Happy 2nd Birthday, Eliza: Cowgirl Cookies

I LOVE all of my customers, but when a customer is as easy going as Rebekah it makes it very hard to not play favorites.  She emailed me her daughter's invitation for her party and just asked me to make some cookies that coordinated with the cowgirl theme.  Although her party was back in December, now that it's rodeo time in San Antonio I thought it was the perfect time to share them.

This adorable silhouette of a little cowgirl riding a stick horse was on the invitations and I knew I had to include it in the cookies in some way.

I hope you had a wonderful 2nd birthday, Eliza!  I am always so honored to be a part of someone's special day!

Baby Shower Cookies: Farm Theme Cookies

Before this new adventure into cookiedom (yes, I just made up a word), I was a high school teacher at a private school down in Houston.  I had wonderful colleagues, and one of those was Rachel.  She recently received the wonderful blessing of being an aunt and wanted to get cookies for her family to celebrate the special occasion. 

 

Her nephew's nursery is a farm theme, so she originally sent me an idea of farm animals with a farmer and barn.  The cookies were adorable, but for some reason the idea of doing traditional baby cookies but with a farm theme twist hit me.  I immediately sketched out the onesies with overalls since I just had practice making overalls with my If You Give a Mouse a Cookie mouse cookies, and I thought it looked pretty darn cute.  Then, the cow print on rattles and bibs just came naturally.

 

 

 

Congratulations on your new nephew, Rachel!  Being an aunt is the best!

Beginning of my cookie journey

On February 24, 2012, my son, James, had his 1st birthday.  I immediately turned to Pinterest to set out to give him the best birthday ever.  He is attached to his giraffe “wubbanub” that we affectionately call Travis, so we chose a giraffe theme for the big day.

 

 

 

I previously didn't consider myself an artsy or creative person, but Pinterest has opened up a whole other side of myself. Things that in the past seemed impossible were now within my reach.  I made him a wreath for the front door, time-line garland, cupcakes, smash cake, and even his birthday hat (the shirt was courtesy of Etsy- I know my limits).  :)

Fast-forward to me spending over four hours icing giraffe print onto cookies and I found myself cursing Pinterest and thinking there are some things that should be left to the professionals!  But in those four hours, I found a passion.  Yes- my hand was cramping and my back hurt from bending over, but I loved every minute of it. It was also a huge learning experience that showed me the right icing consistency can make or break your cookies.  At the end of those four hours, I had 40 giraffe print cookies that I was pretty darn proud of!  However, in my haste, I didn't get the best quality pictures.  Another “cookie rookie” learning experience!

Below you can see my first bout at making iced sugar cookies and the start of my big adventure and some other pictures from the big day!

 

 

Home-made party decorations

 

 

For my "good eater", he was not as crazy about the cake as I thought he would be.

                                                                  The Smash Cake

"All right, cupcake, let's do this!"

 

 

                                              Our very blessed and very happy family!