This was an order that I rushed through in about 12 hours… and I think you can tell. I was a little overly excited about the new technique that saved the day on the Yoder HVAC cookies. But in this case, the swords would have been better piped free-hand. Also, there just wasn’t room for all the words on these small cookies. I should have spoken up with the donor or selected a much larger cookie. AND the cookies were too brown around the edges. Anyhow, I happened to be at this party (why am I *never* at the parties for the sets that I’m really proud of?) and was completely tickled to hear a grown man rejoicing over receiving cookies with “pirate swords” on them. Never mind that they were supposed to be medieval swords 
But guess what? Perfection or not, this order earned another five nets for the vulnerable in Africa. And that’s something to rejoice over!
Did you know that I’m gaining another incredible sister-in-law? I am! While Susie is a gifted photographer with an established photography business, she also runs her family’s HVAC company (or will be until she moves up here in September). When my brother-in-law went to visit her family in May, he thought they’d enjoy some cookies depicting the Yoder HVAC logo.
This was the first cookie that I didn’t freehand. I didn’t think I could do those fans and a few failed attempts confirmed my fears. So I tried a technique that I learned from my cookie hero, Bridget at Bake at 350. You just print out a life-sized depiction of the detail you want, then put it under parchment paper and pipe (or pipe and flood in the case of the fans) on top of the image. The piping goes incredibly quickly this way!! Believe it or not, once the icing dries completely (“completely” being the operative word!), the details simply detach themselves from the parchment paper.
Then you just drop them into wet icing and Voila! – details that I could never have achieved freehand!!
Thanks, Bridget, for the techinique! And thanks to Akie for another six nets and for picking a really awesome sister-in-law that I can’t wait to share family life with in the coming years!!!
This set was ordered for a young lady graduating from nursing school. I say that the world is a better place for another good nurse!! Our nurses at Howard County General Hospital administered and monitored painful medications in a compassionate manner and cheerfully went about physically difficult and unpleasant tasks. They sat up with me during restless, fearful nights. It was their careful observations that enabled our doctors to make good decisions and they educated me on how to care for my preemies. I have the very highest respect for the profession of nursing and it was my absolute privilege to contribute to the celebration of this new nurse!
In addition, it was a privilege to partner with this donor to earn two more nets for those in Africa who don’t have access to adequate nursing care if they are infected with malaria. Thanks for the order, Joyce, and congratulations to your daughter!
SUPER CARTER!!!
These were thank you gifts from a little guy who loves super heroes to his Special Ed preschool teachers.
Even though the Superman symbol is just red and yellow, the colors weren’t working for me until we got some blue and black in the set. To a five year old girl, there was nothing more crush-worthy than Christopher Reeves’ blue eyes and jet black hair!
There are a lot of heroes in any special needs story and most of them are unsung. To me, the greatest hero is the donor herself. She has borne the brunt of Carter’s SIX heart surgeries and ensuing complications. Having experienced the difficulties of mothering a cardiac patient, Erika has still committed to adopting a little girl named Therese from Burkina Faso who needs similar surgery and will require so much care. This will be Erika’s fourth child and her second adopted daughter. Things are moving very, very slowly in their process. Will you please pray with me now that there will be a breakthrough in this adoption so Therese can come here for the surgery and the family that she so desperately needs??
Two nets were donated from this order – one more notch on Erika’s superhero belt!
So here’s the scenario… You ask your baby girl what kind of party she wants for her third birthday. Every time, she simply responds, “Purple!!” What do you do? If you’re a good mom, like my friend Karen, you roll with it. If you’re a mom like me, you never asked the question in the first place because themed birthday parties are far too stressful!
I wasn’t sure how I was going to do these “fancy threes” (the party was a tea party brunch), so I just sat down and started experimenting. My Cookie ADD kicked in and after about four designs, I decided it would be far more fun to make a dozen unique cookies than to reproduce the same idea over and over again.
Upon observation, you may note that only nine cookies are in this collage. That, too, is due to my Cookie ADD! It completely inhibits my ability to take the same picture twelve times. Somehow I didn’t manage to grab them all (and I confess that I purposely omitted my least favorite.)
And… my favorite deserved its own picture I iced some very simple “K for Kendall” balloons because I felt that the 3’s were a little small.
Two more nets from this order!!! You people are awesome… thank you!!!
Quick related story… when my friend came to pick up the order, the house was a MESS. For instance, he and I stood talking over an arrangement of dead and rotting flowers (I had fresh ones in the kitchen but had yet to replace them – I blame the Cookie ADD). I was a little embarassed, but felt that he must understand, as I was clearly surrounded by dozens of cookies representing several different orders. As I walked him to the door, I passed a basket of laundry that was folded but not yet put away (again, Cookie ADD). Laying NEXT to the basket of laundry, in plain view of the world, and most certainly my friend, were two pairs of old, faded, grannie panties. Ay yi yi… please tell me its happened to you?!
