CookieCrazie Classes at CookieCon 2018!

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Excitement is in the air!

CookieCon 2018 registration begins next Wednesday, March 14 @ 7 PM MDT on www.cookiecon.net.

I am happy to share with you that there will once again be CookieCrazie classes offered before CookieCon gets underway. 

This year they have streamlined the Add-On Workshops (formerly called Pre-CookieCon Classes) so that you sign up for them WITHIN the registration for the main CookieCon ticket. [In the past, these were done separately and with multiple pre-classes offered by nine different instructors, it was pretty chaotic.] 

This year there are TWENTY instructors doing Add-On Workshops....so there are TONS of hands-on workshops to choose from. You can read about all the add-on workshops HERE.

I'll be teaching a total of four classes. 

Wednesday September 12
Falling for Glaze - 8 AM to Noon
Falling for Glaze - 2 PM to 6 PM

Thursday September 13
Tis the Season for Glaze - 8 AM to Noon
Tis the Season for Glaze - 2 PM to 6 PM

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FALLING FOR GLAZE
Wed AM & Wed PM CookieCon 2018 Add-On Workshops
Hands On Instruction To Decorate Five Rustic Autumn Cookie Designs
Let's explore many creative techniques using corn syrup glaze icing to create rustic autumn decorated cookies together. With such a wide array of possibilities to create texture – from molding cookie dough, layering glaze icing, embossing partially dried glaze, and adding edible clay embellishments, there will be lots of tips and tricks shared to allow each student to come away with many things to incorporate into their own decorating style.

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TIS THE SEASON FOR GLAZE
Thurs AM & Thurs PM CookieCon 2018 Add-On Workshops
Hands On Instruction To Decorate Five Christmas Cookie Designs
Let's explore many creative techniques using corn syrup glaze icing to create Christmas decorated cookies together. With such a wide array of possibilities to create texture – from molding cookie dough, layering glaze icing, embossing partially dried glaze, and adding edible clay embellishments, there will be lots of tips and tricks shared to allow each student to come away with many things to incorporate into their own decorating style.

Registration begins on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 7:00 PM MDT.
www.cookiecon.net
Sign-up for the Add-On Workshops happens at the same time as purchasing a CookieCon 2018 conference ticket.
[Note that Add-On Workshops are each an additional cost beyond the CookieCon ticket price.]

What a joy it will be to see many of you and to decorate cookies together!
Let's do this!
 

Spreading Cookie Love in Ukraine (2015)

Every year when I return home from my annual Ukraine trip,
I spend time reflecting on how amazing it is that my love for cookies
always manages to be a huge contributor to the make-up of the trip.

If you're not aware, I use the proceeds I make from blog revenue,
cookie sales, and cookie decorating classes,
to fund my travel to Ukraine and the ministries we participate in while there.
You can read more about it here.

This blog post attempts to share the "cookie side" of the trip's story.
For a full report of the overall mission trip, you can read about it here.

Beyond the cookie-related financial contributions, actual cookies are a big part of the trip.
Each year, I take as many small cookies as possible to pass out to all those we visit and minister to.
The airbrush lace cookies shown above were this year's design.
I ended up carrying 200 small square cookies in my checked luggage. :)
To me, it's about "spreading cookie love".
Plus, I want the Ukrainians to know that even cookies can make a difference in this world.

The 2015 Ukraine trip started on Thursday, May 14.
Together with my two other team members, we left St. Louis, Missouri for L'viv Ukraine,
arriving about 24 hours later.

Prior to our trip, we shipped several boxes of needed items,
including a pile of cookie decorating supplies.
It was nice to arrive to our final destination finding the cookies and supplies making it in good shape.

One of the initial projects we attempted were Dum Dum bouquets for centerpieces at the senior tea.
My OCD-ness came in handy as I gladly separated out hundreds of suckers by color. :)

The bouquets looked so pretty on the tables.....
and the seniors loved taking handfuls of suckers home to share with their families.

