Live and learn with me...it stings.

So I thought I had it all figured out.  I was ahead of the game and placed a nice order for some supplies, including a bumble bee cookie cutter for an order that I am doing on Saturday.  Well, the cutter came and while it's cute, it was much smaller than I expected.  I decided to improvise and use a pumpkin cutter to make a bee.  I sketched it all out in an actual SKETCH book that I found in the playroom.

I felt very much like a designer...like a contestant on Project Runway.

Artists "sketch" things, right?  I'm kind of like an artist.

Maybe not.

I do have to say I was inspired by a blog called Bake at 350.  She did this with her pumpkin cutter. I did not come up with the idea on my own.

I also attempted to use my Christmas present from Scott.  He bought me a dobord.  I won't go into details because it's not all that exciting to most people.

This is a contraption that can be adjusted to help you make your cookie dough all the same thickness in a somewhat "easy" way.

I went with 1/4 inch.

It was a pain in the butt.  I'm hoping it will get easier with practice.  I read some reviews and tried some techniques.  I had to cut parchment paper to line it and work it through the edges...blah blah blah.  Just more work than I intended.  Not what I wanted to do during naptime!

BUT I felt so ahead with all the cookies baked and ready to go!

Scott came home and when I showed him my plan of attack and the over 2 dozen BAKED pumpkin-shaped cookies that I was ready to tackle, he was less than enthusiastic.  He said that my cut-out cookies are so cute in the actual shape of the cookie.  He referred to the mittens in my Christmas assortment.  I was so bummed, but I was not upset.  I was happy to take this critique and move forward.  I want my first order to be RIGHT.

I even drew with a gourmet writer ON the cookie
to see if it would help him see my vision.

He said it was cute, but he LOVES the shapes.

(All of this isn't pretty, but I still had a vision in mind.)

I texted my friend, Keri (who is a gifted artist) a million pictures to see what she thought.  She went with Scott.  So the PETITE BEES won.

Luckily, I made a few of those petite bees with my leftover dough and I was able to practice on those tonight.  So they're little...people can just eat more!  They're about 2-3 bites each.

Here is my "sketch" on the cookie...gotta love those gourmet writing pens!  Edible!

Here is phase one of the decorating...it's glaze.

I have to let them dry for quite a long time so I can do the piping and sugaring tomorrow.

And these are still only for practice!!!

We'll see what the final product looks like then!  At this point, I just hope they look like bees.  :)

So tomorrow I will begin again with a new batch of BEE cookies.

Ouch.

Kate, if you're reading this, don't worry.  It will all be so cute for the shower.  :)  GOODNIGHT!