Joyful Creations

Construction Cookies

2012-02-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

These cookies were a request from my friend and co-worker Kate. She said her little guy loves trucks and their birthday party was going to be construction themed. The truck is hand drawn, because the cutter I ordered was way too small. I hope she loves them!

Get Ready for Valentines Day!

2012-01-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it is already 2012!! I hope all of my peeps will order for Valentines day! Yes - I am bringing back the chocolate sugar cookies for this month. They sure make for a great color contrast and they taste wonderful too!! I'll be baking in Charlotte NC this time! Thank you to all of my wonderful customers - I love you guys!!

The beginning

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I cleaned off a bunch of pictures from my camera and found the photo that shows how Joyful Creations began. The story starts with Easter. My husband, then active duty USAF, had left on a deployment, so my sister and my little grand neices drove down for a visit. All the way from Charlotte on a Friday morning before the sun came up. I had bought a pack of mini cutters and decided to try my hand at making cut-out cookies with them. OH YES I DID - with sprinkles and frosting. Madness certainly ensued, but not for the reason you are having visions of! During this weekend a tornado hit our neighborhood and damaged the house. My children, sister and the little grand neices sat in the hallway and prayed like crazy - while I watched the trees swirling in the wind through our front window. I watched until I was so scared I couldn't watch any more so I put my head down and continued to pray. We were safe, but the house sustained a big blow with a tree landing on the roof over my son's room. Regardless of the huge trees down in our backyard, we colored eggs and hunted them and the easter bunny came just the same, along with the catastrophe rep from the insurance company! I couldn't tell this story without saying how thankful I am for my CEO and CFO and his fellow young marines who came to our rescue following the tornado. All it took was one phone call and before long I had a house full of helpers!! I continued to bake the year after and so on and so on - reading everything I could to perfect my skills and trying new ways to fill and frost. I know I still have ALOT to learn, but I am loving every minute of it.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful time we had baking 2011 Christmas! Grand total of cookies baked was 54 dozen. I LOVED having my sister and neice here to help...Thanks to them the Charlotte market is continuing to expand. These photos show just a fraction of the cookies we completed. We had several new designs this year, including Mr. Reindeer - who lots of customers just loved! I want to thank all of my Sixes elementary school customers and my co-workers who ordered more this year than ever before. I am already looking forward to Valentines cookies!!!!!

Christmas is coming!!!

2011-11-30T08:01:00.001-08:00

Thankful doesn't even begin to say it! Thanksgiving was a huge success for Joyful Creations and I can not express how thankful I am for it! I love that my sister, niece and family are always willing to step in and help in a crunch. I am very excited about Christmas orders. Don't wait - if you are interested, order early!! HUGS TO ALL MY CUSTOMERS!!!

Halloween 2011 Preview

2011-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

My sister and I baked like CRAZY this past weekend in Charlotte. I tried my hand at a new color scheme and new designs for the fall season - Hope you all like it as much as we do!!

Getting Ready for Fall Holidays....

2011-08-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

Science Cookies

2011-08-08T08:31:00.001-07:00

These were a fun batch for a new customer - a 9 year old's birthday who requested a science theme. Did you notice the hazmat spill on the orange beaker above? HA HA!! Get your protective goggles!

Back to School Cookies 2011

2011-08-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

BACK TO SCHOOL - need I say more? I would like to thank all of my new customers in 2011 for their back to school orders! You all are the BEST!!

Golf Cookies

2011-08-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

GOLF Cookies - finally! I have been wanting to do these forever and now just got the chance. I heard that all of the ladies at Lake Arrowhead just loved them.

Cherry Blossom Cookies

2011-08-08T08:22:00.001-07:00

These were made as a thank you gift to the hospice that my niece's husband was at when he passed. She said it was the best decision she could have made to take him there - because it was so peaceful that he rested, she rested, the children rested - and we all know that in the hospital NOBODY gets any rest....

