Happy Independence Day!  I wanted to come up with something fun and original to celebrate July 4th.  Last year I saw a lot of American Flag cakes floating around the internet, but couldn’t wait to make one.  I tried it out for President’s day and it was so patriotic!  Then I needed a new idea and these bow cookies were the result!

Okay, I have a confession.  This was not my original July 4th idea.  I had a few others in mind that I just didn’t have time for.  I originally planned to use these cookies for a baby girl cookie collection I had an order for, but decided not to include them.  Since I had the blank cookies waiting to be decorated I decided to make them patriotic.

These cookies are a fun twist on the American Flag.  I love how the red and white stripes look all lined up like this.  I had to pipe on the white stars because I decided not to buy star sprinkles.  I was spending way too much money at the craft store and convinced myself that I didn’t need more sprinkles.  The stars came out okay, but white star sprinkles would have looked much better.  Hey, at least I saved myself some money!

My son, Charlie, was enjoying his late night snack!  I was taking cookie pics after his bedtime.  I’m not sure why he was up so late, but since he was I gave him a cookie to enjoy. I think he’s giving the cookie a thumbs up!

Happy 4th of July!  Hope it’s a sweet one!

About 5 years ago I saw these cute cookie cutters in the shape of tools.  This was around the time that my cookie cutter obsession began.  I bought them and convinced myself that I would make the cookies for my father for Father’s Day.  That still hasn’t happened.

I actually made these cookies a few months ago.  I made them for a special 60th birthday party.  My parents decided to host a birthday party at their house for a close family friend and I decided it would be really cute to make these cookies for him.

Larry, the birthday boy, is very handy and enjoys fixing things himself.  He and my dad are always discussing tools and going on outings to Home Depot together.

I made these cookies a few months ago, when I started getting better at icing sugar cookies.  I had only successfully made simple shapes like hearts and stars and decided I was finally ready to try something a little more difficult. 

I wanted these cookies to have some texture without having to pipe on more detail later but after making them I realized they look a little bit like cucumbers.  Oops!

When I made these I was still working on getting my icing recipe and texture down so you can see some lumps and bumps.  Overall though, I really like how these came out!  They weren’t cute enough as is, so I decided to package them as little party favors.

Larry loved having these at his surprise party, but any dad would be happy getting these for Father’s Day.  Maybe my dad will get these next year…Happy Father’s Day!

My baby sister is graduating from high school!  It kind of makes me feel old, but I’m so proud of her that I had to make her these cookies to celebrate.  Ever since I got into decorating sugar cookies I have wanted to make a collection like this.  I finally have an excuse!  

I had planned on making these cookies a few months ago.  I was so proud of myself being so organized and all.  So I visited my favorite online cookie cutter shops and was having a hard time finding this graduation cap cookie cutter; it was out of stock!  Maybe I wasn’t as organized as some other cookie decorators.  When I finally found one in stock I was so excited that I ordered two: one for me, and one for you (if you are feeling lucky).

No graduation would be complete without a diploma!  I really like how these turned out.  I recently purchased some pricey PME piping tips and these were the first cookies I’ve them on.  I was hoping I wouldn’t like the tips since they are quite a splurge, but they are amazing!  I am finally able to pipe nice borders and small details!  The black outline I piped on these and all the other cookies in this collection were done using my size 2 PME tip.  I love how nicely the black border makes these cookies POP!

I’ve been noticing a lot of chalkboard cookies around lately and decided to try my hand at it.  There are a few ways to make them, but I used Ali Bee’s tutorial with a slight modification.  Before carefully painting the words on with white gel paste food color, I used a large paintbrush and brushed some confectioners sugar onto the dried black royal icing to give the cookies the “just erased” authentic chalkboard look.

Congratulations to my sister Emily, and the graduating class of 2012!  You did it!  Hip hip hooray!  Happy days are here again!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Now for the exciting GIVEAWAY!  Do you want to decorate your own graduation cookies? One lucky winner will receive these two graduation cookies cutters!

To win these graduation cap and diploma cookie cutters simply leave a comment on this post; what fun things are you doing this summer?

One winner will be chosen at random by 11am eastern on Monday June 11, 2012.

This contest is sponsored by me; good luck!

Congratulations Eliana!  I can’t wait to see how your cookies turn out!