Imagine this: You have an order of 80+ princess carriages. You order the perfect cutter online, only to discover that it's too big when it arrives in your mailbox. There's not enough time to order a new cutter. What do you do? 

You might recognize the main body of my princess carriage. It's a particular "mouse" cutter, and LilaLoa turned it into a great princess carriage in this post.

One of my tricks in creating new, cartoony designs is to exaggerate one or more qualities of the character. Big nose, little eyes, tiny body, big head- all of these characteristics can make your design cute and whimsy. Plus, it takes away some of the pressure to make proportions just right.   

You might just recognize the cutter I used to make this little chick! It's the round potted cactus from Sweet Sugarbelle! It makes the perfect fat chick in a little nest. Maybe they live down by the river? Sorry- I saw a Chris Farley clip the other day 😂.

Cookiers have been using cupcake and ice cream cone cookie cutters since the dawn of royal icing to make all sorts of hat-wearing characters, from snowmen to scarecrows. I certainly do not take credit for the "leprechaun from an ice cream cone" concept, but I wanted to share with you MY version of this popular idea using a new favorite ice cream cone cutter from Sweet Sugarbelle! 

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving in my house was the traditional roasted turkey feast, from the juicy bird to the jellied cranberry sauce from the can (My dad insisted on having the whole cranberry stuff too- blech!). Aside from my mom's sweet potato pie, my absolute favorite part was the STUFFING. Now this term is actually a little misleading because my mom never put this seasoned bread concoction actually inside the bird, but rather in a pan that was baked until crispy and brown and absolutely delicious. So I guess "dressing" would be the more appropriate term for it. But in my house, it was "stuffing", and that's exactly how I felt at the end of the meal. Stuffed. 

Frankly, I think the creature we commonly call Frankenstein might just be my favorite Halloween-time character. Maybe it's because I love the pop of green that my soothes my eyes amidst the sea of traditional orange and black Halloween colors. Maybe it's because I like to picture him as a cute cartoony character instead of the monstereous thing that is depicted in the book/movies. In any case, I love making Frank in cookie form!

This year, I got my hands on one of these sets of Halloween cutters, designed by Sweet Sugarbelle. 

I've had this bell cutter for many years now. And guess what? I've never made a bell cookie with it until this year! But don't let that fool you- it's one of my ABSOULTE FAVORITE CUTTERS. I'm not lying. It's one of those cutters that never finds it's way back into my "Christmas" cutter bin because I always come back to it over and over again. And if I put it in my Christmas bin, I would have to get on a step stool to get it all the time. And that's too much work. And chances are, something would fall on me as I tried to bring down my Christmas bin box. So for safety's sake, I keep it out. Always.

One of my favorite childhood cartoons was Tom & Jerry, especially the earlier episodes (pre-1960). It's awesome that my own young kids love Tom & Jerry as much as I did. Once I hear the theme song during the opening credits, I stop what I am doing and watch with my kids. Because yes, my kids and I bond over Jerry getting the best of Tom. My kids are fascinated by all the traps the characters set for each other. And before I know it, my kids are asking me for refrigerator boxes, wooden planks, a broom, a mousetrap, and an anvil.  Yeah, good luck with that one.

Santa cutters?  To make mermaids?  Yup!  Let's just say that it's my own little "Christmas in July" party.  I love being able to re-purpose cutters!  I realize that it's a gift that I have that not everybody has.  Other people can sing and dance and reach the the top shelf of their kitchen cabinet without a stool.  Me?  I can make a mermaid from a Santa cutter.  #winning      

So which Santa cutters did I use for these cuties?

A rose by any other name would be . . . an acorn? In this case, YES! Thanks to Sugarbelle, you can create a cookie rose with many shapes- other than a rose cutter!