Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter to all of you!

Baby Shower Cookies with an Elephant Theme

Awaiting the birth of her first child - a little baby boy, Ashlea contacted me to create these elephant cookies to go with her baby shower theme of baby blue, teal and grey.  Each cookie was packaged in a cellophane bag and closed with a teal or baby blue ribbon.  I love how they turned out and know this little boy will bring Ashlea and her husband much love and joy!

P.S.  Those little grey dots?  I counted and figured out I piped 1400 for this order!  A special thanks to Amy of Sweetface Cookie Boutique for the design idea.

Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Cookies

I live in "Leaf Country" and many of my neighbours bleed blue and white.  Created for a little boy's birthday party and dedicated to all the Leaf fans who have been waiting 44 years for another cup to come to Toronto.  Go Leafs Go!

P.S.  My husband, a Habs fan, will not appreciate this post.

Easter Cookies

Looking out of my window, it is hard to believe it is Spring or that Easter is on its way, but the calendar tells me Easter is just one week away!  So on that note, here are my Easter cookie options available for preorder, pickup is Saturday, March 30th.

This darling set of bunnies and chicks is $18.  This set comes packaged in cellophane bags and colour coordinating ribbon.  This set will provide 6 packages (1 bunny or 3 chicks per package).

This adorable set of eggs and baby animals is $20.  This set comes packaged in cellophane bags and colour coordinating ribbon.  This set will provide 4 packages, each package will have a round cookie and an egg.

This bunny family can spend Easter with you for only $10.  This set comes packaged in cellophane bags and colour coordinating ribbon.  This set will provide 3 packages.

What is the Easter bunny leaving your loved ones this Easter?  Beautifully packaged with a colour-coordinated ribbon, these cookies are one of the yummiest Easter treats anyone could wish for!  Contact me today to place your order, space is extremely limited!

Thank You Cookies

I admire Kelly - she knows the importance of taking time to nourish her marriage to her terrific husband and this time she did it by planning a spa day together.  In order to make this day work, she called on her friend to take care of her son after school until she returned home.  What better token of thanks than a box of Sweet Handmade cookies?

These beautiful blossoms and ladybugs shout spring and are a perfect way to say thank you for being a kind friend.

Leap Year Baby Cookies

Corey is a leap year baby and this year celebrated his 21st (or is it 5 ¼?) birthday!  I created these cookies in a masculine grey and blue colour scheme.  Happy birthday Corey!

These cookies resulted in a big debate at my house.  If your birthday is on February 29th, and it is not a leap year, when would you celebrate?  My youngest daughter says on the 28th because you want to celebrate in the correct month, the rest of us say March 1st.  What do you think?

St. Patrick's Day Birthday Cookies

Ryan is celebrating his St. Patrick's Day birthday in style!

Happy birthday, Ryan!

Australia Travel Cookie Set

Emma's family was moving to beautiful Australia and her mom thought goodbye cookies would be a great way to celebrate one last time with her friends.

I made a variety of cookies to represent her loves and travel and her future home, including soccer and basketballs, a stack of luggage, kangaroos and boomerangs.  I hope the cookies helped to make "goodbye" a little sweeter.

Mickey Mouse Birthday Cookies

Justin, his two older brothers and his mother are regular Farmers' Market customers and during the summer months I see them weekly.  The boys love my cookies and for Justin's third birthday his mom ordered Mickey Mouse themed cookies instead of a cake.

Justin's dad came up with the fabulous idea of putting candles on the cookies, which was a huge hit!

Happy birthday Justin!

Happy Birthday Flower Cookies

These beautiful daisies and black-eyed susan cookies were sent across the country for a favourite sister who lives in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Moments of Joy - Family Dining

Yesterday was a weekday, Thursday to be precise.  Who did I have lunch with?  My wonderful husband and my two beautiful daughters.  Since my husband works out of his home office most days of the week we often have lunch together, but since both of my girls were recovering from illness, they were both home too.  As we tucked into our sandwiches I looked around and my heart swelled a little.  This is the life, I tell you!  I love mealtime together, and it is something we usually do for every meal.  Taking the time to eat together is something that brings me great joy.  I started writing this post, but realized I had written it before on an old blog.  Here it is again for your reading pleasure.

