Birthday Cake Cookie

Happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Kevin!

Dog Cookies (for People)

Local business woman Jenn has one true love in her life, a beautiful Australian Shepherd named Maisy.

Look at this beautiful shot of Maisy taken by Amy Vee Photography - www.amyveephotography.com/index2.php

Recently Jenn approached me with an idea about celebrating Maisy's birthday, by thanking all her friends who help her with Maisy; you know what they say - "it takes a village".  She had an idea of creating Maisy in cookie form, so I went to work and came up with two whimsical designs for us to discuss.

These cookies were just a starting point and Jenn and I got together to discuss how to make them perfect.  First was the background colour - Maisy is all girl and the blue background had to be changed to pink.  Also, Maisy doesn't have a tail, so no tails on the final cookies!  Her nose is pinker, her ears darker and in the end, we decided on the tall dog's body, the short dog's head and the tall dog's ears and tongue.  Here is the final result (notice I left in the "wiggle"):

I love them and so did Jenn, who gave me a great big hug and was very excited with the end result.  Packaged with a small bone with Maisy's nickname (Maisy Moo), the many people who love and care for her will enjoy these delicious cookies.

Happy birthday, Maisy Moo!

Birthday Flower Cookie

Happy birthday to my beautiful sister-in-law, Amy.

Horse Head and Horse Ribbon Cookies

My youngest daughter is in love with horses and rides at Foxwood Farms in Bradford, Ontario (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Foxwood-Farms-Bradford-Ontario/106886766016951).  When my husband and I decided to join a triathlon training club that meets at the same time as her Saturday morning lesson I was stumped as to how to get her there.  That is when fellow rider Jacklyn and her mom Sarah stepped in and offered to pick her up each week to get her to her lesson.  How can I really express my thanks for that kindness?  Well, I started with cookies!

Designed to look like Jacklyn's favourite horse - Blaze, with a chestnut body and sorrel mane (see Annie, I do pay attention when you try to teach me about horses!), this cookie is a large 8" across.  To complete this horsey theme, I thought a blue (first place) ribbon to say "thanks" added a nice touch.  I appreciate your kindness, Sarah and Jacklyn!

Cruise Ship Vacation Cookies

Is cruise travel in your future? These cookies catch the spirit of a relaxing cruise vacation.

And after some doubt about whether to include the life ring cookies, I received confirmation that life rings do not bring up feelings of fear and so they made the set! 

Complete with starfish, shells and silver dollars, thoughts of cruising and beaching fill the mind.

I must say I love the water splashing up in front of this cruise ship - bon voyage!

Birthday Party Cookie Set

Cookies are a wonderful birthday gift. Cookies come beautifully packaged and are easy to share with friends. Order a set in your favourite colour combination for your next birthday gathering.

Epiphany Cookies

Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th each year. Also known as the 12th day of Christmas and Three Kings Day, these three crown cookies represent the kings who presented Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh.

New Year's Eve Cookies

Celebrate New Year's with these wonderfully sparkly and delicious cookies.

 

 

New Year's Countdown Cookies - Let the countdown begin with these delicious and sparkly cookies (13 large cookies and 24 minis) for $40.  

 

 

New Year's Party Cookies - Welcome 2013 with these elegant cookies (6 large cookies and 24 minis) for $30.

 

New Year's 2013 Cookies - Celebrate the start of 2013 with these cheery cookies (8 medium cookies and 24 minis) for $20. 


 

Wishing all of you a wonderful 2013.  Peace on Earth.

Christmas 2012

The offerings for Christmas 2012. Place your orders immediately, space is extremely limited!

To ensure I don't miss your order - email me at sweethandmade@rocketmail.com

 

Large Christmas Cookie set

This set of 18 delicious cookies include a snowman, 4 ornaments, 2 mittens, 2 christmas trees, 3 snowflakes, 3 stars and 3 candy canes. $40

 

Hockey jerseys - perfect team gifts, customized with your team's names and numbers! $30 for 12, $3 each additional cookie.
 

 

 

Small Christmas Cookie set

This set of 10 delicious cookies include a snowman, 2 mittens, 2 christmas trees, 3 snowflakes and 2 stars. $24
 





Gingerbread snowflakes - 8" across, not suitable for shipping. $8 each.

 

 

Christmas Cookie Kit

Unlike any cookie kit available in the stores, my "Christmas Cookie Kit" comes freshly made for you with 12 ready-to-decorate chocolate or gingerbread cookies (flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate or molasses and spices), a piping bag of royal icing (simply sugar and meringue powder), small candies and dragees. This is very different from the store-bought variety which has been sitting around for months! All you need to do is sit back and enjoy the fun the kids are having. If you are lucky, you'll get to sneak a few delicious bites! $20 per kit.
 

 

Mistletoe and Mittens Cookie Set

This set of 12 delicious cookies include 2 snowflakes, 2 mittens, 4 ornaments, 2 holly leaves with berries and 2 mistletoe cookies. $30

 



 

Ornaments Cookie Set

This set of 12 delicious cookies include ornaments in two different colours, accented with sanding sugar snowflakes. $30

 

Snowflake Cookie Set

This set of delicious cookies include 12 snowflakes. $30



Red and Blue Flower Cookies

Flowers, of the most delicious kind, designed to brighten someone's day. Totally inspired by Callye, Sweet Sugar Belle, cookie genius!

