Every Once In A While This Happens

Every once in a while, as a small (by small I mean micro) business, I get a great opportunity to play a small part in something really big.  This particular opportunity came from an order by a marketing company on behalf of Macy's.

Lady Gaga and Elton John have collaborated to create a product line with Macy's called Love Bravery and I was contracted to do cookies for Macy's for an event for the product line.  The unfortunate part of orders like these, is I may not ever find out what the cookies were used for, or the reaction to them.  Sigh.

Here are the cookies that were created for them.

I Love doing This on Cookies

My letter piping on cookies is terrible.  I'm not afraid to admit my faults.  I always have an anxiety attack when I know I have to pipe writing on a cookie.

I have been working to find a better way to put text on a cookie.  I tried stencils, but I did not like how they had to have cuts in the letters to keep them from falling out of the stencil.  

          

You can see were I had to put a line in letters like "O", "P", "E", etc. to keep the center part from falling out.  This was just not very visually appealing for me so I started looking at other options.

I recently discovered screen printing and this technique really has me excited.  Here are some of my "trial and error" tests.

                      

These are not bad at all, but I had lots of problem with the screens getting "jammed" with the icing.  I was not having an easy time of it at all.  I watched lots of Evil Cake Genius' videos.  She does amazing work with screen printing, but I just could not get the hang of it the way she was doing it. 

Then two days ago as I was drifting off to sleep after a very busy night shift, the thought came to me, what if I mixed piping gel with food color?  I couldn't wait to give it a try. Today I had a little extra time (major luxury) that I used to try this idea out.  I love the way it worked.  The text is so clean.  And while I did have a bit of a boo boo on the lower left edge of the screen, I know with more practice I'll get it right eventually.  I'm very excited about this technique and can't wait to use it more often!  Next goal will be trying to learn to do multiple colors. 

   

If you are a cookie artist, would this be something you would like to see a video on how it's done?  Leave a comment.  

Bows - Who Knew?

Did you have any idea that it is soooo hard to tie 7/8" ribbon into bows?   Well, it sure is...and try doing it when you have only had 3-1/2 hours of sleep, and you're at work dispatching police and fire on a night when it feels like every citizen in the town is angry and shooting at each other!

I had a great idea that I would pre tie bows on twist ties so that I could package 150 cookies first thing in the morning when I get home.  Well, it's not going as planned.

Team No Sleep

A lot of my cookier friends can attest to the fact that a lot of us have full-time jobs, and when we get big cookie orders we spend less time sleeping.  We call ourselves part of Team No Sleep.

Add to that the fact that not only do I work a full time job, but I work the graveyard shift.  Then there are the days that I get held over in the morning for overtime to cover a colleague who is ill.  And then that same day have to attend a mandatory training class, which turned out to be very informative.

Went home to sleep and then was woke up 4 hours into sleep to watch a grand baby for 45 mins.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining at all.  I love my hectic life; I'm just saying, TODAY I have earned my way on to Team No Sleep!

I'm at work, and I'm tired. But the citizens of our town still need my time and attention.  So today's blog post is brought to you by Starbucks who is fueling my body with cups of strong coffee.  Thank you Starbucks!!!

Back to business...911 lines are ringing.

Am I Wrong?

Am I wrong, or weak for wanting the approval of my peers, customers, family, friends?  

I am a pretty optimistic person.  Like every other human on the planet, I have had my fair share of drama, trauma and stupid mistakes in my life that have changed my plans, ruined my plans, changed my direction in life and determined my direction in life.  But through it all I have remained upbeat.  It's been my experience that a rosy disposition makes up for all the crappy things that can happen in life.

Wanting to be liked and accepted by our peers is actually a survival mechanism.  Our ancient ancestors had to be liked by those in their clan.  If they weren't, they were outcast, which meant death from starvation, exposure or being some predator's lunch.

Recently someone who I have admired for her cookie decorating talent, and would love to have her approval and friendship, finally alienated me one time too many with her abrasive, biting response.  She has stated previously that she doesn't need anyone's approval and she certainly has made it clear that she is not interested in my input or questions.  I was left feeling very little.  This wasn't the first time, but it was definitely going to be the last time.  I stopped following her on social media and I actually feel a lot better.

So, I have decided, I want to be liked, and I want to be surrounded with pleasant, supportive, cheerful people.  Talent does not replace positivity and friendliness.  But, friendliness can definitely make up for lack of talent.

The Barter, The Better

It is expensive to open a store front.  It is my goal, and I know that I am quickly outgrowing my current kitchen.  I know I have to find an option that is affordable or my business is not going to grow.

At CookieCon Dotty Raleigh of Sugar Dot Cookies spoke about her kitchen arrangement, a shared commercial kitchen; this put the thought in my head to find an arrangement that could work for me.

Barter is a great way to grow your business.

I was so fortunate to come across a great opportunity to use a commercial kitchen on the day they do not bake in exchange for cookies for them.  So last week was my first time in their kitchen.  I got use their 20 qt mixer and commercial convection oven.  It was a bit frustrating for me because I had to get use to both the mixer and the oven.

I overmixed my dough and underbaked some of my cookies.
But I got the hang of it by the end of the day.

It was so exciting being able to make 5 batches of my recipe at 1 time and baking 200 cookies in 30 minutes.  I got to spend the next few days decorating instead of baking and mixing.  I can see how this is really going to help grow my business because I will be able to spend just 1 day baking off all my orders and the rest of the week decorating, packing and delivering.

Exciting things are ahead for my cookie business with this new opportunity to bake more cookies a week!  This will increase my ability to take more orders and thereby increase my sales!  So exciting!!!

Anyone else have a barter story or tips to share?  I would love to hear them.