Love is in the air! Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Even this year's Super Bowl has a love angle to it. And, let's be honest, love and romance are definitely not the norm for American football! Personally though, I'm all in. I soak up love whenever and wherever it presents itself. So it should be no surprise that I love, love, love all of the cookies that I've seen on the site this week and those that I get to share with you today.
This week's hot list* includes cookies that are sweet, spicy, and absolutely sublime. All are sure to make you smile. Let's take a look at the loveliness . . .
#1: Heart Cookies by Evelindecora (The detail on these hearts is so breathtaking that Julia and I decided to feature them in this week's cover spot. Well done, @Evelindecora.)
#2: Neutral Baby Shower Set by Little-Fancies (The soft colors that @Little-Fancies uses make for quite the elegant set.)
#3: Bear in Love by Dora (I adore the fur texture detail on this cutie.)
#4: Funky Cookies by Dora (This colorful set is @Dora's second appearance this week. Congratulations!)
#5: Sculptural Painting of Royal Icing Roses by Evelindecora (This creation first appeared almost five years ago and is trending once again. With very good reason - it's exquisite!)
#6: Secret Glamour by The Vintage Cookie Jar (Ooh la la! @The Vintage Cookie Jar has given us a glamorous - and spicy! - take on contoured cookies. Nice work.)
#7: New Year's Eve Masks by Treatfairy (I love how each of @Treatfairy's masks is different, yet the set remains extremely cohesive. Beautiful!)
#8: Cookie Bouquet by Joanna (Cookie Mojo) (Such a bright and beautiful bouquet. I'm sure Joan was thrilled to receive these cookies on her birthday! Wonderful presentation, @Joanna (Cookie Mojo)!)
#9: Loving Cupid by Yazz Ross (This set is such fun. I think the sparkly cassette tape is particularly clever.)
#10: Erizo Amoroso aka Loving Hedgehog by Yazz Ross (These sweet hedgehogs are the second spotlight for @Yazz Ross this week, and they're just as adorable as the first. Kudos to you, Yazz!)
How was that for spreading the love?! These cookies certainly got my heart all aflutter! And, speaking of love, there are plenty of other things to adore on Cookie Connection right now . . .
In case you haven't seen it, Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #56 is up, and it too has a romantic feel with all of the ruffle borders that Noriko teaches in the kickoff video. Three styles with a number of variations, or so I've been told. I can't wait to check it out and learn more. I'm also looking forward to Julia's upcoming Zoom class about airbrushing and layered stencil designs. If anyone would like to join me in attending, you can read about it here on Julia's Eventbrite platform. If you've never taken one of Julia's Zoom classes, you are in for quite the treat. (If you have, you know what I'm talking about!) [EDITOR'S NOTE: Aww, thanks for the shout-out, Lisa, and also in advance for your help. As an aside to the rest of you: Next weekend's class marks Lisa's second time being my remote tech assistant. She basically takes care of everything Zoom-related that I cannot tend to when teaching, and is a huge support! Also, I want to add that the Early Bird reg deadline for this class closes today, Saturday, February 10 at 5 pm CT, so it's your last chance to get 15% off the class. Don't delay in signing up if you're interested! Back to Lisa! ~JMU]
And let me not forget Julia's cookie art competition. Its wheels are fully in motion. On January 21, Julia released the schedule and a theme sneak peek, and, just a few days ago, she shared the 2024 Sponsor Offering. Julia welcomes companies both big and small - as well as individuals - to contribute. The pluses for sponsors, per Julia, are "lots of online exposure before, during, and after the competition - and, of course, the satisfaction of knowing they're supporting cookiers and advancing the state of cookie art!" Sounds like a win-win to me!
That about wraps up things for now. I do hope everyone's week is filled with love, romance, friendship, or whatever your heart desires.
So that no one has an unfair advantage in making it onto a hot list, the algorithm is secret even to site administrators. Only our platform developers know the code, which has been exhaustively tested by those developers and Cookie Connection staff.
All photos shown here are the courtesy (and copyright) of the designers listed.
To check out our other hot lists, at any time of day, visit our Hot Spot, also found in the site's main navigation line.
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Lisa Foss is a hobbyist cookie decorator. After careers in corporate communications and freelance writing, she focused her attention on the nonprofit sector. She spent more than a decade at various soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and prison reentry programs throughout New York City. Lisa’s cookie journey began in 2011 when she started making gingerbread houses. This exploration brought her to Cookie Connection, which has provided her with an incredible community to learn from and grow with. Though she enjoys making cookies for family and friends, Lisa’s main focus is cookies for charity.
For more information about Lisa and her work, please check out her Facebook and Instagram pages.
Byline photo credit: Shutterstock
Note: Saturday Spotlight is a weekly Cookie Connection blog feature written alternately by Lisa Foss and Julia M. Usher. Its primary intent is to cast a spotlight on the week's top-trending cookie posts, as determined automatically by the site algorithms described above. This article expresses the views of the author, and not necessarily those of this site, its owners, its administrators, or its employees. To see all of Cookie Connection's past Saturday Spotlights, click here.
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