Well.....it is about time I got to Valentines Day cookies. :)   Actually I decorated hearts a couple of weeks ago.....but the snowmen revolted and took charge. hee hee
I've got several simple tutorials to share with you for making some fun patterns on hearts. So here we go.....  




  The day I did these cookies was one of those "happy days". Everything was "right with the world".....if you know what I mean.   It was snowing outside....which always makes me happy.  




    It was bright and cheery, warm and wonderful inside.....

And I was getting to decorating cookies.....which always makes for a good day. :)


 So I got a little CRAZIE with the photos. ha ha

I was enthralled with how pretty these Americolor gels looked all staged together.....so I just HAD to take a photo of them too. :)


But I digress.....back to the heart cookie tutorial.

For this particular heart pattern, I used a larger heart (over 4") to accommodate the border.
To make the border fairly uniform, I found a small heart cutter to trace a border line with a yellow food color marker.


It doesn't matter if the line's not perfect....because you're going to cover up your markings with icing.

Pipe a outline of the inner heart with a #2 round tip and then flood the inside with a #4 round tip.
(I use the same consistency icing for both outlining and flooding using the 10 second rule.)

I dry each "layer" or addition of icing with a heat gun to give it a nice sheen, lessen bleeding, and prevent sink holes (especially when doing small areas).  For more on the heat gun, check out this post.


Once the inner heart has dried for a while (at least 30 minutes), I add the outside border outline (with a #2 tip) and dry it with the heat gun.


 I let the outline dry for about 10 minutes, and then fill in the border with a #4 tip.
By letting the outline dry first, you get a more "puffy" look to the border.

At this point.......you can use your imagination and add whatever you'd like to this simple heart.
I forgot to take a photo of the addition of the writing "iloveyou" on the center heart and the white border dots and stitches I added when  the border was wet.
Both are simply done with white icing using a #1 and #0 tip.
But certainly don't limit yourself to my particular design.
Run with the basic idea and make it your own.

This was my first time using my new half sheet lids. This is a much prettier photo with all the happy hearts inside than the ones I took of just the plain pans and lids. :)

And the finished heart.......

 Much more to come.

You can also check out my Valentines cookies from last year. I went a little CRAZIE as usual. ;)

Valentine's Day.....here we come!