Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing Glaze

This is the first set of cookies that I've made after returning from Cookie Con, where I was able to use a few things that I learned.

Surprisingly, the presentation from Glory of  Glorious Treats about photography influenced these cookies the most.

The tidbit that hit me the hardest wasn't even about photography really.

At one point, she showed photos of some very simple tulip cookies.  The photos ranged from being not great (shot on a cookie sheet) to being amazing (shot in pots of wheat grass).  She pointed out that the tulips were very simple cookies, yet still totally adorable.  That reminded me that I'm often attracted to the simplest of cookie designs.

I see so many fabulous tutorials out there, have tons of cutters that I'd love to play with and have all of these big plans for highly detailed cookies.  There are so many techniques and designs that I'm itching to try.  Sometimes when I'm decorating, I just can't stop.  I keep adding stuff!  Glory's presentation reminded me to keep things simple.  Simple can still be cute, beautiful, fun, etc.

Simple can also make decorating lots of cookies much more doable and enjoyable!

With that in mind, I came up with Thanksgiving cookies that I'll be offering this year.  I didn't go crazy with the number of colors or cutters.  I kept the designs simple.  That was almost hard.  I was tempted to add more details here and there but I held myself back.  I'm glad I did.

I actually adore this whole set.  I love the colors.

Here's Mr. Turkey.  I used a large flower cutter for his body, cut across the bottom and inserted a mini flower for his feet . . .

No extra details on Tom.

Three different pumpkins and a mini.  I thought about making the stems green, then adding leaves and tendrils.  Nope.  That would require another color, consistency, and tip.  Simple . . .

Fall flowers.  I was REALLY tempted to add details to the petals.  I wanted to pipe or paint lines from the centers.  Self control . . .

Fall Leaves.  My plan originally was to make them with three colors on each leaf and do some marbling.  I refrained.  The veins were done wet-on-wet.

The mini acorns.  Originally I was going to make two different colors of brown.  To simplify, I just went with one.  The tops needed a little something so I painted those lines on a la Arty McGoo.  She was another presenter at Cookie Con and showed us how to paint on cookies.  I really, really wanted to add painted touches on all of these cookies.  Once again, I refrained.  Dang, I didn't know I possessed such self control (or that self control was something needed in cookie decorating!).

Did you happen to notice my photos?  Not bad, huh?  Glory gave us some tips on lighting that really helped.  I also put more thought into the background.  Usually for me, it's always a white plate on a white background.  I was trying to keep *that* simple, but realize now that it was booooring.  I love the pop of orange behind the white dish!

I came away from Cookie Con totally inspired by the amazing instructors and ladies that attended.  The talent and the generosity to share their knowledge is pretty unbelievable.

I'm glad to be part of the cookie world!  :)