Yet another giveaway!

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been opportunities for you to get FREE cookies, 60% off cookies, and 50% off cookies!  Holy Discounts Batman!  Well....here's another chance for you to get cookies for FREE!!!  Check out this HUGE Handmade with Love Winter Giveaway - featuring over 130 blogs!

This giveaway is open through February 6th!  Click on the button above to see how you can enter.  While you're there, make sure you check out all the other blogs that are giving away great, handmade prizes too!

Crazy busy 'round here!

Ok....I usually try to post every Sunday, but, I was up north with some of my girls! 

That's us, we had a blast.  We always have a blast!!  Yummy food, no responsibilities, great conversation, games, lots of laughter, and very little sleep!

Last week, and this week since I've been back have been crazy busy!!  I had coupons running on OyWhataDeal.com on Monday, and another on LivingSocial.com on Tuesday. Monday we announced the winner of the HUGE 500 fan giveaway was Jen Johnson. I shipped out 4 orders yestersday (including some freebies to contest winners!!!).  Today I see we have broke the 700 fans mark on facebook!! 

They like me, they REALLY like me!!!

Now, I have orders coming in faster than I can write them down!!!  If you are looking for Valentine cookies, please e-mail or call me ASAP (do not leave a comment about wanting cookies!) because I am running out of room in my calendar fast! As it is, I may have to get some help over here.  Maybe if someone else can do packaging and shipping, I will get it all done on time!!

Here is a glimpse of what I've been up to!

Tiny cheetah heels and tiny purses for a "Lil Miss Priss Party" styled by Claudia at TiniPosh for her daughter.

Monster truck "Grave Digger" for a little boy's b-day.  Thanks Brandy!

Lightsabers for a Star Wars themed party.  Thanks Yolanda!

Valentine's Day Assortment

All you need is love!

More to come once I can get out of my kitchen!

It's time!!!

Super-Duper Giveaway Day!!!

(Week actually!)

Well, here it is sportsfans!  The HUGE GIVEAWAY you’ve all been waiting for! 

You may remember that this was planned in honor of hitting 500 fans on our facebook page for The Sweetest Thing…well, we blew that away and are now over 600!!

WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!

I am totally geeked! 

I don’t think I even know that many people!

YAAAAYYYYYY!!! 

SERIOUSLY DOING THE HAPPY DANCE! 

(And if you know me, you know how silly that looks!)

Alright, so here are the details you need to know.  The winner will get an

insane prize package

worth almost $200 (!) that will include:

1 dozen hand decorated valentine cookies by The Sweetest Thing

1 hand knit earflap hat with hearts (size 2-5T) by Buggy's Beanies

1 dozen mini heart cake pops by Dreamin’ N Details Design

6 handmade favor tags by The Purple Pug

1 signature Silver Pendant by Ann-Margaret’s SpecialTea Shoppe

1 set of embellished burp cloths by (the brand new!) My Little Snugbug

1 Infant Hair Accessories Starter Kit & Mother Necklace by Icing tops the CAKE

Starter Kit Includes:

1 - Hot Pink Infant Kufi Hat w/ 4" White Daisy.

1 - 4" Purple, White & Black Zebra Daisy on thin 
     black headband.

1 - White crochet headband

1 - "LOVE" Valentine’s Day Clippie

1 - Pair of pink flower clippies

1 - "Mothers" Scrabble Tile Necklace w/ 18" shiny 
      silver ball chain.

Entry is EASY!! 

All you have to do is “like” all 7 of us on Facebook!

(Each fb page is linked in the list above!)

Then, leave a comment here on the blog telling me you did so. 

That comment on this blog is your entry!

If you would like to double your chances of winning,

Also follow the corresponding blogs that are available

The Sweetest Thing – Right here, silly!

The Purple Pug

Don’t forget to come back here and leave a comment letting me know you follow!

The contest will close at midnight on Sunday, January 30^th.  The winner will be drawn using Random.org on Monday, January 31.  Be sure to leave an e-mail address in your comments so I can contact the winner.
**Winner MUST have a US mailing address to which we can send the prizes (due to shipping).**

Media Mayhem & Royal Ridiculousness

Happy Sunday! 

I have two things I’d like to share today for my weekly bloggy blithering.

First….I have something I need to get off my chest, and could really use some advice.

Then…a {little bit} of shameless bragging!  That’s okay, right?  After all, I have to share my successes too!

So…advice.  Yes, I need help!  I have a hard time admitting that I need help, but here, I am just at a loss.  For all my fellow “mompreneurs” out there, how in the world are you keeping up with all the social media networking??

I am actively promoting myself and networking via:

1 – Facebook

2 – This blog

3 – Martha Stewarts Dreamers into Doers  

4 – The Children’s Party Network

5 – Twitter @tstCookies (but haven’t been on it in like 2 weeks!)

6 – I also am constantly visiting others’ pages on all of the above and   leaving comments, “liking” them, entering contests, etc….

