{Sugar Bee} An Arizona Christmas Cacti Sugar Cookie Collection

Just when I thought I was finished designing my Christmas cookie collections, I saw a photo by the amazing Flour Box Bakery which sparked inspiration that led to me creating An Arizona Christmas Cacti Sugar Cookie Collection! This adorable and prickly collection is comprised of four different cacti adorned with the most festive decorations. The saguaro is of course created to look like Santa Claus....or Santa Cactus as I like to call him. The potted cactus with a bow is Santa's better half, Mrs. Cactus. Then I have another potted cactus that has Santa's belt and is wrapped in lights and topped with a red flower. Last, I have a ball cactus that has a couple flowers and some holly. I love how adorable they look as a set, but each cookie is just as cute on its own! This red and green collection is the perfect treat to wish loved ones a Merry Cactmus, Feliz Navidad, to celebrate Christmas the Arizona way!

{Sugar Bee} Elf on the Shelf Cookie Sets

You better watch out and you better not cry or pout because the Elf on the Shelf is watching!

If you have a household like mine that has a scout elf or two, you know that this means a couple of things.....leverage for getting your kids to behave over the holiday season, but also having to move it every night! And if you are one of the amazing parents who go a step further and set up your elf to look like they are doing the most creative and fun shenanigans, my hats off to you...that is commitment and it is incredible of you to do for your kids!

This year, I thought I would help the parents out who are looking for something fun and easy to do for their elf. So I offered a scout elf cookie with room for a name, either the child's or elf's name. Along with the elf cookie, I created a scroll cookie that parents can personalize with a cute little note from their elf. Lastly, I wanted to create a platter of cookies so that parents can arrange their elf holding the platter with a mini rolling pin...and for extra fun they can throw a little flour around like the elf had just been baking! Just think of the look on a child's face when they wake up and they see all the fun their elf had been up to over night and to top it off they get a treat to eat!

I am so excited to know that this set will bring smiles to children and their parents! I just love the magic of Christmas!

{Sugar Bee} Gingerbread Man Christmas Sugar Cookie Collection

It is the sweetest time of year....Christmas time is here! Which means I am baking spirits bright! So of course if anyone is looking for me, they can find me in my kitchen baking up a storm!

Every year I offer themed Christmas cookie collections and this year I wanted to create something cute, colorful, and fun. And what are all those things rolled in to one....the gingerbread man of course! So I got to work and created the cutest little gingerbread, his house, and also yummy candy that can frequently be found on or around his home. That means candy canes and gum drops...but not just any gum drops, but a Mr. and Mrs. Gum Drop! They work so cute as a pair, but make the entire collection complete!

 

I just can't resist that cute little face....it is giving me a tooth ache it is so sweet! This collection is ready to turn heads and delight stomachs this holiday season!

What are you baking this Christmas?!

{Sugar Bee} 90th Birthday Fiesta Cookies

Tomorrow is a very special day to my family, we are celebrating the 90th birthday of my grandma! This party isn't just any birthday, but a fiesta that will be celebrated with family, festive decor, mariachis, delicious food, and of course lots of sweet treats!

While the rest of the family is taking care of the decorations, food, entertainment, guest list, I of course got to work on the cookies! Though I can't say I designed these myself, I was so excited that my fellow cookier and friend, Melissa Romero from Cakeology, let me use some of her designs from her Coco themed cookies to use for this occasion.

The Mexican pastries were some of my favorite cookies to do because they look just like the real thing! I created the Marranitos (the little pig gingerbread cookies), the pink Conchas (Mexican sweet break), and the Mexican cookies with sprinkles.

I also wanted to highlight that this is more than just a fiesta, but a milestone for my grandma, so I included the 90 that I decorated to look similar to a serape (a Mexican blanket) and the little abuelita (inspired by Mama Coco from Disney's Coco).

I think these galletas will be a wonderful touch as we celebrate the matriarch of our family!

{Sugar Bee} PYO Turkey Sugar Cookies

This Thanksgiving was my first year introducing PYO (paint-your-own) sugar cookies to my list of items offered as party of my flash sale! And let me just say....they were even more popular than I had anticipated! But how could they not be....they are an activity and a treat wrapped in one!

These little guys make for a great way to entertain the children and after they are done creating their own little masterpieces, they can eat them! And unlike decorating sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, these leave little clean-up.

All that is needed is a TINY (a little actually goes a long way) bit of water to activate the colors on the palette and then brush color in between the lines. In the end you will have a sweet little art masterpiece and followed by a delicious dessert!

Happy Turkey Day!

