Summer is about the only time I've ever been to a fair or a carnival or a circus, and, so with summer fast approaching here in Missouri, I just found the handiest excuse for showcasing this fun, masterfully painted circus set by member @Silver Cloud Cakes, aka Barbara Smith. 
Congrats on being our June site artist, Barbara, and thanks so much for submitting your fine work for use in our banner and backdrop!
Before we get to Barbara's bio, I wanted to share one of the photos she sent to me in preparation for this forum post . . .
Yes, that's one massive gingerbread house (no - mansion!) alongside Barbara! Though Barbara has only rather recently taken to royal icing-decorated cookies, she's clearly no novice when it comes to other forms of cookie decorating. Barbara was commissioned in 2016 by the trustees of a local non-profit to create this replica of the historical Great House at the Crane Estate in Essex, Massachusetts (pictured below). It took Barbara three to four weeks to complete the replica, which ended up over one yard wide and two feet deep!
Pretty darn impressive, right?! 
As always, I'll be doing an in-depth Cookier Close-up interview with Barbara, which will give you the opportunity to read more about this project, her cake business, and what she's doing in the world of cookies. However, that Close-up is likely not to post until well into July, so be sure to check out Barbara's bio and social media links (below) in the meantime! Again, congrats and thank you to Barbara!
Barbara Smith opened Silver Cloud Cakes, a home bakery, after making her daughter’s wedding cake nine years ago, but only began cookie decorating relatively recently in 2016. While Barbara loves decorating wedding cakes, she finds that cookies are uniquely personal and intimate. Customers can hold their own specially designed and decorated piece of art in their hands.
Barbara was a software developer and raised three children before discovering the pleasure of creating the porcelain-like beauty of royal icing cookies. With help from the internet, including Julia Usher’s excellent YouTube tutorials, Julia’s book Ultimate Cookies, and the Cookie Connection community, she taught herself the basics.
To learn more about Barbara, please visit her website, SilverCloudCakes.com, as well as her Cookie Connection portfolio and Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Cookie and photo credits: Barbara Smith
Interested in having your cookie art featured on the site? Yes?! Well, it's easy. . . just review our submission guidelines here, and then submit! There's just one thing to note before you do: I've already got site art slated through July 2019 (and for January through March 2020), so please tailor any submissions to the months of August to December 2019. Thank you! And, remember . . . all contributors get their work featured prominently in the site's banner and background for a full month, plus the added PR benefits of a forum post like this one and a Cookier Close-up interview! How great is that?!