I can easily spend my entire day on my laptop or iphone, and I still don’t feel like I am catching it all!  All this networking has been outstanding for The Sweetest Thing!  I have almost 600 fb fans {HOLY COW!} as of this writing, have met many fabulous women, and even discovered I can use cookies as currency! I have traded cookies for {cake pops} from Dreamin’ N Details Design, an amazing {custom picture frame} from Creative Flair Art, an adorable {hand knit hat} for my daughter from Buggies Beanies…and have more in the works!

So…the problem is this:

How do I feel like I can stay on top of all these different media outlets so as not to miss opportunities, yet still maintain a balance so that I have enough time in my kitchen and with my family?

               

PLEASE, I AM BEGGING YOU TO LEAVE ME SOME SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS!

Now that I’ve said all that, it’s time for some bragging! (Do I seem modest here? I am, really!)

Huge thanks to Natalie of Southern Belle’s Charm for the referral on this job.  I was contacted by a woman to do custom cookies for a Sweet 16 party.  The party, styled by Natalie, sounds like it will be gorgeous!  Custom decorations and invitations in purple, silver, black and white….damask…rhinestones…chandeliers…so beautiful!  Anyway, the woman who called me asked if I can make a cookie to match the chandelier on the invite that Natalie designed, as well as some with the birthday girl’s monogram, E.  Of course, as usual, I said, “YES! Of course I can do that!” 

…Then I looked at the invite!

This is the chandelier and the E is a beautiful, looping font called precious.

 E

Well, of course, I had to do this, and I knew I could, I just wasn’t sure of the best technique to use yet.  For the E, I knew I had to do a pre-piped letter.  It was a challenge to keep the letter in one piece as I placed it on the cookie, but it worked!

The chandelier was more of a challenge yet!  First I tried piping in the black into the wet flood icing and manipulating it with a toothpick.  It just didn’t come out how I wanted it though.  Then I tried just using black gel icing color and hand painting the design.  Turns out, I am not that great of a painter! Lastly, I decided to try applying the black icing on top of the completely set white background.  I piped as much as I could, and used my {toothpick} to move the icing around to get the points and the extremely narrow curls the way I wanted them.  I am pretty pleased with the results and hope the birthday girl likes them too!

Oh, and since the invites have a damask print layer, I thought I’d try that as well. 

Here is the resulting set, and I sure hope Katie and Elana like them as much as I do!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

R A W R!!!!

Dinosaur Cookies!

T-Rex and Stegosaurus!



T-Rex & Stegosaurus...ready for the party!

YES, I know Stegosaurus is not a meat eater.  Being the herbivore that he is, the teeth would be flat for grinding leaves, not sharp for ripping meat, but....they were too cute, so I had to include the teeth! 

Happy Birthday Andrew! Thanks, Lisa.  Good Luck with your new business venture, SagePrints. 

Love ROCKS!!

Oh yes it does!

Valentine's Day is less than 1 month away, are you ready!?  I've been working on some new ideas for V-day this month and I think {if I do say so myself ;) } that I've come up with some pretty cool ideas. 

We all know that love comes in many forms, and Valentine's Day is a great time to celebrate all the loves in your life! Do you honor your friends and the children in your life? If not, now's a great time to start. 

When my brother and I were young, our parents always did something for us at V-day, and we both loved it! 

How about surprising them with these adorable

Love Bugs!!

Love Bugs!! 

Are you wanting to send a special message to the special person in your life?  These conversation heart cookies taste a million times better than the candy ones, and you can customize the phrases (and the colors) on them so they say whatever you want!

  

Conversation Hearts {a proposal perhaps?}



Conversation Hearts

Maybe you would like to keep it simple and just send some heart shaped cookies. You can have the cookie flavor your love likes best decorated in the colors of your choice, with any design or phrase on them that you'd like!



Handcuffs & Hearts

If you're looking something a bit different than the standard hearts, how about some kink with all that pink! Handcuffs and hearts could be fun!



These cookies were designed for a project that Natalie at Southern Belle's Charm was working on.  She did a Valentine's Rocks theme with the collaboration of multiple vendors and the final results were Uh-May-Zing!!!  Courtney over at Pizzazzerie even did a feature on it! {To me, this is the big time!!} I am so honored to have been involved in it.  I have already recieved multiple orders for these cookies!



My calendar is getting filled in fast, so don't wait to place your order for Valentine's day!  E-mail at tstCookies@gmail.com and let me know what I can do for you!

"Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do!"

Camden is having his 3rd birthday party today.  His daddy is a police officer, so he wanted a police themed party.

"police" cookie favors

I love how these turned out!  Make me wanna go "WOOOO, WOOOOO, WOOOO, WOOOO!!"

Camden's badges!



These handcuffs don't hurt!

Happy Birthday Camden!  Thanks Carrie, it was nice meeting you. ...and thanks Angela, for the referral.  {LOVE referrals!}