234. Baking it Down - Food-tography

Summary

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Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

Episode 234: "Food-tography"

Hosts: Heather and Corrie Miracle
Date: October 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Heather and Corrie crack open the topic of "Food-tography"—the art and business of photographing baked goods to supercharge bakery sales and marketing. As admins of the 50,000-member Sugar Cookie Marketing Facebook group, their mission is to help cottage bakers level up online presence, and this week they break down all things food photography, from lighting and cameras to styling, editing, and the age-old "to bead or not to bead" prop debate. Expect lots of actionable tips with the twins’ signature blend of humor, clean banter, and real-world marketing know-how.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Power of Quality Food Photography

• Theme: Great pictures sell more cookies. Exceptional food imagery creates a perception of professionalism, cleanliness, and desirability, often separating a hobbyist from a sought-after baker in a saturated market.
• “Classes will make you cash, but also good photos will bring you cash.” – Heather [02:36]
• Customers often judge quality—and kitchen cleanliness—by the polish of your photos.
• Find a style you enjoy and stay consistent, but don't be afraid to experiment: some buyers love minimalist shots, others love cozy, prop-heavy tablescapes. See what resonates with your audience.

2. Cheap vs. Expensive: Making the Most of Any Budget

• Almost all stages of food photography have a "cheap" and "expensive" approach:
  • Lighting: Sunlight (free but unreliable) vs. artificial light boxes or full light studios (costly, but consistent).
  • Camera: Modern smartphones can work wonders, but DSLR/mirrorless cameras will always have the edge for clarity, low light, and true depth of field.
  • Props/Backdrops: DIY from craft stores or pay for food-safe, professional backdrops.
  • Editing: Free phone apps or monthly subscriptions like Lightroom/Photoshop.

3. Lighting: Natural vs. Artificial

• Natural Light: Indirect sunlight is best; move cookies around the house to chase good light (bake early to shoot in the daylight).
  • “Don’t get afraid to walk around with your cookies to find the best lighting.” – Corrie [12:53]
• Artificial Light (Light boxes, 3-point systems): Useful when baking and shooting at night, but comes with challenges (space, setup, expense).
• Pro tip: Build photography time into your order process—don't finish cookies at 2am if you want to photograph them in sunlight.

4. Cameras: Phones vs. Dedicated Devices

• 80%+ of poll respondents use and love their phones.
  • “You can do almost everything on a phone that you can do on a DSLR now... but the lens is what makes it crispy.” – Corrie [18:01]
• Pros and cons:
  • Phones: Fast, easy, great for candid shots and videos, new pro modes are powerful.
  • Cameras: Highest quality ('crispier' images, real zoom, better low-light) but slower workflow and pricier.
• Buying used or refurbished gear is a smart way to upgrade without breaking the bank.

5. Stands, Angles, and Movement

• Most bakers shoot handheld, chasing light and different perspectives.
  • 81% in a group poll use no stand; canvas lamps and flexible clamps are popular alternatives for those shooting video or stop-motion.
• For video, especially with social media's evolving algorithms, a casual, candid feel usually wins over overly polished studio shots.

6. Editing Software & Presets

• Phone apps (Snapseed, Lightroom Mobile) are catching up quickly, but desktops offer more advanced capabilities.
• “Presets” (stored editing steps) can be bought, downloaded for free, or created custom—just make sure they're food-appropriate.
  • “You wouldn’t buy outdoor wedding presets and apply them to indoor cookies—you’re gonna get a very blue image!” – Heather [36:32]

7. Backdrops, Staging, and Props

• Kitchen counters = too busy and distracting. Opt for simple plates, boards, or specifically designed (and food-safe) backdrops.
• The "pyramid of interest": Layered staging gives depth, keeping the main cookie(s) the visual focal point.
  • “Write this on my tombstone: Don’t take a photo on anything but something staged.” – Corrie [42:47]
• Props—Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em?
  • Used well, props (even beads!) create emotion and direct attention; the key is to support not overwhelm the subject.
  • “Whether you do props or you don’t, you’re correct.” – Corrie [45:30]

8. Emotional Marketing and Storytelling

• Photography can and should evoke feeling—coziness, celebration, anticipation—which in turn drives sales.
• Drawing from big brands: “If you ever want to see fantastic emotional marketing... it’s always perfume ads. How can I make you buy something you can’t smell?” – Heather [50:44]
• Use cropped shots, props, and even a plate to connect with potential customers’ special moments and help them “see” your cookies as part of their story.

9. Workflow, Storage & Digital Minimalism

• Don't be a digital hoarder! Keep three of the best images per set, clear old photos, and backup thoughtfully.
• Consider cloud storage and avoid overcrowding your devices.
• “Your skills will increase, but also the technology with which you took the photos will increase. And those will look too old.” – Heather [31:46]

10. Experimentation is Key

• Try both minimalist and staged/propped shots. Post both. Test with your audience to see what gets engagement and sales.
• “Try it out. See what the engagement rate is on it… Take both of the pictures. Use all of that because it’s going to evoke an emotion in a certain part of your demographic.” – Heather [54:55]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Emotional Impact:
  “If I buy these cookies, I’ll be the favorite person at the baby shower…” – Heather [50:13]
• On Editing Workflow:
  “If people can’t see the cookies, they won’t buy them. So if you’re taking a photo, that’s fantastic.” – Heather [16:34]
• On Props:
  “The reason why I use beads is because it’s an inexpensive, expensive prop and it’s very malleable. So I can turn them in any direction… They give the dead space without [clutter].” – Corrie [47:23]
• On Branding Through Photos:
  “If you’re consistent enough with your photography, you can actually almost be a watermark of sorts…” – Corrie [06:46]
• On Making It Work for You:
  “The photography needs to work for you... If you find that your photos on the white backdrop aren’t getting as much engagement, throw a prop in there… Mix it up.” – Corrie [54:36]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:00] Introduction to Food-tography and why it matters
• [06:12] Cheap vs. Expensive Options: How to Max Out Your Equipment
• [12:19] All About Lighting: Sun vs. Artificial, Tips for Night Bakers
• [17:11] Cameras: Phone vs. DSLR/Mirrorless, Workflow, Used Deals
• [22:53] Stands & Shooting Styles: Handheld or Supported?
• [28:25] Editing: Software Choices, Storage, Digital Minimalism
• [36:12] Presets: Buying, Creating, Using Wisely
• [41:28] Backdrops & Textures: Crafty DIY to Professional Solutions
• [45:30] Props: When, Why, and How to Use Them (or Not!)
• [50:04] Emotional Marketing: Creating Feeling Through Foodtography
• [55:23] To Save or Delete? Image Storage & Processing Workflow
• [56:54] Investing in Equipment: Where to Spend for Maximum Impact
• [58:09] Practice & Progress: No One’s Good at First
• [63:00] Video vs. Photo: Adapting for Social Media Platforms
• [66:12] Vendi Blendi: Upcoming Shop Sale Event
• [76:36] Listener Segment: Uplifting Messages & Community Support
• [78:26] Q&A: Hosting a Cookie Class, Marketing Spend, More Tips

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Listener Q&A and Community Quick Hits

• Advice on running first-time cookie classes
• “Best piece of marketing you’ve bought?” (Top answers: Camera, website, Gmail/Google Workspace)
• Group commentary on confidently raising prices
• Poll results: Most listeners either did not take Halloween orders this year, or were still busy baking last minute.

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Fun & Relatable Tangents

• Debates over last meals, favorite Bath & Body Works candles, multi-purpose birthday gifts (knives and air purifiers!)
• The annual “bead controversy” in photo staging
• Classic anecdote: “If you try to cut a tomato and it squishes, that’s what it is.” – Corrie [93:16]

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Conclusion

• Photography evolves—so should you! Don’t be afraid to experiment, mix things up, and invest with intention.
• Quality food-tography is a critical driver of perceived value, engagement, and ultimately, sales.
• The Sugar Cookie Marketing community is here to help, whether you’re a beginner or looking for that next level.

Final nugget:
“If your focus is cookies and you want to make more money, your photos gotta be good.” – Corrie [58:09]

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For more info, resources, or to join the next community collab or class, check out Sugar Cookie Marketing on Facebook, or visit sugarcookiemarketing.com.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Baking it down with Sugar Cookie Marketing podcast.

[B]

We are your hosts in person this time. Heather and Corey. Miracle. We are actually. Oh, oh.

[A]

Because I'm coming in on heavy.

[B]

I don't know where that first good morning is going to land.

[A]

We are actually the admins of a group on Facebook called Sugar Cookie Marketing Group. There's almost, dare I say, near 50,000 bakers in there learning to grow their bakery businesses every single gosh darn day.

[B]

Gosh darn day.

[A]

Here's the thing.

[B]

Sometimes you're baking.

[A]

Right now, you're probably baking Halloween cookies. If. If it looks like anything like what.

[B]

My week looks like, which I had.

[A]

To make five dozen yesterday. My poor arms. My poor arms. So we thought instead of just always making content that you have to read, which means you have to have a.

[B]

Phone in your hand and you can't.

[A]

Actually listen to it, we thought we'd make a podcast so you can actually.

[B]

That thought was four years ago. So this is episode 234.

[A]

Do I say that every single time we thought we'd make a podcast? Obviously you're listening to it.

[B]

You like to do a couple. A couple, like, tics you have. You like to say your arms are elbow deep in.

[A]

Elbow deep in flour.

[B]

Marketing nuggets. No house nugget.

[A]

No house.

[B]

50,000 members. Always. There's something like there where it's not 50,000. Totally. So you don't want to lie. I don't want to lie.

[A]

I got to work on my intro. Then I got to work.

[B]

It's funny, Heather Campbell Berkshire said, can there be a podcast on elevator pitches? Which I'm going to challenge both of us to write different versions of elevator pitches and then pitch them to each.

[A]

For the Sugar Cookie Marketing group or the podcast.

[B]

Sugar Cookie marketing podcast.

[A]

You're on.

[B]

Cory's like, welcome to these nuggets. And it's probably gonna say nuggie and no house.

[A]

Listen, now, I say this so much.

[B]

People will be like, I learned some.

[A]

Nuggies and no house. You're welcome. Repetition is the key to learning.

[B]

Okay, is this whole group just made up words?

[A]

The venue blend.

[B]

Yes, I know. I'm saying it's hard to explain made up words to real people.

[A]

Yeah, because they think you're really weird.

[B]

We had a cookie class this weekend, and Ann Annie came in and I said, hey, do I know you? And she was like, I'm actually from the group. So she hangs back after class ends and she's like, yeah, so the Fendi blendy. And then the Nuggets and no house. And I was like, isn't it so funny we're talking like made up words but actually like they're real things. Annie, thank you for not making my.

[A]

Nuggets and Noah's weird.

[B]

So today we wanted to talk about photography because we have been testing in the sugar cookie marketing group on Facebook content themes each month. So last month was cookie classes and I thought people really liked it.

[A]

Yeah, it was really good. And then this month is photography. At the end of the day, classes will make you cash, but also good photos will bring you cash.

[B]

Again, most of the stuff we talk about in the podcast in some way generates you more income.

[A]

It does, it does. And a lot of people want to teach classes, but they say I'm just not the type. You know, I am introverted. I much rather be in my kitchen by myself.

[B]

But I don't think any of us can get around good photos self. Absolutely.

[A]

And if you are in the baking business, you are there to make some money.

[B]

That's why I'm naming this podcast Foodtography. Foodtography. Yes. Because it's food. Food.

[A]

Yeah, food. Because regardless if you're doing cookies, if you're doing bread, if you're a recipe developer, if you go into watch a commercial on TV that's trying to show you, it's gonna show food in the best light.

[B]

Well, I wanna. I wanna pretend that my McDonald's burger is gonna look like that. It won't, but it's gonna get me through the drive thru line. It just needs to entice you.

[A]

And I went to McDonald's yesterday and.

[B]

I got a quarter. You did? That would cause me gastroint. I love my last meal. If I'm in prison for murdering my twin sister violently, my last meal will be an egg McMuffin.

[A]

I want to tell you, you've already said this and you said it was.

[B]

Going to be a salad.

[A]

Literally four ports. Okay.

[B]

If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it'd be a salad. If it was my last meal, it would be an egg McMuffin. Lower your voice when you're talking. No, I want to swear.

[A]

I think you said it was your last meal.

[B]

My last meal wouldn't be a salad. That'd be a miserable way to go.

[A]

It would have to be a steak or something.

[B]

If I could only ever eat one thing forever, I could do it at.

[A]

An Egg McMuffin forever.

[B]

Really? Yeah, we'd just be tied to a toilet.

[A]

An Egg McMuff.

[B]

I'm sorry. They're a little oily.

[A]

They're a little oily, but they're not half as oily as a burger.

[B]

What would your last meal be? My last meal?

[A]

I said it had to be something like. I would probably do an Outback Ribeye 16 ounce with the buttered broccoli on the side and a mashed Tate.

[B]

Okay. I'm not mad about it.

[A]

Yeah, I want the bread too, if.

[B]

It'S my last meal. If it's not meal, I gotta do the rest. Really? They're there for the rest.

[A]

Maybe a half salad. I'll go with it.

[B]

Back to. Don't let them put that spicy ranch on it, though. I don't like the spicy ranch.

[A]

And what else? I don't really like the cheese.

[B]

I know outback salad has not changed since I was a little kid.

[A]

Spicy, spicy, spicy salad.

[B]

Back to photography. Now you guys know what the last meals will be. Photography can make or break.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you find that your sales are slow but your photography has not increased since you got started, I would start investing in kind of sharpening this up. We have a bunch of great content about photography. And someone yesterday was like, I literally have a bachelor's in photography. And this has still helped me because there's taking pictures of people, there's taking pictures outdoors, and there's taking pictures of food indoors. It's. It's a very interesting.