BMW Boys

2011-08-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

These cookies were made for the Service Department at Macon BMW. Sadly - my niece's husband, Tony - who worked at BMW, has passed away. These cookies were made as a sincere thank you to all of the men and women of BMW who sat at his bedside, came to his house to finish building a shed, came to his funeral and have given so freely of what they have for Sherry and her family. Those BMW boys are just the best!

Fleur De Lis

2011-05-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

These are samples for a repeat customer. She was trying to decide about what type of cookie to use for wedding rehearsal favor. This morning, after much consideration, she has finally chosen the large black and white circles. I am so glad to have her business and this is my 2nd wedding order of the season. Hooray!!!

Animal Cookies

2011-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

These are my very first animal cookies - I donated them to the Relay for Life Event. I liked them and they were a HUGE hit. Especially the monkeys. Apparently monkeys are all the rage with teenage girls. You should have seen them squealing and jumping up and down.

Playing Card Cookies

2011-05-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

These are my first attempt at playing card cookies. I was very pleased, because I used a new technique called "royal icing transfer" which worked pretty well - except for the colors bled a little bit. Naturally Red and Black bleed more than most other colors!

The rest of Easter

2011-05-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

There are so many more photos to share, but since I am so behind in updating this blog I am only posting the basics. My sister LISA and my daughter and niece and I baked TONS of Easter cookies. The chocolate eggs above are the girls' artisitic works!! There was almost no room to sit in her car going back to Charlotte because she had so many orders!!! We had such a good time. I was tired afterwords but so thankful for the MOST successful holiday yet.

Easter Preivew

2011-03-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

St. Patricks Day Cookies

2011-03-15T06:35:00.001-07:00

I had said that I wasn't going to bake any St. Patricks Day cookies... RIIIIGGGHHHHTTT! I couldn't stand it. I made the most colorful batch for a big meeting here at our hospital. I know hearts don't really go with St. Patricks day, but it was for our Cardiac Cath Lab, so I threw a few in. It was great fun and I am looking forward to Easter!

Gift Shop Bouquets

2011-03-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Joyful Creations is officially in the Gift Shop at our hospital!!

Red Hat Society Cookies

2011-03-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

These cookies were made for one of my best customers. Sadly her grandmother passed away at the ROCKIN' age of 104. Yes - you read correctly: 104!! She was a RED-HATTER and wore it proudly every day!! I was hoping for a picture of her to post on the blog, but have not received one yet. These were given as thank you gifts to her caregivers. May we all rock it out like her well into the golden years!

Easter Shopping Madness

2011-03-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

Crazy Shopping Spree in Charlotte! I met my super awesome sister LISA at the Hobby Lobby in Charlotte last weekend and we shopped all day! We also hit Michael's, the Dollar Store, and various Goodwills. Every time I went to buy something she would grab it and run away - or take stuff out of my cart when I wasn't looking and pay for it. I just love her! Okay - the lizard and the Frisbee are definitely not in the Easter category - but I had to have them!! Talk about running it out - we were RUNNING!!

Groovy Cookies

2011-02-23T07:17:00.001-08:00

WOW - how groovy!! This is an order from a lady in Charlotte that works with my fabulous sister LISA! I think these came out really well. I hope I get more fun orders like these.

Silent Auction Contributions

2011-02-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

When all the valentine cookies were made, I set out to make a dozen to donate to the Sixes Elementary silent auction. One of my repeat customers asked me if I'd be interested, and you all know that I can't say the word NO!!! I wanted to embellish much more, but I was completely exhausted. My favorite is the rabbit. I hope these bring a good amount for the event.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: The customer that I donated these for ordered 4 dozen cookies - red hats! See other posts for details.

Last of the Valentines!

2011-02-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

35 Dozen for Valentines 2011 - WHEW!! This was the last of it. I had seen a similar arrangement in Michael's done with flowers, and knew I could pull something off like this with cookies. I was out of Styrofoam (I know, I know - always stay stocked up!!) so I just had to wing it with this. So at 6 this a.m. there were sweethearts flying everywhere in my kitchen. I think my boss liked it. She's been hard to read lately. This was the first holiday that I've had big orders that I haven't had my fabulous sister LISA with me to help. Needless to say, that won't happen again!!! I'll move mountains to get to be with her for Easter!!

