Kookie Krums

A sweet birthday gift

Isn't this a gift you would love to have show up on your doorstep?! I definitely would!! We created this for a young girl's birthday, and it was so fun! We included some activity books with markers, picture frames, candy, cookies, and the adorable stuffed lamb. This basket was very full of great treats! A sa-weet way to celebrate the day!

Creative Inspiration

I absolutely love my job. I adore my business. Is it any wonder?! I have the amazing joy of being creative every single day. Of putting together flower pots, and baskets, and boxes, all that are guaranteed to bring a smile to someone, somewhere. Of arranging colors, and styles, with flair.

My five year old told me this weekend that she really just wants to work with me at the cookie store. I love that. I can already see that creative spark and love for creativity in her, and it makes my heart smile. My creativity was inspired by my dad. He could do anything with his hands. He got it from my grandmother, and in turn passed that love on to me. Now I look forward to passing it on to my children.

When you walk in the door here, and are greeted by big smiles, it's because we truly love what we're doing. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to share my inspiration with others. We're not just tying up cookies around here, we are inspiring joy. It just happens to taste divine too!!

Mini Cookie Cakes

I love when I get to play with new ideas. SO fun. I was playing with an idea I saw on another website, and created these mini cookie cakes. Sugar cookies, a little less than half the size of our regular cookies. I stacked up three cookies with delicious frosting in between each layer. Then I poured frosting over the top and let it drizzle down the sides. Topped it off with some fun sprinkles, and there you have it! A lovely little two-bite layered cake! Um, cookie cake.

 

In the hubster's own words "Oh my gosh, these are to die for." You know they're good when he actually uses the phrase "to die for." Haha. Of course, this was pretty muffled since he had a mouthful, but I'm pretty sure this is close to accurate.

I think these would be adorable party favors for a little princess tea party, or even cute on the dessert tray. You could change up the frosting colors and use them for any occasion - birthday party, bridal party, baby shower, afternoon tea . . .  you get the idea. Don't ya love 'em?!

Dreaming Giggles GiveAway

Ok, so remember the adorable bow holder I showed you from Dreaming Giggles Design?? Well, Patti is doing a give-away through another blog, and who wouldn't want to win something from this amazing girl?!  Click here to go to the blog, Everyday Snapshots, and leave a comment for your chance to win. There's actually three opportunities to get your name in the hat, and you can read about all of them on the blog post.  And then take some time to check out the rest of the blog while you're there. I am new to this one, but I am loving it!  Good luck - but I have to tell you, I'm hoping I win over you!!!

Free Cookie Winners!

The winners of our free cookie drawing on Facebook have just been posted! We randomly selected twenty five fans using Random.org to receive a half dozen assorted cookies for free . . . just for becoming a fan on Facebook! One of those lucky winners received a free cookie bouquet instead of the half dozen cookies.

If you haven't yet joined us, do it now, as we have another contest coming up soon, and you won't want to miss out!! Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you to all of our fans!!

100 Fans on Facebook.

We did it. Today. The first milestone. Reaching 100 fans on Facebook was our first goal, and we made it. Aaaahhh, the joy. I wonder if the creators of Facebook ever imagined how much happiness they could give me in one little three digit number.  And I wonder if they knew how obsessive one person can become over watching those numbers click by. Wow.

To celebrate, and to thank all of our fans, we're giving away FREE cookies! Yep. You read that correctly. Free cookies. 25 Random Fans. One lucky person is going to win a free cookie bouquet, and 24 other fans are going to win free cookies. The drawing isn't going to be done until Tuesday the 14th, since I am headed out of town for the weekend (insert happy dance here).  That means you still have time to get in on it if you haven't already!! Here's the link to our facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Dunedin-FL/Kookie-Krums/94983047992?ref=nf

Click on this link, then click on "Become a fan" and you'll be all set for the drawing. There's also a "suggest this page" button you can click to tell your friends about Kookie Krums. Spread the word. Share some delicious joy. Add to my number happiness.

More Flip Flops and Martinis . . .

These boxes represent a lot more than the cookies you see filling them. Laughter. Conversations. Creative ideas. Friendship. Fun. Success. Just a few of the things that my designer, Jennifer, and I see when we look at these boxes full of cookies. We had a great time doing these cookies together. And sometimes you need a big project that gives you hours of work so that you can only be working together. You moms know what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's easy to let our friendships take a back seat to our families. But then you have those times when you have a project with a friend that you just have to get done, but then you realize in the middle of it you're actually thankful for a reason to get to block off some time with her just so you can spend some time together!! And then when you have that creative genius moment that makes you remember how creative you USED to be, before schedules, and laundry, and grocery stores, and little people, you realize you are rejuvenated, and refreshed by your friendships. And you realize again how important they are to nurture. So schedule a project with your girlfriend, a just "have to" kind of project. And remember how much fun it is to take time for yourself!!  Jennifer, you are an amazing friend, thank you for accomplishing this with me!

