And the Winner Is...

Hi there.

Recently I ran my first giveaway on the blog. I was so excited for football season to start, and I wanted to share my excitement. Football season is crazy here in the South, and tailgating is an essential part of football season. For our first tailgate of the season, I made Alabama vs Auburn Cookies. I also, gave away some cookies.

That's right, I made tailgate cookies for one very special reader. Guess who won. Why, it was Raquel from over at Organized Island!

Raquel requested UCLA cookies, so her request was my command.



So, I knew UCLA's mascot is the Bruins. However, I didn't know exactly what it looked like. I did a little searching, and I found this cute retro mascot. I just fell in love and knew I had to make it. I mean look at it, it's adorable! {Sorry, I know 'adorable' is probably not the word college football teams want their mascots to be described as.}

UCLA also has this really classic looking script. I decided that I would make that too, just for some variation. I'll admit, I'm not the best a bubble letters, especially cursive ones, but I thought these turned out pretty good considering. Plus, with the script, I was able to show the blue in UCLA as opposed to the yellow that was used for the bear. I realize that the bear is a bit complicated, so I've decided to give a step-by-step tutorial.

First, using a #2 tip, outline the cookie. Next, fill in the ears, eyebrows, and shadows at the top. You want to do this first so that you know where to place the eyes and mouth. This keeps you from drawing the eyes too big or placing them up too high.

When you are finished with the top shadows, outline the mouth first. Move into the eyes, then the nose, finishing with the smile.

Next, fill in the nose, and color in any shadows on the sides and bottom.

Now it's time for the yellow. Again, use a #2 tip. Carefully fill in around your shadows, ears, eyes, etc. Don't fill in the eyes or the mouth, because those need to be white.
For the white, continue to use a #2 tip. Fill in the eyes and the mouth to pull the cookie together.  Let the icing dry, and you're done. Drying should only take about 30 minutes, maybe less. 
Raquel, I hope you like the cookies, and I hope to see you back here soon!