Happy 4th of July!! - "Firework" Cookies

Happy 4th!  I know, I know, I haven't posted in FOREVER!!  I've been kinda busy, but I have a ton of things lined up that (hopefully)  I can get posted soon.  Today though, I want to post with these 4th of July "Firework" Cookies.  They're really easy to make; this post will basically focus on the decorating part.  (for the cookie/frosting recipes go to my baking page and scroll all the way down.  the cookie recipe is under "Christmas cookies" but it's the same thing :) )

You will need one recipe of the sugar cookies (baked and cooled) and one recipe of the buttercream frosting (leave 1/2 white and dye 1/4 red and 1/4 blue)

1/2 the frosting should remain white, while red and blue should be 1/4 each.  (the red and blue look like they have more because it spread out when I stirred in the dye ;) )

To decorate these cookies, you first frost it like you normally would with the white frosting (leave about 1/4 inch at the edges) then put your red and blue frosting in separate decorating bags.  Place a dot of one color in the center of the cookie, then put a ring around it with the alternating color, then another ring, and so on.  (shown above)  You can put at many rings as you want depending on the size of your cookie/your own preference.  I put 3.

Next, using a toothpick, start in the center and drag outward through the frosting.  Do this 4 times (kind of like dividing the frosting into 1/4s)  When this is done, do the same thing between each line, only start on the outside edge and drag inward.  The cookie should look like this (above)

Continue like this until all the cookies have been decorated! (the cookie in the center above was one of my "experiments" :)  I simply put more lines to give it a more tye dyed look)

I also made a flag minus the stars because I ran out of white.  It also doesn't have 13 stripes, but at least you can tell what it is :)

I also did these after I ran out of white.  It was the same thing, just with red and blue.

I was making these with my sister, Corinne, and these are the ones she decorated!  (above)

Hope you enjoyed and Happy 4th!!

"O Christmas Tree..." - A Different Kind of Tree

I like Christmas.  A lot.  Especially the Christmas baking and food.  I'm sure you do too :)  Anyway, a few years ago, my friend and I entered a Gingerbread house contest.  It was super fun building and decorating the house.  I can't remember if we won or not, (this was a LONG time ago :D)  but I still remember all the fun we had putting it together.  At that point, winning didn't really even matter.  We just liked having fun

together.  I haven't done anything else like that since... until this year.  A lady at my church gave me a little gingerbread kit for building a Christmas Tree.  Pre-baked, Pre- everything.  Except put together.  And that's the fun part!  Yeah, I like the baking part too, but the best part is putting it together.  So that's what I did.  I built... A Different Kind of Tree.  

The kit.

The "taken apart" kit :)

This is what it will look like... sort of... just prettier...

Step 1 - Apply WHITE frosting to each cookie, then stack them, alternating the points to create the effect of a tree.

Applying more frosting.  To more cookies.

So far, so good.

It's a little taller now...

Done!  (It took about 30-45 mins just to get this part done... yeah)

I like photography, so I took this pic.  It looks pretty cool!  Oh yeah, and after you put the frosting on, you sprinkle sugar all over it.  That's what the sparkly stuff is :)

Next step (2 I think)  - Use the GREEN frosting to go around the edge of each cookie.  This makes it look like a tree.

Working my way up... (this was the super tedious part :) )

All done!

The top view... again.

Next - Use these little edible pearl candies to "decorate" your tree.  I think I put enough... what do you think?

The final touch - The Star!

I added a "little" more sugar too... can you see it?  :)

The star on top.

The "top shot" again.  :)

And that's my Gingerbread Tree for ya!  Coming up soon.... Christmas candy!  And cookies!  Or, in other words, my BAKING PAGE!  :)

It's been a while...

So I know it's been a while... but we finally got a new charger for the computer!!! Yay!  Now I can get caught up with posting.  I will finish up the Nail Challenge soon - I think there are 10 days left (yikes) but in this post I want to share some pics of projects I've completed with my new favorite hobby... Crocheting!!!  At my co-op (school) this year, I am taking a crocheting/knitting class.  During this semester that we just finished up, I learned to crochet.  And next semester, I am going to learn how to knit (hopefully! :D)  There have been a lot of fun projects I want to share, plus some that I just decided to do on my own!  Hope you enjoy!

My first hat... well, actually, I made one like this before, following the pattern, but it was way too small so I did it again (the one above) and just kept adding until it actually fit right :)

The second hat...  I don't know if you can tell, but there is a spiral pattern all around the whole thing.  It's also really warm and soft!

Gloves!  Well, fingerless gloves, but still they were really fun to make and I really like wearing them!  And yes, I know, my nails aren't done... shame on me.  :)  But they are still taking a break from that Nail Challenge!  lol.

Another hat!  I kind of just made this one up.  It's really easy to make one once you know how to get it started, because they all start the same way.  Unless you want to do one like the spiral pattern, then you need to either have the pattern handy, or just have a really good memory :)

There are a few more, but I don't have pics right now.  So I will post them later!  It's good to be back :)