I wish I could make pretty sugar cookies

After trying out several different recipes, I have finally found a good sugar cookie recipe/method. These are the cookies I made today for family coming over to watch the superbowl. (they are much more pink than what the photo shows) I think the trick I was missing was to let the dough rest overnight in the frig. This really helped out when rolling and cutting, plus it helped the cookies retain their shape during cooking.

I am however still plagued by the inability to figure out royal icing for decorating, piping and flooding. Even though I think having a good tasting cookie is more important than a pretty cookie, I still want to make pretty cookies. Here is what I was going for:

I am not giving up though. Which means, I am sorry to say, you will be subjected to pictures of more ugly cookies.