Sunset Hearts (Cookie Celebration LLC)

I loved doing this set!  I am challenging myself with the petal dusts lately and for this set I used the red Wilton Petal Dust on the hearts.  I am going to post a tutorial this week.  Royal Icing flowers - I use the toothpick technique to make my roses, especially when they are this tiny.

Love the colors and designs on these hearts . Awesome work Diane!! I'm really looking forward to your tutorial. I've tried the toothpick method when making smaller roses and it works but it's harder for me to work with the toothpick rather than the nail for some reason...The stiff RI seems to slide down the toothpick. Is there a specific secret to prevent this from happening? I love the look of these smaller roses .

Love this set, Diane! What tip did you use for the roses?

Cookies Fantastique by Carol posted:

Love the colors and designs on these hearts . Awesome work Diane!! I'm really looking forward to your tutorial. I've tried the toothpick method when making smaller roses and it works but it's harder for me to work with the toothpick rather than the nail for some reason...The stiff RI seems to slide down the toothpick. Is there a specific secret to prevent this from happening? I love the look of these smaller roses .

Thank you Carol!  These are quite fun to do and they are small - not quite minis but smaller than my average 3 3/4" - 4" cookies.  As for the toothpick method, I totally understand what is happening as this occasionally happens to me.  So, what I have found is two-fold.  First, I take either lard or coconut oil (solid form) and lightly coat the tip with it, not too much, just enough to be able to get the finished flower off once dried.  Second, I use a round tip (#3) to get a small blob of icing on the tip of the toothpick.  This, is not so easy as you describe.  I keep a little water next to me and place the hole of the tip directly onto the toothpick and squeeze to let a blob of icing flow out.  I then moisten my fingers and shape it slightly so that a) it is in the shape of a ball, b) there is not pointy tip on the top, and c) it is pretty solid on the toothpick.  I then wait for the round blob of icing to dry for about an hour before I go back in and pipe the petals.  This sounds like a lot of steps but it really takes more words to describe than it takes to do!  Before you pipe the petals, make sure the round blob of icing does not move on the toothpick.  If it does, adhere some more icing along the bottom and let it setup again.  Once the round blob dries I usually have great success with piping the petals and removing the flower.  I do use very stiff royal icing.  The #101s tip helps a lot too as it is a very tiny version of the #101 tip.  Hope this helps Carol.  Good luck!

Manu posted:

Love this set, Diane! What tip did you use for the roses?

Thank you Manu!  I used a #101S tip (as opposed to the #101 tip).  It is a much smaller version of the regular #101 tip.

Gorgeous set, Diane! Love the way you made those tiny leaves...

Another bullseye. Perfect color combination, couldn't be prettier. 

Thanks for the pre tutorial section on how to make the tiny roses.  I'll be sure to check your blog for the complete tutorial.   BTW I love your blog!  One of the best. 

These sherbet colors are so pretty, and the decorations look like little floral buntings!  Love!

swissophie posted:

Gorgeous set, Diane! Love the way you made those tiny leaves...

Thank you Sonja!

really pretty.