Klickitat Street

Sand Toy Cookie Cutters

2013-05-23T02:40:00.002-07:00

Summer unnofficially begins Monday and of course the stores are filled with cool summer stuff like these super cute sand toys that can double as cookie cutters! I'm guessing you could also use them as molds for Rice Crispy Treats and other things too.

I'm sure I never paid attention to sand toys before but once I decided I could use them as cookie cutters I started finding them all over the place. Just look at these little dinosaurs I found at Target! I love the cute little T-Rex and the set of 4 was only a buck!

You use the sand toys pretty much just like any cookie cutter. Be sure to flour them up really well though so the dough doesn't stick inside. If the dough does get stuck just whack the mold on the countertop and the dough will fall out.

Because the edge of a sand toy is not as sharp as a real cookie cutter you might get thin dough whisps dough around the cookie's edge. (this often happens with plastic cookie cutters too) Don't worry about trying to clean up the edge of the cookie when the dough is unbaked. It's much easier to scrape away any little stray bits with a knife after the cookies are baked and cooled.

Most of the sand toys I've found have an edge that is good enough for cutting cookie dough but once in a while you'll find an odd one that isn't going to work. The blue whale seen below has a good edge, but the green truck has a weird little lip on the edge and it's not going to work as a cokie cutter. Nuts.

You can find these cute little guys in the toy department or in the "dollar-store" section that many stores like Target and Walmart have. Be careful though, if you are anything like me you might get a little carried away!

If you're starting the holiday weekend early be safe and have a good one!

Coloring Dough for Easy Cookies

2013-05-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

My favorite part of cookie decorating is designing the cookies. A very close second is piping all the final details. To be honest, sometimes I find all the piping and filling in the middle to be a little dull. Plus it can be really time consuming. Why not jump to the fun part and let colored dough do all the heavy lifting? Just like making gingerbread at Christmas you can make simple red hearts with pretty lace piping for Valentine's Day or orange cookies with black piping at Halloween. Today I'm going to make pretty, and oh so simple, colorful flowers for Mother's Day!

     All you need to get started is your favorite cookie dough and gel food coloring. It is important to use gel colors because the watery-type food coloring will make the dough sticky and the cookies will spread during baking.

   Once your dough is mixed add a few drops of your gel color. If you are using the Wilton pots scoop the gel color out with a small palette knife.    I prefer to mix the color into the dough with my stand mixer so my hands don't turn a shocking pink!

   I usually don't chill my dough before baking but if you do then color the dough before chilling. The color will deepen even more as the dough chills in the fridge.   Also, don't worry if the dough color is a little shocking because the color will fade a bit during baking.

Because you're going to leave so much of the cookie's surface exposed during decorating you want the cookies to have nice, smooth tops. To ensure smooth cookies roll out the cookie dough between sheets of parchment paper. If you use rolling guides your cookies will also be perfectly even. I always roll my cookies this way because I don't have to add any extra flour!

When the cookies are hot out of the oven GENTLY smooth them with a cookie spatula. You don't want to press down on the cookies because you aren't trying to flatten them and you could tear the soft tops. Just let the weight of the spatula smooth down any little bubbles or bumps that may have risen up.

When the cookies are cool you'll have a nice surface to decorate!

Now you're ready to pipe the details. My favorite thing about decorating cookies like this is you can use just one color of icing. How easy is that! You could use coordinating icing colors of course but one bag of piping icing is all you need. I like to use a piping consistency that is just a little on the soft side. That way all the little points flatten themselves out.

Doodling in icing is so much fun and it becomes really addictive. Don't worry about whether all your loops and dots are "perfect" just have fun with it. Make them as simple or as complex as you like! You could also try brush embroidery on these or the look of lace.

If the piping alone isn't enough icing for your tastes then start by adding a coat of icing to the back of the cookie before you decorate. Let the icing dry overnight before you flip the cookies over and pipe the tops.

A few tips for working with colored dough:

Try to use as white of a cookie dough as possible. The dough will lighten a little during baking but if you normally use spices or brown sugar in your sugar cookies switch to a whiter recipe for these. Unless you want all your colors to have a vintage feel and then by all means use brown dough!
If the color of the dough is a little uneven after mixing then knead it by hand for a minute. Wear plastic gloves to avoid coloring your hands.
The colors of the dough will fade a bit during baking so tint the dough a little more intense than you want it to end up.
Keep a very close eye on your cookies while baking so they don't brown!

Boldly Go and May the Fourth Be with You!

2013-05-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

May 4th is a favorite "holiday" of Star Wars fans because of the punny goodness of saying "May the Fourth be with You!" Last year several of the cookie artists I stalk on the internet were posting their Star Wars cookies and I didn't have any so I had to step it up this year. While it isn't quite the fourth yet these aren't quite Star Wars cookies either!

The next installment of the Star Trek movie reboot series is coming out in a couple of weeks and I for one am looking forward to it because the first one was so good! Writer/director J.J.Abrams did a great job of taking the series in a new direction while still preserving the original series. So much so that Disney went and hired him to direct the new Star Wars trilogy coming in 2015! Woot! I figured that deserved a Star Trek/Star Wars cookie mashup!. The design for the characters came from these super cute cartoon versions of the Star Trek guys called Quogs and then I gave them the Star Wars treatment. It was kind of surprising how well both casts melded together.

Spock as Obi-Wan Kenobi is a no-brainer. In the Star Trek reboot Chekov is a wunderkind so he gets to be Luke.

Kirk as Han Solo of course and a Chewie tribble (mmm...tasty).

Even if Princess Leia and Uhura weren't the only girls it would still be a good fit because they are both a little sassy.

Dr. McCoy as C3PO and Scotty as R2D2. I think Scotty "R2D2" is my favorite of the group!

Sulu as a Rebel Pilot. Okay I can't decide if I like Scotty or Sulu best but it's definitely one or them!

And a random old school Klingon as Darth Vader (helmet hair!)

Cookies like this are somewhat complicated and time consuming, for me anyway, and I don't really have a tutorial for them but I'll lay the steps out for you.

I made a few adjustments to the Star Trek Quogs in Photoshop and then printed them at the actual size the cookies were going to be. I drew the Star Wars costumes over my printout, traced their general shape to a template and hand cut the cookie dough.
I used my iPad and the Camera Lucida app to take a picture of my drawings and then "project" them onto the cookie to trace. (you can see a detailed post about drawing with the ipad here)
Next I piped over my drawing and filled in the shapes
And finally I added all the little details.