Valentines Day Bouquet

2011-02-11T06:56:00.001-08:00

One of our sweet volunteers here at the hospital paid me to bake a dozen cookies for their bake sale. So - in a goodwill gesture (and b/c they do SO much for our nurses) I whipped up this cookie bouquet. Note the gorgeous decanter that my fabulous sister LISA got me!!! The announcement came overhead at 9:45 a.m. that the bake sale would start at 10. A minute later, one of my customers who ordered 28 cookies walked in with it. She had bought it before they even got the table completely set up!!! She said they put a fair price on it - so now I'm dying to know what she paid for it!!!!!

Very Sleepy Polar Bears

2011-02-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

These are Rosa's birthday bears that she asked for. In the midst of dozens and dozens of orders for Valentines day, she comes to me late Monday night and in the saddest little voice, says "You're not gonna have time to make cookies for my birthday are you?" Well early yesterday morning I baked these and last night after dinner I hand painted them. At 4:30 this a.m. they got eyes and noses.

Matching Set Valentines

2011-02-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

These are the newest cutters in my collection, given to me by my awesome sister LISA!! She is always making sure I have the latest and greatest. I sure love her!!!

Logo Cookies

2011-02-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

These were my first corporate logo cookies!! I was so excited to make these. The color match was a challenge, but I think they turned out well. The lady that ordered them got my name from someone that I don't even know! That is a good sign!

More Valentines

2011-01-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

I made these for a big meeting at work. The meeting is about cardiology, so OF COURSE I did hearts!

Super Funky Valentines

2011-01-19T07:41:00.001-08:00

Yeah baby! YEAH! My first zebra stripe cookies. I've been dying to make some, inspired by the girls on FLICKR - much love to those baking maniacs!! Completly handpainted and edged with black sugar sprinkles.

Dinosaur Cookies! ROAR!!!

2011-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

These are my first Dinosaur cookies! They are a little different though...I (unbelievably) had ran out of powdered sugar and did not have enough to thicken the icing properly. So I grabbed a paintbrush and hand painted it on! They are ALL hand painted. Not bad! Love those googly eyes - thanks to my fabulous sister LISA!!!

Snow days

2011-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Our local herd of deer - they were all laying down until we walked up. Then they sighed (I swear I heard one say *&^%$!@# humans!) and moved along slowly.

This is our street (but you can't tell where the ditches start and where the road starts).

This is how deep the snow was on Monday.

PEACE!!

This is the view from the street above our house. We went up and down the hill SO MANY TIMES!!!

Valentines Cookies

2011-01-13T09:16:00.001-08:00

These are some very early Valentine's cookies that I did this week when I was SNOWED IN. Yes, in Georgia of all places. I had a few more but they got eaten before the base coat of frosting even got dry. I hope to have many many orders for these!!

Happy Birthday!!

2011-01-07T07:34:00.001-08:00

Two birthday orders to start the year! After the big holiday rush I almost wanted to put candy canes and christmas trees in this order, LOL!! I am looking forward to a year filled with baking. Thank you to all my customers!!

PEACE!!!

2011-01-07T07:32:00.001-08:00

These cookies were a Charlotte order for a 14 year old girl named Jasmine. What a funky and FUN batch this was!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON!!!

2010-11-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jackson!! These cookies are for a little boy who is a miracle baby! By everything we have known about him since BEFORE he was born, we know that he and his parents are soooooo blessed. While he was in the NICU his daddy posted updates almost every day letting us all know of his progress. Here I'd sit with my cup of coffee and my breakfast with tears streaming down my face, amazed at the strength of this child and family. We just prayed and prayed over this precious child, practically the entire community on their knees in constant prayer. His mama loved the cookies and she is a HOOT! I can't be in the same room with her without busting out laughing. Happy Birthday Jackson! You are a fighter!