[A]

It's a niche photography. It's a good one to learn. The reason why I like taking pictures of food is because it doesn't move, unlike children.

[B]

I agree. So Corey actually moves around the food. I can tell. And I've been posting. She gave me a hard drive with all her photography on it, and I thought it was pretty funny because she's like, wow, you just really went back through everything and found it. Yeah. Cause she took pictures of what the staging looks like and then what the end photo looks like. So if you want to find that. I tried to tag all the posts at those new Facebook topic tags. They're all tagged photography. Otherwise use hashtag octoberphotography month. Yeah.

[A]

To search it up at the top.

[B]

And find it there. So very interesting to see what the. How the sausage is made and then what the sausage look like in terms of that. But you can really kind of from those staged photos, be like, wow, that looks chaotic. Yes. And then it's cropped, edited, post, processed. And that's what we want to kind of talk about today, which is taking all that content we talked about in the last month and consolidating into one podcast.

[A]

Yeah. Nice.

[B]

Nice. Sorry.

[A]

No, go ahead. Go right on ahead.

[B]

You're going to say the greatest thing in the world, and I really want to know.

[A]

I lost it. I'm sorry.

[B]

It's gone.

[A]

You'll never learn the greatest thing in.

[B]

The world, the cheap option and the expensive option. Now I'm going to say. I'm going to say that you can max out your talent in the cheap option, and then you need to start thinking about the more expensive options, because I do believe that photography is. You get what you invested.

[A]

Yeah. A lot of times people are hobby bakers or they bake just for, like, Christmas and things like that. Grant, you can make your hobby equipment last forever, but if you're like, hey, I have some serious competition out there, and then they're baking streets and you have, like, five bakers next to you. Sometimes photography can set you apart and can get you more sales just because your photos look a certain way.

[B]

If you're consistent enough with your photography, you can actually almost be a watermark of sorts where people are like, I saw that. I knew who it was. There's definitely photography styling, and you can actually see marketing campaigns go in and out of different styles. But for us, probably just finding your style and staying consistent with it is all that you need.

[A]

And the end goal of photography isn't to look like the next person. It's to find what you like, what works for you. Your time is different than someone else's time. Your staging is going to look different, and making it work for your business.

[B]

One thing I thought was interesting, Corey had in the photos I found she had taken the identical photos, so. But in the background of one is all these, like, fabrics and. And the background of the other, it's just pure white. And I let everyone vote number one or number two. And the people's perspectives were very interesting. Someone said, I'm going to pick the stark white one because I like simplicity. Yeah. Someone said, I'd pick number two, but I only have time for number one, so I'm going to vote for number one. Someone said, I'm number two through and through, but I would zoom out. But it was very interesting to see the extreme variations in people's preferences and.

[A]

It comes down to preference, and I think that's great. If you want to be the simplistic photo taker, that's who you are. And if you want to, you know, go all out and add the props, that's fantastic.

[B]

What I challenge people is a little bit of both.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I know you have your staple, your go to but a little bit of mixing it up because someone said, well the left one with the fabrics feels very warm. And I said, yeah, it almost feels like you're sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal with these cookies. But the right makes me look at the cookies. Right. So I said imagine posting both. Yeah. Imagine posting this one when you want to evoke this emotion that Thanksgiving is coming. And imagine posting this one when you say here's the photos that I'm the cookies that I'm offering.

[A]

I love taking stage photos but if I have a lag last minute DIY kit I cannot sell or I made one extra one. A candid photo with not great lighting really sells. The fact like hey, this is the last one if you want it and I can sell them that way they're not perfectly staged.

[B]

There's a case for all types. Now what I'm going to say though is the high quality photos being the consistent.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Bowl you pull. You pull from the content bucket and having these kind of more candid ones when you need in various situations. Sure. Yeah.

[A]

There's room for every single one of those.

[B]

Okay. Question. Hot take. Yeah, hot take. Question. If you only did the candid ones, do you feel like that there is a market for that or would you encourage someone to go else in a different direction?

[A]

I would encourage to have two content buckets you pull from. Maybe your candid ones that aren't edited are like a trust the process. Hey, what, what do you think this cookie is going to turn out to be? And then your reveal is the nice stage one.

[B]

So I would, I would challenge people, focus as much on your photography as you do on your icing skills because you could have the absolute most fantastic looking cookie but your photography skills aren't there yet and it detracts from that quality work. I mean it's unfortunate that you put in all the work to have that stellar product and then it's that the photo is taking away from that.

[A]

I'm more of a simplistic cookie baker. I just do short, sweet and cute. You know, that's what I, the photos really like elevate it. So I look more of a like.

[B]

I like that because you can still charge your price with the bigger margins but you let the photography kind of sell the quality of it. Can't but notice when you have higher quality photos, your house feels cleaner. It's just kind of the nature And I'm going to tell you and buzzword here, it's called grain. The higher Quality the camera, the less grain there is. And grain is those little particles, those little. I don't. What you would call them inclusions in photos.

[A]

Honestly, if you've seen a meme that's been screenshotted 42 times.

[B]

Pixelation. It gets pixelated and it gets grainy. Yeah. Grainy is the degradation of a photo. And now you may say, but in Lightroom, I can add it. Yes. There's an aesthetic where people do like adding grain because they like that old timey look. Millimeter. However, when your photos are crisp and clean and clear, it kind of signals that your kitchen is the same way. At least as a buyer myself. We want to see the supermodel with the jewelry on it. Because maybe if I bought the perfume she's wearing, I'd look like her. I wouldn't. But it paints that picture.

[A]

That. What's so funny is we have an older sister. Love her to death. If you take a photo and you send it to her, like, if I take a Snapchat photo of my son, she looks at everywhere but where my.

[B]

Son is, picture permitting. Yeah.

[A]

So she's looking around everywhere, everything. She's looking around the focal point, and she's trying to see. She's trying to map out my life there. And while most of us probably would look at my son in the photo, you have customers that are looking at everything. But you said you have to take that into account. People are looking around what you're taking to see if they can capture something from your life. Like, is our. Is their home clean? Is. Do they pick up. Is there animals in the photo?

[B]

For sure. You know, and I know even some people go as far never to post a photo of their pet on their page to kind of differentiate that. And that is definitely a strategy to. It's kind of the same concept where we had that podcast on what happens when you zhuzh up your front door? What did you call it?

[A]

We'll just call it judging up your front door.

[B]

Yeah. When you. When you.

[A]

Oh, port front.

[B]

I had the word porch in it.

[A]

Porch. No, it's not.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's a real estate term.

[B]

When it hits you, it's gonna hit me. Yeah. But when we are talking about that having a clean front porch is also one of those signals that the kitchen's clean. Whether or not nobody knows. But it's what that interpretation of. And this is a part of one of those pieces. So jumping right into our six focus focal points, as you said, lighting. So the cheap version is the sun. It's Free, but. And as we've talked about in the cookie group this week, it's hard to get the sun to apply to my schedule.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we got bakers that are working full time or they naturally fulfill orders and complete orders at night. So it is hard to get the sun to play nice. Maybe their house is shrouded in trees, so they don't have that. That bouncy indirect sunlight. Or maybe just the fact that they live in a cave. It's. Whatever it is. The sun's not the easiest, but it is the freeziest. It's the freest one. Now, we have expensive options, and I find in. In everything, the expensive option is going to be the best. But this is the one case where I find the expensive option to be very challenging.

[A]

The problem is because the expensive option is trying to always mimic the sun.

[B]

Right.

[A]

This the reason why we like the sun for our photos. And I want to tell you guys, I've always either lived in a center townhouse or an apartment. So rare are the days that I can say I've had access to the sun. So I like to take my cookies on field trips. In the morning, the front of the house has better lighting. In the evening, the back of the house. So don't get afraid to walk around with your cookies to find the best lighting. The great thing about the sun is it softens shadows.

[B]

And Corey's saying indirect sun. So it's bright outside. She's got a window open, and then that light bounces from the outside inside. It's creating indirect, too. Direct. You create your shadow, a harsh shadow.

[A]

But indirect sunlight gives you very soft shadows, and it takes the focal point from your harsh shadows and puts it back onto the cookies.

[B]

If you guys know, golden hour is always a fun time to take human photos because it's where the sun is lowest in the sky, and it casts least shadow while still providing light that's.

[A]

Also filtered and it gives you, like, this yellow hue. Everyone looks nice and tanned. Your skin's glistening. The problem is when you take photos in a yellow light, your white icing looks a little dingy.

[B]

And you can fix that in post processing, which we'll talk about. But I want to say, like, when you. This is the thing I think about the most. My nose, 12 o', clock, noon. The shadow that a direct sun would cast on my nose makes my nose go the duration of my entire lower face. So what you want to do is this ambient lighting, this indirect lighting. Now, let's say, okay, girls, the sunset. What do you Want me to do wait until tomorrow? No, the gorge's got to go out tomorrow. You got a bag of tonight? Whatever. We know the restriction. You're going to look at things like light boxes, which I find to be one of the most hardest to work with.

[A]

The problem is it's because it's a box.

[B]

It's a box. Get the. Okay, so because it's a white box, it's a light box. It's always typically white. When any light is shown on the outside, it actually diffuses it really nicely, which is what we talk about. The diffusion of light creates these softer shadows. However, you're pretty limited in this box.

[A]

Size in because it's got to fit in your house.

[B]

Got to fit in your house. So then you can go to a three point lighting system. But now you almost have to create a mini studio. I know. So can you? Yes. Does it take a lot of work and money? Yes. At the end of the day it is nice to have a flat light, indirect sun, sunlight taken in early morning or late afternoon. That is just unfortunately.

[A]

I want to say though from someone who does orders in the evening, build into your time frame. Like when your orders, instead of baking them the day before they're due, make it that you can bake them two days before. So the next morning or when you get off work the next day, you can utilize the sunlight and really work that into your ordering details because that's going to allow you to get the content. Listen, you put the hard work into baking the cookies. Half of that return on investment, return on baking the cookies is getting the content from that to make you more orders. The better the photos, the more sales you'll get. It's just as easy as that. So if you can incorporate having that timeframe like today, I know. Last night I finished five dozen Halloween cookies. I'm here doing the podcast. I gotta go get my son from school. I know. Between 4 and 5 o' clock I have an hour to take a picture of those cookies. It's not a ton of time. It doesn't have to be perfect photo, but it's gonna be a well lit natural light photo because I've worked it into it and the cookies are due tomorrow.

[B]

Listen, if Corey has to go home and take a photo, lunch is canceled, Everything will move, the photo will get to you. Priorities. So that's our two options. So our cheap, our cheap option is the big burning ball of fire in the sky. And the more expensive option and the harder to work with option, unfortunately for this one is either Light boxes or three point lighting systems or little photo studios.

[A]

And I want to say if you have to do one of those three point lighting systems, your little photo.

[B]

You tell me you wouldn't like a photo studio in your house.

[A]

I would love a photo.

[B]

I know. It just takes up that space. It takes the space.

[A]

If you say, well, I, I can't do the sun photos and I can only do this. Something is better than nothing. If people can't see the cookies, they won't buy them. So if you're taking a photo, that's fantastic.

[B]

If you say, girls, my photos would be featured in National Geographic if I just had lighting, then it's time to start looking into those three point lighting systems and maybe designating that small room that you use to hoard your crap.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Into a little photo studio. Yes. Very nice.

[A]

Yeah, Maybe put it in the kid, switching the rooms around, taking their room so you can take your photos.

[B]

And I'm going to take your room because it has a window. Next up, cameras.

[A]

Cameras.

[B]

I like this one. We actually did a poll. Probably over 80% of people use their phones and love it.

[A]

I want to say, the way that phones are made now, Amazing.

[B]

Portrait. Portrait mode. Okay. I'm going to tell you this. Tier 1 curl on your toes. It will not be the designated camera, however. Yes. And I know what you guys are saying, but when I use a camera, designated camera, a nice camera, the workflow increases tremendously. Yeah. Because now you gotta take your camera out, you gotta hook it to your computer, you gotta download the images, you gotta import into Lightroom, you gotta edit it now you gotta export it. When on my phone I can do boop boop and send it off.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

I again, always the hybrid approach for best case scenario. If you're like, I would like to edge up my photography, you're going to want to increase this workflow. It does pay out in dividends. However, I'm not mad if you learn. And now all these cell phones have pro mode.

[A]

I know you can do everything, you can do everything that you can do on a DSLR with a phone. It is different. The lens is the thing that makes a crispy, crispy photo. And I can say that was taken on a high end camera.

[B]

And the resolution, the resolution and the ability. Okay, so when you're using portrait mode, it's creating an artificial blur. Right. So it's looking at the subject and the computer, the AI or whatever is saying, okay, this is a subject. So everything behind this plane has to be blurry to create that Focus cool. With these smarter cameras, with these designated cameras, I'm talking about DSLRs, which is what Corey shoots with. And I'm recording this one with a mirrorless Sony camera. The lens is telling where that depth of field is.

[A]

Yeah. You think when you think your phone, you're like, yeah, I can totally zoom in. Phones can't actually zoom.

[B]

It's an artificial zoom.

[A]

Whereas a lens camera, when you twist that, it actually, the lens is getting closer to what you're trying to take a photo of. So it's a more specific zoom. And that's where you can get really close to something but still have it not grainy, where it's still super crispy.

