Painting Gold

Ready for a video??!!

At long last!!  I finally made a video!!

Don't get too excited tho....it isn't the best quality...I had to film it with my ipad....

BUT CONTENT is awesome!

Wanna know how I get such a metallic gold????

Tutorial: Speckling with Luster Dust

Ok, I have a really easy tutorial for you...of course I did it in video because it's one of the only ways to really show you how to speckle...it's more of a live action kinda thing...


But first let me tell you a little about the cookies I speckled.

I made these for the Go Bo Foundation.  Follow the link to learn more.  This is one of two sets I plan on donating to the Go Bo Bake Sale.

TUTORIAL: One Stroke Flowers

I made these cookies for my MIL last year.  I was feeling inventive....and my MIL is a super awesome woman and I love her.  So I wanted to do something pretty for her.  But I didn't have a lot of time.  So I had to cut a corner...my usual corner cut is to not mix colors.  I will make white cookies (because I don't have to color the icing to do that) and then airbrush....  or paint.

Now I know I have stated before that I am not the best at painting at cookies....Mostly because it's like painting with watercolors and that's just not my thing....but I still know a few painting techniques.

I remember in art class being taught this really easy way to paint two toned flowers.  It's called a one stroke technique.  Because you can apply 2 colors in one stroke and make a beautiful petal.

TUTORIAL: Shading With Luster Dust

So when I was working on my owl set last week, I was trying really hard to work with a certain palette.  It was all kinds shabby chic...and there's a fine line between shabby chic and just plain pastel.

It wasn't as easy as I thought.... so once I had my colors mixed and my cookies decorated...they still didn't look right.  The pastel was just PASTEL and the other colors were much too bright to be shabby.  But I still liked the palette. I needed to do something to fix that.

So I brushed off the cobwebs...and out came the dusts...

Luster and petal dusts I mean of course.

I haven't used them in so long.  In fact the only one I really use consistently are the gold or silver ones...and those are for painting...but I have this whole stash of petal and luster dusts that I swear have never even been opened.

But I had a plan for them today.

Tutorial: Writing in Cursive

 I've been a little MIA.

Things have been going on and it's been a little crazy and stressful.  But I'm still here.  And I haven't forgotten about my blog.  :)

Needless to say with all the action and adventure going on over here I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on new cookies.  So I thought I would post something I prepared a while back but never got around to posting.

Writing in cursive on cookies.  I know it's not the most exciting topic and tutorial but important none the less.  There will be SO many occasions when a client asks you to write someone's name on a cookie

Notes From A Kitchen - Bonus TUTORIAL

I was trying to thin of some clever, cute, witty way to start this post, but I'm blanking.  So let's just jump to the good stuff.  Save the witty banter for later. 

  

Tutorial: Blue Butterflies

I received an email from a family friend last week with an interesting story:

After the tornado, I was following the Humane Society adopt-a-thon on Facebook.  There was a senior dog with health issues that kept getting passed by.  The Humane Society posted his picture and a large group of people were following the picture to see if someone would adopt him.  Finally, a woman named Wendy posted "I'm on my way".  Everyone went insane and was so excited.  The Executive Director of the Humane Society met Wendy at the gate and Wendy and her husband Rick adopted Max.  They in turn set up a Facebook page called Max's Miracles Page and a core group of people followed Max and donated to his care and upkeep.  Unfortunately, Max passed away in August.  A group of seven women that followed Max, Wendy and Rick got together and gave Wendy and Rick gifts from ashes I was able to get from Max's Vet.  We called ourselves Max's Aunties.  Shortly after Max passed, Wendy and Rick had an even more horrible tragedy ... Wendy's 23 year old son died in his sleep.  The group of aunties supported Wendy and Rick and have been there for them trying to help them through this horrible period.

The Aunties are from all over:  Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas City, North Carolina, Louisiana and three from Joplin.  Most of us have not met.  Next Sunday, this group will all be together for the first time here at my house.

I just thought this was so touching I just HAD to make cookies for her.

Tutorial: Making Royal Icing

It's hard to decorate a cookie without icing.  Some use butter cream, some use glaze...

I use ROYAL.  I like royal simply because it gives me the versatility and detail that I like.  I can make transfers, flowers, crisp clean lines, leaves...just about anything I like. 

 Royal Icing

5 TBSP Meringue Powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 c. water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp additional flavoring (optional)
2lb confectioners sugar
1 TBSP to 1/4 c. Light corn syrup


Place meringue powder, cream of tartar, water and flavoring in the CLEAN bowl

Tutorial: Ruffles

I'm pretty girly girl.

I mean not pink and zebra and glitter kind of girly...  I mean like lace and ruffles and makeup and shoes kind of girly.  And sparkly things....can't forget pretty sparkly things.

So it's no real surprise that I love putting ruffles on cookies.

Tutorial: Quick Ribbon Roses

Or should I say ribbon roses done the cheating way....

Tutorial: Icing Consistency 101 - The Basics

When it comes to decorating cookies (or anything) with Royal Icing, the most important thing is consistency.  If your consistency is off, your details wont come out like you want them.  If it's too stiff, it struggles to come out of the icing tip or wont lay down for a smooth flood.  If it's too thin, your perfectly piped details run into each other and your flood runs over your edges all too make one big runny mess.

So yes, consistency is key.

You Tube Channel

The YouTube channel has finally LAUNCHED!