More Wedding

2010-11-17T13:42:00.001-08:00

These are some of my most recent wedding cookies. The photos certainly don't do them justice. The colors were eggplant and white and they were (If I must say so myself) gorgeous cookies. A return customer ordered them for her son who has just recently joined the Air Force and gotten engaged prior to his first real assignment. Good Luck with that relationship!! Been there and done that for 20 years!!! LOL!!!

Christmas Preview

2010-11-17T13:36:00.001-08:00

Another fabulous weekend in Charlotte full of joyful baking. We put out over 200 cookies. These were ones that we made that are a preview for Christmas - I have never made Christmas cookies and it was SUCH fun!!!

Abundant Thanksgiving

2010-11-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who has ordered fall cookies - I've almost got Christmas paid for my children! My AWSOME SISTER LISA and I baked all weekend in Charlotte and here are a few of the two hundred cookies plus we produced! We got some additional help from my superb niece Krystle who is an excellent cookie filler. She said I worked them like dogs and she threatened to go on FMLA and workers comp from time to time - but we had SO much fun that she eventually spit water everywhere when I made her crack up laughing! She handled her two little girls amazingly during the entire time - very patient and firm so that we were able to do the job without major interruption!!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-05T06:56:00.001-07:00

I am soooo Thankful. I was totally bummed that my Halloween baking was over. The very same day though, I started getting Thanksgiving orders. Right now, my baking schedule is SO full that I am hesitating to solicit more orders. I have put it into a great big excel spreadsheet so I can get my head wrapped around the logistics of getting all of them done. As of right now - I have 16 dozen Thanksgiving cookies ordered and other various orders that total 13 dozen. All due before Thanksgiving day. That totals 29 dozen!!! And we thought Halloween was big!

Build a Bear

2010-11-05T06:51:00.001-07:00

I recently coughed up the dough to put an ad in our local monthly newsletter. The day after the ad ran, I got a call from a lady who saw it and placed an order for a dozen bear cookies. Apparently her 2 year old grandson is having a "Build-a-bear" party. She later called back and asked for 18 cookies altogether. I think I did a good job. The bear cookie cutter had been in exile for quite a while - as my first batch of bears months ago looked really terrible. Now Mr. Bear gets to be with all the other cutters in the rubbermaid container! YAY!!

Orders from North Carolina!!

2010-10-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

My wonderful sister LISA is racking up the orders for me in Charlotte NC!! One of the ladies that she works with ordered this birthday bouquet for her daughter. LISA and I have decided that to ship the arrangements, I will bake and assemble, get a quick photo to send to her along with the dis-assembled arrangement. She will then re-assemble and deliver. That's alot, I know - but orders across State lines are well worth it! Now if we could just do something about that lovely squeaky sound that styrofoam makes.....

Candy Corn Craziness

2010-10-27T13:05:00.001-07:00

Okay, I admit - it isn't your usual Candy Corn. But it goes alot better in the Halloween Batches I've been baking! (Yes OCD, OCD have to have my colors sorted just right). It was just killing me to mix in one stripe of yellow with all that super purple and orange and black. So, I opted for black...I think it looks really cool - especially with some black cats and witches hats!

New Halloween

2010-10-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

My fabulous sister LISA came to be with me for 5 whole days and we baked like mad! We took a bunch of arrangements to the farmers market and organized ALL of my baking supplies. She was a great help to me. We also made some regular cookie bouquets unrelated to Halloween. 5 days came and went much to fast and I was SO sad to see her leave.

Flowers for Joyce

2010-10-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

These cookies were sent via my wonderful sister LISA to a lady named JOYCE in Florida who is battling cancer. I hope that somehow they make her burden easier to bear. Be strong Florida Joyce - the GA Joyce is praying for you!!

Way to GO

2010-10-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

This is a bouquet that I put together for one of our departments in the hospital that have been extremely successful in patient satisfaction. Their supervisor requested a bouquet. These are my very first ladybugs! I love them and plan to do more this weekend!!!

