CookieCon 2014 Recap

I know, I know. It's been over a month since my last post, but I swear I have a good excuse. My month of March has been crazy (the phrase "March Madness" seems totally fitting). The workload at my day job has picked up, which keeps the days interesting but busy. Family also came to visit me, which was a pleasant distraction for a few days. However, the most exciting reason for my lack of blog updates is recovering from the fun I had at CookieCon!

For those unfamiliar, CookieCon is a cookie art convention where attendees from all around the world come to showcase, network, and learn all things cookie. This year was its second time hosting in Salt Lake City, Utah, but my first time attending the event. It was a surreal experience to finally meet the people behind the cookie blogs and Facebook pages I follow on a regular basis. I had a wonderful time and wanted to share with you a few aspects of my trip.

The Keynote Presentation

The event weekend began with a killer opening by the multi-talented Arty McGoo and her equally-talented husband, Mr. John. They put together hilarious clips of CookieVision, a pitch for an all-cookie TV channel. You can find the run down of this keynote opener at Arty McGoo's blog.

Here is a clip of my favorite part of their keynote presentation.

The Swag

Each attendee was given a swag bag full of cookie decorating goodies. Cookie cutters, stencils, disco dusts, you name it and it was probably in there. However, there were two items I've never seen before that piqued my interests.

The pump brush by The Sugar Art is a neat little device. The packaging mentions you can fill the center with pearl dust and press the pump to dispense the color. However, I think it could be very useful if filled with cornstarch. If an airbrushed cookie dries tacky to the touch, use the brush to dust over the cookie with cornstarch to set the airbrush color.

Another item that caused a stir of excitement at CookieCon was the Notta Cookie by Karen's Cookies. It's a practice surface to try out all your decorating techniques without the need to bake a cookie. It's reusable and dishwasher safe!

While theses cutters weren't included in the swag bag, I just had to purchase them when Karen's Cookies debuted them at the convention. The new speech bubbles and plaque shapes will definitely come in handy for fortune cookie sets.

The Sugar Show Entries

One of the popular features of CookieCon was visiting the room with all the Sugar Show entries. I entered the Maleficent cookie below for the "Once Upon a Time" category, which happen to win a Presenter's Choice Award from Anne of Flour Box Bakery. Thank you, Anne!

There were so many jaw-dropping entries in the Sugar Show, but here is a small sample of my very many favorites. I wish I could have captured all the entries on film.

The Links to More

My one main regret was not taking enough pictures of the happenings of the event and the wonderful people I met over the weekend. It was difficult to take in all the sights and participate in all the action while lugging around a large camera that seemed to just get in the way. I should have taken more photos with my phone!

However, where I lacked in taking photos, these ladies did a great job capturing and sharing what CookieCon was all about. Check out these links to see more of the exciting event:

• Pam of CookieCrazie
• Anne of Flour Box Bakery
• Amber of SweetAmbs
• Cristin of Cristin's Cookies
• Julia Usher of Cookie Connection