Inventor bakes her way to success
By Michael Picarella pic@theacorn.com

SWEET VICTORY-Inventor Kathy Jacobs and her edible snow globe cookie kits impress the judges of the ABC-TV "American Inventor" competition. For more information on Jacobs, who has a day job impersonating Dolly Parton, visit www.cookieconstructionco.com.

Who makes snow globes that you can eat?

Kathy Jacobs of Calabasas, that's who. And she has some other inventions that have been a long time in the "baking."

"I've been making crafts and other stuff like this since I was a little girl," Jacobs, 42, said. Her invention, the edible snow globe, looks just like those glass spheres you find at Christmas time. Except you can devour Jacobs' snow globes-not the glass, but the little scenes inside.

Jacobs came up with the idea for globe kits that people can buy and make themselves-like gingerbread house kits-about two years ago. She said she wanted to be another Martha Stewart, and had a "severe case of OCCCD-- Obsessive Craft, Cookie and Cake Disorder."

She got a chance to show her edible snow globe kit on a show called "Unwrapped" for the Food Network during the holidays and sales boomed. To date, she's sold more than 3,000 kits, and she's received many letters from happy customers. Jacobs has been invited back to "Unwrapped." She's also talking with QVC and Home Shopping Network officials about showing her kits on the air.

Jacobs got the chance recently to try her invention on "American Inventor," a television show that attempted to find the best invention in America. She heard about the show from a friend and auditioned along with hundreds of other inventors. Her edible snow globe kits made it into the show's top 24 list.

"American Inventor" ended its first season last month. And while Jacobs didn't get any major offers for the product as a result of being on the show, she continues to hopes to get a manufacturer so that she doesn't have to do all the work herself.

"It's so much harder than it looks," Jacobs said. "I'm one person who had an idea in my kitchen. I'm not a big corporation. That Christmas that I was on the Food Network, I had a warehouse and my mom and I worked about 14 hours a day because I sold so many of the kits. It takes a lot of time when you're one person."

The edible snow globe kit isn't Jacobs' only creation. She also created a kit for a cake that can be displayed as a table centerpiece.

In addition to her inventing, Jacobs, an actress, has appeared

in movies and on TV and is employed frequently as a Dolly Parton impersonator.

For more information about Jacobs' inventions, go to www.cookieconstructionco.com.