[B]

And then we have the light sensors in cameras. So my phone, if I take a picture at night, it's like nothing can move for five minutes. While I think about this versus NDSLR and mirrorless cameras, they struggle with light sensors as well. But as you increase the price of the camera, you have the more ability for it to sense light at a higher resolution. So that grain diminishes. I remember back when I had an ex who was really big into videography, red epics were great at low light. So if you ever take a video and you look at the pure black areas, if it looks a little grayish, it has little fragments of color. That means you have a poor low light device.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then red epic cameras, I think they start at $10,000. So you can obviously pour money into it. But what I'm saying is these nicer cameras are better at low light. So if you're like, well, I am struggling with the sun.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

We're struggling with low light access. These cameras can compensate for that. So you can see like a hybrid approach. Now a lot of you guys are really knocking out of the park with cell phone photography. Oh, love it.

[A]

I think it's fantastic.

[B]

If you're like, I would like to edge up, I would like to get my cell phone photos to where Corey's at. You're going to need to switch to this more expensive option. So. Hey, Heather. Well, the canon rebel, it's $600, but then there's these ones that are thousands of dollars. What I do, I'm a refurbed camera girl.

[A]

We love something that's been a gentle love.

[B]

Yeah. So what Canon will do, it'll buy back a d defected product and remake it and sell it at a discount because they have rebuilt it and it's got a Canon warranty on it. Cory and I like Canons. I've now since like Sony, I think a lot of these programs have and I wouldn't be afraid about buying used equipment. Yeah.

[A]

I also want to say if you ever ask either in sugar cookie marketing a local group like what. What camera do you love the most? Unfortunately when you start buying lenses, you.

[B]

Are, you're stuck into getting that.

[A]

So a lot of people were like, I love Canon. Well, you love Canon because you've only ever bought the lenses for Canons and you can't ever switch because then all that money will be wasted.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it's just saying, hey, can you take a photo? If you're wondering what can people are using, can you take a photo and show me what your photo looks like and then choose from the photos they're taking. Which camera look you like? Like what's their, their end product.

[B]

It would be great if everyone would like show us the not edited one. But it's hard. There's so many factors that go into making photos special. But you can even within cell phone photography, the newer phones have more photography capabilities. So if you have an iPhone 10 and the 17 just came out, may be time to consider switching if you don't want to take on that bigger purchase price of a dedicated camera. And I can't even blame you.

[A]

But at the end I do have.

[B]

A lot of bakers around me and.

[A]

The one thing that makes me stand out is good photos.

[B]

Yeah. Here's what I kind of think. I look at myself and I'm always like, if it's easier, I'll do it. If I put in more hurdles, it's going to make me not want to do it. But I know in the, the hurdle, the more hurdle scenario the product's always going to be better. Yes. So if you say, well I take, I take 90% of them on my phone. I would like to edge up. So maybe start. You start considering that purchase. I think Adoramas resells camera gear and I buy from them. You can start shopping those maybe deals. Maybe it doesn' have to be the newest dslr, the newest mirrorless camera.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

But you can get something that's used within the last three to four years and then start incorporating that. Yes. The it elongates your workflow but it does increase at product. And I want to say I'm the.

[A]

Creature who does not like to learn new things. But once I learn it one time I'm in it to win it. I can do wash, rinse, repeat. So now it's part of my workflow. I can take a photo and have it edited in less than five minutes.

[B]

Now, now, bam, bam, bam.

[A]

Thank you, ma'. Am. And then it'll be good.

[B]

I like it. So we have lighting, we have cameras. Now we're going to go to stands. Now. I took a poll on this. These are all topics that we've talked about in the group this month. So if you wanted to see what the vote was for these, go check that out. But I took a poll on stands that people use now. Corey, tell us what your stands. I'm actually going to pull up some of this content so I can pull.

[A]

To take my photos. That I take my photos. I'm actually holding the camera. So Heather says Corey likes to move around the photos. Yeah, I like to move around, get different looks. So I'm actually holding the camera for that. When it comes to stands, like if we're talking about, like videos and things like that, I use the canvas lamp. That is my go to stand. That's the one I always grab.

[B]

It's easy to use.

[A]

I tried to use an Arkon mount. The joints make it very impossible if you need to get different angles because you have to loosen them up. Tighten them up, loosen them up, tighten them up. Yeah.

[B]

One time Corey brought one for me.

[A]

I said, yeah, that is a lot of work.

[B]

What in the heck are you trying to make me do here?

[A]

My little sister bought me a moft, which you'll see. Moft has done a lot of content creation with Cookiers.

[B]

So I thought that was an interesting crossover episode. Yeah. Christina was actually your twin dress two podcasts ago. Yeah. And that's our last podcast.

[A]

A phone stand that just is magnetic to the back of your head.

[B]

Ease of use.

[A]

Ease, easy.

[B]

Okay, here is the poll question. What type of stand do you use for photography? 81%. There was. I can't see how many people voted, but there was a lot. So 81% is. 131 people voted for handheld no stand.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that's going to be a large majority of people. Shop Canvas alliance was 3%. Archon Mount was 8%. A floor tripod, which is what I use to record this podcast on. 2%. Clamp or a gooseneck mount, kind of what the shop canvas lamp is, although I had that one separated. Is 4%. A desk tripod. You guys are sleeping on it. Zero percent. I use that as well. Sleeping on a desk tripod. But you got to get them angles.

[A]

I want to say, from the desk tripod. If you're having to chase the light.

[B]

You'Re asking a lot. I agree. You can see that a lot of people are moving to chase this light. And then something not listed was 2%. So very interesting. Now, someone had posted a video and they said, I can't make stop motion work. And I said, well, it requires a stand, the camera stay stationary. And she said, oh, the camera stationary. But she'd used a crop. So it was removing the crop that was a solution. But yeah, a lot of people are using handheld and then Corey's photography. I found that you're using almost exclusively handheld when it comes to photography. Which brings up my next poll. I asked folks, which one are you doing photos or videos? And 92%, which was 52 votes, said Cookie photos.

[A]

I want to tell you, as someone who loves cookie photos myself, because everyone loves cookie photos and because the world was so heavy in photography for so many years, social media has gone the way of the dodo.

[B]

I just. It's gone the way of the video. Yeah.

[A]

So because so few people are doing it, it's a great way to stand out. And I know it's something else to learn. Now we have to vet video editing software. We just figured out how to take photos.

[B]

It's gotta be a mix of both. Everything's a hybrid approach these days. It is a mix of both.

[A]

So let me tell you what I do. Let me set the stage. I stage my cookies there, I take the photos and then I take my. My cell phone and I do a video of them just floating.

[B]

Very interesting. As we've clearly said, the product quality, the production quality on a dedicated camera is always going to outperform the production quality on a cell phone, although they're getting ever close. However, Corey said, if I have to record it on a camera, I'll never edit it. So I'm going to choose my phone. I knew who I was as a.

[A]

Person and learning something so new. Heather loves making videos. I can't say you're good at it. You do it.

[B]

I do it against my will. Against your will.

[A]

But it is a whole different battle.

[B]

It's hard for me to even be like, get a dedicated camera, bring it into Premiere Pro, which is the baby.

[A]

Yes, the baby. I know video edit editing is so much different than photo editing, but I want to say there's awesome apps that help video editing on your phone.

[B]

I know.

[A]

And the only reason I switched to Apple guys is for their video quality.

[B]

A bunch of people, me included, are punching the air with our Androids and our Google phones. But I will have to admit. And I'll never switch from Android. But I do think the video quality on a iPhone is better. It is on an iPhone. Whatever. So that's our stands again. You're seeing that a lot of people aren't using stands at all. This is just the feedback from this really great content topic. You all guys loved to kind of tell you how to edge up. Now, when it comes to photos, videos, are you using a stand? I always use a stand. Which one?

[A]

One. I'm using the canvas lamp.

[B]

Are you using it with the light on or off?

[A]

I never have ever used the light.

[B]

Before in my life. Interesting. Because you're a sun girly.

[A]

I'm a sun girly. But I want to say even if I have to turn on a light, I will turn on a light. So I always think video, you can be approachable if I'm in the video. I just did the taste test challenge series. You saw me in every form and.

[B]

We saw you with a robe.

[A]

Listen, I'll turn on the light and take a video because video can be so much more can I feel like.

[B]

Almost candid video performs better than really polished video.

[A]

TikTok is doing studies on it. That is just picking up the phone and taking the video right where you are. Is that better?

[B]

I'll be honest, as the end user, I like to see that impromptu. Just had a thought, I wanted to record it type thing.

[A]

I do want to say as seeing that people are like our older sister and looking around to see what your house looks like. It's good to have a dedicated space. So my cookie room is clean all the time because it's where I have food and everything like that. I can close the door, take a video. You're not going to see, you know, a dog walking around, my kid walking around in the background, you know, the lunch sitting out.

[B]

It's so funny. My mom was like, you should leave the room because she wants to see the rest of the house. She wants to invite us over if you can't help. Okay. So we talked about lighting, we talked about camera, we talk about sand. So I want to talk about the software. So yeah, you can edit from your phone and you can edit from your computer.

[A]

Editing from the phone is. Is doing the same things that that big softwares can do. Right?

[B]

But you have a little bit more elbow room. I'm a big computer girl. I can't do big things for my phone. No, Heather, I need to see multiple screens. I need to see a calendar as I'm scheduling something. I have to. If I could have 50 screens in here, I probably would. I don't know why I call me a millennial. Big decisions, big devices.

[A]

I. I agree.

[B]

I'm there, too.

[A]

I'm there, too.

[B]

And sometimes. And Corey, you're taking probably per set. Judging by the external hard drive I have of yours, you're taking about 30 to 50 photos of a single cookie. I would say.

[A]

When I first started my cookie journey, I took a ton of photos. Now that I've gotten it down to a science, I've been taking photos for so many years, I will probably take 12 photos at the most.

[B]

Now, Corey and I in the cookie college earlier this year. I don't know why they were such gluttons for punishment. They wanted to be forced to clean out their. Their photo storage devices. And we had it in a very specific approach because it's actually the one I use. But I told them, for every cookie set, you're gonna keep a max of three photos. And Corey's like, no, five. Like you hoarder. No, you only need probably three from each angle. And then anything over three years old, you actually don't need at all.

[A]

Well, because I took my son to Luray Caverns, a big cavern up here. If you come here, you know what a rye cavern. Archer was taking photo of every stalactite and stalactite.

[B]

Don't worry, I got them.

[A]

Yeah, you asked, and I said, why are you taking so much? Heather asked one.

[B]

I said, I felt like I was there.

[A]

Listen, you send her every single one you want if she asked. I want it.

[B]

I wanted it. The reflecting pool. Yes. Thank you.

[A]

I told Archer, I said, I want to just tell you storage isn't free. And I said, if you look at your phone.

[B]

Let's go to the storage.

[A]

He's almost at capped out. I said, you're going to love those stalactites and stalagmite photos, but you've taken four of the same stalactites, so delete them.

[B]

Oh, so hard to do.

[A]

So go back and choose your favorite, because you don't need four of the same. You need one of the best ones. And if you know there's one that you like more than the other three. Three.

[B]

You're never going to use the other three. I'm going to tell you guys this. It is, you might say, but I don't need to pay for storage if I keep it local. Right? Local storage devices, an external hard drive or a memory card. 1. You guys know I'm a big into. I'm a big minimalist person, right? So you've now created a device that's going to take up space. What as we'll talk about what we've learned over this weekend is that computers are getting slimmer and dongles. We're not talking about. We're talking about. You know, people are like, I saw this comedian once. He was like, that's my old laptop for when I had the pictures from a long time ago. And this is a laptop where I keep pictures from right now. And then you just keep the laptops as these storage.

[A]

You also have to think. And I've seen people desperate. A physical item like a hard drive can be dropped. When you drop a hard drive, they can't always come back. Sometimes it will kill your hard drive. And people are like, please, there's everything I own is on this. Is there any way that someone can extract this? I'm willing to pay anything.

[B]

I watched this guy on TikTok who restores hard drives. Oh my goodness. It's like watching brain surgery. That's how sensitive these things are. So a drop really does. He had to rebuild it and see if he could like. And then he had noticed.

[A]

See if they can get it dropping. Losing hard drives are tiny now. They're not this giant room full of hard drives.

[B]

Do you need the four stalactites? Do you need the 50 photos of the one rainbow cookie? Your skills will increase, but also the technology with which you took the photos will increase. And those will look too old. They'll look too.

[A]

Because you're using my old content. You're solidified in my brain.

[B]

Funny. So Corey did a photo dump. Probably it's got to be three years ago on this external hard drive and has never oddly asked for it back. So I actually use it for content. Right. So I'll be like, watch. I actually have gone through and organized it so I can find stuff better. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It was your hard drive. You asked for me to put the things on it.

[B]

I need another drop.

[A]

Okay. I have another drop for you.

[B]

So in this external hard drive, I can kind of see how your workflow is because you take photos, how you think.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's actually been great for this content I needed for this month, which is why we're talking about photo photography. So kind of the hard. The. The hardware. When we're talking about computers, I will say I see a lot of people struggling with filling up their computers. Once you're a hard drive on your computer is. Your RAM is gone. You're not able to open apps anymore.

[A]

I mean, in that. And that's the struggle. You're like, well, I'm trying to edit these photos for this client, but I can't open it. It's because you have too much.

[B]

Cory and I have been talking all morning about hoarding and stuff and buying and donating and that the whole like crisis you have thing. Well, I didn't use it yet.

[A]

Once it's deleted, it's gone.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So, but I'm telling you this. Imagine that your past take sales from your future. Would you want that? No. You'd want your business to grow. So letting that stuff go so you can get better, newer, fresher. Because we always say like the clothes you had five years ago, you're not even going to want to wear them, even if you fit in them.

[A]

And the way I decorated cookies five years ago is not the same way.

[B]

Yeah, that's what quirky saying, like, don't post my ugly stuff though. Just post the stuff that looks good. I don't. And now I can run that.

[A]

I didn't delete them.

