.S. - I did have fun decorating cookies with my oldest daughter,  Reader R.!  She says "I love FLOOD!"  Too cute!  Her cookies turned out great too!

Here are our pancakes too!  Reader R. and Lil' L. were so excited.  Curious K. was not too excited about the green breakfast that looked strangely like broccoli.

Confessions of a Cookie Baker: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of the Rainbow Treats!

Hi Friends,

Yesterday, I shared baby K's special rainbow 1st Birthday Party!    As promised, today, I am going to share a few photos of what it takes to make 3 dozen rainbow cookies and more than 18 dozen rainbow mints. 



My copy of the "inspiration" cookie!



First, a huge shout out goes to Callye at The Adventures of Sweet Sugarbelle for teaching me how to make these rainbow cookies!  Her blog gives detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to make this cookie (and many others).  (I also love how she is willing to share her "mistakes" so that we do not have to make them!!)  Callye, you and the other cookie mentors, are a HUGE blessing to those of us who are just getting started, stretching our imaginations and helping us to believe that we really can create cookies as cute as the ones we, and our customers, see online.  Thank you!!! 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My dear friend, and dream-customer, Kara contacted me in OCTOBER, to just chat about what we could do for her baby's 1st Birthday party in JANUARY!  (LOVE THAT!)  She sent me some photos of cookie ideas she had seen online, including Callye's rainbow... and we went from there.


So, when I get a cookie order, after we have finalized the details, I book it on my cookie calendar, and send a confirmation e-mail, with a copy of a detailed invoice, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page.  (Don't want your cookies to be delivered on the wrong day or have your child's name spelled incorrectly!)

Then, I work out my baking schedule.  Because I am a wife first, mom second..., and cookie-baker about fourteenth, I slot out small bits of time, over several days, to make your cookies.   I save four or five sessions, between an hour and two hours each, for:

1. Mixing cookie dough, 
2. Rolling, cutting & baking, 
3. Making frosting/icing/flood, 
4. Decorating & drying time,
5. Photos & packaging.

Unfortunately, I didn't think of this "behind-the-scenes" idea, while I was working on the project, or I would have a lot more photos to show you... like the 14 lbs. of powdered sugar I used, or the huge pile of dishes I washed, several times... ;^) but here are the fun picture I do have that I thought I would share...

When I purchased 18 squeeze-bottles for Royal Icing flood icing, I thought I was CRAZY, that I would never use that many... but this is what it took to make my rainbows (and two dozen+ Legos).



Rainbows and Legos Drying



I decorate my cookies on these trays, so that I can move them back and forth from the kitchen to my dining room where they dry.  (I put the chairs up around the room, so that my kids can't get too close!)

(I am also really glad that I don't have a photo of me standing on my dining room chair trying to take this photo...not pretty.)

Time for the "How many cookies can I squeeze in the box?" Game.

Photographing and packaging the cookies are fun too!  I usually take a LOT of photos of my cookie creations. 


(It doesn't help that I usually finish them in the middle of the night, so the lighting isn't the best.  I need to make a light box!  Also, I have promised myself to learn how to take better photos of my cookies and learn how to edit them better too, but I have been too busy baking to take the time, which is really a good problem to have. ;^))

All boxed up and ready to go!  

This is what the packaged box looks like.  I tie it with silver curling ribbon and add my business card.  I usually try to include a special "Thank You" cookie package too!

(I finally got smart (and a little bit of capital ;^) and purchased a bunch of boxes, so now I don't have to go to the store and buy a box for each order.)

For this special 1st birthday order, I wanted to do a rainbow onesie for my special "Thank You" cookie.  "Thank You" cookies are extra fun for me, because there are no expectations (which makes them easy to exceed...).  It gives me a chance to try new ideas and cookie designs in a "no fail" environment.  For example, I wanted to try a tie-dyed onesie, for this uber-cool family, but it didn't turn out the way that I expected, so I also tried a simple heart and then a cute rainbow.  

(I made this one because rainbows always remind me of God's covenant love for His people. In this case, it reminded me of how Baby K is surrounded by the love of her family.)

The rainbow turned out adorable... so I added these little rainbow hearts too.  Then I put the baby's name on the onesie and her family's names on each of the hearts.  It turned out so cute!  And a really fun surprise for everyone!  

Now, the cookies were done and it was time to start the mints...

The mints were an extra special touch for this order.  Kara's girls had my mints at an American Heritage Girls awards ceremony.  (If you haven't heard of AHG, check it out!  It is an amazing organization for training young ladies!)  Anyway, Kara's girls loved my mints, and so she ordered sets of rainbow-colored mints for party favors.  6 mints X 36 party favors = a LOT of mints!


I dried them on my trays in stripes to make it easier to package them.  Only a bit slap-happy, this is what they looked like on my "drying room table."

Whether I am baking cookies or mints, I always make extras.  I have a fear that I am going to drop a whole tray and have to start over from step one.  Someday I will.  Until then, my friends and family will have to eat the extras. ;^)  

When I party-favor wrap my treats, I always put my label on the back of the package.  That way, whomever ends up with the treat knows where they came from and can contact me for the ingredients and allergy information, just in case. 

Thanks for following the steps I go through to complete a cookie order.  Now, you can see how much love I bake into every batch!

Have a great day!
Sarah







Rainbows, Rainbows Everywhere!

One of my dear friends, Kara,  invited me to be a part of the 1st Birthday celebration for her sweet baby girl! 


My Rainbow Cookie - For more information on the Rainbow Cookie,
check out my "Rainbow Party - A Behind the Scenes Look" post.



It was a rainbow themed party!  I baked the cookies (Thanks Callye  at The Adventures of Sweet Sugarbelle for the tutorial)  and made the rainbow-colored mints that she sent home as party favors. 

Rainbow-colored Mints for Party Favors.



Kara baked cool colorful cakes in jars and made this wooden rainbow puzzle with her girls!



They had a whole rainbow of healthy snacks, too!



Kara did EVERYTHING else to create a wonderful and memorable event... including providing me with these great photos of the party!  She is a great friend and a totally awesome mom to four adorable girls!  She thought of everything!  Here are a few of her great ideas!



I love how she decorated baby K's tray with ribbons!



She did fun rainbow face-painting!



She even rainbow-colored the soap in the bathroom! ;^)



Thanks Kara for letting me be a part of baby K's special day!



Check out this cutie!  A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand! 
Happy Birthday, sweet baby K!



Like anything worthwhile, a lot of love (and work) goes into making it extra-special, check out my next post for a fun, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the rainbow treats. 

Thanks!
Sarah