For more Star Trek/Star Wars cookie goodness check out these other cookie artists;

Upon the announcement that Disney would be making the new Star Wars trilogy Mike at SemiSweetDesigns made an amazing set of cookies starring Micky and friends! He also has a super cute Ewok cookie tutorial!
Callye of SweetSugarBelle shows you how to make Star Wars cookies from Christmas cutters and Spock Cookies too!
Georganne of LilaLoa tells the silliest stories with her Star Wars cookies
One of my favorite cookie artists, Jill of the Funky Cookie Studio, makes everything awesome like these Star Trek cookies.

Enjoy your weekend and May the Fourth be With You!

Easy Painted Flower Cookies

2013-04-19T01:33:00.000-07:00

The weather seems to be crazy all over the place this year. If you are in need of a bright ray of happiness these "painted" cookies are super easy and super cute!

I wanted the flower cookies to be a little whimsical and not quite as perfect and symmetrical as flower cutters are made. Besides which, for some reason it seems whimsical flowers always have 5 petals and it is oddly difficult to find a good selection of 5 petal flowers. 6 petal flowers cutters are everywhere. 5 petal...not so much. As it happens though, you don't need flower cutters at all!

To cut whimsical flower cookies you'll need circle cutters or other roundish shapes and a holly cutter.

Start by cutting the circle.
Then cut little snips of dough away with the various points of the holly cutter
Continue working your way around cutting petals of different sizes.
If you don't have a holly cutter you could also use the point of a heart or a star cutter. The heart cutter will give you a little sharper edge on the petals but you can just smoosh them with your finger.

Once the cookies are baked and cooled flood them in white royal icing and let dry fully for 8-12 hours depending on the humidity in your area. Using a fan will help the icing dry and the base-coat will be shiner too.

The painting step is really easy and it goes pretty fast. Plus, you don't have to mix icing colors, Yay! I made these little paint daubers by twisting a small square of paper towel around a ball of plastic wrap. The texture of the paper towel makes a nice effect on the cookie and you can keep lots of clean ones on hand.

Wet the dauber a little and pick up the first food color patting off some of the excess. Then dab the color on the cookie. You want to use a pat pat pat motion when applying the food color. If you drag or smear the color you'll lose the texture.
Use a clean dauber for each different color dabbing a little color to start and working up to the coverage you want.
If you add more color than you like you can use a dauber with clean water to dab the cookie. Then quickly pat off the excess with a dry paper towel. I think it's best not to do that too much though as you can overwork the surface of the cookie. There's no right or wrong look to these cookies so just let them be spontaneous!

On a side note, the odds are pretty good that your hands will be stained every color of the rainbow when you are done. I don't mind having blue and pink hands but if you have a big to-do that night you might want to wear plastic gloves.

You can also add some spatters to the cookie by flicking the food color with a brush. Let the food color dry on the cookie for a little bit and then pipe a swirl in royal icing.

That's all there is to it! I think it takes longer to describe the process than to actually paint them.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun if you have it!

Easy Sheep Cookies

2013-03-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I can't believe Easter is only three days away!? Somehow I didn't get into making many Easter cookies this year. Maybe because I made a crazy number of bunnies last year. Anyway, why should the bunny get all the love? Regardless, these little guys are cute and easy and great for the last minute!

These little sheep are super simple and you can get by with only two icing colors!

What you will need to make sheep cookies:

scalloped cookie cutters in two sizes (or you could also use two flower cutters if you don't have scallops)
white royal icing
brownish black royal icing

Start by piecing the two dough shapes together before baking.
Outline the scallop edges with white icing leaving two gaps at the top for ears.
Let the outline set up for a few minutes and flood in white icing. Allow the flood icing to dry for several hours or overnight.

4. Once the white icing is dry, pipe two little blobs with the brownish black icing for ears. Add eyes and a little nose too.
5. Pipe around the cookie edges and add random squiggles here and there for the look of fluffiness. You may also want to add a little bow tie just because. :)

That's it! Fast and easy and oh so cute.

Of course a few bunnies might just sneak up on you too!

How to Draw on a Cookie with an iPad

2013-03-25T01:55:00.001-07:00

Okay, I have to be completley honest with you. This is a pretty cool post. Since I've been so bad about posting lately I figured I owed you all something special! Way back at Christmas I got to play with an iPad and I found this fantastic app that lets you use the iPad (or the iPhone) to draw on real things! Of course I had to try it with cookies.

The app is called the Camera Lucida (named after a traditional drawing tool) and it works by opening up the rear camera on your device so you can see your work surface when looking at the screen. (since the app uses a rear camera you can't use it with a first gen iPad) The app then superimposes your reference image into the screen so you can see your reference image and your cookie together. Essentially all you have to do is trace! The app is available for purchase from the app store for $4.99.

Update on the Stand:

You have to use a stand of some kind to hold the iPad/iPhone between you and your work surface. While a vase or even a stack of books will work in a pinch, the best stand would have a pedestal base so you can work easily under the camera. On the developer's blog you can find a post about making a nice and inexpensive stand to hold the iPad. My stand is about the same except the base is from a lamp. Plus mine is an eye sore, heh. The iPad sits on the stand just forward enough not to block the rear camera so it's nice and stable and won't slip. I had the iPad about 9 inches off the table and that was a good height for working under it. I think a tall cake stand would work really well for this too or you could even use the bowl from your stand mixer.

When you open the app you can choose a reference image and then touch the center icon to enter the drawing mode. The little slider will adjust the opacity of the reference image so you can get a good view of both the reference and the cookie. Trace the reference onto the cookie using a food color marker or a graphite pencil. Graphite is non-toxic and I think it's easier to use a mechanical pencil than a food marker but maybe that's just me.

Once you have traced the drawing onto the cookie you can just decorate as usual. For this Om Nom cookie I outlined the drawing in black piping icing and once that had fully dried I filled him in green. Super Easy!

When you first start using the app it does take a little getting used to because you are looking at the screen of the iPad and not your cookie. There is also a little depth perception issue because the camera is basically like looking through one eye. I would suggest just drawing with the app for a while with pencil and paper and you'll get comfortable using it.

