smart cookies
It is graduation season and teacher appreciation week, and I am loving the “Smart Cookie” themes popping up all over Pinterest!
I was getting ready to file all these ideas away for future use (including my nephew’s kindergarten graduation), when I remembered that I get to celebrate and thank my daughter’s teachers this year! I am still getting used to the fact that I have a daughter… it has been 17 months, but it is still amazing to think there is another human… our daughter… living in this house!! It is truly unbelievable to experience how quickly time is flying by and how much we grow everyday.
our smart little cookie
The teachers at my daughter’s daycare have helped us parent-newbies learn so much about Samantha’s capabilities! This little kid is a rockstar because of the socialization and development she gets both at school and with her grandparents. I cannot say thank you enough to those that love and care for her while we are at work.
CREATE:
- I typed the “Thanks…. for making us such” sign using Rosewood and Duality fonts that I downloaded for free from dafont.com, and I printed the sign in brown ink on tan cardstock.
- Then I used my Silhouette to cut both the cookies and the glasses. I used two different shades of brown cardstock for the cookies and black cardstock for the glasses, to provide contrast. If you don’t have a Silhouette, you could easily create the same effect by cutting circles and using a hole punch for the chocolate chips!
- Once I had all my pieces cut, I assembled the Smart Cookies with foam tape to give the images depth. I conveniently placed the glasses over large chocolate chips to give the cookies eyes.
- I taped the sign to the top of a white bakery box and filled it with homemade chocolate chip cookies!
- I also taped the box shut so I wouldn’t eat any cookies.
- And… then I tied the box with bakers twine to make it even more difficult to sneak in and steal a cookie!
Confession of a *wannabe* crafter… This is not an original idea… there are smart cookie inspirations all over Pinterest. Just because an idea isn’t original doesn’t mean it isn’t fantastic! I can’t wait to use and re-use this idea in the years to come!
Homemade Vanilla Wafers
My loving, sweet, adorable husband does not like chocolate. Under the circumstances, I believe it is even appropriate to say that he hates chocolate. He dislikes chocolate so much that he does not eat anything with chocolate in it… except for Mexican Mole!
As a baker, this has been a difficult character flaw, I mean trait, to accept. As our dating days progressed into engagement and marriage, the issue of the chocolate lingered… no one to appreciate gooey chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven, a lifetime of vanilla ice cream, cuddling on the couch with a steaming cup of hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows alone… the tragedy of missed opportunities, as you can imagine, abound…
After almost four years of marriage, however, I determined there are a few surprising benefits (okay, two) to a non-chocolate-eating husband!
1. There are many circumstances in which I am *forced* to eat 2 desserts; it is only polite. If dessert at a certain dinner or event, for example, happens to be chocolate, I politely devour mine and then do a quick switch of the plate when no one is looking to politely finish Allen’s dessert as well.
2. I explore and test a lot of amazing non-chocolate desserts, which I might normally overlook!
These homemade vanilla wafer cookies are a fantastic example of a cookie I might never have tried if it were not for my chocolate-fearing husband and my heightened awareness of non-chocolate eaters.
These delicate, crispy, vanilla bite sized cookies will definitely make you think… what chocolate chip cookie?!?
Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… Although I do love to harass Allen for his disdain of chocolate, I do love all the non-chocolate desserts we discover!
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Edible Undies for Stephanie's Bachelorette Party
My dear friend Stephanie is getting married in April. Stephanie and I have been friends since high school, through all
the high school, college, and 9 to 5 highs and lows! As her bachelorette party approached, I knew I wanted to do something fun and different, with a traditional bachelorette party flair. My only hesitation was that Stephanie has lived in Kansas City since high school, and I wasn’t exactly sure how much bachelorette party “flair” her friends would find appropriate! (Stephanie is always up for anything!) (more…)
