Christmas Goody Baskets

They are finally done! Hooray!

I finally got the baskets all done. Whew! I did 18 of these babies in total, mostly for hubby's employees and colleagues, and a few for friends and family.

Here is all the loot lined up ready for the assembly line. I was so pressed for time that I did not have time to set up the lights for really good photos. I apologize for the quality of these shots.

Heather and I searched and searched for hours for a good basket supply source and she found them here: Baskets. I absolutely love this place. They have the largest selection of baskets and colors I have ever seen, great customer service, reasonably priced and the baskets were great quality. This is now my go to place for baskets.

In addition to the things I already showed you, I also made some candy cane cookies covered in textured red fondant, some large square transfer cookies, dipped pretzel rods, and small squares with a candy cane sugar lay on top.

I also added some purchased items: Hershey's candy cane kisses, and choc covered peppermint sticks ( hard to see in pics). I think the baskets would have looked better had I not bagged everything, but live and learn.

I always use shrink wrap on my bags to get a professional gourmet basket look. Coordinating bow and it is done!

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Here are some pics of the baskets from last year, a snow theme:

Sugar cookies, snowman cookies, marshmallow sticks, rock candy sticks, decorated sugar cubes, snowflake Oreo molds, chocolate coffee spoons, and hard candy snowflake suckers.

The little mint candies are made with a personalized candy mold that says The Zambitos. You can get them here.

You can get the Oreo molds here.

Sugar cookies were fondant covered and over-piped with royal icing.

Shrink wrapped and ready to gift!

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So now I have to do a cookie order, and get my house ready to host Xmas dinner. No rest for the weary, and boy am I weary! Please send me pics of the goodies you guys made this year.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Hugs and love, Sharon

Twas the Week Before Christmas

When, what to my wondering eye should appear

But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

OK, so the reindeer went off to graze .....

Here is the big project I have been working on for weeks. I made this for my sister's office party. She challenges me to raise the bar every year. I try to resist, but she gets me every time.

When she saw the Santa cake I made in Bronwen's class, she asked for that for the party. Knowing that was not enough servings for 50 people, I had to think of a coordinating way to add servings.

Late at night in bed it came to me. I knew it would be very labor intensive and stressful, but I knew I just had to try. I would have never been able to live with myself if I did not.

I thought and thought and thought some more about how to go about doing this. I used dried fondant panels for the sleigh and cake made up the seat.

The loot bag was made from piled up cake scraps. Wendy made the packages for me from styro, and I threw in a few of my goodie basket candy cane cookies too.

I searched the Internet for sleigh images and clip art, and decided to use this as my template and model: Sleigh


I made my own template on card stock using this image as a guide. I cut 2 of each piece. I wanted to have extras in case of breakage. I cut them out about 10 days before I assembled the sleigh. I flipped them over every few days to enhance them drying.



After about one week, I put the scroll work on using layers of clay gun strings. (My arms and chest are still sore.) Then I painted it with gold highlighter mixed with vodka. ( Yeah, that took a while too, LOL)


My wonderful Wendy came over to help me assemble the sleigh. I was very nervous about breakage. I had invested way too much time and effort by this point to lose it all. And it certainly took 4 hands and 2 brains to get it together. We carved the cake and placed it on the bottom piece, then attached the back piece. (Melted chocolate was our glue for everything.)

Here it is just put together. I decided to double the side panels for strength, which was a very good idea. They may not have made it had I left them single. You can see the hole in the board in front of the sleigh where Santa's stand will go down into. ( Thanks to Wendy's dad for cutting the board for me.)

Wendy came with me to deliver it and assemble it. When we got there, we dropped Santa down into the hole, applied the buttercream snow and added the doo dads.


Here is my template. You can adjust the size of this, keeping the ratio proportion the same, to make any size you want. You could make cute little gumpaste or gingerbread sleighs too.

Side panels.

Back panel

Bottom panel (excuse the typo)

Front panel

Everyone at the party was just amazed and awed. It was a lot of work, and worrisome, but I am glad I rose to the challenge. I am also very glad it is over! LOL

Next on tap is assembling the goodie baskets I have been working on. I will post those pics over the weekend. Have to get my house clean for company tomorrow night. I could use a cocktail!

Happy Holiday Caking,

Sharon

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

DVD Give-Away and SNOW!

In celebration of this holiday season, we are going to have another DVD Give-away!

