My Cookie Philosophy

After a year of doing cookies, I have decided that it is time for me to have a "Signature Cookie Style"....So....after lots of thought...here it is...The Cookie Puzzles' Signature Style...A slightly imperfect, a little on the amateurish side, cookie, with an occasional bleeding colors and terrible writing. So when you see my cookies, and they don't look perfect, please don't be embarrassed for me...that is MY SIGNATURE THE COOKIE PUZZLE look...I worked really hard on it..see...if I WANTED to, I could make perfect cookies...but then how would you know it was a THE COOKIE PUZZLE cookie. Over and Out.

That was my Facebook Page status update for January 26, 2012

What can I say...A perfect cookie decorator I am NOT!

And you know what?  I am ok with that...really I am!

Do I "want" to make the perfect cookie?  Yes!  Every cookie I sit down to decorate, I want to make perfect....it just doesn't happen.

And that is OK....cause I decorate cookies because it makes me happy.  People buy my cookies because they TASTE good...how it looks is just ICING ON A COOKIE!

Now...all that being said let me lay out my Cookie Philosophy for you

1.  IT IS JUST A COOKIE

2.  DECORATE COOKIES BECAUSE YOU LOVE IT...IF DECORATING COOKIES BRINGS YOU TO TEARS...YOU WILL GROW TO HATE IT

3. MAKE A GREAT TASTING COOKIE...IT WILL MAKE PEOPLE FORGET THE FLAWS IN THE DECORATING.

4.   99.999% OF THE FLAWS "YOU" SEE IN YOUR COOKIE, GO UN-NOTICED BY OTHERS

5. EVERY COOKIE WILL NOT BE PERFECT....THAT'S OK..HIDE IT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PLATTER OR BOX...AND DON'T TAKE A PICTURE OF IT

6.  YES, YOU SHOULD PRACTICE...BUT KEEP IN MIND...THAT IN YOUR EYES, YOUR COOKIE WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE PERFECT

7.  NEVER COMPARE YOUR COOKIES TO OTHER'S COOKIES...IT WILL DRIVE YOU INTO A DEPRESSION..WHICH IN TURN LEADS TO HORRIBLE LOOKING COOKIES

8.  EDUCATE YOURSELF...STALK EVERY COOKIE BLOG YOU CAN FIND...THERE IS LOTS OF GREAT TIPS OUT THERE

9.  NEVER NEVER NEVER, "BORROW" A COOKIE DESIGN WITHOUT ASKING PERMISSION, AND GIVING CREDIT

10.  ASK FOR HELP, I CAN GAURANTEE YOU THAT OTHERS HAVE DONE WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO...ASK..YOU WOULD BE SUPRISED HOW MANY OUT THERE WILL HELP, IF YOU JUST ASK!


So there you have it...my cookie philosophy!  Now you can conquare the world..well not really, but humor me a little!


Here are some photo's of some of my first cookies...don't laugh...they are NOT pretty...but you know what...that's ok...I really don't care!

My very first cookies...see..not so pretty..but they tasted good!

Wet on Wet decorating...again...not so pretty

The outlining is terrible...the dots are un-even...but who cares!

OH MY...this is one of the cookies that I should NOT have
taken a picture of.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

So...there you go...now go have fun..enjoy what you do....don't strees...IT IS JUST A COOKIE!

 

Blogging...it takes a village

Soo....lets take a little walk down memory lane shall we...well you probably don't remember some of this stuff...but don't worry...I will fill you in...these are my memories...but I wanted to share them with you....are you ready...ok...let's go!


I made my first decorated cookies during the big snowstorm of 2011...do you remember it?  I do...just look at this

23 inches of snow!  In my front yard!

This is how much snow we got in just over a day...It was crazy...so what do you do to pass the time, when EVERYTHING is closed...you bake of course....so that is what I did...but that is a post for another day...today..I am talking my logo and blogging.

So I baked and decorated my first cookie in February of 2011....and by November of 2011...I decided that I was totally hooked...great...now what...people are asking to buy cookies...asking for business cards...what is the name of my business.....crap....I don't have a business name...or a business card...or a clue as to what the heck I am doing.

Enter stage left, Lindsay!

Now...Lindsay is like my fairy godmother...except she is way younger then me.....and way cooler then me...and way more artistic them me.  Lindsay is my hair dresser!   When I first started going to Lindsay...my hair was past my shoulders.....now, well, it is a super short pixie cut.

Now, many will say...big deal.....well, I am hear to tell you it is a BIG DEAL...I have SUPER THICK hair...and normally,   THICK HAIR + PIXIE CUT = NOT SO PRETTY!

