Going to the Chapel.....

My sister got married last month.

It was beautiful.  And perfect.  And I made the sweets :)

Wedding Cake.  I've done wedding cakes before but this is the largest I've ever done.  Let me tell you, this was an experience lol!!

And of course, the cookies.  Credit for the photos goes to Shannon Skloss Photography,  She did an awesome job!!  

I got the cutter from Whisked Away Cookies.  I love their cutters and her tapered cutting edge.  She revolutionized plastic cutters for me.  Love.

I wish my sister and new brother all the best!!  I couldn't be happier!!

-Ali

Cabbage Babies

So my husband bought me a KK a while back.....and I never used it.

Now that we moved, I didn't have the space to bring it with me.  So there it is...gone now.

Never used.

Except once.....

Baby Season

So it seems to be baby season.  I've done so many baby shower sets.  AND I've received good news that one of my good friends is expecting her first in December.

So I'm not sure what it is about summer babies....is it the settling of the cool weather in the fall?  Make people stay indoors??  I dunno.

Anyway, I'm not going to knock it because I love making baby shower cookies :)

So expect to see some soon.

In the mean time, if YOU are in the business of making baby....cookies that is.  Here are a few gorgeous cutters that you might like.

Housewarming

Going to make this one short because I am SWAMPED with house work...and making cookies of course ;)  In fact today is banana bread day.  AND I just received my new beater blade for my 7 qt Kitchen-aid that I got for Christmas so I'm psyched to test it out.

I made these for a friend who had just moved into her new home:

Pink and White Chip Cookies: Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!

So it's time to take a break from Black and Orange and all spookiness...

And think about something that really is spooky....breast cancer.

Now I'm not going to get all gloom on you guys...it's about awareness.  So for this month I'm only going to tell you once...

Get your screenings, do your self checks, and donate, run, walk, whatever for the cause.

Lecture over.....well done.

Now reward yourself for keeping care of your self and your fellow gal by making some of these cute and delicious drop cookies :)

Batty for Blackberry Pie! (And Pie Crust Cookie Bats)

I'm kind of a batty lady...

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok no I'm not really....just tired...and a little delirious...so this post might be a little strange...

But hey, you'll get a yummy recipe from it so....there's that.

Oooooo..looks creepy and Gothic...like it could be filled with baked black beetles.  Blackberry Beetles...

Baked Blackberry Beetles.....say that 6 times fast...

Ok, it isn't that hard ...never mind.

Anyway!!  It'a a blackberry pie!  A mini blackberry pie!  Make that 2 in this picture....make that 3 to 4 from this recipe that I'm just about to give you...

TUTORIAL: Shading With Luster Dust

So when I was working on my owl set last week, I was trying really hard to work with a certain palette.  It was all kinds shabby chic...and there's a fine line between shabby chic and just plain pastel.

It wasn't as easy as I thought.... so once I had my colors mixed and my cookies decorated...they still didn't look right.  The pastel was just PASTEL and the other colors were much too bright to be shabby.  But I still liked the palette. I needed to do something to fix that.

So I brushed off the cobwebs...and out came the dusts...

Luster and petal dusts I mean of course.

I haven't used them in so long.  In fact the only one I really use consistently are the gold or silver ones...and those are for painting...but I have this whole stash of petal and luster dusts that I swear have never even been opened.

But I had a plan for them today.

Shabby Chic Owls

Sometime in April my mom decided to host a baby shower for one of our long time family friend's daughter.  Her daughter grew up with my sister Amy.  So of course our families became friends.  Well, she was decorating the nursery with owls, so mom asked me if I would make owls for the shower....she asked me back in early March.  It's as if she knew I wouldn't get to them once baby John arrived.....like she knows me or something...moms...weird right??

Well yeah, I didn't get to them.  Totally coincidental...had nothing to do with the baby arriving...my mother isn't always right....

But I had already cut and baked the cookies.

Since I don't sell my cookies, no one eats them.  So I kept the owls in a ziplock in a freezer till about.... well... 2 days ago... when I decided I would finally get these owls done.  They had been haunting me...begging to be decorated.

Tutorial: Angels

A little while back a reader sent me an email asking of I had a tutorial for my little angels I made 2 years ago that was hosted on Frosting For The Cause.  She informed me that the link to the tutorial I made didn't work.  I checked it out, and sure enough the site is down.  So no one can get to the tut.  So I thought I would re post it here now.

Keep in mind, I made these 2 years ago!  If I were to make these now I probably would have just piped the hearts straight on instead of doing RI transfers....and even if I was to do RI transfers, I would do them over a sheet printed with hearts so that they were all the same.  But that's just the perfectionist in me.  They're still cute.
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I have been fortunate in my life to not know anyone personally affected by cancer. Though I don't have any personal experience to share, I am aware of the pain it can cause families and the devastation it can leave behind. I thank the Lord daily for my fortune. It saddens me to know that out there somewhere a woman is battling with her own body.

Keep up the fight ladies

So today, in honor and memory of those waging war against cancer we're going to make cookies. Cookies make everything a little easier to swallow. :)

Tropical Pool Party

So this weekend I'm in the Dominican Republic for a wedding. Blogging from my iPad which I've never done before. So if the layout or whatever looks different please accept my apologies.

                                        

Anyway. This will be quick and sweet. Cuz I'm wasting sunlight. I made these for a tropical pool party last year. But I thought they were appropriate this week considering my location. 

Sophie's Pink and Purple Princess Party

Over the holidays my beautiful little girl turned 4.

