Dashing Through the Snow...

Dashing through the Snow.....in a heated Nissan Murano.....

safe and warm away from the cold cold snow...

 

I don't really DO cold ya know....  But I can handle this kind of cold :)

 

 

Christmas 2011

Here's what the kitchen has turned at so far...

The snow on the tree was inspired by Lisa @ The Whole Cake and Caboodle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisas_cakes/5241584465/in/photostream

I'll be back with more Christmas cookies later!!  :)

Martha and Pies!! Oh my!!

hey y'all!  Check it out!

My dear friend MAryann will be demonstrating MY pies on the MARTHA STEWART SHOW!

Tune in December 12!!

http://www.marthastewart.com/871460/cookie-baking-and-decorating?xsc=eml_tvm_2011_12_09&om_rid=IntEJQ&om_mid=_BO4lqyB8e09wEB#ooid=I1b2I0MzqTdsy_hk-q8NHDORF6f39mXr

Birthday Preview

Today was my daughter's 3rd birthday.

We're still cleaning up around here so I don't have time to chat.

But here's a preview:

 

Stay tuned...

My Thanksgiving 2011

Now that it's the last day of November I think I'll finally get around to telling y'all about my Thanksgiving...

I drove 11 hours to Houston
I ate
I shopped
I slept
I laughed
I drove 11 hours back home

Did I mention I ate??

This is a much smaller feast than last year.  I'm guessing my Dad was feeling less than his ambitious self this year...no Turduken...

At least there's greens

Good ol' fashion collards

And cookies of course

Just a small sampling....

I know this isn't a very in depth story about my Thanksgiving.  No cute stories or anecdotes today.  Just strait forward facts. Mostly because I need to get my (now larger) rear end back in the kitchen.  I have a 3rd birthday party to plan and a million Christmas cookies to make.  I am only slightly exaggerating about the million part.  Only slightly. 

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Thanksgiving Pies

and 4th of July pies too!

Remember these??

I made these for Thanksgiving last year. 

Since then I have seen pies like this everywhere...apparently people like them :)

Well, anyway, a while back I made a tutorial on how to make these pies and sent it to my dear friend Sweet Sugar Belle for her blog....by a while back, I mean July....

 

These should look familiar too...

The girl gets busy!  I can't blame her for not posting it until today!

That's right, you heard correctly.  The tutorial for this post is up on her blog today!  You should go check it out...I am sure I will see many more pie cookies in the near future.  :)

Fall

I have a love - hate relationship with fall

Things I love:
The leaves turning colors
The way it smells outside...admit it, the air smells different.  Fall has it's own smell
It's the perfect temperature outside for at least 2 or 3 days.
There's a holiday (and we're talking decorating holidays) almost EVERY MONTH!
It's chocolate covered cherries season!  (Yes, I am addicted)
The FOOD!!  :)

Things I hate:
I seem to get fatter around this time of year....
It's perplexing....

So there you go, my love-hate relationship with Fall

Although it's mostly LOVE :)

The Give-a-way is CLOSED!!

I want to thank everyone who entered!  I am thrilled!

However there can only be one winner....

 

True Random Number Generator

 Min: 1

 Max: 539

Result: 37

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And that winner is....

Julie H. said...

I would love Gwynn Wasson's pirate party design for one of my two boy's birthday. It is so cute!

November 1, 2011 12:37 PM

 

 

Congratulations Julie!  Please contact me to get your free items!!  

alibeesbakeshop@gmail.com

Golden Anniversary

I don't really DO cakes too often...

They are very time consuming, and tedious, and involve physics and  a PHD or something....I really don't get it.

Probably because I'm not immediately awesome at it.

But I went ahead and got suckered into making a cake for a 50th anniversary for a neighbor and family friend.

By the end I was glad I did it.  It was kind of fun.  I don't know what changed...perhaps it was because this time I decided to stick with what I know....

