Piping Bags “Ready to Decorate!”
I bet you didn’t know that I like to decorate cookies? Well, I do! LOL I like to make cookie dough and cut it into cute little shapes. I like to bake cookies because it makes my house smell amazing. I like to make icing. I like to look through my box of colors and find the perfect one that will make my cookies just the way I want them! I just don’t like how long it takes me to mix my colors and put it into my bags! I want my “Piping Bags Ready to Decorate” when I want! I don’t like to waste time by trying to find the right tips and couplers while the perfect color of icing that I just mixed dries before my very eyes. By the time I have baked cookies and colored icing, I just want to get on with the fun stuff! I want to decorate but I am still matching couplers and rings and snipping bags. Well, I have something that will save you a little time on decorating day. Your piping bags will be ready to decorate when you are.
Today is not a decorating day for me. I plan on decorating in a few days but, not today. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t do something today to make life a little easier for when I do get to decorate. I will show you a little trick I learned in this book. It is on page 100. This is one of my favorite “Make Ahead of Time Tips.” Assemble your bags days before you decorate!
How I Store my Piping Bags and Decorating Tips:
Gather your supplies and you can assemble your bags while you watch TV! It is way more productive than eating popcorn!
I am one of those people who can’t sit still. So when I watch TV, I assemble my piping bags so when it is time to decorate I don’t waste time on one of the “not so fun” tasks.
But, I need to be organized as well so I use a Sharpie to write the tip number on each bag.
Isn’t this a beautiful sight? Oh BTW, if you need to use a “0” or a “00” PME , you might want to click here to see how to use it without it clogging every 2 minutes.
They are beautiful like this but I don’t want to dig through this stack to find the right size bag so…
I keep them in little boxes I picked up from my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart.
I don’t have many “1.5” and “3” PME tips so I store them in the same box to save a little space.
The point to this post is to have your “Piping Bags Ready to Decorate” so you can get to the FUN STUFF FASTER!
Happy Creating,
GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
great tip, thanks!
You’re the best! BRILLIANT! What a great idea!!!! And, I think the book “Cookie Craft” is one of the best cookie decorating books on the market.
I agree about “Cookie Craft” being the best! I would recommend it to anyone who has even thought about decorating cookies.
And I think YOU are the BEST!!
I have just now convinced myself that I NEED more than 9 tips. I mean…if Lisa’s doing it…
You only have 9???? Holy COW!! You make such amazing things with only 9!! You are my new hero!!
Soon to be 412. I could feel the justification for more tips slowly creeping on over the last two weeks and this post just put me right over the top. I can’t wait!
Go for it!! I will be jealous when you get 412!! LOL
What a great idea? I love it.
This is a GREAT idea, (as ALL of yours are)…LOL!!..Where do you get your BIGGER size cookie cutters from??..I live in Tx., and have a REALLY hard time finding bigger ones!!..Is there a site I can order these from?..I LOVE your blog and all the wonderful pics you post, BTW!!
Just found you and really love your cookies and this tip. I always didn’t enjoy the part of making the bags. I thank you for the great tip and hope to see more of you.
Dear Santa,
Please bring me more PME tips so I can do this while I watch movies… please tell the elves to start making more 1.5 tips because they seem to be out of stock everywhere!
Suzanne.
(I only have 4 PME tips, I think I might be on the naughty list)
Thanks for sharing. This is a great idea!!!
Suzanne! You know Santa LOVES cookies. Trade him cookies for PME’s and I think you should have a Christmas in July party so you don’t have to wait until December.
I am not sure how many I have but, when I order anything from Karen’s Cookies I always add at least one PME to my order. BTW, I just checked Karen’s and she has 1.5 PME’s in stock. http://www.karenscookies.net/PME-Supatube-No-15_p_1225.html#
FANTASTIC!!!
Thank you Lisa for this tip. I hate to assemble all those bags when all I want to do is decorate… this takes the fun out of decorating. I will have everything ready next time..
I totally agree!
Great tip!
What a great idea!!
Your so Awesome to share your secrets!
Luv the idea of saving time by prepping bags beforehand but I also love the Saran wrap icing pod trick for easy clean up. Not sure it’s possible to do both 🙁
Hi Janine! I was talking to SweetSugarBelle last night and she said she also makes her bags ahead of time but doesn’t put the tips on because she also uses the Saran Wrap. It will still save some time because you snip the end of your bag and drop the coupler in place. And you will have an easy clean up process! Best of both worlds;)
Good thinking! I reuse my bags so the tip is usually already cut. I can certainly prep with the couplers when that is already the case. Now if only I could mix the icing colors in front of the tv… that would certainly make for an interesting multi-colored couch!
I like the way you think!!
Thank you for two great tips back to back. I love the trick with a few drops of water in the almost empty color bottles. I like you thinking. Very efficient. I also want to have more time to do the fun stuff and spend less time doing clean-up and preparation. When you mentioned the OO and O tips I would like to see where on the cookie you use the small tip, as in which detail ? Also how many bags do use approximately for one project? Yesterday I was working on a project and I had 12 colors, and some colors I make 2 bags because I want a 1.5 and 2 tip, so that makes for almost 20 bags of icing. Is it just me or other people do that as well. Finally I notice that when you write on a cookie you have a nice “royal icing penmanship”, which I don’t, and if you would like to make a post on writing on cookies I would looove it. By the time I write on my cookies, which is at the end of cookie decorating session the royal icing consistency is not beautiful anymore and that is the other problem that I encounter when I write words on cookies. Thanks again for your blog.
Hey Julie, I will try to do a tutorial using the “0” and “00” tips soon. I them for several different details. I will also try to do a tutorial on writing on cookies soon.
As far as the colors and how many I use, it just depends on what project I am working on. I do use a lot though, I would say an average of 10-15 bags or more for a set of cookies.
Hope this helps and Happy Creating!
Lisa
Lisa – you’ve got such great ideas!! How fun to have boxes of tips ready to go!
Great idea…..but it would mean I have to be organized enough with time to prepare…. Lol.
One day 🙂
That is so funny!
I wish I had just a teeny bit of your organization! I am going to try your great idea though:)
Great tip! You’re one smart “cookie”! Pun intended. LOL!
Thanks for the tip, I must admit I’ve never bothered using couplers…I just drop the nozzle/tip in , cut the end off the bag and go 🙂