Okay, I know this is totally annoying, but before I tell you who won the contest I want to first say -- I LOVE YOU ALL!! Thank you SO MUCH for entering and sharing and voting and loving and...stuff. I am completely astounded by the sheer number of entries and the pure talent and creativity involved in each of them. I wish I could give every single one of you a prize. You should all be extremely proud of yourselves for the creativity, the execution, and for flat out finding time to make those cookies!!
I was really, really excited to get the scores from the judges until the very end when I realized it would be final and only ONE of you could win first place. So...moving along to that very interesting piece of information -- I would like to introduce you to the --
GRAND PRIZE, NUMERO UNO, FIRST PLACE WINNING COOKIE OF DREAMS--
AMY HAYES from SWEET FACE COOKIES!!! Congratulations!!!!
At this point I'd like to be slightly more annoying and just say how much I love my judges. They did not have an easy job. And as more and more incredible entries kept showing up each day...I started getting nervous that they would cancel on me...but they didn't. They stuck with me and accomplished the near-Herculean task of judging your amazing and innovative entries. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Okay, back to announcing things. Let's talk about the
Okay, back to announcing things. Let's talk about the
SECOND PLACE WINNING COOKIE OF DREAMS--
Amy Clough!!! Congratulations!!!
And just to prove that you don't HAVE to be named Amy to win a prize, allow me to introduce you to the winner of the
PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD --
Connie Kim from Sweet Favors!!! Congratulations!!
I will email all 3 of you later today. Probably. If I don't come upon ninjas on my way home from buying bananas. If you don't hear from me within the day, feel free to email ME. And call the authorities.
...And since I just can't let go of the fantasticness that is all of you...I have to share some of my own favorites.
(What? Can I say that out loud? Promise you won't hate me if I don't share all 240 cookies? Because I would LOVE to share every last design and talk about each and every stinking one of you. Not that you stink. That's cool if you do though. I have a strict non-judging stink policy in here.)
Rebecca at DoughMestic HouseWife
I had to look twice before I realized what I was looking at. It is a super adorable penguin made into an interlocking PUZZLE using the present cutter! SUCH a great idea, and really well done!
Kim M.
I am a creature of habit. I used to decorate cookies with fondant, and I never thought about using royal icing. And now I decorate with royal icing and never think about using fondant even when it would be a trillion times easier to do so. Sanding sugar? Candy pearls? Sprinkles? So many fun options that I never think of. I LOVE that this Koi Pond uses rock candy. So creative! And...I kind of want my own little non-sugar pond now.
Shelan at Sweet Boake
You guys -- Shelan is only THIRTEEN YEARS OLD! I don't think I even knew what a heart DID when I was that old, much less how to create one in sugar form... and then put it on a blog.
Sarah E.
Guess what? Shelan wasn't even the youngest entrant in the contest! Meet Sarah. She is ELEVEN YEARS OLD. And she made FOUR different designs! The Converse Shoe was my favorite of her entries. (My husband's favorite was the girl on the swing.)
I saw this cookie on Facebook first. As I was leaving a comment, I realized -- it was for the contest!! I hadn't even realized it was the present cutter shape!
This cookie just makes me happy. And I don't even like pigs. I love the colors and the contrast and how the design fills the entire cookie in a fun barnyard kind of way. And HELLO -- airbrushed mud? Wow.
Bake Me Happy by JeeNee Zee
I find I am holding my breath every time I look at this cookie. The piping on that basket is basically perfect in every way imaginable.
Erin at Cakes by Erin
It's an OVEN that is ON FIRE. Did you catch that? Its funny because its true.
Josh
I'm still ogling this cookie. Its enormous and bright and incredibly well done. And I love that he used the present cutters as a piece from the whole. I can honestly say, I never saw THIS while staring at that cutter!!
The texture on this cookie is unbelievable. I just want to reach out and touch it. Actually, I just want to eat it. But also touch it while it was traveling towards my mouth. I'm pretty sure it would taste like sweet cotton candy mixed with Orange Julius.
I saved this cookie for last because it makes me laugh every single time I look at it. Every. Single. Time. It's a little guy escaping from notebook paper!! Come on, isn't that HILARIOUS? I love it!!
I have loved making so many new friends and discovering how you all see the world (and the same cookie cutter) so differently. I am stunned by the amount of raw talent out there and I cannot wait to see what all of my new (and old) friends come up with next!! Ohh. Now I'm all sad. This contest has been such a big part of my blogging life and now its over. I'm going to go console myself with ice cream and another look at all those wonderful entries. And maybe if I stay up too late I will give them names and start fashioning reality show personalities for them as well. Actually... I think I might have crossed that "staying up too late" line already. I'm just having such a hard time letting go. Promise you'll come visit me still, okay?
