Spring-y Decorated Sugar Cookies

I LOVE making my "special cookies" which is really just cut-out sugar cookies that are decorated (that's the special part!)
With LJ's preschool carnival coming up, I knew I wanted to contribute something for the cake walk!  Since I needed to drop it off a few days beforehand, I went with these cookies.
Check out the best recipes and tips all in one place- the blog Glorious Treats.  If you don't follow her blog you are missing out on some great ideas for parties, cakes, and of course, cookies!
I used to use a different recipe but now I use hers and it turns out great every time.

Step One: Don cure apron and no make-up.  (Okay, the no make-up part is just on there as a disclaimer!)

Step Two: Make dough, chill, roll out, then choose a couple of flower cookie cutters and go to town.  I know, I know, that is a million steps.  HINT: Roll out your dough on top of a flour-cloth towel that you have rubbed flour into.  It will NEVER stick, and it won't add a bunch of flour to your yummy dough!

Step Three:  Bake em'.  HINT:  Cool your sheets in between batches by throwing them in the freezer for a minute!  This will keep it from melting your dough too soon.

Step Four:  Make some Royal Icing and separate it into batches for different colors.  I used the green, yellow, and pink as-is, then mixed pink and blue for purple too.  These are the Wilton gels and they worked great.  HINT: I take a ziploc, put the interior plastic part for the frosting coupler in the corner, but DO NOT snip corner off yet.  Then you can fill with the frosting and seal so it doesn't dry out while you are doing the other colors!  You will need to snip the corner before you frost, obviously!  Use the freezer bag ones or your bag might split.

For my daisies, I did the petals first,then made a spiral of contrasting icing in the center.  Then I added a dot of green.

For my tulips, I decided to get a little crazy and make a floral scene.  I did the grass outline first, then flooded, then did the flowers, then the stem/leaves, and finally, the dots in the center in contrasting icing.

And to make everything look better, fancy packaging!  I got three of these cupcake boxes for $3.50 at TJ Maxx.  They are the "Meri" brand if you want to try to find some.  They are perfect for cupcakes, but worked fine for the cookies too!

I hope this inspired you to get baking!  I hadn't done this in a while and it was fun, I have missed it!  My house was a mess after because I let my 2 year old run wild.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten the cookies done!

I am working on the i-spy tutorial!  I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and spent waaaaaay too much money buying miniature things to put in them. So excited to get the first one done!

Candy/Toy Packet Handmade Valentines- FREE PRINTABLES!

This girl loves boots!

 I wanted to come up with something fun for LJ's Mother's Day out class for Valentines Day.  I loved Valentines Day as a kid- it was such an exciting day!  At my school we always made hand decorated bags to put on the back of our chair for everyone to put a treat in.  That was the 80's, the good 'ole days where you didn't HAVE to give a Valentine to everyone in the class, only who you wanted to...but I never remember anyone not giving it to everybody.   I DO remember this little blonde kid named Steven who made me "roses" with a red pencil and his hand-held sharpener.  I kept those in my desk all year long!  Ah, my first Valentines Day roses.
Now as an adult, I still think the kids stuff is more fun.  I mean, I want my husband to do something...but I really care more about him loving me all year long rather than buying me some chocolate and roses on this one day, you know what I mean?

So, here is what I came up with for LJ's class- packets that you print, decorate, then attach with whatever method works for you- hand sewing with embroidery thread, machine sewing, or even stapling!  You can print on whatever you choose- regular printer paper, construction paper, old paper grocery bags...whatever floats your boat, okay?

Simply print using the links below, then cut them out.

  Let your little one go to town decorating them.

Then attach with your chosen method leaving a hole to insert candy, tiny toys, even a cookie!
Here is what's in ours:

plastic dollar store "clappers"

stickers

 

...and some chocolate.  I gave in, since its kinda a chocolate-y holiday!

I used colorful embroidery thread to attach ours.  NOTE: Try not to overfill or you will have a hard time attaching them!

  Then shut the hole.

Voila, you are done!  Much cuter than those flimsy paper Valentine's with the envelope that will NEVER stay closed, haha!  Of course if your kids are older their decor skills will be better!  You could give them bits of lace, sequins, whatever you want.  I try not to be a control freak about projects like this.  I feel like it builds LJ's confidence for me to let her do things her way and not "fix" them or tell her what to do.  Could I make a prettier Valentine?  Sure, but I am an adult...and these are from her, not me!

Enjoy!  And please use these for personal use only (not that I think any of you will be impressed with my "artwork").  Let me know if you have any problems with the files- its my first time sharing a printable!  Suggestions are appreciated if you know of a better way!

Click HERE for "Valentine, You're a HOOT!"
Click HERE for "Valentine, You're the cat's MEOW!"
Click HERE for "Valentine, I HEART you!"

Some gifts from my Christmas Challenge!

