Followers may notice my recent obsession with these portrait cookies. I started with this gift for my niece. The next year I made these favors for her art-themed birthday party. And now, portrait cookies for my mom for Mother’s Day.

This is my mom.

This is my brother and his family.

This is my sister and her family.

And this is me and my family.

Seriously, the likenesses are, ahem, uncanny. No really. It’s as if I studied the fine art of portraiture.

Gift-buying in my family is never easy. We all have way too much clutter and need very few things. That’s why I always turn to cookies. They can be personalized and they never leave clutter. Only crumbs (hahahaha…. groan).

Here are some favorites of Mother’s Day past:

all about mom Mother’s Day cookies

preppy cookies

over-the-rim cookies for mom’s tea

And of course, there are plenty of flower-themed ideas. Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

 to make Mother’s Day family portrait cookies… I cut out rectangle cookies with my cookie dough. Bake and let cool completely. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). I prepared a disposable decorating bag with coupler and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold icing and closed with a rubber band. I piped rectangles on the cookies, leaving a border. Then, I switched the tip to size “3″ and piped the frame part. After the gold set a bit, I thinned the white icing to flooding consistency, filled an empty decorating bag, snipped the tip and piped to fill the frames. Let the cookies dry super duper well, overnight.  And then I drew with the portraits with edible writers.  For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE. For tips on buying and using edible writers, click HERE.

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This is another one of those “whipped up with leftover icing” things. I’m not crazy about my piped designs, for which I blame my kids. Ugh, they always need stuff like dinner and formula. Point being, I really did whip these up. Too quickly. I may revisit the flower thing the next time I have leftover icing. But the beauty is, you can make your own, way better flowers.

to make royal icing flowers

you will need:*

royal icing

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

decorating tips, sizes “3″ and “4″

rubber bands

baking tray

wax paper

*Find the decorating bags, couplers and tips in the craft store. You’ll need one of each for each color you choose. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Electric Green, Electric Pink, Electric Purple, Egg Yellow and Orange used here).

step one: prepare your icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your preferred colors. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with your colors and close tightly with rubber bands.

step two: pipe your designs. Line a baking tray with wax paper. Pipe small flowers, 1 to 2 inches tall. Let the icing dry very well, overnight.

step three: top your cupcakes. Carefully pull the flower off of the wax paper and gently insert into the cupcakes right after they are frostd (see below).

to make field of grass cupcakes

you will need:*

cupcakes

frosting

green food coloring

disposable decorating bag

size 233 tip

rubber band

*Find the decorating bag and tip in the craft store. Number 233 is also known as the “grass tip.”

step one: make your cupcakes and frosting. Prepare cupcakes and frosting. If you’re using store-bought frosting, you may need to thicken it with powdered sugar so it holds its shape. Tint green (I used Americolor’s Electric Green). Prepare the decorating bag with the tip, fill with frosting and close with a rubber band.

step two: frost your cupcakes. Holding the decorating bag vertically over the cupcake, squeeze and pull up while squeezing. Repeat to cover the cupcake. Immediately insert the flower toppers.

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Yes. Bird’s Party Magazine is officially out for your perusal and enjoyment and awe. This issue is stuffed with springy and summery and colorful party ideas for birthdays and showers. Why, they have parties for pink pixie fairies, parties for themes such as ice cream parlor, under the sea, yellow sunshine, bumble bee, nautical and (tee hee) teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. There are both cute and glamorous parties. Barbeques and teacher appreciation. Pretty showers for babies and brides. Oh, and my gumdrop crab and fish cupcake toppers are in there, too.

Read the free, online version HERE.

Buy the hard copy HERE.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

It’s a well-known fact that sports and I don’t mix. I played soccer a bit when I was a kid. Even field hockey. But I don’t do well with team sports. Tennis was my game. Singles only. I even played competitively in high school. But I just summed up my entire sports history. I don’t watch any sports on television (booooooring!), I follow no teams, and I only watch sports in arenas if dragged by a significant other. I know that sports are a source of great exercise, entertainment and passion for many–probably most–of you, but not this gal. I once fell asleep at a football game. “Once” because I’ve only been to a couple football games. I promise to fall asleep again if I have to endure another waste-of-hours trek to a stadium.

OK, the tirade is done. Sports I may not like, but sports turned into cute, bite-size cookie pops, I do like. I made these for a friend’s son’s birthday party. He likes sports. He turned four. That all sounds about right. I bet when he grows up, he won’t fall asleep at a football game.

To make bite-size baseball cookie pops…

I made my cookie dough and royal icing. I cut out 1 1/2-inch circles and made cookie pops. I used Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White, Chocolate Brown, and Red Red) to tint the icing white, red and two shades of brown. I prepared disposable decorating bags with couplers and tips (sizes 2, 3 and 4), supplies found at the craft store. For basic cookie decorating how-tos, click HERE. Let the cookies dry overnight before handling or packaging.

To make the baseballs, outline the cookies with white icing using a size “3″ tip. Then pipe or flood to fill with white. Let the cookies dry a bit and use a size “2″ decorating tip to pipe the stitching.

To make the mitts, outline the mitts with brown icing using a size “3″ tip. Let dry a bit and pipe with a size “4″ tip or flood to fill with brown. Let dry a bit and use a size “2″ tip to pipe the lacing. Pipe a white dot with red stripes.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Geez, I’ve done a lot for Spring in the past few years. Which is funny since I much prefer Winter. I know, I know, I’m the lone person out there for whom this is true. But snow is so dang pretty, I never tire of it. Just wish we actually got some this year. And I’m the type who doesn’t want the cold to end, I want to wear sweatshirts and sit in front of a fire. And the world is just quieter in winter, and gosh I like the quiet. And… enough longing for Winter. I need to psych myself up for Spring. Above are vegetable garden cookies. Ha, as if I actually “garden.”  As always, you’ll find everything seasonal in the Seasonal button up there, but below I’m linking to a few of my favorites.

I noticed a few themes in the collection. Each one is pretty predictable.

Cherry blossoms, of course, since I live in Washington DC and all. Cherry blossom cookies, painted cookies in cones, cherry blossom marshmallows, painted cherry blossom cookies.

Birds!   Bluebird brownie pops, poured sugar birdie cookies, painted birdhouse cookies, chicken (or hen?) cake pops.

Bugs! Bug marshmallow pops, butterfly cookies, bug topper printable on Oreo Cakester petits fours, bug cookies, easy Starburst dragonfly toppers, fondant bugs.

And of course, flowers.  Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!