Another gift box

It's probably obvious that Grandma CoCo likes fancy, fussy gift boxes. Often, we get more excited over packaging than what's inside. Does that make us shallow?

We had one of these on hand and ...

Oh, the possibilities!

Our doughnut cutter (why do we have one of these? we never deep fry) turns out to be the perfect size for cookies that could stack inside. 

Now, who to give them to?

What kind of person are you?

Are you a dog person?

Copyright ã Cheryl Coville 2011

Or a cat person?

Copyright ã Cheryl Coville 2011

The world seems to be made up of one or the other. Grandma Coco is definitely both.

Once she sets her mind to a task, she is also doggedly determined. Ha!Ha! With her learner's permit in hand, she decided to make a second run at sugar run-outs. Kittens and puppies this time. As Monika was quick to notice, these are like icing appliqués. We're sure only a quilter would make that connection. They were made to sit on a 2 inch x 4 inch cookie. Not delicate by any stretch. More of a man-sized cookie.

We made the puppies first and used parchment paper as the base. Parchment paper won't tape down. It keeps curling up and that produced the first of our problems.....they're not really level.

Secondly, the cookies aren't level either so some of the puppy feet are sticking out of the base coat. That makes them pretty fragile.

The kittens were made on waxed paper which will tape down but we still had the unlevel cookie complication. No matter. We offered cookie first-aid where necessary and we'll be eating the evidence shortly.

Coco's Cookies

We are undaunted. We'll definitely try this technique again. We just need to go even smaller and simpler next time. That's the beauty of a learner's permit. We can try and fail and yet, not BE failures!

Cookies for Kate! who is definitely a cat/dog person. (Such a cat person is she that she fosters kittens from the humane society. Kittens! For fun!!!) However, she'll have to settle for enjoying her cookies cyber-style since she lives so far away and these are so delicate they'd have to be kept on life-support and hand-delivered. Not a job for Canada Post!

Quid pro quo

chocolate cookies!

It's one week until Christmas and today's sermon is about gift giving.

Grandma Coco is a very generous soul. She loves to share….her talents and her time. She likes to find the perfect gift for the perfect recipient.

What she doesn’t like ….. and you know there’s a pretty long list…..but in this case what she doesn’t like is the Obligatory Gift. She hates, hates, hates having to worry about that whole quid pro quo thing.

Grandma Coco has always understood a gift to be what Wikipedia defines as "the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return". A free-will offering.

Occasionally, Grandma Coco has the inspiration to give someone something but then begins to worry that this will set up a feeling of obligation for the recipient. Definitely not cool and definitely not Grandma Coco's intent. This is the quid pro quo aspect to which we referred earlier.

Wikipedia defines quid pro quo as a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. If you give a gift with the expectation that you'll get something back in return, that's quid pro quo.

Sometimes the shoe's on the other foot. Some Christmases, when she knows a gift will be expected but she also knows she won't come up with a single good idea until, say, March, she ends up settling for something lame and uninspired like a gift card. (If you've bought Grandma Coco a gift card, just forget that last bit.)

Darn that obligatory gift!

What Grandma Coco would like everyone to know this holiday season is this: If you receive a gift from her, please just take it and run. Oh, you can say "Thanks", if you like. (We weren't raised by wolves, after all.) But, for heaven's sake, don't worry about getting her something in return. Just seeing your little eyes light up is pleasure enough for her.

Some days you're the windshield....

You know the rest......some days you're the bug. Today, we're the bug. Splattt!

We're inspired by The Vanilla Bean Baker who recently was brave enough to post some of her disappointments. From what we've seen on her blog, we're certain hers are few and far between. If you're interested in decorated cookies, you should definitely check her out.

We regularly fall on our face but we don't usually share those moments here. We're not sure why....it's all part of learning and stretching. We learn more from our failures than we ever do from our successes and mastering new skills always involves lots of practice and lots of trial and error. In our experience, LOTS and LOTS of error.

And that brings us to our most recent failure. We changed our mind about how to proceed with this bracelet and set about unknotting and harvesting the beads for a re-do.

Grandma Coco's gone to fetch the scissors. :(

Catch of the day

We take our motto very seriously around here. You know....."Every day we get up and play".... We really do. We are aware it makes us look a little unfocused ...like maybe we need a good dose of ritalin.....but, really, who cares? Certainly not us. We're like dogs that way. We catch a scent on the breeze and we run with it.

While we're waiting for our new sugar run-outs to dry in between colours and when we're tired of knitting on our new socks.....and while we're waiting for inspiration to strike for our new drawing commission.....we  finished another micro macramé bracelet.

It uses a lot of the same beads as we used in the last one .... the one with the fabulous dragon fly button closure. We seem to be in a little bit of a purple/fuschia rut ..... a great rut to be stuck in, if you ask us. We haven't amassed a huge stash of beads yet so we thought it safer to acquire beads that would at least look nice together. We expect to branch out (colour-wise) soon. It just takes time....and cash. (Sigh.)

We made tags to attach to our bracelets because these are for gifts. The tag-making was almost as much fun as the bracelet-making.

Snow Dudes

Cookies by Coco

Edited January 10, 2012 - We are new at this cookie decorating adventure so it might be interesting to note how these dudes ended up.  Clearly, we still have lots to learn.

If you're visiting from LilaLoa's Snowman Celebration Link-Up Party, 

Grandma Coco says, "Welcome to the Kingdom of Coco!"

Happy Anniversary!

If today marked your 30th wedding anniversary, 

then these would be the cookies for you. Just sayin'.