Cheers to a New Year!

It was a year ago last night (yep, a little late with this post - are you surprised?) that I started this little blog called SugarChic.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I knew I liked to bake and decorate cookies, but I never ever, ever dreamed I'd be doing it on a weekly basis.  I can't find any other word to describe how I feel about it except blessed.  I started the blog to keep on me on track with the baking and it morphed into the other way around!!!  The baking is what keeps my blog running (slowly, but surely).  I think I like it better that way though.  It is supposed to be about the sugar, right?

So do I have goals and dreams for 2011?  Um, too many to list.  So I won't.  I will let them unfold throughout the next 365 days and then if you choose to follow, you will discover what they might be.

In honor of SugarChic celebrating its 1 year anniversary and celebrating the New Year, I will show a pic my first cookie order ever.  It was for my friend, Kate.  I think I texted her about 20 times during the process of making this cookie.  I was so nervous to SELL something I made.  I drove her insane.  

The order was for cute little bees for a baby shower.

Maybe it was a symbol for me being a busy bee in 2010?

At that time, I had no idea that a little baking biz would give me such satisfaction, purpose, STRESS, new friendships, excitement, confidence, etc.  It's been wonderful.

CHEERS to a wonderful 2010!

I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.  In the meantime, I will be announcing my first giveaway before this day is done!  I am also working on an order, taking down all my Christmas decorations, taking care of a bulldog who we think tore her ACL yesterday...

and getting my house in shape for the market in 3 weeks.  Soooo...I'm wearing lots of hats today.

Happy New Year!

A Belated Merry Christmas!

Hello Friends!  I hope you had a great holiday season!  Mine started with the stomach flu, but it ended with wonderful time with family and friends making memories.  The flu threw me way behind in my family obligations.  So that, of course, put me behind in my blogging obligations.  :)  There are a few orders I was never able to post.  So I thought I'd do that before 2011!!!  Here I am with a couple days to spare and hodgepodge of cookie pictures.  Hehe.

These were some initials for a birthday girl

named Maria!  Thanks, Margaret!

I appreciate your loyalty to SugarChic.

SugarChic Petites for a jewelry party.

These are a little over 1 inch and can you

believe this is 5 dozen?

Thank you, Jen!

More Petites for another jewelry party.

Thank you, Tiffany!

Through doing a few orders for Petites and also attending events with them, I have come to realize how perfect these are for a large crowd!  They can be boxed for a platter or even bagged in sets of 6 for individually treats.

These fun ones were for the OSU vs. Michigan game.

What great luck for those BUCKS!

Thank you to a new customer, Caroline!

These were for my son's friend's 5th birthday party.

It was a batman theme.

Happy Birthday, Noah.

Thanks, Marla!

So...the strangest thing took place this season.  I had to turn away several Christmas cookie orders due to the size of the Nutcracker order and the fact that I really wanted to put my all into my own holiday baking.  Well, when that stomach flu hit, I thought of two things...the first was, "WOW!  I'm glad I have no pending orders while I feel so awful.!"  The second?  I was sad that I wouldn't be able to decorate the 3 dozen I had baked for my family.  I had given up hope and then I woke up Christmas even morning feeling so much better.  We were leaving that afternoon to Nana's house.  I busted out the fastest decorating I've ever done.  I stuck with only 3 colors and pretty simple designs, but I MADE CHRISTMAS COOKIES!  My mother-in-law was thrilled!!!!  She had been waiting for these since last year.

You don't want to upset this cute lady!  Ha!

And these 2 kids were pretty happy too.

Now, the decorating was not my best due to time constraints, but they tasted great and they were DONE!!  I do wish I had better pictures. Some were taken with my iphone.  Much of my inspiration was from Callye (AKA - Sweet Sugarbelle).  She has such interesting ideas for taking a predictable cutter and making it so unpredictable.  Love that.  I hope to do more of it in 2011.

See that little penguin?

 He started as an ornament cutter.

Same with this guy!

Cool, huh?

Whew!!!  Talk about a cookie posting marathon!  Can you guess that one of my resolutions for the new year will be keeping up with my blog?  I can do this.

To kick that off, I am going to have my first ever giveaway on New Year's Day!  Please check back between now and then for more details.  I promise it will be way cute and ready for your Valentine's Day baking needs.  :)  

Have a great remainder of the 2010.  Check back soon to see info for the giveaway and more.

The Nutcracker

Happy Holidays and the season for Nutcracker performances all over!  I had the pleasure of making cookies for the New Albany Children's Ballet Theater once again.  Working with Cathy is a dream and I want to thank her publicly for such a  great experience.

After thinking of the endless possibilities and directions I could go with this, I finally decided on 4 designs:

The Sugar Plum Fairy, a ballet slipper,

The Nutracker and a simple snowflake.

Cathy ordered 9 dozen cookies so I did just about 2 dozen of each design.  I was hoping for a variety of colors and that is what I got.

I don't feel like my pictures did the cookies justice this time around, but I think you get the idea.

This is a rather delicate cookie - long and skinny.

She held up well though.  I chose to keep her dainty

with only little black eyes and a small nose.

