As most hobbyist, the internet became my muse over the years. Researching, reading, commenting on every kind of cake/cupcake website. There were tons of pictures of cakes and cupcakes but only a few decorated cookies. I did stumble upon a few websites that had forums for cookie decorators, but it didn’t feel like home.
A lot of the cakes and cupcake pictures I loved came from a website called Flickr. I liked the idea to display my work in a gallery, but was it worth it? At the time, there were internet thieves stealing pictures of others work and passing them on as their own. I didn’t want that to happen to me if I posted my pictures. So my husband suggested I put some type of copyright on all my pictures so at least it could be traced. In November 2008, I posted my first picture:
I was nervous! would anyone like my designs? would anyone even comment? would anyone even…care? Everyday I would check to see if someone noticed me out there. Surely, one by one, comments started coming and the more pictures I posted, the more excited I felt that someone out there actually is noticing my work. In Flickr, there’s groups you can join and I was invited to my first one by Susan, aka Andovercookiemama. She was so sweet and encouraging! From that point, I start to become friends with all my cookie idols. Some would comment on my work and I’d call my husband to tell him “Glorious Treats said something on my picture!” or “I can’t believe Sweetsugarbelle liked what I did! or “You won’t believe what Montreal Confections made this time!” He thought I was crazy talking to these people.
As years went by, I got to know some of these fellow cookiers on a person level as well. Some went through happy times, some through difficult times. Some were diagnosed with cancer. Some became parents or grandparents for the first time. Some lost loved ones. Some became famous. Some just needed a place to vent. The point is…we became friends.
Two years ago, a few fellow cookie friends planned a wonderful idea to try to get us together in one place. I couldn’t attend last year but knew I had to go this year.
I could go into details of what we did each day, but our wonderful hostess (Lisa, Pam & Maryann) kept us so busy from 8am-12am. We did EVERYTHING cookie related! Cookie contests, cookie taste test, cookie decorating, cookie team decorating, cookie cutter exchange and more!
For our hostess, Lisa (akaThebearfootbaker), we surprised her with individual cookie flowers, leaves & critters.
It’s amazing to see so much love and talent all on this little platter!
One of my favorite moments had to be working with Susan (Andovercookiemama), Denyse (DenyseAL), Maryann (Cookieartisian-also our cookie camp coordinator), and Johnna (Polkadot Zebra). Our challenge was to decorated a facade of a house shaped cookie. We came up with this:
Here’s the best cookie team ever!
Here’s a few blog posts from other fellow cookie friends that wrote about our experience at Cookie Camp:
Glorious Treat, She posted all the camp sponsors, check them all out!!!
CookieCrazie, also one of the greatest cookie camp organizers!
Adozeneggs, FYI-she ships her cookies!!!
Karen’s Cookie. One our favorite sponsors!
Thank you to all you wonderful ladies that I’m so happy to have finally met in person. This trip will always have a special place in my heart. Here we all are!
Thank you to Maryann (Cookieartisian) & Daniela (SugarRushTreats for allowing me to use their pictures for this post.
Aileen Master