Every purchase of The Design Gallery DVD between now and December 31, 2008 qualifies the customer for one entry into the give-away. A random drawing will be held right after the new year. TWO names will be picked, and each will receive a free copy of both the Design Gallery and the Boxes and Bows DVD when it is released in the spring.

Pre-orders of the Design Gallery placed prior to this date will also be entered into the drawing.

This offer is not yet listed on our website, but all Design Gallery DVD purchases through December 31, 2008 will be entered.

Please check out the video clip preview of A Design Gallery on our website: Gallery Video Clip

SHIPPING NOW!

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Snow in Louisiana!

We woke up this morning to the falling of snow! J was sooo excited. He went out to play for a few minutes before school and got soaked and had to redress.

We barely ever even wear coats down here. We use the A/C all year round. I have seen a light snowfall like this maybe 4 times in my 45 years of life. And I have to tell you, it was exciting. And so pretty! We got more ground coverage than shown in these 2 pics. Even though it had started to melt, there was enough left on the ground for J and the neighborhood boys to play in it after school.

This is a picture of Heather's car.

D is at college at LSU, about an hour away. He called me at 4:30 AM just as excited as he could be, to tell me they had snow there. He and his friends were up studying for exams when it started.

So of course they went out to play in it!

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How are all of you coming with your holiday baking and candy making? I am done making all the goody basket items. Now I turn all my attention to my sister's office party extravaganza cake. (Hope I can pull it off.) Wendy is going to help me, and I will post pictures next week, either success or failure! I will post pictures of the assembled baskets the week after that.

Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Stay Warm!

Sharon

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

More Basket Goodies

Here it is 2 AM. I am exhausted, but I am so pumped up on caffeine and have so many things running through my mind I can't sleep. I am burning the candle at both ends here trying to get everything done that needs to get done before Christmas. I am sure you guys are going though the same thing. Between working on these basket items, shopping for gifts, trying to get the house ready to host Christmas dinner, along with the normal daily chores of laundry, dishes, and homework, I feel like I need a clone! I love the holidays but they are are a lot of work!

I promised some more pics of the things I am making for my candy cane themed gift baskets this year. Here are sugar cookies decorated in fondant. You can see how tall that cookie is next to the ice cream dish. I got the cutter here.

White chocolate covered pretzels and Keebler shortbread cookies. After the white chocolate was dry, the red chocolate was piped on and red sanding sugar sprinkled on.

The artist in me thinks the basket goodies should only be done in red and white in order to really keep with the theme. But I know everyone does not like white chocolate, so I incorporate some milk chocolate items as well. Again, here we have pretzels and shortbread cookies in the back. In the front are dipped Oreos with crushed peppermint.

Marshmallows dipped in white chocolate with peppermint crunch and peppermint powder. Of course you could make your own with peppermint candies but I am way to lazy..um... busy for that!

I am still not done! I have a few more things to make for the baskets, and I am working on a big cake project too for my sister's office party. But I can't tell you what it is because she reads my blog. Stay tuned for pics next week.

So tell me what kinds of things you guys are working on for the holidays.

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Also just wanted to drop a reminder that the Design Gallery DVD will be shipping Wednesday! YAY! Finally! And this week I am going to announce another give-a-way, so stay tuned!

Happy Holidays!


Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

A Sneak Peak!

The Design Gallery DVD is shipping out in a few days! In plenty of time for Christmas! Those of you that pre-ordered should get yours very soon and we thank you for your order. This DVD showcases over 120 photos of my cake designs, which I narrate over beautiful background music, giving you helpful hints and tips, and pointing out tools and techniques used. See the SugarEd website for full information.

Click to play preview:

We also still have a lot of items on sale for a little while longer, so please go check it out!

As always, we thank you for your business.

Sharon and the SugarEd Staff

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

The Happy and The Sad

Sometimes the happy and the sad come on the heels of each other. This week two of my very best friends on the planet experienced very emotional milestone events in their lives.

My beloved Heather, that you all know by now, lost 2 people very dear to her in one week. Both her biological and adoptive dads passed away this week. One was somewhat expected, the other sudden and tragic. I ask you to keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers, as she is going through a very difficult time right now. Those of you that personally know Heather know what a truly pure and loving heart she has. She is one of the most giving, compassionate and selfless people I know. My heart breaks for her during this time. If you are so inclined to say a little prayer, or send positive thoughts her way, I would be most appreciative.

