How did I get here? oh and a Halloween Freebie!

Posted by admin on Saturday, October 26, 2013 0

Now, that post title is not a negative thing. It is in fact a declaration of complete happiness. It has taken me many a year, maybe over a decade to say I am "completely happy." Some people can live an entire life with never uttering those words. So I say them now. I am blessed. With a life of love and happiness. So how did I get here… (don't worry, this post will come around to cookies- this is not a therapy session.. or is it?)

If you have read my bio, you may know that I have not always been a cookie artist. I started my "career" in another end of the art field.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to draw. When I was about 10, my father gave me a book entitled "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation." That was it. All I wanted to do was animate for Disney. I drew and drew and drew. Probably to the dismay of a private life. But it became who I was. My parents supported me more than you could imagine. So much so that they supported my wish to move all the way from my home of Ontario, Canada to the tropics of Orlando, FL at the age of 22.

As a parent now, I have trouble dealing with the fact that my first grader is aloud to walk from her classroom to the washroom alone!! So how my parents coped with me being a thousand miles away is beyond me! My Mom would probably say- many a long night awake. Remember this was before EVERYONE had a cell phone! Can you imagine?! But they did this because, they knew how much I wanted it.

Mom, Dad, I am so sorry I did that to you. But I love you for your NEVER ENDING SUPPORT and love! It was with this support that I was able to achieve my dream of working at Disney Feature Animation Florida from 1994-2004, when the studio shut down. It also gave me the crazy strong will to shoot for the stars.

Which brings me to where I am today. Since then, my awesome, loving, supportive husband and I settled in the midwest where we are raising our two little crazy kiddos. That was my new career. Mom. But like many Mom's, I missed that other part of "me." Don't get me wrong. I LOVE being a Mom but needed more. I missed being creative and I loved baking. This is how Cookies with Character was born. I guess it was a form of therapy. An outlet of sorts. I started making cookies for my son's birthday, started a Facebook page and as they say, the rest is history.

And here we are at the total happiness part. Because I have been blessed with such a supportive Husband, I am able to pursue all these new paths. Drawing in our little family is like breathing. With my husband also a talented artist, our kids, especially our daughter is ALWAYS drawing. On anything and everything she can get her hands on. Even her garbage can. Paper and craft supplies are not lacking in our house that is for sure. She even has been known to "art direct" my cookie designs at times. As I was making these cookies, she was right behind me, literally, drawing her own!

Although I still miss drawing. Pencil to paper, to be exact. Yes, I do draw a lot of designs on my cookies. But not as much as I would like. So I have decided to "branch" out a little. Appealing to my drawing side and offer my designs to you!

Here is the FREEBIE part. You like that right? I'm offering these Halloween Clip Art Images I made, for a free download. They are designed for use in a KopyKake Projector and they should be sized relatively appropriate for use on a standard sized cookie. Resizing may be needed slightly after download.

They are not only for cookie use! They can be used to make Royal Icing Transfers, stencils, cut outs or just copy and paste them into various Halloween Printables, cards etc. All I ask is that you credit where you got them from if you use them. (See printable)

But most importantly… Have fun!!!!

I am hoping to have a lot more for you in the upcoming months. Any feedback would be much appreciated. If there are any designs in particular you would like, please let me know.

Have a look and enjoy your Halloween Festivities!!!