Birthday Bouquet

2010-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is a nice bouquet done for a repeat customer! I found this vase in Charlotte with my awesome SISTER!! We were crazy about it, and she bought me the super-cool paisley curling ribbon to go on it. I think this may be the best bouquet yet!

Be Strong

2010-09-23T10:34:00.001-07:00

These cookies were made as a gift for my sweet friend Dee. She has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is such an inspiration to me. Her eyes sparkle like starlight and her spirit is so sweet, you just can't help but love her. She is an angel, right here on earth. I wish I could do more to support her going through this time. For now, I will just bake and pray!! BE STRONG DEE!!

Wedding Cookies

2010-09-20T13:50:00.001-07:00

These are a few of the cookies I baked for my friend DJ's daughter. Her wedding shower was this weekend in SC, so I brought the cookies to Charlotte with me and she came and picked them up. It was SOOOO good to see her. She looked super and loved the cookies. These are not the best pics, but I will have more to post soon.

Montour HS Reunion

2010-09-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

These are a few of the 98 cookies we baked while I was in Charlotte this past weekend. If I learned one thing from this weekend, it is to make WAY WAY more colored frosting than you think you will need for a large order. I came out with about 3 different types of yellow, which I wanted to be a yellow/gold color. What a production. The girls said I was a ruthless leader. We all got tickled at some point during the night because I was throwing out instructions on how to bag and tag correctly. Then they poked fun at me and make me laugh so hard my sides hurt. This order was to be 10 dozen. This morning I got to work and the lady had changed her mind and asked for 5 dozen. Boo-Hiss!! That's okay though. I'll give some away as marketing gifts to people. They will be enjoyed regardless. But not as much as I enjoyed making them - What a party weekend that was!!

Happy Birthday to me

2010-09-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! I work with some great folks who gave me Michael's and Hobby Lobby Gift cards for my bday. I had baked all week and saved all my cookie profits getting ready for a weekend out of town! So on Friday, off I went to Charlotte to see my sister LISA. We shopped like maniacs. I had several coupons for 40% on a regularly priced item, so EVERYBODY got a coupon and some cash to shop for me with! We bought mini cutters and tried the Halloween cutouts that I've been looking forward to. They weren't so great, but I'm willing to try again. We also bought some fancy stencils and put some stencils on cookies which was definitely a two person job! We had such a big time. My sister and neice always buy me such great stuff. I was so excited that I had to post all the pics of the goodies. We think Halloween is going to be big for Joyful Creations! The cauldrons that you see in the photo are helping me conjur up visions of Halloween cookie bouquets that will hopefully be big sellers. We bought Halloween ribbon too which is soooo cute! We couldn't resist buying just a little stuff for Christmas too. Thinking ahead you know??

Happy Birthday

2010-09-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

All the ladies at the office put me up to baking "over the hill" cookies for our CFO. They had it all planned to decorate his office with black balloons and such and asked me to make the cookies (then they all forgot GRRRR). I thoroughly enjoyed making them because the went right along with the Halloween theme I was working on. He is an awesome person - so I was happy to bake them. I really liked the cake and the tombstones. My little girl smashed up some chocolate jimmies to make the dirt. Afterwards, my big girl told me I could've used hot chocolate mix too. WOW, she's got a creative mind too huh?

Halloween is near

2010-09-14T13:28:00.001-07:00

Halloween is near and I've been wanting to bake Halloween cookies for a while now. Just got the chance this weekend and boy was that FUN!! My favorites are the purple witch hats and the bubbling cauldrons. Inspired by some awesome bakers on FLICKR as usual... Doesn't my black bat look mean?? My little girl helped fill in all of the ghosts and some skulls and she did a great job!

Happy Birthday Ruth~

2010-09-10T07:49:00.001-07:00

I put these cookies in a bouqet for our I.T. Queen, Ruth. She's always rescuing me from some computer mishap, or when my boss looks at me with fire in her eyes and says "my mailbox is full". Needless to say I immediately start blowing up Ruth's phone and she always comes to help us, no matter how busy she is. She has a wicked sense of humor and we get along really well.

