I don’t personally have an Elf on the shelf. (Probably since I think it’s creepy don’t have children). I do enjoy all the fun things elves “do.” I also enjoy the magic and the fun in the season. Two of my nephews are local and love their elf named Truck. To welcome Truck back and kick-off Advent, I wanted to surprise the boys and make them some elf cookies.
*It’s a total secret. The boys don’t know that Auntie Julia is the one who made the treats.
I lovingly whipped up my royal icing and methodically portioned it into four containers. And then as I mixed the red, then brown, and elf skin tones. I thought to myself, why do I have an extra container? What color is this supposed to be? And I promptly colored it yellow because I planned to pipe names on them and paint them with gold luster dust.
Immediate facepalm. I needed that white royal icing. I needed it to be white. I wanted a white collar and white accents on the hat. So, instead, I improvised. I piped the shape I was intending in red and covered them with silver sprinkles! Festive and fun. (If you are going to make a mistake, make it sparkle!)
It was also a new technique I hadn’t used. It was a HUGE sigh of relief that it worked. Once the elves had hats and collars, I added various “boy” and “girl” hairstyles.
It was time for the elves to get some skin and ears. I finally understood my best flooding consistency for my icing at this point. (Always learning lessons). The thicker red icing set too fast and left a texture.
While my ears were still wet, I added some coordinating gray “pearl” earrings to showcase the “girl” elves. I probably need to get some tweezers that are made for baking to place these with ease, but I threw caution to the wind and dropped them into place and hoped for the best. (Success!)
I added adorable button noses and some little accents to their pointy ears, but at this point, it was time to let my tiny masterpieces dry. I needed them to be smooth and hard so that I could draw the faces! Overnight usually works in my experience, but it is always best not to rush it.
These little elves fill my heart with so much joy! I used edible ink (fine tip) markers to sketch the faces, and I added a little luster dust to add the rosy chill from the North Pole.