Moustache Cookies

 

 

Really cute moustache cookies for Movember.



Cookie Cutters

Trying to get some organization in my more than 300 cookie cutters!

Baby Shower Cookies

These beautiful cookies were made for a baby shower with a yellow and grey theme.

Changing the Focus from Cakes to Decorated Cookies

My business started as an extension of my hobby; baking, and while I didn't know how it would turn out at the time, I started making a lot of cakes - weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, showers, etc.  I loved being part of the celebration for these exciting events but since I am being honest with you, often struggled to love the final product.  I have always considered myself a baker first, an artist a distant second.  The cakes I was called upon to do often involved intricate details, some of which I love to do (like sugar flowers), some of which send chills up and down my spine (sculpting figures, for example).  I tend to focus on every imperfection, despite the accolades I received.  Being a small business owner, I always took the work and sometimes worked myself into a frenzy trying to produce the best cake and all its elements.

Last summer I started making a lot of hand-rolled, hand-iced sugar cookies for my town's farmers' market, to much acclaim I might add, and loved the creative process involved.  I also marvelled at how I continued to improve my skills in this field and often was happy with the products I produced.  I have made thousands of these cookies for the market, as well as hundreds (at a time) for corporate events and weddings. This past Thanksgiving was a revelation - I cranked out 450 cookies over a couple of days, loving every minute of it, probably because ever since I was a child I have had a strange facination with production lines, and making these cookies makes me feel like a one-man production line!  I realized I would be really happy if I did decorated cookies all the time.  And so, for the last few weeks I have been seeking advice, speaking to customers and friends and trying to decide if this would be an appropriate move for Sweet Handmade and myself.

An important factor in deciding to change my business focus is time management.  It is extremely important to me to create a fresh product and since celebrations that require cake often take place on the weekend, my work week didn't usually start until Thursday and I would often find myself working Friday night and Saturdays.  While I haven't exactly been missing out on hot dates and parties, I am sad to be missing time with my family, as they are upstairs watching movies or hoping for family time.  With my daughers being teenagers, I recognize they won't want to hang out with me much longer and I don't like to miss these opportunities.  Decorated cookies have a different kind of schedule.  The decorating often takes a day or two and the icing takes up to 24 hours to dry.  This takes my work week back into the Monday to Friday range and frees up my evenings and weekends.

The final factor that I have been considering is the ability for these cookies to travel.  My niece in Nova Scotia ordered cookies for her sons' birthdays and I would have never considered any kind of cake for this journey.  These delicious cookies not only travel well, they also stay fresh for a couple of weeks.  This allows me to open up my customer base to anywhere in Canada.

So with this post, I am announcing that Sweet Handmade will now only be offering hand-rolled and hand-iced sugar cookies.  I will continue to offer birthday parties (which include both cake and cookies) because they are so much fun!  All cake orders I have accepted will be honoured, of course.  Over the next few weeks I will post pictures of some of my newest cookie photos, with inspirational ideas like cookie gift boxes, wedding and shower favours, birthday party trays, and corporate cookies.  Like my cakes, the possibilities are endless and with your support I hope to continue to grow Sweet Handmade!

12th Birthday Cake with High Heals and Animal Print

I am no longer taking cake orders, I am only creating (and shipping, when necessary) beautiful decorated sugar cookies.  This cake is from the archives and was never published before.

12th birthday cake for Angelique with heals and animal print.

14th birthday pinboard cake with edible images

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating instead on delicious and beautiful decorated sugar cookies.  This cake was finished with edible images, also possible with cookies!  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Chloe's 14th birthday pinboard cake with edible images.

Wooden Tub Baby Shower Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating on beautiful decorated sugar cookies - check out some of my beautiful baby shower cookies here.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Wooden tub baby shower cake.

Beautiful Birthday Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, focusing on decorated cookies for birthdays and all special events.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Birthday cake for Ellis.

Ferrari Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating on beautifully decorated sugar cookies instead.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Ferrari cake for James.

1st Birthday Jungle Animal Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders.  My business is now decorated cookies.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Jungle animal 1st birthday cake.

Golf Cake for Dad

I am no longer taking cake orders, now focusing my business on decorated cookies.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

A golf loving dad's 43rd birthday cake.

Winery Wedding Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating on decorated sugar cookies.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.  

Created for a lovely couple exchanging vows at a local winery, with a buttercream finish and meringue flowers and grape clusters.

Hockey Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating on decorated cookies instead.  I have a great interpretation of this cake in cookies - check them out here!  This cake comes from the archives and was never posted before.

Celebrating Connor's birthday with a hockey cake.

Las Vegas 30th Birthday Poker Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, but contact me for decorated Las Vegas poker cookies.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Las Vegas poker cake for 30th birthday.

Lemon Crate Cake for Book Launch

I am no longer taking care orders, concentrating on hand decorated custom sugar cookies.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

This cake was created for a book launch event - Marlene's Meal Makeovers Cook Once, Produce Twice Kids.

13th Birthday Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, concentrating instead on beautifully decorated, custom sugar cookies - check out this Sweet 16 set!  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before.

Confetti and streamers for Chelsea's 13th birthday.

80th Birthday Cake

I am no longer taking cake orders, specializing now in beautiful and delicious custom sugar cookies, like this set for someone turning 70.  This cake comes from the archives and was never published before due to poor photograph quality.

Rose cake for a classy lady's 80th birthday, I love this beautiful design!