For the women's camp, the ladies are treated to a variety of "classes" they can attend.
This year, I offered a basic cookie decorating class.
With 80+ ladies in attendance, this required us to have a major baking session in our hostess' home.

The process was even more time consuming because we could only put
one cookie sheet in the oven at a time!

But several hours later, we had baked and boxed up 170 cookies for the event!

The women's camp site is gorgeous......but the weather was not exactly cooperative.
Most of the three days we were there it was rainy and cool.
One day, it was downright cold.....47 degrees and windy!

But despite the weather, we had a fabulous time being together and
enjoying a break from our everyday lives.
For most of these women, having three meals a day served to them is extremely rare!
You can just look at their faces and see how much they enjoyed this treat.

I had the awesome privilege of sharing a Bible study with the ladies each day.

This photo below shows a small window of time on the first full day of camp when it was actually
sunny and beautiful outside.
Just a few hours later, there was a torrential rain storm with flooding occurring at the camp entrance!

The morning of the cookie decorating class, Nadia and I worked on making glaze at 7 AM.
As you can see below, there was only one outlet in the work area,
and that location didn't happen to have a counter close to it.
So I mixed glaze on a child-sized chair!

The work area was very challenging......nothing like at home.

But some how we managed to fill 50+ tipless bags of glaze for the ladies.

They had a blast. I had a blast. It was a very good time! ♥

Notice those beautiful cookie boxes in the photos.
Those were donated by our good friends at BRP Box Shop!

And after the crazie long work day providing the cookie decorating class to over 60 women,
it was time to relax and regroup with some yummy herbal tea and honey. :)

Here's a photo slide show of the 2015 Ukraine women's camp.

Our final day in Ukraine was spent wandering the streets of downtown L'viv.
It's such a beautiful city with some gorgeous sites.

The candy store boasted many varieties I have never seen before.

The local coffee roasting shop even had some decorated cookies for sale!

Once we returned to our host home, a package was waiting for me
from a Ukrainian friend that lives in the capital city, Kiev.
We had hoped to meet face-to-face....and when that wasn't possible,
Natalia sent me these lovely cookies and gifts in the Ukrainian mail. :)

Our team was still going strong after two weeks of ministry.
(L to R: Pam, Dave, Donna)

We were grateful for a smooth trip home.

And once back in my own kitchen, I was able to enjoy gifts I received from my Ukrainian family......
herbal tea and local honey.
It gave me a chance to ponder the trip and say a word of thanks to God for all He allowed us to do.

♥♥♥

2015 Ukraine Trip Recap
Photo Slide Show of 2015 Women's Camp

Cookie Cruise 2015 Recap

CookieCruise 2015 took place last month, Jan 22-26, 2015.

It was the very first event of it's kind......and boy, was it unique and wonderful! :)

Ginny & Doug Levack of CreativeCookie.com created this one-and-only event

involving cookiers boarding a cruise ship and cookie-ing together on the open seas.

The event was a smashing success....with lots of great cookie techniques shared

and rich sweet relationships cultivated for a lifetime.

Since there's no cookie supply store found on a cruise ship,

the idea of bringing everything-but-the-kitchen-sink for cookie decorating was quite a task!

But Doug, Ginny, and their awesome partners Todd & Tammy Colitti (2TsStencils)

along with a huge support team took on the task and conquered the "beast" called CookieCruise.

Take a look at those five carts of boxes loaded with cookies, icing, supplies, and prizes

unloaded at the dock preparing to be wheeled onto the cruise ship.

Doug was the mastermind behind all the organization......and he was a well-oiled machine.

The support team wheeled those carts through the processes, waited long periods of time standing in line, unpacked and re-packed everything through customs,
and managed to make it through everything without too much blood, sweat, and tears. haha

Once we had boarded the ship, the carts were pushed into a corner until our rooms were ready.

