Love Birds Cookie Set {and a tutorial}

Over Christmas I received a bird cookie cutter, and have been dying to use it ever since. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought a "Love Birds" set would be really cute. Remembering some really neat Czech folk art that we had seen on a trip to Oklahoma last year, I decided to use that as inspiration for this sweet blue and pink cookie set.

Most of the cookies were pretty straight forward. I usually draw out my designs so that I know where I'm headed, and that certainly helped with some of the detail on the bird. But it was the LOVE cookie that I wasn't quite sure how to approach. I follow a lot of cookie decorator blogs, and have watched my fair share of tutorials, but haven't strayed much from the traditional pipe and flood method. So the LOVE cookie was the perfect opportunity to try out a transfer method that I had seen via the brilliant SweetAmbs blog and tutorial. I wanted the letters to be perfect, and wasn't sure that drawing them out directly on the cookie would get me there.

The idea behind the tissue paper transfer method is pretty simple. All you need is a dried cookie, tissue paper, an edible marker, and the design/text you want to use.

Step 1: Gather materials, and get your cookies on a raised surface if possible. This makes it easier to pipe designs without hunching over. (side note- the "Amy" stool that is use is from my childhood days, and while it cracks me up, I love using it for my cookie decorating.)

Step 2: Trace the design on the piece of tissue paper, using an edible marker. Place that tissue on top of your blank cookie, and trace the letters again- pressing hard enough for the marker to seep through.  Remove tissue paper.

Step 3: Use your piping bag or bottle to outline and fill in the design. In this case, I did the opposite letters first and let them dry before doing the rest. This kept definitive lines between them.

That's it! Obviously not an ideal method if you're doing dozens of cookies- but I'm just not there yet. So for now, this allows me to get <nearly> perfect letters or designs on a few cookies that I add to a set. Again- brilliant!

I'm really happy with how this set turned out, and especially loved the color combo. Blue and pink just looks so pretty together. I also have to give a big thank you to my talented friend and neighbor, Studio Mama B.,  who took the pretty pictures of the finished set. I've been torturing you all with ugly iPhone pictures, so it's nice to have some that look way more professional. Thank you Caroline!!