Sports

2010-09-02T06:47:00.001-07:00

I made some sports cookies recently. I tried out a "food writer" as you can see on the left baseball cookie, which wasn't too bad - but the one with royal icing on the right looks so much better. So - food writers are put away for now. Maybe they will come in handy at some point. I also got an order for some "fast-pitch" softballs and remembered that I had made some footballs a while back. So here are my very first sports cookies. Enjoy!

Cowboy boots

2010-09-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Howdy Partner! My first attempt at cowboy boots. Not too bad, but the next ones will be much better

Fish Eyes

2010-09-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

My sweet sister LISA bought me some candy eyes to use on my cookies - so I put some on these fun little fish. I have lots of inspiring photos of fish to decorate, but I just love to mix up the sprinkles and make rainbow fish. The book about the rainbow fish comes to mind every time. They sure look happy don't they? Maybe one day I will actually decorate a fish...or maybe not!

Fall is in the air

2010-09-02T06:25:00.001-07:00

Fall is here... I have resolved myself to embrace it, even though it is a very melancholy time of year for me, having lost my mom in the last part of October. I hope you can see the chocolate sprinkles which are the center of the some of the sunflowers. These were part of a batch that I made for one of our hospital volunteers as a going away gift. More fall creations to come soon!

Happy Birthday Cookies

2010-08-27T10:20:00.001-07:00

These are a set of cookies made for a nice lady who works in the lab. Her daughter is turning 13. She just loved them - and said I should be charging more because of the quality of work. Everyone in the lab just couldn't believe that I sat watching TV and did these one night. It is so relaxing. I'm trying the swirly technique and it is a bit difficult. I will keep practicing though and soon have it mastered.

United Way Bake Sale

2010-08-24T10:58:00.001-07:00

I made some cookies for the United Way bake sale - to use up some extra cookie dough. It was fun - no pressure and I was able to experiment a bit. The photo with the packaging didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but that's okay too. Enjoy!

DANCE DANCE DANCE

2010-08-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

These little shoes make me want to get out on the dance floor!!! This is like a quick trip back to the 80's..... How fun are they? Couldn't resist giving them their very own post! Shake your groove thang baby!!!

Wedding

2010-08-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

My good friend DJ's daughter will be married soon. I hope to bake for her wedding shower so I am doing a little practice here and there. DJ is super smart and a true friend. She has moved and I really miss working with her. Here's a tip for any of you bakers out there: Wedding dress cookies break very easily. I'm thinking about putting them in individual bubble wraps...

Birthday Girl Cookies

2010-08-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Ebony! Your Grandma loves you very much!! And.... she really likes my cookies. A lady at work ordered these for her Granddaughter's 7th birthday so she asked me to bake for her. She was so happy with them. I hope that more orders will flow from her!!

Georgia Power Benefit Cookies

2010-08-16T06:37:00.001-07:00

These are the cookies that I made for a benefit held by the Georgia Power Company for their employee Kylan - who was critically injured in a tragic accident on the job. The morning that I delivered these cookies, I found out that he had passed away during the night. God have mercy on his parents and sweet young wife. I know he had suffered and they suffer still with the loss. My friend Sheri, who ordered the cookies, said that the cookies were a big hit anyway and the Georgia Power folks scooped them up and saved them back for the employees and their families. That made me feel a little better that something I had done brought a bit of comfort.

Train Cookies

2010-08-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

This is a cute little train cookie that I made for a little boy's 2nd birthday. His name was Abram and his sweet Grandma works with me at the hospital. She was born to be a nurse and loves that baby SO much! She said they were perfect. I am happy that she liked them. CHOO-CHOO!!!

Cheerful Birthday Cookies

2010-08-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite colors for a cheerful batch of birthday cookies for my friend Alison. Her niece was having a birthday party and I designed these to match the party theme. I hope these are the first of many orders from her.

BACK TO SCHOOL

2010-08-02T09:21:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it is time to go back to school again already. I think we are ready and I tried to put a positive spin on my own feelings about it by baking a batch of school cookies. Here's to a great school year!!