But Lindsay....she has magic siccorrs...magic I am telling you...pure magic!  Thanks to her, I can do my hair in like 2 seconds (well, maybe more like 2 minutes) but the point is I LOVE IT...and her!

Great Kim....get to the point!

OK here is it ...I finally decided that I needed a logo...so I begged, well not begged...but begged sound way cooler then asked...but I asked Lindsay to create me a logo.  I told her my name   The Cookie Puzzle...it had to have puzzle pieces in it (duh) and it had to have four colors...blue, green, red and yellow...true colors...no shading...remember shading is a no no for Collin!

So...a few days later, she handed me these!

Cute right?   So I decided to go with the first one....now that I did not like the second one, it is cute, but I just loved the first one!

*

Lindsay is super creative...I mean...really creative...she does amazing hair and color...so if you need a hair stylist...and you are in Columbia Missouri, give me a holler...I will let her out of my basement, cause I keep her chained up and bring her out every 5 weeks to cut my hair , JOKING OF COURSE, I  can put you in contact with her!

So great, now I have a logo....I logo drawn on paper, in colored pencil!

A super computer savvy person would totally scan the picture, adjust the colors...and do a bunch of other totally cool, computery stuff with it.  NOT ME!  I have no idea how to scan a picture (don't judge), I tried, but I got confused...and well...I just didn't scan it.  OK...deal with it!

So..I have a logo...and I need business card...so I did what any "I know NOTHING about anything graphic"  I cut out the picture, placed it on a cake board, and took a picture of it...yep..that is what I did.  I took  a picture with my digital camera, uploaded it to a site and ordered business cards...yep..."I am big time now" I thought.

And you no what....it worked!  I had business cards with my name, my logo and all the other important information on it.

Then...I decided that I wanted my logo "cleaned" up a bit...and I wanted "The Cookie Puzzle" on it...again....I have no idea HOW TO DO THAT!

Enter stage left, Erica!

Oh Erica....not sure what to say, other then she is AMAZING!  Don't believe me....check out her site here!  I work at the same company as Erica!  Now...she is very creative and computery and all that way cool stuff...me....well, again...not so much...I sit at a desk all day and research books (don't get me wrong...I totally love my job....I am just not all that creative and computery) .  Erica ordered some cookies from me.  She wanted some heart cookies for her birthday...but she took a picture of one of my cookies, did her little "computery magic" thing to it, changed the colors...and said "Can you do cookies in This Color?"  WOW...how cool is that...I wonder if she has some super fancy smancy program that could do computery stuff?  THEN.....I looked at her signature....

Erica Martin

http://ericaswebstudio.com/

LIGHT BULB!     I wonder if Erica would be willing to "fix" my logo....so I sent her an email....and she sent me an email...and I sent her a email...well, you get the picture...then one day...she sent me this

HOW COOL IS THAT?  Erica did an AMAZING job on my logo...it is the same...but better!  I can not tell you how much I LOVE IT!  Thank You so much Erica!  If you need graphic computery stuff done...contact Erica...she was able to take the vision in my head and make it a reality!    I really think she has some super fancy computery program thing, were she can make her seld teeny tiny and climbs in your ear and reads your mind and makes it a reality,,,ya think..I am not sure , I will have to ask her!   I know she could do it for you also!

 

OK...lets review...I now have a great looking logo....now...how about a BLOG!

Enter stage left, Cristin!

I am a total blog stalker...really...It is major problem of mine...but in my defense...people post some really great stuff on their blogs, they want you to stalk them...right?

I have made some really great wonderful people through blogs...and one of my all time favorites is Cristin of Cristin's Cookies.  Cristin does AMAZING cookies...and she also just happens to be one of the sweetest persons you will ever meet.  Well, I have not actually "met" her Per Se...as she is in California, and I am in Missouri, but we run in the same "cookie circle"  and are a part of a wonderful group together,and she is a "glaze gal" like me and I consider her a friend..and over time, she is not just a "cookie friend"...she is a friend friend!

Have you seen Cristin's Blog?     OH MY....it is wonderful..really..you have to check it out...I could spend hours looking at her cookies!  And her blog....My girl, Cristin  knows some super secret "code" and makes a custom background for her blog for each cookie set she posts!  GET OUT! (doing my best Elaine impression from Seinfeld)  WOW!

SO anywho...I started my blog...and dear Cristin, showed me how to center my logo, which I did, all by myself, thankyouverymuch, and told me how to create a "button" for my blog...which I have not done yet, but will.  My blog is still a work in progress...but it looks better then it did a couple of days ago

Cristin has been such a cheerleader  for me, THANK YOU CRISTIN!  If you are looking for information about what a blog SHOULD look like...head to Cristin's blog  Cristin's Cookies, it looks pretty, it is well organized, it is informative, it is funny...well...it is just everything a blog SHOULD BE!  And Cristin, is just tooo toooo sweet...and she has pink hair...you have to love a gal with pink hair!

