Painted Tropical Leaf Cookies

 I hadn't intended to write a post about these painted tropical leaf cookies ( I thought), but then I found a photo I'd taken in the course of making them. So I must have intended, after all ...! 

Only one photo *sigh* 

I scrolled back and forth through the camera roll, but still ... only one. 🙈

These are seriously simple, though. So a written explanation will easily suffice: 

The lonely photo

• Flood cookies with dusky pink royal icing. Allow to dry completely. 
• I airbrushed a pearl sheen on top; you could dry brush on luster dust, or just omit this step.
• Mix powder food colouring with a very small quantity of clear alcohol, or water. 
• Prepare 2 shades of green - one dark, and one light.  
• Look up "tropical leaf template" on Pinterest for ideas 
• Use a graphite pencil (non-toxic) to outline the tropical leaves on the cookie 
• Paint over the outline with a fine paintbrush using the darker green. 
• Allow to dry, then paint in the rest of the colour, using a combination of the dark and light greens. 
• The trick with painting onto royal icing, is to avoid going over recently painted areas with more paint - too much moisture dissolves the icing. Rather allow coats to dry in between applications, or complete an area with one application of paint only. 

... dissolving canvases - a horror only sugar-artists would understand!

Happy decorating!

xxM