Father's Day Cookies & 24 years ♥

My husband doesn't eat many of the "treats" that I make.
But he LOVES my butter cookies......

and I'm getting better with royal icing, thanks to some of the fantastic how-to video's over at University of Cookie! Bridget's "Making Royal Icing- video tutorial" was SO helpful!

So we decided for Father's Day, we'd make him some cookies.



Sunshine has been dying to learn how to decorate with rolled fondant.

So we picked up a few supplies
and some ready made fondant
and made little hearts for our I ♥ Dad t-shirt cookies



We are going to sign up for some classes at Michaels, but check out the flower she made all on her own with out an instruction!



What plans do you have for Father's Day?
are you baking anything special?

Sunday is also our 24th Wedding Anniversary!♥

This is part of what I wrote last year.........

I know that I love waking up next to you every morning. I love knowing that you’ll make me laugh out loud every day. I love talking to you and sharing everything with you. I love that you put up with me and all my flaws. I love that you are THE best Dad and provider for our family! I love that you NEVER let us down. I love that your family ALWAYS comes first. I love that you tell me I look fabulous when I feel fat. I love that you hug me when I cry. I love that you will go to the store when I don't feel like going. I love that you will pick up pizza when I don't feel like cooking. I love that you know me. I LOVE that you LOVE me. I love that it’s painfully obvious that our 2 kids are our 2 kids and they have good and bad features/traits/habits from each of us. I hope we have managed to set an example for our girls as to what a happy, successful marriage is.

~Love you honey!!!

You can read more about why I love this man here!

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL father's day!

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University of Cookie, a winner & new sponsors!

I know these days many of us are trying our hand at royal icing and cookie decorating. Along with that comes a LOT of questions.......

I don't know about you, but I'm a VISUAL person. I can read and read, but SEEING what I'm supposed to do can make ALL the difference when it comes to cookie decorating.

Well, we are in luck!

University of Cookie is a new site devoted to cookie decorating!

It's going to be "THE PLACE to be" for cookie decorating, tutorial, videos and more!

Who's the "Dean" of this awesome place of higher learning you ask?

Why non other than my buddy Bridget of Bake at 350!

Bridget has always been so giving of information, tips and how-to's with her cookie baking....well now she's bringing it to a whole new level!

Video!

Yep that's right.....it will be like we are right in the kitchen with Bridget!

She has also invited me and an impressive lineup of other "Visiting Professors”, who will each contribute videos of their own! .....she said I can do some cupcake posts!! woohooo!!

So head over and take a look at the first video Bridget has up on flood icing. - she's SO cute!

Bridget says "University of Cookie will get a fabulous look in a few weeks after Jessica of The Frilly Coconut gets a hold of it!"

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Next up.........I promised to announce the winner of the

Custom Vintage Monograms from Cathe Holden

.......boy you ladies LOVE Cathe and Monograms!!

random.org choose one winner out of 187 entries!

Congratulations to Cindy she wrote:

44. Pretty Little Things for Home Life said...

Vinyl for a wall decal. As well, I'd have stencils cut to do some glass etching on some vintage apothecary jars on my bathroom counter, among other things! :)

Remember, if you didn't win.....you can always purchase your Custom Monogram from Cathe's Etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageMonograms

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and one last bit of news......

I have 2 fabulous new TidyMom sponsors!!

SnootiePatootie.com

Snootie Patootie is owned by mother and daughter team, Judy and Robyn. At Snootie Patootie you can find great gifts for every occasion or for yourself. From children’s clothing, products by Little Giraffe, jewelry, Vagabond House pewter, and stylish bags, you can find them here.

You can also find Robyn and Snootie Patootie at Our Homeschool Home, Robyn on Twitter, Snootie Patootie on Twitter and on Facebook.

and

RemodelingThisLife.com

Emily is a 30 year old stay at home mom to 2. She blogs about her life.

Emily had been deep in consumer debt after years of overspending on stuff that she thought she needed to be happy. After digging herself a hole more than $10,000K deep by the age of 23, she has been debt free for over 5 years now.
4 years ago, Emily and her husband along with their then 1 year old daughter sold their big house in cold and gray New York and moved to Florida, where they decided to change their life and their ways.
Mostly she writes about simplicity and frugality. She touches on organization, decluttering, and ways to simplify.

