Missing the Jersey Shore

These last lazy days of summer make me long for the Jersey shore... (not the show - the actual beaches and ocean : )  Memories of my childhood combing the beach for shells, and making those same memories with my children are among my favorite.  We always put some sand in a jar with our shells to remember our times on the beach.  (My husband calls them free souvenirs : )  And, since I am land-locked here in the Midwest (sorry, Lake Michigan just doesn't can't count) I had to improvise...with cookies : )

***************

I flooded some shells and starfish with white, and then added some detailing, also in white.  I should have used a 0 or 00 PME tip on these, but was using bags with a #2 tip, and forgot to use a coupler...  Anyway, after they were dried, I dry-brushed some pearl dust on them - a little dab'll do ya... nothing too difficult...

***************

It's very hard to photograph pearl-dusted details without a flash, and there were lots of shadows with it.  But that's ok, I never claimed to be a photography expert!



***************

(...but I'm working on it...)



Lather, rinse, repeat...

One of the compliments I get a lot from my husband is how amazed he is that I can make so many cookies look almost exactly alike.  Simple - just do the same things to each cookie, in the same order, over and over and over...  Simpler even still on less detailed cookies, but that goes without saying!  So, since we are working our way up to the harder stuff, let's look at something simpler.  Like these Love Birds, for example... I had 100 of them to do - and aside from half of them facing one way, and half facing the other way, they look almost exactly the same.  Here's a quick tutorial:

**************

• First, I put on a little beak with some yellow. 
• Then, I outlined the rest of the bird, and filled it in immediately with white. 
• Next, on the wet icing I dropped on a Royal Icing Transfer (RIT) heart for the wing and a sugar pearl eye.
• To make decorating go a little quicker, I made the RIT's the day before.  In case you don't know what a RIT is... just make an icing shape (in this case, 100 or so of them!) on some parchment & let it dry, then peel it up & you have icing decorations! I love RIT's and will do a tutorial on those somewhere in the next decade near future : )

**********

Don't forget to pop any air bubbles - this

is easily accomplished with a toothpick.

I like using my Royal Glaze icing because I can outline

and flood almost to the edge of the cookie without it sliding

off (like glaze), yet I may, on occasion, over-ice the edge. 

This is an easy fix, also done with a toothpick - just slide the

toothpick along the edge of the cookie to remove the icing.

You can also use a boo-boo stick... 

**********

Voila! One down, 99 to go...

Lather, rinse, repeat...