Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

I wanted to try making decorated sugar cookies. Not the typical kinds with frosting and sprinkles, but some 'fancier' ones. Since Matt's sister was having a bridal shower I figured I would make some for that. I even used a cookie cutter that we had from our wedding favors. My friend Monica helped me decorate them (the whole thing is a pretty long process!) which was really nice.
They turned out pretty good, especially since neither of us had made any like this before. I had one color of frosting the perfect hot pink color but then I was pretty dissappointed when it dried as red. I didn't know it would dry so much darker! I'm not going to list the recipes for these, but I will post the links to the ones I used as well as the techniques. The first day I made the cookies and started the monograms. The next morning I finished the monograms then that evening decorated the cookies and let dry overnight. The next day they got packaged.
The cookies tasted good and the icing is pretty much what I expected. Royal icing is for the looks, not the taste. It's not bad, but it's no where near as good as regular frosting. It would also work well to use to build gingerbread houses. If you're going to try something like this, I suggest reading some tutorials and tips first to learn things like how to prevent air bubbles, about the consistency of the frosting and why it matters and also just to learn some cool tricks, etc. Sweetopia and Bake at 350 have some great tips and tutorials. I'm really amazed at what some people can do with these. Although I don't think i'd be able to put so much time into it, even if Rylee did allow it.

Sugar Cookies (I didn't use the icing on this page, only the cookie recipe)
Royal Icing (you can also find recipes that don't use meringue powder, since it's a little pricey. But this is the one I used)

Tutorial on How to Marble Royal Icing (soo easy!)
Monogrammed Cookies tutorial (again, very simple but takes a little patience)