[B]

So that's the thing. So when it comes to software, there's software on your phone that's playing great catch up. Now we have AI and stuff like this software is doing, doing a lot of the heavy lifting. My thing, my hot take. And you guys can cancel me this if you want. AI should only be in assist. It should not be the main event. Not right now at least. It's pretty good. But if I can go to your page and be like, wow, 100 this is AI, I think it's going to detract. Actually. I know it is because we had somebody who was a local baker. It wasn't cookies or anything. They made something else and they posted it in a group. You can tell AI had edited, did it and someone's like, I would rather have seen the less polished version that was true than this really fancy looking AI one. So it's always that thing. If you can't recreate it, you shouldn't use it. Right. But then we have using software at Lightroom on desktop has more capabilities. I can create masking.

[A]

How much is that a month?

[B]

30. When you do, you do it with the Photoshop one.

[A]

And if you have 9.99, if you.

[B]

Don'T, is it more? They really keep changing Adobe Create. It's called Creative Cloud. I want to say for people who.

[A]

Use their phones though, there is a Lightroom mobile app and that is free.

[B]

Free. And capabilities are unlocked with the.

[A]

Yeah, for sure, for sure. But what I use on Lightroom Mobile is exactly What I use on Lightroom desktop. And I wouldn't pay for the mobile because my photos look great outside of that. But Lightroom is a subscription. It used to be a one time payment.

[B]

And you know, that was awesome. You never got the updates. You never got the updates, right, man. Adobe released this AI update. I really cannot get it to work for me.

[A]

I think we're at the. The beginning of AI help.

[B]

I was reading somewhere and they said the AI support agent concept is just a lot farther away than we think it is. I'll say. Because they said once an AI support agent is released, it does not continue learning. It's actually stuck in the period of time. So your questions aren't challenging it to learn more. It's just stuck at the lack of knowledge, which I use Zapier as a web hook. And I. It has all this AI capabilities and things right in like paragraphs. And I'm like, I just need this form to populate this form. And it was like, okay, I fixed it. And I was like, yeah, but you didn't. And I was like, okay, fix it. I was like, great, but you still got this hair. Okay, I fixed it. Like he said, dude, I gotta let you go. You're fired. I could have done this without you a long time ago, but kind of the software. So you have what people are saying, Snapseed Lightroom on their phone and then you have these desktop apps, which I'm using Lightroom on desktop. I'm using Photoshop to clean up artifacts. But a lot of this you can start doing from your phone right now. Especially with these AI capabilities.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

And then presets, you can buy them, you can download them for free. Lightroom comes with a few people.

[A]

I just want to explain what presets mean.

[B]

Let us Nugger.

[A]

Presets are a pre done setting. So that's where the name comes from. Preset. If you like the way that an ambiance looks on a photo, you're like, like, well, this feels like a warm hug. That can be done as a preset. The thing with presets, though, you have to remember is it's preset to whoever's lighting made it.

[B]

I said to somebody, you wouldn't buy outdoor wedding presets and apply them to indoor cookies. You're gonna get a very blue image. Yeah, a very blue image.

[A]

So presets are great. If you say, like if you buy light and airy outdoor photo presets and you try to take a picture of a cookie and you apply that preset to an indoor, it's gonna be very discolored, and that's because it's made for outdoors. So if you're looking for presets, look for ones that are food focused, and that's going to be something that's going to do you better than just buying a preset and thinking it's going to work. Also, presets aren't infallible.

[B]

I also want to say presets are just the recording of the editing steps somebody took. That's what preset is. You can actually make your own. You can say, I like how I edit these photos in my office. I'm going to create my own preset. So every time I take a photo in my office, it kind of comes out the same.

[A]

Yeah. When I edit one photo in Lightroom, I'll do copy, copy, paste, copy paste, copy paste.

[B]

You know, you can mass paste.

[A]

Yeah, I do it on my phone.

[B]

Always mass paste and regret it. Yeah, that didn't work the way I thought it would.

[A]

But presets are a great idea. But don't get frustrated when you buy one and it's not working for you because you're taking a photo in a different space. A lot of times presets are, you know, for a large group of people, so they're going to just do small edits so your photo isn't, like, blown out and you're like, whoa, what did I pay my money for? So I say presets are a good way to set up and then edit as you go. So you like the look of the preset. It's going to edit a few things, and then you might have to, you know, up your contrast or something, down your saturation, things like that, to really make it work for you.

[B]

Don't be like me. Don't be a preset hoarder. It doesn't work out for us. We have too many options now and no place to go.

[A]

I think find your little. I think the light and airy ones. I like those. I don't use them every time, but I like them.

[B]

I have a bunch of those. Yeah. I think you and I have bought them to me. Oh, I did. Yeah. Okay. You're welcome. Because I don't use them. So presets is the expensive option when you buy them, but a lot of people give them away for free, and then you can create your own. Or as someone had said, creative Fabrica. Yeah, Some reason that. Right. She had. She had a, you know, a license and they were included as a free part of the download. Package. So there's a million ways to find those. The key is finding one that works for the vibes.

[A]

Lightroom gives you Lightroom Mobile. You can go into their little booklet and download.

[B]

So there's no end inside of options there. The expensive version is buying those. The cheap version is making your own. Yeah, but software. The expensive version is buying something that has a monthly subscription. Or the cheap one is using your inbuilt, I think Instagram. You can edit photos, free apps.

[A]

I would say even just your phone has a lot of capability now.

[B]

Summer was like, hey, can you edit this person's leg out of there? And the AI on Androids is like, do you want us to get rid of this person's leg? And I was like, yeah, let's do it. And it was like, the leg is gone.

[A]

Was it really good gone or was an essence of a leg?

[B]

Ain't no legs. Hey. The technology is playing catch up. It's still far. But like they said, AI won't take your jobs, but the people who know how to use AI will. Yeah. And I do believe that there's merit to that. Although AI is crazy.

[A]

AI Sometimes I'm like, wow. And sometimes I'm like, do you not know what a hand looks like?

[B]

Right. AI Someone said, you gotta see. AI is large language learning models. Right. So it's learning from what's out there. And that's the whole issue about artwork. It generated that art, but it generated from somebody else's actual true talent who owns the artwork. So. But they say, like, if you ask AI to generate a picture of a watch, it's actually using the most pictures generated watch. And there's a specific time that the watch is always generating. It's a V and it's where you.

[A]

Can see the little hand and the long hand. So you could be like, I like.

[B]

The way that watch looks.

[A]

I like the little hand and the big hand things.

[B]

I know AI likes smiling humans. It loves because what do we do when we stand for picture? We smile. So AI is using its most iterations as humans. I said, most humans take photos with their right. Right hand. So AI has a hard time generating photos of the left hand. Yeah. Wild.

[A]

Yep. It's good to know that it's coming from something else.

[B]

It's not.

[A]

It's not generating something out of the nothing.

[B]

It's generating from something.

[A]

And you have to.

[B]

The tells are getting harder to see the videos. Oh, my. They're getting crazy. I was gonna make a video, see what it looked like. Some of this stuff Is wildly entertaining.

[A]

I want to say on TikTok, someone did bunnies Corey jumping on it.

[B]

She said, look at all these.

[A]

And I said, this is adorable. They're discovering a big jump. And then I hated it the next day. Day it was the same trampoline, but it was a semi.

[B]

But it's CCTV view, which they said that was a dangerous part because cctv, you know, the surveillance video feed is always degraded. We're conditioned to know you're not getting high quality image.

[A]

When is a bunny.

[B]

They said right now, if you need to be able to tell if it's AI generated video, some parts will be hyper in focus and some parts will be too blurry.

[A]

Like it almost.

[B]

They said it almost looks like it was recorded on 2005, 2010 phone. If any part of a video looks like that, it's likely AI. I want to say there's some people.

[A]

Out there with a 20052010 phone, they're making comments.

[B]

It's hard to see. They don't know the semi truck jumping.

[A]

On the trampoline was offensive to me.

[B]

Because we just thought the bunny one was so cute. I was like, oh my God, look at these bunnies. They're having a great all time. Okay, Another expensive option. Our cheap option backdrops. The standard use is just the countertop. But I, and I, I kind of leaned heavily into this in the content this month is that backdrops, whether you buy a cardboard piece of paper or you buy a dedicated backdrop, really add some flexibility to staging. Remember, we all are trying to find this light. So we're walking through our house with our handheld cameras. Once we find the light, what's the option for the background? And you're going to want those backdrops to really open up the options.

[A]

The reason why you don't want to take the photos on like a countertop, a granite countertop. Countertops are busy, busy. And I say busy with a lot of texture because it's supposed to hide crumbs. It's supposed to give you like a couple days before you swipe the tops and clean it off.

[B]

It's funny, like you go to a hotel and hotel carpet is like crazy. But you're like, that's to hide stains.

[A]

It's to hide stains, hide crumbs. It gives you like a little bit of flexibility. Same with your kitchen countertop. And you might just put a cookie on there. Take a photo. The countertop's so busy with dots of granite, you know, got a lot of flecks of black in there.

[B]

Inclusion it caught.

[A]

It eats up the. It eats up the cookies.

[B]

It also eats up the attention.

[A]

It does. Because you're like, what is that?

[B]

What am I seeing in the back?

[A]

Is that their knife stand?

[B]

What. What I've seen is you never use the available service. You always add a manufactured service.

[A]

I will my preaching. If you hear me right now, write this on my tombstone. Don't take a photo on anything but something staged. Like get something extra.

[B]

But here's the wild part. And the post just went up an hour ago. It's Tuesday, October 28th. The post is called the staging versus result. Corey literally has a wood board on top of a whiteboard on top of a wood board. Using a photo of the top wood board and completely negating the bottom wood board. And I want to say, you guys might think like just put it on the bottom wood board. No, she's got the white. The white background kind of poking through.

[A]

What we're doing is we're creating a pyramid. It's always my goal.

[B]

A pyramid of interesting.

[A]

The top of the pyramid is your focal point. The bottom things are something to elevate it to that support.

[B]

Yes, that's an interesting take. The pyramid.

[A]

The pyramid.

[B]

The pyramid. Yeah. So also there's beads in this one. And here's the thing about. And we're going to talk about that next. Props and the distraction they add or the focal they add. And I'm going to tell you why. So again, back to this one. The cheap option. Make your own. Get crafty. Go to Michaels. They have like backdrop kits now you can buy on Amazon.

[A]

I. I want to you some backdrops aren't food safe. So we don't want to be taking a picture and like maybe poisoning our clients. There's plate it. Use a plate. Have a plate on your post. A plate on a paper.

[B]

If you want to scroll back to that Thanksgiving, Corey had both plated and she just changed what was behind the plate so it was still very food safe. It just changed the aesthetic in what.

[A]

A plate does to your end user. We all use plates to eat, so it really associates food with the end user seeing it. And sometimes your cookies can look like mad real. Like, like, is that Michael Myers on a cookie in a plate? Brings it back to, oh, this is food. This is.

[B]

It also is kind of a decent size reference. Yeah. Plates are relative.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Here's what I do. Don't let your plate be taking the glory. Get a simple white plate. The edges of a porcelain or what do you call it?

[A]

Not porcelain pottery.

[B]

Yeah. What's a pottery thing. Ceramics, yes. Yeah, make that real. Because you got reflections. If you could find a matte plate. Not have to deal with so many reflections. However, there's a lot of options there to be cheap to be spending more money. Again, this whole theme of this podcast is where you spend your money here. I do believe you get out. So this is something I would invest my money. I would save my money for, uh, the backers co replica surfaces. B flat world. B flat world. And there's a bunch now there's a ton. I think though, the backers company Acor backers is running 35% off at the Vendi Blendy. If you were like, I'm gonna pinch my pennies, but I also don't wanna pay full price.

[A]

And that one I do know is food safe.

[B]

Very good. Okay, next up, props. The ever debated props.

[A]

I wanna tell you whether you do props or you don't. You're correct. Yes. It's what works for you to be quite honest. Honest.

[B]

And also what works for the photo.

[A]

What works for the photo? If you just want a simplistic photo. Absolutely. If you want a propped done photo that makes people feel some certain way.

[B]

Emotions, that's what props do. That was a good example of the table leg. It was like, wow, I feel like I'm sitting. Someone said, wow, number one, I'd never do, but I feel like I'm sitting down in Thanksgiving.

[A]

That's the feeling in an act.

[B]

It invokes an emotion. So if you want to go to the post I'm referencing now, Corey has beads in it. I know beads. Oh my God. Starting civil war. Bury me with them.

[A]

They're gonna be in every.

[B]

Go to Cory's gonna be wrapped around beads. She's gonna be in a sarcophagus of beads. That said, in this photo example, I show you the stage, there's beads in the. She showed you her whole setup. But when she takes a photo in one image, it's completely cropped out and you might be like, good because the beads are ugly. No, no. In the third image, the beads are barely there, but they actually direct your line of if when you follow the beads, guess where you end up? At the cookies. So it's one of those like directional things. And I know know that I believe that bead hate comes from people who don't know how to use them. Why am I defending beads? I just think that the I never use beads and I hate them is too aggressive. I think it's, hey, beads work when they're used correctly. And if I do or don't understand them, that's on me. And I can either choose to kind of venture into that or. And I can see. And sometimes I'm like, wow, I would not have beads in there. I don't think you understand that that approach of why we're incorporating it. If you say, I don't know, they said put beads in here, just take them out.

[A]

I want to say I don't always feel like using beads in my photos, but because of bead haters, I will.

[B]

Go and specifically cry. I don't know where the bead hate came from, but boy, does it exist.

[A]

I love to feel it.

[B]

I thought this example of using beads to kind of draw attention to. I know the comments are going to be like, I hate the ones with beads in it. So be it. So beat it.