Meals were always an event growing up.  In our tiny Amsterdam home, the table was located smack-dab in the middle of the living room   Pushed towards the wall when not in use, pulled out when needed, the first order of business was always the tablecloth.  The table was already covered in a couple of tablecloths - some sort of oilcloth to protect the table and then covered with a woven cloth with awesome tassels for style.  I love playing with those tassels and if I close my eyes I can still feel them in my fingers.

At mealtime, a cotton cloth would be placed over top of the cloths already on the table.  I remember the table always being soft from the layers of tablecloths.  There was a superstition associated with a clean tablecloth.  A fresh-from-the-wash cloth would inevitably get dirty the first time in use - a gravy drip or a pudding slop.  Then my mother would say that she wouldn't wash it for just one spill and that she intended to wait until it got good and dirty before washing it again.  Of course, nothing would spill on it again and finally it would just get washed anyways.  A clean cloth would be broken out and the first time in use - a spill!

We always ate together at the table.  That was the very important ritual at our house.  We ate family style with plates of bread and toppings at breakfast and lunchtime, bowls of steaming hot food at dinner time.  It made for lots of family time, talking, laughing and enjoying each other.  Oh, the life lessons we learned there!

We did occasionally eat lunch away from the table.  My mom would ask if we wanted "camping bread".  That question was always met with a resounding "yes!" and off she would go to break out that special kind of bread.  Open-faced sandwiches would appear on plates and we would sit in the living room, right beside the dining table (!) and enjoy that incredibly delicious lunch, tasting so much better than when we ate at the table.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered "camping bread" wasn't a special recipe baked up by the baker, just regular bread eaten on our laps!  In the innocence of youth, it was a mystery why it tasted so much better!

Eating at the table for each meal didn't end until my husband and I moved into our first apartment.  We brought a bunch of hand-me-downs with us, including an old table, but I think we ate at it twice and after about a year we got rid of the table.  Our apartment also had a bar that we could have eaten at, we didn't do that even once!  We lived like students, well, I was one, and ate all our meals on our laps.  For five years!  We never invited anyone to dinner because there was no place to eat once we got rid of the table.

One of my greatest joys when we moved into our first house was the delivery of our newly purchased dining room table.   We visited many, many stores, but eventually settled on a beautiful solid maple table with six chairs (I wish I could have justified more chairs and a sideboard, but alas...).  That was 17 years ago and we still have and use that table every day.  For every meal.  The four of us gather and eat together.  We try to wait until everyone is sitting to start eating (sometimes that is hard if you are really, really hungry!)  I have had many happy moments of joy sharing meals at the table with family and friends.  I hope to have many more!

X-Rays and Broken Bone Cookies

The call came Monday while I was at lunch with my girlfriend - it was the school secretary: "Can you come get Annie, she is really hurt after falling on the ice."  When I arrived to the school my brave girl broke down, crying and constantly letting me know that her shoulder "really hurts!"  A few hours later we had the diagnosis, broken humerus and she will be spending the next four weeks wearing a sling as it heals.

It was the first time I have had to deal with a broken bone in all my years of motherhood, thank goodness, but it was not fun witnessing the pain my sweet Annie was in.  A few days later, the reality has set in, most of her extra-curricular activities are on hold - horseback riding, piano, guitar, dance and swimming.  To top it off, she needs my help with almost everything - brushing and shampooing her hair, putting on her socks, cutting her food!  At almost 13 years old, she is not enjoying this loss of independence, but secretly I am enjoying this return to hands-on mothering.  I made some cookies to share - edible x-rays and yummy pain relief!

Get Well Soon Cookie Bouquet

After an injury, Veronica needed a pick-me-up.  A delicious bouquet seemed like the perfect sweet medicine.  Get well soon, Veronica!

Stonebridge Guitar Cookie Set

It's a mom's prerogative to do something nice for her children, so after he tasted and raved about Sweet Handmade cookies, she decided to order him some,... just because.  After discussing many theme ideas, we settled on a musical one.  He has a special love affair with his custom made Stonebridge guitar and I hope I did it justice with this set.

I love how all the cookies turned out, but I especially love the plaque cookie in the front left - "Just because... you love cookies"  Cute!

Baby Shower Cookies

Babies bring so much joy; the celebration of a new life, and an endless landscape of possibilities ahead of them!  To celebrate the upcoming arrival of a baby boy, I was asked to create cookies for the baby shower.  Working on these cookies (especially the onesies) really reminded me of the times with my little ones, who have grown up so super fast!

