I’m so happy to be joining some of my cookie OG’s to celebrate Christmas in July!  Its never too early to start thinking about Christmas ideas!  No matter how much I preplan, I always feel like I should’ve started earlier!

*(Be sure to scroll to the end of this post for links to all the #christmascookiesinjuly posts!  You won’t want to miss the fun organized by the best…Georganne and Callye!)

Georganne (lilaloa.com) and I met for the first time at Cookie Con this year, and honestly, it was one of my most favorite parts of the conference!  I’ve loved and admired her from afar for years and to meet her and discover she is even sweeter than I imagined just gave me all the good vibes!  We reminisced for a little about some of the early blog tutorials and collaborations and it was so refreshing to talk with someone who was in that same boat with me.  The early days of cookie decorating when most of these supplies didn’t exist and we hand cut most of our ideas, we experimented and learned from each other!

These days are different.  There are soooooo many resources and cookie geniuses to look to for help.  This creative outlet has exploded and I’m so happy to see it!  I am passionate about teaching beginners to enjoy and be successful at cookie decorating.  Even without all of the fancy tools!  So the project I chose to share for this CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog party is a

simple, fun, beginner’s project.

I love simplicity.  Yes, I love to over-complicate cookies too, and decorate until my eyeballs glaze over.  But I also love how some of the simplest cookies I’ve made, are my favorites.  I absolutely adore the look of gingerbread cookie dough frosted with simple white frosting!

This project is sort of a combo of Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses.  It was inspired by the paper accordion villages I made as a child and by this simple metal village I got at Target last year.  They came together in a cute gingerbread village!

I made some building templates on cardstock, then I hand cut some tall, thin, village shaped cookies with a knife and a pen blade.

After they baked and cooled, I free-hand decorated them in just white (piping consistency) royal icing.

When they were dry, I glued them together (accordion style) with that thick white icing.  To prop them up while the icing was drying, I used the good old soup can trick.

Pretty simple, but pretty charming.  The best part is the therapeutic nature of sitting down with blank cookies and a frosting bag with no rules, no preconceived ideas, and just free-handing!  And its something anyone can do!   I think they look so festive especially against my 3 huge canvasses of a Christmas village.  That painting is just two colors too.  I’m seeing a theme in my preferences here… haha!

You’ll see I added some mini villages!  I just couldn’t stop!  I got this cute little set from Target last year.  They are hearth and hand so I have Chip and Joanna to thank for these cutters!

I iced these cookies even simpler than the first village.  And I love how they look in their winter white icing!

This little twist on traditional gingerbread houses is something new and fun!  It still leaves me smelling gingerbread each time I walk by this hutch!  I can also picture these as part of a Christmas tablescape!  So pretty, then the kids could break off a piece of soft gingerbread after their meal!  Or maybe a mini set of 3 could be a little place-card if you wrote a name across them and set them on the plate!?  I’ve been decorating with real gingerbread cookies for years now, and I had fun putting the accordion twist on this idea!  (see if you can spot the cookies in sugar and jars in Kathryn’s home tour post!) I hope you are inspired to create and decorate gingerbread villages of your own!

Now for the FUN PART!!!

Click these links to see what this fantastic group of cookie makers has come up with.  After all these years, so many fun, new and creative ideas are being shared!  These long-time cookiers are the best of the best!  ENJOY!