If you could only see my trial and error for this guy.

Sure, he looks simple, but um, not for me!

The design itself was just tough for me.

The Nutcracker isn't known to be "handsome"

but before I settled on this, he was just plain UGLY!

I feel like I got a happy medium while still looking like

The Nutcracker.

I've done these a few times before, but it is one of my faves.

I just thought a snowflake would be nice for this time of the year.  If you look closely, you might see the shimmer of

luster dust I brushed on the white icing.

 I decided to package them in the plastic since

they had to sit among the ballerinas and nutcrackers.

It's never fun to see an order like this go...

until you hear that they were selling out like crazy!

Thank you SO much, Cathy.

A Girly Evening.

A couple months ago, Cathy approached me to do some cookie favors for an annual Father Daughter Ball that the New Albany Children's Ballet was having.  I was so happy to do this!  We decided on 150 pink flowers packaged especially for the event.

I started with these.  It doesn't look like much

in the pic, but trust me - it was over 150.

These are 150 4 inch round plastic containers.

I thought I'd try something new for such a special evening.

Then we have some crinkle paper.

Oh, did I say SOME?

I mean 10 pounds!!!!!

I thought I would get smart and order wholesale.

I didn't even make a dent in the paper.

Real smart, Dawn.  I must have thought I was doing

150,000 cookie favors.  Goodness.

And these are the 3 inch stickers that I punched and peeled

to stick on the bottom of each container.

I swear this almost took as long as the baking!

This is the empty container.

The sticker says:

Baked Exclusively for the New Albany

Children's Ballet Theater Father Daughter Ball by

SugarChic

It listed my info and the ingredients.

Love this...that special touch of personalization.  

I filled each one with crinkle paper to cushion the cookie.

Speaking of cookies...

It was a late night, but I refused to do them over a couple days because I am all about fresh!!!

All the components came together to make some really cute favors for some well deserving daughters!!!

Pinkalicious!!!

Packaged and ready for pickup by Cathy.

Cathy was so awesome to work with during this large order.

Thank you so much to Cathy for this unbelievable order.

I learned a lot about my process and I'm ready for

next week's challenge...

The New Albany Children's Ballet Theater Presents

THE NUTCRACKER!

SugarChic cookies will be for sale in their "Sweet Shoppe"

during each show.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.

Happy Holidays!!!

Lots of Thanks!

So...where have I been?

I hosted Thanksgiving this year.

Me, Tom and my handy-dandy recipes

stuck to the microwave.  So fancy.

It was actually a joint effort with two lovely friends of mine!

Happy Cooks.

They brought their families and we had an awesome evening together...LOTS of fantastic food (we all share an appreciation for good food and cooking)...kid chaos...LOTS of drinks (to withstand the kid chaos)...and alas, no SugarChic cookies.  Hehe.  It always happens that way for my own events.

Needless to say, 'Operation Thanksgiving' took a lot of my time this past week.  Then before that, I was working on a large order (which will be my next post).  In between all of this, my little Paigey decided to start climbing out of her crib.  We transitioned to a toddler bed and well, it didn't go so well for a few days.  There was not much sleep going on in our house.  

So now...I say thank you.  Thank you to those who have ordered any of my confections.  Thanks to strangers and fans from afar who have sent me sweet emails of praise.  Thanks to everyone who comments on my blog.  I love that.  Thank you to my friends who continue to encourage and support me as I stumble through this journey.  Thanks to my husband who deals with a messy kitchen and lots of sugar in crevices of our home after each batch of cookies.  Thanks to my kids who never get sick of sugar cookies and constantly tell mommy that I am the "best cookie baker ever" (a total line to get more cookies).  Okay, I just realized this is sounding like an acceptance speech.  You get the idea.  Seriously though - I am so grateful for what God has given me in more ways than one.  SugarChic has been a blessing in disguise.

On another note, I am also thankful for the invention of the video monitor, which got me through the "transition."  It was also nice that Paige decided to switch things up during a time when I had a little lull in my baking.  Whew.  

Just a few more fall pics that I never really got a chance to post...

It's almost been a year since I started this "little at-home baking biz" and I couldn't be more thankful for what it has become.  Cheers to my first Christmas holiday as SugarChic!

Back to baking...

Catching Up!

Well, I have been behind on my blog for weeks now.  I think it's just time to catch up all at once.  I am going to post my last few cookie designs in one post.  

These were for a very girly baby shower.

Ahhh...if only they all slept like this.

Thanks, Molly.

I did LOTS of soccer ball cookies for 2 separate orders.

Thanks, Tracy and Janine!

Girly Pirates!

Happy Birthday to Ruby.

Thanks, Alison!

Cookies for a new baby boy!

The Z and B were for the siblings, Beck and Zella.

Thanks, Marcie!

I did ghosts and candy corn for Halloween

(in addition to all those petites a few posts back).

I forgot to take pics of the candy corn.  :(

Thanks, Susan and Beth (absent candy corn customer)!

Okay, not that exciting, but I feel 100% better now.  I feel like I can move forward with my holiday baking with a clean slate!   I have one more big order to post and then back to baking again.

Off I go!