Another neat function of the app is that you can take reference images of your work surface from within the app. When I design cookies I usually trace around my cutters and then draw the designs freehand. If you take the photo of your design you can then use it in the drawing mode of the app to transfer your design to the cookie. Since you are using the iPad at the same height that you took the picture you don't have to resize your images and they will fit perfectly on the cookie you cut from that cutter!

Of course since the app was designed for drawing you can use it to draw your designs too. The app has a whole bunch of built in filters and zoom functions to aid in the drawing process.

One little tick that is probably a bigger "issue" on the iPad than the iPhone is that the app wants to make your reference image as big as it can so you can make a nice large drawing. The app will expand the image size to the edges of the screen which could be too big for cookies. You'll need to add white space around your image in a photo editing program so that the design will stay small. I used the free Sketchbook Express app to easily add the white space. (if you watch the video below you can see how I did that)

   If you'd like to see the app in action I made a video. It's the first video I've done and while it's probably not so awesome I think you'll get the idea!

    Unfortunately the Camera Lucida app is not currently available for Android devices. There is an app called the Artist's Eye and while it doesn't have all the functions of the Camera Lucida app it should still be of some help.

   I know this a lot of information and I've just barely scratched the surface with what you can do with this app for cookie decorating. If have any questions please ask!!

Happy Decorating!

Easter Egg Cookie Cutters

2013-03-05T22:58:00.001-08:00

I don't have any cookies to show you today but I do have a fun little tip for finding unexpected cookie cutters. Since I started making cookies I have collected a lot of things that aren't really cookie cutters but work just as well and these plastic Easter "eggs" are a perfect example.

    For the last few years around Easter the stores have been selling these special plastic containers to mix in with the Easter eggs and they have a rigid edge that is perfect for cutting cookies. As you can see, this is a good way to find Character cookie cutters. Plus, notice the elusive Marshmallow Peep cutter!

    Usually Easter eggs already have little holes punched in them so the air pressure doesn't pop the egg open but if yours don't than you will need to punch or drill a little hole so the dough doesn't get stuck inside. Other than that you can use them just as you would any cutter!

Also, be sure to take a close look at the "egg" and make sure the halves split in the right way to cut the shape you want. These carrots could have made an interesting barrel shape if the split went the long way around but unfortunately in this case the edge would only cut a circle.

Easter will be here before we know it! Be sure to go check out the eggs, you never know what you might find!

Christmas Angel Cookies

2012-12-21T02:05:00.001-08:00

This post is short and sweet today because I don't have much to say other than Merry Christmas!

The cookies were cut with this beautiful new frame cutter by Karen's Cookies and then they were decorated in the usual way. There are a lot of details on these but the techniques are always the same! I found inspiration for the angels in a series of figurines by artist Karen Hahn.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I pray you know the true meaning of this blessed season!

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Coffee Cup cookies and Gift Card Cookie Toppers

2012-12-18T02:10:00.000-08:00

One of my first projects when I started decorating cookies last year were these Christmas Latte cookies. I always thought they would be cute cookies to give along with a gift card especially if you have someone who likes coffee houses on your list. So I decided I would make them again and include a super easy DIY gift card topper too!

When I first made the latte cookies I used a cupcake cutter and hand cut the sides down a little longer to make the cup. That works okay but I don't like hand cutting cookies so I came up with a new way. I also like this way better because there's also a space for the cup-cozy wrapper.

For these cookies I used a cupcake cookie cutter and a wedding cake cookie cutter. Both cutters are sold in a party set by Wilton and are available at most craft stores. Cut both shapes from your cookie dough.
Use the long edge of the wedding cake cutter to trim both shapes. I use this cake cutter quite a bit for making straight cuts like this and cutting little corners.
Piece the two shapes together before baking.

Be careful with the pieced cookies until they have cooled completely so they won't break at the seam.
Outline the cookie in piping icing. You'll notice I filled the little peak of whip cream in the piping stage. Tiny areas like this often get cracks or craters in them while they are drying and filling them in while the lines are wet helps prevent that from happening.
Flood the cookie letting each section dry a bit before filling the ones next to it. The "snow" dots were added while the flood icing was still wet.
Let the flood layer dry for several hours or overnight and then add all the fun details with the piping icing.

To make a simple gift card topper to go with these cookies, or any cookies, start with a sheet of card stock. Cut the card stock at least 4" wide. Standard sheets are 8.5" by 11" so you can get two from each sheet but if your cookies are wider then cut accordingly. Fold about three inches from a long end of the card stock down to make a flap and staple or tape a bagged cookie under the flap.
Cut a small card stock rectangle a little larger than the gift card and cut a small notch at the top. Glue the rectangle to the front of the flap to make a pocket. Gift cards measure 3 3/8" by 2 1/8" so you want to add about a quarter of an inch to each side and to the bottom so you have room still slip the card in the pocket once it's glued down. Embellish your topper as you like!

(The snowman marshmallows pictured above are an idea from SweetSugarBelle's blog. I thought they would be cute as minis on cocoa cookies!)

Christmas is coming up fast, I hope all your plans are going well!

Christmas Bellies Cookie Tutorial

2012-12-14T01:58:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite designs for Christmas is the Santa Belly. I love how you can wrap a black band around anything red and instantly you have Santa. I figured why stop at Santa and went and made the whole North Pole crew! These may be the funnest cookies I've ever made. Somehow they came together effortlessly and I think I giggled the whole time!

It was this butterfly cutter from an Easter set of cookie cutters sold last year at Wal-Mart that first got me started. I was looking through my cutters for another project and instantly I saw a dress with curly-toed shoes in this one. I actually squealed when I saw it in the cutter! If you didn't get this set last year you can get close to the shape by piecing a little bit of a flower to any other butterfly.
After cutting the shape I pressed in a little dough to fill the space cut out between the legs and the dress. It may have been cuter to leave it cut out, but I didn't want to risk the little legs breaking off. I also added a little bit to make the bodice more modest but if you wanted a more risque "Santa Baby" cookie, you could go that way :)

For the rest of the belly cookies I used a variety of different cutters. The butterfly was used again for Mrs. Claus. The carrot from the same Easter set became the reindeer belly. the elf is an ice cream cone that has been smooshed to be wider and Santa is a snowman face by Wilton.