{Sugar Bee} Modern Bohemian Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies

This Thanksgiving I decided to do something a little different from the typical cookie design. I thought it would be so pretty to create something that was both modern and bohemian in design and full of floral details, as well as use a color palette that was comprised of beautiful aquas, golds, and oranges. What came together was so cute!

I did bring back the pumpkin pie slice from last year because it is just too cute and perfect for the guest who doesn't like pumpkin pie, but can still partake in eating pie with the rest of the family...just in cookie form! But this year I introduced a white pumpkin that has a gold tribal pattern and topped with pretty flowers and leaves.

I also added a turkey cookie, but instead of detailing the cookie to look like the typical turkey, I made it a modern turkey using aqua as the base color and detailing with gold polka dots and adding a pretty flower accent.

Last, I made a simple plaque cookie with floral details and piped "Give Thanks" on the surface since that is what Thanksgiving is all about! Together they make a very modern and bohemian set that is simply beautiful!

Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

{Sugar Bee} Vampirina Sugar Cookies for Alivia's 4th Birthday

This past weekend a sweet and beautiful, little girl named, Alivia, turned 4! Her mama, who happens to be my niece, planned a special day filled with the birthday girl's favorite character, Vampirina. If you aren't familiar with Vampirina, it is one of the newest cartoons on the Disney Junior channel. She is a little girl vampire who moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania with her mom and dad, and they open a Bed and Breakfast. Vee (Vampirina) is the new kid in town and must face the trials, tribulations, and joys of fitting in with her very human classmates. It is a super adorable show and little girls are going batty over it!

However, because this cartoon is fairly new, there is a lack of Vampirina party decorations in the stores, thus, I was asked to make cookies that would allow her to bring the theme of the party into the decor. I must admit that I am not a cookie decorator that prides herself on character cookies, they are on the difficult side and can be very time consuming, but of course for Alivia, I was up for the challenge!

What I came up with was the perfect combination of characters and spooktacular patterns! I decided that I would try my hand at Vampirina and her friend, Demi. Instead of doing characters with their entire bodies, I placed Vampirina's face on a plaque cookie with a cute gray bat pattern. Demi's face was placed on a balloon, also with a bat pattern, but in a pretty purple. I wanted to include a festive birthday cake, so I created a purple cake with black drip frosting topped with some red and pink sprinkles. On the side of the cake I added a spider web pattern and a cute bat to represent Vampirina in bat form. Lastly, I like to incorporate some personalization so I made bat cookies and piped Alivia's name on them. I also created number 4 cookies with a spiderweb pattern and a purple bat since that is age she was turning. 

Overall, I think I may be "batty" for this set! They are just frightfully fun and I hope Alivia had boo-tiful day filled with spooktacular fun!

Happy 4th birthday, Alivia!

{Sugar Bee} Cute Cacti Sugar Cookies

If it isn't obvious that these cookies are for a gender reveal party, let me explain! When I was approached to do cookies for a cacti themed party that would reveal the gender of a baby due in 2019, I was very excited because I LOVE cacti cookies! I was instructed that the boy cactus needed to have a mustache and the girl cactus needed to have a bow. But of course, I wanted to mix it up a bit and add a little bit of variety. And I must admit, I am totally "stuck on" these cacti sugar cookies!

As you can see, there are 5 different cacti cookies. The girl cacti are potted and are wearing either a bow or flower...and in pink, of course! The boys are saguaro cacti, one is a chubby saguaro the other is a traditional saguaro, and they both have mustaches and are wearing a bow tie....in blue! The last cookie is to break up the cookies and are to represent both genders, hence the blue and pink rosettes. Because I love to add a little bit of glitz, I added a subtle pattern to each cookie using gold and a green metallic sheen. I think it was the perfect touch!

Now to find out the gender....will it be a he or a she?!

Congratulations to the parents-to-be!

{Party Bee} Eat, Drink, and Carve this Halloween!

It is my favorite holiday of the year...it is Halloween! This time of year is just so much fun. The weather starts cooling down, the Fall decorations fill the stores, and I get to go crazy with creating a fun and festive theme for Halloween. This year I decided to go pretty traditional with orange, black, and white and fill my tables with Jack O' lanterns!

A couple of years ago I created a printable collection with a Jack O'lantern theme, but with a twist...this collection is for a pumpkin carving party. So, though the party we planned wasn't only for pumpkin carving, it was certainly an activity that our guests could option to do....and it was highly encouraged!

My dessert table was complete with cute little sugar cookies and chocolate covered Oreos, all created with pumpkins and jack o' lanterns in mind. Even the ghosts had little jack o' lanterns!