Moments of Joy - Laundry Room

My husband and I bought our house from plans almost 12 years ago.  We knew what we wanted; only one dining area, a big kitchen, a nice view of something other than a neighbour's house, a southern exposure and a main floor laundry.  I wasn't hung up on the number of bedrooms or the size of the place, most new homes had the appropriate number of bathrooms and good flow, nice windows and space for a dishwasher.  We figured we could fix anything necessary over the years because our intention was always to stay for the long haul.  And when we saw the plans for our 1700 square foot bungalow, with its small but practical main floor laundry room, I was sold.  I have never regretted our decision in choosing this house.  And because our home is a bungalow we were able to create a lovely apartment for my mother in our basement, a space that has since morphed into our rec room and office, our old office becoming my business kitchen.  Lots of room for our family of four + poochie.

That beloved little laundry room is located right by the front door.  You can enter it from the front hall or the garage.  I'd like to call it a mudroom, but the truth is, there is no room for mud.  It is crammed full - our 15+ year old washer and dryer (well used and oft repaired), laundry sink and the smallest linen closet you have ever seen.  Within weeks of moving in I hung shelves and hooks in every spot possible and the room is a storage area for all my vases, rags, garbage bags, light bulbs, shoe care, cleaning supplies, extra sponges, clean laundry temporary storage, the never-empty-yet-to-be-sorted-clean-sock basket, boot and shoe overflow area, extra detergents, my gym bag, brooms and mops, heart-rate monitors, goggles and other sport gear, extra reusable grocery bags and our dog's food and water bowls as well as her treats.  I'm okay with all of that.  Everything has its place and when in its place, it is a very full yet organized room.

Unfortunately, when we have company coming, it is also the place for overflow, everything that needs to be out of the way gets dumped in there - unread newspapers, unwashed or unfolded laundry - which is soon mixed up and all deemed dirty again, recycling, recently three boxes filled with old dishes, all things that have been hanging around the house that don't have a home.  When the company arrives the door gets closed and no one knows what is hiding behind there.  But while the stuff goes in, it never really comes out again, and in all honesty, it had been months since I did something about it.  So, this past weekend I took the time to clean up.  It took half a day of sorting, tidying and throwing out, and things looked much, much worse before they got better and really, it's never going to be a beautiful room, but there a good feeling now when I step into this tidy little space.  Just like when I wash the windows or clean the fridge, I want to keep enjoying the new feeling of cleanliness.  To walk in without stumbling with a clear path right to Marley's food dish, to have access to the sink, to know where things are and be able to get at them, to be able to open the dryer door without bumping into something (although usually the dog is in the way, isn't she always?) even to be able to open the garage door without first having to move the boxes of dishes out of the way, it feels light and has brought me more than one moment of joy this week!

Curling Cookies

Heather's family loves curling and her boys are pretty sensational.  She wanted to celebrate her sons' team success with cookies, so I created these cookies for them.  One of the things that I really love about this profession is the amount of learning it requires.  In order to do these cookies justice, I found out about all about the sport of curling, despite the fact that I have never played it.  The circular target, represented here in cookie form, is called the house and the goal of the sport is to slide the polished granite stones, called the "rocks", towards the house.  Curling is game of strategy, aided by the skill of the curler sliding the stone in a curve and the sweepers using their brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone.  This strategy and skill has earned curling the nickname "Chess on Ice".  

Well, these cookies certainly brought them some luck, because after winning the Regional Gore Mutual Schoolboy curling challenge, they went on to place 2nd in the provincials in Haliburton!  Read the full story here!

Congratulations Ian, Tyler, Connor and Jordan!

Sweet Sixteen Birthday Cookies

After speaking with Sam's mom, who asked me to make cookies for Sam's sweet sixteen birthday, it was decided I would be the best person to secretly find out theme ideas for her "Sweet Sixteen Birthday Cookie" tray.  Yes, a top secret stealth operation would be required to get the details without giving away why I was trying to find out about her party.  Since I drive her and my oldest daughter to school every morning, I started out by casually asking about her upcoming birthday party.  She stopped me in my tracks to say - "I know you are making me cookies."  It looks like I don't have a future in private investigation after all, it's back to the kitchen with me!