As much as I would like to be able to take pictures of every step along the way, my kitchen is just not set up for it. The top pic here is after the first stage of piping and filling. You can see how basic the decorating is at this stage. Outline each shape in royal icing and fill it in. Allow the sections to dry for a little while before you add the section next to it and then let the base dry over night and you can start the fun part of adding all the details!
The "jingle bells" are white candy pearls that I colored gold by brushing them with yellow food color and a touch of luster dust in a little bowl before placing them onto the wet icing.

I hope all your Holiday plans are going off without a hitch!
Have a great weekend!

Christmas Stocking Cookie Tutorial

2012-12-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about these cookies. While I was making them I didn't like them. Not at all. Then was I finishing them up with the details I started liking them a little more. So I don't know if I was just in a weird mood or what. Really, how can one hold a grudge against cookies? Regardless I like the idea of them, even if I'm not crazy how they turned out.

To make stocking cookies start by picking any cutter that would work for a present like a teddy bear or a doll, a car, a square for an iPad or whatever strikes your fancy. Also, grab a stocking cookie cutter while you're at it.

Trim the toy with the stocking cutter and piece the two shapes together on your baking sheet. Once the cookies are baked and cooled they will be strong enough to hold together.
The decorating here is pretty basic, just piping and filling while letting one section dry for a bit before adding the next section
It's in the details where the decorating starts getting fun. I used a small paintbrush and food color to draw the stitching lines but you can use food color markers if you prefer. The amazing cookie artist LilaLoa can show you how to make a white food color marker if you don't like to use a brush.

You could use a present cutter instead of a stocking to make cute gift cookies too. I liked the idea of putting a puppy in the box but oddly enough there aren't very many puppy face cookie cutters out there. For some reason sets seem to come with a kitty face and the full dog. Odd. The bottom of this Wilton snowman makes a good puppy face though.
Use the long edge of the gift cutter to cut the top off the snowman and to cut the lid off the present box. Piece the puppy face to the bottom of the present box and the lid on his head.
Again the decorating is pretty basic. The red dots were added wet-on-wet and then the little white dots inside were added with white food color when everything was dry.

This would also be a good project for making cookie ornaments!
I hope your Christmas season is going well!

Not-So-Fancy Plaque Cutters

2012-11-15T13:26:00.001-08:00

I love how my favorite cookie artists round out their cookie platters with a few of those fancy frame cookies all decked out with pretty borders and fonts! The problem...I don't own any fancy plaque cutters. Not a one. Since half the posts on my blog start with I don't own a ________ cutter, I'm not going to let that stop me! (As a side note this is a very bizarre phenomenon because I own hundreds and hundreds of cookie cutters....)

In order to add fancy frame beauty to my cookie platters I've come up with two general ways to approach cutting a fancy plaque from other cookie cutters I have on hand.

1. Rotate the Cutter and Cut Again- The basic idea of this approach is simply that you cut the shape from the cookie dough and then rotate the cutter to create an interesting shape in the overlap and cut again.

I made these hot air balloon cookies for my Mom's birthday recently and I used the balloon cutter to also cut a couple of plaques. Even if I did own all the beautiful copper plaque cutters in the world I would still cut plaque cookies this way because I like how it repeats design elements I've already used in the rest of the platter!

I love the simplicity of the this plaque made from rotating a skull cutter. It's basically just an oval but with a little flair.

I used the skull cutter for this plaque too but i also cut the sides with a small point of something for more interest. Rotating and cutting like this tends to give a plaque on the small side (but not quite a mini plaque) and they are perfect for just one word!

Some tips to keep in mind for cutting plaques this way;

the cutter must be symetrical side to side so that the cut is the same when you rotate the cutter.
look for cutters that are large with few details
the resulting plaque will be on the small side because the final piece is well inside the original cutter.

2. Trim a basic shape - This idea to this approach is to cut a basic shape like a circle or square and then trim it out with part of another cutter.

These plaque cookies are from a recent set I made of Coca-Cola polar bear cookies. Again, I chose a shape from the other cookies I was making and used the ears of the bear to trim the plaque cookie.
The purple "cutter" here isn't actually a cookie cutter at all. It's a random lid from I don't know what but it has a perimeter edge so that makes it a cookie cutter in my world. I wasn't lying when I said there was nothing fancy about these cutters!

I used the purple lid here again and cut on all four sides with a gingerbread girl cutter to give the plaque a large scalloped edge.

I trimmed a hexagon just a tiny bit with a butterfly cutter for this one. This plaque is pretty big and you could write a poem on it if you wanted.

A few tips for cutting a plaque from a basic shape;

You have a lot more control over the size of the final cookie with this method. The final plaque will be much closer to the original cutter because you are only cutting a little here and there. It's easy to cut large plaques or minis and everything in between.
Only one edge of the trimming cutter is important so don't worry about what the rest of it is doing.
Look for cutters that have detailed edges that aren't too deep like bumpy pumpkins, car wheels, animal heads and feet.
The cutting edge of the trimming cutter has to be symmetrical but the entire cutter does not. For example, the wheels of a train cutter are symmetrical to each other even though the train cutter is not symmetrical overall.

When I make plaque cookies I'm usually only adding a couple to an entire set so I don't worry about reproducing the same shape again and again. Of course, it can be tricky to line up all those cuts back in the same place every time. If you create a shape you really like or if you are in a bind and can't get a fancy plaque delivered in time to make dozens of cookies then I suggest making a template out of plastic by tracing and rotating the cutter in the same way you would if you were cutting. Cut out your template with scissors and you can place it on the dough and use it as a guide for your cutter so all the plaque cookies will be the same.

If you make plaque cookies this way I'd love to see them! You can leave a link here in the comments section or post them to my Facebook wall.

Coca-Cola Polar Bear Cookie Tutorial

2012-11-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

I love the series of commercials that Coca-Cola plays at the holiday season every year of polar bears getting ready for Christmas. They are so cute I had to make them into cookies! I had decided that I wasn't going to post Christmas cookies before Thanksgiving and these don't count! I'm sure the polar bears are up there drinking Coke year round.

To make these cookies you will need:

the sitting bear cookie cutter from the Wilton Baby Theme Cookie Cutter Set
white royal icing in a stiff piping consistency, a 15-20 count consistency, and a thinner flood consistency.
black and red 15-20 count royal icing.
I made royal icing transfers for the Coca-Cola bottle and the red ball but cola flavored gummy candies are just the right size too!

