The important thing with royal icing is to make sure the bowl, utensils, decorating bags/tips, anything that touches the icing, is clean as a whistle - no fats. I reserve a set of tips specifically for royal icing (even though I *do* clean them after using buttercream LOL). If royal icing gets fat on it, it will break down into a watery mess. For accents use it stiff, but not so stiff that it's hard to squeeze out of the bag and curls when you try to leave a line. I don't know if you want to totally cover gingerbread with icing ("flood"), but this technique works well on sugar cookies. I used to make sugar cookies in a flower-shaped pan (actually for lollipops but my cookie pops always fall off the stick), flood them with a baby/sky blue icing, then take white icing (stiff) and draw lines like snowflakes. They were a big hit at DS's Xmas bazaar at his old school! Here is a link that might be useful: Flooding cookies with royal icing

Red, I'm busy, BUT, they are sooooooo cute and as you stated we have plenty of time. So I'm in. How tall is your gingerbread man, mine looks dorky???????????????? Rosa

Well I know it's kind of late but I was not online all weekend. My TG table is significant because for the first time ever I was able to get all 15 people at one table. Well technically two tables end to end but it reached the desired effect. Excuse the folding chairs used for little kids, etc but overall I think it turned out well. You'll have to imagine the candlesticks china, crystal, silverware and flowers on each table as well, I forgot to take one after it was finished except after everyone sat down. The photos with people and other missing items in them look at lot better needless to say. During our recent kitchen remodel, we widened this opening from the breakfast area into the dining room in order to allow this. Up till now, I've turned the tables sideways and gotten them both into the DR, but it was tight. This was much better. The DR table isn't centered in the room because the opening isn't centered, so we're not exactly under the light fixture but hey what the heck. Having a sit down meal served on actual dishes for 15 people in this day and age is something I'm proud of. It makes me sad that no one wants to keep china and crystal anymore. I have two sets, one from one of my grandmothers and one that my MIL got in Germany while there were in the Air Force and some really beautiful crystal that we asked for as wedding gifts. Really fun TG cooking in the new kitchen and getting everyone together to eat.

roorezzi, I think a spicy color in your art somewhere would pick up the energy nicely. Your dishes are lovely. You could hang nine squares of fabric unframed on stretcher bars. We have nine small square flower prints on canvas unframed in our MB. I made several tries at googling to find something similar, but didn't have any luck. A place like Hobby Lobby or Michael's though would likely give you some ideas and maybe show you how to do it.