What was great was that I got to use decorations that I already had in my Halloween decor bin. My ceramic Jack O'lantern (that I have had for several years) was the perfect centerpiece for my table! Then when I was at Target and Walmart, I found mini ones that I thought looked like they belonged right beside my large one!

Another fun and easy decoration I found, were these super cute paper pinwheels! I got them off of Amazon and they came with a dozen pinwheels of different sizes and patterns with a orange, black, and white color scheme. Best part about these...they are reusable and close for small and easy storage!

Every year, I always have water bottles with coordinating bottle wraps. It is just so easy and is an inexpensive way to keep the theme going. Plus, everyone needs to drink water anyway!

I always tell my clients to always check the dollar store and the dollar section of Target for decorations and party favors! This year Dollar General had the cutest felt pumpkin placemats. They were such a cute and colorful element to my table...and a great party favor for the kids! I also found cute lidded glasses with straws that went perfectly with my theme....and the kids could use them that night or take them home and use them!

Lemonade is such an easy drink to serve for parties. If you have a lemon tree like I do, it really is super cost effective, and let me just say....fresh squeezed lemonade is the BEST! To make it a little more interesting, I added the option of flavoring the lemonade with "pumpkin potion" (aka Raspberry syrup) or "jack o' lantern juice" (aka peach syrup). It is something fun to do and spices up traditional lemonade. If you wanted to create something for adults (which I always like to do), offer a jigger of vodka to turn it into an adult only beverage! Just keep the jiggers away from the littles.

My sweet pumpkin wanted to wear an outfit that just so happened to fit my theme....so here she is posing with her favorite sugar cookie, a jack o' lantern, of course!

Here is to a safe, fun, and Happy Halloween filled with family, friends, yummy treats...and of course Jack O' lanterns!

{Sugar Bee} Jack O'lantern Chocolate Covered Oreos

"There is magic in the night when pumpkins glow by moonlight"!

One more day until Halloween! Wishing you all a bewitching night filled with fun and ghoulish goodies! 

{Sugar Bee} Boo-tiful Halloween Sugar Cookies

My customers will be scaring up some fun this Halloween with these boo-tiful sugar cookies! I don't know a better way to celebrate the holiday than with some yummy and festive sweet treats!

There is definitely no tricks with these spooktacular treats! 

What's brewing in your kitchen for Halloween this year?!

{Sugar Bee} Hudson's Blazin' Sweet Firefighter Sugar Cookies

Sound the alarm and get fired up, because a little firefighter celebrated his 4th birthday with these smokin' sugar cookies!

This is year for Hudson's birthday, he had a firefighter themed birthday party and his mama asked me to create some cute and delicious treats to accompany the rest of her fun and festive decor. Well of course I was excited because it allowed me to pull out some of my cookie cutters that I have been dying to use!

The color palette that I used mainly consisted of the typical colors for this theme, red! But I wanted to include other colors to break up the red and add an accent color. So I decided to use gray as my other main color, but also include white, black, and finally use yellow as my accent color.

When I was coming up with my designs, I thought we of course needed to have a Fire Helmet and Fire Truck, but I wanted to add a couple cookies for personalization. After brainstorming a bit more, what I came up with with was a Fire Cross with Hudson's initial and a number 4 to highlight the age he is turning! I must admit, the number 4 probably is my favorite cookie because I was able to create those fun and colorful flames! But I also didn't want to forget about the dalmatian that is often associated with firefighters and fire stations, so I created a dalmatian paw to the set. Finally, I wanted to use the yellow a bit more to make the color really pop in the collection, so I decided to create a fire hydrant on a plaque shape cookie that had a brick pattern to represent a building.

All together these 6 designs made such a cute and cohesive set...they were definitely ready to go to the station to sweeten Hudson's birthday party!

I had a blazin' good time making these cookies and I hope the birthday boy had an equally good time eating them!

Happy 4th Birthday, Hudson!

{Sugar Bee} Transportation themed Cookies for Avery's 2nd Birthday

Start your engines and shift into gear because a little boy named Avery is turning 2! For his second birthday, Avery's mom wanted some cookies to go along with his party theme, "Things that Go"! Well of course that is a fun theme with SO many options....having to narrow it down to just a few vehicles was a bit of a challenge. However, Avery had some favorites that his mom wanted to see incorporated into the set, so that helped me as I designed the cookies.

I thought it would be fun to have the option of splitting them into mini sets....things that go on land, and things that go in the air and on water. But keeping them cohesive would be my goal. So each set had a color scheme, but one color would make their way through most of the designs...yellow!

