Christmas Cookie Decorating at ArtSpace!

It has been a really long day today... but satisfyingly so.  I was up at 5:00 this morning making 6 batches of royal icing for a cookie decorating demonstration at South Padre Island's ArtSpace.  I was ever so grateful not to be responsible for the cookie baking...Nancy Patterson handled that task.  I got a call Tuesday morning from Ann Smith asking if I would be willing to demonstrate Christmas cookie decorating at the December Craft Day at ArtSpace...and since she said someone else would bake, I quickly agreed.  I love to decorate cookies and the plan was to have all the crafters decorate the cookies to be served at their first annual Christmas Party.  I felt certain I could make it happen. 

I quickly decided to use the squeeze bottle technique I saw on the Martha Stewart Show  with Dani Fiore.  It makes the task quite easy for beginners and allows for better control and less mess when you have a group working together.  I've been using her method since I saw the show in February 2011 and rarely do I need to break out the piping bags and tips.  I felt certain I could impart Dani's wisdom to our little class.

I arrived at ArtSpace at 9:30 with a box bulging with 27 squeeze bottles of red, green, white, blue, and yellow royal icing and about 40+ different kinds of sprinkles, sugar balls, sparkly sugars, M&Ms, shredded coconut, snowflakes, stars, etc.  I brought along some tweezers, ramekins, and toothpicks (my best friends when decorating) and actually met Ann at the door with her sprinkles, more ramekins, little plates, papertowels, etc.  We were ready to get the show on the road.

I kept it pretty basic...we didn't have time, obviously, for allowing them to dry and make layers and layers of intricate designs...but we had FUN and I demonstrated the outlining, flooding, feathering, hearts, and other tidbits of knowledge I had gathered through trial and error and youtube!

There are a lot of photos and I'm posting a lot of them because I can't choose and each one has something different to offer.  Really clever and fun cookies - each one carefully created by the cookie artists around the table. 

Amazin' Walter had a penchant for the tie-dyed look (no surprise there) and Nancy and Ann worked on some Christmasy sea-life (perfect for the island).  It was the quietest craft day I've ever attended...people industriously working on their cookie creations while we listened to Christmas music.

Some neighbors just dropped in to see how it was going, sometimes making a cookie or two, others just "checking it out".  At the risk of sounded repetitious... it was FUN, FUN, FUN!

The holiday party was wonderful with a great turn-out.  Walter brought milk to go with the cookies...and there were snacks and wine for folks as they wandered and chatted and admired the gorgeous ceramics, artwork, decorations, and textiles on display (and for SALE!!!) at ArtSpace.  I didn't know the artists when they were just "Craft Camp"...but their evolution into the artisans and classes at ArtSpace is unique and perfectly "South Padre"...people working together to create a space where beauty is created from raw elements.  I love being there and I love the people I have come to know from being there.  Thanks for having me demonstrate - it was just a great day!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!