Howdy Pilgrim!

One of the many things I love about creating cakes & cookies are all the very fun, very festive & very creative ideas my friends come up with...love it! My latest request was around someone having a cute cowboy crush on John Wayne...yes, John Wayne! A friend of mine, Gina was surprising her sister (in law..I think) with some John Wayne cookies before their Trader Joe's run via St. Louis...now that is just plain sweet! So, when Gina asked me about creating some John Wayne cookies...of course, I said Yes without even thinking how I was going to go about coming up with John Wayne cookies...but that's the best part..figuring it all out! I found a few ideas and sent them to Gina and her sister in law loved the JW silhouette...it was pretty cool! Now for the creative part...making sugar dough..no problem...cutting out round circles...no problem...making buttercream frosting...no problem...creating a JW silhouette out of frosting...well, this is where the creativity & a steady hand comes in! To make a long story short (I do tend to be long winded at times...), they were so fun to bring to life...and even my sweet Hannah, stopped by and said, "mom, they look like cowboys!"...that was the icing on the cookie ;)

50 Fabulous Years of Marriage!

Now that my friends is something to be proud of...what a sweet blessing that is for some friends of ours (around the corner...yes, we live in an awesome neighborhood!), celebrating with parents for 50 years of marriage. Torie & I are headed toward 10 years this July...can't believe we're already @ 10 and can't imagine what 50 will be like...fabulous, I'm sure! Now, back to the celebration @ hand...I felt so honored to be creating such an important accomplishment with a cake! Melissa asked me if I could create the 50 year Anniversary cake and of course, I said yes! She was concerned she may be late in asking...but rest assured...there's always time for cake, and cookies and cupcakes...that's how we roll around here...much more fun to be sporatic & spur of the moment..well, most days! Back to cake creations...I looked around for some different ideas and sent them to M&M...they decided on the chic & classic...the BIG 5-0 with the honorees wedding picture on the cake to boot! I LOVED the idea and once I had the image scanned in, I knew that would complete the cake. This was such a special and fun cake to create because marriage is such a blessed & sacred union and here Mike's parents have made it to 50 years of wedded bliss...I can't wait for Torie & I to celebrate our 50 years one day...for now, we're working toward 10 Totally Terrific Years! Happy Golden Anniversary!

Skateboardin' into Summer!

Can I just tell you how blessed I am everytime I create cakes, cookies or cupcakes? Well...if I haven't...I'm telling you now! Nothing better than delivering the goods and seeing the smiles on my friends faces...that my friends makes this so FUN! I got to experience this again last week when a friend of mine @ work asked me about making some cookies for her 11 year old son Max's birthday...of course, I said yes. And when she asked about doing skateboards...of course, I said yes. I always say yes and then later figure out how I'm going to create what I'm creating...because that's how I roll! I love a good challenge and making things creative...so, no skateboard cookie cutter...time to get creative! So, made the sugar cookie dough the night before, thinking that nite how am I going to create a skateboard? Next day, rolling the dough and looking through all my gadgets for something that resembles a skateboard...lo & behold, I used one of sweet spreaders (thank you Jodith & Pampered Chef!) to make the main part and then just cut out circles for wheels...and those candy necklaces came in very handy! Next up was the frosting and totally tublar designs! Talk about fun with color, frosting and toothpicks...who knew? To make a long story (because I could go on) short, I loved how the cookies turned out and when I delivered to the birthday boy...he guessed correctly they were skateboards (a couple of them could've doubled for the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile) and I got that big smile I so love! Happy 11th Birthday Max!

Margo Madness!

So who knew going to the gym more than once a week would pay off? Back a few months ago, a friend of mine & I decided to attempt a Boot Camp Class @ PF...little did we know we would barely be able to walk, let along sit down the next day! Needless to say...it was an awesome class! You're probably asking yourself, why are you talking about working out when this is a cake & cookies blog? Well...I'm getting to that..hold your horses! Back to Boot Camp...the reason the class was so great was because the instructor was awesome! Ms. Angie was the nicest yet tough Boot Camp Chic ;) And for some reason, we just clicked...well, if you ask my husband, that tends to happen with me...anyway, I continued to see Angie & the gym (when I was there) and then I'd see her other places around town...specifically Jalapenos! One nite, we were chatting outside after dinner/beverages and somehow started talking about cakes...well, one thing led to another and she needed a cake...a Margarita Birthday Cake! Woo hoo...talk about a FUN & FESTIVE cake! So...what's the moral here? Keep on keepin' on @ the gym...you just never know what you may get out of it...fitness & friends!

Happy Summer!

Hello cakes & cookies friends! We had the pleasure of going to one of our many fabulous neighbors for a Memorial Day Gathering...was soooo much fun! Torie & I just feel so blessed by our neighbors (friends) and love having so many kiddos for our peeps to play with! I thought it would be fun to create some kind of summer kick-off cake...so, because we alway seem to be @ the pool (we clocked 3 days this past weekend already!)...what better way to kick-off summer than with a pool cake! This cake was super fun to create...lots 'o candy (somewhere around 10 packs of gum!) and teddy grahams (sun bathers) to boot! The most fun part was "dressing" the bears...I mean, how do you begin putting a bikini on a teddy graham...minus the one nude bear-bather...LOL? Needless to say it...I loved it and when it came to picking out just the right candy...my sweet Hannah completed the look by picking out sour something or other for the towels...was perfect! Happy Summer!

Let there be Cosmos!

What would a bachelorette party be without Cosmos...cookies that is! A friend of mine so graciously asked me if I could "mix up" some Cosmos (with a twist & some bling!) for the bachelorette party she was hosting last week....and of course, I said YES! These cookies were so fun to cut out (by hand because there wasn't a cookie cutter big enough) and looked good enough to drink! My peepers, Hannah & Hank especially had fun looking at them and asking all kinds of questions about Cosmos and things that go along with Cosmos...so I changed the subject! Thank you Anne for letting create your Cosmos...Bottoms up!

ROCK CHALK...Congrats Ashley & best of luck!

A good friend of mine asked me about a month ago to create her daughter, Ashley's graduation cake from KU...whoa! What an honor! I was so excited to come up with a "cake-like" Jayhawk that resembled such a cool bird...even though in our house we represent several colleges. My husband went to Nebraska (Go Skers'!), I went to K-State (Go Cats!) and well, Hannah sometimes wants to go to Nebraska and K-State while Hank is our resident Jayhawk fan...he was the most excited about this cake! So...back to creating this guy...'er Mr. Jayhawk! I chatted with Karen and showed her some ideas and it all came down to the good 'ole Jayhawk...she was surprising Ashley and only asked what flavor...LOVE it! Off to create the Jayhawk...I started with baking a 1/2 sheet cake which so graciously "fell" right out of the pan (gotta love that as a baker!)...then it was off to decide which way to "cut" or "trace" Mr. Jayhawk (after awhile, I start referring to my cakes as him or her....scary, I know!)...I even consulted my husband...it was a tall, skinny Jayhawk or short, squaty Jayhawk...we went with tall & skinny! Once I got "him" traced out and cut....it was off to decorate...I always love "bringing these cakes to life"...I say that alot but it's so true. I was telling Karen and her husband, Jerry when I dropped "him" off, that Mr. Jayhawk started to "come to life" once I got his big blue eye on there...I so loved doing this cake! Thank you Karen for asking me to do Ashley's cake...I'm just so blessed and love making all my friends and families celebrations "come to life"!