For steps 1 and 2 outline the head and body of the polar bear with piping icing and flood.
When the base has dried for several hours add the ears and muzzle in 20 count royal icing and let the cookies dry overnight.
Use a dot of icing to attach a dried Cola bottle icing transfer or gummi candy to the belly of the bear. Outline the head, body, arms and feet in a sloppy jagged line with the stiff royal icing to create a "furry" edge. You can use a toothpick to pull some of the lines into little points here and there to add to the texture.
Finish the cookies by adding face details in black royal icing and add the pads to the feet in 20 count icing.

My initial idea was to dust the pads of the feet with pink petal dust once they were dry but I wasn't sure I liked the effect so I didn't add it to all the cookies. Which do you like better the pink feet or the white?

I used the same general process as above to make the bear faces. I cut the faces using a standing bear cookie cutter from the Wilton 101 Cookie Cutter Set. I then either trimmed the head with a round cookie cutter for some of the bear faces or hand cut the scarf for the others.

These were such a fun set to make! We're really starting to get into the swing of the holiday season and I hope you are enjoying it!

(As a side note; the Coca-Cola polar bears, the famous green bottle and the wave logo are trademarked by the Coca-Cola bottling company. You should only make these cookies for fun and to share with your friends and family!)

Simple Tree Cookies with a Twist on Fall Color

2012-11-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been playing with the idea of using unexpected color to give simple seasonal designs more visual impact. I love the look of stylized trees on cards and such and I knew they would make beautiful and easy cookies.

Continuing with the idea from my last color post for Halloween I wanted to try playing around with the colors of fall. I think that as long as you use the expected shapes for a given season then you can use pretty much use any color scheme you like and it will still feel right. That's my theory anyway.

There are many ways to pick a color scheme but again I'm going to use the color wheel. The usual colors for fall are various shades and tints of red, orange and yellow. On the color wheel these colors are all right next to each other which is known as analogous color in color theory. Fall color schemes also have a little pop of green color from the other side of the wheel.

To choose a different color scheme with similar relationships we can simply rotate the color wheel to another set of analogous colors. In this case I chose purple blue and green for my analogous colors and a little bit of yellowish orange from the other side of the wheel. I also used a darker blackish brown and threw in a little spot of red violet just because I had it on hand.

For these color exercises I am trying to keep the overall design and decorating of the cookies as simple as I can. These tree cookies were cut using a variety of leaf cookie cutters. There is also a pumpkin or an apple cutter thrown in there. I used a letter "I" cookie cutter to cut a longer and straighter stem onto the leaves so they would be more like trees but that could be done just as easily with a sharp knife. I base-coated the baked cookies in white flood icing and let them dry overnight. Then I used a thicker flood icing (about a 20 count) to add the trunk and dots for leaves to the cookies. These are great cookies if you need something quick and easy!

You could easily use this simple technique to make a tree cutter out of basic shapes too like circles and ovals too but because I'm changing the color scheme up I wanted the shapes to have a very expected fall shape to keep the design in season.

The cool tones also give the color scheme a hint of the coming winter but I think the little bit of yellow still keeps them in the fall season. What are your favorite colors for fall?

Halloween Color to Die For

2012-10-27T03:11:00.002-07:00

If you want to make holiday cookies that have big impact but are still simple to make I have a great trick for you! Let the color do the heavy lifting. It's true, the easiest way to add interest to basic cookies is with unexpected color.

Our minds tend to gloss over things that are expected so color that is unusual will draw attention. There are many different ways you could go about choosing a fresh color scheme for your holiday cookies but for this post I want to do a little introduction on how to use the color wheel to choose colors based on their relationship to each other. I hope to do more posts like this in the future so I'll ease into this and keep it brief.

The locations of the traditional Halloween colors of orange, green and purple on the color wheel form what is called a triad in color theory. A triad is three colors that are equally spaced from one another. Black and white also play a big part in Halloween color and for this purpose I'm going to think of them as a dark neutral and a light neutral.

To play with the Halloween color scheme I simply rotated the color wheel a bit and chose a different triad. My final colors are not an exact triad but they are in the general ball park of blue, red and yellow. I changed the black and white up a bit too by choosing a dark charcoal grey in place of black and a pale grey for white. These colors are not at all traditional Halloween colors but they still work beautifully.

All of the cookies were cut from a basic set of Halloween cookie cutters that I found on clearance last year at the grocery store and similar sets are easy to come by at craft stores and department stores too. It's important when choosing a non-traditional color scheme to keep your shapes and icons VERY traditional so you don't lose the holiday feel. The decorating here is also very simple. Everything was done in easy outline and flooding and finished off with a few dots and lines for details and black sugar sprinkles. Adding a completely unexpected color scheme gives the cookies an impact they wouldn't have otherwise.

Here are a few resources that can also help you choose a more creative color scheme;

ColorQ is a paper-crafting challenge blog that hosts weekly color challenges for card makers. Their archives are a fantastic place to see different color schemes in action.
Photo Card Boutique has an extensive collection of color schemes. Pick any one and put it on a cookie!
Color Scheme Designer is a good place to play with a color wheel online. You can see the different color relationships and variations in action.

Enjoy your weekend!

Wizard Cookie Puzzles

2012-10-24T11:17:00.003-07:00

One of my favorite parts of cookie decorating is playing around with the different shapes. Sometimes when I see something unexpected in a cookie cutter shape I literally squeal with delight. Lately, I've been playing with the idea of combining several cookies into a large picture like a cookie puzzle. I've seen several cookie artists make sets like these so I had to try it. I found inspiration from East Coast cookies, Montreal Confections and SweetSugarBelle for these cookies.

If I added all the detail of the boy wizards with their cauldrons on one cookie it would have been far too complicated. By splitting the wizard into three regular sized cookies I can add detail and still have fairly basic cookies. Plus which, a set like this would make an excellent gift box!

It was this bat cookie cutter from the Halloween department at JoAnn fabric that started me thinking about wizard cookies because I could see it as a cloak. I used a face cutter to trim the top of the shape and a cauldron cutter to trim the bottom so that the cookie puzzle would fit together. Chocolate roll out cookies don't usually spread so I didn't have to worry about them not fitting together after they were baked.

I used an ice cream cone cookie cutter to cut all of the heads and to trim the cloaks. For the old wizard and the apprentices I lifted the point of the cone and gently curved it to the side before baking. If the dough is cold or stiff it may crack along the curved edge, but you can smooth it back together with your fingers.

