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Easy Ninja Cookies

I get a KICK out of you Valentine! I have had a male child for longer than I've been decorating cookies. If you translate that into sugar years, it's like a jillion years. And I've spent every last one of those jillion years trying to make "boy cookies" that both of us like. It's easy enough to make cookies that HE likes. I just make an endless pile of red and blue icing and put it on top of a cookie. It's not a surprise that we don't usually love the same cookies. These ninjas are the accumulation of a jillion years worth of boy-cookie-research. As it turns out, I have discovered that ALL boys (and many girls) secretly want to be ninjas. They will never be disappointed with ninja cookies. Need cookies for a boy's birthday party? Birthday ninjas! What about a male child that loves the ocean? Ninja fish! A grown up man that plays badminton and likes plaid? Plaid badminton ninjas! Ninja Astronauts. Ninja vampires. Ninja firemen. Ninjas with d

Dino-Mite Valentine Cookies

  You are DINO-MITE Valentine!! I can't remember the last time I slept for real. Please tell me that children eventually grow up and *want* to sleep. Feel free to lie. Especially if your children never ever had sleep issues and always went to sleep promptly at bed time without needing a story and a drink and that elusive stuffed animal that you can never find,and a second tucking because the wrong side of the blanket was facing up so they had to kick the blankets onto the floor and pretend they were swimming in a giant sea of fluffy pink comforter before becoming mysteriously FAMISHED the second you even consider turning the light off. Lie away friends. I could use the deception right now. Actually, what I could really use is a night where I go to bed on purpose. And then wake up and it's morning. Instead of 3 minutes later. I'm actually surprised that I don't feel more rested. Because I'm pretty sure I stay in bed while my alter-ego Zero Compassion Mom ge

Spaceship Valentine Cookies

You are OUT OF THIS WORLD Valentine!!!  Remember when you were in a Cookie Coma right after Christmas because you baked your entire life away and then SURPRISE!!! It was Christmas Eve and you still had to wrap a jillion presents and figure out *something* to give your neighbors and for the love find actual time to finally SLEEP ?! Can you believe that was a month ago? Well...clear back then, all those ages of cookie years ago... I was thinking about you. And how you would really love some fun new Valentine's Day ideas. And then I talked to Tracy at Whisked Away Cutters and Krista at Drawn With Character , and as it turns out, they just love you all to pieces like I do and wanted to join the party. So this week I have THREE new cutter/designs from Tracy at Whisked Away Cutters to show you AND Krista has designed the most adorable bag toppers to match the first two that you can find in her Etsy shop! Best Valentine Cookie Week ever!!!! Also... I made a coconut cake today. Fro

Fantastic Find Friday -- Dough EZ Pastry Mat

I'm actually really excited to tell you about today's Fantastic Find! I got to try out the Dough EZ Pastry Mat over Christmas. And I'm not going to lie...I was kind of "meh" about it to begin with. But it has changed my decorating life!!! I am IN LOVE with it! It's like parchment paper, but you don't get wrinkles and it doesn't slide all over the counter. NO FLOUR friends. No flour poufs that fly on your clothes. Or the floor. Or under the microwave. Which also means...no cleaning up that flour. Which also means...more time for other things! Like eating ice cream and "researching" on Pinterest! I love it so much that I made you a video about it. And if you know me at all... that's pretty much true love right there.  For those of you that don't want to watch the video, let me give you the quick details. Basically you put your dough on one side of the mat. Place the included guide sticks on the outside edges and the fol

Decorated Train Valentine's Day Cookies

I CHOO-CHOO -CHOOSE YOU VALENTINE!! Valentine's Day used to be my all time favorite holiday. Like, even more favorite than Easter and Halloween and Christmas. I *LOVE* red! And I love Valentine's Day candy best of all the candy in the whole wide world of holiday treats. If you were to put Cadbury Chocolate Eggs and Runts Valentine's Hearts in a room and ask me to choose the one I love best, I would nearly be torn in two pieces, but in the end, you would find me with my arms flung around those mini hearts of deliciousness. And I love... actually that's it. Red and candy. That's what I love. And then I got older and found out that Valentine's Day was really about boys and flowers and awkward misunderstandings of exactly where you stand in a relationship. And then I didn't like Valentine's Day anymore. And then I got even older and I no longer cared about awkward. Except now I have a full understanding of the fact that SWIM SUIT SEASON is just arou

Unconventional Colors Challenge Round Up and a WINNER!!

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like unconventional colors were all over the place this holiday season! It's getting easier and easier to make it through the Christmas season without using up an entire bottle of Super Red icing color. And you guys made some AMAZING holiday cookies using unconventional colors!!! Let's look at a few of my favorites before we announce the winner of the Palette Petal Dust, shall we? I'm REALLY into this pale blue, red, and white color grouping right now! It's so bright and cheery and those EYES!!! So so adorable!!! You guys should go check out Manny's Cookies on Facebook because she makes THE cutest cookie faces ever! And these gorgeous white on white cookies from Natalie at Sweet Shop Natalie are proof that no color is necessary for some INCREDIBLE cookies! I love, love, love that you can appreciate the perfect piping and patterns on these sweaters because there is no color getting in the way! If there was an awa

Challenge Yourself! -- Puzzle Cookies

I'm so excited about this challenge!! You get to make puzzle cookies! You can use one cutter and divide in half or more. You can do cut out pieces like the heart cookie. You can go all out and make an actual puzzle out of cookies like Jill's incredible cookie puzzles . Make it simple or complex... If it seems puzzly to you... you should do it. And then link it up before midnight on March 23. That's right. PLENTY of time to think about it for a while. And then forget about it. And then remember it again. And make some amazing cookies. And then panic because you're not sure if you missed the date already, but then link it up because you did NOT in fact miss that date. See? Just the right amount of time. And one lucky linker-upper gets to win THIS ACTUAL COOKIE PUZZLE !!! Except this one is an actual jigsaw puzzle that looks like cookies instead of the other way around. The cookies were made by the amazingly talented Rebecca from The Cookie Architect . If you can&#

Fantastic Find Friday -- Petal Dust Palettes

So...basically I love new things. I love opening a new jar of peanut butter and seeing that smooth surface. Clothes always fit better the first time you wear them. Electronics are faster. Toys are shinier. The vegetables are actually appealing because I know they aren't secretly harboring mold on their underside, just waiting for me to take it out of the vegetable drawer. And I LOVE finding new things on the market. Especially the cookie market. People are amazing, aren't they? I mean... slippers that are ALSO mops? A blanket that you can WEAR? That weird belt thing that will tone your abs will you eat nachos and lie on the couch? (Seriously though, if you can eat nachos while lying down... you need to find some new nachos.) But I'm always afraid to be the first person to try something new. I mean... what if I buy the frozen bagel with the cream cheese already inside of it and I *hate* it? What then? That's like $1.76 and 7 minutes that I won't get back....

Cupcake Valentine Cookies

There is some confusion over the most depressing day of the year . It's calculated based off days away from major holidays, hours of daylight, failed resolutions, credit card bills...etc. Some think that it is the 3rd Monday of January while others think it's the first Monday in January. Basically... January is a mess. Poor thing. It never really had a chance. Except, I have a theory. I think that MORNING PEOPLE might actually like January. See, January is really like those gray hours right before dawn. Most people are still sleeping off their Christmas parties. They walk through January wishing they could hit the snooze button for one more day before returning to work and real schedules. But those morning people are out there exercising and getting ready for spring and warm things and bright colors. I'm not a morning person by nature. But I've decided to be a January person. I've started making Valentine's Day cookies and I'm already planning my summ