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I would also like to you meet one my very best friends in the world, Carla. She has 2 gorgeous kids, and is also a very talented caker and crafter. We have been friends for close to 5 years now. We talk every single day, usually several times a day. We celebrate together all of our families' birthdays and holidays. Together we have been through births, deaths, hurricanes, moves, family drama, and all the little day day to day things of life that girlfriends share. I can hardly remember a time when she was not in my life, and I cannot imagine it without her in it now. The funny thing is, we have never met in person. Carla lives in Texas, and I in Louisiana. Our states are right next to each other and yet life has not allowed us to get together yet! But we will. Not having met in person has not prevented us from developing a true and solid friendship.

Her handsome son, Daniel. Hey, my son is named Daniel too! ( No she did not name him after my son, LOL). He is a wonderfully sweet, bright, energetic and funny child. I love to hear and see his daily adventures.

This is the beautiful Arianna, who just turned one this week. What a blessing to celebrate this wonderful child coming into our lives a year ago. Isn't she gorgeous? She is very curious, feisty, and has a wonderful happy disposition. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Carla and Arianna.

Can you tell that they are Disney nuts? Carla loves Disney about as much as I love Diet Coke. That's a LOT!

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So I just wanted to share with you a little bit about these wonderful ladies in my life. I share in Carla's joy and Heather's pain. What they both bring to my life cannot be described. I love them both dearly.

Who is your best friend?

Sharon

Oreo Madness

What could be better than Oreos? Maybe Oreos covered in chocolate!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Suze, and she knows why. What's that? You want to know why too? No, I really should not say. Oh, you really want to know that badly? Well, OK, you forced it out of me. But please don't tell her I told you this: she stinks at chocolate dipping Oreos!

The beauti-licious, yet dipping impaired Suze.

Last year I made the snowmen cookies below for the themed gift baskets I make every year. (They were a total copy from the wonderful site, FavorZ.)

Well, Suze tried to make some too, but let's just say they came out, um, ...well, ....not as good as she hoped for. So I started to rib her about it, and that gave birth to a friendly and good natured rivalry between the 2 of us and our confectionery skills. We try to poke fun at each other whenever we can.

So of course, Suzie came first to my mind as I was working on these chocolate dipped Oreos for this year's baskets. I figured if I snapped some pictures and put together a little tutorial here, it might help her out. (Doubtful, but hey, what are friends for?)

These cookies are dipped in super white candy melts and chocolate transfer sheets in a candy cane design applied to the top. Cut the transfer sheets into little squares that will fit on the top of your cookie. Melt the candy melts till very smooth and creamy. I prefer the Merken's and Guittard brands, as they perform the best. If the chocolate is low quality, or old, it will not melt nor cover smoothly. Be careful not to overheat or get water in the candy; that will ruin it as well.

Brush the Oreos with a big fluffy food brush before you dip them to avoid excess crumbs from getting in your melted chocolate. I use a large 3 pronged fork to dip the cookies. I dip, then let most of the excess chocolate fall back into the bowl, then place them on parchment or wax paper.

Gently place the transfer sheet squares on top and gently press it into place on top to make sure that chocolate comes into contact with all of the design.

I do about 5-8 on a cookie sheet and then pop those in the freezer for 5 minutes. Chilling them makes the design transfer over fully and cleanly, as well as giving the surface a nice shine. Just pull the transfer sheet square off when you take them out of the freezer. Don't worry about the little bit of chocolate mess at the base of your cookies. After they have come back to room temp, you can take your handy palette knife and clean up the bottom edges.

By the end of your dipping session, your chocolate is still probably going to be "contaminated" with chocolate cookie crumbs, making it not very useful for any other purpose. So I crumble up all the broken Oreos that I did not dip into the chocolate, spread that on the parchment, chill, and break it up into a cookies and cream bark. YUMMY!

All the items in my basket are going to have a candy cane/peppermint theme. I do a different theme every year.

I will bag each of these individually and tie with a red ribbon before I put them in the baskets. If I place them unwrapped into the baskets; the transfer surface might get scratched and marked up by other items, and we just can't have that! Not after all this work!


Maybe if Suze reads this she can give it another go. Of course, if she does read this I am in big time trouble. LOL


I hope you all get a chance to try this. Send me pics of your projects if you do! Even better, send all your pics to Suze! Tee hee hee.


Have fun making all of your holiday treats! I will try to post pics of more of the things I am working on if time permits. Such a crazy time of year, isn't it?


Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/