My Baby's Birthday Celebration...

Sunday we celebrated my youngest son's birthday early with the grandparents.

I had fun making some "pre-cake treats".

Who says you can't have dessert appetizers?

I did some white chocolate dipped strawberry marshmallows covered in sprinkles.

(Because sprinkles make EVERYTHING more fun!)

We also had some cake pops dipped in white chocolate with  a dash of sprinkles of course!

And some white chocolate dipped pretzels...with sprinkles!

Nate also requested I set out a bowl of his Disney Cars 2 marshmallows to share...to go along with his Cars 2 "theme".

(giggle)

Nate is the only one in our family who doesn't like cake.

So he requested an ice cream cake.

No problem I thought!

PROBLEM!

Stress...headache...tears...outbursts...frustration!

It started melting as I was decorating.

I would decorate, freeze, decorate, freeze.

But this wasn't it enough.

It was still getting runny.

So I finally gave up for the night.

Put it back in for another nine hours and started fresh in the morning.

My next frustration was that the buttercream frosting would FREEZE and solidify before I could spread it!

Yes, it was stressful.

Is it perfect?

No.

But was my baby happy?

Yes.

And I would do anything to make my babies happy.

His joy was worth every bit of stress I endured.

I (((heart))) my babies!

Random Mini Cookies...

I had baked a big batch of sugar cookies and put them in the freezer so that I could pull out just a few at a time when I had the urge to practice.

These were just a few minis that I "played" with.

I figured since it was Nate's birthday week, I'd do some special ones for him.

I just used up some leftover colors I already had made from another current project.

He was quite happy with the result.

These were just some simple polka-dots in my favorite colors.

I (((heart))) pink and yellow!

Royal Icing...The good, the bad, and the ugly!

I have a love/hate relationship with Royal Icing.

It is essential in decorating cookies the way I do.

But my problem with Royal Icing is...

It is NEVER consistent!

I can make it one day and it's perfect!

Another day...

Runny.

Drippy.

Fluffy.

Thick.

Some days it's MY fault.

As I'm not THAT experienced with it.

But another factor is the weather.

If there is ANY humidity in the air...

Royal Icing has a mind of it's own!

As you can see with these cookies...

It just dripped...

And dripped...

And ran right off the edges of these cookies.

Oh my.

Thankfully they weren't for any special occasion.

I was just playing around.

Nate wanted some cookies for a bedtime snack, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to practice.

Bottom line...

It was NOT a good night for Royal Icing.

But...

Never fear...

I WILL CONQUER!

Floral Fun and Pretty Pink!

Last night I just got the urge to play practice.

So I looked up some tutorials online on different rose/flower methods.

Mine never turn out the same as good.

But practice makes perfect.

I was paid a wonderful compliment by someone I don't even know last night, telling me that they wished they could decorate as well as "I" could!!!

IMAGINE!

My Royal Icing wasn't cooperating very well last night.

I'll blame it on the weather.

I don't know if that's what it really was...but hey...it's Royal Icing...humidity affects Royal Icing...so I can get away playing the blame-game, right?

LOL!

Thankfully, Nate has been in a sugar cookie mood...so he's been taking down all my work at bedtime snack!  Teehee!

My best yet...

As a newbie baker/decorator, I am very critical of my work.

When I completed this floral cookie pop BIRTHDAY bouquet, I was SO proud of it!

I felt I had put my all into it.

Two days worth of work.

I was excited about the recipient getting it.

But some drama entailed.

Teenage drama.

And the recipient didn't want the gift.

It hurt my feelings a bit.

And technically, it wasn't even ME giving the gift.

It was one of my family members.

But after feeling sorry for myself and all the work I put into it...

I listened to my youngest son when he said, "LET'S JUST EAT IT MOM!"

And so we did.

The happy ending to an unhappy story.

Ha!

And the winner is...

And the winner is...

(drum-roll)

~~~CHARITY~~~

Charity is now the winner of a tumbler full of cookies!

I hope you enjoy your bouquet of cookies Charity!

This is a new recipe...a softer sugar cookie.

Enjoy!

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

We'll do another one soon!

FREE COOKIES ANYONE?...200 Fans Give-Away!

In appreciation to all those who've been supporting and encouraging me in my baking/decorating journey to perfecting my skills...

I'd like to do a little give-away!

We've surpassed 200 "Likes" on Facebook in just two weeks!

WOW!

Your support has been amazing!

To thank you...

I'd like to give one of my supporters a bouquet of cookie pops!

I am going to do another random drawing.

You have FOUR ways to enter.

You may do one or all!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry so that I can keep track of each entry separately.

#1...Leave me a comment on this blog post telling me your favorite kind of cookie!

#2..."Like" us on Facebook and if you already do, just let me know you do!

#3...Follow us on Twitter at Sweet_Ivy_Conf!

#4...Start following/join this blog!

I will announce the winner on Wednesday!

Good luck!

Sweet Ivy Logo Cookies!

I had a lot of fun with these cookies!

They're not perfect.

But I was very happy with how they turned out...for a newbie!

In keeping with my theme/name...

I did them in my colors...pink and green and white.

And trimmed the name with my ivy.

It's strange...

I have more of a palate for pastel cookies...

Than I do bright colored cookies.

Silly, I know.

But somehow, the lighter colored ones appeal to me more, LOL!