down on the farm!

Can you believe it?  I made goat cookies 2 weeks in a row.  Of all things....goats!!  And you know what's even funnier?  I have to make them again for another order on March 30th!  Anyone else need goats this month?  Anyone? 

Along with these goats went some cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and roosters.  A whole farm!  I think the sheep were my favorite.

 

These cookies were for a group of veterinary students who were going to visit a farm for a week for training.  I have nothing but the MOST respect for veterinarians because I am such an animal lover. But I could never EVER do their job.  Seeing sick animals just makes me cry uncontrollably. 

Speaking of vets, Rob took our dog Layla to the vet this weekend for her yearly checkup.  She gained 7 pounds since last year....and she's been full-grown for a few years....so this weight gain is sort of a problem.  I blame the weight gain on a few different factors:

A.  Rob feeds her pretzels every night.
B.  Mia feeds her everything.

....maybe I've given Layla a cookie once or twice.  I guess I'm part of the problem, too.

Anyway, Layla is quite an active dog in the summertime when we go to the lake so I'm quite sure that she'll be dropping some of the weight in just a few short weeks.  And other than the weight gain we have a very healthy pet....and for that I am so grateful.  As for the $180 vet bill?  Not so grateful.

Here's Layla jumping off of the dock into the lake!  I think she could be in competitions!

instead of swimming all the way back to shore she learned how to climb a ladder all by herself. 
Rescue dogs are smart, too!

our cuddle bug Layla :)

Brand spankin' new

I love cookie weeks when all of the orders are for new designs that I've never done before.  I love a challenge!  This week didn't let me down.  I had three orders and wow....they couldn't have been more different!

Let's begin with the goats....yes GOATS, as in the farm animal.  These weren't quite as easy as I thought they might be...it's something about outlining the head of an animal that is just really difficult for me.  Like whenever I was a kid and I would attempt to draw a dog, the head would always be this super-weird shape.  Am I the only one?  Please someone tell me they have this problem, too.  Well I thought these turned out pretty cute....they were shipped to North Carolina for a bridal shower.  Apparently there's a back-story to why this particular customer wanted goat cookies for a bridal shower....but I have yet to hear it. (Ahem, Jodi....now everyone is wondering!)  I took one picture of the goats on a tray but I completely forgot to photograph them once they were bagged with a ribbon and a tag.  I've been really bad about remembering to take pictures lately.  You'd think that Rob could help with that (Rob, my husband, who is Give Mia Cookie's self-proclaimed "tech-guy" who has yet to send one email, upload a single photograph, spell-check any blogs, or trouble-shoot any lap-top issues.  I think he just wants to weasel himself onto the payroll.  It ain't happening.)  So anyway...here are the goats! 



I asked for my boss' opinion on these....and she(Mia) said "ILLY GOATS!"  Billy Goats, awesome!  Come to think of it she may have been saying Silly Goats.  Ehh...either way she said goats...that's a win in my book. 

 The next order was originally for teddy bear cookies....but the customer changed her mind about a week before the event and decided on train cookies instead.  "No Problem!" I tell her.  (I say that a lot and then usually stress out later.)  So when I went looking for my train cookie cutter it was missing.  M.I.A. as we call it our house because usually Mia has something to do with it.  But I have to blame myself for this one because my cookie cutters are completely off limits to Mia.  I ended up ordering a new train cutter and it arrived just in time to do the order.  These cookies were quite large...and so cute....and very yummy, too.  They were for a baby shower and I just wish that I had known the baby's name because I think it would've looked so cute written on it.  It's not often that you have a cookie that's large enough to accommodate a lot of letters and this one would've been perfect!  I thought of it too late....maybe next time.

For those of you who haven't seen my new logo stickers!  Love them :)

And finally....the last order of the week was for superhero cookies.  Something that is so completely foreign to me as I grew up one of three girls, don't have any sons, and I don't like action movies or comic books.  I have a feeling that I'll get some more orders for these, though because apparently superheroes are crazy popular these days.  Who knew?  I'm pretty happy with the end result on all 4 designs.  Can you believe that the most difficult one was the Captain America shield?  I know...it looks so simple...but trust me, it wasn't. 

All of this in just one week...geez I'm tired. 

I can't tell you how happy I am that March is here....that means that Spring is right around the corner...and that means that Easter will be here very soon!  If you'd like to order Easter cookies please contact me ASAP.  March and April calendars are filling up quickly. 

Happy weekend everyone!

Zig Zags

Has anyone else been seeing this pattern called Chevron ALL over the place?  It's super-trendy right now....and I love it!  I think I'll just stick with calling it zig zags, though.  "Chevron" just sounds too fancy for me.


I would REALLY love to have this iphone case!  The color is so pretty!




cute thank you cards!



I love anything gray!

Of course I wanted to translate the pattern onto some cookies and I think it looks really cool. 



These were for Rob's Valentine's Day gift! Awwwww....





pretty!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  

Place your bets!

I had a crazy weekend.

First of all, my vacuum cleaner broke for real so I had to go out and spend too much money on a new one.  That really bummed me out.  I just had to whine to someone about that.

But THEN....I managed to pull off an amazing surprise party for my mom on her 60th birthday!  My sisters and I have been planning this party for awhile now and I've been a nervous wreck about it.  There were so many elements of surprise including guests flying in from out of town, a limo for the night out, and of course the actual party at the Meadows Casino.  I don't think my mom could've emotionally handled much more. lol.