The things that go on land set was comprised of a tractor, dump truck and a number two that looked like a dirt/mud road with tire tracks. I kept to the color scheme of green, yellow, brown, and black. For the things that go in air/on water, I created a sailboat, hot air balloon, and a number two that had clouds and a helicopter and airplane. The main colors I used for that min set were light blue, dark, blue, red, and white....but I still managed to accent a couple of the cookies with yellow to unify the entire collection.

Overall, I was so happy with how they turned out and I hope the birthday boy enjoys them as well!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Avery! Hope you had a "wheelie" good time! :)

{Sugar Bee} Sun Devilish Treats for an ASU Themed Baby Shower

When I was asked to make cookies for a baby shower, I was so excited because I have been wanting to do some cute baby themed cookies, but when I was told it was ASU themed, I was even more excited because the wheels started spinning with so many ideas!

The baby shower was going to be a game day for the college team and the invitation for the party said they were welcoming "a new lil' devil". So cute! As you may have guessed, both parents are ASU Alumni and full of school spirit, so it seemed very fitting to add "lil' devil" to their crew!

After I brainstormed many ideas, I came down to the following designs. A rattle with a pitchfork...because they always say to "fear the fork". A bib with devil horns that says "lil' devil". A baby sleeper with the mascot's face. A baby plaque airbrushed with little pitchforks. And of course, onesies with footballs....but since they don't know what gender they are having, I created one with a tutu for a girl and one with little devil horns for a boy.

I am so happy with how these cookies turned out and I hope that mama and baby enjoy their day while devouring these sun devilish treats!

Congratulations to the family!!!

{Sugar Bee} Clinton's Circus Cookies

Clinton is turning 1 and to celebrate his big day, he is having a circus themed party and what is a party without sugar cookies!?!? In the past, I have created circus themed cookies and they were so much fun to make, so I kept a couple of those same designs in this set. But this time around, I added a few more cookies to make this the greatest birthday on earth! So step right up and see these sweet treats!

The snow cones and popcorn tubs are probably my favorite in the set....they are just too cute! But who doesn't love a clown, cotton candy, and balloon with an elephant on it?! These were a lot of fun to make and I hope the birthday boy has the a great day under the big top!

Happy 1st Birthday Clinton!

{Sugar Bee) A Sweet Way to Thank an Officer

Thank an Officer Day is this Saturday and this year I wanted to do something to show my appreciation. After all, I am a proud LEO wife and I have learned all the difficulties and rewards that go into being an officer. For this, I decided to make sweet treats that could be given to an officer to thank them for all that they do to keep our community safe. Though I do believe officers should be thanked and appreciated all year long, this is one day that everyone should go out of their way and say thank you!

The set I created consists of a cute police car, a large Thank You, and two donuts (for a touch of fun and humor).

I am so happy with the way they turned out and I especially love that police car! I am excited to show my thanks this Saturday!

How will you show your appreciation?

{Sugar Bee} Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Grandparents Day was yesterday and though I had already made cookies for my kids to gift to their grandparents, my daughter wanted to do something a little extra! So with help from mom, she created cupcakes! Snickerdoodle cupcakes to be exact! She was so excited to bake (it is her favorite thing to do with me) and this time she got to do most of it herself, even down to the sprinkling of the cinnamon sugar mixture (which you can see from the photos, she she got a little heavy handed at times...but more cinnamon sugar for one lucky person!).

 

 

 

She was so proud of herself and her cupcakes and they made such a special addition to grandparents day dinner. They were indeed quite delicious!

Happy grandparents day to all the wonderful grandmas and grandpas, but especially to my kids' grandparents who give so much love and do so much for them!

{Sugar Bee} Berry Cute Cookies for Grandparents who are One in a Melon!

Today is Grandparents Day and the perfect day to celebrate the people who shower our kids with so much love! So this year I decided to create cookies that would let our grandparents know just how berry special they are! I wanted to do something a little different and so I thought who doesn't love fruit....especially fruit cookies! Well, figuring out which fruit was the tricky part, but after a lot of brainstorming, I decided upon strawberries, pineapples, and watermelon!

Of course the cookies wouldn't be complete without coordinating tags to really make them extra special (and to make sense)! The pineapples were packaged with a tag that says "Grandma/Grandpa, you are the pineapple of my eye". The strawberries were tagged with a cute phrase that says "Grandma/Grandpa, you are the berry best!" Last but not least, the watermelons were packaged with a tag that says "Grandma/Grandpa, you are one in a melon"!

What grandparent wouldn't want to receive one of these sweet treats from their sweet little loves!

Happy grandparents day to all you berry sweet grandmas and grandpas who are truly one in a melon!