Now I want to take this moment to say: the idea of putting cookies on cakes...not mine.  I'm just not that brilliant.  If you want to see some more cakes decorated with cookies then head over to One Tough Cookie.  It's awesome.

However in this panicked moment of "you REALLY want me to make a cake?" the idea of using what I knew for this was a no brainer.

I am loving my airbrush...I just got a new airbrush...did I forget to tell you that?

For this cake I used a vanilla cake recipe and a cream cheese buttercream that I found over at Glorious Treats.  It's DELICIOUS!  You HAVE to go over there, make it, and then eat it, and then hide it from yourself so you don't make yourself sick on frosting like I did today.... it was worth it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday.  Next think you know it will be time to go back to work... (NNNoooooooo!!)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!  Monday November 7 at 11:59 Central is the deadline!

Festival of Tables

Every year the Women's Ministry at our church holds "Festival of Tables"

I made cookies for this last year.

But I didn't have a clue what it was.

From what I understand, each women or a team of women volunteer to decorate a table or two.  The fancy place settings and all that.  Usually with a theme.  Then they have a dinner and listen to a speaker or see a presentation or something of the like.

I made cookies again this year
I got a little carried away.....

I hear it's fun.  I say that I HEAR it's fun because even though I had a ticket to go this year, my hubby (God bless him for working so hard) didn't get home in time to relieve me from toddler duty so that I could attend.  *sigh*

So I guess I will just have to wait till next year....

Hey, as long as I have you here....be sure to go enter my give-a-way....wont you please?  I desperately want to give you free stuff.  Free stuff from Gwynn Wasson, Julia Usher, Karen's Cookies, and ...well me....I would like to bake for you if you would be ok with that.  The give-a-way ends Monday November 7th at 11:59pm central.

Then when your done with that go enter Sweet Sugar Belle's give-a-way.  She's giving away a mixer.  Then you should have all you need.  No excuses to put off your destiny of being as obsessed with cookies as I am.

After your done talking about how much cooler her give-a-way is than mine..."ooo but SHE'S giving away a mixer blah blah blah....." tell your friends to come back and enter MY give-a-way.  Don't forget about the little people here.  Hey, the odds are better for my give-a-way anyway...

I luv u Callye

Anyways... that's enough rambling from me.  I think I will go join my husband and try to squeeze a whole days worth of conversation into half an hour before he falls asleep.  :)

Night y'all.

3,000 Facebook Fans Later......CLOSED

It is November!!

Halloween was a blast.  Lots of treats...not so many tricks...my tricks stink.  I can't saw anyone in half (lame) or make someone dissappear.....I can't even do a card trick...."is this your card?  how bout his one?  this one?  this one?....."

So no awesome tricks here.....just treats...

Lots of fabulous treats...

That I am GIVING AWAY!!

That's right folks...we hit over 3000 fans on Facebook!!!  And as promised, here is my thank you for clicking that little "Like" button.  Are ya ready for it?

Here is what I am giving away!!!:

A Printable Party Package from Gwynn Wasson Designs!

One full Printable Party Package of any collection in her shop which includes:

- Invitation
- Happy Birthday Banner
- 2" Party Circles
- Table Labels
- Favor Tags
- Treat Cones
- Water Bottle Labels
- Napkin Wraps

How AWESOME!!  I want to keep this treat for myself....but I'll be nice I guess.... :)

A $50 Gift Card to Karen's Cookies!!

Karen carries everything you need to get decorating!

If I may give a couple reccomendations:

They have some pretty amazing decorating kits.  I'm a fan, can you tell ?? :)
I've recently gotten into stenciling and they have a great selection of cookie stencils too!
**Just want to mention that Karen's Cookies if a family run business (I love family run businesses) and Karen and Mike are SUPER sweet people :)**

Julia Usher's NEW book: Ultimate Cookies!!!

