Catch all of my video tutorials, periscope replays and tips and tricks on my youtube channel.

Thanks! 

Belle

One cutter, four ways...

Do you have a cookie cutter that you just don't see the way it is 'meant to be'?

Well, I recently got this cutter from Cheap Cookie Cutters - you can find it here. They call it a mail box cutter, that's fine and dandy, but all I kept seeing was an elephant.....from behind.

and then I saw him in long grass...

and then all muddy....

 But then I started seeing other things in that humble mail box cutter. 

First thing that came to mind was a birdhouse. No surprise really as I practically live on Montreal Confections YouTube channel and recently watched this tutorial. Coupled with the fact I have a new airbrush I really wanted to try the wood grain technique she shows in the video. I loved how it turned out.

Next idea that came to me was a bit 'geeky' in the form of R2-D2 from Star Wars. 

He was inspired in part by this post from Sugarbelle, but I thought to add his legs (?) because of the shape of the cutter.

I think he's a bit cute.

And finally (for now) I saw I car in that mail box cutter, rear view here 

but you could easily make it front view as well.

I have also thought of a few other ideas for this cutter, turn it upside down for a baby's bib and again upside down and trim slightly for a cat's face. I'd love to hear what you see in this cutter or what other cutter shapes you just don't see 'as they are meant to be'.

Thanks for stopping by,
Belle

My first 3D Cookie!

I am pretty proud of my first ever 3D cookie attempt. Below are the photos of "Rambling Rose Cottage". I used this cookie cutter set from Biskart here in Australia. I had so much fun doing this and have plans to do more and make them into pinata houses and fill them with lollies / candy. Thanks everyone!

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A great honour...

A few months ago, whilst I was away travelling to visit my parents, I received an email to say that a photo of some cookies I had entered into a competition had been chosen to be one of 15 finalists out of 170 entries. It was the first official competition I had ever entered my cookies into and, for me, it wasn't just any competition. It was SweetAmbs Springtime competition. 

Amber of SweetAmbs, is one of my cookie heroes and to say I was shocked to be chosen by her as a finalist was an understatement. As I explained it to my Mum, it was like being nominated for an Academy Award, just making it to be a finalist was enough really, it didn't matter if I won or not!

                            

The cookies that I entered were my wet-on-wet butterfly's. These butterfly's always get lots of lovely comments and I have to thank Marion from Montreal Confections for the inspiration. 

To be made a finalist by Amber was really a great affirmation for me that my passion for this hobby comes through in my work. Thank you Amber, it meant so much to me.

Belle

Ps. My apologies for this late post but I was a little busy with the arrival of bub #2 see my previous post "my recent work" ;)

Some recent work

Hi all, just a quick post, its been a long time I know, but I have had a baby in the meantime so I think I can be forgiven :) Here are some photo's of some of my recent work, including Miss Lily Mae born on the 16th July :) 

Elephants, grey & yellow, chevron, babies, a few of my favourite things...all put together for a special baby shower.

  
A big thank you to Amber from SweetAmbs for the tutorial on these beach themed cookies, it was so amazing I had to up and try it straight away!

The Fan Trick - it works and I have the proof!

Hello! I have a valuable lesson today and one I first learnt from Sweet Sugar Belle. It's fairly simple, but makes a big impact on your cookies, as you will see from my photos (hopefully my photography is not the best)! SugarBelle's post is here.

I don't know if you can see with my bad photograph (on my list of tings to work on!) but the cookie on the left was dried with a fan blowing on it. Just a simple small desktop fan.

The one on the right was left to "air dry". The cookie on the left is shiny, smooth and looks lovely. The one on the right is matt, dull and well just not right in my opinion!

Here are some close up's so hopefully you can see what I mean better: 

The one above is the one dried in front of the fan. Can you see the shine on it and how smooth it looks?? I have not put anything on this (pearl dust etc) that is just the light playing off the shiny icing :) 

This is the one left to air dry. Can you see how the icing looks almost crystalised? It sort of looks pretty in the photo's (kinda sparkly) but in real life it looks rather dull compared to the one above. They also feel different. The one above (airdried) feels rough - almost like a very fine grade sandpaper! Not very appetising! 

You don't need to invest in big drying racks and large fans like SweetSugarBelle, (unless you want to of course!) below is my fan:

Its probably only about 20cm (8") tall and 

was sold as a desktop fan from a discount store for $2! 

It does the job for drying about 3-4 cookies sheets at once.

Drying cookies with a fan is really a big help too if you live in a hot and humid climate. Another trick you might like to look into is using a food dehydrator.  

Georganne from Lilaloa has a great post here. I have not invested in a dehydrator as yet, but this is my first summer as a cookier so that might change!

Hoping your cookies shine from now on!

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

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How to get the MOST out of your Icing Colours

I mostly use Americolor Gel Paste Food Colours for colouring my icing. Here in Australia it is not a cheap item. I have two places in my local town that I can get it. One store charges $4.95 and the other charges $6.99 - for a .75oz bottle!! Most Australian online stores charge around the $4.50-$5 mark as well.

When you think most American online decorating supply stores charge around $1.39(USD) (and our dollar is roughly 1 to 1 at the moment) you start to wonder if you are in the right business!

Even though I try to buy my colours from the states to save money I still like to get every last drop out of them (sometimes shipments can take 3-4 weeks!).

So I came up with this trick – I don’t know if anyone else has came up with the same idea – but I haven’t seen of this anywhere else (maybe not everyone is a cheap skate like me!)

When your gel paste bottle is ‘empty’ put approx. 1 teaspoon of warm water in the bottle. I find because its gel it clings to the sides and you can’t always get every last drop out – the warm water helps loosen it up as well. Give a good shake and voilà, you have more colour to work with! Just remember that this is now “watered down” colour and an easy way to do this is by marking the top of the bottle with a “W”.

You need to keep in mind when using this colour that it contains water and therefore will water down your icing. If you are making outlining and flood consistency icing then you normally add water anyway – now you will just be adding water and colour at the same time.   The colour will also not be as intense as the original gel, buts it’s great for a more subtle shade J

Thanks for dropping by and I hope this trick helps you get every last drop of colour! 

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