things i love {giveaway}: cut-out cookies!

it’s mardi gras. fat tuesday. the night before lent. call it what you want, it’s the day before a lot of people make a sacrifice to celebrate and honor the lenten season.

lemme just say i hope you didn’t decide to pass on cookies until easter. because if you did, you’re going to haaaate me for this. actually, you might want to stop reading, right now, just to avoid the temptation i’m throwing your way with the next item up for grabs in my things i love giveaway!

i have a sweet tooth. i get it honest from my nana and i fully blame her – and she knows it. she can’t ever turn down anything made with sugar, even if she claims her belly is full. so, it’s no wonder when the plate of cookies passes my face, i have to swipe one. when a plate of yellow duck cookies comes my way, i’m grabbing two. true story.

yellow duck cookies is owned by melissa linton and she runs the biz outta her digs in clintonville. the girl is constantly baking and she’s smart about her marketing and getting the yellow duck name out in central ohio. i first encountered her cut out cookies at the holiday hop in the short north. i picked up a swag bag when i swung into amy clark studios and lo and behold, one of missy’s iced candy cane cookies was waiting for me. yummo. she had my attention at the first bite and i knew i had to know more about the bakery. so i did what any social media fiend would do, i started creeping. how this lil lady got her start is bittersweet but endearing and it makes me love her even more.

missy moved to cbus in ’07 after she graduated from OU with a degree in fashion merchandising. born and raised in southeast ohio, missy started yellow duck in 2011 while she was trying to find a hobby. in 2002, she lost her mama to the beast known as breast cancer; missy wanted to do something her mom taught her – something they enjoyed doing together – something to keep the memories alive. missy’s mama loved baking for her family, friends and neighbors. so missy decided she was going to make some of her mama’s recipes that she loved as a youngster. she gave them to friends and had a huuuuge response, which gave her the spark to create yellow duck – a company she loves and cherishes. {doesn’t that make you want to buy a bajillion cookies?!}

now, a year later, yellow duck cookies has been nominated as a 2012 columbus alive “best local treat” and she’s been all over the scene reppin her bizzy at events. added treat: missy personally delivers all her orders, so you get to meet the woman behind the magic…

 

yellow duck cookies specializes in custom cut-out cookies with butter cream icing, but she has other sweets in her repertoire, too…specialty cakes, cookie cars, and the main style cookies. she can do just about any flavor you want from peppermint to raspberry.

soooo, you guys want some cookies {say it like steve urkel, please, it’s much better}?!? missy’s giving one lucky duck {see what i did there?} a half dozen cut-outs and two cookie jars {pictured above} so you can whip up the goodness in your own kitchen!

i’m giving you six ways to enter. reminder: leave. a. separate. comment. for. every. entry. if you say i liked on fb, tweeted, and reposted in one comment – it counts once when it could’ve counted twice if you followed the rules. you dig? good. moving on.

1. leave a comment about your favorite cookies to bake/eat
2. follow @yellowduckco on twitter
3. tweet “cookies from @elliehempleman & @yellowduckco? yes please!” with a link to this giveaway
4. like yellow duck cookies on facebook
5. post a link to this giveaway on your personal facebook page
6. check out yellow duck’s website and post an idea of a new cookie for missy to design {no promises that it’ll become a reality, but it sounds fun!}

go get it, cookie monsters! you have until noon on friday to enter, then th-th-that’s all folks! random generator will pick my lucky duck and i’ll announce the winner sometime saturday, because i’m going out with the girls friday. you can wait. missy bakes her cookies fresh, so no worries!

XO,