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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Shown above are, clockwise: Unicorn cookie pops (not shown are the rainbow cake and cupcakes), rainbow cookie bites, unmacaron “macaron” cookie pops, sparkly swirly cookie pops, rainbow pound cake, rainbow daisy marshmallow pops, rainbow cookie push pops, sparkly rainbow marshmallow kebobs, and easy candy lollies.

In light of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d devote a little of my time to rainbows. Hmmm. As my 5-year old is not-quite-as-obsessed-as-when-she-was-4-but-still-pretty-obsessed over rainbows, I devote a lot of my time to them. I know it’s hardly novel for a little girl to love rainbows, but I love that she loves rainbows. I sure did as a kid. I remember one of my first science fair projects in elementary school was all about the rainbow.

I share Kermit’s wondering, “Why are there so many songs about rainbows?” Because rainbows are beauty and magic and mystery. And I hear unicorns ride them. And they lead to wealth. Yes, Kermie, some day we’ll find it. That rainbow connection. We’ll get there. Holy hormones, I’m totally going to cry now.

Your first stop on the rainbow tour has to be this Virtual Baby Shower thrown for Violet by 17 crazy-talented bloggers. The theme: Rainbows. Because much as the rainbow leads to a pot o’ gold (I had to), this will lead you to 17 sweet rainbow ideas.

More must-see rainbow awesomeness:

Easy, bright ‘n beautiful, rainbow wrapped marshmallows by Smart School House.

A big, crazy tower of mini rainbow cupcakes by Hoosier Homemade.

Now and forever one of my all-time faves: Rainbow cake pops by Munchkin Munchies.

Simple and pretty rainbow-topped cupcakes from Meet the Dubiens.

How smart is this? Rainbow sugar cookie bark from Mom on Time Out.

Speaking of smart, rainbow frosting cupcakes by Sprinkle Bakes. And with a cherry on top.

Oh fudge, this one has to be in the list. Rainbow paddle pop fudge by Raspberri Cupcakes.

JellO may hold the secret to rainbows. JellO rainbow cookies by I heart Nap Time.

These are two of my favorite things: Rainbow ice cream by Random Thoughts of a SUPERmom!.

Speaking of two of my favorite things: Rainbow chocolate chip cookies by In Katrina’s Kitchen.

I recall being wowwed by these slice and bake rainbow cookies at Good Life Eats ages ago.

I’m a sucker for pudding. How about some rainbow pudding at MAKE.

A good reason to pull out my Babycakes donut maker: Rainbow donuts by Chickabug.

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I’m back with what’s quickly becoming a seasonal tradition. Last Spring it was all about flowers. This Winter it was all about snowflakes. Now Haniela’s has brought us all together again with Easter treats and crafts. And there are a whole bunch of us this year. Which means a whole bunch of ideas for the holiday. Why, it’s a virtual Easter Extravaganza! Just click on each picture above to visit the bloggers’ posts.

To see all the bloggers’ creations, click HERE to visit Haniela’s, and be sure to stop by everyone’s site for the full tutorials. For the direct links, scroll to the bottom of this post.

I kept things simple with some bow tie bunny cookie pops. When given the only parameter of “Easter-inspired,” I was overwhelmed with directions. Eggs, baskets, pastels, chocolate bunnies, gingham, daisies, carrots, cookies, cupcakes, fondant, marshmallows… So I scratched all that and just stuck with a plain white bunny. Two dots for eyes and a sprinkle nose makes these even simpler, and that, my friends, was purposeful. Defiant, almost, against complication. Though I guess the over calculating of simplicity erases said simplicity. And there you have my psyche in a nutshell. Sigh.

To make these…

First, make the cookies. Prepare cookie dough according to the recipe, chill, roll out 3/8-inch thick (for pops) or 1/4-inch thick (for regular cookies), cut out bunny heads (I cut off the heads of my copper bunny cutter, but you can cut the heads off any you prefer), insert lollipop sticks (found at the craft store), and bake according to the recipe. Let cool completely. For tips on making cookie pops, click HERE.

