A Year in Review

Another year in the recipe books!

2013 has been quite a year. It has been a year filled with extreme joy, intense grief, and everything in between.  Sweet Eddie and I got married and it was wonderful. We happily became an Aunt and Uncle to both a beautiful niece and a handsome nephew. We devastatingly lost Eddie's loving, brave, funny, charming father.  2013 will be a year that we will never forget. I am so grateful to have had my Sweet Eddie by my side for every moment of it. I would be lost without him.

Throughout the year cookie art has been my therapy. It brings me great joy and some stress while it helps me to memorialize moments, celebrate holidays,  learn about myself, and hopefully bring a smile to some one's face.  On this final day of the year, I wanted to share images from my favorite posts this years. I loved these cookies for different reasons and maybe some of you did too.  So here is to a year of cookie creations:

Animal Baby Shower

Candy Crush Saga

Lucky Leprechauns

Cookies for the Troops 

And a special tribute to my Father-in-law 

Our Sweet Wedding

Betty Boop

Seinfeld Cookies for my Dad

Under the Sea

Pet Rescue Saga

Owl Baby Shower for Daisy

Go Bo!

Furry Bones

Movie Monsters 

Woodland Creatures

Hello Kitty Thanksgiving

Ugly Sweaters

As we roll into 2014, I wish for everyone a year of love, respect, appreciation, peace and joy.

 If a cookie makes you happy, may your life be filled with all the cookies in the world.  

Thank you for reading and supporting me.

Happy New Year!

Hello Kitty and Friends Holiday Cookies

Well hello there, kitties!  It's the holiday season and we sure are excited over here at Chateau Sugar Buff and Sweet Eddie!  It is super cold today and there is a big storm headed in, so it is possible I have gone loopy with pre-cabin fever. Is that a thing?  Despite my goofiness, I am happy and looking forward to the continuation of this holiday season, and all the beautiful and delicious holiday treats that I plan to make and enjoy.

Lately I feel that no holiday is complete without Hello Kitty! She is just so darn cute. 

These kitties will be making a journey down south to my lovely Mother-in-law, along with some other cheerful holiday cookies.  

Frosty, Elf, Santa, and Reindeer in Wreaths! 

I used a super yummy mint chocolate chip cookie dough found here at Flour de Lis. 

Mint, chocolate, smiling faces, and holiday cheer! 

Happy Holidays! Be a good Kitty and eat more cookies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is it really Thanksgiving tomorrow? Did we just light our first night of Hanukkah candles? Were we eating latkes while a pumpkin pie was baking in the oven? What is happening?! 

I sure do love this wacky holiday season! 

I made a few sets of Thanksgiving cookies to share with family, friends, and the internet.

A classic collection

A cute and wholesome couple

Turkeys

Turkeys

More Turkeys

And what celebration is complete without Hello Kitty?

These Pilgrim Kittys come bearing delicious dishes for the holiday meal.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving full of appreciation, love, comfort, friendship and pie, lots of pie. 

Thanks for looking and thanks for reading. I am thankful for the support of friends and strangers. 

I am eternally thankful for my Sweet Eddie and all the love we share. I am thankful that he lets me take over our home with mountains of cookie decorating accessories, supplies, gadgets, and gizmos.

Cookies for the Troops 2

I am so happy to be a part of another round of Operation Cookie Takeover!  Last spring more than 10,000 cookies were baked, donated, and shipped to Afghanistan for distribution to our brave and noble troops. For that first round I made patriotic themed cookies.  This time it is all about the Halloween season!  Also for this round, instead of a mass distribution of cookies, each volunteer was given the name of an individual to send our cookies to for them to enjoy and share with friends and coworkers.  I love Halloween and I love the opportunity to show my support for the courageous men and women who defend our Country.

In my first post for Cookie Takeover, I talked a lot about my father-in-law who served bravely in Vietnam.  Just this September, Dad passed away. He was a wonderful, generous, loving, funny man. Although I only got to know him for the last few years of his life,  I hear his stories and jokes, and see his spirit live on through his amazing son, my husband. I am so lucky and proud to be a part of this family.

To represent the fun and spirit of Halloween, I made some classic designs, but I couldn't resist making some cute cookies as well.

Candy Corn!

Jack-o-lanterns!

Owls!

Spooky Trees!

Bride of Frankenstein!

And how could I resist:  Halloween Hello Kitty!

Pumpkin Hello Kitty!

Witch Hello Kitty!

Devil Hello Kitty!

Spider Hello Kitty!

Bride of Frankenstein Hello Kitty!

Vampire Hello Kitty!

A Happy Halloween Collection

I hope these cookies provide some smiles and reflect my gratitude. 

As I ship these cookies off to a hero currently defending our Country overseas, I also dedicate them to my hero,  my father-in-law, Edward J. Ekstrom.  May he rest in peace. We love you, Dad!

Hello Baby Kitty

Everyone is having babies and I love it! I could make baby shower cookies every day, which would be good practice because I am going to be an aunt in the fall and winter. It is a happy time for my sisters and our whole family. I have big plans for their baby shower cookies and cookies for every moment of those babies lives. :)

I was very excited for this baby shower cookie request for a Mama who loves Hello Kitty. The theme colors were pink, giraffe print, and leopard print. This Kitty was a wild child.

For the favors I made Hello Kitty faces with fashionable bows.

 These gals were showing off their stylish outfits.

 In addition to the favors, I made a munching platter of smaller cookies that included lots of tiny Kitty faces, animal print, and the iconic bow.

 Tiny baby onesies are a necessity.

 Leopard print set

 Giraffe print set

 Here's to many happy babies. :)