I am loving vintage hot air balloons lately! They seem to be popping up everywhere. I did my first set last week and I really like the way they turned out. Soft and sweet for twin newborns. Love. I get to make more this week for a first birthday, different colors, should be fun. I could not find a cutter the size and shape I wanted, so I bought a "party balloon" at my local cake supply store, and my husband bent it around until it was exactly what I had in mind. I LOVE IT. He's a good guy. I'm a little picky with the bending business.
I think I've mentioned it once. Or twice. A minute. All summer, (If you can tell me that reference is from, I'll give you a free popsicle cookie. Not kidding. :) It's in honor of my kids. Ha! You do have to come pick it up though.) BUT I love, love, love decorating cookies from musicals. I looked at the movie pictures and drew. On cookies. So fun. So, clearly, Disney came up with the idea, but I had a lot of fun turning their art edible. Side note, is anyone as excited as my girls that Emma Watson is going to play Belle in the live-action remake?! If the costuming is nearly as beautiful as Cinderella, I can't wait!!
I've been busy decorating like crazy, planning out the next few months cookie wise, then my brain just stopped. I wanted to do something different, not just for the sake of being different, but to force a little "out of the box" thinking. Oddly enough, it led me right back to a box..a cookie puzzle in a box. I had seen so many puzzle piece cookies come up on different sites for Autism awareness week, so that must be why puzzles were stuck in my head. How fun would it be to actually have to work for your cookies, right? Then it feels like a reward, no guilt. Just go with it, trust me.
So, I left to take my kids to the gym, Jon made a perfect cookie rectangle (7" x 9 1/2", about half a a batch of dough), cut it into puzzle pieces like the vision in my head (he is a saint and a mind reader), then baked them. Yay! After sanding down some edges, I flooded them all white, then it was like the perfect puzzle canvas. There are endless possibilites here, but I chose a birthday theme. I checked Pinterest for birthday cookie inspiration and these adorable cookies by Laura Vein at Sweet Treats Baking fit what was forming in my brain! So, here they are. The cookie stand part is my favorite, let me know what you think... Oh, Sharpay. Much to my youngest daughter's dismay, we're ditching our old logo. Nothing was wrong with it I guess, I just got bored with it. I ran out of business cards at the same time. Meant to be. When I made that one, it was under duress. Ha! I was playing around with the idea of starting this business, so I was making a facebook page, but I hadn't decided on whether or not to actually go through with it. I somehow accidentally posted it all, people started commenting, and asking for cookies. Craziness. So, I had to come up with a logo right then and start making cookies. Looking back, I think it had to have happened that way. I will never start anything unless I know everything is perfect first. So, I'm glad it happened. More than glad, I'm thankful. The Lord has totally provided through this time and time again.
Anyhow, I tried to keep it similar in that I still had just our business name and circles. Our new circle is a sugar cookie, with an icing "h", for Howard, in case you didn't catch that. I also took off the "!". No more yelling. I wish there was a deeper meaning, but no. I just get bored easily. In case you forgot what it looked like or have never seen it... please don't tell me you like it better. My kids don't need to know. :) A cookie business revival, that is. I've never been to the other kind, although I do think it would be interesting and I'm sure I'd cry. So, there's that.
If you haven't read our about page, do that now and you'll know exactly what we're doing here! We also decided to add this blog just for fun. A major part of our heart in business is getting to know you guys and celebrating your special occasions with you through our cookies! We'll see how good I am at updating here. Notice I added two of my girls to the author list. I know myself. My sister, on the other hand, started a blog recently, and she has some great insight and she's so talented. Anyone that walks through her door feels like family and just wants to stay. Her whole family is just made for it. I love it. Hospitality is her gift, and she offers it freely and amazingly. That, and she will keep up with her blog. I know it. >:-{ |
AuthorsStephanie Howard Archives
October 2015
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