OH...and remember Erica...well.....she also did my "header" for me.  Is that what it is called...you know the picture at the top of my blog...well, when I started it...I just had my little The Cookie Puzzle logo in the left top corner of my blog...all by it's self...it was SAD...Erica, in like 20 minutes did this for me

 

How cool is that....pretty darn cool if you ask me!

So there you go...I Have a blog..and it did take a village...a village of three amazing ladies...thank you Lindsay,   Erica, and  Cristin!  I could have not have done this without you all!

Tune in for the next post...you will see the evolution of The Cookie Puzzle cookies...you will see pictures of some of my first cookies...but please don't laugh!

Blogging...kinda like a puzzle...right?

Sooo...blogging day two...still trying to figure out this puzzle...I know there is a way to make it all come together to make a totally cool blog....I totally stalk other blog...I know that it is possible...it can be done...but how?

Let me say this right off the bat...a computer wiz, I am not....and probably never will be.  Blogging is like a some strange language to me.  What the heck is a widget...or gadget?   I want the top of my page to have the picture (logo) in the middle..is that the title...or the topper...or as I like to call it the Toppy Thing..it is a real term, google it....ok don't, cause I totally just made it up.  But Toppy Thing, I understand...blogging not so much!

So I will keep moving around stuff...clicking on buttons...moving little slide thingies...you know the stuff that people do when they have no idea what they are doing. 
Yep, that is me...the lady that pushes every button, expecting a miracle...but no...not happening. 

I have decided that blogging is a little like Autism.  It is a strange...oh so very strange....and no two blogs are alike, just like no two people with Autism are alike.  Heck, if all blogs were alike, I would get a little bored, cause I am a total blog stalker (that doesn't creep you out does it? ).  And people with Autism are all different, I think that is why it is a "spectrum" disorder, because the symptoms vary from person to person.

Take my son Collin, blue is is favorite color, followed by green..in that order every time.  And he likes "normal" blue, not light blue, or dark blue,  it must be royal blue...nothing else will do.  Same with the other colors...all normal colors...shades freak him out.

  Now, I have had the honor of getting to know a sweet lady, by the name of Caron, of Bubbles Bath Boutique (find her here and here ...really go now...I will wait...she has the most amazing bath and body products...She sent me a honycomb soap...AMAZING..bye bye Oil of O*** shower gel) she has a daughter named Carlee, who is on the spectrum also.....Now Carlee...she likes the bright, neon colors...bright blues, pinks, greens, and purples.  That is just who she is and what she likes...shades don't freak her out.

Both primary colored cookies and neon cookies are great..cute..but different...so different blogs are different....and every person with Autism is different...but we still like them all...right?..right!...good!

Soo...to bring it all together, here is a little summary.....Blogs are confusing to me....I am one of those random button clicking persons....All blogs are different.....People with Autism are all different.

If you can hang with me a little bit..I promise I will get the hang of this.  Now each time you come back, things might look a little different, but you don't mind do you?

Here are a few more puzzle piece cookies that I did...I thought I might like them..I sure do...cause they are puzzle pieces...and, well, I have come to love puzzle pieces!

And so it begins.....

So....after decorating cookies for just over a year...I decided it was time to pull on my big girl panties and give blogging a try....am is scared?  Yep!  Do I have any idea what I am doing?  That would be a big fat NO!  So please hang with me a little while, why I try to figure all this out.

 

 I want my blog to look amazing, I really do...but I have NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING!

 

When I started this little cookie adventure, I thought I would just make cookies for friends and family...you know...I "little" hobby to occupy my time.

 

And then it happen!  I GOT TOTALLY SUCKED IN! Cookies became my life...I read blogs...I joined message boards.  I purchased more cookie cutters then anyone would ever need.

 

And THEN.....I started a Facebook Page for my cookies.  (Find me here.....www.facebook.com/thecookiepuzzle) 

 

THEN...people liked me...they really liked me!  Oh boy I felt like a total rock star...in my own mind at least.

 

THEN....I "met" people!  Soooooo many super nice people...people who, like me, were totally addicted to cookies.  People who looked at a greeting card, and saw a cookie, people who purchased cookie cutters like the end of the world was coming and cookie cutters were water and you totally need water to survive...right?

 

THEN....I became "friends" with these people..you know, like real friends...we shared our troubles, in the cookie world and out.

 

Sooo...there you go...I am giving blogging a try...I am going to make mistakes...and for the life of me, I can not figure out some of this stuff...but hang with me....I will learn...or die trying...well, not die, just stick with it. 

 

Oh....And April is Autism Awareness month....so here are some cookies I did!