Hey! intresting information, I wanted to share these with you. I think they look very nice!http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_147903.html
I can't believe they don't use a bakery projector. That would make it so much easier.
Thank you for sharing!! I am interested in where they get those cool containers though! : )
i used to work at cookie bouquet, is it the similiar?
LITTLECAKE: Yes--the "cookie boquet" and "cookies by design" here in Knoxville were/are in the same location for years. Had the same phone number, and when they changed names, kept all the same people, etc.
So I'm assuming they're all the same thing?
Spill info, please!! 
--Knox--
i decorated for em...what do you want to know?
i also signed a thingy ...but i like "livin on the edge"...ha ha
what i found different is they drill the hole on the bottom with a cookie drill...(for the stick)
all of it is hand decorated....you do so dang many of em it gets to be a science.
the piping icing is very hard...
they use 2 differnt kinds..
the glaze is poured on....and the stuff thats piped on....they made like icing "cartridges" wrapped in celophane...
i used to go to sams to buy supplies with the owner....all the cookies and icing were made from what could be bought there...
it was 1999 when i worked there thats all i can remember.
on v day they did like 40k in business...they kept us in for days getting ready for that.
uh oh...here come the cookie police!!!
SOMEONE BAKE ME A CAKE....WITH A FILE IN IT!!!!
I'm wondering how long their cookies stay fresh?
Did you get to eat many of them? I've noticed that with a homemade sugar cookie recipe - they can taste differently depending on if they're 1 day old, 3 days old or a week old. Would you say the CbD cookies taste the same once they're baked, or could you notice any changes as time went by?
Thanks for sharing all of the information. I was wondering if you had an answer to one of my earlier posts? Thank you!
The cookies stayed fresh for about 3 days. After that, they tasted kinda blah. The containers are special made for Cookie bouquet/cookies by design. They have a patent on them. As far as tips on the hearts, I'm not sure of what I can say to help. As the other lady said, it was all done by hand. You just look at the picture and go from there. On a lot of the cookies, the icing is painted on. We thinned the buttercream or whatever it is to a runny consistency, and then used a pastry brush to paint in on the cookie. This makes it really quick and easy to cover the entire cookie. Then you go over it after that dries and pipe the decorations on it. I do that now with my cookies (with thinned royal). I am going to try it with the poured icing (Toba's glace icing) and see how it works.
JSTRITT: 
Let me see if I'm getting this right. (And at this late hour, I may not be...)
You're saying they thinned out the base coat of icing and PAINTED it on? Like instead of flooding it on?? oMG!!! SO COOL!!!
I would never have thought of that...but it's so right there....
Thanks! --Knox--
I worked for a company that uses them a lot and I've also ordered/seen things from Houston and Louisiana. I have seen LOTS of the bouquets as a result and I can honestly say I've never seen one as perfect as the pictures. That's not to say some of them weren't wonderful - some of them were very poorly done - most were somewhere in between. It depends on who's doing the decorating.
I'm so curious as to how they train the decorators, does anyone know? Do they have an experienced decorator that comes in, do they send employees to a central location, train at a franchise location, etc? Better yet, what about when a new design is created??
Afterall, I'm assuming that regardless of all the franchise locations across the US, all the cookies have to be decorated exactly the same way, right?
I worked for a CbD for a SHORT time, thankfully. I'll gladly share what I know, being outside my non-compete clause.
Their hiring practice was to give you a basic drawing skills test during your initial interview to see if you could replicate on a gridded piece of paper, a couple of their designs. Especially their faces. those HAVE to be consistent.
Then, knowing full well that you're a cake decorator with X number of years experience, they tell you that, in order to get the consistency of product that they desire, that you're to FORGET ALL YOUR DECORATING TRAINING THAT CAME BEFORE! They teach you "their" way, and you are expected to do it that way, or get reprimanded for it.
I was even warned that a cake decorator that had worked for this woman previously had threatened to sue her, because after she left CbD, she was literally unable to UNLEARN the messed-up way she was forced to decorate at the store. Her artistic expression in cake decorating was ruined. <Yeah, I hear you all saying it "Why in blazes did you work for them after a statement like that???"> Simply, I needed the money.
In defense of the ruined decorator, though, she was right! I lost partial use of my right thumb after leaving the co., temporarily, blessed be! Thank gods for PT!!!
So, in a nutshell, they want people familiar with cake/cookie decorating, but not necessarily their skills. NO room for creativity, of course. All the product must look the same. The end product...IMHO, not so great. Yeah, you get to eat all the mistakes you want. After the first week, though, you tire of it super quickly!! The brown sugar recipe was the one i wish I'd pilfered, but alas, did not. The rest, as others before me have said, is either found in the forums here @ CC, or isn't worth mentioning, truly.
Wow, that was about a $150 therapy session's worth of venting...thanks for obliging me!!!!
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I had a job interview there once several years ago. What a joke!! I've been doing cakes and cookies for years but she said she wouldn't hire me because (get this) I would go off and start my own business!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I told her that was a long way off, if ever, and I needed $$ now. It was a blessing I didn't get the job though, I've sinced talked with people who have worked at that same store and let's just say they are ALL former employees now! 
Some rejections are really just a blessing in disguise! 
Sorry Carolann! I use Wiltons red red, others have mentioned that Americolor red is excellent.
What do you mean by painting exactly?
I thin the royal to flood consistency then use a brush to paint on? Are you able to get the lines straight and go right to the edge?
Thanks for the help
Julia
What do you mean by painting exactly?
I thin the royal to flood consistency then use a brush to paint on? Are you able to get the lines straight and go right to the edge?
Thanks for the help
Julia
I was just going to ask this as well!
I would love to know how it is done to get a "professional" look. Thanks!
What do you mean by painting exactly?
I thin the royal to flood consistency then use a brush to paint on? Are you able to get the lines straight and go right to the edge?
Thanks for the help
Julia
acookieobession: love the name!! I have been hooked on it too! As for the RI being thinned, can you describe the consistency of it after thinned?
Like, if you lift the icing up with a spoon and make a "drop" with it, how does it take to go flat? I can't get my thinness (is that a word?) right. it's either to runny or to thick. I've switched to fondant becuase I am consistent with that, but love the RI. Thank you, Angie
Maybe I can answer the icing consistency question. I can get the icing to go to the edge of my cookie without it overflowing (my heart cookies in my "photos"). I think the consistency is probably like syrup, maybe a little thicker. Or better yet, maybe a slightly thin pancake batter would be right. Oh boy, I am confusing myself.
I just add water to the icing till it's right. If I get it too thin I add more of the original icing.
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