Well, I had Christmas last Saturday with my side of the family, so I can share what I made for my mom and sister now.
I LOVE the pattern I used, in fact, I have used it about 6 times now. It is Amy Butler's Birdie Sling.

I used home-dec weight fabric and omitted the interfacing (yay, saves a step and supplies!) If you use regular cotton, or silk, I would definitely do the interfacing.

For my mom, I chose a blue dot pattern with a tweed-ish contrast fabric. I really liked how this was modern looking without being too trendy for my mom's style.

She really liked the size of the bag, and plans to use it to carry around her crochet stuff. The big pockets are great for keeping her organized.

For my sister, I wasn't sure what to use since i Had a lot of good options so I texted her a picture of a few fabrics without telling her what it was for. I was tempted to go with an awesome laminated cotton I have, but she really surprised me and chose a rich dark green fabric that looked very traditional. I loved the sheen, and happened to have some silk in a tan color that looked great with it and also of course had a sheen. I think it looks great together!

She immediately started using hers as a purse, because she likes to carry around a ton of stuff (like most of us moms!)

I really liked how these two turned out. They are definitely more wintery than the others I have made. My friend Kristin got one for her birthday out of a heavy linen fabric, then I appliqued a vintage embroidered doily on the front which looked awesome. Why didn't I take a picture??? I do that so often- give something away before I take good pictures. Maybe I will learn one of these days :)

This is a great EASY pattern, and now that I've made a few I can say it takes me about 3 hours total (depending on how many times I have to start and stop!) Amy Butler always has great instructions including illustrations, so her patterns are great. She even features some free patterns on her site for quilts and accessories!

Silk Christmas Dress

I had some beautiful silk fabric given to me and I knew just what to do with it- a Christmas dress for LJ! The bodice and sash are a rich jewel-tone pink, and the bottom is cream with a circle pattern embroidered on featuring greens, pinks, and reds. While not completely traditional holiday colors, I think it works because of the quality of the fabric, and of course pink is in the red family.

(Sorry for the poor photo quality, my nice camera is at my mom's so this is from my BlackBerry!)

I used "The Party Dress" tutorial from The Cottage Mama. I modified it slightly by leaving off the bottom band of fabric and making it shorter. I also constructed the bodice in a slower way because of using that slippery silk- I sewed the skirt onto the outside bodice piece first to make sure it all was perfect from the outside. Then I pinned the lining over it to sandwich the skirt between and "stitched in the ditch" to attach the lining. It took longer, but looked perfect. (This part is under the sash, so it doesn't matter really though, haha!)

My only other suggestion is to make the sash piece wider- in her picture the sash looked really wide, but on my finished dress it was much more narrow. It still looks pretty, but I would have preferred the wider look. I should have noticed when cutting it out but oh well!

Here is the back:

I LOVE the covered buttons- it is a must I think for the more formal look. If you are doing a casual version of the dress then you could pass, but it really looks beautiful and professional.

I highly recommend this pattern- be sure to check out her other tutorials. She also recently started selling patterns too.

I wish I had a picture of her wearing it to show you, but every time I ask her she says "No, I fine." I don't want to wrestle her into the silk and end up with a wrinkled up snot-covered mess, haha!

("Oooh, pretty buttons Mama!")

Merry Christmas to you and your families, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, Merry Winter!

Christmas Jammies and Homemade Wrapping Paper!

Well, despite being in the third trimester I have kept so busy getting ready for Christmas! (But I am WORN out!)
I kept thinking December 25th was my goal, but my side of the family celebrates on the 17th, so I am scrambling to finish some sewing projects, as well as my homemade wrapping paper!

(We also squeezed in some cookie baking, and my daughter decided the dough looked good. Thank goodness we use local organic eggs, so at least its not quite as bad...or that's what I told myself!)

For all the kids, I wanted to make some Jammies. Instead of choosing Christmas fabric, I went with flannel prints they could wear all winter. The tops are much more time-consuming and I just couldn't do it, so I bought plain t's and added an applique that matched the flannel. The boys got a penguin and the girls got a heart. I free-handed these, but you can do a Google image search to find ideas or outlines to use. The boys got plain pants, and the girls got some ruffle action as well as a tiny satin bow at the center of the waist.

Now to the wrapping paper...
I am so lucky that my husband got a goodie for me from his office. He was astounded that I actually wanted this item, and even more astounded that I wanted it all. What was it? A GINORMOUS roll of paper- I'm talking big. They apparently got sent the wrong size for one of their machines, so voila! It's mine!
I immediately knew what I would make with it, which is the wrapping paper. I did make some fancy kind at my craft night where we cut a romaine lettuce heart and used it as a stamp. While it looked cool, it involved paint. Paint has to dry and did I mention I have been running behind??? So I used crayons!!!
This was perfect since my daughter didn't want to nap. Here are some of the designs. Can you guess which one my 2 year old contributed to?

