Hedgehog Cookies

Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table The other day on facebook, someone shared a link to lots of fabric, including some colorful hedgehogs. I was smitten! They were so cute and colorful,  providing just the inspiration I needed to get crackin’ on Lilaloa’s (She’s fabulous!) August challenge: painting on cookies:) Of course, I am coming in just under the wire, deadline-wise!  Good thing I saw the hedgehogs…
Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table Isn’t this fabric CUTE?!?  Now I can’t seem to find the site or the originator to link to/give credit to (I usually write it down).  Arrrgh! {Update 9/4: I found some of this fabric listed on ebay.  I think it is Timeless Treasures fabric.} To assist in decorating the cookies, I copied the fabric image onto card stock and then cut out two hedgehogs as templates, one facing each direction. I suppose I could have just flipped one over for the opposite direction:) Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table This is one of my favorites:)
Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table Here’s a look at my messy work space. I also had a cup of water right above the paper towels. Do you see the templates above the cookie*?  I centered one on each cookie and traced around it with a coordinating food marker, which helped tremendously in painting the cookies. Other than the marker template tracing, paint (gel) was used exclusively. (I never did use the sharp etching tool in the upper right of the photo.) A wide variety of gel food colors came in very handy for these colorful critters, though I sometimes could not tell which color was which until I dabbed it on the paper towel.  Maybe I should have put them in some sort of order in the wells of the mixing tray, or labeled them somehow.  A couple of times some of the paint ended up where I didn’t want it, but the cotton swabs helped perfectly to dab up any mistakes.
*This cookie was the odd man out.  As #13, he wouldn’t fit in the photo:)
Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table Some of the hedgehogs were made a bit more girly by adding a bright, daisy sprinkle to adorn them. That makes six boys and six girls:) Each cookie is 4-inches by 3-inches.

I had so much fun painting these cookies!  I found the gel colors very easy and forgiving to work with. I just used one paintbrush the entire time, the smallest (#0) in the cheap inexpensive pack. The paper towel was a must to dab the brush on, and of course the water was essential for dipping the brush to dilute the paint and to rinse between colors. An extra cookie may be helpful too, for practice.  Before starting to paint, make sure your cookies are completely dry.

Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table Btw, this lime green fabric is actually the pretty side of a table runner sent to me by Scribble Linens (Thank you, Sarah). The other side is chalk cloth:) It’s such a fun, versatile product! You really must check out their site! You can also see it HERE on my recent post.

Hedgehog Cookies

A variety of gel food coloring (I used AmeriColor)

Food coloring markers (AmeriColor)

Paint mixing tray 

Paper towels

Small paint brush(es)

Cotton swabs

Cup of water

Sprinkles and/or other adornments (optional) 

1.  After you have baked and iced your cookies, let them dry completely.

2.  Using a template, outline your subject with food markers.  For a novice like me, this was very helpful, since the cookie is not shaped like the subject.

3.  Put a dollop of each gel color you will be using in separate wells of the paint mixing tray.

4.  Fill a shallow cup with clean water, set out a couple of paper towels and your brush(es). Also, have a few cotton swabs nearby to dab up mistakes.

5. Paint away!  If you want a more dense color, don’t dilute. If you want a lighter color, dip the brush in water and blot it on the paper towel. You don’t want too much water on your royal icing, though I didn’t have any problem with that. Experiment.

6.  In painting the hedgehogs, I didn’t wait for any additional drying time before adding the details. As soon as I filled in the body and head, I then added the design on the body and the face details. I used the brush for the nose, mouth and whites of the eyes, but for the iris, I used the paint brush handle.  I dipped the end of the brush handle tip straight down into the black gel, did one “blot” on the side of the mixing tray and then applied it straight down onto the white eye, and then lifted it straight up. Ta da!

7.  Let dry. 

8.  Admire your cookie art:)

9.  Most importantly, have fun; I sure did!

Thank you Georganne (Lilaloa) for hosting a fun challenge each month!  I loved this one!

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Hedgehog Cookies, Lay The Table

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