Blog

Hi, everyone! I apologize for another gap in Cookier Close-ups, but at least this time the gap was much shorter than my last! To make up for my silence, I have an ultra-special interview this month. I usually focus on cookie artists, but, today, I’m departing from that norm by interviewing a product innovator who...

I know that I often tell you guys that I want you to think "outside the box" when it comes to participating in these challenges. But this time around, I have a bit of a twist. I want you to think inside the box. In fact...

Upcoming Mother’s Day and orchids are the inspiration for this month's tutorial design. It couldn’t be any other flower, as I am currently living in Thailand where orchids are everywhere, in every color and in every shape. In fact...

Following a particularly wet winter, California is officially drought-free! I think any native Californian meets this news with both gratitude as well as a little skepticism. I’ve lived here most of my life, and I can’t remember a time when we weren’t experiencing some degree of drought...

Hello! Welcome back to Practice Bakes Perfect! I feel like I may be starting to sound like a broken record, but I was really wowed by the entries to our Lambeth-inspired challenge. I was afraid that maybe, just maybe, I had overreached with this challenge...

Hello, cookiers, sweets businesses, and cookie aficionados! Want to make your mark on my landmark cookie event? Well, you can! I’ve got some great sponsorship opportunities surrounding my televised 3-D cookie art competition at Show Me Sweets (July 13-14), including...

It's hard to believe, I know, but wedding season has kicked off! (Last I looked, it was just Christmas!) If you're in the cookie biz, this means you're probably already burning the midnight oil, cranking out hundreds of wedding and bridal shower cookie favors - and cursing yourself for...

There's nothing like a little challenge to get the creative juices flowing and to push oneself to new design heights! With five Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge entrants and one Cake International gold award-winner on this week's hot list*, this Spotlight is certainly testament to this fact. But, regardless of whether you were competing or just decorating for fun when you created these cookies, you...

First, my apologies (especially to Timea) for getting seriously behind on these Close-ups! My 3-D cookie competition planning and some personal distractions (mostly my home renovation) have left me with little time for anything else! But onward – this interview with...

Okay, if you've been on the fence about my 3-D cookie art competition, now's the time to jump off! Reminder: It's taking place this year at the Show Me Sweets show in St. Charles, Missouri (20 minutes or so from St. Louis) on July 13-14. A major TV network is turning the 3-D part into a TV documentary, and...

I'm up in Maine this weekend, checking on my long-distance home renovation, and it's as if I've been transported back in time by a month or two. When I left my house in St. Louis on Friday, it was a balmy 60°F, I'd shed my winter coat in favor of a light jacket, and I was giving happy nods to my daffodils and hellebores as I...

Hi, everyone! After a whirlwind CookieCon 2019, I'm finally home and (partially) recovered from the overwhelming amount of sweetness encountered in Reno! I'm also bearing a big gift...