And you all thought these were just cookies!!

Join us on Facebook!

You can now become a fan of Kookie Krums on Facebook! Click on this link, and it will take you to our page. On the upper right side of the page will be an option to click to "become a fan."  When we get to 100 fans, we are going to put everyone's name in a drawing for a FREE cookie bouquet! Send the link on to your friends so they can join too . . . the quicker we get to 100, the quicker you may win a cookie bouquet!  You'll see updated news, events, and photos, and will see special offers only for our Facebook fans!

Chocolate Makes You Warm.

I swear. A customer told me this morning. My sweet friend Nancy, from Chicago, always has fun and interesting stories to share when she comes in. I love it. We have the best time chit-chatting and catching up with each other. She lives in Chicago, but comes down to their condo here every so often, and always comes in for an iced coffee and good conversation!

Of course today we were discussing in the weather - in Chicago it's 8 degrees - 8????? Let me just say again how very thankful I am that I live in Florida. So Nancy was telling me that when she was a little girl, her dad would take the five children on a walk to the lake to go ice skating. When they were done ice skating, of course they were freezing and didn't want to walk home again in the cold. So their dad would take them across the street to the store and buy them each a chocolate bar. He would tell them "chocolate makes you warm." And then, in the way that only little kids can believe that Daddy knows everything, the kids would eat their chocolate bars and walk home, believing they were as warm as could be.

So when Nancy said yesterday, "Give me a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, because chocolate makes you warm," of course I believed her!

Change of Email Address

Back in February, a representative came in from the phone company and talked to me about changing my service. Sounded like a good plan, so I agreed to change. Not so good of a plan. It took my phone lines down for two days. Did you read that this was in February? As in Valentine's Day? As in my single busiest day of the year??? Not a good time at all for phone lines to be down. So I was not a happy customer. Since then, every time a phone company salesman walks through the door he is turned around and herded out without much of an explanation except - no, no, no, no, NO!! I treasure my phone lines - my working phone lines - and so far no deal has been worth the chance of going through that again!! Ok . . . until last week.  For some reason, this time I listened to the guy. Could be because my current internet connection (and lack thereof) brings out a very dark side of me and makes me crazy as it just randomly turns itself off and on all day and I have to hit it at just the right time and hope it cooperates long enough for me to do what I need to do. Anyway . . .I digress. The phone guy offered me a VERY good deal, and assured me that no phone lines, no email, no nothing was going down at any time. I know he must have thought I was very slow, but I made him repeat all of this numerous times, just for my own peace of mind. Which I had - until I came in yesterday, and no longer had my email working. It's December. People are calling and emailing about orders constantly, of course. I'm working with many of my corporate accounts via email . . . and I have no email. A call to my internet service provider (which on a side note I am very glad to be done with . . . but not in December!) who said - "I'm sorry, your account was canceled. You no longer have email or internet. What's that? Your internet is working? Oh, ok, I'll go ahead and shut that off." WHAT?!!? How can this be? How can I get it back? How can I get those emails that are in the black hole of cyberspace now? I was in nothing short of a full fledged panic. I called my husband and tried to pull off a conversation of "hey, just calling to see how you're doing. Oh me?? Not much, just a little frustrated that I have no email to communicate with my clients and my internet is being shut down too and I'm too busy baking 350 dozen cookies to be able to get it figured out right now, but no biggie, I've got it covered." He fortunately saw (heard) right through me. In less than 15 minutes my knight in shining internet cables was here and getting me back up and running. I LOVE that man!! So . . . without further ado . . . my new email address, kookiekrums@verizon.net. Add it to your contacts, because I really don't want to end up in your spam folders!!

And now I can get back to the good stuff . . .holiday gifts!! Keep checking back - we have some great gifts this year. Unique containers, beautiful tins and baskets and boxes, I am just loving our holiday choices!! I'll post some photos on the blog soon. Some of these are going to be "I just have one, because the container was so great I had to get it even though they only had one left." So they probably won't even make it to the website, because I know someone will see it here, or see it in the store and snatch it up before it has a chance to make it online. Inexpensive teacher and hostess gifts, corporate gifts, we have something for everyone. I hope you're already enjoying the sights and sounds - and smells, and tastes - of the holiday! I look forward to seeing you all!!