Happy Fat Tuesday!  Today is the day to indulge in all the things you are giving up for Lent.  I've never been to the real Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but it looks like to would be something to fun to experience.  I'm not really sure what I'm giving up for Lent this year.  For a long time I would give up treats (cookies, cake, brownies).  Last year was the first I gave up something different; I practiced hot yoga more and ate healthier.  Two years ago I ran a mile everyday for 40 days of Lent.  What are you giving up or doing for Lent?

I've always loved Mardi Gras masks, I think it's the color combination.  A few year ago I made these Mardi Gras cookies.  This time I knew I wanted to keep the designs simple.  The smaller mask can be found here and the larger mask here.   I wanted to use disco dust in the decorating to give the masks some pizzazz.  I used the traditional Mardi Gras colors (gold, green and purple).  For the large mask I airbrushed it with gold.  While the airburshing was still tacky, I added the gold disco dust on half of the mask.  Once every was dry, I came back to add detail around the eye on the other side.  I added disco dust right on the wet icing.  With the small masks I tried making one with the eyes cut out and one with the eyes left in (I like the eyes cut out better).  The one with the eye left in reminds me of sunglasses, not a mask.