Pansy Shortbread cookies

Happy 2 month birthday to Miss Ella today!!  Aren't these the cutest onesies?  Jenny's college roommate gave her a set for the entire 12 months of the first year.  I think they are special!!!  Jenny is so good about celebrating the "little things".    Every special day...every birthday....everything that God gives us daily should be celebrated and thanks given to Him in all things!!  I read the devotional book, "Jesus Calling", by Sarah Young, and today was all about Thanksgiving.  Being Thankful to God for what we have and letting go of what we do not have or what does not suit us.  On this Good Friday I am most thankful that Jesus Christ CHOSE of his own free will to continue down the Via Della Rosa to Golgotha and hang on that cross for ME and My Sins!!  He COULD have called down legions of angels and bypassed the whole thing but He didn't!!!  He continued and hung on that cross on this very dark day for ME and all of mankind...so we could have a relationship with Him and the Father. Good Friday is a somber day in the Christian faith but it is NOT the end of the Story....Hope waits as we approach Easter Sunday with the promise of new life and resurrection!!  More to come....SOON!!

Today we (Jenny, Kristy and myself  and lest I not forget Miss Ella supervised from her bouncy chair!!) busied about the house getting ready for tomorrow's "Sip n See"!!  This going to be an informal "tea" where those who would like to meet Miss Ella can stop by and visit for a while.  A friend introduced this concept to me several years ago when she had her first grandchild who lived out of town.  It's a great way for a lot of people to see our newest joy in a short amount of time!!  We baked cookies and made Oreo cakeballs.

We tackled the Pansy Shortbread cookies first.  Kristy had made the cookies yesterday. She an old  Shortbread Cookie recipe I have used for years.    You can use any shortbread cookie recipe that you like.  Just follow the directions and bake.  Today I went outside and picked small and large pansies to decorate the cookies.  The Pansies were washed and laid on paper towels to dry.  Next we mixed up dried egg white powder ( the kind from Wilton you can get at Walmart in the Cake decorating isle).  We then brushed the cookies with the liquid egg white, arranged the flowers on top of the cookies and pressed then gently down.  Once in place we brushed the entire cookie surface with egg white again and sprinkled generously with a large crystal sanding sugar. We then placed the cookies back in oven set at 325 degrees for 5 minutes to dry the egg whites and set the flowers.  We thought the results were amazing!!  And really not hard to do.  I first saw these on another blog,  www.stonegable.blogspot.com.  You can go there for more beautiful pictures and complete directions on baking shortbread.  It is a beautiful blog with lots of tips for decorating and cooking.

               

Kristy is the cookie baker and decorator in our family  She also made these sugar cookies and hand decorated them for the party.  She painstakingly makes the dough, chills the dough, cuts out the cookies, bakes the cookies and then mixes the frosting and colors to hand decorate each cookie.  We LOVE Kristy's cookies!!  Thank you dear....if this medicine stuff doesn't work out for you we can open a bakery together!!  Kristy loves her new niece too and spent the best part of two days helping get these all made!

I love the carrots and the lambs.  Tomorrow we will arrange them more appropriately.  Now they are tucked away between layers of wax paper in plastic containers sealed tightly!!
We also made Oreo Cookie cake balls.  You mix 1 large package of Oreo's ( we used doublestuff...go big or go home!!)  with  one 8 ounce package of cream cheese in your mixer until it become mixed together and forms a mass of goodness in the bowl.  We then took a small cookie scoop and scooped the balls onto a cookie sheet.  After all the balls were made we put the cookie sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes or until firm but not frozen.  Then we melted white almond bark coating in the microwave according to directions.  We the white chocolate was smooth and silky we dipped each ball and place back on the cookie sheet....except for the ones we turned into "Flowers".  Those we stuck with a wooden skewer, then dipped and let completely set before we lifted then up brushed the flat surface with a little more white chocolate and decorated with pastel M&M's for the center and Mike n Ike's for the petals.  We then put them in pastel flower pots and filled with pink Easter basket fill.  Now we have "flowers" for the table tomorrow!..Bakerella was the first to make these several years ago and I got the idea from her.  She has more complete details on her website for many variations and fun things to do with cake pops

As you can see I have had a busy and blessed day with my three best girls...Jenny, Kristy and Ella.  I am very THANKFUL for having been given the opportunity to be a part of their lives.
As for "PINS" this week...still organizing my scraps but have come a long way and have plastic drawers for all my different sizes, strips and squares.  I got to go to one of my quilt groups that I had missed since Nov when Jeff and I left for Dallas.  So nice to see all my friends again and get "caught up" on the quilting buzz.
Still working on my Nine patch on point quilt.  Got borders on and will start to draft the applique around the outer border next week.  I am going to do it in fusible web..."slaplique" and use some fancy thread and stitches from my machine to anchor it all down.   Last night in bed trying to fall asleep...that's when I am most reminded that I have a "pin in my toe".... I was praying and thinking and the name of my new quilt came to me...".Simply Divine Nines"  Love it!!
Happy trails,
Mtn Mama