For the cauldron cookies I used...a cauldron! Every cookie doesn't have to be made from an unusual cutter. Use what works! I also used a skull cutter for some of the cauldrons because I wanted to be able to add vapor wisps and there isn't room for that on the basic cauldron.

I wanted to make the cookies look like the wizards were peering into a glowing cauldron so I added a pale blue highlight to the underside of all the planes facing the light. The chin, lip, bottom of the nose and the eye sockets all light up when the light is coming from below. I also added the "light" to the cloaks to hightligh the drape of the fabric.

What do you think does this effect work? Personally, I think it's pretty cool. I photographed a few of the cookies without adding the blue piping details for comparison.. I think both ways are very cute, but I like the pop the electric blue gives the cookies.

I think the idea of the mood lighting works best when the cookie puzzles are assembled so you can get the whole idea. If these were just being arranged on a platter I might not include the dramatic light in the piping detail.

These wizards are definitely my favorite cookies I've made to date! From the conception to the finish I had so much fun with them. I hope you like them too!

Patterned Owl Cookies

2012-10-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love owls? I mean as a design element anyway. If you had an owl living near your house you might not appreciate him much at 3:00 in the morning, but they make for pretty cookies!

I've been looking at a lot of paper crafts lately for cookie inspiration and I wanted to do a set of cookies that had the feel of the embossed patterned papers on handmade cards. I wanted all the attention to be on the pattern and the texture of the owls so I chose a muted color scheme. I didn't have any specific reason for choosing owls other than I like them and I wanted to use these new cutters I found!

I found the cutters for my fat and skinny owls in a cookie cutter set at Wal-mart. The cutters are "supposed" to be a vintage style coin purse and a dress. They came packaged with another dress and a shoe as part of a couture set but I immediately saw a chubby owl in the coin purse and the skinny owl wasn't far behind. The "purse" cutter would have been super cute for an owl cookie just as it was with the clasp becoming little feathers on his head, but I wanted the silhouettes of both the thin and fat owls to be the same so I used the bottom of the cutter to trim the top of the head.

The base for the cookies is fairly simple decorating. I used a card stock template to draw the eyes so they would be even. I then outlined and filled alternating sections in 15 count royal icing. After letting the icing dry an hour or so I filled the next section and then let the entire cookie dry overnight before adding the beak and the piping lines.

At this point you could make the cookies as simple or as fancy as you like. They look good with just a few lines outlining the wings and head or you can add lot of detail which is what I was going for.

I suppose doing this much piping takes some time but it isn't difficult. It all breaks down to just dots and lines. I had originally planned to add little orange feet to all the owls as well, but after I had all the lines piped I was worried those pesky icing craters would become a problem due to all the little creases. I didn't feel the need to push my luck so I left them as they were.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Silly Pumpkin Faces with Royal Icing Transfers

2012-09-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween is right around the corner....

Hehe, it has a way of sneaking up on you doesn't it? When you want to make fresh and tasty holiday cookies you have to do all that work in the midst of the holiday craziness but there is a simple trick for doing a lot of your decorating well in advance by using royal icing transfers. Icing transfers are made using the same royal icing you decorate cookies with except you pipe and fill on wax paper or parchment paper and then let them dry. The dried transfers will keep for a long time and you can make your cookies fresh when you want them and decorate them in a flash with your pre-made icing decorations.

Icing transfers are also a much less stressful way of decorating because there is really more tracing then drawing involved and you don't have to hold your breath and pipe directly on your cookies. Plus, sometimes pesky little air bubbles and craters mess up your work, but they don't seem to be as big of a problem when making transfers.

To get started you will need drawings or clip art of funny faces for your pumpkins. Stickers are a good source of pumpkin faces too. Or you can use the faces I drew, I won't mind!

Click on the images to view and save them at full size. I used the Wilton comfort-grip pumpkin cutter for my cookies and the drawings should print at the right size for that cutter.

Tape your drawing down to a cookie sheet or a smooth board under a piece of parchment paper. You will easily be able to see your design through the paper and then it's just a matter of filling in each section.

You can either outline all in black and then fill everything in or do a section at a time letting them dry a bit in between. Using the black outline is a little faster but I prefer to work without the outline. I like the texture and dimension of the puffy icing and I also worry about bleeding issues with the black icing. Whichever approach you choose allow the transfers to dry for a couple of days and then "glue" them to the cookie with small dots of icing.

The transfers will keep for a long, long time so if you are going to wait to use them be sure to put them away in a safe dry place and make extras in case any crack.
It is the small finishing details that really make cookies like this come to life. Add the thin details like eyebrows and expression lines directly to the cookie. And don't forget little whites in the pupils of the eyes! It makes a huge difference.

Of course you aren't confined to just orange pumpkins!

And now for something REALLY cool! A few weeks ago the fantastic Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle approached some cookie friends with a challenge of doing something creative with a basic pumpkin cookie cutter. The faces I made are just one of over 20 more pumpkin projects! Be sure to visit all the blogs to see these awesome projects up close!

1.       Panda Calaveras, Miss Cuit
2.       Owl S’mores on a Stick, Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons
3.       Pumpkin Cheesecake Pasties, Bakingdom
4.       Halloween Pumpkin Wall, Arty McGoo
5.       Cocoa Krispies Trick or Treat Bears, Hungry Happenings
6.       Creative Cherry Cookies, Lila Loa
7.       The Ultimate Halloween Candy Bar, Dollhouse Bake Shoppe
8.       Halloween Pumpkin Carriage Cookie, Trilogy Edibles
9.       Easy Cheveron Pumpkin Cookies, Lizy B Bakes
10.   Pumpkin Fudge on a Stick, The Decorated Cookie
11.   Funny Face Pumpkin Cookies, Munchkin Munchies
12.   Woodland Owl Cookies, The Bearfoot Baker
13.   Pumpkin Cheesecake Hand Pies, Created by Diane
14.   Wide Eyed Owl Cookies, Simply Sweets by Honeybee
15.   Zombie Girl and Brains Cookies, Not Your Momma’s Cookies
16.   Cookie Cutter Pumpkin Fudge, The Partiologist
17.   3-D Pumpkin Cookie, Cookie Crazie
18.   Faberge-Style Pumpkin Coach, Oh, Sugar Events
19.   Peek-a-Boo Pumpkin Cupcake Topper, Sweetology 101
20.   Slimy Green Ghost Cookies, Pink Little Cake
21.   Silly Pumpkin Face Cookies, Klickitat Street
22.   Pretty Painted Pumpkin Cookies, Glorious Treats
23.   Lalaloopsie Cookies with a Twist, SweetSugarBelle

The Last Days of Summer with Surfers and Shark Cookies

2012-09-18T00:58:00.000-07:00

Here in the Pacific Northwest fall is ALMOST in the air. We've been gifted with an unseasonably warm spell before the rainy season starts up again but I know it will be here in a flash. I'm so excited that the holiday cookie season is right around the corner but first I have I get in one last nod to summer!