Sam had a great time with her friends and these delicious cookies in her theme of hot pink, silver and black.  Happy, happy birthday Sam!

Mickey Mouse Cookies

A sweet set of Mickey Mouse cookies for someone turning 1!

Moments of Joy - Seeing Light After the Darkness

Eleven months ago I received an unexpected phone call.  It brought shocking and devastating news - my dear friend of almost 30 years had died suddenly during an overnight visit to the hospital (for pneumonia).  Janis was only 43 years old, happily married, a loving mother of three boys aged 11, 8 and 5, a hugely successful career woman who had a life of travel and a huge network of family, friends and colleagues.  We were all unprepared and shocked by her sudden death.  Janis and I had met on the first day of high school and soon we were best friends, our high school days filled with sleepovers, school activities like music and yearbook and school council and fundraising and travel, talking about our future and our dreams.  One of our high school friends eventually became her husband, and he is also the friend who introduced me to the man who would become my husband, so lots of good times and good memories for all of us.   

We organized a dance-a-thon fundraiser at our local mall back in 1986.

Her death filled me with sadness and disbelief, feelings of helplessness and a loss of control filled my thoughts every day in the weeks and months following her death.  I needed to take more time to appreciate each day, I needed to find the joy in simple things and really learn to appreciate them.

A day together with our families in 2008.

The first time I consciously noticed something simple bringing me joy was a few months ago when I was in the car in a parking lot.  I took the keys out of the ignition and opened the door.  I had left the headlights on and as a warning, the car sang out the sweetest and gentlest song of reminder to me.  It filled me with a sense of happiness that I got to hear that song and thought it was a lovely way to give warning (why couldn't my alarm clock sing such a pretty song?)  I considered writing my feelings down at that moment to remember and appreciate how I felt, but, I didn't and I promptly forgot about it.  Then it happened again a few weeks later and I remembered the sound and the joy it brought me before.  I knew I had to write it down to truly appreciate it and I decided sharing those "Moments of Joy" could benefit more than just me, so I am sharing on this bigger platform with you, my fans and friends from the various corners of the world.  I think a weekly post will force me to look for those moments that bring me joy and I am happy to find moments like these in a world that is sometimes sad and dark.  I would also love to hear about what brings you joy.  There are days when I need all the help I can get!

Lalaloopsy Cookies

Lalaloopsy is a line of rag dolls, popular since 2010.  Here is Crumbs Sugar Cookie in cookie form.  Her biography describes her as sugary sweet with a big heart.  She is well know and liked.  She likes to spend time baking and planning tea parties and inviting friends over for treats.  I had no idea we had so much in common when I baked and decorated her!

Family Day Cookies

In honour of family day, being celebrated today in numerous Canadian provinces, I offer my family cookie collage.  See if you can find the cheerleader, hockey player, dancer, musician and a mom-to-be as well as more moms, dads, grandparents and lots of happy kids.  Our families are all unique and special, and hopefully all filled with love!  Happy Family Day everyone!  (Thanks Jill and your funky cookie studio for your people inspiration!)

Triathlon Cookies

I am not sure how it all happened, but somehow I have become a part of a triathlon club at my town's local leisure centre (check out our beautiful facility here).  The club helps us to prepare for triathlon or duathlon type events.  During the winter months we are doing spinning classes, swimming in the pool and running outside (or inside on the track if the conditions are icy), and as the weather warms up we will be moving all the components outside.

Years ago I participated in a couple of duathlon events consisting of running and biking, but since then I have eliminated running from my life due to stiffness and pain.  When I learned about aquathon events that involve just biking and swimming, I figured I could consider participating in those.  First, I had to conquer my fears in the pool and learn the front crawl.  It was so bad, that at my first tri-club swim class I almost had a panic attack at the thought of putting my face in the water.  But in the months since then, I have spent many hours each week in the pool and I can now say I have conquered my fears and mastered the front crawl; in fact at yesterday's class I was timed doing 200 meters of front crawl.  It's not pretty and certainly not fast, but I am pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this at my age!

