Take-A-Peek Tuesday! Easy Woodgrain Cookie Tutorial!

Did you happen to see those little signs I made for the Easter tushies this year?

Yup, those are the ones. 

At the time I didn't really think of them as woodgrain.  

I was going for a dirty, grubby sort of look, like Mr. MacGregor's garden.

So, when I started getting questions about how to make woodgrain on cookies, I was stumped.

"I don't know how to do that?

How the heck would I even begin to know how to do that?

oooooooh...maybe I did do that. 

Hmmmmm."

They're super easy to do.  Especially if you think of them as 'dirty' instead of 'wood'.

'Cause, how can you mess up something that's just supposed to be dirty?!

I cut rectangles and lightly pressed a skinny wooden stick onto the front before it baked. To make it look more like a garden stake,  I extended it out the top and made it crooked. (really, I meant to do that...)
Flood with white or ivory and let it dry.


Gather up all your supplies...

Some clear water or vodka, plastic paint palette with ivory and brown food coloring, clean foam brush or sponge, and a dry paper towel.

Dip the foam brush in water, then the color and smush it around in the middle of the palette. (looks like I got a little red in there to by mistake)
Try it out on the towel to see if you like the color...

...and wipe it all over the cookie.

Let that dry just a bit, maybe a minute or two. I liked it a bit drippy and messy...
For the first pass, use just a little bit of color.

For the darker bits, dry your sponge almost all the way, then dip the corner into the color.
Paying special attention to the edges, lightly paint streaks back-and-forth.

Keep adding streaks until its dark enough for you.

Don't forget the edges....

And that's that!
Dirty ole wood signs for your garden...




....or old poison labels for Halloween!

I hope you try it out!

(and show us lots of pictures when you do!)