Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Mexican Sunflowers

Late in the summer Gracie and I planted some seeds, including these Mexican Sunflowers.

The plants grew and grew and grew, taller and taller and taller. FINALLY, they formed some buds about a week ago, and we have one small flower. It's way at the top of the tallest plant. Do you see that speck of orange near the top of the photo? That's it!

Here's a close-up. This isn't quite the festive display I was hoping for, but I'm happy we have a bloom!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

The 8th Wedding Anniversary is Bronze

The traditional gift for the 8th wedding anniversary is bronze. I considered a lot of ideas but nothing seemed quite right until I decided on the simple and logical gift of cookies!

I still wanted something bronze, so I painted the lid of a jar.

I don't know that I'd call it bronze but it looks nice! I filled the jar with lemon poppyseed cookies in the shape of the number 8.


The letter S is for hanging on the wall, also in a bronze finish.

Happy 8th Anniversary to my Sweetie!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Spring Flower Photographs

Flower Photo by Nina's Show & Tell
A bit of spring color from the park...

Daffodil Photo by Nina's Show & Tell

Nasturtium Photo by Nina's Show & Tell
 And our garden.

Ginger Snap Pogens

Do you remember Ginger Snap Pogens?

When I was growing up in Southern California in the 70s and 80s, these were a delicious store-bought treat. They were thin, crisp, and spicy, and in the shape of animals with minimal detail, often just an eye poked into the dough.

Pogens Inspired Gingersnap Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I made these using this Pogens Gingersnaps Recipe with a few variations. I added 1/2 cup flour, chilled the dough, rolled it to 1/8" and cut shapes with cookie cutters.

 Gingersnap Mouse Cookie by Nina's Show & Tell

 Gingersnap Snail Cookie by Nina's Show & Tell
I love the simplicity of these cookies.

Pogens Inspired Gingersnap Heart Cookies
These are even simpler! It was nice to take a break from fancy decorated cookies.

Pogens Inspired Gingersnap Scalloped Cookies
This project was a yummy trip down memory lane, and the results were very close to the cookies I remember.

Thanks to a fellow blogger, I was able to track down this Pogens brochureI'd love to find a photo of the original cookies!

Baseball Birthday Cookies

Baseball Birthday Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Personalized Baseball Birthday Cookies

I'm happy with how these came out, although I was wishing for a Kopykake projector while I was decorating them!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Birthday Season

Early spring is a busy time in our family! All three of our birthdays are within 10 days of each other, so there is a lot of celebrating to be done. Easter often occurs in the same week and a half, sometimes falling on one of our birthdays.

Family Photo by Nina's Show & Tell
An outing to celebrate Easter and my birthday.

Wildflowers by Nina's Show & Tell
We love wildflowers!

Birthday Ice Cream by Nina's Show & Tell
Yummy ice cream for my birthday dessert.


G Monogram Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Gracie's birthday was next. I made these monogram cookies for her to share with her class. She chose the colors and design. To see more cookies, visit me over at Nina's Cookie Shop.

Birthday Hat & Cupcake by Nina's Show & Tell
We had a party for her at a local park on a very windy day! I embellished the hat and made yummy pink cupcakes. It was a new recipe for me, Pink Lady Cake made with strawberries. Gracie chose pink icing and helped decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles.


Balloon Flower by Nina's Show & Tell
The party had a garden theme, and this balloon flower was supposed to decorate the gazebo at the park. The wind interfered with the decorations, so it adorned our house instead. This tutorial from All Things Simple was very helpful!


Birthday Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
The cute napkins are from Target, and I embellished a party store birthday hat with ribbon for the birthday girl. I made the flower cookies for party favors. You can see more flower cookies over at Nina's Cookie Shop.

Sets of 50 Little Birthday Gifts by Nina's Show & Tell
Next came Art's birthday. Gracie and I made him a card and bundles of 50 things.

Opening Present by Nina's Show & Tell
Gracie LOVES wrapping presents and picked out the paper and bow.  She also loves unwrapping presents!


Bacon, Avocado & Tomato DIY Sandwich by Nina's Show & Tell
We wanted a simple dinner that would finish well with apple pie for dessert. A DIY BAT (bacon, avocado & tomato sandwich) was perfect! I made mayonnaise from scratch for the first time. Thanks to this recipe from Alton Brown and these hints from Andrea the Kitchen Witch on using the KitchenAid mixer, it came out well.


Apple Pie by Nina's Show & Tell
Finally it was time for pie! I like to use a combination of apples; for this pie I used Lady Alice (which I just learned is a new variety) and Pink Lady apples. With a crumb topping and vanilla ice cream, it was a delicious finale to our birthday season!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Train Cookies

Train Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Train Cookie for a 3rd Birthday Celebration

I was inspired by the colors on these train cookies at Sweet Creations by Debbie. They were for a 3rd birthday, too! I also like her accent cookies.


Wilton Train Cookie
I used a variation of these wheels on the Wilton cookie cutter packaging.

Train Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
All packaged up and ready for the party!

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!

Easter Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Happy Easter from Nina's Show & Tell!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Spring Flower Cookies

Mini Flower Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I've been having fun decorating little cookies, like these mini chocolate flowers. White with colored centers here...

Mini Flower Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
And all the colors in different combinations.

Mini Flower Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
All together they make a pretty and yummy plate of cookies perfect for spring and Easter.

They coordinate with my Easter Eggs & Easter Bunnies!

Easter Bunny Cookies

Easter Bunny Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I love this bunny shape and used it last year on these chocolate Easter cookies. This year I wanted to add a little something more and am very happy with the ribbons. I used the same colors I used on my Easter egg cookies.

Easter Bunny Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I think this is the first time I've used this cookie cutter, even though I've had it for years. I think my favorite part is the ears. The pink one above has an extra back leg detail that I thought was distracting, so I made the rest simpler.

Easter Bunny Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Here is the pink bunny matching her friends. Now at the head of the line! 

Hop on over to The Ginger Cookie to see these and more Easter Bunny cookies!

Easter Egg Cookies

Easter Egg Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I made a few sugar cookie eggs for Easter. I love this color palette!

Easter Egg Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
I also made chocolate egg cookies. 

Easter Egg Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
One of my favorite things about decorating cookies is creating variations as I decorate.

Easter Egg Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
The cookie eggs have been decorated, now it's time to decorate the real eggs!

Visit me over at The Ginger Cookie to see my recent Easter cookies together in one post, and some Easter egg cookies from the archives, circa 2008.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wedding Shower Cookies


Wedding Shower Cookies by Nina's Cookie Shop.

High-Heeled Shoe Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Put on your party shoes...

Champagne Glass Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
And raise a glass of bubbly to toast the bride-to-be!

Champagne Glass Cookie by Nina's Show & Tell
Cheers!

Monogram Cookies


Nina's Cookie Shop makes monogram cookies!

Monogram Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Birthday treats to share with classmates.

Monogram Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Snacks for a school open house.

Monogram Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
A birthday gift.

Cookie Initial Apron by Nina's Show & Tell
Here's my cookie on an apron! CafePress makes it easy to create personalized gifts like this one.

Onesies & Stars Baby Shower Cookies

Baby Shower Onesie Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Sugar cookie onesies and stars for a baby shower by Nina's Cookie Shop.

Baby Shower Bib Cookie by Nina's Show & Tell
A special bib cookie for the mommy-to-be.

Baby Shower Onesie Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
This was a fun series. I used icing transfers for the stars. The Bearfoot Baker has a great tutorial on making royal icing transfers.

Star Cookies by Nina's Show & Tell
Simple little star cookies perfect for snacking.