Second, make the icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Tint about about two cups of icing (depending on how many cookies you are decorating) white using Americolor Soft Gel Paste Bright White food coloring. Prepare a disposable decorating bag with coupler and size “3″ decorating tip (found in the craft store). Fill with half of the icing and close tightly with a rubber band. Reserve and cover the remaining white icing. For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.

Third, decorate the cookies. Pipe an outline on the cookies and let set about 15 minutes. Thin the reserved white icing with water, a few drops at a time, until the consistency of thick glue. Fill an empty decorating bag with the thinned icing, snip the tip about 1/4-inch and loosely pipe to fill the cookies, encouraging the icing as needed with a toothpick. Let the cookies dry well, several hours at least, or overnight preferred. For tips on basic cookie decorating, click HERE. When dry, use a dab of light corn syrup to adhere a little heart sprinkle, and draw two dots with an edible writer.

Fourth, add the bow tie. To make the bow ties, fold a piece of decorative paper in half and cut out half a bow tie at the fold. Cut a couple slits at the top and bottom of the center of the bow tie to thread the lollipop stick through.

Thank you to Haniela’s for including my bunnies in such a great collection! Visit each blogger at the links below:

3D Easter Bunny by Marielle – De Koekenbakkers
Chick Cupcakes by Robin – Bird On A Cake
Mrs. Bunny Centerpiece by Myriam – Chapix Cookies
Cheesecake Easter Eggs by Beth – Hungry Happenings
Cho “Bunny” Greek Yogurt Pops by Jill – Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons
Hidden Easter Eggs by Stephanie – Ellie’s Bites
Easter Egg Cupcakes by Liz – Hoosier Homemade
Easter Treat Pouches by Elena – Just Me
Mini Meringue Cake by Karyn – Pint Sized Baker
Bunny Cake by Kathia – Pink Little Cake
Easter Gumball Machine by Marlyn – Montreal Confections
Easter Island by Laura – A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe
Easter Bunny Sandwich by Michelle – Creative Food
Bunny Garland by Sue – Munchkin Munchies
Egg Hunt Pound Cake by Jennifer – Not Your Momma’s Cookie
Dutch Easter Egg by Lorraine – Lorraine’s Cookies
Easter Egg Painting Chicks by Mike – Semi Sweet
Easter Basket Cookies by Amber – Sweet Ambs Cookies
The Carrot Patch Cake by Kim – The Partiologist
Cookie Bunny Pop by Meaghan – The Decorated Cookie
Pretzel Bunnies by Sarah – Miss CandiQuik
I, Robot Egg Cookie by Hani – Haniela’sTweet

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You know the drill. In my part-laziness, part-actual-exhaustion-from-life thing I am capitalizing on the wealth of stuff in my archives to get me through seasons. No, I mean, I’m sharing these things for all you folks new to my blog. Yeah. It’s total consideration for the new folks. Let’s go with that.

Above are little lamb cookies, now in 3D! As always, find everything seasonal up in that Seasonal button, but below you’ll find links to a few that I especially like.

BUNNIES! Lots o’ bunnies. Some peeking bunny cookies, fuzzy bunny tail cookie pops, easy Peeps cupcakes, raining jellybean marshmallows, super easy bunny candy pops, and bunnies and a silly chick.

This was a roundup of Easter egg decorating ideas I did for Reader’s Digest. It was a few years ago, and still one of my favorites.

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I think these may be some of my favorite cookies ever, and they look like my 5-year old decorated them. She didn’t. Nor did my 1 month old. I did. I call them “chaos cookies.” I’m not exactly sure you can call these cookies “art,” but I’ll at least steal the concept of how art may come about, because I was compelled by emotion to create these.