These were seriously the only non Christmas cookies I made all season.  And I think they're my favorite because they're just so darn GIRLIE!!  :)

Simple Gingerbread

Well, it's here....Christmas Eve.

I don't have much to say, except that I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their family tomorrow.

Here, let me deliver Christmas well wishes with delicious gingerbread.....

Faux Gingerbread: Brown Sugar Spice Roll Out Cookies

Recipe time!!

Let's start with a story.  Love stories right?  I'll just pretend you said "yes, love them, please tell me a tale...."

My dad hates molasses.  I mean can't stand it.  The look or smell of it....just not his thing.  And it's not that Dad is picky.  He eats just about everything.  He used to cook for a living before I was born.

See, when Dad was a kid he went to go work at the feed mill with my grandpa.  Well, one of the byproducts of the mill was molasses.  Or something like it anyway.  It was my dad's job to climb down in the tank whenever there was a back up and unclog it.  So he had to go down armpit deep into the pit to fix it.  Guess what kind of things like molasses?  Maggots.  Maggots love it.  And beetles.  Getting a visual here?

Really, I don't blame him.  Not one bit.

Appetite aroused?  Awesome.

Anyway, my family came up for my daughter's 4th birthday party and I was working on Callye's 12 days of Chirstmas project.  I was making a "gingerbread box".  But for some reason I didn't have molasses in the house.  Must be habit.  And good thing too because I don't know that dad would appreciate the molasses-eee goodness a bakin'.  SO I improvised with what I had in the house to make a gingerbread-like cookie that is molasses free....  And it turned out AWESOME!

So awesome in fact, that I just had to share it.  If your team NO MOLASSES then these cookies are PERFECT!

Mayan 12-12-12

I'll get straight to it.

My very good friend (and Cookie Con roomie) Pam gave us all some beautiful new cutters while we were at Cookie Con.  And then she asked some of us if we would come up with some creative uses for her new homespun tree cutter.

I love Pam, so naturally I said....ALI BEE IS GO!

I thought about it for a long time.  An finally I came up with a design that has NOTHING to do with Christmas!

Because I'm a kook like that.

Nope, instead it has to do with THE END OF THE WORLD!

Festive huh?

WFD? Hot Cocoa Roll Out Cookies

So earlier this week, I posted some hot cocoa cookies inspired by a Christmas card.  It was all part of Haniela's post link up, which was super fun.

Anyway, I mentioned that they were hot cocoa flavored and I got a decent response for the recipe.

So here it is!:

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all

Just a quick note to say...

Twilight Is Nearing An End....

I was sitting here chatting with my cookie friends instead of sleeping like all good pregnant women should be at 1:00am, and starting thinking about the Twilight movie coming out this weekend.

It's the end of the series.  The same nostalgia that hit when the last Harry Potter movie was released.

Well, except I still haven't accepted the end of Harry Potter.  I mean I have, but I still miss it.

Anyway, I was thinking back on Twilight over the years...and I realized I had a set of Twilight cookies that, for some reason or another, I don't think I ever got around to posting on my blog.  Facebook and Flickr yes... but the blog.... I couldn't find it.

So I thought I would go ahead and post them.  For old times sake.  To say goodbye to Twilight.

Have to give credit to Sugarbelle here.  She allowed me to use a few of her ideas...because really...she's already made the most awesome Twilight cookies.

Looking back.....I wish a year ago me would have taken the time to take prettier pictures....

Ah well.  Lesson learned...life moves on...

Gothic Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!!  :)

Chocolate and White Halloween

I really don't enjoy black icing.

I just don't.  So I try and use it as sparingly as humanly possible.

Well during my design session for this years Halloween cookies, I noticed quite a few designs that required black icing....and we're talking lots of black......

Me no likey that....

So here's what I did instead

Right so it's not exactly black but the general point is made.  And the best part about it....you only have to mix one icing color.  If that.  It's just white.  White icing on chocolate cookies.

Now I suppose I could have added more cocoa or a little bit of Americolor black to the dough to make it darker....yes, that would have been nice looking.  But I didn't....because I didn't think of it till after I baked them.  Crikey.

But still....for some fast and easy cookies...not too shabby.  I used a little bit of Americolor black mixed with some water and painted on my remaining details.  These were seriously fast...and fun too!!  I even put a little sanding sugar on my ghost and moon.

I will be posting the last of my Halloween cookies tomorrow...on Halloween.  Seems fitting.

Till tomorrow!!!

Sweet Halloween

Ok, so I am arriving SO last minute to the Halloween Party this year.

Truth is, I've been so busy nesting for baby and getting ready for my big trip to Cookie Con, I've fallen a little behind.

 made like 5 different sets of Halloween designs and only finished 3.  Perhaps I can still re purpose some of them.  Or possibly post them late?  Dunno.  Haven't figured it out yet.

Anywho...  here's a quick little set I made for the kiddies.

Nothing fancy or WOW about them.  But cute and fun all the same.  All made with a little candy cutter.

I do have to say, I am SUPER excited and SUPER nervous about Cookie Con this year.
I'm teaching a class.....scary I know.  Now there is some REAL Halloween terror for you right there.

But I'm also really looking forward to seeing my cookie friends, and I know it's going to be a whole lot of fun.

I might post my teaching project and some pics of Cookie Con when I get back.  Perhaps a few tutorials of what I am teaching for those who are unable to make it this year.  It's all up in the air.  I dunno...

Anyway, I will probably have another post today....maybe two more...because I have 2 more sets to show you.  And I was hoping to have a tutorial for one of them but I don't know that I'm going to be able to get to it.  Boo....

Tell then.....!