You can also follow Emily on Twitter.

If you're interested in a sponsor partnership with TidyMom, you can email me for more information. Right now I have a Mother's Day's special rate if you sign up by Mother's Day!

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I'm Lovin' It - Baby Shower Cookies

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for making this such a fun event each week!! I really try to make it around to all of the links AND comment, but sometimes I just can't make it to all of them.........but PLEASE know how much I appreciate each of you for linking up!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What am I Lovin' this week?

I have to be honest here........

if you had asked me last week,
I probably would NOT have said I was loving these cookies! lol

Our nephew and his wife are expecting their first baby, a little girl, in May. For her baby shower instead of having a cake, I made cookies and cupcakes.

I was excited to try out the new onsie and baby bottle cookie cutters I had recently bought.
I drew up my plans on paper, and got to work.

They took a lot of time and patience......
and I wasn't thrilled with them when I finished them.

But now looking back, I guess they're not too bad!
Everyone at the shower loved them!

I bagged them all up and took them in a basket!

I also made the raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes again, like I did for Easter,
but this time with pink butter cream.

♥ I just love baby showers.........and baby bellies! ♥

Isn't she so cute?

It wont be much longer!

***Edited - I linked this post up at Bake at 350 - Bridget wanted to see what we've been baking this spring!! - check out all the great links and Bridget's strawberry cookies!!

Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

MckLinky will stay open until April 18, 2010 11pm CST.

<a href="http://www.tidymom.net"><img border="0" src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k190/tidymom/my%20blog%20stuff/layout%20stuff/Imlovinit_button.png" /></a>

I'm Lovin' It! ~Easter Cut-Out Cookies

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

First I have a bit of business to address........

• You may want to pop over here to see if you were the winner of The Rusted Chain Giveaway {hint, there's a little something for everyone!}
  

• Did you see who was the guest poster here on TidyMom yesterday? Stephanie of Somewhat Simple posted a few great projects you can see here and I will be guest posting on her AMAZING blog today(friday)!!.......so when you're finished here, hop over to Somewhat Simple and say hello to me over there and take a look around while you're there!!

This week I am loving the Easter/Spring cookies I made!

I used my Butter Cookie recipe and decorated with Royal Icing and sprinkles.

I owe some BIG thanks to Bridget for all of her wonderful tips on Royal Icing!.....
if you've never decorated cookies with royal icing, or would just like some tips from a pro.....Bridget has a few fantastic posts .....

Royal Icing 101 and Royal Icing 102

See that cute green egg with the yellow hearts?

Learned how to do that snazy trick from Sweetopia here

you'll never guess how easy that was!

and I think these little chickies are my favorites!!

Bake it Pretty has an awesome video on how to roll out cookie dough!
see the video here.

I'm not very steady with my piping .......but click the picture below to see my cookies from last year!

This was my first attempt at royal icing......not bad, but I think I've improved some!

Over the weekend I got together with a few friends to show them how easy it is to decorated cupcakes!! - didn't they do a fabulous job?.....You can see more pictures on Angie's blog. - I'm going to warn you though, she shows you how messy I am when I decorate! LOL

Check out these great parties that I linked this post to:
Bake at 350, Strut Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff Easter/Spring, Ultimate Recipe Swap,

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

MckLinky will stay open until April 4, 2010 11pm CST.

<a href="http://www.tidymom.net"><img border="0" src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k190/tidymom/my%20blog%20stuff/layout%20stuff/Imlovinit_button.png" /></a>

Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

There are many food flavors that just go so well together.......but nothing beats chocolate and peanut butter. I first posted a to die for Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cake back in September and then I posted about our Krispie Peanut Butter balls I made at Christmas.

Well today I have another Chocolate Peanut Butter combo for you that I think you're REALLY going to like!! It's super duper easy like the Chocolate Chip Brownie cookies that I posted in December.

We've been wanting to try brownies in a cupcake form and when I made the chocolate cake with peanut butter filling we thought it would be good on brownies too. I recently saw a similar idea out there in blogville some where, but I didn't bookmark it and now I can't find it.....so if anyone knows where I may have seen this, can you let me know so I can link to it.

May I introduce to you.........Brownie Cupcakes with Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting!

Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Brownie Cupcakes

1 prepared box of your favorite Brownie Mix (we use and love Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies)

1/2 to 1 cup Reeses Peanut Butter chips (I just dumped some in)

• Make brownies according to package directions.
  
• Add peanut butter chips and mix.
• Pour batter into paper lined cupcake pan, filling about 3/4 full (I got 15 cupcakes out of this mix)
  
• Bake at 350° approximately 20 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Don't over bake.
• Cool completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (you could probably use milk, and maybe only 3 tbsp)

2 cups powdered sugar

• Beat butter and peanut butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer.
• Gradually add powdered sugar
• Add cream one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick.
  
• Beat for at least 3 minutes until nice and fluffy.
  

Frost brownie cupcakes with frosting. I used a 1M tip, but you could spread with a knife if you want.

I had extra frosting left over, and we had just made a batch of Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies the day before.......so I sandwiched some frosting between two cookies for another tasty treat!!

If you haven't used those bag cookie mixes......you don't know what you're missing. They're so easy and great when you want "homemade" cookies with out the time and mess!

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I'm sharing this recipe at Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam Mouth Watering Mondays and Tuesdays at the Table, Cupcake Tuesday, Ultimate Recipe Swap Foodie Friday recipe exchanges, and Kimba's DIY Day and Jerri's Friday Favorites.

Birthday cookies for ME!!!!

So I didn't really PLAN to post about today being my birthday and all............but when these beauties arrived on my doorstep yesterday...........I just knew I HAD the share them with you!!

Do you remember me telling you about my friend Bridget who got to go to New York and bake a cake with Kelly Rippa, Buddy (Cake Boss) and Electolux? Well, Bridget offered to giveaway one dozen of her cookies to one of her readers who voted for her cake!

Well guess who won the cookies?!!!

Yes!! It was me!!!!
and when Bridget found out it was close to my birthday she decided to make
BIRTHDAY cookies for ME!!

She asked me what my favorite colors were.........
not knowing what she had up her sneaky little sleeves!

These cookies arrived just in time for my birthday......the day before to be exact!

I've always admired Bridget's cookies on her blog.....but I'm telling you people
they are even MORE AWESOME in person!!

and they taste INCREDIBLE!! They're soft, yummy and PERFECT!


Thanks again to Bridget for making my day more perfect........
I'm SOOO incredibly lucky to call you my friend!♥

I have to tell you a little "funny" about when the cookies arrived....My hubby knows about Bridget, but I guess I've never mentioned the name of her blog or cookie biz....

My daughter and I were eating our cookies and commenting on how SOFT and yummy they were....my hubby looks at the box (With Bridget's GORGEOUS Bake at 350 label on it)and said "I think you're supposed to bake these before you eat them!".......my daughter and I busted out laughing.....MEN!!!!

The Perfect Snickerdoodle recipe

I know, I know..........I've been baking a LOT lately!

Judge away if you must, fact is my family likes sweets. There, I said it!

But seriously, when you go to the grocery store, don't you buy some junk snacks? A bag of cookies? snack cakes? a bag of candy?.........I do! Don't get me wrong, I pick up fruit, yogurt, veggies and other good stuff, but sometimes instead of buying the sweets, I make them.

My hubby's favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles. I didn't get around to making any at Christmas time. So when my friend Kristina posted that she had found The PERFECT Snickerdoodle I knew that I had to try them out!! Not to mention that I jump at any chance to make my house smell like cinnamon heaven!

Shortly after these puppies came out of the oven I had to try one out, I then immediately reached for a second one!

The dreaminess of cinnamon and sugar along with crisp edges and a soft cake-like center will make the perfect Snickerdoodle, and by golly, I believe this one does all of that and more!

These classic cookies are the perfect crowd pleaser!

Pop over to Kristina's for her Perfect Snickerdoodle recipe!

Thanks Kristina!!

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I'd like to introduce another new TidyMom sponsor.......

Amanda from Beautiful Blog Designs.

Amanda is a homeschooling, work-at-home mom of four children. Beautiful Blog Designs is a blog dedicated to helping bloggers find free and premade blog templates, as well as showcase the many talented female blog designers.

Amanda and I have really connected recently with our love affair with our Nikon cameras! I'd love for you to head over to her blog and show her some love, she's a wonderful person and friend!