[A]

So beat it. Here's the thing. The reason why I your favorite cookers, why I even use beads is because it's an inexpensive, expensive prop and it's very malleable. So I can turn them in any direction. They're very inexpensive direction directional elements. They give the. The dead space without.

[B]

Okay. Because people are like props. I know. I want them. I like the aesthetic. I'm not sure what's happening when I go buy them. It's because maybe your prop is actually in competition with the focal point versus you can get pretty like standard colored or forgettable beads. I guess that's forgettable beads.

[A]

It's all that that go away green at Disney.

[B]

Go away green. Yeah, that's a great point.

[A]

Notice if it was there. But you would notice a blank space if it was there.

[B]

Right? So we actually are going to use beads to detract from that side of the image to bring us back in there. And then when you add a little bit of that blur, delectable bite it off. And this post I made, which is so funny, people keep telling me like, I'm so good at cookies and photos, but I'm like, this is actually not my content. So sorry. And someone's like, no, you're still good in your own way. You're really writing about the first cocktail. But yeah, I think using props can dress up a photo. And I don't think you need to be pigeonholed to be like, I always have to use them now. No, I think you could get just kind of your set few.

[A]

Here's the thing, you can have a Halloween stage and use it all October long and it never change. Like the props are the same exact props the whole Month long. And that is genius.

[B]

Just move them around.

[A]

Just move them around.

[B]

Corey loves to get props in the dollar section.

[A]

If you look at my photos, you'll see the same props over and over and over.

[B]

Yeah, they just kind of. But you actually change your backdrop. So it's so funny in most of these examples. I'm actually going to make a post today about using dark backdrops. All of October, Cory's backdrops are suddenly black. And all of November, they're suddenly brown. And you know why? Because black is scary. It's spooky. And brown is warm. And family and cutting turkey cozy. Cozy. And then she's going to go to Christmas and she's going to have those warm even whites because we think snow whites dark. But she's going to have soft fabrics. I can guarantee to kind of evok emotion.

[A]

If you watch commercials, they could be like, buy these pajamas and just show you pajamas on a white service. Or they could have a family sitting by a fire with a tree lit in the background and be like, look this f by. If you buy these pajamas, you might be this family sitting by the fire.

[B]

Balsam Hill boss. Yeah, it doesn't matter what Balsam Hill ads are. Ruthanne, who never watches the TV she leaves on for hours will look up and be like, those are. Those look nice Christmas trees. Trees in the thing. It's not a Christmas tree on a white backdrop. It's always a family gathering around the Christmas tree to set up for the holidays. You know, it's kind of creating that.

[A]

It's creating a feeling inside of you that if I had this tree, this balsam, my family might be too gathered around the Christmas tree setting it up.

[B]

And we want to trigger that. If I buy these cookies, I'll be the favorite person at the baby shower. If I buy these cookies, they'll be so enamored with the fact that they're custom made to them. It'll be the best gift my in laws have ever gotten. It'll be the best, best gift my boss has ever gotten. Right. So we want to evoke that emotion in the sales pitch so that the buyer was like, I couldn't be this person. If you ever want to see fantastic emotional marketing that's a little obscure, it's always perfume ads. How can I make you buy something? You can't smell a whole liquid. Yeah, it's about smell.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So you'll see a beautiful actress on cascading hills in the UK countryside.

[A]

I mean, we walked into Bath and Body Works this past weekend because Me and Heather love to do a candle off. I'm not sure why we do candles and candles.

[B]

I got my lineup. I got my line cleanup.

[A]

Bath and Body Works could have every candle in just a clear little bottle.

[B]

Was it White Barn?

[A]

White Barn.

[B]

That one makes me feel like I'm in a cozy barn. I'm in a barn. If I buy this, my house is suddenly a cozy barn.

[A]

But here's the thing. Bed Bath. Bed Bath Bath and Body Works. RIP should Bed Bath. Man.

[B]

It came back online. Yeah. Dead to me.

[A]

Bath and Body Works knows that if they have they had leaves in four renditions. But because they know people's homes are different colors, they have different things. So they have a very nice and just a brown round little jar that.

[B]

I'm sorry, are you guys understanding what Cory said? The smell leaves. My favorite is in four different packaging. It the. The three candle has four different outer.

[A]

Rats with leaves on it that have gold trim. And it's very elegant looking. 1.

[B]

It looks like a cartoon drew it. Yeah. My grandma loves the cartoon ones and I'm like, why? And you pass it the other the same price. However, Bath and Body Works knows each of those four candles designs evokes an emotion to different art audiences.

[A]

And they're never going to pigeon the holt themselves and say, no, I don't like beets.

[B]

I'm not gonna do that.

[A]

But I wanna say when you see people asking for photography help, it's not helpful to say I hate props. That's not helpful. If they like props, give them tips to help them. Like the props. If you like just your photos on a white background, you're not wrong. They probably look amazing.

[B]

My post yesterday said crop the prop. Crop it. It's not the focal point. So cropping it out devalues its importance in the image and brings a focus to the thing. And then if you do flip flat lace, don't be afraid of cropping out the cookies, especially if they're repetitive.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I see a lot of times like I made 12 cookies so all 12 cookies got to be in the image. They actually don't. A crop is a great way to bring focus to a couple of them and the rest of the story is told by the outer blur. Yeah.

[A]

I. I love when I say people are like I hate staging, but they'll have their cookies on a white background that's dating on a baking sheet stating and all. All of them touching in. There's no empty space staging natural lights.

[B]

Yeah. So we're all staging. If taking a photo whether it's an impromptu photo, kind of just a scatterbrain photo or one of those ones where it's a flat light. You're staging. So how do you want that staging? What the. What story do you want the picture. What emotion do you want the picture to evoke in the client? It will help you sell more cars when you buy. When you watch a Mercedes commercial, especially.

[A]

Around Christmas time, we're never driving on late.

[B]

Do you see? And they always say the funniest part about the Christmas the holiday car ads is a couple, one person sneaking out and spending 80,000 doll without telling it. It's not going to happen. However, what they want to evoke is imagine the joy you'll have when you buy this car with that big red bow on it.

[A]

A sports car driving on what looks like a lake of water. A Jesus car walking on water.

[B]

I think it's the salt flats in Utah.

[A]

Yeah, it must be. But we're not driving like that. We're literally on the sorts of like streets of Northern Virginia sitting in traffic. But what they're trying to invoke in you is like performance. This will be the best feeling ride you've ever like walking on water.

[B]

The joke here is that everyone has off road jeeps and nobody's off road. Most off roading you do is maybe Costco was crowded, so you did jump a curb, get that spot. So again, we're evoking. We're going almost overboard to evoke the emotion.

[A]

You're talking to the, the person they want to be. I want to be someone who has a huge Thanksgiving dinner where everyone's place card is a cookie and it says their name on. That's who I want to be. That's what I want to be.

[B]

Even if I'm not that person. I want to buy this so I can be that person. The same way I buy this lipstick because I saw this beautiful person on tip TikTok habit.

[A]

I could be that beautiful person if.

[B]

I choose those lipstick. But it's what instigated the, the desire in me to venture out and go to the store and buy this thing. Yeah.

[A]

So whether it's just a clear backdrop, you have props or not. You're right. It's just making it work for you. If you find that your photos on the white backdrop aren't getting as much engagement, throw a prop in there. Just see what it can do to your audience. If you do so many props and you're like, well, I'm not going to the engagement.

[B]

Do a white backdrop.

[A]

See what happens?

[B]

Mix it up. Don't pigeonhole yourself. Try it out. See if. See what the engagement rate is on it and what you guys see. If you read my captions on any of Corey's posts that I've lamb allowed you guys to just tear apart is take both of the pictures. Yeah, take both of the styles. Crop both of the pictures differently. Use beads in one and not the other. And use all of that because it's going to just like. And I like that example of bath and body works. Their leaves, candle being wrapped in four different ways. It's going to evoke an emotion in a certain part of your demographic.

[A]

Now explain to me if we go back two points where you're like, don't save all the photos. Delete them all. You just said, take all the photos. Save them all.

[B]

And of each type, keep one, not 51. Picture hoarding, digital hoarding will be a thing. If you guys don't know the Amazon web service outage that happened last week happened in Northern Virginia. So we took the Internet down. It's crazy to see how many people. It's like all of a sudden you're affected. So many people seeing like, oh, your website's hosted with Amazon Web. I don't know why I felt like I was, like, looking somewhere I shouldn't, like, oh, this is a dressing room of websites. Are we done?

[A]

Was that our list?

[B]

That was our list.

[A]

So here's the thing. When it comes to photography, it's ever evolving. The way I took photos five years ago isn't the same way I took now. And it's okay. That's totally fine. If you, like, hated beads yesterday and you kind of like them today, that's okay. If you wrote a hateful comment on one of my bead posts and you.

[B]

Want to take it back, that's fine.

[A]

Here's the thing. The photography needs to work for you. If you don't have a ton of time, then you know a light box is going to work and that's going to be exactly where you need to be. If you say, hey, I have a.

[B]

Lot of competition, our photos are all.

[A]

Looking kind of the same because we're all buying from the same kind of shops. Props is going to be what sets you apart from them because they don't have the same ones as you. And it's just making it work for you. The way someone else takes a photo might not be your cup of tea, and that's okay. You're probably not their audience because they're probably taking a photo of a cookie, and you have an opinion about it, but you bake, so it's making it work for you. If you want to invest in it, it's gonna just reap you rewards for years to come.

[B]

I do believe this is where I would spend some of my money. So you always get the question. I love it when people are like, if you had a thousand dollars, where would you spend it? I would say photography.

[A]

I mean, a camera. I used to. Heather got me into photography way back in the day when you had a nice camera.

[B]

I want to say it was the canon 1660 D. It was back. It was a 40, 40, even longer back in the day.

[A]

And I was like, heather's just taking these really cool photos. You would go to, like, car shows and take cars, which I really would like these photos. And then I finally got one, a refurbished one, and I took it on every walk I did with.

[B]

And her photos were terrible. And all of a sudden, they got progressively better and better.

[A]

It was practicing.

[B]

Now one's tattooed on you.

[A]

My photo was so good, I put it on myself.

[B]

This is a photo of her dog. So if you're like, well, I really hate my photos, so I actually shy away. Going to be time in the saddle, unfortunately. So the more photos you take, the more you're gonna be like, oh, I see how that works, or, oh, that makes more sense to me now. There's a lot of classes. Corey teaches them in the cookie college as well. On, like, what that staging looks like. We have on our YouTube channel, free to watch the Halloween cookie setup. We talked. We taught at Cookie Con a couple years ago. We watched that whole thing. She really kind of creates that triangle approach. Yeah, that little pyramid, if you're thinking about it.

[A]

We're always trying to go back to the focus. If your focus is cookies, you want to make more money. Your photos got to be good. That's what I just want to say.

[B]

That's. That could end the podcast right now. Except for. We have more segments.

[A]

We have more segments.

[B]

Can I. Can I read something that is just bragging about us? I got this email last night.

[A]

You don't even have to ask.

[B]

Janetta said last week. Oh, yeah, she had. She was a review of the cookie college that I shared. So she said last week, I shared in the cookie college about my master's course. So she's in college. She's getting a master's degree. I spoke that my example of a leader were the two of you. And I went back and forth about just how sharing it privately or publicly. I did, however, want to share this part privately. I mean, I'll just read this part. So sorry. She said, the TV lays have been such an inspiration to so many as I talk about things I learned from, quote unquote, the twins. Often I feel like half my marketing right now as I take a little pause before business season is what would the twins do here? So if you need a warm and fuzzies on your Tuesday, assuming you read this on tomorrow morning, here it is. Trying to explain what the sugar cookie marketing group is to a bunch of people who have zero idea who you all are. And keep it to a paragraph. It's a little harder than I thought because she's talking about us in that master class. So she said, thank you, ladies for all you do and everything you do and continue to f collaboration over competition. And I got an NA on this. Thank you. So sorry. I read that private message publicly. It was so nice. It really did make my morning. That was very, very nice. But she says basically she's in this cook, she's in this college course. I think it's in marketing. Yeah.

[A]

Marketing communications.

[B]

Yeah. Something business specific. And she's like. A lot of what we talk about on the podcast is also talked about because I want to say that you, Cory and I, not geniuses. This isn't rocket science and it's very pervasive. This is just a business approach applied to cookies. So maybe you can get that niche approach to a very widespread approach to business. Yeah, right. Yeah. I thought you'd continue on. No, I'm just saying I really appreciate that.

[A]

I mean, me and Heather have been in marketing for an ungodly amount of.

[B]

Time at the marketing and sales. Marketing and sales.

[A]

And what we've learned isn't something that we've made up. It's honestly proven ways that we've seen. We've done it the wrong way and we've done it the right way and we're sharing the right way with you.

[B]

Here's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm sorry. Bringing it back to personal. I had to do a. I had to go to a car show. A couple car shows this past couple weeks. Had to go one way. But I said to Corey, this marketing is pervasive in every aspect, even to being lowered into the ground. Your family is being sales pitched on the type of earn I know coffin, whatever the spiel is.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So marketing, sales is forever. And I always say marketing makes a world turn. You can't buy what you don't know. Is for some. Absolutely. So I wanted to get a certain group, the Dodge Vipers. Right. I wanted to get them to go to this specific car show. That was way too early. I was asking a lot of these people. I said 5:30 in the morning. So I told Corey I'm just gonna see if we can apply marketing ego evoke emotion to this to see if I could get more than one car of my own out there. And I did it and I had these strategies and I said, well formatted post that provides information consistent marketing. So I posted about a couple times I posted about it in a group for Dodge Vipers in Northern Virginia. So it was very specific. And then I added the egotistical thing of tagging the man with the making mobs car. Right. Yeah. To give them like well, if you're going right. So it's about that evoking the emotion. If you go here, you're cool.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And then now it's the COVID photo of that car show's Facebook page. It's all right here. It comes back down to photography. But I want to say that this stuff and I love it when I say and everyone's been sober and this email you guys leave in comments and that very support supportive stuff. I love it when somebody's like I took this and I applied it to my husband's remodeling company. Yeah. And it works because it works to get people at a car show. It works to make cookie sales. Photography works. It really, really does work. And you know, I could kick myself. I went to that car show, brought this camera. Battery was dead. Yeah.