And once all the supplies were safely tucked away,

we could begin to explore the cruise ship and enjoy all the sights. :)

I had the distinct pleasure of rooming with Cristin, of Cristin's Cookies during the cruise.

We were a perfect match......and enjoyed our home-away-from-home with delight.

It was dreary, rainy, cold day in Galveston when we set sail.

But there was too much excitement to let the weather get us down....

It was fun to see all those towel animals I've always heard about.

Here is the London Dining Room......but for CookieCruise, it was our classroom.

The setting was unique, but we found you can cookie anywhere and have a great time!

On Friday morning, the cookiecruise staff got up bright and early and started setting up

the cookie classroom at 6 AM for Julia Usher's day-long class starting at 8 AM.

Julia taught us multiple techniques leading to an incredible cookie heart box.

After several hours of amazing instruction, we set out to explore the ship.

Here's the 12th floor on the front of the ship, looking down onto the pool and open food court area.

Getting together with everyone during meals and "play time" was super fun.

We had plenty of time for getting to know each other on a much deeper level than online time allows.

Friday evening was the cookie exchange.

All participants were invited to bring some cookies to exchange with others.

Oh, the cookie designs that we had the pleasure of seeing.....and for some......keeping.

Each evening, Monica Holbert (CookieCowgirl) taught a night owl cookie painting class.

Since I'm not a night owl, I missed all the fun......but here's some of Monica's photos of her class.

On Saturday, participants could opt to disembark to Cozumel, Mexico for a few hours

or stay on ship and enjoy open-cookie-decorating with Ginny & Tammy.

I had the pleasure of seeing beautiful Cozumel with friends.

We shopped for yummy Mexican vanilla and other souvenirs and then stopped 

to enjoy some delicious food and drink.

The water was gorgeous.....such a pretty blue-green color. :)

Back on the ship,

Cristin and I managed to cover nearly ever part it.....

including going up front and seeing the spectacular view.

Participants had the opportunity to decorate their doors for prizes.

Becky and Robin won 2nd place.

Here's the first place winner for CookieCruise door decorations.

This is all made of cookie (except for the hooks and ribbon, of course).....amazing!

Made by Lynne and Sally of Rocking Horse Sugar Decor.

On Sunday morning, it was time to prepare for my glaze class.

I had lots of help from Cristin to get the glaze just the right consistency.

And Doug was my muscles to help empty the very, very thick pre-made glaze we brought from home

into the mixer bowl to thin it out.

While many of us were preparing for the glaze class,

Shannon Heupel (Artfully Designed Creations) provided an airbrush demonstration.

From that demo, we moved back to the London Dining Room for the glaze class.

Everyone had the opportunity to use wet-on-wet technique with glaze to decorate cookie quilt blocks.

And then we fit them all together to make a gigantic cookie quilt!

Our "closing ceremonies" included LOTS and LOTS of wonderful prizes given.

Nicole won the brand new 8 qt mixer!!

Lots of memories were made........

L to R: Cristin, Julia, Tammy, Pam, Monica, and Ginny

And here's the entire 2015 Cookie Cruise group.

What a wonderful event it was!

Thank you Ginny for pursuing your dreams and providing us with this awesome opportunity! ♥

Cookiers stay tuned HERE.

CookieCruise 2016 could be in our future. :)

Here's the awesome sponsors of CookieCruise 2015.
Thank you for all your generous contributions to make the event as spectacular as it was!

  Creative Cookier

2TsStencils
BRP Box Shop
Artfully Designed Creations
May Designs
Ribbons By Design
Karen's Cookies
Tundes Creations
Truly Mad Plastics
Whisked Away Cutters
Cristins Cookie Cutters

SweetAmbs Cookie Art
The Cookie Countess
Flour Box Bakery
Bobbi's Cookies & Cutters

Foose Cookie Cutters

Arty McGoo

Chefmaster

Zest 4 Art

Denise Signa/Scentsy

Cake Trick

My Pretty Sweet Designs

Sweet Stackers