When I'm planning a cookie set I like to use the same cutter for different cookies if I can. I think it helps pull the design together when you repeat the shapes. For this set I used a shark from the Wilton Animal Cookie Cutters to cut the shark cookies and also to cut the surfboards by trimming the fins and the tail from the shark.

I could have made the entire platter from just these two cutters!

I also wanted the cookies to have a feel of summer and fall so I used colors from both to bridge the seasons. The blues and yellow are for summer and then yellow again with orange and brown for fall. I plan on doing several posts about choosing and mixing icing colors very soon but for now I'm just relaxing with the last of the sunny days!

I hope you are enjoying the last days of your summer!

Easy Firework Cookies

2012-06-29T00:24:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I posted rocket cookies that were made using a basic star cutter and I figured I'd show you how to make the fireworks too. The rockets are a little more time consuming but the fireworks are super easy and both can be cut from the same cutter! Yes, the fireworks were also cut from a star...can you see it?

What you'll need to make firework cookies;

star or sunburst cookie cutters
15 count royal icing in red, white, blue, yellow and a dark midnight blue for the base.

You can cut these cookies from a basic star cutter (which I did) or use a sunburst cutter. Either way they come out the same in the end. I like using the star cutters because I have them in many different sizes.

To start, cut the dough with the star cutter. Then rotate the cutter, center it, and cut again.
Remove all the outer pieces of dough and the remaining center will be a sunburst!

To decorate the cookies;

Outline and fill the cookies with midnight blue icing and allow the base to dry for several hours or overnight.
Choose a spot that will be the center of the firework burst and pipe gentle curves to the outer points of the cookie.
Finish the cookies by piping little stars here and there. If you are uncomfortable piping the stars directly on the cookie you can pipe them on wax paper and let them dry. Then you can choose the best stars and "glue" them to the cookie with a dot of icing.

That's all there is to it! The firework cookies look great on their own or make fun accents to other 4th of July cookies. You can visit this post for a tutorial on making the firework rockets.

I know a lot of people will be starting the Holiday early today. Stay safe and enjoy your weekend!

4th of July Rocket Cookies

2012-06-27T05:00:00.220-07:00

Oh my goodness I am so excited about today's post! You may have noticed I haven't been posting very often lately. For some reason I've been in quite the cookie funk the last few weeks and was even wondering if I'd lost my cookie mojo. But wouldn't you know it, right when I needed it most the super talented and very sweet Callye from SweetSugarBelle approached a few cookie friends with a challenge to create something special using a basic star cookie cutter. Not only was I completely blown away to be included in such a group of talented ladies, but this was just the push I needed to get back into cookie making again!

To make these firework rocket cookies you'll need:

a basic star cutter
15 count royal icing in red, white, blue, yellow and dark midnight blue
a sharp knife
template plastic

To cut the rocket cookies;

Start by cutting a basic star using the cookie cutter.
Using a sharp knife cut an arrowhead between two points of the star. It's easier to get a nice uniform cut if you use a little plastic template.
Carefully transfer both shapes to a baking sheet and make sure they are pieced together. Once the cookies are baked and cooled you shouldn't have problems with the seam breaking.

After the cookies have cooled completely outline and fill them in midnight blue royal icing. Allow the base to dry for several hours or overnight.
(I forgot to take pictures of the middle step, so digital cookies will have to do!) Outline and fill the firework in sections allowing each section to set about 30 minutes or so before filling the next section.
Finish the cookies by adding stripes and stars to the rockets. If you're hesitant about piping the stars directly on the cookies you can make them as icing transfers by piping them on wax paper and letting them dry. Once the stars are dry you can choose the best ones and attach them to the cookies with a little dot of icing.

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Can you believe this fabulous group of ladies have come up with another 20 things you can do with a simple star cutter? I am in awe of each and every one of them! Make sure you go visit all their sites to see these wonderful creations close up!

Bees on Flower cookies

2012-05-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have just a short little post today on how to make quick and easy bee cookies using a basic flower cutter. While bee cookie cutters are easy to find I like that you can vary the size and style of the bee easily by using a flower. These cookies were part of a special set that included Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh so I wanted the bees to be cartoon like. Plus which, I like that there's a little pun of sorts in putting bees on flower shapes.

I have decided that one of my big cookie goals is to learn how to use one consistency of icing for everything from piping to filling and details so I only need one piping bag for each color. I am far from having perfected it but with this set anyway I came pretty close! I love when that happens because there are plenty of cookies that don't come close at all. :)
I shoot for a 15-20 count icing for all steps and colors.

1. Start with cookies that have a smooth, dry base-coat. I used white but of course you could put your bees on colored flowers.
2. Outline the bee's body shape in yellow.
3. Immediately fill the body and allow the body to dry for an hour or so.

4. Once the body has dried a bit outline the wings in pale grey.
5. Immediately fill the wings.
6. Let the wings dry for a couple hours before adding details in black.

That's all there is to it! They are super easy and so cute!

The bee cookies were part of a set I made for my favorite aunt for her birthday. Like me, she owns a Dachshund and she also loves all things Eeyore. So I made her Doxie cookies dressed as Eeyore just for grins!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week! The weather here has finally turned warm and it's just gorgeous!

Cookies with A-vengence!

2012-05-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Avengers hits theaters tomorrow and I'm super excited! Of course I'm a bit of a nerd, (hello, I make cookies) but my nerdiness is completely random. I am not much of a Trekkie. The only think I really like about Star Trek is the recent movie where they basically re-wrote all of Star Trek. I loved Star Wars. I loathed the recent Star Wars prequels where they basically re-wrote all of Star Wars. Outside of the movies I know pretty much nothing about The Avengers. I think that's part of why I like all their movies so much because I have no idea if they did a good job or not capturing the characters or the story. I can just enjoy them for what they are. I knew quite a lot about the X-men going into those movies and I don't like them half as much.