(For this one, I wrote "Joy to the World" and made some messy stars.)

(For the plaid, I held 2 crayons together to make each row of stripes. I used a few different color combos.)

(This one is my favorite- I used 2 reds and 2 greens to each make a word. "Joy", "Peace", "Love", and "Hope". It looks really cool!)

Here is a gift all wrapped up with Christmas fabric scraps and cute gift tags that I made using a printable from My Sparkle.

Do you have any other ideas for homemade wrapping paper? I've got so much more of this paper left, so send your ideas my way!!!

How to host a Christmas Craft Night!

Tonight will be my second year to host a Christmas Craft Night at my house for some friends.  I have a few tips if you want to try this yourself!!!

1.  Plan to do only 3-4 simple projects.  (example...fabric Christmas bows, stamping onto butcher paper to make wrapping paper, ornaments...)

2. Try to use supplies that are cheap or free- it will add up fast!  I found some projects that I could use fabric scraps for, and my husband happens to have access to huge rolls of paper from his office if they order the wrong weight...so wrapping paper is on the agenda tonight!

3.  Keep the guest list to less than 15.  Or even 10.  I've got 13 coming tonight and I'm a little nervous about it.  Thank goodness a few are pretty crafty so they can help I hope!  That's another thing- I like to have a mixture of people, so maybe some will get into crafting that never have before!

4.  Have your guests pitch something in.  I assign one supply item per person- usually something less than $3.  Everyone is scrapped for cash this time of year, so I keep it cheap.  Sometimes this means you have to not do a craft you fall in love with, but its worth it for there to be no financial pressure at all.  Examples of items this year- 1 pack of sequins, a plain posterboard, a small bottle of acrylic paint...

5.  Snacks and Booze are always good :)  I am having some Christmas-ey apps and desserts to help set the mood.  And speaking of the mood...

6.  Play some Christmas music!  Now, I am one of those who refuses to decorate for Christmas one bit until Thanksgiving is over.  Poor Thanksgiving, always being looked over!  So I will get out a Christmas tablecloth and play music, but that's about it since it's the week before Thanksgiving.

7.  Schedule it early in the season- last year I had it a couple weeks before Christmas and the weather was horrible, less people RSVP'd, and it didn't leave much time to finish up any lingering projects.  So this year I scheduled it early to make it more of a jump start to the holidays. 

I will post some photos of the party soon!
Here are a few links to some projects that work well for this type of party.  Always try out your projects ahead of time- I tried a yarn-wrapped wreath last year and it takes waaaaaaaaay too long for a party.  Things need to come together quickly!

"Loopy" tree - original tute uses paper, but we will use fabric scraps


Fabric Christmas bows again, using Christmas fabric scraps


Romaine lettuce stamped wrapping paper (from Martha Stewart- they used it as a flower Valentine's card, but I think it looks like a poinsettia!)

Vintage Portcard decor idea

This is a great EASY project that anyone can do!  And the best part is that you can use this all year long, depending on what postcards you can find.

You will need:
-A multiple photo frame (mine is three) to fit 3x5 photos.
-Vintage postcards to fill the frame (again mine needs three)
-tape

I find my postcards at antique shops, usually for about $1-$2 a postcard. Some people ask as much as $5, which I laugh and pass up.  There are a TON out there for  reasonable prices, and its fun to always look through them and find a new favorite.

Just grab your three favorite, tape them into the correct spot, then put your frame back together and hang.  No craft abilities required!  Just remember the change it out for each season- I am guilty of having Easter postcards in at Christmastime- oops!  I have postcards for Easter, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Sometimes you can find Halloween but I have yet to find three I like.

Have fun with this, its so cute!

Easy Fabric Flower 4th of July tank top

In one week its the 4th of July!  I am a little freaked out by the holiday coming this year, as I have taken on the task of heading up our big neighborhood bike parade and ice cream social.  But of course, I have to look cute in a patriotic way while doing it :)  So, I made this.

1. Find an old tank top in red white or blue, or buy a new one.
2. Cut out 5 squares of patriotic fabric- I did two each of the star fabric, and three each of the blue. (don't worry about having perfect squares, unless you're one of those people like my husband who has to do everything precisely.)

3.  Using the longest stitch on your machine, sew along the open edges only.  Don't cut your thread in between, just keep going.  It will look like a bunting when you're done.

4.  Gather up your triangles and they will start to look like petals.

5.  Hand sew your petals together, you can use this step to make it all look just right.

6.  Sew a button or other embellishment on the top to cover the ugly parts.

7.  Pin onto your shirt!

You can use this on a handbag, headband, etc. so you look ready for the 4th.  No cheesy t-shirts for us!

Vintage style Valentines!

I found these cute press-out vintage style Valentines at Borders this weekend. They are so sweet and cute! Beware- they don't come with enough envelopes, so make sure to buy extras.
At only $4.99, they are a cheap way to tell everyone you love them this year!