I REALLY want to keep this one to myself!!  Pretty badly!  This book is INSANE!  I look at it and have a small brain embolism brought on by the amount of pure awesomeness....incredible talent, beautiful cookies, all in one book....I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it....

and lastly....my humble contribution....
One Dozen Christmas Cookies!!

I will give away one dozen of this years Christmas Collection away along with all of these amazing treats!  I make a different set every year....who knows what designs you will get this year.... but may I just say, I have some great ideas *tee hee hee*

And hey, they're free Christmas cookies.....

So....whaddaya think?  You want to win??


Ok, here is how you enter:

There are 6 ways to enter *leave a separate comment for each entry!*

Entry #1:  Follow my blog.  Publicly.  That would awesome.  Don't be ashamed....just do it.  :)  Leave me a comment telling me you love me.

Entry #2:  Head over to my Facebook page and "Like" me....(won't you please?).  Give a quick "hello!" and then come back here and tell me you stopped by.

Entry #3:  Tweet, Blog, Facebook....whatever.....about this giveaway.  Spread the word....use that social networking skills of yours!  Then tell me in a comment that you have been talking about me.

Entry #4: Head over to Gwynn Wasson Designs.  Publicly follow her and tell me what party package you would pick if you won.  Leave it in a comment.  :)

Entry #5:  Head over to Karen's Cookies Facebook Page.  "Like" her and leave her a comment saying "Hello!!".  Perhaps tell her I sent you.  That would be right neighborly.  Than come back here and let me know that you want to shop at her store as much as I do.

Entry #6:  Head over to Julia Usher's Facebook Page.  "like" her and say hi.  Come back and tell me which one of her pictures or books simply floors you. 

Contest Ends Monday, Novemeber 7, 2011 at 11:59 Central

Winner will be announced Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Now listen up people, if you win I WILL go back and check to see if you really followed the rules so no cheating!  No one likes a cheater cheater pumpkin eater.....
Tho I do like to eat pumpkin...pie, bread, muffins, seeds....

Have fun!!  Happy Contesting!!

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween y'all!!! 

First off I want to take this moment to talk about something that might sound like I'm tooting my horn....and if I wanted to I would...because it's my blog and I can...

Here is last years Halloween cookies:

 

They're allright...nothing to write home about but good....I was very happy with these when I shipped them off to my old college dorm neighbor :)

Stay with me...I actually have a point.  I used to look at my favorite bloggers and wonder why my stuff didn't look quite like theirs.  I used the same icings, I tried the same techniques, I followed the tutorials, but mine just didn't have the same...sumthin' sumthin'....

I guess I am writing this because I want to emphasize the importance of practice...those Halloween cookies were hundreds of cookies ago.  I mean since then and now I have decorated HUNDREDS of cookies, much to the chagrin of my ever growing carpal tunnel.  

Over time, and practice I feel that now I may have reached a stride...finally after a year and a half I have reached a level where I am content with my abilities.  Not to say that I wont ALWAYS be learning something new, or that I wont ALWAYS be trying to improve myself.  BECAUSE I WILL.....that's the great thing about learning...it never stops.  I love it.  

So if you have a day where you feel like you're just never going to be as good as Jane blogger on the internet, don't give up.  KEEP PRACTICING!  You will find your style, your niche, your stride.

Who knows, one day I will probably look back on this post and say wow....I was crap back then.  

Who knows...

This years Halloween cookies (which I love) may not be the best I see in what I hope is a long love affair with cookies, but a year and hundreds of cookies later I can finally see my growth...and that feels good

Bridal Luncheon

Again, no time to write so here's the pic! 

 

Quick and simple.

Although now it occurs to me, perhaps I should write a post about how I design a cookie collection / how I use inspiration...hmm.  That could be a fun post. 

Spongebob

My nephew had a birthday.  I made cookies.  Nuff said.  :)

This week in cookies.....

Here's what this week in cookies brings us:

 

Hope everyone had a great week!