Iron Man - The Iron Man movies are easily my favorite of the group! I probably should have made War Machine too just for grins but he isn't in the Avengers movie plus which I ate my extra cookie. Take that War.

Captain America - I loved that they stayed with the historic origins of this character and kept his movie set in the past. There had been rumors the first movie would be modern and set in Iraq or something which would have been epically stupid. His movie was excellent but it was just so sad!

Thor - Before his movie last summer all I knew about Thor was that if you are ever stranded in Chicago he'll give you a deal on tires. Still the movie was a lot of fun even if Queen Amidala was in it.

The Hulk - How much did I love Hulk as a little kid! There is yet another actor playing Bruce Banner in this movie but as the voice of the Hulk is still Lou Forrigno I hardly see how it matters.

Hawkeye ...yeah...I have no idea who this guy is at all. Apparently he doesn't wear his comic book costume in the movie but his real costume includes a purple mask! You better believe that's going on the cookie.

S.H.I.E.L.D agents Nick Fury and Black Widow - Samuel L. Jackson is pretty much awesome as everything even cookies!

I have another post planned in a day or so with mini tutorials on all this as well as a simplified version of The Avengers cookies but these are just too much fun not to post on their own!

Enjoy your weekend; I know I will!

Fruity Flavored Jelly Bean Cookies

2012-04-05T00:00:00.001-07:00

Today I just have a quick post on a fun and simple cookie project that I wanted to try. A while ago I was wondering if Kool-Aid could be used to color and flavor icing so I decided to give it a try on some fruity jelly bean cookies. It turns out Kool-Aid works pretty well to color icing even if it doesn't taste much like jelly beans. The taste is more tangy like Nerds candy. You can make the icing taste a bit like Sweet Tarts if you add too much Kool-Aid or Sour Patch Kids if you really add too much Kool-Aid.

These are super simple cookies to make. I don't have a jelly bean cookie cutter so I used half a jelly bean plastic egg to cut the cookies and then I didn't even bother with piping bags and just spread the icing with a small spatula. If you want to give this a try sometime be sure to start by adding just a little bit of Kool-Aid to the icing and work your way up to taste. I started with about 1/8 of a tsp or so in about a 1/4 of a cup of icing and went from there. If you want a more vibrant color you can always add more food coloring to the mix.

I hope you're enjoying your Easter preparations!

Stained Glass Window Cookies and an Easy Transfer Technique!

2012-03-29T01:55:00.002-07:00

Since I've started sharing my cookie making I've been asked several times how I draw my designs on my cookies. Whether I do it freehand or use an art projector as a guide, etc. I don't have money in the budget for a projector right now, so I have to do them freehand. I'm pretty good at drawing anyway and I don't usually try anything too complex or use fancy fonts or that sort of thing.

But then I decided I wanted to do a cookie painting project and make stained glass window cookies. I knew I wanted them to be as intricate as they could be. Plus which all the color is done in glazes, as opposed to opaque icing layers, so any mistakes in the drawing would show up in the final cookie. I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to easily transfer the design and also something that would be easy for the readers to do too. Like all great inspiration it came to me at 2 o'clock in the morning!

And it worked. And I was happy! I will show you how to do it and then you can be happy too!

I began by covering the cookies in a glaze icing tinted a pale yellow. I used glaze instead of royal icing this time because glaze has a translucent look to it and it also flattens out perfectly smooth. ( The glaze recipe is super simple; 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons corn syrup, 2 tablespoons milk.) I tinted it pale yellow because I wanted to be able to use white in some areas and the white had to stand out from the background. I also thought it would look like a warm light coming through the window. Let the cookies dry completely before you start decorating. If you use glaze, better give the cookies a couple days to dry.

Part 1 - Transferring the design to the cookie without a projector

To get started you'll need your design, a small liner paint brush, gel food coloring and a piece of heavy weight clear plastic vinyl like they sell in fabric stores for tablecloth covers.
Place the vinyl over the design and trace the design onto the vinyl with your black food coloring and brush. The food coloring will bead up a bit on the vinyl but that's okay as it's only going to be a guide.
After tracing the design flip the vinyl over and carefully position it on the cookie.
Hold the vinyl in place and gently rub the design onto the entire cookie. Be careful to always hold it in place, you don't want it to slip!
Gently lift the vinyl and you'll have a guide for piping or coloring! Easy right?!

You'll notice that the design on the cookie is the mirror image to your design because you flip the vinyl over. If the direction of the design is important, such as in writing, your design will need to be in reverse.

Part 2 - Painting the Cookie
Once you have the outline transfered to the cookie the painting is really just a matter of filling in each piece like a coloring book.

To create a transparent effect start by filling the section with a thin glaze of color.
While the area is still wet add a little more intense color and blend with a clean brush. (The white of the flowers is white icing color)
To make a delicately tinted "glass" first glaze a section with clean water.
Dab in a small amount of thinned color.
Blend with a clean brush.
Finish glazing the background with soft color of varying intensity.
Outline the sections in black. At first I had planned to do this step with black piping icing but some of my designs had too much detail and I was worried the sections were too small especially since I don't have any of the little size 0 decorating tips. I have a pretty steady hand so I finished them with the liner brush and black food coloring.

The Easter set of cookies at the top of the post was done the same way as the floral cookies but using a little more intense color.

A few tips for painting stained glass window cookies;

Start thin and work up to strong color. You can always add more, but it's difficult to take it away.
Don't over fuss the surface of the cookie with too many strokes and too much liquid. You run the risk of breaking down the smooth sugar finish of the base coat. Try to fill each section in as few strokes as possible. Using the biggest brush you can get away with will help keep you from over fussing an area.
Stained glass is often a mixture of transparent and opaque pieces of glass. Adding a little white icing color will give a milky opaqueness but can also make it look cold and chalky. Try adding a tiny bit of yellow to the white to warm it up.
Leave some areas empty like clear glass. It will give the eye a place to rest.
Dover Publications has many books on stained glass designs and their copyright allows for full use. Many of the books also come with CD-Roms of the designs which is also very helpful.

I would love some feedback on this project, especially if you try the transfer technique. I was wondering if food color markers would work as well, but I don't have any to try it out.

Happy Painting!