Snowflakes Inspired By A Gift Tag!

Ok, let me admit this now.... I am addicted to making snowflake cookies!  I'm not sure if this is because I cut tons of paper snowflakes in elementary school....or because snowflakes were actually one thing I could sketch....or because I once took a most reflective walk in a perfect winter night with light snowfall....but whatever the reason, I LOVE SNOWFLAKES!

And, I love these snowflakes, too.  They were inspired by a gift tag and wrapping paper I bought this year.  Hope it's okay to have some black/white wrapping paper at Christmas!  It's actually very "elegant" which is definitely a contrast to the rest of my home. :-)

I also receive such inspiration from other "cookiers" especially those who share their talents on Flickr.  Some of these were especially inspired by IndulgeDesserts on Flickr.  I'm not quite where she is on her piping skills, but I'm working on it!  Hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed making them.

Sweet Snowflakes

One of the cookies I love to decorate is the snowflake.  I'm not sure what it is about them, but I like it.  Maybe it's because these snowflakes don't cause me to slip, but they do make me smile.  :-)

For My Birthday Boy

I've seen many beautiful, online photos of cookie cupcakes, and I finally got the chance to make my own this weekend. And I really wanted them to turn out "just right" because they were for my own boy!  They were fun to make, and I couldn't resist making some birthday candles, too.  Happy birthday to my boy!

A BIG Christmas Cookie!

Earlier this year, I ordered this extra-large Christmas ornament cookie (it's 7 1/2" wide!).  I was excited to finally use it this week as I prepared some cookies for our church bake sale.  I'm not sure how many folks will want this large cookie, but it does make an impression!

These cookies were made with dark chocolate dough and gingerbread dough.  The smells in my kitchen the day they were baking were soooo good!  

Stars for a Star Coworker

Today our staff celebrated one of our "stars" as employee of the month.  She's a big Dallas Cowboys fan, so I whipped up some quick blue and white stars for her reception.  Congratulations, Sharon!

Skulls and Crossbones Birthday

While every other cookie baker is posting their Thanksgiving turkeys....I'm working on skulls and crossbones!  Happy Birthday Devin and Trenton!  Hope you like your cookies - and thanks, Erika!

These Cookies Were So Much Better in My Mind....

Have you ever had this idea for a cookie (or any other project) and in your head, it is the greatest thing?  You can just see how cool it will turn out, right?  Well, that's what I was thinking this week when I was working on my friend Cheryl's cookies.  Cheryl left the USA this summer for a year of teaching in the United Arab Emirates, and she's been telling me she has been wanting some sugar cookies.  So, in my mind I'm thinking about making her some ABC cookies.  For inspiration, I headed to my scrap booking paper stash, and I find a great paper that I think I could potentially replicate - after all it was just a series of circles and dots.

I did do a decent job of matching the colors when I was tinting my icing (the photos don't show the colors correctly), but that's about where the similarities to the paper end!  After my first botched attempt...I decided to just do dots.  Dots, dots, and more dots.  Sorry Cheryl, I really did have bigger aspirations to make these cookies "awesome" for you!

We boxed them up today and they should  be on the way to you soon.  I hope they make it there!  It's up to you whether you choose to share them with your students or not.  I hope these come to you in one piece and remind you of home.  We miss you!

Mickey Dressed Up for Halloween!

These *might* be the last set of Halloween cookies I make this month - October 31 will be here before we know it!  My cousin Barb loves Halloween so I made her some cookies and shipped them off earlier this week.  I took some photos of the packaging, but my camera kept losing power and didn't save all of the photos.  I can't wait for her to receive them so she can let me know how they traveled, since this was the first time I have shipped cookies.

I am so glad, though, that these photos did save, because these were my favorites - Mickey Mouse as a ghost and as a vampire!  They're not too scary....I did have to go online to find some guides on drawing Mickey Mouse....did you know there are two "M's" when you draw him?  The first M frames the top of his face, and the his tongue makes the second "M."  Do you see them in the vampire Mickey?  Cool, huh?

In case I don't get to post again before Halloween - have a safe and fun Halloween!   

Boys of Fall

I was happy to give the football theme cookies another try.....I definitely like my work better this time.  Thanks so much to Erika for ordering these!  Hope your "boys of fall" and their team mates enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

More Cowbell for #64!

It was fun making these cookies for my friend, Rhonda and her son, who is #64 for the Pirates.  If you would ever attend one of her son's football games, it wouldn't be hard to figure out which one was Rhonda....she's the one with the TWO cowbells and yelling at the top of her lungs!

Tonight when her voice is hoarse from all that yelling, she can have some cookies and savor the experience of watching her son, #64.  Go Pirates!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As you likely know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  And surely, if you're on Facebook, you've seen the updates about "where you like it." (On the back of the chair, by the way)......all of this in the name of spreading awareness about breast cancer, which if it saves a life, is totally worth it.

Another way to raise awareness is through awareness ribbons.  A few weeks ago I bought this ribbon cutter at Southbank Gift Company and had the opportunity this past week to test it out for a bake sale at my church.  

I'm planning on making some changes in my design, and also ordering a medium size and mini cutter (this one is about 5 inches tall).

I know pink ribbons, or posting "where I like it" doesn't stop breast cancer.  But if ribbons, or ribbon cookies, make even a little difference, count me in.

Halloween Minis and One Big Spider!

This past week I spent a lot of my evenings up to my elbows in sugar!  It's not an entirely bad place to be.  :-)

Here are some of the results that ended up at work and our church bake sale.

This spider web is an extra large cookie, and the spider isn't too small itself! Notice the glowing red eyes on that spider?

Yum - mini brownie bites!

First attempt at the skull and crossbones....

Candy corn, a sprinkled star, and a scaredy cat...

These were the cookies packaged up for the bake sale.  The toppers are available at Hobby Lobby and really make the difference in how the set looks.  

It's Alive, It's Alive!!

It's alive, it's ALIVE!  Okay, it's not really alive, but I'm still a proud creator of my first Frankenstein cookie!  

I ordered a Frankenstein cookie cutter from Karen's Cookies (it's on sale, by the way) and got to try it out this week.  I absolutely LOVED making this cookie!  So much fun to make and it's a good addition to any Halloween cookie tray.  I'm going to try to make some more "Frankies" this week for a bake sale...along with the apples and pumpkins from my previous post.  Can't wait to share them with you!

First Fall Cookies

Fall is here!  What better way to celebrate it than with some apples and pumpkin cookies?  These were made for snack day at work - sugar cookies with royal icing.  For those who know apples, I think these are Red Delicious?  See the bumps?  :-)

Welcome to Signature Sugar!

Well, I took the plunge!  After what has seemed like months of debating, I've finally settled on a name for my cookie hobby - Signature Sugar!  Thanks so much to all my friends and family who have encouraged me to take this hobby to the next level - I hope I can keep practicing on you when I need to try out a new design or a new recipe.  :-)

I hope you'll comment once in awhile and let me know what you think, and if you have some ideas about some new designs, you can always e-mail me at signaturesugar@gmail.com.

So, welcome to Signature Sugar...now, who wants to help me with a logo?