For me, one of the best parts of this club is the social aspect.  My husband, who is also my best friend, is in the club and he is really dedicated to fitness, so it ensures we never miss a class.  It's fun to be with him and all the other great triathletes in the class.  Recently we invited the whole team to our house for a post bike/run brunch.  We served coffee, tea and juices, delicious carrot cake muffins, fruit, veggies, a breakfast strata and triathlon cookies.  The brunch was lovely and the cookies were delicious!  Here's to a great summer of athletic success!

Birthday Hearts and Buttons Cookies

Hearts and buttons for my mom's Valentine birthday!  Happy birthday Moeder Miep!

Chinese New Year Cookies

Today is Chinese New Year - Kung Hei Fat Choi!  Enjoy these beautiful cookies.  2013 is the Year of the Snake. Those born under this sign are sophisticated, analytical and wise!  A special thank you to Callye from Sweet Sugar Belle for her beautiful design ideas.

Cookies Celebrating the Grammys

Do your Sunday night plans involve the Grammys?  While award shows are not that interesting to me, I love a good musical performance (I thought the Band Perry was outstanding last year) and the clothes sucker me in every time!  Personally I would like to see Mumford and Sons, Adele and Deadmau5 walk away winners tomorrow night, but I must admit I will probably PVR it and fast-forward through a number of the performances while nibbling on some snacks, including these yummy cookies!

Sweater Cookies for National Sweater Day

My family really loves this earth and we do all we can to reduce our carbon footprints; we drive small cars, we use a clothesline, we purchase local whenever we can and we are Bullfrog Powered (learn more about this fabulous energy provider here).

Today is National Sweater Day (learn more about this WWF initiative here), where the idea is to lower the thermostat and put on a sweater.  This is the norm for us anyways, keeping the thermostat at 18.5°C (65°F) during the night and daytime, only raising the heat in the mornings for when we get out of bed and get ready for the day and around suppertime until bedtime.  It can be a challenge on cold days since both my husband and I work from home, but on baking days the oven helps me stay warm and sometimes my husband will sit near the fireplace, warming up only one room in the house.  Sweaters do help, and sometimes the warmth of the laptop is a delightful little treat!  Before long it will be hot again and we will long for the cold days of Canadian winters!

If you have not already, consider installing a programmable thermostat to lower temperatures when you are asleep or not home.  We have three in our house (one for the furnace, two for our gas fireplaces) and I installed them all myself in a matter of minutes.  According to the sweaterday.ca website, if every Canadian made the effort to lower the heat by 2°C this winter, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 4 Megatons!  I will get off my soap box now, but thank you for listening!

“A Box of Chocolates” Cookies

These scrumptious all-butter sugar cookies are decorated with royal icing and are disguised to look like the best quality chocolates.  Boxed and completed with a beautiful ribbon, ready for giving to your sweetheart.  Thank you to Pam of Cookie Crazie for the inspiration for this sweet treat.  Box of 16 1.5” cookies for $30.  

Valentine Heart Cookies

Heavenly all-butter cookies in a variety of valentine colours.  $22 per dozen.

Rose Bouquet Cookies

This romantic set comes with 10 delightful cookies as shown (cookies range in size from 1” to 3”).  Win your lover’s heart with these delicious cookies for $18.

Be My Valentine Cookie Set

Perfect for a Valentine’s exchange, this delicious two cookie package of a heart and love letter is closed with a pink or red ribbon and custom tag.  $4 per package, minimum order 12 packages.

Birthday Bouquet Cookie

I created this birthday bouquet cookie for my sister-in-law, with royal icing ribbon roses. I wish I could have given it to her in person, alas she lives overseas in the Netherlands.  I love you, Ellen!

Super Bowl XLVII

To the shame of many sport fans, the only thing that interests me about the Super Bowl is the halftime show.  I also like these cookies!  And if I had to pick a team, it would be the 49ers because their logo was the easier of the two to recreate on a cookie!

Groundhog Day Confusion

As a child, Groundhog Day was always a confusing time for me.  I know it sounds silly, but for some reason, I only ever heard "If the groundhog sees his shadow, there are six more weeks of winter."  I didn't understand what would happen if he didn't see it - according the calendar, winter is actually more than six weeks after Groundhog day, so why were people always so gloomy at the thought of him seeing his shadow?  It took years before I heard that the alternative was an early spring.

So, will it be six more weeks of winter?  Or - for those of you who don't know the alternative - an early spring?  We will find out tomorrow morning and I am hoping for an early spring.

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!