Onto the cookies:  I obviously decided on casino themed cookies and I LOVED how they turned out.  I've never made any casino cookies before, but wow....it was fun!  Fun colors, cool designs....simple but really cute!




I only had one cookie to make the 777 design work....and I think it looks great for my first attempt!




poker chips....so cute!

 I went to order the cake at Bethel Bakery and I just wasn't happy with any of the general cake designs that I had to choose from.  As much as I love Bethel Bakery cake I just don't love their decorations.  They seem outdated to me sometimes.  I wanted something fun without having to spend an extra $30 on a custom designed cake decoration. 

So I said....you know what?  Just give me the cake with plain white icing and I'll figure something out.   So when I picked up the plain white cake on Friday night I started freaking out.  I needed to decorate a cake for the first time in my life and I was stressed.  So I went with what I know....and I decorated the cake with decorated cookies! 

I added chocolate coins from Betsy Ann!  Perfect!

My mom had the most amazing birthday and we had a really fun time at the casino.  I was really hoping to win back the $$$ I spent on a vacuum cleaner....and....

I didn't.  No surprise there!

But a fun night was had by all...and that's all that matters!  And what a hangover we all had the next day. Ugh....



Gotta love a limo stocked with champagne! 




Happy 60th mom!




Apparently your mom still loves when you make her an art project at age 29 lol. 



Superbowl cookies that aren't black and gold.....strange.

Big game today! 

I feel like I cheated on the Steelers this week by creating these cookies. 

I'm really just hoping for a good game today.  I totally lied right there.  I'm absolutely hoping that the Patriots get blown out by the Giants because I'm just NOT a Patriots fan AT ALL.  And really really not a Tom Brady fan. 

So I'm showing my support for the Giants this weekend by serving these cookies at my Superbowl party.  I secretly really enjoyed working on another team's logo and I thought they came out really nice! 

Hope everyone enjoys the game...and the commercials, too!

GO GIANTS!!

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Mickey Mouse cookies have been in high demand lately!  Who doesn't love Mickey Mouse?? 

There's so many garbage cartoons on TV these days....it's really refreshing to know that Mickey is still well-loved by so many kids.  Mia sure loves Mickey's clubhouse!  But that Toodles-thing-guy-animal(whatever it is) is super annoying...couldn't they just put the Mousekatools in a normal tool box or something?  And am I the only parent who sometimes can't guess which tool their supposed to use for a certain dilemma?  I'm always like "oh they definitely need the mystery mousekatool here"....but NO!  They always find a way to save that mystery tool til the end.  Smart little buggers.

And really...whose kid doesn't love the hot-dog dance?  Seriously funny stuff to watch Mia (and Rob) dance along with that song.  Fun times :)

Happy Monday everyone!  Have a great week!  I've got a big weekend ahead and some really fun cookies to make for someone VERY VERY special.  Stay tuned....

Thanks for reading!  -Katie

Love Love Love....Chocolate

It seems that every year I grow to love Valentine's Day more and more.  So to all of you young readers who dislike this holiday....give it time.  I think you'll grow to love it, too.

In the cookie world Valentine's Day is like a free pass to mix pretty shades of pink and red and just go crazy with decorating!  There's no way that you can mess up a cookie because all mistakes can be covered in sprinkles and no one will judge you!  More is more when it comes to Valentine's Day cookies...and that makes me happy.

I don't know if there's anything more classic than the the pairing of Valentine's Day and Chocolate.  Whoever thought of this perfect match is a true hero in my eyes.  Was is St. Valentine?  Hmmm....I vaguely remember learning about the history of St. Valentine during my 8 years at St. Valentine school....and yes, chocolate was mentioned I'm pretty sure.  I'm lying.  But I like to believe that it's true...because if they say it at church then it's like a free pass to eat a lot of chocolate...right?

chocolate dough is so pretty!
and scalloped edged cutters are my absolute fave!

When I thought about creating Valentine's Day cookies I just HAD to make some chocolate cookies to ice and photograph.  I have a recipe for chocolate cut-out cookies but they always come out really crispy(which I don't love).  So...I spent my Saturday afternoon adjusting my standard cookie recipe and turning it into a chocolate sugar cookie!  I managed to get the flavor realllllly good and the cookie baked up beautifully with  slightly crispy edges and a yummy soft texture.  The only thing I wasn't thrilled with is the color of the baked cookie.  It just wasn't dark enough...so I'll keep working on that by making more adjustments next time.



Gotta love the pink and red combination!



I had so much fun decorating these cookies.  The icing colors looked so pretty against the chocolate cookie!  And look at how pretty they look on a dish with some Betsy Ann Chocolates?  I know what you're thinking....and yes, I usually do have chocolate in my house at all times.  And cookies, too.  It's bad news for any attempt at a diet.  But I never have a hard time finding a babysitter due to the snacks that I provide...so it all works out.

So there's good news and bad news about Valentine's Day cookies.  The good news?  They're pretty and taste great, and who wouldn't love to get cookies for Valentine's Day?

The bad news?  My order openings on my schedule are very limited.  Don't forget that I work for a chocolate store full-time....the BEST chocolate store ever...so we're very very VERY busy the week of Valentine's Day.  Needless to say, the time that I can dedicate to cookies that week is very limited.  So if you're interested in ordering please contact me asap and I will let you know if I can do it!  Thanks for reading XO, Katie

pretty!



Non-Pariel sprinkles....my favorite sprinkles EVER



these cupcake candy dishes were a 2011 Valentine's gift from Rob...awwwww

yum!