[A]

That'll be your demise. You always love to a dead battery.

[B]

But I thought I charged you.

[A]

You literally say that every time as well.

[B]

Yeah, I see. I think, I think I overcharged them. And now the battery doesn't hold a charge as well.

[A]

You think you're so good at charging batteries that it's now come back. Listen to him.

[B]

Battery science are like, don't overcharge them.

[A]

Don't leave them plugged up.

[B]

They're going to burn your house down.

[A]

Battery charging down. The batteries don't overcharge.

[B]

So anyways, back to the cookie college. I was going to pull up this web shot real quick.

[A]

So what is the cookie college? It's an online membership. If you want the biggest, beefiest course.

[B]

In the cookie college is the photography course. Because it's Corey's college and it's because I taught it.

[A]

And if you take bits and pieces from there, someone said, listen, I just.

[B]

She.

[A]

She took Pictures of cinnamon rolls. I don't even make cinnamon rolls. But she applied what she learned at the college to her cinnamon rolls and she's like highly recommend taking the photography course because it works for any type of food. If it's food it enters your body.

[B]

I agree. Photography makes the world very interesting.

[A]

Well we're consuming information now visually at an alarming rate.

[B]

Photography is worth a thousand words. Videography is worth 10,000 words. Oh it's for but text based only thing. Too many words. Too many words. Karen, I need a picture. I need you to picture. Tell me I won't make. I'll. I'll test it in the sugar cookie market because I'm producing so much content there pictures and no pictures. However if I post it about that car show, you best believe there's going to be pictures.

[A]

Oh yeah. Because we are photo heavy people in the cookie college though it's a monthly membership so when you sign up you can be there for 30 days, cancel any time or you can extend it if you're like this knowledge is good. I'm going to learn now to be more efficient.

[B]

You want to be in there for a year, I'm going to give you a better discount. However, if you want the best discount it's going to be at the Vendee Blendy. So I will have that. Facebook Live is coming up and we're going to talk about the Vendee Blendy. But let me read this review from Brooke. So again I told them if they left these reviews, honest reviews, I wouldn't, I would, I would cry a little bit if it was a bad one but I wouldn't say no. I'd give them a 10.

[A]

Learn to make the Cookie College better.

[B]

And it's always, it's always hard to ask for constructive critiques but I put on make a bigger opinion. However this one says in my first month of being in the cookie college I leveled up my photography, my posting schedule and I launched my website. Within that time my interactions have skyrocketed it and I stopped getting requests via messenger. People are visiting my website and they're placing orders and I'm busier than ever before. So she finds that she uses the Facebook group the most followed by the courses. Finally somebody that takes my course.

[A]

Nice. And I would say the photography course is that if that's the only thing you get from that is that the only thing I can help you with.

[B]

Job well done in my life. Best 30 days you ever spent.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Because you're. And that's what I say to people you sign up for the cookie college. My goal is to. To make your investment plus a buck. Yeah. So that you're like why. Why wouldn't I stay here? Yeah.

[A]

And the knowledge you take from there is something you're going to use for years to come. If you're only in the college for 30 days. That, that photography knowledge, the staging, how to stage, how to edit that I want you to use it till the day you die.

[B]

I know. She says, I said what aspect would you say is the biggest. What would you say was the biggest aspect that cookie college helped you with? She write using social media to train my customers on how I want to receive orders so you could tell she was getting bogged down by the messenger. Use the website to really direct manipulating my verbiage on posts based on if I want to take more or fewer orders at that time.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

And that is the. This is burnout season. It's also money making season. The two always coincide. Yes. So if you guys want to check out the cookie college you can go check that [e-mail] and if you want sales you are just a one month away from today. Away from it's the 28th. Crazy. The vending blending.

[A]

Well that said you leads us right into it. I want to say my camera died as well. So there's flying. Flying dark. Is yours still going?

[B]

He's still going. Oh I thought we got power buddy.

[A]

Got power.

[B]

Hey YouTube, you look at me around here it's me and you. She's no longer here. She.

[A]

She overcharged this camera.

[B]

I'm so sorry.

[A]

You're right. 100%.

[B]

This is a heat racing. Here's the thing. Everything in business is a hybrid.

[A]

It is.

[B]

It would be cool if I had a dedicated room with temperature controls. I live with an 86 year old. She does not. She was like when should we turn on the heat? And I was like disregard the fact that I'm freezing to death and I have hypothermia and my usually say this.

[A]

Room'S too hot now it' called I think you're telling lies.

[B]

The weather change.

[A]

The ven blend.

[B]

The ven blend.

[A]

Me and Heather behind the scenes hitting, hitting it hard.

[B]

Hitting hard.

[A]

Hitting a hard hitting a hard. You can't tell us no and have.

[B]

Us have a bad attitude.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

Maybe next year. Maybe later this month. But we have. I want to say we have a great lineup this year and I have about 10 more tentative yeses that you guys are going to eat up But I'm not going to talk about them. I'm going to tell you the tentatives you're gonna love. You're gonna love them. We're, we're, we're swinging the bats as hard as possible now. I knock us out the park. So I'm just gonna read the list. Yeah. However, I have a Facebook live on Thursday at 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time where I'm actually going to go through each website and we're going to talk about what they.

[A]

This is one of my favorite lives that you do.

[B]

You do.

[A]

I do. Like this.

[B]

I always say it's gonna be 30 minutes. This one actually lasts a lot longer because there's.

[A]

You have to go through everyone's.

[B]

Because I want to tell you where they're willing to ship, what they're willing to ship. If there's a free shipping threshold and we go, we just click on the wrong site. So it gives you kind of the inside info. Actually there is a Vendy blendy playlist on YouTube now that'll be deleted on the 29th.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

But for now, you can watch these as a replay. The Cookie College is on sale. Running some great discounts. Corey's got some tricks up his sleeve. Tricks up a sleeve. So if you're like I want to up my photography and I want to do it at a discount, this is for you. One Smart Cookies and crafts.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

More decor. Brighton Cutters the Baking Beavers Delta Sprinkles the Buji Baker Boutique Cookier Prince Sweet Bite App Cookie Cutters by Nori Eugene do Sheeters the Miller's Wife Custom Cookies Tasty Tin Sweet Pink Off Especially if you got the cookie Class Kids membership. You're going to be able to get that at discount. Baking Me Crazy Daisy Makes the Dessert Depot Christine's Molds Whipsy Mad Batter Cookie Co the Backer's coat Just talked about that one. That will be 35 off because it's applicable to this podcast. Ms. Cookie Packaging Bakey Bake to a cookie baker's cutters and prints Dare to bake Wildflower Bakery Cookie Design Lab well a cookie cutter co Mixer Skirt a custom cookies B's Baked Art Supplies Dana Cara Creative Equinox Pastry Supply Baker Suite Coastline Designs Cake Mockery Designs the Cookery Lollibes Custom Cutters Sugar Dash Company Okur Mountain Cookies Scribes by Sherls Uncommon common extract.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

It's 43. Got 10 more I'm gonna add here. Heather's goal is 60. I would really like 60 high quality shops. Yeah. Shops that are in it to win it that you guys will be excited about. We have $10,000 plus indoor prizes. And I'm actually giving away a Bosch mixer sponsored by Bosch. They gave this to us to give away for someone who's pending to join the Vendi. I want to say for now, not.

[A]

Pending, can't win, or if you not sure you're pending.

[B]

Someone said, but I've been pending the whole time. Am I included? Yes. What I do is have Ruthanne write A for one letter, one vowel. Then I search the group of the first one that shows up. So it's truly random. Random, truly random. And then. And then I have her take a picture with it. So it could be a C in an M. You're saying you have to be C and O.

[A]

It could be a C and an.

[B]

O or it could be an H and an E. We're in the group so we can't win. But it could be an A. Amy's like, maybe I'll win it. It could be an A and an.

[A]

N. So if you are just hearing the Vendy Bundy for the first time, it is a one day sale November 28th. It's 24 hours. Every vendor offers 25% off or more on whatever they want in the shop.

[B]

And all vendors are the only ones who are allowed to post. They're allowed to make three posts, just three sales pitches, things that they think you would probably want to see. But they can also gain two additional posts if they are offering. Offering a door price. Yeah. So that means most of them, I think almost 100 of them are offering a door price. Door prizes require no purchase to entry. Yeah. There's also a big door price. It is a blast. Some lady commented, she was like, last year was my first year and I wasn't even prepared and I was so excited. I've been saving all year for this. She's like. But the chaos is just a blast.

[A]

The chaos is chaos.

[B]

If you want to read more about this, I created a dedicated webpage on a website. This time it has, it's actually updated weekly. I really enjoy updating it. It has all those shops. It actually has their links to the websites as well and additional information on door prizes, how the day works and everything. You can go to sugarcookiemarketing.com forward slash, Fendi Blendy. But on Thursday at 6, I'm gonna go through each of those shops I listed and any that sign up before then. So if you're on the fence about signing up and I've already Talked to you. Sign up before Thursday and I could. I can pitch your wares because this is a fun event. A chicken and the egg event. We talk about it every year. But the. The chickens are here and the eggs.

[A]

Are coming, are hatching.

[B]

The eggs are cracking. They have come to roost. And it's always fun. Cuz Cor and I get like in a like screw.

[A]

Let's go. We're so tired that logic leaves.

[B]

It's just like hey, why don't we try it us? You haven't. This is crazy. Someone had said, I don't remember where I read it yesterday. But she was like I stayed up till after 11. Oh yeah, it was Annie from the cookie class we taught. She was like I stayed up till after 11. One sock on. I was frantic talking about this. Off topic. We taught a cookie class. No, on Saturday. It was a Halloween class. It was a Halloween cookie class kit. We just taught it. And Corey, who's fidgeting and making a sound I thought would be cool to go live while we set up the class so we could just say. Because you know, sometimes I forget the brands and of stuff. So we were going live. And then I was like okay, well I'm step off screen. I'm going to set up the computer.

[A]

I me no sweat because I brought my computer. I brought it.

[B]

Corey brought a computer. But it's these newer computers that have no plugs. You have to use dongles, right? So I'm like hey, I can't find the HDMI cable. Immediately panic. But she finds that the venue has a TV they never use. Has an HDMI cable. Great. I go to plug it in. I'm like this isn't the right computer. She usually brings an older laptop for this. She's like oh my goodness, I forgot. So someone in the comments of the chat was like great idea. Why don't you email them the PowerPoint? So I just converted the PowerPoint to a PDF doc an email it to everybody. Absolutely nobody use it.

[A]

But they had it, which was great.

[B]

Which nobody was complaining about. And then we took the computer around and then Maria actually had a good idea. She was like if you have a printer, you could print off the playlist.

[A]

It. It would have been great.

[B]

We just didn't have a printer. But it was. I thought that the. The problem solving chat you guys were.

[A]

The chat was Liddy trying to help me save me from myself. It ended up working out so I decorated in front of them. The great thing, we had those 3D floating cases and I had Pre decorated the cookies already. So we actually took those around and passed them out if people needed them.

[B]

It was like the flower shape you bought them from. They're like jewelry displays.

[A]

Flower box shop.

[B]

Flower box shop, Sorry.

[A]

They are. You can find them on Amazon too. I know she had sold us. I don't know if she still has.

[B]

Them, but either way it's pretty cool. People kind of like that. Which means you have to pre decorate a set before you get there. But Cory was going to do it anyways because she takes those photos and turns them into the cookie class kits. So she had them already. Yeah, I did, but it did, it did pretty well. I thought it was pretty funny.

[A]

We said the class is super engaged. So while I do like having that step by step step thing, having at least a laptop to take around and me decorating in front of them, it.

[B]

Was not the end of the world.

[A]

It was the end of the world for Corey.

[B]

So we taught that class, which is pretty neat. No one ordered DIY kits, but also didn't push them. But this coming Thursday, not this week, but next week, we're doing an in person, someone's in house private class solely for podcast topic content.

[A]

No, typically we don't. But I, I made my, my parameters super straight. I said 10, get a discount.

[B]

It's $85 per person, right? So I know a lot of people are like, well, if I don't have a venue fee, Corey's like, let's see if we can make this as profitable as possible. So we charged her $85 ticket and she had to sell 10, but she couldn't sell anymore. She had to sell 10 minimum and maximum and we would do it in her house and she had to pick something from the cookie class kits. She didn't get a custom design class, but we had now three years to choose from. She picked actually the one from 2023.

[A]

She did. What's great about that is I, I want someone to have, have a fun class. The cookie class kits are all fun. That's the great thing about them. I don't want to have to recreate a whole new PowerPoint in step by step. That's a lot more involved work. So if I can use the cookie class kits, it makes it more beneficial for me because the work has already been done. I'm just using the PowerPoint and things like that. So she chose one off that list, which I said, here's what you can choose from. She said, wow, this is a great list. Here's the one I want. She Went with the Thanksgiving themed. Here's the thing. You're like, why didn't you offer a discount? Because you don't have to pay for the venue. If I wanted to offer a class in November, I could fill it up.

[B]

So it would be.

[A]

I'd be taking a hit by, by giving her a discount when I could fill up a class.

[B]

Please keep in mind we found that building that we don't have to pay for. So it is always cheaper not to offer a discount because we have no venue cost. And I believe we could have taught two Thanksgiving classes and filled them up.

