Go Get 'Em Gus!

I was contacted about making some cookies for a lady who's nephew was headed off to West Point.

Not West Point, Nebraska...theeeee West Point.

As in military.

Yeah, big deal.

She sent me the West Point logo and also a funny picture of her nephews head superimposed onto someone's body in West Point regalia.

 First off...there was no way I was attempting to recreate the West Point logo.  Let's be honest.  That's just crazy.

So I asked if I could do an interpretation.  Thankfully they said yes.  Could you imagine if they said no? Ha!

The headdress was the part I was most excited about.

I took the biggest Russian nesting doll cookie cutter and outlined the top of the hat.

With a little filling in and more filling in...

Then came the fun part.  The feathery plume.  I had more fun teasing people on Facebook and Instagram asking what they thought this picture was.  No one guessed right but there were some awesome guesses...

They ranged from "a mistake" and "ursula from the little mermaid" to "elvira" and "toothless." I had to look up what "toothless" was...FYI it's a cartoon character.  I'm so out of touch.

But it's just the feather plume.

Then came adding on some gold accents - as the hat band.

Isn't that color just great?  It's the gold from TruColor.  Visit them here to see all the awesome natural food coloring options.  Such. Beautiful. Colors.

So the final product looks pretty cool.

And paired up with my "interpretive" crests....it's one awesome military cookie package.

But the real thanks goes to Gus who's heading off to West Point soon.  Thank you Gus for what you're about to do.  It's people like you who make this country great.

Operation Cookie Takover...Nebraska Style

Around two months ago I came across a page on Facebook that sparked my interest.

It was this.

And the more I read, the more I wanted to participate.

What I read was this:  Operation Cookie Takeover is a way to show support to our troops currently deployed in Afghanistan. Our goal is to send 1,200+ cookies to our fellow cookier serving in Afghanistan, Tasha. She will be distributing your cookies to every member on her base on April 10, 2013.

So I volunteered to send over four dozen.  That's 48 cookies for you non-math types.

Then I waited, forgot about it, and then remembered again since I'd put it on my calendar and finally got instructions on how to mail them and when they needed to leave. 

And I got excited.

Then I got nervous.  Because I was seeing amazing cookies like this getting packaged to go over.

Custom Cookies by Jill

And these...

Melissa Joy Cookies

Or this...

Artfully Delicious Cookies

And that doesn't even skim the surface of what people are sending over.

Yeah, see why I was nervous.

So after thinking for awhile I decided to not necessarily send over American flags or little military people.  I went with the obvious. 

I'm from Nebraska.

And proud to be Nebraskan.

And I know there are many fellow Nebraskans serving in our military.  So why not make Nebraska cookies, military style.

Which means making them camouflage.

And that's just what I did.

Outlined in red, because if one color sums up Nebraska it's red.

And then the fun and it's-so-easy-I-can't-mess-this-up decorating.  Just start by making camo frosting colors then start making little blobs all over the cookie.

Then add on the next color...

And another and another.

Then let dry...and re-outline them in red again.

And finally package them up with more bubble wrap than one would think was possible. 

Those suckers aren't moving an inch.

I tapped the box shut because they mentioned that sand is an evil little thing - and can get into anything.  So I thought I'd try to help the problem by taping up the boxes.

Heck, these cookies are headed to Afghanistan.

I can't wait to see pictures of people enjoying the cookies.

Did I mention that the original goal was 1,200 cookies?  Yeah...well...get this.  Operation Cookie Takeover ended up having 11,000 cookies pledged to send over to troops.  11,000.  That is AMAZING.

But I hope that the cookies are enjoyed by people who are making our freedom possible.  A thank you for their sacrifices doesn't seem like it's enough...but I hope they know how thankful I am.

God Bless our Troops.

And God Bless America.