Saturday, May 29, 2010

Busy, busy, busy!

I have a VERY busy two weeks ahead of me. I have tons of orders, some of which are very large and my dear husband is leaving for India for 2 weeks. I guess the silver lining is that I will have plenty of time after the kids go to bed to bake and decorate. I am super excited for one order I have coming up. I am making pear cookies for two of the nicest people I have ever met. My "step" grandparents have been married for 50 years. I have known them for over 10 years now and they have always been wonderful to me. It is truly my pleasure to make these pear cookies (because they are the "perfect pair") for their big anniversary party. I wish I could attend this party but it is far away and with my husband out of town a few special events of our own had to be pushed to that weekend as well. I will post pictures after the party so everyone can see how they turned out. I have the whole design planned out in my head but of course I have never actually made pear cookies before. This is typical me... remember my motto, "I will figure it out". This motto was tested last week. I promised my best friend Minnie Mouse cookies for her daughters party. I have NEVER made minnie mouse cookies and of course they had to be perfect. I made a test cookie, which I normally never do and boy was I happy I did. I changed the design a little and had to change the consistency of my icing for everything to work. I had a stomach ache about these cookies after that test cookie. In the end, I made it work and I love how they turned out. Thankfully, so did she. Most of my other orders are desings that I have done a million times so although still time consuming I am confident with what I am doing. I am hoping to sneak in a little time to work up new designs for my website and a little R&R wouldn't be so bad either. Look for more cookie designs soon. Below are the minnie cookies I did. What do you think?

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

I have a really great family. They make me laugh, they make me try harder, they sometimes make me yell but mostly they make me feel love like I never thought I could. My daughter thinks that every cookie I make is beautiful but is quick to point out my decorating mistakes. She is sweet but honest. She told her teacher her favorite thing to do with me is bake. I love that. My son has a sweet tooth the size of his head and can smell a cookie from two blocks away. He is the only two year old that uses the word client on a regular basis and can melt my heart when he asks if he can have a cookie or if they are for my "cients". My husband is supportive and the greatest taste tester I could ask for. If you ask him he will tell you that everything I have ever made has been fantastic. If you guys do not like a flavor I make you can blame him... he told me it was FANTASTIC. My husband also loves this new venture because now he never has to search for a gift idea. I have never been a jewelry girl so the go to necklace/ring never worked for me. Now it is baking pans, aprons, and today along with a few other goodies it was a large rolling container with three drawers for all my cookie cutters. I have over 250 cutters and I am still on the hunt for more.
I had a fantastic Mother's Day today with my family that I feel blessed to have. I hope you all enjoyed your day today as well. Happy Mother's Day.

I have been ending my posts with a cookie picture. So, here is the latest farm collection. My favorite is the cow print number 1's.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Not Enough Hours in the Day!

Have you ever felt like there are just not enough hours in the day? When business is slow I worry about boosting it but when business is booming I worry even more. I need to get my orders done, I need to keep my site updated, I need to create new cookies. The list goes on and on. Oh, did I forget to mention, make breakfast, lunch and dinner, keep a somewhat presentable home, give my family 100% of my attention and still have a few precious minutes to SHOWER.
I promise every post won't be me complaining and I am not really complaining in this post, I am just trying to find a balance. Last week I turned down 7 orders in an effort to get that balance and it worked... but I lost 7 orders. Is that what I need to do? Is there a better way? I am sure everyone that has their own business has asked these questions at some point. Heck, business or not I am sure everyone has had to search for balance in their life.

On the brighter side, I am coming up with new cookies. I am doing a glittery red apple for end of year teacher gifts and a "bucket of popcorn" cookie for a carnival birthday. I am excited to try a baby block and this neat pirate ship cutter I got the other day.
Oh the cookies I could crank out if I had an additional 5 hours in a day.

If you have a cookie you would like to see leave me a comment and let me know. I would love the feedback.



Here is another cookie pic for you. This cookie was inspired by Callie, a fellow cookie decorator.