[A]

But I want to say, and we'll talk about this after we do the class where I have more information because you do have more wiggle room. I had to market it. Zero.

[B]

Mary marketed it, so we save time on marketing. Yeah.

[A]

So I didn't have to do anything. And I said, mary, the job is on you to do this.

[B]

You see, she's giving us chili.

[A]

She is giving us a bowl of chile. Chile.

[B]

It'll be weird. I'm sure it'll be inconvenient and we'll make a mistake. So we'll talk about it next week. Yeah.

[A]

We did have her send her a picture of her house and it is segmented.

[B]

Save some stuff for next week.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I, I will be so curious.

[A]

How we navigate this.

[B]

It'll be after next week because Tuesday's a podcast thing. Thursday's class, but it'll be fun. We shall see. We shall see. It'll be fun. Okay. Moving into the STL me about it. If you heard in the Vendee Blendy lineup, it's Cookie Design Lab, bless them. They actually gave the winner of the sugar cookie Marketing birthday karaoke A year of Cookie Design Lab, which I'll choose as soon as Bamboo starts running their sale next week. Are you coming to my house a little early on Halloween and setting mine up so I can use it? I kind of thought that we would go to olive garden at 3:30 and then go to your house and then.

[A]

Help me set it up real quick before the kids come. It's already set up and input whatever that little thing is.

[B]

That's all I have to do to just tell me how to turn around. Imagine saying, can you set something up when I've already set it up, configured it and yeah, we can do that. Did I have your laptop? I might have to download some software, but okay, I'll do it. We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Text the STL STL me about it segment is sponsored by cookie design lab. Use code twins to save 15% off. It's a really, really easy to use cookie cutter software. Make cookie cutters online doesn't clog up your computer with downloading software. Really like that. And they have some cool new features coming out now. They're also discounted for the Vendi blendy. They are really like them, really like that software. So check them out. But one of you and thank you guys so much for texting into the podcast. 571-556-5644 enters you to win a month of cookie Design lab.

[A]

Yeah, nice.

[B]

312 trace area code at 3713 Arizona.

[A]

Is that you Harry?

[B]

Houston, Texas. Houston, Texas is Heather Campbell workshop no question this week. But I wanted to hype up my favorite co workers during Halloween week. Drink your water, eat your lunch in the sunshine, say hi to your family and make that dough. You got this. Oh, I love that. That was nice. And to hype you back up 71 3, you have also won a month of cookie design.

[A]

Well, thank you.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Sweet, sweet world goes goes round, round, round.

[B]

I like it.

[A]

You're right.

[B]

That week I took a poll on the sugar cookie marketing Facebook page. You had a vote with an emoji if you took orders, if you're still working orders, if you're done with Halloween orders. What was your vibe?

[A]

Were people done?

[B]

I will say a lot of people actually did not take orders that they most of the spider emojis. So we had people hold on. They said ghost if you're done with Halloween orders. Pumpkin if you're still still baking. Tombstone if you haven't even started baking and spider if you didn't bake. And right here, a preview. Mostly spiders.

[A]

No way.

[B]

Wow. And then after that a lot of pumpkins. So I'll say if I could just do a visual representation. Most people didn't take Halloween orders or they're still baking them.

[A]

I'm in the still baking part.

[B]

Yeah, Corey's reminded me of it constantly. We have another Texan, another text. You didn't win but you could win next week if you text back in. Howdy from Texas. I'm thinking about hosting a cookie class with for my mom's group, but I've never hosted one. I plan to sign up for the cookie college in order to get the class kits and all the other benefits. But how far ahead should I sign up in order to be prepared for class? Specifically how much back end work is required for a somewhat informal class? I love that you know these people. Yeah. This would Be a kind of great dry run. You remember what I always say is teach your family first.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That's the ultimate version of informality. And then try it out because this is a relaxed setting and they already know you. And maybe you've already said it's my first time. I'm practicing on you guys. This could be that great drive run.

[A]

And I think it is.

[B]

Yeah. The cookie college course on teaching classes has an hour and a half class I recorded by squishing to about 45 minutes worth of watch. It has a script. I would read that through and edit it to work for you. And then I'd still maybe get your kids in a room and say let me just go through this one time with you guys.

[A]

Yeah. I want to say anyone who's teaching the cook cookie class kits, a lot of people are like yay, I downloaded the PowerPoint. I got all the steps. You guys are forgetting to order the cutters.

[B]

The cutters are through Sweet Chic Olive.

[A]

And waiting to the last minute. She's also in her busy season as cutter shops are. So you have to realize you need to order the cutters as soon as you're thinking about teaching a class.

[B]

So I'm going to tell you guys, sweeping off sells the cookie cutters outside of the cookie cot. So you could buy that right now and let's say you're teaching the class in 30 days. I'd buy the cookie collection college now. Download that stuff, get the cutters ordered, make sure you got them and then. And she also sells the SDLs for people who need immediate turnaround. And then I'd go teach that. So a month. Yes, probably. Maybe you maybe sign up three and a half weeks out. So you got the class at the beginning of the month and you teach your class at the end. Yeah. You got the class kit.

[A]

Everything in the class kits is ready to go.

[B]

As soon as you sign up for.

[A]

The college you can download it, right?

[B]

See thing is you don't need to market it. You got a mom's group. Yeah.

[A]

So you don't even need the marketing material.

[B]

Assuming you're still going to charge for this. There's another course in the cookie college on Eventbrite. That's what we actually use for this project. Private class. And I'll talk more about that does take a fee in but you're not out your money. You get the money before you teach class. Yeah. So you can reach your minimums. Because we won't teach a class if it doesn't have a threshold. If it doesn't have enough signups. I like that one. So welcome, preemptive, welcome to the cookie college. I think it'll be a blast. This will be a great way because you've gotten friends, a mom, people you know. I think this is a great way to get your toe in and you're going to just regret that you didn't start it sooner. Yeah, yeah. Second to last one. Hi, twin Stephanie from California here. What is the best piece of marketing you. What is the best piece of marketing you have bought for your business? There's so many things I want to buy, but I know it won't all pay off. Thank you for all you do for the community. The best piece of marketing, I'm going to say in my approach to marketing, probably the app I use the most is Photoshop to make graphics. However that could be. You could also use Canva. That was a good question. I don't know. There's so many pieces that do pay off and there's just as many as don't. So I get what you're saying. What are you gonna say? My camera. Camera.

[A]

I have the Canon R. It's mirrorless. I think I've had it for four.

[B]

Or five years now. I think. Yeah, I think you have. It was newer when I got. When I got it. Now it's newer. Camera technology increases, but it's worked amazingly well.

[A]

I don't see myself buying a new one.

[B]

Funny. You picked camera. I picked software. But you're production and I'm backend.

[A]

Yeah, you are.

[B]

So there's a ton of places you could spend your money. Okay. If you had to pick your top three camera pop up. I said backdrop girl. She said marketing.

[A]

Oh, for marketing. I mean that makes your stuff look crispity, crunchity.

[B]

But no, you also need sunglasses because you need eyeballs to fade. Okay.

[A]

I buy a Heather to do my Shopify website again. That was great one. It makes me look super profash.

[B]

Okay. So website. Website.

[A]

I really like a Gmail account.

[B]

Okay. And I was going to say Gmail and Google workspace. That whole environment, you get more than just email. You get the Dr. Component when I share files through it all the time. They have. You can now create a drive that's shared between two people. You can create my own drive and I can share content to Corey and I think they even have like newer technology.

[A]

It's so, it's so handy.

[B]

I'm gonna say Google workspaces rolled out AI. It's increased the price. Unfortunately there's no opt out. But it Summarizes my emails pretty good.

[A]

You know, I actually see myself using it in business now. Like, it'll be like, let me summarize this email chain for you.

[B]

I really like this summary of an email chain. But now I had a reply to this lady with a private client and I accidentally clicked one of the autoresponders, but it had read my email and the reply was written for Mary. Like, it wasn't like, thank you so much for your time. It was like, hey, Mary. Really great. This is great. And I was like, well, shoot, send sounds just like me. Uh, so that was pretty interesting. Cool. Good question. My last one. Hi, ladies. I don't mean to send a double text in the same week. A little backstory. I think it would be interesting to know the numbers on the most listened to podcast podcast episodes or even if there's a way to see which ones have you really have been re listened to the most. Not sure what kind of data is tracked and presented to you for your platforms. Just thought it'd be interesting to know. Very interesting question. Podcast analytics switch a lot because the podcast players switch a lot. So Google shut down Google podcasts and move them to YouTube which is no longer counted. And the way Apple used to count lessons has changed. So that is. I'll tell you right now, I know which one it is, which I thought was very interesting. It's the cancer one.

[A]

Yeah. But I want to tell you what.

[B]

That not saying we were a ploy for you to listen to my cancer story.

[A]

It tells you that letting people in a little bit to your personal life is a huge way to connect with your audience. So instead of just always being sterile, buy these cookies. This is what I'm offering. Here's a cookie cake. You can say, hey, you know, my son is going into the 10th grade. He's really like trying to find a soccer team.

[B]

Does anyone have a great soccer team? It's a way to connect to your.

[A]

Audience because now people know that you have child. You know that like soccer and the soccer mom's out there like, oh, we know. Here's the one.

[B]

I use things like that now I wouldn't make sometimes corner and I talk about there's. There's such a thing as too much personal where every trial and tribulation you're posting about it publicly. It does get engagement. I don't believe it gets sales. Yeah. So again, you got the content buckets. I would like a personal content bucket. It would not be my primary bucket. If my intentions are to convert people into sales yeah, like we did a.

[A]

Whole podcast topic on the cancer thing. I made one post about the cookies I made for the doctor, you know.

[B]

So it was there, right? There's such a thing. And TikTok, you can see the trope, it's called sympathy marketing, where you cry and you get attention because people feel sympathy for you and then they give you so many. Sympathy marketing works as long as it's rarely ever touched on. But when you see that, that content creator, that business that accidentally thought, yeah, yeah, they're like, oh, sympathy marketing makes me money and everything is a bad day. It is very exhaust to tune into people like that.

[A]

It is.

[B]

So I like that question though. I got to see what the other text was. A double text. Hi, I see I deleted the backstory without deleting my intro to said backstory. Oh, that's so funny. I have no idea what you deleted, but I loved your backstory. I like that question too.

[A]

It is a good question. And I know you're like wanting like.

[B]

The photography one is most tuned into. It's about that personal because, okay, this is a business specific podcast. You know, when you tune in, you're going to get business. So when you go off script just a little bit, it's kind of like, well, that's a very interesting thing. Now if everything was off script, then nothing was about business. We would lose the target audience.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's something to keep in mind. I would highly suggest testing it out. And that's what we kind of did with the Meet the Baker post. Speaking of Meet the Baker collab, we have a collab coming up at the end of November. I give you a bunch of time. We skipped October's collapse. So you have this olive.

[A]

No November.

[B]

Yeah. It is the thank you, thankful for you, thank you, cookie collab. Yeah. Anyways, you can check the events tab and find out how to register if you want help with coffee. But you're going to make it. Thank you, cookie. And then you're gonna take a picture of somebody you're thankful for holding the cookie. And then in your copy on that collab day, you're gonna tell us what this person has made, how they've made a difference in your life. It's gonna make. I would love to be nominated. So you're gonna take a picture of this person and you say why you're thankful for them. Also, can you make two so I can have you? Because I gotta make content for our.

[A]

Okay, then you have to hold mine.

[B]

And I'll hold yours. And then you're gonna do it right up and I'll help you through that. Collabs. The people who know, they know the collabs work. They will get you. And this is kind of in tandem with that texting question. We're incorporating cookies for a personal piece of information.

[A]

This is great because like if you had maybe a doctor who helped you out and you were able to take a picture with the d to holding the thank you cookie, that could be a segue into your personal life where you can connect with your audience.

[B]

I think I have people be like, oh, it's gonna be so awkward to ask the person. Everyone wants to be thanked.

[A]

Oh, for sure.

[B]

So the person you say, hey, can I here's the collab I'm doing. I would love to feature you. I'm so thankful for you. That person is going to be stoked.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And don't overthink it. You can be thankful for your kids. You can be thankful for your husband. You can be thankful for your neighbor who, who lets cars park in your driveway when you have pop ups. You can be thankful for somebody who attends class a lot, a teacher.

[A]

I mean the. We have things we can be thankful for. This needs to be the best attended collab, let me tell you.

[B]

Right? So this is pretty easy. Thank you cookie. You could easily make it when you make your next batch and then take a photo, even if it's on your phone, of somebody you're thankful for. And then I'll help you kind of coach you through the copy. That is going to be on November 21st. 21st. Because the next day is the best.

[A]

Day of the year.

[B]

It's Cory Heather's birthday. So that'll be on the 21st at 11:00am Eastern Standard Time. It's an easy one to do. It'll be a great one to get engagement for right before Thanksgiving. I did that on purpose, kids. Yeah. So you can check out the collab. It's the thank you cookie collab. We have a new segment. We have a new segment where you have to present your favorite thread of the week.

[A]

Yeah, my favorite thread of the week.

[B]

Wow, that was hard to say.

[A]

Too bad. It's great. So this one was part of the karaoke, which is the craziest hashtag to use and I'm just going to read it. This group, along with the cookie college has helped me host my first cookie decorating class this past weekend. If you haven't tried out the cookie college, I highly recommend it. My first class was kids in a wide range of ages from 3 to 10 and all of the information provided by other members in the cookie college group was tremendously helpful. In addition, having the cookie classes ready to go is such a lifesaver. I've it's really helped me gain the confidence I need to teach my first class.

[B]

I really like that one.

[A]

Thank y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

That was great.

