Well, the 12 Days of Cookies are over, and Christmas is here! It's tradition in our family to watch A Christmas Story all...day...long... My dad's a HUGE fan. So, to make him smile, I decorated these leg lamp cookies:


'It's a major award!"

I got the cutter from A Christmas Story House and highly recommend them for any Ralphie-themed gifts you need to get in the future!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dat 12 - Santa is Coming to Town!

The sleigh is ready, the gifts are all packed, and Santa is coming to town!

For the Santa cookies, I decided to go back to the classics we probably all decorated when we were a kid.

Are you ready for Santa? Do you leave cookies & milk for him?

Day 11 - Reindeer Cookies!

It's the day before Christmas Eve so Santa is preparing his sleigh for the big trip. The reindeer are resting up, and they're anxious for the fun to begin!

Day 10 - A Star Cookie

I'll keep it super short and sweet today - here's Day 10 of cookies! Have a great day!

Day 9 - Mittens and Stockings

It's Day 9 of the 12 Days of Cookies! I hope you're all staying warm - wherever you are in blogger land!



Both the mittens and stockings were flooded with thinned down royal icing and then the extra little details were added after they dried.

Have you been making holiday cookies? I'd love to hear about them and see them! Email them to me or leave a comment with your own blog post link!

Quick and Beautiful Christmas Cakes

Ok, folks. Christmas is quickly approaching. If you've thought about bringing a festive cake to your family celebration, you better get baking soon!

But you don't have to spend hours and hours on a cake for it to look gorgeous, elegant, and Christmas-y!

Make a cake that looks like a gift!

Here's one I did for my friend Nikki's office holiday party:


It's a simple buttercream-iced cake with a fondant bow. You could slap that together in a couple of hours, right?!

Here's a close-up of the bow and the gift tag:


Next up, here's a display cake I made for the showroom. It's covered with fondant and airbrushed gold. Again, the bow is made out of fondant.


Here's a similar concept, where the cake was covered in white fondant and topped with a big loopy gift bow. Here, you have to have a little more time because each of those loops has to completely dry before you can assemble the bow.


And, if you're feeling particularly ambitious or you're trying to feed a small army, here's some inspiration for you:


That's 4 cakes covered in white fondant and decorated with blue fondant box tops, ribbons, and bows.


Will you be making a cake for your get-together this week?

Day 8 - Joy!

Can you believe we're only 5 days away from Christmas! Not much time left for your many to-do lists! Am I stressing you out? Sorry! Ironically enough, I JUST ran across this website 100 Days to Christmas. It helps you plan and get ahead for the holidays so you don't feel so frantic. Might be worth checking out for next year...

Day 5 - Christmas Lights

For Day 5, here are some Christmas lights sugar cookies. These are much more simple in design than yesterday's ornaments, but I love them all the same.


I've been getting quite a few emails asking for my recipe so I'll share that with you in an upcoming post! Happy Friday, everyone!

Day 4 - Ornament Cookies

These are some of my favorite cookies that I've included in the 12 Days of Cookies. They're simple Christmas ornaments, but each one is different...and so easy to do!


For the blue one on the left: Flood the ornament with blue royal icing. Let that dry overnight, and then go back with white and 2 shades of blue royal icing and add the dots, curves, and lines.

For the Peace ornament: Flood a rectangle in the center with green royal icing. Then flood the top and bottom sections with white royal icing. To make the red polka dots, just add them to the white flooded icing while it's still wet! Once the green dries, go back and write "peace." Easy!

For the Joy ornament: Use the same technique as the Peace ornament, but drag a toothpick through the flooded icing to get that cool pattern. Then write "joy" after the red icing has dried.


For the blue ornament on the left: Again, flood the ornament with blue royal icing. After it dries overnight, go back with white royal icing and add all the details.

For the ornament on the far right: Flood the center portion red. Then, go back and flood sections white and green. Once all the flooded area has dried, just go back and add the details.

Need a more detailed tutorial, check out this one on Bake at 350.

Bertie Heating and Air Holiday House Cake

This week, we got to make a fun cake for Bertie Heating & Air's holiday party. They wanted a cake in the shape of a house decorated for Christmas! But they also wanted it to resemble their company logo:


No problemo!


The cake itself was 2 stories high, meaning it was equivalent to 2 tiers of cake...or about 10-12 inches tall. The chimney was made of Rice Krispies Treats, and the bricks were individually cut and set in place.


I made the front porch awning out of Rice Krispies Treats and hand-cut the letters for Bertie logo.


Of course, we had to include an air conditioning unit!


And the Christmas lights. They were SO tiny! I had to take a picture with my pinky finger next to one so you could get an idea of how small they were. They were individually glued in place with royal icing!


But it was all so worth it when the customer picked up the cake. She said she'd dreamed of the cake the night before and had goosebumps when she saw it.

This kind of reaction is what we cake decorators live for!

Day 3 - Florida Christmas Trees

Of course I have to follow up the Florida Snowmen with Florida Christmas Trees!


Palm trees with lights or ornaments. I'm thinking Miami right now...and it's really making me feel slightly warmer!

Handmade Christmas Cards

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I felt ambitious enough to make my own Christmas cards. I guess when you have the energy, you've got to put it to work before it fizzles out!

The cards I made were pretty simple and relatively cheap. I didn't price everything out, but I'd guess I spent no more on these cards than I would on store-bought ones.


To make these, I bought 2 sheets of scrapbook paper (at $0.69 each) that had ornaments all over it. I cut out the ornaments and glued them on to the page with a little brown ribbon and a colored bow. So easy! You can't tell from the photo, but the ornaments are sparkly so they're classy and festive too!


For the top two pictured here, I cut a strip of scrapbook paper that had the red and white stripes on it and glued it to the card stock. Then, I glued a ribbon across the seam. The tiny Christmas trees are actually metal brads and the snowflakes are just plastic (got them both at Michael's Craft Stores).

The bottom card was also made with scrapbook paper! I found a page that had rows and rows of presents and another one that had "Ho" written all over it! First, I glued down a strip of the presents. Then, I cut out one "Ho" and framed it in a piece of blue card stock. I glued that in place with a little white bow accent. It's "Ho" cubed...get it? Ho ho ho? You do get it, right??? Maybe I missed the mark on that one...


And these are my favorite because they're so colorful. The center rectangle is scrapbook paper I already had. I've actually had it for years so I'm happy to be finally using it! To make these, I framed the patterned scrapbook paper in a piece of colored card stock and glued it to the card. Then, I glued down 2 strips of ribbon (one with a knot tied in it, offset) and stuck two foam candy cane stickers on top! Again, super easy!

I am not gifted when it comes to paper crafts. So if I can make cards that look somewhat decent (at least, I think so...), you can too. Of course, if you don't feel up to it...check out your other options. Some people are actually PAID to make this stuff!!! Like my good friend Nicole in her Etsy shop.

Happy crafting!