Good Luck Krystle

2010-07-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

My niece is starting a new job so I am shipping her some "good luck" cookies to take to her work. She is a recent investor in Joyful Creations. Last time I went to visit Charlotte, she bought me a huge tub of 100 cookie cutters - which included letters and numbers! Right away I got orders too - for things like trains and a 60th birthday bouquet! She loves flip-flops but has a little trouble wearing them - and while Reading this she's LOL!!! Maybe she'll have a little easier time eating them!

Lavender Baby Shower Theme

2010-07-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

My latest Joyful Creations! Made for a close friend at work. Baby Shower Cookies are my favorite to make, but the gender neutral theme always presents a challenge. Who doesn't love baby blue and pastel pink!!! I could hardly resist just decorating some with both of those colors, but chose in the end to combine them as the lavender.

Halloween

2010-07-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

These are some cookies that I baked for our first outing at the local farmers market. I decided to do a bit of everything and had to do my favorite (HALLOWEEN)! My mom always loved Halloween and I think I love it so much because of her. I am anxious for the fall so I can bake more of these!

Graduation Hats

2010-07-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

These were one of my first orders - I think during graduation week I baked about 7 dozen hats. Baptism by fire, right? Anyway - this is a "side" business, so after working 9-5 I was baking and frosting during every available minute of the day. I enjoy it so much. I'd get up early and stay up late every day to do this...

Bouquets

2010-07-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is a fourth of July cookie bouquet I did for one of nurses at the Hospital. I put it on the credenza in my office and three people wanted to buy it before she came to pick it up. It must have been a hit! Wish I had made four!
This was a really quick arrangement done for Nurses Week this year. At that point in time, I wasn't even sure I was going to get any orders. I think that was a great jumping off point for Joyful Creations because the orders haven't stopped yet!
This is a birthday basket I did for our CEO who is an avid golfer and a fabulous human being. I love my job and he is part of the reason. During the 2009 Tornado that happened, (more posts on that later) he and our CFO came to my rescue, walking for miles through dark woods to reach our house to help get a tree off our roof.
This is a basket for a teenage girl's 15th birthday. I am pleased with how this basket turned out. I sure was worried about the black frosting bleeding onto that hot pink.

Hats, purses, shoes!

2010-07-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

These were for an order from the Red Hat Society. One of the members asked for an order of hats and purses - I threw in some shoes because I'm a shoe shopper AND a cookie baker! I have 2 pair of red heels that I bought with my fabulous Sister (LISA) in Charlotte NC, so they were the inspiration for this order!

4th of July

2010-07-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

Having been a military spouse for the last 23 years, I am naturally patriotic!! Loved doing the fourth of July cookies. Thanks to my super friend KRISTIE, who bought me some fourth of July cookie cutters and who has encouraged Joyful Creations right from the start - I was able to show my love for our country and our TROOPS! Note the honor, serve, love cookies - I was up on my "soapbox" wasn't I?

It's a boy! baby shower

2010-07-16T09:57:00.001-07:00

These are the most recent batch of cookies that I have baked for baby showers. I MUST have a new camera really soon, because these pics do not do the cookies justice. I was on a hot pink and lime green kick this week.
My Charlie Brown inspired Onsies!
Cookies done for abrown and light blue themed baby shower. That was fun to work with. I am not an accomplished bear maker yet - I don't know why I find them so intimidating to decorate. Thus, I have no rocking horse cookie cutter either (SCARY!)

What a fun design, inspired by some pics I found on FLICKR - I print out what I think is awesome and tape it to my table while decorating as a "GO-BY" That way I am forced to be a little more creative - looks like its a good technique for me. Thank you to all the FLICKR bakers out there - you guys ROCK!
These are more traditional baby boy cookies in pastel blue and yellow

It's a girl! baby shower

2010-07-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

More of the lime green and pink baby shower cookies. BIG fun.

Thanks again to all you FLICKR bakers out there - you are my inspiration!