[B]

Mine is a part of the October Photography month, but the question is actually regarding pricing. So Katie says, hi everyone. I'm looking for advice on how to increase my prices and whether my work is worth it. The worth. The worth it. See it's hard at work is worth it. She charges a three tier system. Anyways, it's not the necessarily post I wanted to feature. It's these comments, specific by specific. She'll get it, guys. She'll get it.

[A]

Give her a minute.

[B]

Give her a minute. Ellie says absolutely raise them. I definitely double them to at least 70. I got advice from a business strategist that one big jump jump in pricing is better than a bunch of little ones because otherwise it feels annoying that the price is always incrementally changing. Oh, interesting. I like that. So if you guys kind of dig into these comment sections, we've dialed it in enough that people are providing great perspectives whether or not you agree with them for sure. Their reasoning is very solid and it.

[A]

Can open up your brain in your mind to new avenues and new things you might not have thought of.

[B]

Yes. So Cindy writes, I think this is an interesting one. When I get a request, I say that my cookies are arranged typically between 60 and 72 participants and ask them for their inspo picks. Then I make the decision on how much they'll be based on the inspo picks. The cookies shown here would fall in my 72 range. At the high end, it would be hard to jump from 35 starting. But I truly believe that you're worth more than that. So move to 50 at least once. So I like that because it would be, you know, because Cindy's saying in my area this would support $72. But going from 35 to 72 is wild. So she's got one intermediate jump. And I like the other person saying don't do a blend. Don't raise it by a $$ for $50 big jumps and make that. Now here's what I I suggest is don't make that big announcement. I like what Cindy does. She kind of charges the range there, which would be a nice kind of way to ease your audience and especially if it's a returning customer for sure. So she can say, so if the customer's like, I've always ordered from you. It's always been $35. It would be abrasive to be like, and now it's 70. So what I would say is, hey, send me your inspo pics and I'll price that out. Maybe you can broach the conversation then that there's been a price increase. But a lot of people aren't going to object, especially when they knew they were getting something that they know when they're getting a little stealing. We all know. We all know that was stupid to be true.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I do like that one. And this is a new segment. Heather told me this was a good segment. Well, thanks.

[A]

Thank you so much. I know mine was kind of like singing my praises because she loved the college so much. Just the class kits makes it so easy.

[B]

Makes it. They love it. They love it. It's funny because, like, why? Corey's like, oh, my goodness. I'm like, well, we got the class kits. I downloaded the class again. I made a few edits, emailed it out. Yeah, I know.

[A]

This is great.

[B]

Whoever sent the, fantastic. It was handy. It was okay. For the, for the sponsors, we're gonna have them text in marketing tips. I have to email them about it. I don't want to overwhelm them with Fendi Blendy content and be like, also record your voice. I'll get to that. But we still have our podcast sponsors, which you guys need today because without them we wouldn't have this four year long podcast. I know. Episode 234. That's wild cookie Design Lab. I've talked about them already. Code twins 50 15. Yeah, baking me crazy. Talked about them because they're a vendor in the Vendee Blendy. But right now, code favorite twin10off. Royal batch. Talked about them in the vending blender. Code twins 10% off right now. Daisy makes in the vending blend. Code Twins 1010 off right now. Eddie, that'll be not in the PR. Not in the Vendee Blendy. Really cool software. Definitely worth asking. Absolutely. Santa for Santi. Yeah, I think they have their in. They're announcing the speakers of their eddycon. The first ever eddiecon is in January. So definitely check that out on their website. Primari. And not a sponsor, but it gives you a discount. Bosch Nutra Mill again. Bosch has donated that mixer for us to promote the Vendee Blendy. They did it last year. Love that company. But they have the code. If you use the code Sugar cookies at checkout you save 20 bucks. Pays us 20 bucks.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But they are running a pretty good Black Friday sale. They do that every year. They do, they do.

[A]

Do you have a twin dress?

[B]

Okay.

[A]

My twin dress.

[B]

I don't care about yours. Am I asking for the right gift?

[A]

I feel I've gotten to the age. Okay.

[B]

My mom was like, what do you.

[A]

Want for your birthday? So our birthday is November 22nd.

[B]

It's not ever a pleasant conversation. It's always a very frustrating conversation, like.

[A]

Tell me what you want or you're getting nothing.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I am turning 37.

[B]

So is Heather. Cuz we're twins, dude.

[A]

The problem is, did I ask for something?

[B]

That's an old person thing.

[A]

I asked for a new set of kitchen knives.

[B]

I think it's the most solid request boring gift. You would have won 37. Go buy it yourself. I know. I think. And in my minimalist era, something that you will use is far better than something that will take up space.

[A]

You're right. You're right. So I do have a set of kitchen knives that are the cheapest things known to man.

[B]

Honestly, if you try to cut a tomato and it squishes, that's what it is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I believe you can't fight your gear.

[A]

You can't find your gear. And I know I would use the kitchen knives.

[B]

Okay. Because. Yeah.

[A]

So that's what my current gift is. Heather's asking for. I want to say I have it.

[B]

And that's why I said as you gift last year. I think an air purifier that doubles as fighting allergies is miserable.

[A]

Here's the thing. It's not just an air purifier. It's also a fan and a heater.

[B]

So I get one. I get to donate my fan. Of which you claim my heater. I get to donate my fan and heater. They take up a lot of space. Yeah. They're like $20 two in one. Now. I'd get a two in one and an air purifier. So I'm consolidating my ownership of things. And my eyes aren't watering.

[A]

And I love mine that I have.

[B]

Of it that I got for my past. No, I think. I think purchasing or for your birthday. Get something that you actually use for a long period of time is far better than a bunch of trinkets. It is. But speaking of spending money, Cory and I did go to Bath and Body Works and we created a roster. Three wick roster.

[A]

We. We did the smelling. So all you got to do is.

[B]

The bot now we're going to do the tell. So here's what we came up with. Cory and I disagree on one. Here's my big thing. I'm not big into the smells of gourmand in terms of Kindle. I think it's a little overwhelming for a small space.

[A]

I agree to an extent.

[B]

So you're not going to get any sugar caramel baking, birthday cake. Birthday cake smell?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you're into that. They have some out the park hitters. It'll take you to your knees. But these are the ones. And I like cloves and patchoulis. Patchouli.

[A]

Heather loves a. A clove. If there's a clove. Heather snows will smell.

[B]

If it smells like poo pourri. Poo pourri, hot pourri. It smells like potpourri. I'm gonna like it. So I do like. I do have an affinity towards the candles. I do that farmhouse pumpkin and spice.

[A]

Okay. That one was. I want to say not heavy in one way.

[B]

I'm gonna say fancy house at Thanksgiving. Yes. It.

[A]

It's not overwhelming. No.

[B]

Just a hint.

[A]

It's not any one direction. It's very much November in a candle.

[B]

Okay. Corey will fight you out back if you don't like what Swan. It's called the Perfect Christmas. It's newer. Listen, did it have cinnamon? Yes, I think.

[A]

Was that the red, red cinnamon sticks?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That one was a Christmas slash whatever that crossover is.

[B]

You know when you're like, I'm gonna put up the Christmas tree, but is it too early? This is what should be burning. This is that.

[A]

This is that.

[B]

It's not.

[A]

It's not so Christmassy like they have balsam.

[B]

Okay. But that's gonna be my other one. It's not balsam that I picked out. It's sugared pine needles, which is a little muted. Muted.

[A]

Muted and sweet.

[B]

Yeah. Sometimes their Christmas balsam tree scent is like little. If you have a smaller space, maybe this is not for you. But if you have a large space, maybe go for the balsam. But the sugared pine needles was very sweet. Warm tree farm.

[A]

Tree farm.

[B]

Okay. Not. This is the one Cory and I both agreed was top tier winter.

[A]

I don't know what was in winter.

[B]

It was incorrectly named a little bit of orange cinnamon. The name shouldn't just be winter.

[A]

Heather gets these clementine or oranges.

[B]

It's that season almost.

[A]

And it had that smell in there with other smells. I want to say some cloves were in there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What is that?

[B]

Patchouli. I don't know if it was. Then I said, if we could only walk out and we'll let you know. We walked out with none. But if we could only walk out with one, it would have been winter. Both of us.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now this one Corey didn't like, but I thought she was not being nice about holiday. It was bottom of the list.

[A]

It wasn't the worst one we smelled.

[B]

No, we. I didn't take a picture of the. I didn't add it to the roster. If there was.

[A]

I said if we had a boot one, it was going to be holiday.

[B]

Okay. In order of what I would buy. Winter. Winter top. Followed by the perfect Christmas. Followed by farmhouse pumpkin and spice.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Followed by holiday. And then followed by sugared pine needles. Mostly because my grandma would like that and I was going to buy it for her.

[A]

And if you're buying for someone this year, that list right there.

[B]

You're welcome. You're welcome. We did this smelling so you didn't have to suffer. You're like, if you smell.

[A]

No, we walk around, we'll hold them. Each person holds 1:1 in their hand and then we'll grade them.

[B]

Listen, I smelled raspberry Christmas, so you didn't have to overtime. Randomly, though, while we're at the mall, we taught the cookie class and we went to eat lunch at the mall. And then we're walking out to the cars and two of our class attendees are like, hey, Milk. The restaurant, the dessert bar partnered with Bath and Body Works and they have a trailer on the mezzanine. And if you stand to take their promo photos, they give you a free sample. I got. Which we. What was it? Pretzel.

[A]

It was cinnamon sugared pretzel.

[B]

Listen, they gave us a little tester which is more than you could ever use in a million years. And it is the staying power.

[A]

I smelled like a pretzel all day yesterday.

[B]

If you like smelling like salt, smell. They did a good job. I did exactly what it was, but it was a problem. And they partnered with this company that makes this cookie. So we ate it as well and I sprayed it. That stuff.

[A]

It did.

[B]

If you like that smell, you're gonna love this. But it's at the. Also at Bath and Body Works right now. I think it's limited time run. It was swing back there. It definitely was a Bath and Body Works wipes. Yeah.

[A]

So I will. I just finished burning pumpkin. Marshmallow Pumpkin bonfire.

[B]

Yeah. Great.

[A]

It was great.

[B]

It was muted pumpkin. It was.

[A]

It was a great entrance into municipality.

[B]

My November. When are you Putting up the Christmas tree. Is it right now? November. November 1st. But you have. You have Halloween now. Yeah.

[A]

And as I take a ghost down.

[B]

An ornament goes up. I'm gonna do the tree up ornaments later. But I want the trees lights. I love the tree ambiance, the tree ambience. I want to see if Munch likes a tree.

[A]

Cats love trees.

[B]

But. But Frank didn't.

[A]

Frank was also an old man.

[B]

He was. But I wonder if Munch, will he be aggressive, a problem.

[A]

My tree is always a wall.

[B]

Does Munch's big booty think he could climb the tree?

[A]

Oh that.

[B]

You're gonna have an issue with that. The tree's gonna have an issue with that big old behind.

[A]

His hair will get stuck in a fern.

[B]

It'll be like a fur brush in a fur. Fur tree. We had this cat, Phoebe. You've seen Phoebe since passed away. But that cat lived under a Christmas tree. She loved the lights.

[A]

Rube passed away.

[B]

Loved a Christmas tree under.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

My parents cat Lou loves jumping with all its might to the middle of the tree and knocking it down.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not the vibe. Not good. Not good. Not the vibe. So I'll be curious. Munch's first Christmas. Munch's birthday is also on Saturday. Yes. I got him an outfit.

[A]

A birthday outfit.

[B]

It was a birthday collar with. Wouldn't it just be his birthday suit?

[A]

Just be him without a suit on.

[B]

Of course, the speaking of marketing, the treat makers came out with Happy Birthday flavored salmon treats.

[A]

Oh for sure.

[B]

It's just happy Birthday birthday on it. Yes, I know what it does.

[A]

Oh my goodness. I can't believe October is over.

[B]

And vendy blendy Thanksgiving cookie platter season 2026. Don't skip my Christmas card.

[A]

I ain't. I ain't.

[B]

We're gonna have to live at the mall. I like the people watching at the mall.

[A]

You know I got an order for two days after Christmas.

[B]

Two days after Christmas. I know. I kind of hate it cuz there's no vibes. What is it, New Year's?

[A]

No, it's someone's having a birthday.

[B]

A 16. I would hate to have the birthday between New Year's and Christmas after Christmas. But before New Year's.

[A]

I know. That's why she's probably ordering as much.

[B]

As she did to go. Nothing is worse than a birthday the first week of January. I'm just saying I didn't want to.

[A]

Bake it like I didn't want to bake it.

[B]

That's a problem with having those birthdays cuz everyone's got a bad attitude.

[A]

Yeah, I have a bad attitude about it now. Not even in December if you say.

[B]

That'S what my birthday is. Don't worry. It's where our older sister's birthday is and it's been her lifelong battle to make I threw a big old party.

[A]

And I said I'll never do it again. But I threw a big party last year.

[B]

Was it the Taylor Swift.

[A]

It was the Taylor Swift party that she wanted.

[B]

She did.

[A]

And I, I, we played Taylor Swift.

[B]

Like unfortunately we played it through my Spotify and then became my most listened to it. I'm not a huge swifty, although I, I think she's ingenious in business. But it took me months to get it out of my recommended yeah all.

[A]

Right, guys, thanks for tuning in. This is a new work in progress. Switching over topics and nuggies.

[B]

I like it. A little refresh. A little brand refresh after four years.

[A]

About that time.

[B]

It's about that time. Well, if you listen to the first podcast, we've very much deviated from the original map.

[A]

The first podcast, because you made us read it. Horrendous.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

We don't like.

[B]

I wish it had more structure like back when it used to.

[A]

Now we've come to a little personality and a little structure, but not so.

[B]

Much structure is a loosely used word in the description of this podcast.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Happy Halloween.