Though surprisingly, even with a kid and a newborn, I don’t necessarily feel surrounded by chaos, so maybe these are more about what I should be feeling? Don’t get me wrong. I’m someone who needs order. A house that appears clean, even if it never actually is (I’m a terrible cleaner). My to-do list tidily sitting next to my computer, even if I rarely cross stuff off of it. So having a 5-year old that talks all the time and is messy and gets nail polish on the coffee table, and having a newborn that goes through lots of diapers and tends to awaken at maddeningly frustrating hours in the night, or a newborn that sleeps when I’m awakened by insomnia (like as I’m typing this), in theory, should make me a bumbling, chaotic mess. And I sort of am a bumbling, chaotic mess (ack!! No new blog post in weeks?!?). But gosh,  I’m so dang determined to care less about chaos. It’s hard work, though, caring less about the chaos that’s going to exist no matter what precautions I try to make to prevent it. Because I went through a lot to have my daughters.

I went through a lot before they were even notions in my head. You can read my story and battle with intestinal disease, organ loss and reconstruction in an article I wrote almost a decade ago, HERE. Given my medical history, I needed IVF to conceive a child. As a long-time, experienced patient, I wasn’t phased by the daily shots I gave myself in the stomach and the doctors’ pokes and prods. I could even give myself the butt shots, wherein you inject a very long and big needle and push thick, viscous meds into your muscle. Not easy to contort oneself in the position necessary to do this to yourself. Yeah, I’m proud of this feat, and I brag about it every chance I get.

My first daughter was an immediate IVF success. My second, as many of you know, was not. After the first embryo transfer, I developed a very rare infection that led to more complications that, in short, put me in the ICU. I understandably lost the embryo, but I almost lost my life as well. Needless to say, this worried my doctor. After my next two frozen embryos failed, my doctor refused to try a new round, and they did not find humor in my insistence that I ALWAYS almost die, and I never actually do, so they needn’t worry (which, by the way, is true). My husband and I presented our case. We were thorough and thoughtful and were heard. After much debate, my doctors reluctantly agreed to try again. And we have Violet.

Someone told me to make sure I “enjoy” her when she’s born, after what we went through to get her. I thought that odd. Who “enjoys” a newborn? They don’t do anything enjoyable. Sure, maybe when she starts making eye contact and smiling, but a newborn? I remember being so stressed with my first. I wrote down everything she ate, her pees and poops. It was a bizarre journal of bodily function. I held her head correctly, I scolded my husband for leaving her lying on the couch, I was nuts. But I know now what it means to “enjoy” a newborn. I’m working less (apparently, by the way, sorry for the lack of blog posts). I let all of Maeve’s friends hold the baby, often forgetting to tell them to wash their hands. I don’t panic when I hear that blood curdling scream. Really, baby? A blood curdling scream just because you have a wet diaper? Is it really that bad? I’m (only slightly) less anxious by the lack of sleep. And one day at some hour when the rest of the world is fast asleep I pictured a cookie with just a whole mess of icing. Chaos. Imperfection. Though admittedly, neatly contained on a circle. Hey, I can’t change all at once.

how to make chaos cookies

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

circle cookie cutters

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

size 3 or 4 decorating tips

rubber bands

lollipop sticks (optional)

*Find circle cookie cutters in the craft store. I have a set of them. Here I used 2 1/2-inch and 1 1/2 inch. You’ll also find decorating bags, couplers, tips and sticks in the craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes, found online or in specialty stores. Orange, Electric Pink, Electric Green and Sky Blue used here. For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.

step one: bake your cookies

Roll out chilled cookie dough according to the recipe, cut out your circles and bake according to the recipe. For cookie pops, roll out a bit thicker, 3/8 inch, and insert sticks before baking. For tips on making cookie pops, click HERE.

step two: make your icing

Prepare icing according to the recipe. Divide and color your preferred colors. Assemble a decorating bag with coupler and tip for each color, fill and close with rubber bands.

step three: decorate your cookies

Pipe swiggles and designs and loops or whatever for each color in any way you like and let the cookies dry overnight.

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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!